Pie--the filling and baking of sweet (fruits, nuts, cheese) or savory (meat, fish, eggs, cheese) ingredients and spices in casings composed of flour, fat, and water is an ancient practice. The basic concept of pies and tarts has changed little throughout the ages. Cooking methods (baked or fried in ancient hearths, portable colonial/pioneer Dutch ovens, modern ovens), pastry composition (flat bread, flour/fat/water crusts, puff paste, milles feuilles), and cultural preference (pita, pizza, quiche, shepherd's, lemon meringue, classic apple, chocolate pudding?) All figure prominently into the complicated history of this particular genre of food.
The first pies were very simple and generally of the savory (meat and cheese) kind. Flaky pastry fruit-filled turnovers appeared in the early 19th century. Some pie-type foods are made for individual consumption. These portable pies... pasties, turnovers, empanadas, pierogi, calzones...were enjoyed by working classes and sold by street vendors. Pie variations (cobblers, slumps, grunts, etc.) are endless!
The Oxford English Dictionary traces the first use of the word "pie" as it relates to food to 1303, noting the word was well-known and popular by 1362.
"Pie...a word whose meaning has evolved in the course of many centuries and which varies to
some extent according to the country or even to region....The derivation of the word may be
from magpie, shortened to pie. The explanation offered in favour or this is that the magpie
collects a variety of things, and that it was an essential feature of early pies that they contained a
variety of ingredients....Early pies were large; but one can now apply the name to something
small, as the small pork pies or mutton pies...Early pies had pastry tops, but modern pies may
have a topping of something else...or even be topless. If the basic concept of a pie is taken to
mean a mixture of ingredients encased and cooked in pastry, then proto-pies were made in the
classical world and pies certainly figured in early Arab cookery."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] (p.
602-3)
American pies
"As a favored dish of the English, pies were baked in America as soon as the early settlers set up
housekeeping on dry land. Beyond mere preference, howevers, there was a practical reason for
making pies, especially in the harsh and primitive conditions endured by the first colonists. A
piecrust used less flour than bread and did not require anything as complicated as a brick oven for
baking. More important, though, was how pies could stretch even the most meager provisions
into sustaining a few more hungry mouths...No one, least of all the early settlers, would probably
proclaim their early pies as masterpieces of culinary delight. The crusts were often heavy,
composed of some form of rough flour mixed with suet."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004 (p. 272)
Recommended reading:
About pastry
"Small sweet cakes eaten by the ancient Egyptians may well have included types using pastry.
With their fine flour, oils, and honey they had the materials, and with their professional bakers
they had the skills. In the plays of Aristophenes (5th century BC) there are mentions of
sweetmeats including small pastries filled with fruit. Nothing is known of the actual pastry used,
but the Greeks certainly recognized the trade of pastry-cook as distinct from that of baker. The
Romans made a plain pastry of flour, oil, and water to cover meats and fowls which were baked,
thus keeping in the juices. (The covering was not meant to be eaten; it filled the role of what was
later called puff paste') A richer pastry, intended to be eaten, was used to make small pasties
containing eggs or little birds which were among the minor items served at banquets....In
Medieval Northern Europe the usual cooking fats were lard and butter, which--especially
lard--were conducive to making stiff pastry and permitted development of the solid, upright case
of the raised pie...No medieval cookery books give detailed instructions on how to make pastry;
they assume the necessary knowledge...Not all Medieval pastry was coarse. Small tarts would be
made with a rich pastry of fine white flour, butter, sugar, saffron, and other good things, certainly
meant to be eaten. From the middle of the 16th century on, actual recipes for pastry begin to
appear. ..The first recipe for something recognizable as puff pastry is in Dawson [The Good
Housewife's Jewell, London]...1596."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
586-7).
"Greek pistores had mastered the art of giving their bread the most extravagant forms, shaping it
like mushrooms, braids, crescents, and so on...thus illustrating in advance Careme's observation a
thousand years later: "The fine arts are five in number, namely: painting, sculpture, poetry, music
and architecture, the principal branch of the latter being pastry." And since it is not possible for us
to discuss flour without dealing with cakes, the moment has come to pose the question of what
pastry consisted of in antiquity, what it looked like and how it was made. The regrettable loss of
the great Treatise on Baking, by Chrysippus of Tyranus, which included detailed reicpes
for more than thirty cakes, each entirely different, leaves us somewhat short of information on this
important subject. But various cross-checks (not to mention the consulation of Apicius)
nonetheless give us a rather good idea of what the ancient Greeks and Romans confected in this
domain...the makers of Greco-Roman pastry had no knowledge of the subleties of dough, and
thus having nothing like our present-day babas, doughnuts, bioches, savarins, creampuffs,
millefeuille pastry, pastry made from raised dough or shortbreads...as a general rule, Greek pastry
closely resembled the sort that is still found today in North Africa, the Near East, and the Balkans:
the basic mixture was honey, oil, and flour, plus various aromatic substances, notably pepper. The
most frequent method of cooking was frying, but pastry was also cooked beneath coals. Other
ingredients included pine nuts, walnuts, dates, almonds, and poppy seeds. This mixture was
mainly baked in the form of thin round cakes and in the form doughnuts and fritters...Roman
pastry does not appear to have included many innovations over and above what the Greeks had
already invented."
---Culture and Cuisine: A Journey Through the History of Food, Jean-Francois Revel
[Doubleday:Garden City] 1979 (p. 68-9)
Professional pastry guilds & chefs
"Patissiere...Prehistoric man made sweet foods based on maple or birch syrup, wild honey, fruits,
and seeds. It is thought that the idea of cooking a cereal paste on a stone in the sun to make
pancakes began as far back in time as the Neolithic age...In the Middle Ages in France, the work
of bakers overlapped with that of the pastrycooks; bakers made gingerbread and meat, cheese,
and vegetable pies...However, it was the Crusaders who gave a decisive impetus to patisseries, by
discovering sugar cane and puff pastry in the East. This lead to pastrycooks, bakers, and
restauranteurs all claiming the same products as their own specialties, and various disputes arose
when one trade encroached upon the other...Another order, in 1440, gave the sole rights for meat,
fish, and cheese pies to patisseries, this being the first time that the word appeared. Their rights
and duties were also defined, and certain rules were established...In the 16th century, patissier
products were still quite different from the ones we know today. Choux pastry is said to have
been invented in 1540 by Popelini, Catherine de' Medici's chef, but the pastrycook's art only truly
began to develop in the 17th century and greatest innovator at the beginning of the 19th century
was indubitably [Antonin] Careme...There were about a hundred pastrycooks in Paris at the end
of the 18th century. In 1986 the count for the whole of France was over 40,000
baker-pastrycooks and 12,5000 pastrycooks."
"The bakers of France made cakes too until one day in 1440 when a specialist corporation, the
corporation of pastrycooks, deprived them of the right to do so. The pastrycooks had begun by
making pies--meat pies, fish pies...Romans had known how to make a kind flaky pastry sheet by
sheet, like modern filo pastry, but the new method of adding butter, folding and rolling meant that
the pastry would rise and form sheets as it did so. Louis XI's favourite marzipan turnovers were
made with flaky pastry...From the sixteenth century onwards convents made biscuits and
fritters to be sold in the aid of good works...Missionary nuns took their talents as pastrycooks to
the French colonies..."
"Although the Paris pastry guild did not record its first constitution until 1440, there may well
have been pastry specialties before that date. Once their guild was recognized, they began to
expand the range of their production: in addition to meat pastries and tarts, they also created
pastries out of milk, eggs, and cream, usually sweetened, such as darioles, flans, and dauphins. In
order to become a master pastry maker in Le Mans in the early sixteenth century, one had to be
able to use sugar loaves to make hypocras, a sweet, spiced wine used as an aperitif and
after-dinner drink. It was not until 1566 that the king joined the Paris cookie makers guild to that
of the pastry makers, and the two would be wedded frequently thereafter."
See also: cakes.
Frozen pie crusts?
The earliest reference we find for frozen pie crust, as a stand-alone consumer retail product, appears in the mid-1950s.
In 1955, a process for making frozen pie crust (rolled) was patented. This item was packaged in roll from; not as ready-to-bake
tinned shells. This USA
patent. was filed by Billie Hamilton Armstrong [TN] on June 4, 1954 and published December 6,
1955.
Subsequent USA period ads do not describe frozen pie crusts. We have no way to know how the first frozen crusts were packaged: rolled
& destined for homemaker's own pie pans or pre-shelled "ready to fill" in disposable tins. In 1963 newspapers across America
heralded a "new" frozen pie crust sold in 9-inch tins; without referencing brand or company. The year before, two companies
rolled out new frozen pie crust products. Both were marketed to consumers in super markets. Pet-Ritz is generally credited for
introducing shelled frozen pie crust products to the American public. Oronoque Orchards [Stratford CT], a local farm stand
famous for its pies, may have actually eclipsed Pet-Ritz by a couple of months. Pet-Ritz took marketed their product nationally;
Oronoque Orchards remained local. By the mid-'60s, frozen pie shells were ubiquitous.
[1955]
"Puncture-Free Pie Crust. Frozen pie crust has to be compounded carefully so as to resist tearing and puncturing between
the time it is rolled and the time the housewife spreads it in the baking tin. Billie Hamilton Armstrong of Hohenwald, Tenn., has
found a good proportion to be about two parts "soft" flour from summer-ripening wheat and one part "hard" flour from the winter
vareity. She divides the batch into pats of about one pound each and then subdivides these into smaller bits, rolling them by
hand to sheet form. This preliminary sheet is returned to pat form and rolled in a machine into pre-formed pie crusts about
twelve to sixteen inches one-sixteenth of an inch thick. They got to the supermarket frozen, rolled in waxed paper and packed
in light cardboard. Pie crusts prepared from dough made by her method, which is protected by Patent 2,726,156, "have uniformly
superiour characteristics," Mrs. Hamilton says, "combining the essential factors for exceptional flakiness and delactable
taste."
[1956]
[1957]
[1958]
[1961]
[1962]
About Pet-Ritz:
"Betty Winton says: Now You Can Make Perfect Pies No Foolin---No Failin' with Oronoque Orchards Frozen Pie Crusts. They're perfct
when you buy them. They're perfect when you make them. At King Cole, Smirnoff's and other fine super markets."
[1963]
"Pet-Ritz...Frozen Pie Crust Shells, pkg of 2, 39 cents."
[1965]
About puff paste
"Puff paste is thought to have been perfected by the brilliant pastry chefs to the court of the dukes
of Tuscany, perhaps in the fifteenth century. From there it made its was to the royal court of
France, most likely brought by Marie de Medici."
In England, puff paste was a natural iteration of short paste. Compare these recipes:
[1596] "To make butter paste
[1615-1660] "Of puff paste.
Related foods? Choux & shortbread.
In its most basic definition, pie crust is a simple mix of flour and water. The addition of fat makes it pastry. In all times
and places, the grade of the ingredients depends upon the economic status of the cook. Apicius
[1st Century AD] makes reference to a simple recipe for crust (see below). Medieval cooking
texts typically instruct the cook to lay his fruit or meat in a "coffin," no recipe provided. Up
through Medieval times, pie crust was often used as a cooking receptacle. It was vented with
holes and sometimes marked to distinguish the baker/owner. Whether or not the crust was consumed or discarded is
debated by food historians. Some hypothesize the crust would have been rendered inedible due to extreme thickness and baking time.
Others observe flour, and by association flour-based products, was expensive and would not have been thrown away.
Possibly? Pies baked in grand Medieval houses served two classes: the wealthy at the contents and
the crust was given to the servants or poor.
"Pies and tarts...In the Middle Ages, these sweet and savory preparations baked in a crust were
the specialty of patissiers--who had no other functions...We know that medieval cooks did not
always have ovens, and they worked with patissiers, to whom they sometimes brought fillings of
their own making for the patissier to place in a crust and bake. This explains why cookbooks
intended for professional chefs were nearly silent about the ingredients of these pastry wrappings,
but spoke only about consistency an thickness, and about the most suitable shapes...Still, medieval
cooks might take a chance and cook a simple pie or tart on their own by placing it in a shallow
pan, covered with a lid and surrounded by live embers, whose progress they had to monitor very
closely...In effect, the pastry because an oven, ensuring moderate heat thanks to its insulating
properties...So could it be that these pastry coverings were not necessarily eaten once they had
done their job of containing and protecting the fillings?"
Renaissance patissiers began experimenting with lighter, more malleable doughs. Recipes for short
paste ("short" in this case means butter) and puff paste enter
cookbooks at this time. 17th century English cook books and reveal several recipes for pie crust
and puff paste, all of varying thickness, taste and purpose. Robert May's The Accomplisht
Cook [1685] listed fourteen separate recipes for paste (pastry/pie crust/puff paste). American
cook books (The Virginia Housewife,
Mary Randoph [1828] & Directions for Cookery in its Various Branches, Miss Leslie
[1849]) contain instructions for making pies with puff paste, sometimes decorating them with cut
out pieces of this same paste. Mrs. Randolph's recipe for pumpkin pudding (pumpkin pie) states
"put a paste around the edges and in the bottom of a shallow dish or plate, pour in the mixture,
cut some thin bits of paste, twist them and lay them
across the top and bake it nicely." (University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1984 ( p. 154).
Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book [1879] reads: "Cranberry
tart...line your plates
with thin puff-paste, fill, lay strips of rich puff-paste across the top and bake in a moderate oven."
(p. 299). There is no illustration to show us exactly how these strips looked.
In addition to being efficient cooking receptacles, covered pies promoted preservation:
"The idea of the covered pie. The modern biscuit is a descendant of the barley bannock and the oatcake which have come down
to us from the beginning of civilization. It is a method of presering simply by reducing the water content of baked dough to such
a degree that the product is not likely to be affected by mould; this is done, with the biscuit, in such a manner as to make chewing
easy. The biscuit is thus the result of a successful fight against the dangers threatening normally fermented baked goods, mould, and
staleness. The basic idea of the covered pie is a similar one. The covered pie is of very old standing in the British Isles,
probably of longer standing than the modern biscuit. It has as a basis a similar dough to the biscuit, finely rolled out so
that it can be thoroughly baked like a crust, but not caramelized like a bread-crust. Such a crust, especially when some fat has
been added to the dough, is likely to withstand the influence of liquids and semi-liquids without becoming a sticky mess. If it is
given an open pie-dish form, it can be used for filling with semi-liquids like minced meat or fruit, the whole thing is protected
by the outer layer of the crust against certain contaminates and can be kept for quite a long time."
Pie crusts, Alice Ross
Apicius' recipe:
Recipes for apple pie (along with apples!) were brought to America by early European settlers.
These recipes date back to Medieval times. This 14th century English book offers For to Make Tartys in Applis.
[NOTE: cofyn is a medieval word meaning pie crust!]. About pie.
"The typical American pie made from uncooked apples, fat, sugar, and sweet spices mixed
together and baked inside a closed pie shell descends from fifteenth-century English apple pies,
which, while not quite the same, are similar enough that the relationship is unmistakable. By the
end of the sixteenth century in England, apple pies were being made that are virtually identical to
those made in America in the early twenty-first century. Apple pies came to America quite early.
There are recipes for apple pie in both manuscript receipts and eighteenth-century English
cookery books imported into the colonies."
About apple pie , Alice Ross
Journal of Antiques (includes notes on pie tins)
Most apple varieties originated in the Middle East. The fruit was introduced to Europe by the
Roman legions. They were actively cultivated. Apples are considered one of America's symbols
because they are prominently featured in recipes throughout our nation's history. About apples:
"The Romans introduced new economic plants. They had already developed several apple
varieties, with fruits smaller than those of today but larger and sweeter than those borne by
Britain's indigenous wild crabs...Their apple varieties included types for good keeping, and villa
owers stored them spread out in rows in a dry, well-ventilated loft...Apples were sliced into two
or three pieces with a red or bone knife (since metal stained the fruit), and were put to lie in the
sun."(p. 325-6)..."One of the earliest named apples was the pearmain, recorded soon after 1200.
The copstard, a very large apple, was popular from the thirteenth to the seventeenth centuries. It
was sold in the streets fo London by costermongers...By the fifteenth century pippins,
pomewaters, bittersweets and blanderelles had become fashionable apple varieties. Several of the
medieval apples were good keeping types; indeed, apples were preferred when they had been
kept awhile and allowed to mellow." (p. 330-1)...Apples were pulped in the mortar and then put
into tarts." (p. 334)
"Apple. There were no native American apples when the first settlers arrived on these shores..The
first
apple seeds were brought by the Pilgrims in 1620, and there were plantings in New Jersey as of
1632...In 1730 the first commercial apple nursery was opened on New York's Long Island, and by
1741 applese were being shipped to the West Indies. The proliferation of the fruit into the western
territories came by the hand of John Chapman, affectionately known as Johnny Appleseed. Born in Leominster,
Massachusetts, in 1774, Chapman left his father's carpentry shop to explore the new
territories...Apples were introduced to the Northwest by Captain Aemilius Simmons, who planted
seeds at Fort Vancouver in Washington in 1824..."
RECOMMENDED READING ABOUT APPLES:
About apple pie & American symbolism:
"Apple Pie
"The expression "as American as apple pie" wasn't the product of an overzealous imagination.
Apple dishes of one kind or another could be found at practically every colonial meal, especially in
New England. The apple was made into pies and fritters and puddings and slumps, literally a host
of dishes. The colonists had inherited some of their taste for apples from the British along with
many of the British recipes, but many other dishes were the products of American invention."
"When you say that something is "as American as apple pie," what you're really saying is that the
item came to this country from elsewhere and was transformed into a distinctly American
experience."
Martha Washington's recipe:
Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery (which was hand transcribed in the middle/late
17th century and in Mrs. Washington's possession) contains a recipe for an codling [apple] tarte.
Note
the archaic language (and lack of directions we now think of as *standard,* such as measurements
and oven temps!):
Some American historic apple pie recipes:
Related food? Turnovers.
Why do some people serve cheddar cheese with apple pie?
"The dark ages...The main meal was taken around the middle of the day...In the evening a light
supper was
taken and this was always finished with a little hard cheese, for digestion's sake. Gradually the
large mid-day meal was later taken until that meal, wine-drinking and the cheese supper were
combined. Thus was
born the British habit of finishing an evening meal with cheese; almost every other society has
eaten cheese
before the sweet course to finish their main wine, or instead of a sweet."
"'After meat, [serve] pears, nuts, strawberries, wineberries and hard cheese, also blanderelles,
pippins
[apples].' All were considered hard or astringent, and therefore suitable to close up the stomache
again
after eating. Even so, apples and pears when taken at the end of the meal were usually roasted,
and eaten
with sugar, comfits, fennel seed or aniseed 'because of their ventosity.' Ordinary folk ate fruit as
and when
they could get it. The poor people in Piers Plowman sought to poison hunger with baked
apples..." Related food: Apple sauce
What about Mock Apple Pie?
"This recipe was all
the rage when it first appeared in the 30s and remains
popular
in
deepest heartland. To my great surprise, in leafing through late-nineteenth-century cookbooks, I
found this Mock Apple Pie in Mrs. Hill's Southern Practical Cookery and Receipt Book
[1872]
"Mock Apple Pie is Back. While the pundits debate the condition of the economy, 1,500 consumers a year have been clamoring for a
recipe that is a holdover from the Depression. In response to their requests, the recipe for mock apple pie is back on boxes of
Ritz crackers, after a 10-year hiatus. The pie is made with cracker crumbs, water, sugar, lemon juice, cream of tartar, margarine
and cinnamon. It contains no apples, yet it tastes somethign like apple pie. A spokeswoman for Nabiso Brands said that decades
ago, apples were not as readily available out of season and those that were available were expensive, accounting for the popularity
of the mock apple pie. Actually, the recipe is a lot older than Ritz crackers. Pioneer families crossing the Great Plains in the
19th century also made pies like this when they ran out of fresh or dried apples, using apple juice or apple-cider vinegar in
place of the lemon juice."
Compare these recipes
[1869]
[1879]
[1903]
[2009]
About soda crackers & Ritz Crackers.
Related food? Apple cider
Tasty combinations of apples, spices, sweeteners and dough were known to ancient cooks.
Medieval Europeans used apples frequently. They also perfected pie. When they settled in the
New World, they brought their pie recipes (and apples,
cinnamon, sugar,
oats & wheat, butter, etc.) with them. Apple crisp (apple betty,
apple slump, apple grunt, apple cobbler, apple pot pie, fried apple pies, apple pudding, apple
pandowdy) descends from this culinary tradition.
Apple crisp-type recipes (& other "non-traditional" fruit pie
variations such as cobbler) in the 19th century. Cookbook authors of these times note these recipes
were regarded as quick family dishes, not meant for company or holidays. Certainly, pioneers
traveling west would have found apple crisp (made with dried apples) a quick and delicious
alternative to more complicated desserts.
The "Slump" connection:
"Slump. A dish of cooked fruit and raised dough known since the middle of the eighteenth century and probably so called
because it is a somewhat misshapen dish that "slumps" one the plate. Louisa May Alcott, author of Little Women, named her
Concord, Massachusetts, home "Apple Slump" and recorded this recipe:
Similar recipes, different names:
[1862]
[1908]
Related recipes? Apple crisp & Brown Betty & French Tarte Tatin.
The history and origin of baklava, a popular Middle Eastern pastry that is made of many sheets of
filo pastry laid flat in a pan and layered with sweet fillings, is commonly attributed to medieval
Turkey.
"Filo is the Greek name for a dough of many paper-thin layers separated by films of
butter...Although known to Europeans and North Americans by a Greek name, the dough is
clearly of Turkish origin. The medieval nomad Turks had an obsessive interest in making layered
bread, possibly in emulation of the thick oven breads of city people. As early as the 11th century,
a dictionary of Turkish dialects (Diwan Lughat al-Turk) recorded pleated/folded bread as one
meaning of the word yuvgha, which is related to the word (yufka) which means a single sheet of
file in modern Turkish.
This love of layering continues among the Turks of Central Asia...The idea of making the
sheets paper thins is a later development.The Azerbaijanis make the usual sort of baklava with 50
or so layers of filo, but they also make a...pastry called Baki pakhlavasi (Baku-style baklava)
using ordinary noodle paste instead of filo...This may represent the earliest form of baklava,
resulting form the Turkish nomads adapting their concept of layered bread--developed in the
absence of ovens...If this is so, baklava actually pre-dated filo, and the paper-thin pastry we know
today was probably an innovation of the Ottoman sultan's kitchens at Topkapi palace in Istanbul.
There is an established connection between the Topkapi kitchens and baklava; on the 15th of
Ramadan every year, the Janissary troops stationed in Istanbul used to march to the palace, where
every regiment was presented with two trays of baklava. They would...march back to their
barracks in what was known as the Baklava Procession."
"[Syrian] baklava are renowned thoughout the Near East. Some (called kol wa shkor) are made
with extremely thin layers of filo pastry and have different shapes. Others are made with a type of
birds nest' pastry, shaped in cylinders, called borma...All are filled with a mixture of nuts (pine
nuts, hazelnuts, walnuts, pistachios can all be used), sugar, and rose or orange blossom water,
baked, and then coated with sugar syrup."
"Persians, renowned patissiers since antiquity, invented the diamond-shaped Baklava which
contained a nut stuffing perfumed with jasmine or pussy willow blossoms. In the sixth century the
sweetmeat was introduced to the Byzantine court of Justinian I at Constantinople, where they
Greeks discovered phyllo (thin pastry) and adopted the dessert which they serve today on New
Year's and other joyous occasions."
If you want to learn more about the history of food during the Ottoman Empire, check out
"Ottoman Culinary Culture: It's Effect Upon Contemporary Cuisine," Terrie Wright Chrones,
MA (Oregon State University)
http://www.orst.edu/food-resource/kelsey/chrones.html
Related foods? Mille feuille & Napoleons!
The general concensus among the food history books is that napoleons, a popular flaky pastry
dessert, were not named for the famous emperor. The name is thought to be a corruption of the
word "Napolitain," referring to a pastry made in the tradition of Naples, Italy. The pastry used for
making napoleons is mille feuilles, literally meaning thousand leaves. While food historians place
the creation of this mille feuilles in 19th century Europe, it might possibly be a descendant of filo,
which was known to ancient middle eastern and Greek cooks. Filo is also composed of many
layers or leaves. One of the most famous filo recipes is baklava.
"Napoleons...have nothing to do with Bonaparte, the daring Corsican...The name is the result of a
misunderstanding of the French word Napolitain which should have been translated as
Neopolitan pertaining to Naples. They are very much like the French mille-fueille or the
Italian mille foglie both of which mean a thousand leaves."
"Mille-Fueilles...The original cream-filled Mille-fueille or thousand leaf puff pastry was the
probably creation of Careme, who may have used it as a grosse piece d'entremets to adorn a
banquet table. It often goes by the name Napoleon, not out of respect for the corpulent corporal
but as a corruption of Napolitain, referring to the Neapolitan manner of making sweets and ices
in layers of alternating texture and color."
"Napolitains are large cakes which, like Breton and Savoie cakes, mille-feuilles and croquembouche, were once used to decorate
elaborate buffets. In former times it was customary to place at each end of a table set for a large dinner party either and
imposing decorated pastry or a heap of crayfish of other shellfish. This practice has now been abandoned; and although napolitains
are still made, they are now usually small. The name of this cake suggests that it was created in Naples, but was this, in
fact, the case? Or must we, as would seem more probable, ascribe its invention to Careme, who, as is generally known, at the
time when he was making great set pieces, invented a certain number of large and magnificent pastries to which he himself gave
the names which they bear today? It is a question to which no certain answer can be given."
"Mille Feuilles, French for thousand leaves and a term for any of several items made from
several layers of puff pastry...The invention of the form (but not of the pastry itself) is usually
attribued to the Hungarian town of Szeged, and a caramel-coated mille feuilles is called
Szegedinertorte. Careme, writing at the end of the 18th century, cautiously states only that it was
of ancient origin...The most usual kind of mille fueilles is made of three layers of pastry baked in a
rectangle shape, sandwiched with a cream filling containing nuts, or or some other cream or
apricot jam, the top sprinkled with icing sugar...One particular oval type consisting of two layers
joined around the edge, containing the same almond filling as gateau Pithiviers and iced with the
same mixture diluted with egg white, is known in France as a "Napoleon'--probably a corruption
of "Napolitain', from the Neapolitan habit of making layered confections. In the USA the name
Napoleon' may be applied to any mille feuilles, and it is usually to to all kinds with royal
icing."
About filo: According to the food historians, filo/phyllo is of Turkish origin. One of the
most popular foods made with this kind of dough is Baklava.
The Careme connection?
Compare these recipes
[1878]
[1961]
Method. Pound the almonds in a mortar with a little white of egg to bind them. When the almonds are pounded to a fine paste,
add the fine sugar, the flavoured sugar, the butter and flour. Pounding constantly, add as many whole eggs as are required to make
a very smooth and rather stiff paste. Take this paste out of the mortar and leave to stand for a while in a cool place. Roll out
the paste. Cut it into square, round or hexagonal pieces. With a pastry cutter 2 inches in diameter, cut out the middle of
each piece, except for two which will serve for the top and bottom layer of cake. Bake these layers of pastry in a hot oven.
When the layers are quite cold spread each one with a different fruit puree or jelly. Put the layers one on top of the other, using an
uncut layer to form the base, with alternate layers of jam or jelly. Cover with the other uncut layer. When the cake is built up,
coat with golden apricot jam and pipe with royal icing.
Note. In former times, napolitain ckase were decorated with motifs in almond paste or flaky pastry baked without
browning."
[1972]
Forming and cutting the Napoleons
Serving.
Pie is ancient. Cream, custard and pudding pies are Medieval. Bananas took the
American market by storm in the 1880s, due to impoved transpotration and savvy, aggresive
marketers. Late 19th/early 20th century cookbooks are full of banana recipes.
Bananas adapted well to most traditional fruit recipes. Hence: banana cream pie, banana pudding,
banana nut bread, banana ice cream, banana compote, banana fruit salads, banana splits, etc.
About pie,
custards & creams &
bananas.
The best source on the history of bananas (a must read, quite enjoyable)
Bananas: An American History, Virginia Scott Jenkins [Smithsonian Institution
Press:Washington DC] 2000
The oldest recipes we find for banana pie in an American cookbook were published in the late 19th century. They employ sliced
bananas, not banana cream/custard. Banana cream is just as old:
[1901]
[1887]
[1908]
The oldest recipe we have titled Banana Cream Pie is this:
[1950]
Food historians tell us chocolate cream pie, as we know it today, was
introduced in the last decades of the 19th century. The earliest versions were topped with meringue or a thin layer of
whipped cream, creating a "black bottom" of sorts. Early prototypes were baked in standard pastry shells and served room
temperature.
