Sunday, August 29, 2021

Edible England - national festival and UK talks

The theme for this year's Heritage Open Days is food and related topics, with online and in person activities throughout the country from Sept. 10 to 19.
Edible England search HERE and general information HERE

Sunday, August 22, 2021

Dining out - Restaurants, Diners, Fast food, Street food, Picnics, Trains and Taverns virtual talks

Tapes of talks on restaurant histories, types of restaurants, eating on trains and ships, WWII municipal restaurants ('British Restaurants') and Paris' Cabarets of Death.

Sunday, August 15, 2021

German Sweet Pickled Peaches

It's August, so yet another peach recipe from Maryland. Tyson's 1870 recipe called for equal amounts of vinegar and brown sugar, with cinnamon. Marylanders Howard's Peach Chutnee is equal, but Lea's Spiced Peaches used 4:1 sugar to vinegar. As for the German in the title...

Monday, August 9, 2021

Rice puddings

My grandmother's recipe, baked in her rice pudding bowl (left). Another baked for 4 hours adding milk every half hour until extremely thick. Or boiled around an apple in a cloth. Or a c1800 MD manuscript recipe boiled with suet. Or used rice flour. Or burnt rice...

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Bank Barns and taped barn & farm talks

The Bank Barn was set into a hill to allow the horse and wagon to enter the upper story to unload the hay, which would be dropped to the lower floor to feed the cows, horses, etc, who could exit on that level through doors under the overhang.

Sunday, July 25, 2021

Feeding the poor and needy

Soyer's Soup Kitchens during Irish Famine (image) more HERE, Americans sending aid to Ireland in 1847 and Europe after WWI, workhouses, almshouses and other ways to help the poor.

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Ice cream cone molds in the 1910s

An ice cream cone factory in 1917 Oklahoma depicts making the cones, and other images show various US patents. The metal molds were heated, thick batter poured in, then the top mold was lowered into the bottom.
This is a test email since the blog email server was switched. Click images to enlarge.

Saturday, June 26, 2021

Change in delivery of blog posts

The service to send out emails for each new blog post is being discontinued. This came at a busy time for me, so I just picked a service that is supposed to be popular. Hopefully there will not be too much of a difference in emails when I switch over this week. Let me know if you don't get the emails. My blog, and the Calendar of food history talks (first on links list, right side), will stay at researchingfoodhistory.blogspot.com.

Wednesday, June 23, 2021

Beaten Biscuit Brake demo

This Friday there is a demo making Beaten Biscuits on an 1877 biscuit brake (not this pic), Cold Water Biscuits from Malinda Russell's cookbook. Just heard about it today... thanks Foodways Pilgrim for posting on Facebook!

Friday, June 18, 2021

Chinese foodways, restaurants

Several interesting upcoming talks - one on Chinese workers in early Napa Valley wineries, evolution of restaurants in Southern Cal, and China's eight regional cuisines. There have been many tapes on restaurants, tea, even chili peppers.

Sunday, June 13, 2021

Whipped ice cream - Iced Froths or Mousses Glacees in 1869

Jules Gouffe (1807-1877) was born to a Parisian patisserie (pastry shop) owner and spent seven years with the great Careme.  In his 1869 cookbook he tried to popularize the lighter Iced Froths served in jelly glasses.  They were "superior to either Ices or Sorbets" during "this transition period" and thus "improve the indifferent quality of the refreshments now served at evening parties." The frothing stick and sieve were needed to make his 5 flavors: Chocolate, Coffee, Strawberry, Maraschino and Almond Milk.

Monday, June 7, 2021

Fishing, River restoration, Seafood, Roman Fish Sauce (Garum) talks

World Ocean Day is June 8. As some may have noticed, a few of my monthly search terms involve fish, oysters and river restoration measures like old mill dam removal and removing weirs. This month there are 12 talks, including a virtual international Fish Passage Conference, archival films of Scottish fishing communities, environmental, and women herring packers travel around Scotland. Past taped talks include shrimpers, oysters, shad, and salmon.

Monday, May 31, 2021

Rations and Rationing

Memorial Day ... when we honor those who gave their lives so we can live free.

There have been many talks on rationing over the past year.



Saturday, May 29, 2021

Virtual talks... a year ago

When I started gathering together a list of virtual talks, classes, readings last April, I never thought I would still be at it, and how much time it would take. This post will be on some of the Zooming pioneers who got us through the first few months with talks, tours, and cook/or bake-alongs.

Saturday, May 8, 2021

Italian foodways in Italy and America


From Michelangelo to Scappi (image), from pasta to pizza to olive oil to many more subjects. And so many interesting talks were taped. Also Greek foodways talks.

Monday, May 3, 2021

Peat in Ireland for cooking, heating

Much manual labor was involved to get peat from a bog to the hearth. Slabs (like long bricks) were/are sliced off the bank by a special tool, then dried, turned, and dried until all surfaces were hardened and able to burn. Cooking over peat is shown in the picture An Irish farm kitchen with its open grate for peat. [1906]

Many taped talks and links to info.

Sunday, April 25, 2021

Women cookbook authors

Hannah Glasse vs Ann Cook, Margaret Dods was Christian Isobel Johnstone. Glasse (1708-1770), the most well known, published her first book The Art of Cookery in 1747. Cook's The Professed Cook came out in 1754 with her critique of Glasse. Johnstone (1781-1857) wrote The Cook and Housewife's Manual 1826, using the name of a character created by Sir Walter Scott in 1823. All will be explained in two upcoming talks, one by Ivan Day.

Monday, April 19, 2021

Scotland

Scotch Whisky and Haggis (ofcourse), sowans, peat - harvested and used for cooking and now to flavor Whisky - are in upcoming and taped talks. One intriguing talk is on the potato famine in Scotland, when there was a revolt... over oatmeal. Another talk is on the Margaret Dods cookbook (which I have used and enjoyed) and its Sir Walter Scott connection. Future taped talks will be added to this post.

Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Victory Gardens, Plants, Farms and Barns talks


May and June 20 talks UPDATE. There were over 25 talks in April on Victory Gardens WWII (War Gardens WW1), Medieval & Colonial gardens, 2 on White House gardens, Indeginous food & plants and more. There are also many taped talks from the past year on gardens, seeds, sugar beets, Manoomin (Wild Rice), farms and a few on livestock and stone walls.

Thursday, March 25, 2021

Hot Cross Buns and Easter Eggs also online talks

100,000 Hot Cross Buns were sold on one day - Good Friday - in London by 500 sellars in 1850. But already in 1825 "demand has decreased, and so has the quality of the buns." HERE

Easter Eggs were colored, scratched, left by a hare for some unknown reason, hunted, rolled, thrown and struck against another egg to see which cracked. HERE