Food History Symposiums 2012 part 3

4 Symposiums in Europe and New Zealand...

Reading while cooking

For those of us who have occasionally read a book in one hand while stirring with the other... here is a sketch from 1859.  "Showing why the dinner was late" is from Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper by Timothy Shay Arthur, Philadelphia: 1859

©2012 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

USDA at 150

The USDA is 150 years old today.   On May 15, 1862 President Lincoln signed the order to create what he called The People's Department - the U.S. Department of Agriculture.  To honor Lincoln, the 'Abraham Lincoln Tomato' was introduced in the 1920s, and The People's Garden project was started in 2009, the 200th anniversary of his birth.

Woodrow Wilson and Mother's Day

Mother's Day is this Sunday.  President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day on May 9, 1914.  His mother, Jesse Woodrow Wilson, 1826-1888, wrote a handwritten recipe book. Among the recipes was one labeled - "Woodrow's favorite - Charlotte Russe" see below...

Burnt Custard

Although her "Burnt Custard" sounds, well, burned, it is composed of delicious layers of various textures. Sponge cake slices (Savoy Cake) are placed on the bottom of a bowl. A sweetened cream (liquidy custard) of egg yolks, milk and sugar, is poured on top. Then... 

Mary Randolph's 1825 Refrigerator

Mary Randolph included a sketch of a refrigerator in the 1825 2d edition of The Virginia Housewife.  It was a wooden box within another wooden box with crushed charcoal in-between.  It was described in 1815, but not the first refrigerator...

Thomas Moore's Refrigerator, 1802 patent



A patent for a refrigerator (ice box) was granted to Thomas Moore and signed by President Thomas Jefferson. In 1802 Jefferson went to the Moore home in Montgomery County, Md to see the new Refrigeratory, and later bought one.

Food History Symposiums 2012 part 2

6 symposiums in Great Britain and the US...

Food History Exhibits 2012

Below are 8 current food history related exhibits.

Chair Screens

Fireplaces with open fires or stoves were needed to heat  rooms in 19th century homes, including the dining room.  A creative way to protect the backs of those seated on the fireplace side of the dining room table was to place a screen on the chairs.  Leslie's 1850 instructions to make a chair screen...

Washington Pie part 2

The previous posting on Washington Pies, HERE described the round layered cake with jelly or cream filling.  The second type of Washington Pie was a square cake composed of broken cake pieces within a bottom and top pie crust.  According to the following newspaper article, it probably was named for Washington, DC where it was sold in many bakeries prior to the Civil War, and when sold "... in Baltimore... there was nothing of Washington about it except the name." --

Washington Pie

For Washington’s Birthday the other year I posted information on Washington Cakes, HERE and this year the topic is Washington Pie.  During the 19^th century, there were two types of cakes called Washington Pie.  The first was a round layer cake of sponge or pound cake with jelly or cream between the layers like Jelly Cakes or Boston Cream Pies.  The second Washington Pie was composed of pieces of leftover cake moistened and encased in pie crust, baked in  2 1/2 foot square pans and initially sold at Washington, D.C. bakeries. ...

Julienne Soup

Potage a la Julienne was/is a soup of broth with vegetables evenly cut in long thin square shapes, like wooden matchsticks or shoesting potatoes. Two recipes from 1759 and 1846...

Horse Cakes

A Civil War treat sold in Alexandria, Virginia stores for a penny was a gingerbread cookie "cut in the flat, rude shape of a prancing horse with very prominent ears and very stubbed legs. 

Food History Symposiums 2012

There are 6 historic food conferences and symposiums in the next three months:

Muffin Rings, Muffin Pans and Recipes

Initially muffins were what we call "English Muffins" - a yeast dough prepared on a griddle in muffin rings.  Later American recipes for a cake-like muffin used pans or cups.  Recipes for both types of muffins, below.

Grated Pumpkin Pie

Early pumpkin pies were made from pureed or sliced pumpkin.  A third option was to use grated pumpkin. It is important to remove the excess liquid from the grated pumpkin, as described below, before making any of the pie recipes...

Oranges filled with Jelly

Filling emptied orange rinds with jelly was a surprising change in serving 18th and 19th century jellies.  Here are a few recipes...

Monroe Plateau Exhibit

The 14 1/2 foot mirrored plateau in 7 sections was bought by President Monroe in 1817 from Matelin in France.  It had "...16 Figures presenting wreathes for receiving lights [candles] and 16 cups for changing at will, composed of 7 pieces altogether 13 [14] feet 6 inches long, over 2 feet wide, set with its mirrors."  ...

Ham 'n Hay

When boiling ham, hay would be placed in the bottom of a ham boiler. Ham cooked with hay would “…greatly improve the flavor” [Leslie, Eliza.  New Cookery Book.  Phila: 1857], and according to the Detroit Free Press cookbook in 1881, it “…mellows the taste, and keeps it from being burned.”   A third reason given was to absorb impurities ...