Recipes titled "Black Bottom" surface in early 20th century. They were hailed as 'novel' in the 1920s.
Modern chilled versions coincide with the introduction of "icebox" (aka refrigerator) desserts. These new desserts typically
incorporated commercially prepared items. In the case of pie, standard pastry shells were replaced by
crushed cookie or graham cracker crusts. As time progressed, ratio of chocolate filling to white topping flipped.
Some versions introduce a layer in between.
About refrigerator pie.
Food historians generally associate "Black Bottom Pie" with Southern USA cuisine. Our research confirms this is true, but not
in the place most folks expect. Latitude-wise. Our survey of historic USA newspapers suggest "Black Bottom Pie"
originated in southern California (Los Angeles). Variations slowly rolled eastward (via Oklahoma, Texas,
Kentucky, Florida) to the Atlantic shore where they were embraced without question. None of our Southern cookbooks
published in 1930s contain "Black Bottom" recipes.
This is what the food historians say:
"Certain recipes are destined to catch the public fancy and become classics,
though not necessarily right away. One such recipe is Black Bottom Pie...appears not to have caught on, however, until
the late 1930s when Duncan Hines, author of America's trusted Adventures in
Good Eating, made note of it...Later Hines would recall Black Bottom Pie as "one of
those marvelous creations that has somehow managed to keep its light under a
bushel." In 1940 The Good Housekeeping Cook Book and Woman's Home
Companion Cook Book both printed recipes for Black Bottom Pie...One of Black
Bottom Pie's biggest fans was Floridian Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, author of the
Yearling, who included her version of Black Bottom Pie in her Cross Creek
Cookery (1942)."
Monroe Boston Strause "The Pie King" included an entire chapter on Black Bottom Pie in his classic
book Pie Marches On. He prefaced the recipe with these headnotes: "This is without doubt the most sensational pie
that has ever been introduced, and is one of the outstanding originals of the writer. Aside from being a sensation, I
believe it brought the highest price that any pie ever sold at commercially; $1.90 for a nine inch pie retail, and the
volume in which it sold made pie history. This pie was written up by newspapers and magazines all over the country, and
on these pages the recipe is published for the first time. Those who were among the fortunate few to obtain this recipe
guarded it very closely, and it is my prediction that it will be the outstanding pie in this book. The sensation was not
in the pie alone, but in its design and make-up, as well as the crust beneath it. On this pie was first introduced the
Graham Cracker Crust and, of course, we will start with the crust."---Pie Marches On, Monroe Boston Strause
[Ahrens Publishing:New York], 2nd edition 1951 (p. 231) [NOTES: (1) Recipe included; happy to scan or fax. (2) Mr. Strauss is credited for inventing Chiffon Pie: http://foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html#chiffon (3) We cannot absolutely confirm this recipe appeared in the original 1939 edition]
Monroe Strause appears to be claiming to be the inventor of Black Bottom Pie. He was from Los Angeles. The earliest
recipes we find titled "Black Bottom Pie" were published in California Newspapers. Coincidence? Maybe not.
Additional notes & citings,
courtesy of Barry Popik.
A survey of recipes through time
[1928]
[1929]
"Black Bottom Pie,
[1931]
[1932]
[1934]
[1939]
[1942]
There are some questions regarding the history Boston cream pie [Not! To be confused with
Boston Favorite Cake or Boston Pudding]. This is not an uncommon occurrance in the world of
culinary history.
"Boston cream pie. A pie made of white cake and custard filling or topping. If chocolate icing is
added, it is called "Parker House chocolate pie," after the Parker House in Boston,
Massachusetts, where the embellishment was first contrived. The pie goes back to early American
history, when it was sometimes called "Pudding-cake pie," or, when made with a raspberry jelly
filling, "Mrs. Washington's pie," The first mention of the dessert as "Boston cream pie" was in the
New York Herald in 1855."
The Boston Globe reprinted the original Parker House recipe a few years ago:
THE ORIGINAL BOSTON CREAM PIE
According to research conducted by Stephanie Seacord, former director of public relations for the
Omni Parker House, the original Boston cream pie had only two layers. Ribas's version, however,
consists of three layers of spongecake, which are soaked with rum syrup, spread with
whipped-cream-lightened custard, topped with chocolate and vanilla icing, and garnished with
toasted sliced almonds. This recipe makes 4 cups of custard filling, a fine amount if you're going
to cut the cake into three layers. If you plan to cut the cake into two layers, however, I
recommend making a half portion of the pastry cream.
For the pastry cream:
For the chocolate fondant icing:
For the cake:
To make the chocolate fondant icing, wipe a large cookie sheet (or marble slab) with a damp
cloth. Combine the sugar, cream of tartar, and water in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Cover and let boil
for 3 minutes. Uncover and dip a pastry brush in cold water to wash down the sides of the pot;
boil until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage (238 degrees), about 5 minutes. Remove from the
heat and pour onto the damp cookie sheet. Let it cool for 10 minutes, or until lukewarm.
Using a metal spatula, spread the sugar mixture out and turn it over on itself until it starts to
thicken and whiten. (It may be easier to knead the mixture with your hands.)
Continue kneading the sugar mixture until it is very stiff. Scrape it off the sheet, place in an
airtight container, and refrigerate for several hours. To make the cake, preheat the oven to 350
degrees. Lightly grease a 10-inch springform pan. Separate the eggs, putting the whites in one
medium bowl and the yolks in another. Add 1/2 cup of sugar to each bowl. Beat the egg whites
until they form stiff peaks; beat the egg yolks until they are thick and pale yellow in color, about 5
minutes. Gently fold the stiff egg white mixture into the yolk mixture.
Gradually fold in the flour and then fold in the melted butter. Pour the batter into the prepared
cake pan and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out
clean when inserted into the center of the cake. Let cool. To assemble, heat 3/4 cup of the fondant
and the chocolate in a double boiler until warm. Stir to a spreading consistency, adding a little
water as necessary. Using a long serrated knife, slice the cake into 2 layers. Spread the pastry
cream over the bottom layer, reserving approximately 1 cup of pastry cream to spread around the
sides of the cake (to help the almonds adhere). Place the second layer of cake over the pastry
cream and spread the reserved pastry cream around the sides of the cake. Top with the chocolate
icing (work rapidly, since the icing sets very quickly) and press the almonds around the sides.
Serve immediately at room temperature, or refrigerate for up to 2 days and bring to room
temperature before serving. (When refrigerated, the fudgelike icing becomes quite heavy and
stiff.) Serves 10.
Stir the butter into the water, which should be warm, set it on the fire in a saucepan, and
slowly bring to a boil, stirring it often. When it boils, put in the flour, boil one minute,
stirring all the while; take from the fire, turn into a deep dish, and let it cool. Beat the eggs
very light, and whip into this cooled paste, first the yolks, then the whites. Drop, in great
spoonfulls, upon buttered paper, taking care not to let then touch or run into each other, and bake
ten minutes.
Cream for filling
Wet the corn-starch with enough milk to work it into a smooth paste. Boil the rest of the milk.
Beat the eggs, add the sugar and corn-starch to these, and so soon as the milk boils pour in the
mixture gradually, stirring all the time until smooth and thick. Drop in a teaspoonful of butter, and
when this is mixed in, set the custard aside to cool. Then add vanilla or lemon seasoning; pass a
sharp knife lightly around the puffs, split them, and fill with the mixture. The best cream cakes I
have ever tasted were made by this somewhat odd receipt. Try it."
Other recipes similar to Boston cream pie
Chess pie (also known as chess cake, chess tart, & sugar pie) belongs to a long Southern
American
tradition of
sweet egg-rich custard pies. Popular culinary folklore offers several interesting explanations for
the name of
this recipe. The most plausible is the connection between it and 17th century English cheeseless
cheesecakes. Foodways expert Karen Hess confirms:
About
cheesecake and custard.
"The Southern chess pie carries and old--even ancient--tradition of puddings and pastries with the
rich
texture of cheese. "Chess" is probably derived from the word "cheese," although various other
theories
have arisen about the origin of the name. Elizabeth Hedgecock Sparks, author of North
Carolina and
Old Salem Cookery, says it is "an old, old tart which may have obtained its name from the
town of
Chester, England." Others believe that "chess" is a corruption of the world "chest" (as in a pie
chest) where
pies are often kept. Then there is the story about the cook who was asked what she put in the pie,
and she
replied, "Anything in our chest." Or the one who was asked about the kind of pie. The answer
was "Oh, jes'
pie."
The cheese etymology seems the most likely one, because in old cookbooks, cheesecakes and
pies
that were sometimes made with cheese sometimes without (referring to cheese in the textural
sense--lemon card, for example, is often referred to as lemon cheese), are often included in a
single category. A
selection of cheeseless "cheese" pastries in Housekeeping in Old Virginia (1879) are made
with egg
yolks, sugar, butter, milk, and lemon juice--very much like chess pie filling. Sometimes called
"Cheesecake
Pudding" (the filling is made of yolks, brown sugar, butter, nutmeg, and brandy or rum) is baked
in a crust in
small tins..."
"Chess pie is the classic Southern pastry, rich, sweet, and intense. The name is a corruption of
cheese, for
in the British culinary tradition eggs and cheese share the same terminology...The Oxford English
Dictionary
says a cheesecake is "a cake or tart of light pastry, orginally containing cheese; now filled with a
yellow
butterlike compound of milk-curds, sugar, and butter, or a preparation of whipped egg and
sugar." The
Southern version is the latter...The classic chess pie is pointed up with vanilla and/or nutmeg.
Lemon chess,
perhaps the favorite, receive just enough citrus flavor to name, but not dominate, the
custard...Variations on
the chess theme are Brown Sugar Pie, and with nuts, Pecan Pie."
Cheeseless cheescake & chess pie recipes through time
[1653]
[1747]
[1803]
[1871]
[1877]
[1879]
[1884]
[1928]
Related food? Shoofly pie (based on brown sugar & molasses).
General concenus of American food historians is chiffon pie (chocolate & other flavors) first surfaced in the United
States during the 1920s. Precursors can be found under different names. The ultimate underlying inspriation is probably
meringue: http://www.foodtimeline.org/foodpies.html#meringue
Who gets the credit for "inventing" the chiffon pie?
"Monroe Boston Strause, pie engineer. Here is the man who invented chiffon pie--and his recipe...Fruit-fragrant chiffon will be the
pie star on the menus of tomorrow, is the prediction of Monroe Boston Strause, number-one pie engineer of the nation. And pie man
Strause ought to know: Commercial bakers in 48 states look to him as style leader in the building of America's favorite
dessert. Monroe Boston Strause has a weakness for that pie called chiffon; it's an invention all his own. But chiffon pies postwar
will have a different kind of thickening from those of today. Cornstarch is being outmoded by new gelatinizing agents, tasteless,
clear as glass, that can be combined with the filling without beating. Fresh fruit chiffons will taste like fresh fruit. It was in
1921 that ambitious, redheaded Monroe Strause, 16, went into the business with an uncle who fancied himself a pie baker. Cream
pies were Uncle Mike's specialty--stiff with cornstarch. Monroe couldn't bear the sight of them, let alone promote their
sale...Determined to make his first business venture succeed, the youngster began fooling around with pie fillings. He started with
a recipe for the French cream used in eclairs in which boiled sugar syrup is added to beaten egg whites, then the cornstarch
filling folded into this. Anything for lightness, so Monroe began piling in the egg whites. First thing he knew he had a filling
ethereal. This creation he carried home to show off to his mother. 'Why, it looks just like a pile of chiffon,' she said.
So the pie was christened. Mere piecrust seemed unworthy support for such a delicate dainty. Monroe's mother suggested graham crackers
for a shell. Then crumb crusts were unknown. More experimentation. Eventually a shell light, crisp, tender--the ideal mate for chiffon.
Monroe's first chiffon pies sold as a restaurant novelty, 35 cents a thin wedge. Within three years he boasted the largest pie
business in the West. Bakers from everywhere were asking, 'How did you do it?' Monroe sold his pie company to be a pie
engineer. Anyone, he clams, can turn out a chiffon nothing short of perfection by following his blueprint directions:
In Mr. Strause's own words, Chiffon pie was 'invented' in 1938: "Orange and Lemon Chiffon Pies...Thirteen years ago, when 'chiffon' pies were originated,
I did not know that the word would ever be known to anyone but myself. It was purely and simply a crazy idea at that time, and yet
today chiffon pie is known to people in every walk of life; and is probably the most talked of and the highest publicized of
all pies. Are you taking full advantage of its possibilities? If no, then read this chapter carefully, because herein lies the
original chiffon pie recipes. These recipes have been imitated by many, but seldom equaled. Dopn't be fooled by their
simplicity because the simplest things often gove the best results. To be successful with these recipes, it will only be
necessary for you to follow the instructions very closely. So take thedoctor's advice in reading this presecription. Read it
three times before attempting to fill it."
Additional bio notes here.
What is chiffon?
"Chiffon Pie. My research tells me that these fluffy unbaked pies debuted in the early 1920s as "souffle" or "gelatin" pies. A headnote to the Eggnog Chiffon Pie
recipe in Woman's Day Old Fashioned Desserts (1978) says that "Chiffon pies were invented in 1921 by a professional baker who lived in Iowa. By
beating egg whites with a fruit-flavored syrup until the mixture was light and fluffy, he achieved a filling that his mother said looked like a pie of "chiffon." It's a story
I've been unable to substantiate. Besides, Knox Gelatine's 1915 booklet, Dainty Desserts for Dainty People, features gelatin "sponges," "marshmallow
puddings," and "marshmallow creams"--the airy mixes that would one day emerge as chiffon fillings...Searches of several dozen early-twentieth-century cookbooks
turn up a few "souffle" and "sponge" pies, but these contained no gelatin and/or whipped cream. They were baked pies with stiffly beaten egg whites folded in just
before they went into the oven...The earliest fluffy gelatin pies that I was able to locate both appeared in Good Housekeeping's Book of Menus, Recipes and
Household Discoveries. The date: 1922. The first, Coffee Souffle Pie, qualifies on all counts as a chiffon pie...The second Good Housekeeping recipe,
Pineapple Gelatin Pie, contains gelatin and heavy cream...but no egg whites. Still, it is very chiffonlike. Leafing through 1930s cookbooks, I find four chiffon pies in
My Better Homes & Gardens Cook Book (1939); lemon, chocolate, pineapple, and pumpkin. All begin with a gelatin "custard," are fluffed with stiffly
peaking egg whites, and, in the case of the pineapple, with whipped cream as well. Here too, the crusts are the standard pastry, baked and cooled (crumb-crusted
cvhiffon pies come later--with pies such as grasshopper...and Black Bottom..). Two 1940 cookbooks featured a great variety of chiffon pies: Women's Home
Companion Cook Book (with ninteen) and the Good Housekeeping Cook Book (with thirteen). Despite World War II sugar shortages, chiffon pies
surged into popularity during '40s, driven perhaps by The Joy of Cooking, which devoted a special section to them. Chiffon pies remained popular right
through the '70s. Then in the 1980s when salmonella began compromising the wholesomeness of our eggs, they fell from favor. But only briefly. Savvy food
manufacturers discovered that powdered egg whites, cream cheese, whipped toppings, and marshmallow cream could double nicely for raw egg whites. Thus,
'90s chiffon pies are likely to contain no eggs at all. And sometimes no gelatin. There's usually no stinting, however, on whipped cream."
[1931]
[1932]
[1937]
[1946]
Cobbler is an amalgam of European tradition and American ingenuity. According to the food
historians, cobbler (peach, apple, plum, cherrry, etc.) originated in the American West during the
second half of the 19th century. It was a deep-dish thick, quick crust filled with whatever
fruit (fresh, canned, dried) was on hand. Necessity required westward-bound pioneer cooks to
adapt traditional oven-baked pie recipes to quick biscuit treats that could be cooked in Dutch
ovens. Pot pie is a closely related recipe.
Why call it cobbler?
In the absence of documented evidence, educated guesses may be
constructed. It is possible the name derived from the look of the final
product. Cob/cobble/cobber convey many meanings in the English language.
Elizabeth David (English Bread and Yeast Cookery)tells us traditional English "cob" bread was small, brown and round. Similar, perhaps
to cobbletones. Perhaps this is what the the first cobbler resembled?
While American dictionaries date the first print instance of the term "cobbler" in 1859, Nancy Baggett (fellow IACP
member and cookbook author) recently located this older reference. Proving? Culinary history sleuthing is often the result
of careful reading and research.
The Dictionary of Americanisms traces the first instance of the word cobbler (as it applies
to a pie dish) in print to 1859: "Cobbler...a sort of pie, baked in a pot lined with dough of great
thickness, upon which fruit is placed."
"Another kind of cobbler is a western- deep-dish pie with a thick crust and a fruit filling. This dish
is called bird's nest pudding or crow's nest pudding in New England; it is served with a custard by
no topping in Connecticut, with maple sugar in Massachusetts, and with a sour sauce in
Vermont."
"Cobbler, also cobbler pie: A deep-dish fruit pie with crust, often biscuit dough, on the top and
sometimes lining the pan. Chiefly South, South Middle (parts of the United States.)."
[1877]
According to the records of the US Patent & Trademark Office, Wham-O introduced its iconic Frisbee flying disc June 17, 1957. The inventor? Walter Fred
Morrison. The original prototype? Inexpensive metal pie plates. The inspiration? Throwing empty pie plates was popular on college student diversion during the
Great Depression. The name? Frisbie Baking Company, Bridgeport, Ct. Who was the first person to throw a pie plate and yell Frisbee? We will never know.
There are several claimants to this honor. Because Frisbie pies were sold in New England, we can assume the fad with this name began there. This does not
preclude the possibility of other people hurling similar objects in other parts of the country (world?) achieving the same purpose.
What did a Frisbie Pie Tin look like?
"It's one of Richard Burton's favorite forms of exercise. Carol Greiltzer, a New York City councilwoman, does it at every opportunity....What they
do is fly Frisbees, and they have lots of company. A Frisbee is a plastic disk about the size of a pie pan that can soar, dip or bank like a glider
when thrown properly. First introduced commercially about a dozen years ago by Wham-O Manufacturing Co., Frisbees until recently were
regarded primarily as novelties for children. But of lately the flying of Frisbees has become something of a national craze among adults...Soldiers
in Vietnam find a Frisbee session relaxing after a day in the bush chasing the Vietcong...Guts Frisbee is played by two five-man teams standing
about 15 yards apart. They hurl the plastic disks at each other with awesome force, scoring points when an opponent fails to catch a throw
one-handed...Legends about the origins of Frisbee are many--all probably apocryphal. One has it that way back in 1837 a Yale man named
Frisbee sailed a church collection plate 200 feet across the campus in protest against compulsory chapel. Movie people claim it all started in
Hollywood in the 1940s when film editors relaxed at lunch by scaling empty film tins. But most Frisbee historians agree that the modern era began
after World War II when the clientele of the now-defunct Frisbie Baking Co. of Bridgeport Conn., found that the tin plates holding Mother
Frisbie's pies were great for soaring. In the late 1950s, Fred Morrison, a pie-tin tosser of notable skill, took the idea to Wham-O. The company.
The company has since sold several million Frisbees, and Mr. Morrison has raked in close to $500,000. in royalties."
"In the beginning, of course, a Frisbee was a tin plate holding a pie that was produced by the thousands in a Bridgeport bakery. The Frisbee Pie
Company was its name, and somewhere between 1871 (When William R. Frisbie started the business) and 1920 (when somebody saw the fun in
tossing the empty tins), Frisbee started on its way to becoming one of America's rare native sports. A mispelling early in the game changed an 'i'
to 'e' a man on the West Coast (W. Fred Morrison) began manufacturing aerodynamically improved version of the disk in 1957. ..A lot has
happened to a Frisbee since it held a pie, but a lot more has happened to the ability of Frisbee tossers. This becomes very evident in an Ultimate
Frisbee match, where a team, of seven players tries to pass a Frisbee down a 60-yard field without letting it hit the ground or be blocked by an
opposing team of seven...The ball is dead, as far as Frisbee freaks are concerned. A ball holds no mystery, they contend, has a slavish
attachment to the earth and falls quickly if missed in the initial attempt to catch it. But not the Frisbee, which exists just to fly."
"Students at Yale University insist they were the first to pick up a Frisbie Pie Company plate and fling it into the air. But similar claims have
come
from Princeton and other Easter colleges and universities. Olin Robinson, Middlebury College's president, said both were wrong...'it started here.'
To honor its certainty, the college unveiled a bronze sculpture a few weeks ago by Patrick Farrow, and artist, of a dog catching a flying disc in its
mouth. Middlebury officials contend that a group of Delta Upsilon fraternity brothers tumbled into the game while traveling to a fraternity
convention in Nebraska 50 years ago. Short on cash while on the road, the men took Frisbie fruit pies with them to eat, the story goes. They
tossed the leftover tin back and forth to amuse themselves while waiting for a flat tire to be repaireid. Frist Pie-Tin Throwers. It was 1939. 'That
fall in Middlebury the air was filled with flying pans, every size and shape,' said a story in Middlebury's alumni newspaper in the spring of 1976.
'Grade-point averages dropped, football atttendance suffered and all stores were out of pie pans.' But even the college's official version is
disputed by one of the Middlebury students, who said he had participated in the fateful event. Elbert Cole, a retired chemist living in Palo Alto,
Calif., said he and another fraternity brother found a pie tin in a Nebraska cornfield and tossed it to each other, yelling 'Frisbie.' 'People have
been throwing pie pans forever, but that's how it got to be called Frisbie.' [said] Mr. Cole...Yale suggests that its students were the first to
throw pie-tins because the Frisbie Pie Company, which was based in Bridgeport, Conn., likely sold pies near Yale. David Iovanne, director of the
New Haven Convention and Visitor Bureau, said it is part of New Haven lor that Yale students were the first pie-tin tossers...After World War II,
the travels of the flying pie tins became easier to document, said Daniel Roddick of the Wham-O Manufacturing Company in San Gabriel, Calif.,
which makes the modern plastic Frisbee. In 1948, Walter Fred Morrison, a West Coast inventor and building inspector, made plastic versions and
marked them as flying saucers, In 1957, Wham-O discovered the popularity of a game called Frisbie that was played mostly on college campuses
on the East Coast. The company liked the name and began selling Frisbees under a registered trademark. They later learned of the Frisbie Pie
Company...'As to the documentation on who cast the first one without a blueberry pie in it, that's a bit of a challenge,'...I think what you have
here is a pretty spontaneous response to a natural opportunity...It just brought a lot of happiness and joy to people at a time when the world
was getting ready for World War II...It just brought release."
Food historians generally agree Gateau Saint Honore belongs to Paris (because St. Honore is the
patron
Saint of patisserie and has a street name in Paris after him), but are collectively vague regarding
the
period. Neither do they attibute the creation of this confection to a specific chef or agree on the
history
behind the name. Chiboust (for whom the creme
used in this recipe was named) was a mid-19th
century
patissiere. Quite the mystery, yes?
The ingredients and method of Gateau Saint Honore date the possibility of this recipe to the 17th
century.
Primary evidence confirms master Parisian patissieres often employed choux and cream to effect
grand
dessert presentations. Croquant was "invented" at this time. Chantilly creme (sometimes referred
to as
Chiboust) was also "invented" in the 17th century. We find nothing close to Saint Honore in La
Varenne
[1651], but Ude's French Cook [1828] contains several recipes which might been
precursors. These
are generally composed of choux artfully arranged and filled with chantilly cream. Unlike Gateau
Saint
Honore, however, do not employ shortcrust.
Escoffier [1903] contains a recipe for Creme a Saint-Honore (#4345), but not (at least that we
can find)
Gateau Saint Honore. Neither does it show up in Richardin [1913]. The original edition of
Larousse
Gastronomique [1938] includes both description and recipe (en Francais, we can send if you
like).
ABOUT GATEAU SAINT HONORE
Gateau Saint Honore, a confection of two kinds of pastry with a cream filling. Shortcrust pastry
provides a
firm base for the soft and flexible choux pastry piled round it on top. Glazed profiteroles are stuck
to the ring
of choux. The centre of the ring is filled with a creamy mixture (creme chiboust) stiffened with
gelatin and
lightened with stiffly beaten egg whites. This cake is sometimes said to have been named after St.
Honore,
the patron saint of bakers, but others say that it owes its name to the rue Saint-Honore in Paris,
where it was
created (possibly as a development of some existing product) in 1846 by a patissiere, Chiboust.
The
learned authors of the Ile-de-France volume listed under IPCF (1993) explain why they regard the
matter as
an unsolved mystery."
"Saint Honore, a gateau consisting of a layer of shortcrust pastry (basic pie dough) or puff pastry
on top of
which is arranged a crown of choux pastry, which is itself garnished with small choux glazed with
caramel.
The inside of the crown is filled with Chiboust cream (also known as Saint Honore cream') or
Chantilly
cream. A Parisian gateau, Saint Honore takes its name from the patron saint of bakers and
pastrycooks. It
is also said that its name comes from the fact that the pastrycook Chiboust, who create the cream
which is
used in it, set himself up in the Rue Saint-Honore in Paris."
About pastry
Food historians and primary evidence place the genesis of this American pie in the late
1950s/early 1960s.
Chiffon pies were very popular at that time. The "grasshopper" name is borrowed from a popular
green-colored cocktail, also *invented* about this time. There is speculation this recipe was
invented by food/drink
companies to promote their products. It is quite likely, although we cannot verify in print.
This is what the food historians have to say:
"I suspect--but cannot verify--that [Grasshopper Pie] recipes descend from one that appeared in
High
Spirited Desserts, a recipe flier publsihed jointly by Knox Unflavored Gelatine and Heublein
Cordials. It
begins "Dinner guests sometimes click their heels with glee over a superb dessert." Then it goes
on to urge
the reader to be "devil-may-care. Knox Unflavored Gelatine provides a variety of handsome and
delectable
dishes. Heublein Cordials provide the spirits that give each sweet masterpiece inimitable flavor.
Serve with
pride. Await applause modestly." Unfortunately, there's no date on the leaflet. Given its yellowing
state,
however, its purple prose, and whimsical Jester illustrations, I suspect that it belongs to the late
50s or,
possible, the early 60s."
"Grasshopper pie. A dessert pie made with green creme de menthe cordial, gelatin, and whipped
cream. It
derives its name from the green color of the cordial. The pie is popular in the South, where it is
customarily
served with a cookie crust, and probably dates from the 1950s."
"Grasshopper pie. The name of this mint-chocolate pie corms from the after-dinner drink, which is
made by
shaking 1/2 ounce cream, 1/2 ounce white creme de cacao, and 1 ounce creme de methe together
with ice
cubes, then straining. This pie may have had its start in the Fifties when creme de menthe had
considerable
cachet, and by the Sixties it had quite a following."
"Q. Do you know the origin of the name chiffon as related to cooking and the origin of a chiffon
pie known
as a grasshopper? A. The word chiffon obviously applies to foods that have a delicate or light and
fluffy
consistency. I seriously doubt that any book could date the exact origin of the word. A
grasshopper pie is
made with green creme de menthe, white creme de cacao and cream. The filling comes out a
delicate
green color. The word derives from the cocktail that bears the name grasshopper, It is made with
those
ingredients, which are shaken with ice and strained."
"Grasshopper Pie. That Queen of Pies, the Grasshopper. Here's the recipe from the Hiram Walker
people
just as it appeared in all sorts of advertising a couple of years ago."
The earliest reference to grasshopper pie in the New York Times was published in 1904. It
is for the
"real" thing:"
"Big grasshoppers, such as grow fat and buzz loudly in the Orient, are looked upon as table
delicacies in
the Philippines. There are several methods used by the natives for catching grasshoppers. The
most
effective is the net...The hopper is first so thoroughly dried out in the head of the sun or in the
bake oven
that there is nothing left that is really objectionable, and a nice crispy article of food results. This
states
sweet of itself, and something like ginger biscuits. The natives usually sweetend the grasshopeer
more by
using a sprinkling of brown sugar. Then the confectioners make up grasshoppers with sugar,
chocolate
trimmings, and colored candies in such a way a very nice tasting piece of confectionery is
obtained. The
housewife of the Philippines takes considerable delight in placing before you a nice grasshopper
pie or
cake. The grashopper pie is the most wonderful dish, as the big hoppers are prepared in such a
way that
they do not lose their form."
The earliest NYT recipe for Grasshopper Pie, as we Americans know it today, was published in
1963. It
does not reference any specific name-brand products. It does, however, confirm the propularity of
this
dessert in the time frame established by the food historians:
Is it possible to mix up several ingredients, pour it into a baking recepticle and have the layers naturally settle into
a pie formation (crust on the bottom; filling on the top). Yes, according to the makers of Impossible pie. This 20th century
novelty recipe took some parts of our country by storm.
The origins of Impossible Pie (aka mystery pie, coconut amazing pie) are sketchy at best. A
survey of newspaper/magazine articles suggests this recipe originated in the south (where
coconut custard pies are popular). It was *discovered* by General Mills (Bisquick) and
General Foods, who capitalized on the opportunity to promote their products. Corporate
recipes surfaced in the mid-1970s. There are conflicting reports about the dates of
introduction. The earliest recipe we have on file was published in 1968. None of the ingredients are name-brand.
This article sums up the situation best:
[1971]
[1978]
[1979]
Certainly, such a popular pie would have much available in the way of history. Not! Food
historians confirm
the popularity of limes (a gift from 16th century Spanish explorers), presence of pies (an "Old
World"
recipe), and eager acceptance of condensed milk (mid-19th century). Presumably, the
"inspiration" for Key
Lime pie is Lemon meringue.
"According to John Egerton (Southern Food, 1987), Key Lime Pie was known in the Florida
Keys "as far
back as the 1890s." It don't doubt it a bit because in those pre-refrigerator days, fresh milk was a
poor
keeper. What local cooks had learned to rely on was the sweetened condensed milk Gail Borden
had
begun canning shortly before the Civil War."
"Key lime pies were first made in the Keys in the 1850s. Jean A. Voltz, in The Flavor of the
South
(1977), explains that the recipe developed with the advent of sweetened condensed milk in 1856.
Since
there were few cows on the Keys, the new canned milk was welcomed by the residents and
introduced into
a pie made with lime juice. The original pies were made with a pastry crust, but a crust made from
graham
crackers later became popular and today is a matter of preference, as is the choice between
whipped
cream and meringue toppings. There are three recipes for Key lime pie in The Key West Cook
Book
(1949), only one of which refers to a graham-cracker crust, and two of which do not require the
pie to be
baked. One has no topping, one whipped cream, and one meringue."
Here are the 1949 recipes referenced above:
Meringue
Recipe for The Breakers Key Lime Pie?
THE BREAKERS' KEY LIME PIE
About condensed milk
About Key
(Mexican) limes
Frozen lime pie is an interation of Key lime pie. The oldest mention we find in print for the frozen
pie implies
the recipe existed at least as early as the 1970s. Of course, most recipes exist long before they
appear in
print.
"Mabel Brotzman asked for help in finding a lost recipe for a Key Lime Pie that can be frozen for
serving later. We
received dozens of replies from readers. Marcia H. Kenward said she'd clipped the recipe from
The Miami Herald "at
least 30 years ago." That recipe calls for stirring in 1 to 2 drops of green food coloring if desired.
As Dot Schuck of Key
Largo puts it: "Most folks from up North think Key lime should be green." The vintage recipe
calls for separated eggs in
the filling, which makes it more involved but airier in texture. The more popular recipe, at least as
far as our mail
indicates, is made with frozen whipped topping. Barbara Bliss sent her boyfriend Dave's incredibly
easy recipe, which is
similar to many we received. Tips: If you are making your own graham cracker crust, try brushing
egg white on the top
just before baking to keep the crust crisp. Remove the pie from the freezer no more than 5
minutes before serving. Paula
Prouty of Key West and Scarborough, Maine, where she is a newspaper food editor, simply
makes a regular Key lime
pie, with a meringue top, and then freezes it.
Vintage Frozen Key Lime Pie
According to the food historians, lemon flavored custards, puddings and pies have been enjoyed
since Medieval times. While Renaissance European cooks used whisked egg-whites in several
dishes, it was not until the 17th century that they perfected meringue.
Lemon meringue pie, as we know it today, is a 19th century product. About lemons.
ABOUT LEMON MERINGUE PIE IN AMERICA
"Lemon-meringue pie, made with lemon curd and topped with meringue, has been a favorite
American dessert since the nineteenth century."
Elizabeth Coane Goodfellow (1767-1851) is credited for introducing lemon meringue pie to
America in her Philadelphia shops [The Larder Invaded: Reflections on Three Centuries of
Philadelphia Food and Drink, Mary Anne Hines, Gordon Marshall & William Woys Weaver,
Historical Society of Philadelphia, Philadelphia 1987 (p. 66)
Where is lemon meringue pie considered a *traditional* dessert? Many places are known for this
particular pie. Many of them are in the South. Lemons are a favorite component of southern
cooking. Think lemon chess pie and lemonade.
"Lemon meringue pie has been around a long time in the South and most likely grew out of the
vast repertoire of puddings, whose popularity pies eclipsed in the late nineteenth century. It is
remarkably similar ot the Queen of Puddings."
"A pie can always be turned out for dessert as long as there are lemons in the house, and
American cooks have devised many recipes. President Calvin Coolidge is said to have favored a
simple lemon custard pie. The even more common lemon meringue, ever present in public eating
places, is one more dish served at Boston's Parker House that has become a classic in the
American repertoire. And a special version gained fame swiftly when it went on the menu of the
Lion House Social Center in Salt Lake. The following version is based on a method worked out in
the 1960s by the late Michael Field in collaboration with Dr. Paul Buck, a food scientist at Cornell
University. The determined Mr. Field devoted days to making lemon meringue pie after another
until he eliminated the "weeping" common to meringues that sit around on counter; his trick was
to use a little calcium phosphate powder, a food-grade phosphate product available in drugstores
and suggested by Dr. Buck."
Many 17th and 18th century cookbooks contain recipes for lemon custard, pudding (sometimes
served in a puff-paste base), pies, and tarts. These are often topped with pulverized sugar. It is
not until the middle of the 19th century we find recipes that would produce lemon meringue pie,
though they are not titled as such:
[1769] "A Lemon Pudding
[1847] "Meringue Pie
[1871] "Lemon Custard Pie No. 2
[1879] "Lemon Pie.
[1882] "Lemon Pie (no. 3)
[1885]
ABOUT MERINGUE
Food historians tell us the precursor for meringue was an Elizabethan-era dish called "Snow".
(aka snow eggs). What exactly is meringue and who is credited for the discovery?
"Meringue...an airy, crisp confection of beaten egg white and sugar. The word probably entered
French from German, as did many other French words ending in -ingue. It first appeared in print
in Massailot [1691], although earlier recipes for the same thing but without the name had been
published. The name travelled to England almost at once and first appeared in print there in
1706....It seems to have been only in the 16th century that European cooks discovered that
beating egg whites, e.g. with a whisk of birch twigs (in the absense of any better implement),
produced an attractive foam. At first the technique was used to make a simple, uncooked dish
called snow, made from egg white and cream. However, cooking such a foam would not have
resulted in meringue, for any fat in the mixture, as represented by the cream, prevents the egg
whites from taking on the proper texture...When true meringue made its appearance in the 17th
century, it still lacked its name and was often called "sugar puff.""
"Meringue. The name for this confection of sugar and beaten egg white is a direct borrowing from
French "meringue." but beyond that its origins are obscure. Legend has it variously that it was
named after the town of Meringen in central Switzerland of after the Saxon town of
Mehringyghen, seat of the operations of the Swiss pastrycook Gasparini who supposedly invented
it there in 1720. However, the fact that the word had even entered the English language before
this (it is first mentioned in Edward Phillip's dictionary The New World of English Words,
in John Kersey's 1706 edition) casts considerable doubt on the story. In fact, mixtures of beaten
egg white and sugar cooked in a slow oven had been popular since the early seventeenth century
(they were called "Italian biscuit"), and it was the great increase in the proportion of egg white
which marked the inception of the superlight meringue towards the end of the century."
"Whites of eggs produced the Elizabethan dishful of snow, a spectacular centrepiece for the
banquet course following a festal meal...The beating of egg whites was not altogether easy before
the fork came into common use late in the seventeenth century...A 1655 recipe for cream with
snow suggested a cleft stick, or a bundle of reeds tied together and roll between your hands
standing upright in your cream....at the turn of the [17th] century a still lighter creation was
introduced from France, in which the proportion of frothed egg white to sugar was greatly
increased. The new arrival was quickly added to the sweetmeats of Britain, among which it is still
to be found. Its French name remains unaltered. It was the meringue."
The 1938 edition of Larousse Gastronomique tell us that meringue was invented in 1720
by a
Swiss pastry chef named Gasparani. Queen Marie Antoinette is said to have enjoyed these. Recent
editions of this book do not reference the 1720 date and they attribute the invention of meringue
to Gasparini, a Swiss pastrycook who practiced his art in a small the small German town of
Meiringen. Recent editions also add that until the early 19th century, meringues cooked in the
oven were shaped with a spoon; it was Careme who first had the idea of using a piping bag.
Meringue recipes here.
RECIPES FOR MERINGUE through time:
[1604]
[1828]
"Meringues au Marasquin au Sucre Chaud
[1869]
"Meringue with Coffee Cream
[1907]
"4348: Italian Meringue
"4349: Italian Meringue made with cooked sugar
[1929]
[1941]
ABOUT LEMON COOKERY
Where did lemons originate?
"The lemon...owes its name entirely to the botanists, for it was unkown to classical writers.
However, it was widely used from the Middle Ages onwards. It was regarded as an essential in
the seventeenth century...Originally from the foothills of the Kashmir, the lemon did not reach
China...until around 1900BC. In China, it was given the name limung, which it retained almost
unchanged when it moved on to Persia and Media. From the tenth century AD onwards the
Arabs, who called it li mum...took it all around the Mediterranean basin, eastwards to Greece by
way of Constantinople, westwards to Spain by way of Maghreb and Fezzan. The Spanish and
Russians retained the name limon, which becomes lemon in English..."
"Lemons were one of the most sought after fruits in early modern Europe. Being associated with
sunny southern Europe they were considered healthy, much the same way we think of
Mediterranean foods today. Their juice was used as a condiment, especially on fish because its
acidity was thought to cut through the "gluey humors" abounding in seafood, making them more
digestible. Northern Europeans generally had to import lemons, but eventually a way to grow
them indoors was devised. Lemon peel, grated or candied lemon was also a typical garnish."
Lemons and scurvy
Lemons, Fruits of
Warm Climates/Morton
Lemons in 19th century America
"Legend has it that Columbus brought lemon seeds to Florida, and Spanish friars grew the fruit in California, where it flourished in the middle of the nineteenth
century--especially in Eureka (possibly first cultivated in California or brought from Sicily)...In 1874 James W. Parkinson, writing of American dishes at the
Philadelphia Centennial, noted that "citron"...a lemon-like fruit, had "lately been transplanted in California..." In 1934 Irvin Swartzberg of Chicago began selling
gallon bottles of fresh lemon juice to bars and restaurants, and, after perfecting a method of concentrating the juice with water, sold the prdouct in the market under
the name Puritan-ReaLemon."
Grocer's notes, circa 1883
"Lemon.--The fruit of a tree closely related to the orange, citron and lime...The lemon grows wild in the north of India and has been long cultivated among the
Arabs who carried its culture into Europe and Africa. It is now naturalized in the West Indies and other parts of tropical America...The pulp of the fruit abounds in
citric acid. There is, however, a variety cultivated in the south of Europe, the juice of which is very sweet. The acid juice of the common kind is laregley employed
in preparing the beverage known as lemonade...Lemons vary very much in size, and the ordinary boxes contain from two hundred and forty to four hundred and
twenty lemons each; the brands L and LL being used to designate sizes, single L;'s being the largest. They are wrapped separately in order to prevent decay by
crushing together. Thin-skinned lemons are the juiciest. There are over thirty varieties of lemons in cultivation, but they are generally classified according to the
place of growth or shipping. The principal importations into this country are from Sicily (Messina lemons) and from Valencia. The lemon can be successfully grown
in Florida and California--products which are receiving great attention. The oil of lemon is largley used in cooking and confectionery; the extract of lemon, sold for
domestic use, being simply a dilute solution of the oil in alcohol. The pure juice of the lemon is extremely efficacious in attacks of acute rheumatism."
These notes illustrate the growing popularity of lemons, as imported fruit, in the 19th century.
Lemons: Unit=box
How much did lemons cost?
[1888]
[1895]
[1928]
Lemons were actively promoted in 1928 for several different uses besides eating:
How many kinds of lemons were available in 1928?
"A new fruit--sweet lemons.
MEYER LEMONS
"The Meyer Lemon is not a hybrid but is a distinct citrus species found only a few years ago in a remote region of China by one of the famous plant explorers of the
United States Department of Agriculture, Mr. Fred Meyer. It is sometimes called the Chinese Dwarf Lemon because it does not grow as large as the ordinary
Lemon tree. If it bore no fruit at all, the Meyer would still be worth planting as an ornamental in our gardens because it makes a spendid, bush, dense-foliaged
shrub, growing to about eight feet and with flowers on it during almost the entire year....The fruit...is almost double the size of the usual Lemon, roundish-oval in
shape, and of a rich orange-yellow color; about halfway between the Orange and the ordinary Lemon in appearance. It will serve any purpose to which a Lemon
can be put and is available almost from the time the plant is put out, because the plants bear immediately and are almost never without fruit form that time on."
"...for home places where room is not plentiful, the new Chinese dwarf lemon, the Meyer, is possibly the finest lemon that can be lanted. The late Frank Meyer,
plant explorer of the United States Department of Agriculture, did California a great service when he found this lemon in the door-yard plantings of China. It is much
hardier and easier to grow than the commercial lemons of California. It will thrive anywhere in Southern California, not only producing big juicy orange-colored
fruits, which can be used for all the purposes for which lemons are needed, but making a handsome ornamental plant. It reaches a height of eight feet and has
luxuriant foliage, with big fragrant blooms which are even more highly perfumed than those of the orange."
"One of the best varities for back-yard production is the Meyer lemon, which has proven its value since its introduction in 1908. Discovered in dwarf form growing
in the gardens of China by Frank Meyer, this particualr variety will stand slightly colder temperatrues than other types, although all lemons are susceptible to frost
damage. Fruit is of medium size, thin-skinned and smooth. Size of the tree may be an advantage in most gardens since it will only reach 8 ft. in height in 20 years,
while producting an abundance of fragrant flowers and yellow-orange fruit. Lemons ripen and begin to fall during the month of May."
Related fruits: Oranges & grapefruit.
The practice of fashioning sweet desserts from many-layered pastry is an ancient tradition originating in the Middle East.
Baked or fried, thick or thin, large or small, they are often served at festive occasions.
According to the food historians, filo/phyllo was of Turkish origin. One of the most popular
foods
made with this kind of dough is baklava. Milles-feuilles (literally, thousand leaves) was a 19th
century French invention based on the same principle and adapted to the tastes of the day. Today there are several variations
on this culinary theme. French Palmiers, Afghan Elephant Ears
Spanish sopaipillas, & Native American fry bread descend from these traditions.
Our food reference books state palmiers (also known as palm leaves) were invented around the
turn of the 20th century. The name suggests they were first made in France, but we find no
evidence confirming this. In fact, we find a recipe for palm leaves (Palmenblatter) in Viennese
Cooking, O. And A. Hess [Crown:New York] 1960 (p. 213), which suggests this pastry might
have commanded a broader swath of geography. We also find no attribute to the first
person/restaurant credited for cooking/serving this cookie. In the world of food history, this is not
uncommon.
"Palmier. A small pastry made of a sugared and double-rolled sheet of puff pastry cut into slices,
the distinctive shape of which resembles the foliage of a palm tree. First made at the beginning of
the 20th century, palmiers are served with tea or as an accompaniment to ices and desserts."
"Palmiers are small sweet biscuits made from puff pastry and shaped somewhat like butterflies.
To
their anonymous early twentieth-century inventor their shape evidently suggested more the
topknot of leaves on a palm, for French palmier means literally 'palm tree'."
"Palmier. Also called palm leaves, palmiers are small pastries made from sugar-encrusted puff
pastry. The sides of a rectangle of puff pastry are folded into the center, then folded over to make
four layers, and cut across the width into thin strips. These are laid on their sides on a baking
sheet and they fan out as they bake to resemble the leaves of palm trees. Palmiers are baked until
they are crisp and the sugar caramelizes to a rich golden brown. They are served with tea or
coffee or as an accompaniment to ice cream and other desserts. France."
"Sometimes, you just have to hand it to French culinary genius. Take the palmier (palm-YAY).
It's a cookie, nothing more than flour, water, salt, a light sprinkling of sugar and immoderate
amounts of butter. Yet as the palmiers bake, the moisture in the butter-riddled layers evaporates,
causing the dough to puff into hundreds of paper-thin flakes. Meanwhile, the sugar caramelizes
ever so slightly, casting a glassy sheen. The result? A pastry whose crisp, caramelized exterior
gives way at the slightest pressure to countless crisp layers. Ironically, such a delicacy originated
as a means for resourceful pastry chefs to salvage leftover puff pastry dough. (When you consider
the labor-intensive nature of puff pastry, you understand why one would want to use every last
piece.) Though simple, the technique used to make palmiers can be fraught with peril. When
rolled too tightly, sliced a smidgen too thick or underbaked by even a minute, the interior remains
soggy and leaden. When rolled too loosely or baked at excessive temperatures, the pastry
becomes brittle and shatters upon touch. And when caked with sugar, the delicate balance is lost
and the pastry becomes one-dimensional. Athough ubiquitous throughout France, the proper
palmier is hard to find here. At some American bakeries the Frisbee-size confection is as sweet
as saccharin and dubbed the "Elephant Ear." At Latin American markets, they may be labeled
orejas ("ears" in Spanish) though the only ones I have come across are packaged in plastic, which
suffocates the crisp pastry. And at a German bakery, I once requested a palmier and received
nothing more than a polite, though perplexed, stare. It seems I should have requested the rather
inelegantly named "Pig's Ear." Some franchise French bakeries, such as La Madeleine, have
"palmiers" that are far inferior to the "elephant ears" offered by Fresh Fields/Whole Foods
Market. Though mass production is no friend to the palmier because the slicing and sprinkling
go largely unpoliced, a notable exception is the downtown Washington location of Fresh
Fields/Whole Foods Market, whose elephant ears put most palmiers to shame. (Though all of the
stores use the same frozen puff pastry dough shipped from a French bakery in Manhattan, the P
Street store's bakery consistently turns out a crisp, buttery, flaky palmier, albeit the size of a
dinner plate.) Buonaparte Breads at Historic Savage Mill in Savage and in Baltimore produces a
fine palmier, but they no longer ship them to their retail customers in the District since they are
too fragile. Whether sent out with after-dinner espresso at Michel Richard's Citronelle in
Georgetown or nibbled as an elegant something to satisfy a sweet tooth on a leisurely afternoon,
the palmier can be an amazing thing. When you can find them. They are usually priced by the
pound and vary greatly in size. SEN5ES For the palmier lover, the pastry case at Georgetown's
sedate Sen5es Bakery and Restaurant is a sight to behold. Row after flawless row of compact,
perfectly wound palmiers are nestled against one another. While they last. "Believe me," says
pastry chef, Bruno Feldeisen. "If I don't have them, I hear about it!"
Feldeisen says he doesn't make a profit on the palmiers. But it's one of the little things that chefs
do for their clientele. Most days, that is. "It needs to be made with love, and sometimes we don't
have the love," explains Feldeisen...PATISSERIE POUPON Ruth Poupon's
rendition of a palmier defines daintiness. Slightly larger than a silver dollar (or rather, a French
franc) and so thin as to be almost diaphanous, it seems as though it might shatter if breathed
upon. But it is surprising sturdy. (Those at the bottom of the bag do tend to break though.) The
appropriately faint sweetness is underscored by a crisp, barely colored pastry that, lacking much
caramelization, in truth seems almost more butter cookie than palmier...AMERNICK At first glance, Amernick
bakery in Cleveland Park may seem an unlikely source for a palmier. Yet Ann Amernick, who
has held pastry chef positions with Michel Richard and White House pastry chef Roland
Mesnier, chose to include, amid her eclectic assortment of pastries, a rendition laced not with
sugar but a sharp, salty blend of Parmigiano-Reggiano and aged Dutch Gouda cheeses.
Amernick's savory rendition is best appreciated when taken home and warmed in the oven. Why
a savory palmier? It's a carry-over from the days when Amernick's bakery was in Wheaton, on
the site of a former Dutch bakery. The palmiers were a favorite of customers, says Amernick.
"And I liked them." An equally laudatory stick version is also available..."
The earliest recipe we find for
palm leaves (aka palmiers) in an American cookbook is from
Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cook Book [1896]
This sweet pastry means different things to different people. From Afhgan national cuisine to USA country fair fare. Each
is delicious in its own right. Recipes and cooking methods vary according to place and expectation.
Recipe for traditional Afghani Goash-e-Feel (iced with nuts) here:
Elephant's ear pastry is the literal meaning of goash-e-feel, a name given because of the shape and size of these crisp, bubbly, sweet pastries. They are usually served with tea; and often a bride's family sends them to the bride and groom the day after the wedding. They are also made for Nauroz (New Year's Day, 21 March, the first day of spring).
"For the best results, the pastry must be rolled paper thin, and the oil for frying must be very hot.
"1 egg
"Dear readers: We have had great fun over the past month of so reading the letters that have poured in about elephant ears and funnel cake. It all began when we pubished
a letter from Ann Mehr of Schaumberg, who wanted a recipe for the elephant ears sold at Wisconsin county fairs. She described them as batter fried in deep fat and
sprinkled with cinnamon. We replied that they sounded like the fried dough we get at our country fairs here in the East. We then got a letter from Linda Mao or Rocky
Mount, N. C., who said, no, no, a thousand times no! What Ann is looking for is funnel cake, and she kindly sent us a recipe, which we published. Letters poured in
from Nebraska to New Hampshire, telling us that funnel cake and elephant ears are totally different, and depending on who was writing, that elephant ears aren't deep-fat
fried anyway; they are BAKED. From Faye Bean of Friend, Neb.: "Here's the elephant ears recipe (my father used to call them 'shoe soles'). You can use any
dinner-roll or bread recipe if you want to make them from scratch our you can use frozen dinner rolls instead of frozen bread."
"Elephant Ears
"The farther east the letters came from, the more frequently their writers suggested the deep-fry method using bread dough (either frozen or homemade). Lots of our readers
sent in this one. Shape a loaf-size portion of dough into 15 ovals or rounds, roll out until 5 1/2 inches round and 1/8 inch thick. Deep fry in 375 degree oil for 3 minutes on
each side until golden brown. Drain well and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. By the time we got to New Hampshire, elephant ears had turned into the following. This
recipe was sent to us by Lanceine Frizzel of Claremont, N.H.
"Elephant ears
Related food? French palmiers & funnel cakes.
Food historians generally agree pecan pie is a twentieth century invention inspired by traditional
sugar pies
and sweet nut confections. It is a favorite of the American south, as are pralines and other pecan
infused foods. About pecans.
"As a good daughter of the South practically weaned on pecan pie, I had always assumed that it
dated back
to Colonial days. Apparently not,. Still, I find it difficult to believe that some good plantation
cook didn't stir
pecans into her syrup pie or brown sugar pie. Alas, there are not records to prove it. In fact, I
could if no
cookbooks printing pecan pie recipes before the early twentieth century. And only in th 1940s did
"Fannie"
and "Joy" begin offering recipes for it. In Southern Food: At Home, on the Road, in
History
(1987)...John Egerton writes: "We have heard the claim that Louisianans were eating pecan
candies before
1800, and with sugar and syrup produced from cane at that time, it is conceivable theat they were
eating
pecan pies, too, but there are no recipes or other bits of evidence to prove it."...If Karo did not originate pecan pie, it certainly
popularized the recipe as a rifle through twentieth-century cookbooks large and small quickly
suggests.
Nearly all pecan pie recipes call for Karo corn syrup. The only clue to earlier origins for pecan pie
that I've
been able to unearth is this syrup pie recipe published in From North Carolina Kitchens,
Favorite
Recipes Old and New published in 1953 by the North Carolina Federation of Home
Demonstration
Clubs."
Late 19th century newspapers (mostly from Texas) offer pecan pie recipes. Suggesting? The genesis
might belong to German settlers recreating nusstorte in the Lone Star state.
[1914]
[1931]
[1938]
[1941]
[1942]
"Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie
"My Reasonable Pecan Pie
[1952]
[1960s]
[1970]
"Pecan Pie #2
Related desserts?
Syrup/Shoofly pie & Sugar/Chess pie.
ABOUT PECANS
"Pecan. The most important nut of N. America, is bourne by one of the hickory trees, Carya
illinoiensis. The
hickories, which are related to walnut trees, include several species of edible nuts...but the pecan
is much
the best. Its native habitat is the central southern region of the USA. The name comes from the
Algonquin
Indian paccan, which denoted hickories, including pecans...Most pecans now some from
cultivated trees,
although many old, wild trees continue to produce nuts which are gathered and marketed. ..The
main uses
of pecans are in sweet dishes and confectionery, although they are also used in a stuffing for
turkey. Pecan
pie is one of the most famous American desserts. Pecan butter is also made."
"Pecan. A North American nut (actually a kind of hickory nut) sometimes said to be a native of
Oklahoma,
the pecan...is really indigenous to an area extending from the U.S. Midwest throughout the South
and
Southwest into Mexico--a region where it still grows wild today. Pecans are commerically
cultivated in the
band of states running from Georgia west to New Mexico, as well as in Mexico, Brazil, and
outside of the
Western Hemisphere, in Israel, South America, and Australia. The first recorded instance of pecan
cultivation is said to have been when Thomas Jefferson carried the trees from the Mississippi and
gave
them to George Washington. But long before this--eons before the Europeans arrived--pecans
were an
important item in the diet of Native Americans living in the south-central region of North
America."
"Pecan. The nut of the tall hickory tree native to America, ranging from Illinois down to
Mexico...The name
comes from various Indian words (Algonquian paccan, Cree pakan, and others) and was first
mentioned in
print in 1773. Thomas Jefferson introduced the tree to the eastern shores of Virginia, and he gave
some to
George Washington fo planting at Mount Vernon. A Louisiana slave named Antoine was the first
successfuly to graft and cultivated pecan trees in 1846." Related food? pralines.
"...there is no earlier evidence than third century Macedonia for the use of a flat loaf of bread as a
plate for meat, a function which bread continued to perform in the pide of Turkey, the pita of
Greece and Bulgaria, the pizza of southern Italy and the trencher of medieval Europe. Although
meat and other relishes were seen earlier in Greece as accompaniments to cereal, the cereal had
taken other forms."
"It has been argued that the Italians did not "invent" pizza. Perhaps this is technically true, but
there can be no denying that Italy was most certainly the seedbed out of which the concept would
flourish to the fullest. In one form or another, pizza has been a basic part of the Italian diet since
the Stone Age, and Italians have devised more ways of interpreting the dish than anyone
else...Italian pizza evolved from the basic concepts initiated by two different cultures: the
Etrucans in the north and the Greeks in the south...The earliest pizza prototypes originated when
Neolithic tribes first gathered wild grains, made them into a crude batter, and cooked them on the
hot stones of their campfires...Italians may have made pizza famous, but they certainly did not
invent the concept of the dish...the Greeks, who occupied the southernmost regions of Italy for
over 600 years (from about 730B.C. to 130 B.C.), were the greatest bakers of ancient times...Flat,
round breads were baked with an assortment of "relishes" (in ancient Greek, a relish meant
anything spread or baked on bread), such as oils, onions, garlic, herbs, olives, vegetables, and
cheese, on tip. A rim of crust was left around the bread to serve as a kind of handle..."
"A pizza consists mainly of a flat disc of bread. This is normally the base for various toppings, and
it is safe to assume that since early classical times people in the general region of the
Mediterranean were at least sometimes putting a topping on their flat breads [ie foccacia]...the
word pizza itself was used as early as the year 997 AD in Gaeta, a port between Naples and
Rome...Abruzzi had something called pizza in the twelfth century. Calabria made pitta or
petta, Apulia pizzella or pizzetta, Sicily sfincione. Tuscany's
schiacciata...was first roasted on stones by the ancestral Etruscans...The
napoletana, i.e. pizza of Naples, can indeed be seen, and has been so far seen for over a
century, as the archtype of modern pizzas..."
Why do we call it "pizza?"
"The origins of its name are not altogether clear. Its extreme similarity to the Provencal pissaladiere, a dough base covered generally with onions, olives, and
anchovies, would make it tempting to assume that Italian somehow acquired the word from French, were it not for the fact that Italian pizza actually denotes a far
wider range of items than what English-speakers would recognize as pizza. Essentially it means 'pie', and this can cover for example a cloased fruit pie as well as
the open pizza. The usual course suggested for it is Vulgar Latin *picea, a dervative of Latin pix, 'pitch' (in which case it would be an amost directly parallel
formation with English pikelet), but it could also be related to Greek pitta."
"The term pizza is clouded in some ambiguity, though it may derive from an Old Italian word
meaning a point, which in turn led to the Italian word pizzicare, to pinch or pluck. The word
shows up for the first time in print as a Neapolitan dialect word--piza or picea--about 1000 A.D.,
possibly referring to the manner in which something is plucked from a hot oven...While many
Mediterranean cultures and regions of Italy have long had their versions of flatbreads...the baked
flatbread most people now think of as pizza originated in Naples, and was a favorite snack of
occupying Spanish soldiers at the Taverna Cerriglio in the 17th century. The soft, baked crispy
dough that the Neapolitans called sfiziosa would be folded over into a libretto (little book) and
consumed in the hand. It was baked by men called pizzaioli, who worked in small shops called
laboratori. By the middle of the 19th century the word pizza had become common parlance for
the food item..."
Pizza alla Margherita?
"...on June 11, 1889, an official of the Royal Palace asked a local pazaiolo named Raffaele
Esposito to create a special pizza for the visit of King Umberto I's consort, Queen Margherita, to
Capodimonte. Esposito created three examples, but the one most favored by the Queen was made
with ingredients in the three colors (tricolore) of the Italian flag--red (tomato), white (mozzarella)
and green (basil) atop the pizza dough. Esposito quickly named the newly fashionable pizza after
the queen, and thus was born the pizza alla Margherita and that was to become the classic
Neapolitan pizza, recognized as such by the Associazone Vera Pizza Napoletana (The True
Neapolitan Pizza Association)..."
Pizza in America: New York traditions & Chicago-style
Pizza was imported to the United States by Italian immigrants. For many years, pizza was mostly
available in cities with large Neapolitan populations [New York, Boston, New Haven,
Philadelphia, Baltimore etc.]. It wasn't until American soldiers returned from WWII that pizza
became a national phenomenon.
"Pizza came to America at the end of the nineteenth century with immigrants from southern Italy.
Italian immigrants built commercial bakeries and backyard ovens to produce bread they had eaten
in Italy. In addition, Italian bakers used their ovens for flatbreads: northern Italians baked
focaccia, while southern Italians made pizza. Initially, pizza was made by Italians for Italians, but
thy the late 1930s after the Great Depression many Americans were eating pizza in Italian
restaurants and pizzerias on the East and West Coasts...Over time, two basic and distinct styles of
American pizza appeared. A thin-crust pizza, commonly called "East Coast" or "New York"
style, is made with just a few toppings like pizza made in Naples...The crust of thick- or
double-crust pizza, also called "West Coast" style, serves as a foundation for a larger number of
toppings...There are several uniquely American pizzas. Deep dish, or "Chicago style," pizza
originated at Pizzeria Uno...in 1943...California or "gourmet" pizza originated in 1980 at Chez
Panisse, a restaurant in Berkeley, California."
"One of the first pizza sold in the United States was baked some fifty years ago by a 13-year-old
pizzaiuolo named Gennaro Lombardi at 53 1/2 Spring Street in Little Italy section of New
York...Pizza may never replace hot dogs as the great American "bite," but their amazing
acceptance in recent years prompts a question: Why pizza and not, say, Mexican enchiladas? The
guess is that a growing number of Americans of Italian origin aided by advertising and
refrigeration, have made pizza as delectable as such other postwar imports as Lollobrigida. The
entertainment weekly Variety, going gastronomic the other Wednesday, reported that the
"extent to which the pizza pies are replacing hot dogs at drive-ins was demonstrated at the
concession trade show at Allied States Ass'n convention which featured more pizza-making
machines than frankfurter heaters." At the Texas State Fair, largest exhibition of its kind, pizza
evoked great interest on the midway. More inquiries were made about pizza than any other food
with the exception of the "corny dog," the dressed-up hot dog on a stick...
...A Neapolitan pizzaiuolo might be startled by pizza in the United States...At a "pizza bar" in a
large Manhattan department store--where thousands are absorbed weekly by hungry
shoppers--three kinds are for sale: plain pizza (a pie); pizzaret (a muffin), and a best-seller called
the pizza-bagel, created, after some protest, by a turncoat pizzaiuolo from Florida...There are
fresh pizza,
warm-over pizza, refrigerated pizza, warm-over pizza and frozen pizza, selling everywhere from
sidearm joints to pizza palaces. (Though "pizza" means pie or pies, some Americans insist on
saying "pizza pies.")...Gennaro Lombardi seemed to be the man to turn to. Nobody has disputed
his claim to having the oldest pizzeria in the United States....Gennaro said, "They all came here to
eat my pizza, all the opera stars, Scotti, Tetrazzini, Caruso..."
How much did the first pizzas cost?
"Nov. 10, 2005, marks our 100th anniversary. I'm selling everything for 5 cents," says Brescio
[manager of Lombardi's]. "That's what it cost back in 1905. Now that's history." "The first American cookbook recipe for pizza appeared in Specialita Culinarie Italiane,
137 Tested Recipes of Famous Italian Foods, a fund-raising cookbook published in Boston in
1936. That recipe, for Neapolitan pie or Pizza alla Napolitana, directed that pizza dough
be hand-stretched until it was one-quarter-inch-thick. The dough was topped with salt and
pepper, Scamozza (Scamorza) cheese, tomatoes, grated parmesan cheese, and olive oil in that
order. There were no ingredients for the pizza dough itself; instead, the reader was told that the
dough "can be purchased in any Italian bake shop.""
"While not yet a bona fide fast food, pizza was soon giving the fast foods run for the consumer's
money. By the mid-1950s, thanks to the popularity of spaghetti and tomato sauce, a taste for a
white farinaceous base slathered in thick and salty tomato sauce had become an integral part of the
American palate. The country was therefore well primed for the invation of pizza....In the
1950s...pizza suddenly burst onto center stage. In part this was because it fit so well in the culture
of the times. It was regarded as an ideal family food, equally acceptable to all ages and both sexes.
Its taste hardly departed from the tried and true, yet its form could be readily accomodated to the
era's newer, more casual way of eating: children's parties and snacking in front of the television
set. The informal, communal way it was eaten in restaurants made it particualrly popular with
teenagers, and by the mid-1950s boisterous "pizza parlors" dotted the main streets of Italian
neighborhoods, their oversized booths for six or eight crammed with voracious young eaters,
while others lounged by the entrance waiting for take-home orders...Pizza also became the hottest
restaurant item of the 1950s because, unlike most pastas, it was not particularly affected by delays
between cooking and eating. This made it ideal for the two main growth sectors in the
television-battered restaurant industry, drive-ins and take home places. By 1956 it had shunted
aside hot
dogs as the most popular item in both. By the late 1960s, American were consuming two billion
pizzas annually."
More on American pizza:
New York style pizza
"Legend has it that Neapolitan pizzailo Raffaele Esposito of the Pizzeria de Pietro was the first
to make a pie with tomato, basil, and mozzarella pizza (the colors of the Italian flag) to honor the
visit of Queen Margherita, consort of King Umberto I, to Naples in 1889. This thereafter was
called pizza alla margherita and became very popular in that city.
But the pizza remained a local delicacy until the concept crossed the Atlantic in the memories
of immigrants from Naples who settled in the cities along the Eastern Seaboard, especially in New
York City. The ingredients these immigrants found in their new country differed from those in the
old: In New York there was no buffalo-milk mozzarella, so cows's milk mozzarella was used;
oregeno, a staple southern Italian herb, was replaced in America by sweet marjoram; and
American tomatoes, flour, even water, were different. Here pizza evolved into a large, sheet-like
pie, perhaps eighteen inches or more in diameter, reflecting the abundance of the new
country....The first record of a pizzeria in New York was Gennaro Lombardi's, opened in 1905
on Spring Street, but others quickly followed in the Italian communities around the city. Still,
pizza and pizzerias and, later, pizza parlors' were little known outside the large cities of the East
until after World War II, when returning American GI's brought back a taste for the pizzas they
had had in Naples along with the assumptions that pizza, like spaghetti and meatballs, was a
typical Italian dish, instead of a regional one."
"The city's selection of restaurants was enriched by the arrival of immigrants during the late
nineteenth century. The food served in the first Italian restaurants in the city was adapted from
recipes of Naples and Sicily, the home of many Italian immigrants. Pizza was a Neapolitan food
uncommon in most of Italy but popular in New York City after G. Lombardi opened a pizzeria on
Spring Street in 1905."
"New York pizza did not exist before 1905, when Gennaro Lombardi, a Neapolitan immigrant,
began to sell pies in his grocery store in Little Italy. Lombardi's was by most accounts the first
New York pizzeria, and Mr. Lombardi, who hired and trained a series of other immigrants,
became the sturdy tap root of a tree of family and acquaintances that would go on to define great
New York pizza."
Other articles of interest (your librarian can help you get copies):
"The Top Pizzas In New York: Bred and Baked By Tradition ," The New York Times,
June 16, 1995, Section C; Page 1; Column 1
If you need extensive historic research materials on NY pizza (or other NY foods) contact these
organizations:
Chicago-style (deep dish) pizza
Of course, few foods are truly invented. Pizza was certainly known to Chicago for several decades before the Sewell's opened shop.
Most are creative iterations of existing dishes. There is
some speculation, based on the fact that Chicago-style pizza is thickly-topped and sometimes
served in square pans, that the recipe was influenced by Sicilian cuisine. Did you know recipes
for tomato pie, both open tarts and double-crust (what we now call "stuffed pizza"), were also
known to American cooks in the early 19th century?
"The pizza...first made its appearance in Chicago around 1912. It was introduced by a man who went around with a pizza filled
basket on his head...At that time there was some doubt whether these pizzas were to be used as shingles or munched."
The Windy City's first pizzeria opened at 907 Taylor St. in 1924:
The second pizzeria opened (according the general concensus of local food experts), opened on the southwest corner of Onio Street and Wabash
Avenue in 1943:
"In 1943 Ike Sewell, a liquor-company executive and former All-American guard from Wills Point, Tex., and Ric Riccardo Sr., an
artist, seaman, apache dancer, and tavernkeeper born in Biella, Italy, decided to team up and open a Mexican restaurant in
Chicago. A site was leased, and Riccardo began painting bullfights and cockfights on the walls. Sewell was a lover of and an expert
on Mexican cuisine. Riccardo knew nothing about it, and there was no decent place in Chicago (according to Sewell) to taste it. One
of Riccardo's bartenders, a chap named Raoul, offered to cook up a fine Mexican meal. Riccardo ate what Raoul had wrought and
got violently ill. He painted out the cockfights and bullfights and left to vacation in Italy. Riccardo returned having stumbled
upon a better idea--pizza. Sewell was the one in the dark this time. He had never tasted tht stuff, never even heard of it, but
agreed with Riccardo that it should serve as a meal not just an appetizer as it was in Italy. They came up with a balance of cheese
and sausage and spices and decreed that it should be used in abundance. They experimented with pans of various sizes and shapes and
came up with the "pizza-in-a-pan" (some call it "deep dish") method of cooking that yielded a crust neither Neopolitan nor Sicilian
but something else, something brand new. And no one cared. "At first," Sewell said, "we had to cut it into little slivers and give it
away to people who were drinking at the bar." Now, 33 years later, Uno, together with its nearby sister, Pizzeria Due, seres 2,500
pizzas on a big day...What Sewell and Ruccardon began has been imitated, perhaps improved upon...and occasionally ripped off."
"Mrs. Sewell, 95, whose husband, Ike, gained fame as the co-inventor of deep dish pizza, died
early Sunday morning at her Chicago home. Ike Sewell, along with partner Ric Riccardo Sr., is
credited with inventing deep dish pizza in 1943, but Mrs. Sewell also helped concoct the pizza
that put Chicago on the map, according to Chicago Blackhawks owner Bill Wirtz, a family friend.
"If Ike was the godfather of deep dish pizza, she was the godmother," Wirtz said. Mrs. Sewell
married Ike, a liquor company executive, in 1939, and in the 1940s and '50s helped him with
recipes and decor for his Pizzeria Uno, Pizzeria Due and Su Casa restaurants."
"What is this pizza called Chicago deep-dish, and what makes it so different from other pizzas? In
the truest sense, deep-dish pizza (pizza-in-the-pan is the alternate nom de pizza) is a
first-generation descendant of what Italian-Americans commonly referred to as "tomato pie." A
sideline of Italian bakeries at the turn of the century, a tomato pie was baked in a large rectangular
pan with 1-inch-high sides. It had a crust two fingers thick and a generous layer of seasoned
tomato puree that was dusted with grated Romano cheese just before it went into the
oven...Chicago-style deep-dish pizza came into being in 1943 when two savvy entrepreneurs, Ike
Sewell and Ric Riccardo, opened Pizzeria Uno on the corner of Wabash and Ohio. It was a time
when a restaurant serving only pizza was unheard of. The story goes that it took six months of
experimentation to produce that "cheese, tomato, and meat pie" called deep-dish pizza. It was so
thick that it required the use of a knife and fork -- which brought down another wall of pizza
tradition: Pizza had always been something that you ate with your hands. Utensils to eat pizza?
Incredible."
French pizza? Oui!
"Pissaladiere. A specialty of the Nice region, consisting of a flan filled with onions and garnished
with anchovy fillets and black olives. It is traditionally coated with a condiment pissalat before
being cooked, hence the name. A good pissaladiere should have a layer of onions half as thick as
the base if bread dough is used; if flan is made with shortcrust pastry (basic pie dough), the layer
of onions should be as thick as the flan pastry. It can be eaten hot or cold...Pissalat. Also known
as pissala. A condiment originating from the Nice Region, made of anchovy puree flavored with
cloves, thyme, bay leaf and pepper and mixed with olive oil. Originally pissalat was made from the
fry of sardines and anchovies, but because this is not readily available outside the Mediterranean
area, anchovies in brine may be used instead."
"A pissaladiere is in effect a Provencal version of the pizza. It consists of a base of bread dough
(or sometimes fried slices of bread) with a savoury topping. Nowadays this is usually onions
stewed in olive oil, or a mixture of tomatoes and anchovies, or a puree of anchovies and
garlic...all threee decorated with black olives, but originally it would have been a mixture of tiny
fish, typically fry of sardines, anchovies, etc., preserved in brine. This was known as pissala
(presumably a derivative of Latin piscis, 'fish'), and gave its name to the pissaladiere. (Despite the
striking similarity, there does not appear to be any direct etymologial link with Italian
pizza.)"
"Though the French influence is everywhere in this country, a few foods that are common in
France have managed to escape our dragnet. The French pizza is one example. Yes, pizza.
Although it is most often known as a pissaladiere, it is what it is: a round, flat bread, crisp on the
bottom, simply garnished on top, rustic and yet urbane. Travel through the regions of France with
your eyes open for anything that looks like pizza, and you'll come back impressed not only by
how plentiful these pizzas are but also by their variety. Some, like the galette de Perouges, are
sweet rather than savory. And many of them are served at room temperature. In fact, the pizzas of
France and Italy, despite having different tendencies in herbs and cheese, have more in common
with each other than they do with most of those produced here...The Provencal version of the
pissaladiere is often garnished with two of the region's signature ingredients: black olives and
sliced tomatoes, both in minuscule amounts by our standard. It is usually served at room
temperature as often as not because in Provence, and throughout France, pizza is snack bread.
Because it lacks gobs of cheese congealing on top, it retains its appeal even when cool. It is so
simple--mostly just sweet onions on a wonderful crust. And yet it was so much more.If
pissaladiere is the most familiar of the French pizzas, galette de Perouges is the most surprising.
This is the best-known product of Perouges, a well-preserved and perfectly restored medieval
village not far from Lyons. Although galette is a word used for many free-form tarts in France,
this particular galette seems more familiar than most: a large, round pie, slid into an oven on a
paddle and cut into crisp wedges. On closer inspection, however, and especially on tasting, this is
no common variation on pizza. The crust is rich and sweet--a yeasted dough made with butter and
sugar, and rolled nearly flat. And the topping is butter and sugar; no more. The galette is baked in
a hot oven until the sugar caramelizes and the crust becomes brittle; unlike most pizzas, this
dough is not chewy but crunchy. The tarte flambee of Alsace may be the world's northernmost
indigenous and legitimate pizza. You see it everywhere, although it is most common in the north,
around Strasbourg. Alsace is French, of course, but the food, language and appearance are quite
German in character. In this regional crossroads, there are many variations, based largely on the
background of the baker. Tarte flambee is a bit puffier and less flat than most pizza. Although it is
usually spread with fromage blanc, bacon and onion before baking, there are many variations.
There is a peculiar convention in tarte flambee: Each wedge is rolled from the wide crust end to
its point, and the rolls are eaten end to end. Because French pizzas are so difficult to find outside
France--and are among the easiest of all pizzas to make--it makes sense to try them at
home."
First pizza delivery?
"The first pizza delivery was in 1889, by Raffaele Esposito owner of the famous pizzeria Pietro il Pizzaiolo in Naples. The recipients were visiting King Umberto I
and Queen Margherita. Refusing to go to the likes of a pizzeria, the queen ordered in."
Our survey of articles published in the New York Times (ProQuest database) uncovered an advertisement for this franchise opportunity "Fresh Pizza Trucks, "The
Pizzeria on Wheels" (NYT, June 5, 1960, p. F26). Another article from 1971, describing the meeting of the North American Pizza Association, clearly indicates
home pizza delivery was a long established and popular activity. Then, as today, the industry was plagued with bad drivers having accidents while on company
time:
"During a discussion on pizza delivery, one man asked his fellow pizzamakers what he could do about his high accident rate. He said that his delivery men had
wrecked six cars in the last six years and that his insurance had been cancelled. "How about a rubber car?" one man jokingly suggested from the rear."
FROZEN PIZZA
[1950]
[1951]
[1951]
[1951]
[1953]
[1954]
[1954]
[1954]
[1954]
"A war cloud, no bigger than a press agent's mind, is hanging over Chicago, if you are going to believe Folger S. Decker, a man
of his word--thousands of them, in fact. This is to be a gustatory grapple, Mr. Decker said, with the pizza pie on the one side,
and the hot dog, weiner or tepid puppy, on the other. He said is would be cold war, of course, as many of these pizza pies are frozen.
..."Do you realize," continued Mr. Decker, "that the pizza has made terrific infroads on the hot dog market? During the last two
years alone, Mr. Emil De Salvi, who purveys frozen pizzas, has blanketed the country with 5 million pizza pies.""
[1955]
[1957]
[1966]
[1967]
[1972]
[1976]
Dishing out the history of pork pies is quite the challenge for any food historian. The practice of encasing sweet or savory
minced contents in pastry (aka "pie" dates to Medieval times. Early recipes varied according to culture, cuisine,
and liturgical season (Lent, Christmas). They often combined meat with fruit (apples, raisins) and spices (nutmeg, cinnamon, ginger, etc.)
Pork, being a versatile and common meat, was often employed as pie filling. From this
tradition sprang two primary recipe lines: savory raised pies and sweet compact
mincemeat dishes. Melton Mowbray Pork Pies
are protected by EU law. Some modern pork pies don't contain any pork at all!
"The British pork pie...are survivals of the medieval tradition of raised pies, and have changed surprisingly little. This particular
pie, simply known as 'pork pie', is of a form distinct from other pies which merely happen to be made with pork. The filling is of
fresh pork without other major ingredients, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a small quantity of herbs, especially sage.
At Melton Mowbray in Leicestershire, long famous for its pork pies, anchovy essence was added not only for its flavour but
because it was thought to give the meat an attractive pink colour, while pies from other districts were brownish or greyish."
Sweet vs savoury?
"By the middle of the seventeenth century, pies had become a peculiarly Engish specialty; even the French were prepared to concede
superiority. By the time [Eliza] Smith was writing, they had a long an honourable past, and were thus less susceptible to
foreign influences than the made dishes at which the French were held to excel. If it is true that there was a parallel trend in
both countries towards separating savory from sweet, it is not surprising that the English pies should have followed the
general movement, but it is noticeable that they did so very much more slowly than made dishes. English books of the eighteenth
century contain many receipts for meat pies with sweet and sour elements...What is perhaps the best-known English mixture of meat
and sugar, the mince-pie, retained this combination until well into the nineteenth century, and survives, without the lean meat but
with beef suet, to our own day. But even in the area of pies, the distinction between sweet and savory was beginning to operage and was
visible in English texts before 1700. A sweet element, either sugar or dried fruit, was almost always present in Markham's
receipts...The distinction between savoury and sweet pies did not become really obvious in the cookery books until around
1720. The cooks closest to French culinary practice removed the sugar entirely...E. Smith gave pies with chicken and with lamb in
both savoury and sweet versions, but allowed the confustion of flavours to persist in her vegetable and mince pies--in other words,
those where the sweet-savoury association lingered the longest."
Selected 19th century British recipes
LITTLE RAISED PORK PIES.
[1875]
"Pork Pies, Pastry for.--Put a quarter of a pound of finely-shred beef suet--or five ounces of lard, or a quarter of a pound of mutton suet--and an ounce of fresh
butter into a saucepan with half a pint of boiling water and a pinch of salt. Stir the mixture until the fat is dissolved, and pour it boiling hot into a pound and a half of
flour. Knead well to a stiff paste, and add a little more warm water if required. Shape the dough, and get it into the oven while it is warm. If the pie is to be baked
in a mould, lay a piece of the proper shape in the bottom. Press long pieces into the sides, and fasten thesee to the top and the bottom with white of egg. If a mould
is not to be used, cut off as much apstry as will make the cover, and wrap it in a cloth to keep warm. Mould the rest with both hands into the shape of a cone, and
make the sides smooth and firm. Press the top down with the knuckles of the right hand, and with the left press the outside closely to keep it firm and smooth. Be
careful that the walls are equlally thick in every part. Fill the pie, put on the cover, pinch the edges, fasten securely with white of egg, ornament the outside in any
wan thay may suit the fancy, brush over with yolk of egg, and bake in a slow oven if the pie be large, in a quicker one if it be small."
[1894]
Cheshire Pork Pie
"Cheshire Pork and Apple Pie. Since I wrote about this pie some years ago, readers have occasionally queried its status as a raised pe. Unless the pastry walls are
thick, the juice burst out and spoil its appearance...So I returned to Hannah Glasse. Her instructions are vague, but it is placed among the dish pies (raised pies
start six recipe later). Later in the book she gives instructions for a Cheshire pork pie to be made at sea, with salt pork, and potatoes instead of apples; and this pie
is clearly a double crust pie made in a dish. The question remains, should the pie be eaten hot or cold? By its position, I would say hot, like the chicken pie before it,
and the Devonshire squab pie that follows. But it tastes so good cold. By leaving the pie for 24 hours, you wil find that the flavours blend together in the most
delicious way.
Compare these 18th & 19th century recipes:
"Cheshire Pork Pye fo Sea
[1817]
Cape Breton Pork Pie
Why are they called pork pies when they have no pork?
Canadian English, a real mouthful
[1977]
The practice of making small, stuffed breads and pastries dates back to ancient times. The beauty
of these
self-contained foods was they were easy to cook, inexpensive, portable and could be consumed
anywhere with little mess. Many cultures developed similar foodstuffs though the pastry/bread &
fillings differed with region, religion and seasonal availability. In ancient Iraq there was sanbusaq.
In Italy there were calzones, in England there were Cornish Pasties and so on. Like dumplings, portable pies are a true universal
recipe, spanning all periods and points of the globe.
General history notes from the food historians:
"There is reason to believe that [sanbusak] is the progenitor of the empanada and calzone.
Sanbusak, an Arabic word that comes from the Persian sanbusa, meaning anything triangular, was
first described as a stuffed pastry in the early ninth century by Ishaq ibn Ibrahim (d. 851), a well
known author from Iraq...In a thirteenth-century Arabic cookery book of al Baghdadi, sanjusaj is
described as a stuffed triangular pastry fried in sesame oil...By the thirteenth century, sanbusak
appears in Spain, almost as the same recipe, a triangular fried pastry."
Craig Claiborne sums this topic nicely:
"Turnovers, which are festive and are almost infinate in their variety, also pinpoint to a degree the
migrant influences in America. Just consider their backgrounds: There are Cornish pasties, which
indicate the early presence of Welsh miners in Michigan, the Mexican-influenced empanadas and
empanaditas of the West and Southwest, and the curiously named hot-ta-meat pies of Louisiana
that indicate a borrowing from the Spanish. Even spring rolls--the more refined version of egg
rolls, which can most certainly be classified as turnovers--can be found almost anywhere in the
nation where Chinese chefs have settled.
Where American history is concerned, I find the Cornish pasties the most interesting, not
because of their flavor especially but because of the uses to which they have been put in this
country. The concept was brought here in the late 1700s and early 1800s with the influx of miners
from Wales...Once the pasties were established in this country, it did not take long for the
non-Welsh of the region to take to them with relish and add a distinctly American touch..."
TURNOVERS
Turnovers are one of the most popular examples of portable pies. Pastry choices range from
classic European puff paste to Mediterranean filo.
"A turnover is a sort of small, typically individual pie or pasty, in which the filling is placed on one
side of a piece of rolled-out pastry and the other side is then turned over' to cover it, forming a
semicircular shape. The term is first recorded at the end of the eighteenth century: an old woman
preparing her turnovers, commonly called apple-pies' (Sporting Magazine, 1798). It is
occasionally used for savoury fillings, such as meat, but a sweet fruit filling is the norm, and, as
the above extract suggests, most turnovers are in fact apple turnovers."
The Oxford English Dictionary confirms the 1798 date reference above: "5. A kind of tart in which the fruit is laid on one half of the rolled out paste, and
the other half turned over it; a child's sweetmeat resembling this. Also attrib. as turn-over shop.
1798 Sporting Mag. XI. 176 An old woman..preparing her turnovers, commonly called apple-pies. 1825 S. R. in Hone Every-day Bk. I. 1291 Our ‘tart’ and
‘turn-over’ shop. 1847 in HALLIWELL. 1882 Gd. Words 606 Venison pasties and apple turnovers and runlets of ale. 1892 Star 24 Dec. 3/2 There were sweets
called turnovers, in which were coins of various values."
Culinary evidence confirms turnover-type recipes precede their appellation in both British and
American culinary texts. A careful examination of ingredients and method bear
witness:
[1792]
[1841]
[1874?]
"Fruit Pasties or Turnovers.--Boil down fruit of any kind with a little sugar, and let it
grow cold. Take one pound of puff pastes; cut it into as many pieces as you require pasties; roll
out in a circular form, and put the fruit on one half, turn the other half over on the fruit, and pinch
the edge, which should first be wetted with white of egg. Raw fruit may be used, but in this case
the paste must be thicker, and not quite so rich. Meat, or savoury pasties, form the princial food
of the agricultural classes in Cornwall; but a mixture of meat, potatoes, and turnips is more
generally used for their pasties. Time for fruit pasties, twenty minutes. Sufficient for one dozen
and a half."
[1902]
Related food? Apple pie.
Pop Tarts
According to the records of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office, Pop
Tarts (a Kellogg's trademark) were introduced to the American public July 14, 1964:
Word Mark POP-TARTS Goods and Services IC 030. US 046. G & S: FRUIT PRESERVE
FILLED PASTRY BAKERY PRODUCT. FIRST USE: 19640714. FIRST USE IN
COMMERCE: 19640714 Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING Serial Number
72198180 Filing Date July 20, 1964 Registration Number 0791514 Registration Date June
22, 1965 Owner (REGISTRANT) KELLOGG COMPANY CORPORATION DELAWARE 235
PORTER ST. BATTLE CREEK MICHIGAN
What were the first Pop Tart flavors?
Product introduction and marketing strategy
"On Feb. 16, 1964, Post unveiled its new product, Country Squares. The food industry oohed and aahed; the business press buzzed; grocers waited expectantly.
And waited. But Post was slow getting Country Squares onto store shelves. "They kept fooling around with it in our labs," recalls Stan Reesman, a retired Post food technician who invented the cereal Fruity Pebbles.
In September 1964, just six months after the public unveiling of Country Squares, Kellogg introduced Pop-Tarts in several test markets around the country. Reesman insists Country Squares were superior, but he says, "We could see the handwriting on the wall."
The names given to the two products were one more indication of Kellogg's superior marketing savvy. Kellogg appreciated that kids were the primary target
audience for Pop-Tarts because they had yet to establish breakfast habits of their own. Post seems to have been more confused. As awful a name as Country
Squares seems in 1994, it was arguably worse in 1964, when the word "square" was widely used to mean "nerdy." When paired with "country," it seemed to
describe a food for middle-age rubes from the sticks...Once Pop-Tarts were in the markeplace, Kellogg threw its full marketing muscle behind them. With huge revenue from its cereals at its disposal, Kellogg was sponsoring a whole zoo of kids' shows, includng Yogi Bear, Woody Woodpecker, Huckleberry Hound, Atom Ant, Bugs Bunny, Mighty Mouse and Secret Squirrel. Pop-Tarts quickly joined the cast of sugared cereals being hawked between cartoons.
Kellogg had won the toaster-pastry game in the first inning. By 1967, toasted pastries were a $45 million market, most of which belonged to Kellogg. Post's Country Squares had evolved into Post Toast-Em Pop-Ups, but Post finally gave up and sold the marketing rights in the early 1970s. General Mills' Toastwich, which had to be refrigerated, appeared on grocery shelves for less than a year.
Nabisco's Toastettes, which debuted in 1967, have survived and were recently repositioned, according to a Nabisco spokesman, meaning they now come eight to
a box and can be microwaved. This is not an advantage to be scoffed at; microwave a Pop-Tart and it resembles nuclear waste. But Pop-Tarts continue to
dominate the toaster-pastry category, although significantly lower-priced generic brands are widely available."
"After gaining market share in sales in cereal, Kellogg searched for related breakfast items that
could both draw on and complement the recent success in breakfast cereals. The company settled
on a food of taste and convenience, the toaster pastry. "Toaster pastries joined the breakfast
line-up in 1964 as Kellogg's Pop-Tarts," according to a company pamphlet. Pop-Tarts
represented
both a diversification from cereal and an expansion of the cereal line into a breakfast line...When
Kellogg's Pop-Tarts were introduced, ads highlighted the item's convenience and often featured
"Milton the Toaster." Advertisements also consisted of the full brand name and the slogan "drop
em into the toaster-or eat em just as they are." printed across the side of the toaster with
Pop-Tarts popped up. Pop-Tarts were marketed than and now as a food of convenience and a
snack of
nutrition...Kellogg's marketing strategy of claiming nutrition for Pop-Tarts is a part of the larger,
historic strategy to market Pop-Tarts to adults as well as children. Hoping to appeal to grown-up
baby boomers as well as today's children and adolescents, Kelloggs continues to direct marketing
schemes for pre-sweetened cereals and Pop-Tarts to all age groups..."
Nostalgic? Pictures of
Pop Tart boxes from the 1960s & 1970s/courtesy of Dan Goodsell's Imaginary World (scroll down).
Notable competetitors:: General Foods
Toastem Animals (owls)[introduced August 31, 1964]
CALZONES
"Calzone means "pant leg" in Italian. Calzone are usually associated with Naples, where they can
also be made with sausage and mozzarella cheese, but are found, famously, throughout southern
Italy, sometimes deep-fried. Every town has its own variation...Carol Field, author of several
books on Italian food, suggests that calzone may have existed in medieval Latin as early as 1170,
according to a reference in Padua, although the historian Luigi Sada, also the author of several
Apulian cookbooks, suggests a statute from Bisceglie around 1400 as being the first appearance
of the word. Chef Carlo Middione, the author of The Food of Southern Italy, makes the
plausible suggestion of a Muslim introduction in medieval Arab times. If this is true, then the
calzone, not to mention the empanada, is related to the old fried pastry of the medieval Arab
world, sanbusak....Sanbusak, an Arabic word that comes from Persian sanbusa, meaning
anything triangular, which was first described as a stuffed pastry in the early ninth century by
Ishaq ibn Ibrahim...a well-known author from Iraq."
"Calsones...a Sephardic Jewish stuffed pasta which is widely consumed in the Middle East. They
may be square in shape like ravioli or in half-moon or oblong shapes. Calsones are mostly home
made, using egg in the dough, and usually filled with a cheese and egg mixture. Calsones with
reshteh were a famous Jewish dish in Aleppo, Syria. The calsones and reshteh were mixed
together, dressed with melting butter, and served with yoghurt. As for the origins of calsones,
Claudia Roden [in her book The Book of Jewish Food, 1996] suggests that they came to
the
Aleppo community with the Italian Jews who left Italy at various times, beginning in the 16th
century, when there was a mass emigration eastwards following the expulsion of Jews from Italy."
STROMBOLI
"Stromboli. A sandwich made with pizza dough folded over a variety of ingredients, most often
mozzarella and sliced pepperoni. The stromboli is a specialty of Philadelphia, though similar to
an Italian confection called the calzone...The name may derive from the Italian island of
Stromboli, but more probably refers to a very big, strong character in the fairy tale The
Adventures of Pinocchio (1882) by Carlo Lorenzini, whose pen name was "Collodi."
"Stromboli is a crusty brown, overstuffed loaf dish which is popular in several US regions with numerous Italian-American residents. The of the term remains
uncertain although there is a resort island near Sicily which is called Any stuffing can be used for such as cold cuts, cheese, roasted peppers, vegetables, among
others. The dish is a welcome addition to Italian menus that usually offer pizza and pasta. Stromboli is a resort island off the coast of Sicily that features an active
smoldering volcano. Stromboli (the dish) isn't that hot on this side of the Atlantic, but in Philadelphia, Providence, R.I., New York City, and other places with
established Italian-American communities, it's a long-standing favorite. How the crusty brown, overstuffed loaf became known as "stromboli" is anyone's guess,
since there's no food by that name in Italy. Perhaps the moniker was tagged on by an immigrant baker with a knack for marketing. What we do know about it is
that virtually any stuffing goes--from cold cuts and cheese to roasted peppers and other vegetables--and that it's the ideal do-ahead food to feed a crowd or a
single diner, to take out or eat in, and to build add-on sales. A likely forebear is the Sicilian 'nfigghiulata antica, which Carlo Middione details in The Food of
Southern Italy... It's a rolled bread filled with ground veal and pork, Swiss chard, cauliflower, provolone, and black olives, shaped like a crescent
to recall the Arab domination of Sicily. We also know that stromboli can go by different names. Shops around New Haven, Conn., for example, make
"broccoli bread" stuffed with the vegetable and Italian sausage. What distinguishes the stromboli from its better-known cousin calzone is its multiple-serving loaf
shape. Calzones are more apt to take the form of individual pizza-dough turnovers."
Related food? Calzone!
EMPANADAS
"Empanadas, meat and fish pies from Galicia, are rarely found elsewhere in Spain. One
explanation for the popularity of empanadas in Galicia is that they suit the character of these
northern peoples, for the pies hide their contents from public view, just as the Gallegos often
remian aloof and secretive. The idea may be a bit farfetched, but there is little doubt that Gallegos
make better meat pies than anyone else, using fillings as varied as the produce of Galicia. Most
empanadas contain lots of onion and green or red pepper, in combination with meat or fish. The
doughs take many different forms, from puff pastry to those made with cornmeal. There are other
areas of Spain known for their pies, but these are called pasteles instead of empanadas."
"Empanada. A Spanish and Latin American savoury turnover. Empanada' means covered with
bread'; and bread dough may be used, but the usual covering is shortcrust pastry. Often the
semicircular seam is decorated by twisting it at regular intervals. The pastry may be baked or deep
fried. Fillings vary from one country or region to another. In Spain a mixture of minced meats and
sausage is common, but in writing about empanadas in Galicia Janet Mendel [Traditional
Spanish Cooking, Garnet Publishing, 1996] lists no fewer than 18 examples of fillings,
ranging from clams to rabbit, sardines to pigeon, and octopus to ham. In S. And C. America and
the southwest of the USA a similarly wide range of fillings are used. Mexican fillings are highly
seasoned with chilli peppers."
NATCHITOCHES
"...the curiously named hot-ta-meat pies of Louisiana that indicate a borrowing from the Spanish...One of the most interesting of all turnovers is the
pastry-filled fried food that I dined on in a town in Louisiana called Natchitoches (the name is pronounced Nacky-tosh). These spicy turnover were once referred
to as hot-ta-meat pies, but now they're simply called Natchitoches meat pies. The most famous in town are served at a small restaurant called Lasyones. I am
certain these pies are very much related to empanadas and came about through the influence of Spanish settlers in the state. The are decidedly un-French."
"The meat pie's origins are shrouded in history, lost in the days when Indian met Spaniard in the forests around the oldest settlement in the Louisiana Purchase. But
James Lasyone is sure of at least two things. People were making and selling meat pies around Natchitoches when he took his first steps off the farm nearly half a
century ago. And today he sells nearly 160,00 of the delicacies every hear. 'My family was sharecroppers,' said Lasyone, who started Lasyone's Meat Pie Kitchen
with a one-eyed gas stove and a single iron pot. 'We walked into town on Saturdays and there would be people with little carts, pushing them up and down the
street. I talk to people that's much older and as far back as they can remember they've had meat pies. But until I opened my kitchen here, people made them in
their homes and sold them in their homes.' The Meat Pie Kitchen in an old downtown strip along the Cane River has become something of a landmark in recent
years--a haven for busloads of tourists, as well as for travelers armed with ice chests for long-distance takeout orders. 'Travel agencies call us from all over the
United States...We have buses booked year-round.'...According to Lasyone, the meat pies are tasty--even to strangers from Boston, Spokane or Sault Ste.
Marie. 'First they want to see one...They of course they still don't know anything. But 95 percent will take the meat pie lunch and the majority are well pleased with
it.' Like Col. Sanders and others who found a recipe for success, Lasyone is tight-lipped about exactly what goes into his product. He will let on that 50 pounds of
beef is mixed with 10 pounds of pork, that the fried pastry is something between a turnover and a taco and that a Louisiana-style dark gravy is added to the
mixture at the end of the cooking process. Beyond those slivers of guidance, however, Lasyone is silent...Despite his sense of ownership, Lasyone insisted he was
not interested in shepherding his meat pies to fast-food fame...'I would rather for someone else to buy the recipe...Making meat pie is really a job. It requires a lot
of time and careful handling. It's really a big thing. If you'd just see one laying there on the plate, you wouldn't think it was that much trouble.'...The initial burner and
pot, which cost $6.95, have evolved into a restaurant with three dining rooms capable of seating 100."
PASTIES
About Cornish pasties
Destination Pasty...
UP Michigan (everywhere) &
Rocky's in
Wharton, NJ.
PIEROGI
In Poland, pierogi are more like ravioli; in Russia they are more like pie. Both recipes are
generally
considered "food of the people," as they are traditionally inexpensive and filling. Pierogi/pirogi
made with
choux pastry (buttery, flaky crusts) are 19th century recipes. Our general history notes on the
topic of filled
pasta/pastry here:
POLAND:
"...on the more modest end of the culinary scale, we come to buckwheat, which was primarily
consumed in
the villages. During the Middle Ages, only two types of buckwheat were known in Poland:
Tartarian
buckwheat ...called paganca in old Polish texts; and true culinary buckwheat...The popular
dumplings made
with buckwheat and known today in Southern Poland as pierogi ruskie did not enter Polish
cookery until the
nineteenth century, when they came to Poland from Russia."
RUSSIA:
"Pirog or Pirogi: a flaky envelope of dough that can be filled with almost anything. This turnover
is usually
made large enough to feed six. The largest is called Kilebiaka, while the smallest is called by the
diminutive
Piroshki. Pirojok is the singular, but is never used because who eats just one? After baking in the
oven they
are served piping hot, and a Slav will betray his origins by adding the crust and adding just a little
more
butter."
"Pirogs and Pates...Pirogs (filled pastries) have always been essential for Russian festivities.
"Pirog
Day"...the third day after a marriage, was traditionally the time when the young bride offered
guests a
selection of pirogs and pirozhki. The quintessential pirog in Russian culture...were round, but
Molokhovets
(Elena Molokhovets as the author of an important 1861 Russian cookbook titled "A Gift fo
Young
Housewives") preferred rectangular ones. Pirozhki are small pirogs. Whether large or small, they
come in
many shapes and sizes with the doughs as varied as the fillings...Some have special names.
Karavaj...is a
large, round loaf that was part of the traditional offering of bread and salt, the Russian gesture of
hospitality;
rastegai is a small open-faced pastry with a fish filling htat was customarily served with ukhas and
other fish
soups; kurnik is another festive pie, one that was often served at weddings. ..Molokhovets' pirogs
encased
the filling in pastry; with a few exceptions, her pates just had a top layer of pastry or none at all.
Her pirogs
tended to include pieces of meat, fish, or poultry with grains and vegetables and almost no
forcemeat
(stuffing)..."
"Samosa...are small, crisp, flaky pastries made in India, usually fried by sometimes baked. They are stuffed with a variety of
fillings such as cheese, cheese and egg, minced meat with herbs and spices, vegetables such as potatoes, etc. Sweet fillings
are also popular. Samosas are usually eaten as a snack, often as a street food. The Indian version is merely the best known of an
entire family of stuffed pastries or dumplings popular from Egypt and Zanzibar to C. Asia and W. China. Arab cookery books of the
10th and 13th centuries refer to these pastries as sanbusak (the pronunciation still current in Egypt, Syria, and Lebanon),
sanbusaq, or sanbusaj, all reflecting the early medieval form of this Persian word: sanbosag. Claudia Roden...quotes a poem by Ishiq
ibn Ibrahim al-Mausili (9th century) praising sanbusaj...In the Middle East the traditional shape of sanbusak is a half-moon, usually
with edges crimped or marked with the fingernails; but triangular shapes are also used. In India triangular and cone-shaped
samosas are popular. In Afghanistan, where the name is sambosa, and in the Turkish-speaking nations, where is its called
samsa...it is made both in half-moon shapes and triangles. Sedentary Turkish people such as the Uzbeks and the people of Turkey
itself usually bake their samsas, but nomads such as the Kazakhs fry them...These pastries were still made in Iran as late as
the 16th century, but they have disappeared from most of the country today..."
"Sanbusak...There is reason to believe that this preparation is the progenitor of the empanada and calzone. Sanbusak,an Arabic word that comes from the Persian sanbusa, means anything triangular, was first described as a stuffed pastry
in the early ninth century by Isaq ibn Ibrahim (d. 851), a well-known author from Iraq. In al-Masudi's (died c. 956) Meadows
of Gold, there are foods described that sound like early sanbusak. The twelfth-century dietetic manual, the Liber
de ferculis et condimentis, which was translated from the Arabic...In the thirteenth century Arabic cookery book of al-Baghdadai,
sanbusaj is described as a stuffed triangular pastry fried in sesame oil. Another early written recipe for sanbusaq appears in the
thirteenth-century cookbook attributed to Ibn al-Adim (d. 1262, the Kitab al-wusla ila l-habib fir wasfi al-tayyibat wat-tib, where it is
described as a small half-moon of puff pastry stuffed with cheese, chopped meat, or qaymaq...By the Thirteenth century,
Sanbusak appears in Spain, almost as the same recipe, a triangular fried pastry. Sanbusak are possible, although
not as likely, the origin of the Turkish borek and therefore the origin, too, of the savory pastries, the Tunisian brik,
Algerian burak, Moroccan briwat, and the Armenian beoreg, as well as Spanish, Greek, Italian, and Sicilian versions."
"Samosa. A deep-fried snack, consisting of a crisp, triangular and layery wheat casing filled with spiced meat or vegetables. In about AD 1300 Amir Khusrau describes,
among the foods of the Muslim aristocracy in Delhi, the 'samosa, preapred from meat, ghee, onion, etc.'. About fifty yearsl later Ibn Battuta calls it a samusak, describing
it a s 'minced meat cooked with almonds, walnuts, pistachios, onions and spices placed inside a thin envelope of wheat and deep fried in ghee'. The Ain-i-Akbari
lists, among dishes of meat cooked with wheat, the qutab, 'which the people of Hind call the sanbusa'. All these descriptions suggest that the amosa was not an
item brought by these courts from their parent lands, but was an existing indigenous product, perhaps enriched in its stuffing to cater to royal courts."
Looking for historic recipes & descriptions? Ask your librarian to help you find Medieval Arab Cookery, Maxime Rodinson, A. J.
Arberry & Charles Perry [Prospect Books:2001]
Choux a la creme, profiteroles and cream puffs are said to have originated in Renaissance
France and Italy. Choux paste is different from other types of pastry because when cooked, it rises
and the finished product has a hollow center. As was the custom of the day, these holes were
variously filled with sweet or savory fillings. Cream puffs, as we know them today, are usually
filled with custard or French
cremes. Chocolate (as a glaze or filling) was an 18th
century addition.
This is the legend:
"Choux pastry is said to have been invented in 1540 by Popelini, Catherine de' Medici's chef, but
the pastrycook's art only truly began to develop in the 17th century and greatest innovator at the
beginning of the 19th century was indubitably [Antonin] Careme..."
These are the facts:
"The real creation of choux paste is complex and cannot be established with any certainty, not least because its manufacture
is a relatively simple process and it is possible that it was independently created in many places and at various times. In principle,
choux paste requires only four ingredients: water, fat, flour and egg. The incorporation of an egg into what is effectively hot-water
paste--and a fairly obvious innovation for an inquisitive cook--would produce a kind of choux paste. Tracing early cookery receipts is
beset with difficulties, not least because authors heedlessly repeat foundation-myth andedotes. Elizabeth David, writing about the
Florentine cooks that Catherine Medici was said to have brought with her to France in 1533, states, "Those cooks...are part of a myth originating
in mid-nineteenth-century France, perhaps in the imagination of of of the popular hsitorical novelists who flourished at that
period, and certainly without existence in historical fact...Researchers are also faced with establishing the meaning of archaic
terms and technical expressions. The nomenclature of of cookery is complicated not only by difficulties in establish early
usage, but also by the lack of conformity of usage, not helped by the idiosyncrasies of early-modern spelling. A single cookery
method or culinary product may be concealed under a whole variety of labels or (conversely and just a confusing) a single term may apply
to one or more different methods or receipts. Such etymological considerations--a focal point for most investigations by
cookery historians--bear upon choux...pastry...Historically, we find at least two pastries referred to as 'choux'. It seems likely
that the earliest use of the term in England was by was of imported translations of French seventeenth-century cookery books.
In La Varenne's The French Pastry Cook of 1656, the reader is told of 'The manner how to make a little Puff-paste Bunns, called in
French Choux.' But this paste is neither the puff-paste so beloved by French and English cooks from the sixteenth century or earlier--and
known in France as pate feuilletee and in England as butter pasted and puff or puft paste--nor is it what today we would recognize
as choux paste. The ingredients for La Varenne's reciept includes a fist-size of fresh cheese...bruised with a little flour, two
eggs, a further handful of flour or salt. When mixed, this is spread 'as thick as a finger', baked in two pieces and, once cooked,
spread with butter, sugar and rosewater. The two pieces are sandwiched together and warmed in the oven, then decorated with sugar
and preserved lemon. La Varenne also writes about this type of paste made into morsels the size of small eggs. So here the term
'choux' seems to apply to both paste and to the small buns made from this paste. With a little imagination, a round cooked choux
bun, or fritter, resembles the shape of a small cabbage. With this bun shape--choux being French for cabbage--we can see (literally)
the reason for the name of the paste. These cheese-based pastes can be traced back to at least the thirteenth century where similar
receipts for fritters appear in anonymous Andalusian cookbooks...Massailot's ingredients for 'Benioles', or Petit Choux, are simliar
to La Varenne's...In England one of the several meanings of the words 'chou' and 'puffs' is amost identical to that of La
Varenne's and Massailot's 'choux' paste. Cotgrave, as early as 1611, describes 'petit chou' as 'puffe-cake, or loafe, made of
butter, cheese, fine meal, and yolks of egges.' He tells us that there are two kinds, 'one round, and plumpe like an apple; the other
also round, but much flatter'...in 1706 'petits choux' crops up in Edward Phillips' dictionary,
New World of English Words, 'a sort of Paste for garninshing made of fat Cheese, Flower, Eggs, Salt, etc. bake'd in a
Pye-pan, and Ic'd over with fine Sugar'...there are several receipts found in early European cookbooks and manuscripts that broadly
refer to what today's cooks call 'choux paste,' or what we have referred to as 'twice-cooked' pastry. The original French name was
pate a chaud...Importantly, the second cooking of these pastries results in the formation of a pouch or pocket--ideal for filling with
savoury of sweet mixture. In sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England there were other words that sometimes (but by no
means always) denoted a choux paste product, including 'benets'...'puffs' and certain types of 'fritters'...Certainly the idea of
cooking a paste of flour, butter and liquid and then adding eggs to produce a small puffed pastry cake was known to some French
cooks at the start of the seventeenth century...But choux paste, though by other names, can be found in even earlier books and
manuscripts. Perhaps the earliest extant English receipt if found in A Book of Cookrye (1591) first published in
1584. The ingredients for 'Benets' or "Bennets'( a kind of fritter) are practially identical to those fo John Eveyln's
'French Fritters.'...The refined French name for these French Friters is 'Beignets Souffles'...Eveyln tellus us that these
fritters are of French origin, and this may well be so. However, we can find several receipts recognizable as choux paste in the
German cook Sabina Welserin's manuscript of 1553. They are more explicit than any contemporary French manuscripts and indicate
long-standing familiarity with the technique. One hazards a guess that it originated independently of Queen Catherine's Popelin,
or that it derived from an earlier common source...Most of the earliest receipts for choux paste are for fritters...The term 'choux'
had not settled down [in the 18th century] to today's meaning...Today, the terms 'Cream Bun or Puff', 'profiterole' and
'choux' seems to have settled down; the ambiguity no longer an issue."
"Choux pastry is a thick batter made from flour, milk, butter, and eggs. Its most typical
application is in the making of small round buns (as used for profiteroles) known in French as
choux, literally cabbages, from their shape--hence pate a choux, the pastry used for making
them. The first reference to the term in English comes in the 1706 edition of Edward Phillips's
New World of English Words: Petits Choux, a sort of paste for garnishing, made of fat
Cheese, Flour, Eggs, Salt, etc., bak'd in a Pye-pan, and Ic'd over with fine Sugar.' But it was not
really until the late nineteenth century that it achieved any sort of general currencey in
English."
"From the sixteenth century onwards convents made biscuits and fritters to be sold in the aid of
good works...Missionary nuns took their talents as pastrycooks to the French colonies. The nuns
of Lima had a great reputation after the sixteenth century, and chocolate owes a great deal to the
convents. The puff pastries called feuillantines were first made in the seventeenth century in a
convent of that name...Sugar and chocolate had now arrived on the scene; from the time of Louis
XIV onwards those delicacies became extremely popular...Gastronomy flourished in the
nineteenth century...Fauvel, a chef working for the famous pastry cook Chiboust, invented the
Genoese sponge and also had a hand in the creation of the gateau Saint-Honore, so called in
honour
of the patron saint of pastrycooks. It is garnished with choux pastry puffs, and choux pastry is
also used in making eclairs and choux a la creme, and a kind of chocolate eclair known as the
religieuse (nun), though no one knows why."
"Profiteroles are small round choux-pastry buns with a filling. This can be either savoury or sweet, but by far the commonest
manifestation of the profiterole is with a cream filling and a covering of chocolate sauce, and piled in large quanitities,
in the more ambitious type of restaurant, into a sort of pyramid. The word originated in French as a diminutive form of
profit, and so etymologically means 'small gains'--and indeed it may to begin with have denoted a 'little something extra'
cooked long with the master's main dish as a part of the servants' perks."
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, profiteroles entered the Englsih language from French in the 16th century:
Related food? Puff paste & Gateau St. Honore.
About eclairs
"Eclair. The primary meaning of eclair in French is lightning', and one (not very convincing)
explanation advanced for its application to these cream-filled choux-pastry temptations is that it
was suggested by the light gleaming from their coating of fondant icing."
The oldest recipe we have for eclairs in an American cookbook was published in 1884:
Boil the water, salt, and butter. When boiling, add the dry flour, stir well for five minutes, and
when cool add the eggs. This is such a stiff mixture, many find it easier to mix with the hand, and
some prefer to add the eggs whole, one at a time. When well mixed, drip, in tablespoonfuls, on a
buttered baking-pan, some distance apart. Bake twenty to thirty minutes, or till brown and well
pugged. Split when cool, and fill with cream.
Cream for Cream Cakes and Eclairs
Wet the cornstarch in cold milk, and cook in the boiling milk ten minutes. Beat the eggs; add the
sugar and the thickened milk. Cook in the double boiler five minutes. Add the salt or butter, and
when cool, flavor with lemon, vanilla, or almond."
Related foods? Napoleons & Baklava
Most early cookbooks do not contain recipes for "pot pie." This was a description of cooking
method
rather than a recipe.
Notes here:
"Potpie....A crusted pie made with poultry or meat, and, usually chopped vegetables. The term,
which first appeared in American print in 1785, probably refers to the deep pie pans or pots used
to bake pies in, and it has remained primarily an Americanism. The most popular pot pies have
been chicken, Beef, and pork. The first frozen pot pie was made with chicken in 1951 by the C. A.
Swanson Company."
"Pot pies have a long history in most Northern European cuisines, and if they were a specialty
anywhere, it was in the British Isles. And a pot pie must be made in a pot that is completely lined
with crust. Originally, this crust was not eaten; it was there to keep the taste of the iron pot away
from the food."
"Pot pies are as old as pastry-making itself. In the royal households of France and England,
savory tarts were among a chef's most elaborate dishes...Sad to say, pot pies seem a relic of an
age of family restaurants where a cook actually took his time to make such items--before such
restaurants were conglomerated and homogenized. The last steamy gasp of the traditional pot pie
may well have been the arrival of the frozen pot pie in supermarkets of the early 1950s, which
made the idea of making one at home or in a restaurant obsolete, despite the lack of fresh
flavor...Pot pies are as old as pastry making itself. And in the royal households of France and
England, savory tarts were often among the most elaborate of dishes in a chef's repertoire,
especially during the Elizabethan era, when the crusts would be decorated with heraldic devices,
flowers, and curlicues of painstaking skill. Inside might be anything at all, including the famous
"four-and-twenty blackbirds" or even a small child (unbaked and uneaten, I assure you). In
America, where far more households had baking ovens than in Europe, the tart became known as
the pot pie by the end of the 18th century, and was a fixture of American kitchens. In most cases
it referred to a casserole dish topped with a pastry crust rather than to a mixture of ingredients
baked in a pastry crust, so that the casserole could easily be hung above the fire or set on a grid to
be baked by indirect heat. They were particularly welcome at church suppers because they were
so easy to transport and were very festive at any family table."
About chicken pot pie
The oldest recipe we know (so far) specifically titled "pot pie" was published in the 1805 American edition of a classic English
cook book. Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy classified "Pot Pie" in a special section titled "Several New
Receipts Adapted To The American Mode of Cooking," This print evidence cements the "American-ness" of the Pot Pie.
This book also offered "American" recipes for Indian Pudding, Mush, Buck-Wheat Cakes, Pumpkin Pie, Dough Nuts, Sausages, Blood Puddings,
Cranberry Tarts, pickled peppers, pickled Beets, Peach Sweetmeats,, Quince Sweetmeats, Green Gage Sweetmeats, Maple Sugar, maple Molasses, Maple
Beer, "famous" Thieves Vinegar, Spruce Beer, Eel Pie, Pork pie, raised Pork Pie, Bath Pudding, Short Gingerbread, Waffles & Crullers.
[1839]
A Peach Pot-Pie
[1845]
[1877]
Food historians tell us members of the gourd family (melons, cucurbits, etc.) of all shapes and
sizes were known to ancient old world cooks. Pumpkins, however, are new world foods.
ABOUT PUMPKINS
ABOUT EARLY PUMPKIN COOKERY
If pumpkins are a "New World" food, why are they sometimes listed as ingredients in Medieval
European recipes? If you notice, these references are usually found in Medieval cooking books
with modernized recipes. The original recipes simply call for squash or gourds. Why substitute
pumpkin? Some Medieval recipes for members of the curcurbit family (gourds, calabash,
cucumbers, melons) are more palatable to contemporary tastes if you make them with pumpkin.
It's also readily available.
"3. Winter Squash or Pumpkin Soup...The curcurbits are a large, rich family including cucumbers,
melons, and squashes. But the Old World knew neither the winter squash (Curcurbita pepo) nor
the pumpkin (Curcurbita maxima), both of which were brought from the Americas. If we can trust
the title of the recipe, Congordes, and if we think of the depictions of squash (zucche) harvests in
the many manuscripts comprising the Tacuinum sanitatis--a medical treatise of Arab origin that
lists the medicinal properties of various foods--the cook is probably dealing here with gourds
(Lagenaria vulgaris). These came originally from southern Asia, and were well known in Western
Europe in the Middle Ages. But without fresh gourds to hand, you can prepare this soup with
winter squash or pumpkin."
"As for pumpkin pie, in particular, in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England "people of
substance" were familiar with a form of pumpkin pie that both followed the medieval tradition of
"rich pies of mixed ingredients" and also bore resemblance to the consumption of apple-stuffed
pumpkins typically engaged in by people of lesser substance...Pumpkin pie went out of fashion in
Britain during the eighteenth century. Perhaps Edward Johnson reflected this emerging attitude in
the 1650s when he offered as a sign of New England's progress toward prosperity the fact that in
most households people were eating "apples, pears, and quince tarts instead of their former
Pumpkin Pies." Pumpkin had been superceded by the more civilized fruits (free of association
with the natives), of which the settlers had first been deprived. Such an anticipation that pumpkin
pie was on the way out was premature, as far as the developments on this side of the Atlantic
were concerned."
"Among vegetables, the Northeastern Indians made particularly lavish use of squash, even more
than other American Indians, and especially of pumpkin. Both squash and pumpkin were
baked, usually by being placed whole in the ashes or embers of a dying fire (in the case of squash,
the acorn and butternut varieties were preferred) and they were moistened afterwards wtih some
form of animal fat, or maple syrup, or honey; and both were also made into soup. When pumpkin
was made into a soup, it often underwent some enriching which converted it into something more
like a stew. A seventeenth century Oneida recipe specified that pumpkin should be "boiled with
meat to the consistency of potato soup."
A SURVEY OF PUMPKIN PIE RECIPES THROUGH TIME
"Potage of pumpkin with milk.
"Tourte of pumpkin.
[1685]
[1796] "Pompkin
(pie)
[1805]
[1824]
Modern interpretation here:
Mix all ingredients together and our into the prepared pastry shell. Bake at 425 degrees F. For 10
minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F. And bake for 40 minutes more, or until a knife inserted in
center comes out clean. Garnish with pecans and whipped cream flavoured with rum or
brandy."
You can examine several 19th century
American
recipes courtesy of Michigan State University. Recipe search: pumpkin pie
Of course, you can always make your pie from scratch with real pumpkins!
Related food? Sweet potato pie & Carrot cake.
The practice of baking sweet and savory dishes composed of eggs, cream, and spices in pastry
shells is ancient. Quiche, as we know to today, evolved from Ancient Roman patinea (cheesecake) and
Medieval European tarts.
Medieval recipes for a Tart in
Ember Day (Ember day was a Christian meatless day) and Tart de Bry quite
resemble modern quiche.
Food historians place the modern recipe for quiche in (what is currently) the Lorraine region of
France. In medieval times, this area was known as Lothringen, a Germanic kingdom.
"Quiche. An open tart filled with a mixture of beaten eggs, creme fraiche and pieces of bacon,
served hot as a first course or hors d'oeuvre. Originating on Lorraine (the name comes from the
German "Kuchen," meaning cake), it has become a classic of French cuisine and is also widely
enjoyed in other countries. Its origins go back to the 16th century; in Nancy, where it is a
specialty, its local name is feouse. Quiches used to be made from bread dough, but now
shortcrust or puff pastry is used. In some parts of Lorraine any pastry tart filled with migaine
(eggs and cream) mixed with onions, cream cheese or pumpkin is called a quiche, and elsewhere
quiches can be made with cheese, ham, bacon, onion, mushrooms, seafood and various other
ingredients."
"A quiche is a pastry cooked a cooked savoury custard containing items such as vegetables, bacon,
or cheese. It is a specialty of the Alsace-Lorraine region, which has been bandied between France
and Germany over the centuries, and the term quiche itself is a French verison of kuche, a word
from the German dialect of Lorraine...The authentic quiche Lorraine contains only smoked bacon
in adition ot the cream-and-egg custard, but many alternative versions have grown up that include
cheese and onion."
"Quiche. A French [dish]...most prominent in Lorraine...It was only at the beginning of the 19th
century that the term became current, and it then meant a tart with a filling of egg and cream...The
version now well known, which includes bacon (and sometimes cheese) in the filling, was
originally a variant known as quich au lard. Whereas the original could be eaten on meatless
days, this variant--now known around the world as quiche Lorraine--could not. Nonetheless, a
quiche Lorraine is perceived as something with only a slight meat content. This may account for
the reputation it acquired in some English-speaking countries, where it only became familiar in the
latter part of the 20th century, as a dish not suitable for "he-men" or " real men." At the end of
the
20th century the quiche has become the subject of innuerable variations..."
ABOUT QUICHE IN THE UNITED STATES
"Although a rudimentary quiche appeared in Irma Rombauer's self-published Joy of
Cooking (1931), Hot Quiche Lorraine Tartlets in June Platt's Plain and Fancy
Cookbook (1941), and a full-sized Quiche Lorraine in the 1951 Joy of Cooking,
quiche madness didn't descend upon us until the late 1970s and go-go 80s, when chefs outdid
themselves dreaming off-the-wall combos..."
"In fact, the first quiche recipes to become popular in America were those for the
egg-onion-and-bacon tar called "quiche Lorraine," which was extremely fashionable in the 1970s
as a luncheon,
brunch, or appetizer dish in the United States."
"In a review of New York's Leopard restaurant in the February 1970 issue of Gourmet,
Donald Aspinwall Allan praised the appetizers because "there is always a good quiche," including
onion, ham, leek, or anchovy and olive. Restaurants and caterers soon learned that while quiche
was both a popular and hearty appetizer, it was also sturdy, and could be held for
hours...Quiche's enduring popularity into the Seventies had a great deal to do with the scope it
allowed creative cooks. As one Bon Appetit reader commented, while inquiring after the
recipe for the moussaka quiche...served at The Cottage Crest in Massachusetts, "There seems to
be no end to culinary imagination when it comes to making quiches."...Gourmet (Octyober
1971) even published a recipe for cranberry-carrot dessert quiche to be served with whipped
cream. Plain old quiche Lorraine--with cheese, of course--was still around, but it was generally
considered much too boring...By the early Eighties Americans had been served too many
quiches...Even Craig Claiborne, quiche's early promoter, decared that he wouldn't be caught dead
serving it."
About the gastronomy of the Lorraine Region
A SELECTION OF QUICHE LORRAINE RECIPES
[1927]
For the filling: about 200 grams (7 ounces) of lean bacon; 50 grams (1 3/4 ouces, 3 «
tablespoons) of butter; a good 1/2 liter (generous 2 cups) or ordinary cream, completely fresh; 5
medium eggs; 2 nice pinches of salt
A tart pan with fluted sides about 25 centimeters (10 inches) in diameter
Procedure. Prepare the dough as directed...kneading it twice. Let it rest for 1 hour. Meanshile,
trim the bacon of its rind, then cut into it small slices 1/2 centimeter (3/16 inch) thick. Blanche
them...and drain them. With the rolling pin, roll out the dough as for a tart into a nice round
pancake that has an even thickness of at least 12 centimeter (3/16 inch) and a diameter of 25-26
centimeters (10-10 1/2 inches). Slide your two hands under the dough to transfer it to a tart pan
that has been generously buttered; with the ends of your fingers, press the dough into the bottom
and particularly onto the fluted sides The fold the dough over the sides and pass the rolling pin
over it to cut off the excess. Beast the eggs as for an omelet and salt them, then gradually mix the
cream into them. Divide the butter into thin slices and spread them out over the bottom of the
quiche. Place the bacon on top, pressing lightly on it so that the pieces stick to the bottom and
will not float to the surface when the custard is poured into it. The cover everything with the
custard, without allowing any to spill onto the sides of the dough. Carefully slide the tart pan into
the oven a good medium heat coming mostly from the bottom. Allow 30-35 minutes for
cooking."
[1946]
[1963]
"Quiche Lorraine, although it seems to be the most well known, is only one of a series of generally simple-to-make and appetizing
entrees. A quiche is a mixture of cream and bacon, such as the quiche Lorraine, or cheese and milk, or tomatoes and onions, or crab,
or anything else which is combined with eggs, poured into a pastry shell, and baked in the oven until it puffs and browns. It is
practically foolproof, and you can invent your own combinations. Serve it with a salad, hot French bread, and a cold white wine;
follow it with fruit, and you have a perfect lunch or supper menu. Or let it be the first course of your dinner. You can also
make tiny quiches for hot hors d'oeuvres."
[1972]
Related foods?
Refrigerator pies (aka ice box pies) descend from Refrigerator Cake and other no-bake recipes made popular during the Great Depression. There are dozens
of recipe variations. Pinapple is one of the perennial favorites. Crusts range from standard pastry shell to crushed cracker (graham) and cookie (gingernaps, vanilla
wafers, chocolate wafers) crumbs. The recipe ingredients some folks list are comglomerations of various brand products made by competing companies (Jell-O is Kraft; Hydrox is Sunshine) so it is
unlikely the recipe was printed on the back of a box. Similar recipes, however, using Oreos or Famous Chocolate Wafers, might have been on a box.
This explains why some folks call this recipe Jell-O Pie. Recipes like Refrigerator Pie easily adapt to whatever the cook has on hand.
[1932]
[1933]
Orange Refrigerator Pie
"Cheers! Also a couple of tigers! For we just peered into the refrigerator and mother is baking a pie! No fooling. It's a real
refrigerator. Also, it's a real pie. it went in soft and soupy. it's coming out tremblingly firm, enticingly fluffy--the most palate
teasing morsel yet to call itself pie. And the answer--the newly arrived family of refrigerator pastries that is setting the town
buzzing and taking the floor even from the absorbing matter of jigsaws. The delicate backbone--if one day apply such a sturdy name
to such a quivering creating--is gelatin. But the result is like no gelatin dessert yet on the books...Chiffons and cream
pies start out the list, but lemon chiffon has now taken to itself relatives. Coffee chiffon, and chiffons glorified with crushed
pineapple or fresh spring strawberries shiver with glee as they are turned into crisp, baked shells and slid into the refrigerator
to be "cold-baked" to a cut-able firmness. For refrigerator pies (except for the pre-baked crust) never see the oven. Some of the
ingredients do, however, get acquainted with the top of the stove. And of the coffee chiffon, served up with hot chocolate, demi-tasse, or even a
cup of tea, as a light, relieving touch after a robust meal, is, to me, the perfect selection...gelatin isn't the only way we have
of putting standupableness into the new era of refrigerator pastries. Another pie--or it may be turned into a whole family of
tarts--stands up because someone discovered that lemon juice thickens condensed milk..."
[1936]
[1939]
Fruit Chiffon Pie.
[1949]
[1958]
[1971]
The oldest reference we find for Sawdust pie is a recipe published in Bon Appetit, May 1983 ("Letters to the Editor, p. 8).
The letter submitted by Kathly Higley, St. Louis Missouri, who references she ate this at Patti's, a family-owned restaurant in Grand Rivers, Kentucky.
Our survey of historic newspaper & magazine articles suggest desserts named "Sawdust Pie" (a super sugary concoction featuring pecans, coconut & egg white
meringue) bubble up in the deep south/Texas in late 1990s. We find no person/restaurant/cooking contest/company claiming *invention* of this particular item.
Neither did we find recipes with this name in our old cookbooks. The closest related item (ingredients/region) we find is Japanese fruitcake. Perhaps Sawdust Pie is
a twist on this particular Southern/Appalachian Regional theme?
"Sawdust Pie.
"Japanese Coconut Pie.
1 recipe for Coconut Filling
"Coconut Filling (for Japanese Fruitcake)
The English tradition of meat pies dates back to the Middle ages. Game pie, pot pie and mutton
pie were popular and served in pastry "coffyns." These pies were cooked for hours in a slow
oven,
and topped with rich aspic jelly and other sweet spices. The eating of "hote [meat] pies" is
mentioned in Piers Plowman, and English poem written in the 14th Century. (Cooking
of the
British Isles, Adrian Bailey, pages 156-7) The Elizabethans favored minced pies. "A typical
Elizabethan recipe ran: Shred your meat (mutton or beef) and suet together fine. Season it with
cloves, mace, pepper and some saffron, great raisins and prunes..." (Food and Drink in Britain:
From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson, page 273). About mince and mincemeat pies.
The key to dating Shepherd's pie is the introduction (and acceptance) of potatoes in England.
Potatoes are a new world food. They were first introduced to Europe in 1520 by the Spanish.
Potatoes did not appeal to the British palate until the 18th Century. (Foods America Gave the
World, A. Hyatt Verrill, page 28). Shepherd's Pie, a dish of minced meat (usually lamb, when
made with beef it is called "Cottage Pie") topped with mashed
potatoes was probably invented
sometime in the 18th Century by frugal peasant housewives looking for creative ways to serve
leftover meat to their families. It is generally agreed that it originated in the north of England and
Scotland where there are large numbers of sheep--hence the name. The actual phrase "Shepherd's
Pie" dates back to the 1870s, when mincing machines made the shredding of meat easy and
popular." (The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, page 717).
Where does "Cottage Pie" fit in?
"In present day English, cottage pie is an increasingly popular sysnonym for shepherd's
pie, a dish of minced meat with a topping of mashed potato. Its widening use is no doubt due
in part to its pleasantly bucolic associations, in part to the virtual disappearance of mutton and
lamb from such pies in favour of beef...But in fact, cottage pie is a much older term than
shepherd's pie, which does not crop up until the 1870s; on 29 August 1791 we find that
enthusiastic recorder of all his meals, the Reverend James Woodford, noting in his diary Dinner
to day, Cottage-Pye and rost Beef' (it is not clear precisely what he meant by cottage pie,
however)."
"The term cottage pie, often confused with shepherd's pie but probably denoting a similar dish
made with minced beef, has a somewhat longer history and is similarly effective in evoking a rural
and traditional context."
SURVEY OF HISTORIC RECIPES
[1685]
[1747]
[1849]
[1861]
Baked
Minced Mutton (recipe 703) &
Baked
Beef (recipes 598 & 599)
[1886]
[1894]
"Tinned Meat, Shepherd's Pie
Shoofly pie
Shoofly pie has such an interesting name, it must have an equally interesting history. It certainly
does!
Many food history reference books attribute the origin of shoofly pie to the Pennslyvania Dutch.
A closer examination of
culinary evidence suggests this group may be able to claim the name, but maybe not the recipe.
This resiliant sugar-based formula is capable of adapting through the ages according to ingredient
availability and
cook ingenuity. Food historians tell us sugar-filled pastries originated in the Ancient Middle East.
Sweet treacle pies
were popular all over Medieval Europe. Renaissance diners preferred similar compostions made
with fine white sugar.
These recipes were introduced to America by European settlers from several nations. Molasses
was often substituted for
treacle in colonial American recipes. Some folks say the "original shoofly recipe" is descended
from
Centennial
cake. Both desserts
have striking similarities.
WHY SHOOFLY?
According to the book Rare Bits, Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, by Patricia
Bunning Stevens (p. 262)
shoofly pie was created when "the pie-loving Pennsylvania Dutch ...found themselves short of
baking supplies in the late
winter and early spring...all that was left in the pantry were flour, lard, and molasses. From these
sparse ingredients they
fashioned Shoo-Fly Pie and found that their families liked it so well that they soon made it all year
round. The unusual
name is presumed to come from the fact that pools of sweet, sticky molasses sometimes formed
on the surface of the pie
while it was cooling, inevitably attracting flies." According to the The Encyclopedia of
American Food
& Drink, by John Mariani (p. 293) the term "Shoo Fly Pie" was not recorded in print until
1926.
"Shoofly pie.
WHAT IS AMISH SHOOFLY?
If you are looking for a Shoo-Fly pie recipe from the early 18th century, try this one from
"The Thirteen Colonies
Cookbook," by Mary Donovan. On page 135 appears this recipe attributed to Magdelena
Hoch Keim of
Lobachsville, Pennsylvania. (1730--?). This recipe has been modernized for contemporary
kitchens:
Combine flour, sugar, spices, and salt with the shortening. Work into crumbs with your hands.
Add beaten egg yolk to
molasses. Pour boiling water over soda until dissolved; then add to molasses mixture. Line a
9-inch pie plate with pastry
and fill it with the molasses mixture. Top with the crumb mixture. Bake at 400 degrees until the
crust browns, about 10
minutes. Reduce to 325 degrees and bake firm.
Sweet potato pie
"King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella may have liked [sweet potatoes] well enough to have planted
them in their court gardens. Their son-in-law, Henry VIII of England, liked them too, he thought
the plant was an aphrodesiac...Rareness and expense, besides that quality Henry VIII appreciated,
lent it chic. Also, "the most delicate root that may be eaten," as the sixteenth-century English
mariner and slave trader John Hawkins called it, suited European taste. ..Henry ate his sweet
potatoes in heavily spiced and sugared pies, a fashion that survived at least until the 1680s."
Sweet potatoes were introduced to West Africa soon thereafter. They were similar to yams ("Old
World" foods) and quickly incorporated into the local cuisine. Sweet potato pie seems to have
converged in the American South from very early colonial days. It quickly became a staple of the
region. Today this fine pie is considered by some to be a cornerstone of "Soul Food."
"Africans in the South knew the yam...from their homeland and the two tubers have
become virtually interchangeable in Southern cooking. Most Southern sweet potato recipes
have been developed by black from their traditional cuisine..."
Why are sweet potatoes pies sometimes served with marshmallows?
[1927]
A SURVEY OF SWEET POTATO PIE RECIPES THROUGH TIME
"A Pudding made thus.
Mix it as before, make it to the Shape of a Pudding, and bake it; pour Butter, Sack and Sugar
over it."
[1753]
[1792]
"Potatoe Pudding a second Way.
"Yam pudding.
[1828]
[1839]
[1878]
[1884]
[1897]
[1911]
[1930]
ABOUT YAMS AND SWEET POTATOES
"The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and the yams (genus Dioscorea) are root crops that today
nurture millions of people within the world's tropics. Morevever, they are plants whose origin and
dispersals may help in an understanding of how humans manipulated and changed specific types of
plants to bring them under cultivation. Finally, these cultivars are important as case studies the
diffusion of plant species as they moved around the world through contacts between different
human populations..."
WHY THE CONFUSION BETWEEN YAMS & SWEET POTATOES?
Traditional global perspective
"It was probably slave traders who introduced the sweet potato to Africa, where it was called
igname or nyam, which simply means yam'."
"The confusion with the true yam came from the habit of slaves calling the American sweet potato
by an African word (either Gullah njam, Senegal, nyami, or Vai, djambi) meaning "to eat." The
word was first recorded in America in 1676."
"The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas, not remotely related to either the white potato or true yam)
is
native to tropical America and is mentioned in 1494 as growing in Hispaniola by Chanca,
physician to the fleet of Columbus, according to Sturtevant. The confusion started with potato,
from Haitian batata (OED), came to be applied no only to sweet potatoes but also to
papas, an
Inca name for white potato, thus endlessly entangling their identities in early chronicles. Gerard in
his Herball (1597) correctly identified them: sweets, already well known in England, he
called simply Potatoes, saying that they grew in "...Spaine, and other hot regions."
Modern USA fuzziness between sweet potatoes & yams is not a matter of linguistic, social or botanical heritage.
It's all about business:
"The sweet potato is the true storage root of Ipomoea batatas, a member of the morning glory family...There are many different
varities, ranging from dry and starchy varieties common in tropical regions...the moist, sweet version, dark orange with beta-carotene, that is popular in the United States was confusingly named a 'yam' in 1930s marketing campaigns."
ABOUT YAMS
African yams enjoy a rich and interesting history, figuring prominently in cultural traditions.
"Dioscorea cayenesi" is the principal species grown in West Africa. The African name for this
vegetable is "allato."
"While much emphasis had been placed on cereal cultivation, there is increasing evidence that
tubers also played an important role in African diets as well and seem to date back to 18,000 to
17,000 years ago. Yams became so important within the western section of the continent that they
took on mythical proportions. Festivities mark their planting and harvesting in countries like
Ghana and Nigeria...It is generally agreed upon by botanists that certain species of yams were first
protected and later domesticated in the tropical rainforest zone of western Africa..."
"The Yam Spirit was a powerful force present in much of Oceania and in Nigeria as well. Yam
planting in Nigeria, as in the Oceanian lands, was accompanied by elaborate rituals. In Nigeria, the
Yam Spirit, called Ifejilku by some, has a special cult...The yam ceremonies performed in these
cultures are similar to agricultural rites surrounding numerous other crops throughout the
world..."
If all you need is a basic overview of the history of African yams, ask your librarian to help you
find this article:
"West African Prehistory," S. K. McIntosh, American Scientist 69 (6): 160 1981
ABOUT SWEET POTATOES
Shakespeare's sweet potatoes
"All recipes for potatoes were for sweet, or Spanish potatoes. The white, or Virginia, potato so-called because Sir Walter Raleigh brought it back to England from Virginia,
or so it was thought, was barely known during Shakespeare's lifetime. Spanish potaotes, introduced by the Spaniards, who found them in South America, were known in
England around the middle of the sixteenth century. William Harrison mentions them in the 1577 edition of The Description of England, but recipes for them do not
appear in English cookbooks until the 1580s, when Thomas Dawson offered the recipe, much quoted by social historians of Tudor England, on how 'to make a tart that is
a courage to a man or woman.' The recipe combines potatoes with the brains of cock robins, among other ingredients, making it clear to Elizabethans that it was a dish
with aphrodesiac possibilities. The aphrodesiac reputation of cock robbins' brains and sweet potatoes was accepted by educated people as well as by the medical
profession. Sir Thomas Elyot in his Castle of Health, does not mention robins, but notes that 'sparrowes be hard to digest, and are very hot, and stirreth up Venus,
and especially the brains of them.' Shakespeare mentions potatoes twice, both times with lecherous connotations."
William Shakespeare's reference:
Thomas Dawson's recipe, c. 1596:
"Sweet potato...A vine native to the New World tropics...They are an important crop of the
American South...The earliest records of the cultivation of the sweet potato, dated to around 750
B.C., come from Peru, but it was grown throughout South and Central America by the time
Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World...The Taino word batata was soon transformed
into several European words, including the Spanish patata, French patate, and English "potato."
These words first meant specifically the sweet potato, not the white potato that was introduced
much later to the North American colonies...The sweet potato, meanwhile, had already been
shipped back to the Old World, perhaps as early as 1493 in Columbus's ship, and was cultivated
in Spain by the middle of the sixteenth century. England got its first taste of the tuber in 1564,
when Sir John Hawkins brought it back from "the Indies of Nova Hispania,"...the term "sweet
potato" was not in use in America until the 1740s, but then distinguished from the white potato
that had come to Boston about 1719 with Irish immigrants...In the nineteenth century George
Washington Carver devised more than a hundred uses for the sweet potato...By the 1800s
American were enjoying candied sweet potatoes, along with less lavish preparations of boiled,
roasted, or mashed tubers. Today some of the most popular market varieties include "Centennial,"
Goldrush," "Georgia Red,"...The sweet potato has long been associated with southern and soul
cooking..."
"In America, sweet potatoes were grown extensively in Virginia, Georgia, and the Carolinas, but
there were a luxury in the North before 1830."
Related foods? Pumpkin pie & Carrot cake.
Tarts
"The term 'tart' occurs in the 14th century recipe compilation the Forme of Cury [a cook book],
and so does its diminutive 'tartlet'. The relevant recipes are for savour items containing meat. A
mixture of savour and sweet was common in medieval dishes and typical of the elaborate,
decorative tarts and pies which were served at banquets. There was, however, a perceptible trend
towards sweet tarts. These usually contained egg custard and fruits of various kinds, which could
be used to provide the brillant colours of which medieval cooks were fond: red, white, and pale
green from fruits; strong green from spinach, which was used in sweet tarts; yellow from egg,
with extra colour from saffron; and black from
dark-coloured dried
fruits. There are many 16th century recipes for coloured tartstuffs'."
"Tart...In America, the word tart tends to indicate a small individual open pastry case with a
sweet, usually fruit filling. In Britian, this usage survives in the particular context of jam tarts, but
on the whole tart refers to a larger version of this, with jam, fruit, or custard filling, that is cut into
slices for serving, or to a similar fruit-filled pastry case with a crust--in other words, a fruit pie."
Medieval European tarts (savory & sweet)
Elizabethen England's fruit tarts
Apple & orange tart
Apple and orange tarts are an excellent choice for a Shakespearean feast. The recipe, however is
much older. Pie was made by ancient cooks. Apples were introduced to England by the Roman
conquerors. They were commonplace by the 16th century. Oranges came later, in Medieval times.
These were expensive items in Shakespeare's age because they were imported. Therefore, only
the wealthy could afford apple and orange tarts. Recipes for apple and orange tarts appear in 16th
century English cookbooks. Coincidentally? These cookbooks were also written by and for the
wealthy. Example? Pear tart
17th century French tarts
18th century English tarts
[1753]
Colonial American fruit tarts
"Too make sring tarts
[1796]
ABOUT APPLES IN ENGLAND
ABOUT ORANGES IN ENGLAND
"The same ships that carried spices also tended to carry fruit, such as oranges, of which a
surprising number were brought to England. These were frequently imported in the tens of
thousands per ship, and occasionally as many as a hundred thousand (in March 1480). These
oragnes were probably always a bitter variety. For customs purposes they were declared at about
ten for 1d."
"Besides the food associated with certain occasions there was luxury food which was served
whenever it could be obtained and which was intended to delight and impress. One such food was
fruit. A better-off person's meal in the sixteenth century finished with fruit...Henry VIII's meals
also ended with fruit, although exactly what fruit is not specified apart from the fact that oranges
and pippins (a variety of apples) are often included on the menu. Ordinary people could also enjoy
the fruit they grew in their own gardens, but imported luxuries like oranges were far beyond their
means."
About pear tarts
Likewise? Tarts (generally pies-like recipes without top crusts) were known during these
times. The earliest printed evidence we find for pear pie in an English cookbook is from
1615. Gervase Markham's English Huswife contains a recipe for "A warden pie." Wardens
were a particular kind of pear. Robert May's Accomplisht Cook [1685] contains
this recipe:
18th century cookbooks often contained recipes for puddings that would be classed today as
tarts:
COLONIAL AMERICAN TARTS
About Tart Tatin
"Tarte Tatin, an upside-down French apple tart. The Larousse Gastronomique explains that the
name commemorates the Tatin sisters, who popularized it in their restaurant at Lamotte-Beuvron,
to the south of Orleans, in the early 20th century. Later in the century, chefs devised variations,
using pear, pineapple, or rhubarb, to give but three examples."
"Tatin. The name given to a tart of caramelized apples that is cooked under a lid of pastry and
then inverted to be served with the pastry underneath and the fruit on top. This delicious tart, in
which the taste of caramel is combined with the flavour of apples cooked in butter under a golden
crispy pastry crust, established the reputation of the Tatin sisters, who ran a hotel-restaurant in
Lamotte-Beuvron at the beginning of the 20th century. However, the upside down' tart, made of
apples or pears, is an ancient specialty of Sologne and is found throughout Orleanais. Having
been made famous by the Tatin sisters, it was first served in Paris at Maxim's, where it remains a
specialty to the present day."
"...How these Tatin girls accidentally inventd the famous tart involves a small sally into French social history. The Solognes region
is the paradise of French hunters, a wild, forested area along the upper reaches of the Loire River, near Joan of Arc's City of
Orleans...The hunters come with dogs and guns to spread out along the forest roads that pass isolated villages where they stay
in small hunting auberges. Most of these tiny inns are owned and run by women who are also superb game cooks...
In one of the villages, Lamotte-Buevren, about 24 miles from Orleans, the Auberge Tatin has been owned by the Tatin family for almost
70 years. The most famous cooks in the family were the Tatin sisters Marie and Jeanne, who ran the auberge about 40 years
ago. As well as their game specialties, they had a dessert that was quite popular with regular visitors. You might call it a kind
of deep-dish one-crust fruit pie. They made it in a copper pan about 9 inches across and 3 inches deep. They neatly filled it with
circles of fruit cut, covered it with a single pastry crust, put a lid and baked it by sliding it under the glowing wood embers in
the huge hearth. When the crust was golden brown, they carried the pie in its pan to the table. One day, just as she stepped into
the dining room, Marie Tatin dropped the pan. The pie stayed in the pan, but the crust cracked badly right across its center. In
a flood of tears, Marie scooped up the pan from the floor and rushed it back to the kitchen. It obviously could not be served
with the big crack. There was no time to bake another. What could be done? Jeanne had the brilliant idea that was to make them
famous. Quickly she ran a knife around the edge of the crust and overturned the entire pie onto a serving platter with the cracked
crust underneath. The fruit, now on top, looked very neat, but a bit pale. In a heavy iron skillet Jeanne quickly caramelized some
butter and sugar, then dribbled the shiny golden syrup over the fruit. When Marie carried the newly invented upside-down tart into
the dining room, it we recieved with acclamation. Within a few months, it was being copied all over the Sologne region. Within a
few years, it was a favorite all over France. For the rest of their lives the Tatin sisters basked in the glory of their tart.
Thousands of visitors came to their tiny auberge, not to hunt but just for the pleasure of meeting the sisters and looking at the
circle painted on the floor to mark the spot where the tart fell. Yet the Tatin girls deeply resented all the imitation of their
tart. They struggled for the rest of their lives to keep their recipe a secret. They never published it or even wrote it down, so
an "authentic recipe" does not exist, only hundreds of different interpretations by other cooks."
Coincidentally? Upside-down desserts were all the *rage* in the early years of the 20th century.
Consider Pineapple Upside Down cake!
Related foods? cheesecake & quiche.
Vinegar pie
"Vinegar pie. A spiced pie made with vinegar, common in the North and Midwest since the nineteeth
century. In America Eats, written in the 1930s for the WPA Illinois Writers Project but not published until
1992, Nelson Algren noted that as winter wore on midwestern setters' systems craved fruit and tart
flavors: To satisfy their craving, ingenious housewives invented the vinegar pie...When baked in a pie tin,
the resulting product was much relished and remained a favorite springtime dessert until young orchards
coming into bearing provided real fruit pies to take its place.'"
"Vinegar Pie. This recipe was adapted from a lemon pie recipe used by prairie cooks when the nearest lemon was "fifty miles away
by oxcart."
Vinegar pie crust?
The earliest print reference we find in an American newspaper was published in 1968:
"Visitors to the Truman Library in Independence, Mo., often follow the path the Trumans themselves took once when Mrs. Lyndon Johnson
came to visit them. They dine out at Stephenson's Apple Farm Restaurant, a sprawling, countrified place just over the Kansas
City line...Stephenson's recipes are in great demand. Here are three that have been published...Egg 'N Vinegar Pie Crust
Pastry."
About culinary research & about copyright.
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang, editor [Crown:New York] 1988 (p.
777-8)
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p.
242-244)
---Food: A Culinary History, Jean-Louis Flandrin & Massimo Montanari [Columbia
University:New York] 1999 (p.281-2)
Food historians laud Clarence Birdseye for launching the American frozen food industry. Fruits, veggies, fish
were first offerings. Other foods followed in swift progression. Swanson and Morton pioneered the frozen pie market;
concentrating savory selections [Chicken, Turkey, Beef].
"Pillsbury's Frozen Pie Crust, 2 pkgs., 35 cents."---Vidette-Messenger [Valparisio IN], February 15, 1955 (p. 16)
---"Patent on Lev Single-Cap Hatbox Brings Inquiry by Senate Group," Stacy V. Jones, New York Times, December 10, 1955 (p. 28)
"King's 2 in Pkg. Frozen Pie Crust, 35 cents."
---Blytheville Courier News [AR], December 13, 1956 (p. 20)
"Pet-Ritz Fruit Pies, frozen, ready to bake. Now you can bake your family a real fruit-country pie--a Pet-Ritz Pie with juicy,
sun-sweet fruit heaped high in a delicately tender crust, fir shiw golden butter! This very day, see why so many people say no pies
compare with Pet-Ritz Apple, cherry, peach...6 delicious fruit or berry favorites...made the traditional fruit-country way, baked
by you the new easy way!. Pet-Ritz brings the country's best to you."
---display ad, Los Angeles Times, August 22, 1957 (p. A6)
[NOTE: these pies were complete, no indication crust were also sold separately.]
"Frozen Pie Crust, pgk. 29 cents."
---Panola Watchman [Carthage TX], November 20, 1958 (p. 44)
"You! Enjoy the revolutionary new frozen product! Oronoque Frozen Pie crust 69 cents, 2-crust-3 pie pans. Victory [supermarket]
will supply free of charge...your choice of any two Jell-O pie fillings."
---Fitchburg Sentinel [MA], December 6, 1961 (p. 34)
"Pet-Ritz Frozen Pie Crusts and are introduced by Pet Milk, which has created an entirely new product category."
---The Food Chronology, James Trager [Henry Holt:New York] 1997 (p. 570)
"Pet-Ritz Pie Co. was started by the Petritz family. The family originally operated a roadside stand, selling cherry pies to Michigan
tourists. The success of the tourist business prompted the family to freeze pies and sell them. With the advent of modern mass production
and freezing capabilities, Pet-Ritz Fruit Pies became one of the midwest's leading brands of frozen fruit pies...Because of
consumer acceptance of frozen convenience products in the early 1960s, the Frozen Foods Division expanded into other product
areas. One frozen product that has been very successful is Pet-Ritz Pie Crust Shells. Pet's expertize in making pie crust for fruit
pies made pie crust shells a natural line extension."
---"Petritz family treats now shared by millions," Los Angeles Times, October 16, 1980 (p. S8)
---Bridgeport
Post [CT], March 5, 1962 (p. 20)
"New-Frozen Crusts. Easy as pie, the newest in pie crusts. There are frozen pie crust shells, each the 9-inch size, packed in
foil pans, all rolled and ready for a favorite filling. Tins serve as the baking pans."
---Redlands Daily Facts [CA], January 8,
1963 (p. 8)
---Daily News, Huntingdon and Mount Union [PA], January 23, 1963 (p. 12)
"Pillsbury Frozen Pie Crusts, pkg of two 9 inch shells, 29 cents."
---display ad, Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1965 (p. E18)
<
Food historians generally agree puff paste was an invention of Renaissance cooks. It was a natural
iteration of shortcrust pastry. Early recipes were listed under various names. The term "puff
paste" became standard in early 17th century English cooking texts.
---Martha Washington's Book of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia:New
York] 1981 (page156)
[1545] To make short paste
for tart
Take flour and seven or eight eggs, and cold butter and fair water, or rose water, and spices (if
you will) and make your paste. Beat it on a board, and when you have so done divide it into two
or three parts and drive out the piece with a rolling pin. And do['t] with butter one piece by
another, and fold up your paste upon the butter and drive it out again. And so do five or six times
together, and some not cut for bearings. Put them into the over, and when they be baked scrape
sugar on them and serve them."
---The Good Housewife's Jewel, Thomas Dawson, with an introduction by Maggie Black
[Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 71)
Now for the making of puff paste of the best kind, you shall take the finest wheat flour after it
hath been a little baked in a pot in the oven, and blend it well with eggs, whites and yolks all
together, after the paste is well kneaded, roll out a part thereof as thin as you please, and then
spread cold sweet butter over the same, then upon the same butter roll another leaf of the paste as
before; and spread it with butter also; and thus roll leaf upon leaf with butter between till it be as
thick as you think good: and with it either cover any baked meat, or make paste for venison,
Florentine, tart of what dish else you please and so bake it. There be some that to this paste use
sugar, but it is certain it will hinder the rising thereof; and therefore when your puffed paste is
baked, you shall dissolved sugar into rose-water, and drop it into the paste as much as it will by
any means receive, and then set it a little while in the oven after and it will be sweet enough."
---The English Hous-wife, Gervase Markham, [W.Wilson:London] 1660 (p. 74)
[NOTE: facsimile 1615 edition of this book edited by Michael R. Best [McGill-Queen's
University Press:Montreal] 1998 contains this recipe (p. 98) and others. Your librarian can help
you obtain a copy.]
Pie crust
---The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, Odile Redon et al, [University of
Chicago Press:Chicago] 1998 (p. 133-4)
---(p. 184)
[287] [Baked Picnic] HAM [Pork Shoulder, fresh or cured] PERNAM
The ham should be raised with a good number of figs and some three laurel leaves; the skin is then
pulled off and cut into square pieces; these are macerated with hone. Thereupon make dough
crumbs of flour and oil. Lay the dough over or around the ham, stud the top with the pieces of the
skin so that they will be baked with the dough and when done, retire from the oven and
serve."
---Apicius: Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, Edited and translated by Joseph
Dommers Vehling [Dover:New York] 1977 (p. 169)
American apple pie
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004 (p. 43)
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 325-6)
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 8)
If something is said to be as "American as apple pie," it is credited with being as American as
"The Star Spangled Banner." In fact, apples were brought from Europe to America, and apple
pies (1780) were very popular in Europe, especially in England, before they came to epitomize
Amerian food. But Americans popularized the apple pie as the country became the world's largest
apple-producing nation."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 11)
---Apples: History, Folklore, Horticulture, and Gastronomy, Peter Wynne
[Hawthorn:New York] 1975 (p. 24)
---As American
as Apple Pie, John Lehndorff, American Pie Council.
[To Make] A Codling Tarte Eyther to Looke Clear or Green
Similar recipes appear in American Cookery, Amelia Simmons [1796], The Virginia
Housewife, Mary Randolph [1824] and The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Josepha Hale
[1841].
"First coddle [poach] ye [the] apples in faire water; yn [then] take halfe the weight in sugar &
make as much syrrop as will cover ye bottom of yr [your] preserving pan, & ye rest of ye suger
keepe to throw on them as the boyle, which must be very softly; & you must turne them often
least they burne too. Then put them in a thin tart crust, & give them with theyr syrrup halfe an
hours bakeing; or If you pleas, you may serve them up in a handsome dish, onely garnished with
suger & cinnamon. If you would gave yr apples looke green, coddle them in fair water, then pill
them, & put them into ye water againe, & cover them very close. Then lay them in yr coffins [
crust] of paste with lofe [loaf] suger, & bake them not too hard. When you serve them up, put in
with a tunnell [funnel] to as many of them as you pleas, a little thick sweet cream."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia
University Press:New York] 1981 (p. 95-96)
[Ms. Hess adds these notes regarding codlings: "Some writers describe codlings as immature or
windfall apples, and this may have been tru ate times, but the term also designated a specific
apple, rather elongated and tapering toward the flower end...All sources agree that the codling
was good only for cooking."]
[1796] American
Cookery, Amelia Simmons
[1803] Frugal
Housewife, Susannah Carter
[1865] Mrs.
Goodfellow's cookery as it should be. A new manual of the dining room and kitchen
---pies (pps. 209-226); apple pie (pps. 215 & 220)
[1918] Boston Cooking-School Cook
Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
The practice of combining cheese, fruit, and nuts dates back to ancient times. These were often
served at
the end of a meal because they were thought to aid in digestion. From the earliest days through
the
Renaissance, the partaking of these foods was generally considered a priviledge of the wealthy.
This
practice was continued by wealthy dinners composed of many courses up until the 19th century.
Apples
and cheesemaking were introduced to the New World by European settlers. These people also
brought
with them their recipes and love for certain combinations. This explains the popular tradition of
apple pie
and cheddar cheese in our country.
---Cheese: A Guide to the World of Cheese and Cheesemaking, Bruno Battistotti et al
[Facts on File
Publications:New York] 1983 (p. 14-5)
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy
Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 334)
Contrary to popular opinion, this dessert was not invented by Nabisco. Imitation apple pies made
with soda crackers were the pride of thrifty 19th century American cooks. Nabisco introduced its
Ritz Cracker version in 1935, on year after the product was introduced to the American public. It
was an immediate hit.
One large grated lemon, three large soda crackers, two even tablespoons of butter, two teacups
of sugar, one egg, a wineglass of water poured over the crackers. These will make two pies,
baked with two crusts.
...Mock Apple Pie may not be a wholly twentieth-century invention. But using Ritz Crackers is,
because the National Biscuit Company introduced them only in November 1934...They were such
a hit, National Biscuit took Ritz national in 1935...Because of their "buttery" richness, Ritz
Crackers clearly make a finer Mock Apple Pie than ordinary soda crackers..."
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 387)
---"Food Notes," Florence Fabricant, New York Times, February 20, 1991 (p. C8)
[1863]
APPLE PIE WITHOUT APPLES.--
To one small bowl of crackers, that have been soaked until no hard parts remain, add one
teaspoonful of tartaric acid, sweeten to your taste, add some butter, and a very little
nutmeg."
Confederate Receipt
Book
"Imitation Apple Pie
Six soda-bicuit soaked in three cups of cold water, the grated rind and juice of three lemons, and
sugar to your taste. This will make three pies."
---Mrs. Putnam's Receipt Book and Young Housekeeper's Assistant, Mrs. Putnam, new
and enlarged edition [Sheldon and Company:New York] 1869 (p. 119)
"Soda Cracker Pie.
Pour water on two large or four round soda crackers and let the remain till thoroughly wet. Then
press out the water and crush them up together. Stir in the juice and grated peel of a lemon, with
a cupful or more of powdered sugar. Put in pastry and bake.--Mrs. H.L"
---Housekeeping in Old Virginia, Marion Cabell Tyree [John P. Morton and
Company:Louisville KY] 1879 (p. 413)
"Mock Apple Pie
Two soda biscuits break in small pieces (do not roll): pour 1 cup boiling water on small pieces of butter, little salt, juice of
1 lemon and little of rind grated, a little nutmeg and you have a nice substitute for applepie. Try it, please. Old Housekeeper."
---"Household Department," Boston Daily, September 24, 1903 (p. 9)
Ritz Mock Apple
Pie
Apple Crisp & Apple Brown Betty
In the 19th century "Apple Slump" & "Brown Betty" recipes were similar
in method and ingredients. "Apple Crisp" first surfaces in the early 20th century. At that time,
"Brown Betty" morphed from Slump to Crisp. Perhaps "Betty" was a modern cook?
[1877]
"Brown Betty
Put a layer of sweetened apple sauce in a buttered dish, add a few lumps of butter, then a layer of
cracker crumbs sprinkled with a little cinnamon, then layer of sauce, etc., making the last layer of
crumbs; bake in oven, and eat with cold, sweetened cream."
---Buckeye Cookery, Estelle Woods Wilcox, facsimile 1877 edition [Applewood
Books:Bedford MA] (p. 197)[NOTE: Compare with Swiss Pudding, 1853.]
Apple Slump
Slump
Pare, core and slice 6 apples and combine with one c(up). sugar, 1 t(easpoon) cinnamon, and 1/2 c. water in a saucepan. Cover and
beat to boiling point. Meanwhile sift together 1 1/2 c. flour, t t/4 t. salt and 1 1/2 t. baking powder and add 1/2 cup milk
to make a soft dough. Drop pieces of the dough from a tablespoon onto apple mixture, cover, and cook over low heat for 30 min.
Serve with cream."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, (p. 297)
[1853]
"Swiss Pudding.
Lay alternately in a baking dish slices of nice tart apples; on these sprinkle sugar and the grated
oily rind of a lemon, and then crumbs of stale rusks which have been soaked in milk; then more
slices of apples, sugar, and crumbs of rusks; cut very thin slices of butter and lay thickly on the
top; over this sift thickly pulverized sugar; bake one hour, and sent to table in the same dish."
---Cookery as it Should Be, by A Practical Housekeeper and pupil of Mrs. Goodfellow
[Willis P. Hazard:Philadelphia] 1853 (p. 222)
[NOTE: there is a handwritten entry in brown fountain pen ink adding this note to the title "or
Brown Betty."]
"Jenny Lind's Pudding
Grate the crumbs of a half a loaf, butter and dish well, and lay a thick layer of the crumbs; pare ten
or twelve apples, cut them down, and put a layer of them and sugar; then crumbs alternately, until
the dish is full; put a bit of butter on the top, and bake it in an oven or American reflector. An
excellent and economical pudding."
---Civil War Recipes: Receipts From the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book, compiled and
edited by Lily May Spaulding and John Spaulding [University Press of Kentucky:Lexington KY]
1999 (p. 226)
[NOTE: Godey's Lady's Book was a popular American women's magazine of the 19th
century. It published many recipes, such as the one above.]
"Apple Slump
Apple slump is another old fashioned dish, but none the less acceptable on account of its antiquity.
Pare, core and quarter a dozen tart, juicy apples, turn over them a cupful of boiling water and set
where they will begin to cook. Five minutes later add to the apples two cups of molasses and
cook five or more minutes while you prepare a very soft biscuit dough, using for a pint of flour a
teaspoonful of sugar, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, a half tablespoonful of shortening, and
milk to stir this over the apples, which should be tender, but not broken, cover the kettle closely
and cook twenty-five minutes without lifting the cover. Serve with a hot sauce, made by heating
to a cream a half cup of butter and one cup of sugar, stirring in just before using a scant cupful of
boiling milk or water and seasoning to taste."
---New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock Telford [Cupples &
Leon:New York] 1908 (p. 113) [NOTE: This "modern" version is closer to Apple crisp/Brown Betty.
Baklava & filo
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
299)
---Oxford Companion to Food (p. 446)
---The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking though the
Ages, [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 690)
Napoleons
---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricial Bunning Stevens [Ohio
University Press:Athens] 1998 (p.202).
---The Horizon CookBook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking though the
Ages, William Harlan Hale [American Heritage:New York] 1968 (p. 685).
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne, editor [Crown:New York] 1961 (p.653).
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
505)
Careme is generally regarded as the father of all modern French pastries. Ian Kelly's Cooking for Kings: The Life of Antonin
Careme, the First Celebrity Chef includes a (modernized, translated) recipe for Gateau Pithvieir, attributed to Careme circa 1805 (p. 261). It is not so very
different from modern Napoleons. La Varenne's French Cook (we have the English version, circa 1653 published by Southover Press c. 2001) does not offer a
recipe for Napolitains. It does, however offer several general instructions for pastry making (p. 192). It also offers recipes for two layered tortes: Tourte of
Franchipanne (p. 200) and Tourte of Massepin [marzipan aka almond paste] (p. 201). It is interesting to note [but not necessarily connected] that Marie-Antoine Careme [1783-1833],
the famous french pastry chef who managed Tallyrand's kitchens, was a contemporary of
Napoleon I [1769-1821].
[1869]
"Neapolitan Cake
Blanch, peel, wash and dry 1 lb. of Jordan almonds; pound them in a mortar, moistening them
with white of egg, to prevent their turining oily; when well pounded add:
1 lb of pounded sugar
1/2 lb. of butter
1 1/4 lb. of flour
1 small pinch of salt
the grated peel of an orange;
Mix the whole to a stiffish paste, with 12 yolks of egg, and let it rest for an hour; Roll out the
paste to 3/16 inch thickness; cut it out with a plain round 5 1/2-inch cutter; put the rounds
obtained on baking sheets, in the oven; When of a light golden tinge, take the rounds out of the
oven, and trim them with the same cutter; When the rounds are cold, lay them one above the over
spreading them over alternately with apricot jam, and red currant jelly; All the pieces being stuck
together, trim the outside of the cake with a knife, and spread it over with apricot jam; Roll out
some twelve-turns puff paste, 1/8 inch thick; cut it into patterns with some fancy cutters; lay these
patterns on a baking-sheet; dredge some fine sugar over them, and bake them in the oven, without
colouring them; Decorate the top and round the cake with these puff paste patterns; and
serve.
---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated from the French and adapted for
English use by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son and Marston:London] New edition 1869 (p.
532-3)
"Neapolitainoes
Make enough puff-paste for a pie; roll out into a sheet half an inch thick, and cut into strips three
inches long and half as wide. Bake in a quick oven. When cold, spread half fo them with sweet
jam or jelly, and stick the others over them in pairs--the jelly being, of course, in the middle. Ice
with a frosting made of the whites of two eggs, whipped stiff with a half a pound of sugar. Make
these on Saturday. Pass with them strong, hot coffee, with a great spoonful of whipped cream on
the surface of each cupful."
---The Dinner Year-Book, Marion Harland [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1878 (p.
597-8)
"Napolitain
Ingredients. For a large napolitain: 2 1/4 cups (365 grams) blanched sweet almonds; 1 tablepsoon (12 1/2 grams) blanched
bitter almonds; 1 14 cups (175 grams) fine sugar; 1/2 pound (250 grams) butter; 4 cups (500 grams) sieved cake flour; 1 3/4 cups
(30 grams) sugar flavoured with lemon (or any other flavouring); a pinch of salt.
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne, editor [Crown:New York] 1961 (p.653).
Napoleons-Millefueilles
For 16 pieces
Rolling out and baking the pastry
The preceding puff pastry
1 Tb softened butter
4 baking sheets, 12 by 18 inches
(Preheat oven to 450 degrees)
Roll the chilled pastry again into a rectangle; cut in half and chill one piece. Roll the remaining
piece rapidly into a 13-by-9 inch rectangle 1/8 inch thick. Run cold water over a baking sheet, roll
up pastry on your pin, and unroll over the baking sheet. With a knife or pastry wheel, cut off 1/2
inch of dough all around. To keep pastry from rising when baked, prick all over at 1/8-inch
intervals with two forks or a rotary pastry pricker. Chill for 30 minutes to relax dough. Repeat
with the second half of the pastry. Lightly butter undersides of the other baking sheets and lay one
over each sheet of dough. Set in upper-and lower-middle racks of oven and bake for 5 minutes.
Lift covering sheets, prick pastry again, and replace covering sheets, pressing them down on
pastry. Bake 5 minutes more, then remove covering sheets to let pastry brown; if pastry begins to
rise more than 1/4 inch, or starts to curl, replace coverings. Bake 18 to 20 minutes in all, or until
pastry is nicely browned. Cool 5 minutes, with covering sheets, then unmold and cool on racks.
(Cooled baked pastry may be frozen).
1 cup apricot jam forced thorugh a sieve and boiled to 128 degress with 2 Tb sugar
2 cups pastry cream (see the Eighty-third Show) or stiffly beaten whipped cream, sweetened and
flavored with kirsch
1 cup white fondant icing (see The Hundred and Nineteenth Show) or powdered sugar in a
sieve
1 cup melted chocolate
A paper decorating cone (see The Hundred and Nineteenth Show)
Cut the baked pastry into even strips 4 inchese wide. Paint the top of each with warm apricot, and
spread about 1/4 inch of pastry cream or whipped cream on two strips; mount one one top of
each other, and cover with the third. Repeat with the other three strips. Spread melted fondant
icing ir a 1/8-inch coating of powdered sugar on top of each. Make a cone of heavy freezer paper
or foil, cut the point to make a 1/8-inch opening, and fill cone with melted chocolate. Squeeze
crosswise lines of chocolate over the top of each strip, spacing lines about 3/8 inch apart. Draw
the dull edge of a knife down the middle of each strip, then draw another line in the opposite
direction on each side, to pull the chocolate into a decorative pattern. Let chocolate set for a few
minutes, then cut the strips into crosswise pieces 2 inches wide, using a very sharp knife held
upright; cut with an up-and-down sawing motion.
Arrange the Napoleons on a serving tray and chill and hour. Remove from refrigerator 20 minutes
before serving, so that chocolate (and fondant) will regain their bloom. Napoleons are at their best
when freshly made, though you may keep them several days under refrigeration or you may freeze
them."
---The French Chef Cookbook, Julia Child [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1972 (p. 330-2)
Banana cream pie
[1877]
Banana Pie
"Banana Pie.
Fill a pie shell, already baked, with sliced bananas and powdered sugar. Put in the oven a few
minutes until the fruit softens. Very nice so, but far better to cover the top with whipped cream
and serve at once. Flavor with lemon juice."
---Woman's Exchange Cook Book, Mrs. Minnie Palmer [W.B. Conkey Company:Chicago] 1901 (p. 252)
Banana Cream
"Banana Cream.
Whip half a pint of double cream until stiff and stir into it half an ounce of gelatine dissoved in
half a gill of warm water, a little lemon juice and one pound of peeled bananas rubbed through a
hair sieve with two ounces sugar. Put the mixture into a mould and leave it in a cool place to
set."
---New York Evening Telegram Cook Book, Emma Paddock [Cupples & Leon:New York] 1908
(p. 112)[NOTE: This recipes is found in the pastry chapter.]
[1906]
Banana Cream Pie.
Line a pie pan with a crust and bake in a hot oven. When done, cover the bottom with slices of banana cut lengthwise, very
thin, (Two small bannas are enough for one pie). The fill the pan with a custard made in the following manner: Two glasses of milk,
two tablespoonfuls of corn-starch dissolved in a little milk, yolks of two eggs and one teaspoonful of vanilla extract. Boil
in a double boiler until it thickens; then pour it into the pie crust. Cover the top with the whites of the eggs beaten stiff and
slightly sweetened. Place in the oven just long enough to give it a rich brown color.---Ella N. Mitchell"
---The Blue Ribbon Cook Book, Annie R. Gregory [Monarch Book Company:Chicago] 1906 (p. 206)
"Banana Whipped Cream Pie.
Dash of salt
1 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons sugar
Few drops vanilla or almond flavoring
4 to 5 ripe bananas*
1 baked 9-inch pie shell
Toasted coconut.
*Use full ripe bananas...yellow peel flecked with brown
Add salt to cream and beat with rotary egg beater or electric mixer until stiff enough to hold its
shape. Fold in sugar and vanilla or almond flavoring. Cover bottom of pie shell with small
amount of whipped cream. Peel bananas and slice into pie shell. Cover immediately with
remaining whipped cream. Garnish with toasted coconut. Makes one pie."
---Chiquita Banana's Recipe Book [United Fruit Company:1950] (p. 18)
[NOTE: This booklet also contains a recipe for Banana Chocolate Cream Pie.]
Black bottom pie
"'I think this is the most delicious pie I have ever eaten,' exclaimed Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings in her 1942 kitchen narrative, Cross
Creek Cookery...Duncan Hines, the wandering hotel and restaurant scout from Kentucky, published an almost identical black bottom pie in his
Adventures
in Good Cooking in the early 1940s, having found the dessert in a restaurant in Oklahoma City, but it isn't clear whether his discovery
receded Mrs. Rawlings' or drew its inspiration from hers. James Beard, in his American Cookery, said black bottom pie 'began appearing in
cookbooks around the turn of the century,' but he cited none; it wasn't in Fannie Farmer's magnum opus or Joy of Cooking until after Rawlings
and Hines published it. But the story of its origin has been lost, the basic formula for its unique combinations
of flavors is safe--and certain to remain with us. Let it suffice to say that black bottom is a Southern pie that has been
spreading joy in and out of the region for close to fifty years or more."
---Southern Food, John Egerton [University of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill] 1993 (p. 328-329)
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th
Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 370)
[1905]
"NO. 83. CHOCOLATE PIE. Mrs. M.A. Collins, Ontario, Cal.--Four tablespoons grated chocolate, one pint water, yolks of two eggs, two tablespoons corn
starch, six tablespoons sugar. Boil until thick. Whip whites of eggs and spread on top when baked; put into the oven long enough to brown a little.
NO. 77. CHOCOLATE PIE. Mrs. F.A. Holbrook, Santa Ana, Cal.--After crust is baked grate one-half teacup of chocolate, and put in a pan with one cupful
water, butter the size of an egg, one tablespoonful vanilla, one cup sugar, the beaten yolks of two eggs, and two tablespoonfuls corn starch dissolved in a little
water. Mix well and cook on stove until thick, stirring often. Let cool, pour in pie crust and cover with the beaten whites of two eggs in which two tablespoonfuls
sugar has been stirred; brown in oven."
Los Angeles Times Cookbook
"Seeking inspiration for a menu to present to her cooking class, meeting this afternoon at 2 o'clock in the Times demonstration
room...Mrs. Mabelle (Chef) Wyman consulted her request bulletin with the result that the entire cuisine is made up of suggested
favorites. Includes are such novelties as black-bottom pie and baking-powder Parker House rolls...Recipes will be distributed
at the conclusion of the lecture."
---"Class Will Get Request Menu," Los Angeles Times, July 13, 1928 (p. A5)
"Black Bottom Pie. Ask for it at Old Chelsea. Where Wonderful luncheons and dinners are served...at 4571 Melrose, near
Normandie."
---"Peg O' Los Angeles," Los Angeles Times, March 3, 1929 (p. C23)
[no recipe included.]
Mrs. J. R., Alhambra Cal. mix three-quarters of a cupful of sugar with two tablespoonfuls of sifted flour, and two squares of grated
unsweetened chocolate, add slowly to the mixture, stirring constantly, one and a third cupfuls of scalded milk, and when it is well
mixed, add the beaten yolks of two eggs, and one whole egg. Add to the mixture, one teaspoonful of vanilla, place in a double-boiler
and stir over a slow fire, until the mixture is thick and smooth, pour into a baked pie shell, cover with whipped cream, cover
all over with a thick meringue, run into the oven and brown quickly."
---"Practical Recipes," Los Angeles Times, November 22, 1929 (p. A9)
"Mammy's Black Bottom Pie
With Graham Cracker Crust
...Dark Filling
3 egg yolks
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa
1 3/4 Valley Sanitary milk
4 tablespoons Pillsbury' s flour
1 teaspoon vanilla
Scald milk, mix sugar, cocoa and flour together. Add to milk and cook in double boiler until thick. Then add egg yolks and cook
5 minutes longer. Cool and pour into Graham cracker crust."
---Brownsville Herald [TX], November 22, 1931 (p.3)
"A dessert that makes or 'breaks' a menu, someone said, and maybe they're right. With the right kind of 'finis' you luncheon or
dinner guests are bound to be satisfied. If you don't want your guests to come back then DON'T give them one of these
desserts!
"Black Bottom Pie
(Part 1)
1 c. milk
4 tbsp. cocoa or ground chocolate
1 1/4 tbsp. cornstarch
3/4 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. gelatine dissolved in 1 tsp. cold water.
Method for part 1: Scald milk, mix dry ingredients, add to milk, cook in top of double boiler 15 minutes, or until smooth. Remove,
add gelatine and vanilla. When cold, fold in beaten whites of 2 eggs.
(Part 2)
1 tbsp. gelatine
1/4 c. cold water
2 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 pint cream, whipped
Vanilla or rum flavoring
Method for part 2: Soak gelatine, beat sugar with egg yolk, add milk, cook until cream. Remove from the fire and add soaked
gelatine and stir until cool. When cold, fold in egg whites, beaten stiff. Cover top with whipped cream sprinkled with grated chocolate
or chocolate shot."
---"Katherine Parsons' Cooking Column," Van Nuys News [CA], October 27, 1932 (p. 11)
?
"Oasis Black Bottom Pie
(Makes two pies)
For the chocolate custard, scald two cupfuls of milk and mix three-fourths cupful of sugar, four tablespoonfuls of Sieffa chocolate,
two and one-half tablespoonfuls cornstarch; then add to the milk and cook fifteen minutes in a double boiler, until smooth. Let
cool and add one teaspoonful of vanilla. For the second part, beat one cupful of sugar and four egg yolks together until
thick, add two cupfuls of milk and cook until the spoon is coated, as for custard. Dissolve two tablespoonfuls of plain Jell Well
in one-half cupful boiling water and add to the custard mixture and stir thoroughly. When cool, add the stiffly beaten egg whites and
one teaspoonful of rum extract. One hour before serving, fill the pie shells one-half full of the chocolate mixture, then completely
fill with the second custard and top with whipped cream."
---"Requested Recipes," Marian Manners, Los Angeles Times, January 22, 1934 (p. 11)
"497. Black Bottom Pie. (Makes a 9-inch pie)
Crust:
Ingredients: 14 crisp ginger snaps
5 tablespoons melted butter
Roll snaps out fine. Add butter to cookie crumbs and pat evenly into a 9-inch pan. Bake 10 minutes in 300 F. oven. Allow to cool.
Filling:
2 cups milk--scalded
4 egg yolks--beaten
Add eggs slowly to hot milk.
1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tablespoons cornstarch
Combine and stir into above. Cook in double boiler for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally until it generously coats a spoon. Remove
and take out 1 cup.
1 1/2 squares chocolate
Add to the cup of custard and beat well.
1 teaspoon vanilla
As custard cools, add vanilla, pour into pie crust and chill.
1 tablespoons gelatin
4 tablespoons cold water
Blend thoroughly and add to the remaining hot custard. Let cool, but not thick.
4 egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon cream tartar
2 tablespoons rum
Beat into a meringue and fold into custard. Add rum. As soon as chocolate custard has set, add this. Chill again until it sets.
1 cup whipped cream
Spread on top of pie.
1/2 square chocolate
Shave and sprinkle over pie and serve."
(Dolores Restaurant, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma)
---Adventures in Good Cooking and the Art of Carving in the Home, Duncan Hines [Adventures in Good Eating:Bowling Green KY] 1939, 1952
(no page number, recipes are numbered)
"Black Bottom Pie.
I think this is the most delicious pie I have ever eaten. The recipe form which I first made it was sent me by a generous correspondent,
and originated at an old hotel in Louisiana. It seemed to me it could be no better. Then another correspondent sent me a recipe
for Black Bottom Pie that varied in some details from the first one. Having tried both, I now combine the two to make a pie so
delicate, so luscious, that I hope to be propped up on my dying bed and fed a generous portion. The I think that I should refuse
outright to die, for life would be too good to relinquish. The pie seems fussy to make, but once a cook gets the hang of it, it goes
easily.
Crust
14 crisp ginger cookies
5 tablespoons melted butter
Roll the cookies fine. Mix with the melted butter. Line a nine-inch pie tin, sides and bottom, with the buttered crumbs, pressing
flat and firm. Bake ten minutes in a slow oven to set.
Basic Filling
1 3/4 cups milk
1 tablespoon cornstarch
4 tablespoon gelatine
1/2 cup sugar
4 egg yolks
Pinch of salt
For Chocolate Layer
2 squares melted chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla
For Rum-Flavored Layer
4 egg whites
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon rum
Topping
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 cup whipping cream
Grated chocolate
Soak the gelatine in the cold water. Scald the nilk, add one-half cup sugar mixed with the cornstarch, pinch of salt, then beaten egg yolks.
Cook in double boiler, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and will coat the back of the spoon. Stir in the dissolved
gelatine. Divide custard in half. To one-half add the melted chocolate and the vanilla. Turn while hot into the cooled crust, dipping
out carefully so as not to disturb the crust. Let the remaining half of the custard cool. Beat the egg whites and cream of tartar,
adding one-half cup of sugar slowly. Blend with the cooled custard. Add one tablespoon rum. Spread carefully over the chocolate
layer. Place in ice box to chill thoroughly. It may even stand over-night. When ready to serve, whip the heavy cream stiff, adding
two tablespoons confectioners' sugar slowly. Pile over the top of the pie. Sprinkle with grated bitter or semi-sweet chocolate."
---Cross Creek Cookery, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1942 (p. 174-175)
Boston cream pie
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 37)
"Boston cream pie was invented by Monsieur Sanzian, a French pastry chef hired in 1855 by the
former Parker House (now the Omni Parker House). Executive chef Joseph Ribas, who has been
with the hotel for 27 years, says Sanzian invented it "because he was topping an English cream
cake with chocolate. He started to play around with the recipe, put almonds around the outside,
and the guests loved it....
We searched our 19th century cookbooks for Boston cream pie. As Mr. Mariani noted, we found
several recipes [with various names] that would probably produce similar results. The earliest
recipe we found in print with with the word "Boston" in the title is dated 1882:
1 tablespoon butter
2 cups milk
2 cups light cream
1/2 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
6 eggs
1 teaspoon dark rum
2 cups sugar
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 cup water
3 ounces semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup sliced almonds
7 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
2 tablespoons butter, melted
To make the pastry cream, combine the butter, milk, and light cream in a medium saucepan over
medium-high heat. Bring just to a boil. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar and
cornstarch. Add the eggs and beat until ribbons form, about 5 minutes. Whisk into the hot-milk
mixture and bring to a boil, whisking constantly (to prevent the eggs from scrambling) until the
mixture has thickened, about 1 minute. Transfer to a bowl and cover the surface with plastic wrap
(to keep a skin from forming). Refrigerate for several hours. Whisk in the rum.
---"Saluting the Boston Cream Pie," The Boston Globe, July 2, 1997, p. E1
"Boston Cream Cakes.
It it interesting to note the the first Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A.
Lincoln [1884] DOES NOT contain a recipe for Boston pie or Boston cream cakes. This book
DOES contain several recipes using custard and cream [most notably Bavarian cream] fillings for
cakes [plain, sponge], pies and pastry [cream puffs, lady fingers, trifles]. These were very popular
both in America and abroad. If you want to inspect these recipes ask your librarian can help you
find a copy of this book. It was reprinted in 1996 [Dover Publications/paperback] and is available
full-text online. Take a look at "Sponge cake
for cream pies, or Berwick sponge cake," (p. 375).
1/2 lb butter
3/4 lb flour
8 eggs
1 pint water
1 quart milk
4 tablespoons corn-starch
2 eggs
2 cups sugar
---Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery, Marion Harland
[New York: 1882] (p. 335-6)
Did you know? Boston cream pie is the official dessert of the State of
Massachusetts.
Chess pie
"Since the archaic spellings of cheese often had but one "e" we have the answer to
the riddle
of the name of that southern favorite "Chess Pie," recipes for which vary no more from that for
"Transparent
Pudding" than those do among themselves; "Chess Cake: is also akin, if less directly. (The
tradition of
making cheesecake without the cheese goes back to early seventeenth century and
beyond...)"
---The Virginia House-wife, Mary Randolph, with Historical Notes and Commentaries by
Karen Hess
[University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1984 (p. 289)
---Around the Southern Table, Sarah Belk [Simon and Schuster:New York] 1991 (p.
367-8)
[NOTE: this author observes "sugar pies" were chess pies made with white sugar, "brown sugar
pies" were the same recipe made with brown sugar and "Osgood" pies included raisins.]
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Knopf:New York] 1996 (p.
262)
[17th century]
"To make very good chee[secakes without] cheese curd
Take a quart of cream, & when it boyles take 14 eggs; If they be very yallow take out 2 or 3 of
the youlks;
put them into [the] cream when it boyles & keep it with continuall stirring till it be thick like curd.
[Then] put
into it sugar & currans, of each halfe a pound; ye currans must first be plumpt in faire water; then
take a
pound of butter & put into the curd a quarter of [that] butter; [then] take a quart of fine flowre, &
put [the]
resto of [the] butter to it in little bits, with 4 or 5 spoonsfulls of faire water, make [the] paste of it
& when it is
well mingled beat it on a table & soe roule it out.. Then put [the] curd into [the] paste, first
putting therein 2
nutmeggs slyced, a little salt, & a little rosewater; [the] eggs must be well beaten before you put
them in; &
for [your] paste you may make them up into what fashion you please..."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia
University
Press:New York] 1995 (p. 130-1)
To Make Cheese-Cakes
---A True Gentlewoman's Delight [England]
"To make Lemon Cheesecakes
Take the Peel of two large Leons, boil it very tender, then pound it well in a Mortar, with a
quarter of a Pound or more of Laf-sugar, the Yolks of six Eggs, and a half a Pound of fresh
Butter; pound a mix all well together, lay a Puff-paste in your Patty-pans, and fil them half full,
and bake them. Orange Cheesecakes are don the same Way, only you boil the Peel in tow or three
Waters, to take out the Bitterness."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse, Facsimile edition [Prospect
Books:Devon England] 1995 (p. 142)
Cheesecakes
without
rennet
---The Frugal Housewife, Susannah Carter [G.R. Waite:New York] (p. 157)
[NOTE: see next page for "Potato and Lemon Cheesesake."]
"Lemon cheesecake
Three ounces of butter, half a pound of loaf sugar, three eggs, leaving out the whites of two, the
grated rind
and juice of one large lemon; boil it till the sugar is dissolved and it becomes the consistence of
honey; line
the pan with egg-paste, in the above mixture, and bake in a quick oven."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M. E. Porter, Introduction and
Suggested Recipes
by Louis Szathmary [Promontory Press:New York] 1974 (p. 189)
Chess
pie
---Buckeye Cookery, Estelle Woods Wilcox [Buckeye Publishers:Minneapolis] (p. 187)
"Lemon Cheese Cake
Yolks of sixteen eggs, one pound sugar, three-quarters pound butter, four lemons, boiling rinds
twice before
using, two tablespoonfuls powdered cracker. Bake in paste. --Mrs. Dr. E.
---Housekeeping in Old Virginia, Marion Cabell Tyree [John P. Morton:Louisville KY]
1879 (p. 414)
Chess
pie
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln [Roberts Brothers:Boston] (p.
324-5)
"Janet's Chess Pie
1 cup sugar
1 cup butter
3 egg yolks and 1 white
3 tablespoons water
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream butter and sugar as if for one cake. Add egg yolks and 1 white and beat until foamy; add water and flavoring, again beating
until well mixed. Pour this into pan lined with raw pastry and cook..."
Chiffon pie
Monroe Boston Strause. In Clementine Paddleford's own words:
"Orange Chiffon Pie
1 cup water
14 tablepsoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon orange rind, grated
1/4cup cornstarch
2 1/2 tablespoons orange juice
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 baked (9-inch)pastry shell
Combine water, 6 tablespoons sugar, salt, grated orange rind, and bring to a boil. Add cornstarch dissoved in citrus juices, and
cook until mixture boils and thickens, stirring constantly. Beat egg whites until stiff. Then gradually beat in remaining sugar
and continue beating until sugar dissolves. Add the cooked mixture to the whites as it is take form the heat. Fold together
with a bowl-shaped wire whip, dipping it down, bringing it up, repeating until the mixtures are blended. Pour filling immediately
to a pre-baked, pre-chilled pie shell; fill generously and pyramid to stand high in the middle. When cool, top with
meringue."
---"Food for Conversation," Clementine Paddleford, Los Angeles Times>, May 6, 1945 (p. F21)
---Pie Marches On, Monroe Boston Strause [Ahrens Publishing:New York] second edition, 1951(p. 161)
[NOTE: Mr. Strause's recipe for Lemon Chiffon Filling]
"Chiffon. A very light, sweet fluffy filling for a pie, cake, or pudding. The word is from the French, meaning "rag," and ultimately the Middle English word for "chip,"
as chiffon also refers to pieces of sheer, delicate ribbon or fabric for women's clothing. Chiffon pie is first mentioned in American print in 1929 as a "chiffon pumpkin
pie," in the Beverly Hills Women's Club's Fashions in Food. The 1931 edition of Irma S. Rombauer's Joy of Cooking gave a recipe for lemon chiffon."
---Encylopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 74)
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 364)
[1922]
What about Chiffon cake?
"Coffee Souffle Pie
2 tablespoons granulated gelatin
1/2 cup cold water
2 cupsfuls hot coffee infusion
1/2 cupful sugar
2 eggs
1/8 teaspoonful vanilla
1 cupful cream
1 tablespoonful sugar
Pastry
Soak the gelatin in the cold water and add the hot coffee infusion and one-half cupful of sugar. Stir until dissolved and our into the egg-yolks beaten slightly with one
tablespoonful of sugar. Cook in the top of a double-boiler until thickened. Remove from the fire and add the salt and vanilla. Let cool, stirring often. When
beginning to set, beat hard, fold in the egg-whites and cream, both stiffly beaten. Cook until the mixture is stiff enough to pile up well on the spoon, then turn into a
baked pastry shell. Chill thoroughly before serving. Good Housekeeping Institute."
---Good Housekeeping Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1922 (p. 183)
"Fairy Lemon Tart
1 Large or 2 Small Pies
I. Soak 2 teaspoons of gelatine and 1/3 cup of cold water.
II. Place 4 egg yolks, slightly beaten, in a double boiler, add the rind and juice of 1 large lemon and 1 1/8 cups sugar. Cook these ingredients over hot water,
stirring them constantly until they are smooth and thick. Add the dissolved gelatine and cool the mixture.
III. Beat the whites of 4 eggs until they are stiff, and fold them into I. and II. Have a baked pie shell in readiness and fill it with the lemon mixture. Chill the tart for
several hours. Before serving it cover it with 1 cup of cream whipped, to which 1 teaspoon of vanilla and (if desired) 3 tablespoonsful of sugar have been added.
This tart may be made a day in advance."
---The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombaurer, facsimile 1931 edition [Scribner:New York] 1998 (p. 217)
"Lemon Chiffon Pie
Mix 2 tablespoon of butteer with 1 cup of sugar. Stir into this the yolks of 2 eggs, well beaten. Add three tablespoons flour. Beat. Add 1 cup of milk. Beat. Add
the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon. Fold in 2 stiffly beaten egg whites. Pour into a pie plate lined with uncooked pastry. Bake 10 minutes in a hot oven (450
degrees F.). Finish baking for 20 minutes in a moderate oven (325 degrees F.)."
---Bamburger's Cook Book, Mabel Claire [Greenberg:New York] 1932 (p. 340)
"Lemon Chiffon Pie
1 tablespoon gelatin
1/4 cup water
4 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind
6 tablespoons lemon juice
1 baked (9-inch) pastry or Cream Cheese Pastry shell
1 cup heavy cream, whipped
Soften gelatin in 2 tablespoons water. Combine slightly beaten egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, salt, lemon rind and juice, add remaining 2 tablespoons water; cook over
boiling water until mixture thickens, stirring constantly. Add softened gelatin, stirring until gelatin is dissolved; cool until mixture begins to thicken. Then gradually
beat remaining 1/2 cup sugar into stiffly beaten egg whites and fold into lemon-gelatin miture. Turn into baked pastry shell and chill until firm. When ready to serve,
top with whipped cream. Yield: 1 one-crust pie."
---America's Cook Book, Compiled by the Home Institute of the New York Herald Tribune [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1937 (p. 653)
"Gelatine Chiffon Cream Pies
The following rules are for baked pie shell or crumb crusts filled with gelatin mixtures and cream. They make delicious desserts. As they may be prepared well in
advance they have a practical value that is desirable in many instances...
"Gelatine Chocolate Chiffon Pie with Bananas
1 nine inch pie
Prepare: A baked Pie Shell
Soak: 1 tablespoon gelatine
in: 1/4 cup cold water
Combine and stir until smooth:
6 tablespoons cocoa or 2 ounces melted chocolate
1/2 cup boiling water
Stir in the soaked gelatine until it is dissolved. Stir in: 4 lightly beaten egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar
Chill these ingredients until they are about to set. Add: 1 teaspoon vanilla
Beat them with a wire whisk until they are light. Whip until stiff: 4 egg whites, 1/4 teaspoon salt.
Fold them into the chocolate mixture with: 1/2 cup sugar
Fill the pie shell. Chill the pie thorougly. Shortly before serving it cover the top with thinly sliced: Bananas.
Spread it with: Whipped cream."
---Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker [Bobbs-Merrill:Indianapolis] 1946 (p. 590)
[NOTE: this book offers recipes for Chiffon Pies flavored with maple sirup, rum, pumpkin, fruit, coffee, lemon, lime, strawberry, pineapple, and orange.]
Cobbler
Our dictionaries, word history books and food history reference sources
generally agree the term cobbler, as it applies to a fruit dessert covered
with rough biscuit dough, originated in the American west in the middle of
the 19th century. Where did the name come from? Most of our books simply
state "source unknown." The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology/Barnhart adds:
"A kind of pie baked in a deep dish,. 1859, American English, but
perhaps ultimately related to, or even developed from unrecorded use of
cobeler, n. 1385, a kind of wooden bowl or dish." (p. 184)
[1839]
"A Peach Pot-Pie.
A Peach pot pie, or cobler, as it is often termed, should be made of clingstone peaches, that are very ripe, and then pared and sliced from the stones. Prepare a pot
or oven with paste, as directed for the apple pot-pie, put in the prepared peaches, sprinkle on a large handful of brown sugar, pour in plenty of water to cook the
peaches without burning them, though there should be but very little liquor or syrup when the pie is done. Put a paste over the top, and bake it with moderate heat,
raising the lid occasionally, to see how it is baking. When the crust is brown, and the peaches very soft, invert the crust on a large dish, put the peaches evenly on,
and grate loaf sugar thickly over it. Eat it warm or cold. Although it is not a fashionable pie for company, it is very excellent for family use, with cold sweet milk."
---the Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, facsimile reprint of 1839 edition stereotyped by Shepard & Stearns:Cincinnati [Image Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 268)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 87)
---Dictionary of American Regional English, Frederic G. Cassidy, editor, [Belknap
Press:Cambridge MA: 1985] Volume 1 (p. 704)
[NOTE: This book has a map of where cobbler is popular.]
Plum cobbler
[NOTE: the end of this recipe references peaches, both canned and fresh.]
Frisbie Pies
"The Frisbee started as an obscure fad with a beginning as modest as a five-cent pie tin. It is widely believed that restless Yale students
discovered it when they decided to throw pie tins instead of returning them to the Frisbie Pie Company in Bridgeport, Conn., for their nickel
deposit."
---"Technology: The Wonders of the Frisbee," New York Times, July 5, 1978 (p. D5)
---"Frisbee Fad Attracts Fans Seeking Sport." W. Stewart Pinkerton, Wall Street Journal, July 2, 1969 (p. 1)
---"To Frisbee Fans, It's the Ultimate," Parton Keese, New York Times, August 7, 1977 (p. CN1)
---"It All Started With Pie Tins in the Air," New York Times, July 9, 1989 (p. 31)
Gateau St. Honore
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999
(p. 333)
[NOTE: Mr. Davidson's reference to IPCF (1993) refers to Inventaire du Patrimoine Culinare
de la
France, 27 volumes published between 1992-2000. The Ile-de-France contains the
information on
gateau St. Honore. We don't have ready access to this volume, but your librarian may be able to
locate/borrow a copy.]
--- Larousse Gastronomique, Completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] (p. 1016)
---includes notes on shortcrust, puff paste, choux, and profiteroles
Grasshopper pie
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes fo the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson
[Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 372)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
144)
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Simon &
Schuster:New York]
1995 (p . 256)
---"Q & A," New York Times, December 21, 1983 (p. C11)
---Best Recipes from the Backs fo Boxes, Bottles, Cans and Jars, Ceil Dyer [Galahad
Books:New
York] 1979 (p. 393)
[NOTE: Book contains recipe, no date.]
---"Grasshoppers for the Table," New York Times, March 27, 1904 (p. SM8)
"Grasshopper Pie
Crumb shell:
1 1/4 cups chocolate wafer crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup melted butter
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Mix the chocolate crumbs, sugar and butter. Press the mixture against the bottom and sides of a
nine-inch pie plate. Bake five minutes and chill.
Filling:
1 envelope gelatin
1/2 cup sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup cold water
3 eggs, separated
1/4 cup green creme de menthe
2 tablespoons cognac or creme de cacao
1 cup heavy cream, whipped.
1. Combine in the top of a double boiler the gelatin, half the sugar and salt. Stir in the water and
blend in the
egg yolks, one at a time. Place the mixture over boiling water, stirring constantly until gelatin is
dissolved
and mixture thickens slightly, four to five minutes.
2. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the creme de menthe and cognac. Chill, stirring
occasionally, until mixture has a consistency resembling unbeaten egg white.
3. Beat the egg whites until stiff but not dry, then gradually stir in remaining sugar. Continue
beating until
whites are very stiff. Fold them into the gelatin mixture. Fold in the whipped cream and turn
mixture into
chocolate crumb shell. Chill until firm and garnish. If desired, with additional whipped cream.
Yield: One nine-inch pie."
---"New Menus and Recipes Suggested for Weekend," New York Times, May 9, 1963 (p.
43)
Impossible pie
"Amazing. Mysterious. It could be none other than Impossible Pie, one of the most successful
corporate recipe projects in the U.S. food-marketing history. Versions of Impossible Pie were
also named Mystery Pie or Amazing Coconut Pie. By any name, though, Americans took to
the easy recipe that is adaptable for making both sweet dessert pies and savory meat, vegetable
and cheese pies. Back when quiche was trendy, the Impossible Pie formula called for
ingredients similar to those for quiche yet eliminated the need to make a separate pastry
crust...Not one but two huge food corporations benefited by popularizing the simple recipe
formula for the Impossible Pie mixtures: the two big "Generals." One was the Minneapolis-based General Mills, home of mythical Betty Crocker and maker of Bisquick all-purpose
baking mix. The other was General Foods of White Plains, N.Y., marketer of Angel Flake
processed coconut...The real mystery: Where did this recipe originate? We know the two
"Generals" took a basic formula and then developed variations to showcase their respective
products. Lisa Van Riper, spokeswoman for Kraft General Foods, said the company's well-advertised recipe for Amazing Coconut Pie, "was developed as a result of a creative
adaptation of the Bisquick Impossible Pies. We took a Bisquick Impossible Pie and did a
creative twist by adding coconut, raisins and some other things. That was developed in June
1976 by our test-kitchen's task force from a recipe submitted by various sources. Essentially
that source was the Bisquick Impossible Pie. The Amazing Coconut Pie recipe also forms its
own crust--with the baking mix sinking to the bottom of a custard mixture--and has been used
ever since 1976, according to Van Riper. General Mills' Marcia Copeland, director of Betty
Crocker foods and publications, recalls that "we first saw the recipe for (crustless) coconut
custard pies in Southern community cookbooks." Sot it was a grass-roots recipe first, origin
unknown. Some very old community cookbooks contain pie recipes that make their own
crusts just from flour; others call for homemade biscuit mix. Copeland said that the
Impossible Pie phenomenon lasted from the late 1970s through the 80s...
General Mills' home economists developed variations for Impossible Chicken n' Broccoli
Pie, for Enchilada, Lasagna, Taco, Pizza and Beef Mushroom Impossible Pies, even an
Impossible Turkey n' Stuffing Pie..."
---"Mission: Impossible Pie: The Secret's in the Batter," Joyce Rosencranz, Houston
Chronicle, June 9, 1993, FOOD (p. 1)
[1968]
"Impossible Pie
4 eggs, beaten well
2 cups milk
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup melted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
1 can (7 ounces) flaked coconut
Blend together sugar and flour. Add milk to beaten eggs; stir in melted butter and coconut. Pour into two buttered nine-inch pie
pans; bake at 350 degrees 30 to 40 minutes."
---"New Cake Easy to Take," Evelyn Comer, Charleston Gazette [WV], Mayu 27, 1968 (p. 19)
"Impossible Pie
4 eggs
1/4 cup melted butter or margarine
1 3/4 cujp self-rising flour
2 cups milk
1 4-oz. can shredded coconut
Beat eggs thoroughly. Add melted butter, sugar, flour and milk and beat again unti well blended. Stir in coconut. Pour filling into
two ungreased deep 8-in. pie plates and bake at 350 deg. 40 min. Cool thoroughly, then cut into wedges and serve. Note: Do not use a
pie crust as this pie makes its own top and botton. The mixture is rather thin when poured into the pan but after baking and cooling, cuts
clean."
---"My Best Recipe: Different Treatment for Pie," Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1971 (p. J7)
"Blender Impossible Pie
2 cups milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk biscuit mix
4 eggs
1/4 cup margarine, cut in bits
Place milk, sugar, coconut, vanilla, biscuit mix, eggs and bits of margarine in a blender and whirl for 3 minutes. Turn batter into
a greased and floured 10-inc pie plate and bake at 350 degrees 40 to 45 minutes or until a brown crust is formed. If desired, sprinkle
addtional coconut on top before baking. Note: Regular flour may be substituted for biscuit mix, but add 3/4 teaspoon baking powder."
---"Culinary SOS: Blending Your Way to the Impossible Pie," Rose Dosti, Los Angeles Times, August 17, 1978 (p. M26)
"Impossible Reuben Pie
8-ounce can sauerkraut
1/2 pound cooked corned beef, diced medium-fine (1 3/4 cups)
4 ounces Swiss cheese, chredded medium-fine (1 cup packed)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup biscuit mix
1/3 cup mayonnaise
2 tabplesooons chili sauce
3 large eggs
Drain sauerkraut, pressing out liquid--there should be 1/2 cup kraut. Sprinkle the bottom of a buttered, clear-glass,
9- by 1 1/4-inch pie plate with corned beef; top with the cheese and then with the kraut. In an electri blender, at high speed,
whirl together until smooth the milk, biscuit mix, mayonnaise, chili sauce and eggs--about 15 seconds; pour into pie plage. Bake
in a preheated 400-degree oven until bottom and sides are well-browned and top is golden--30 minutes. Let stand about 5 minutes
and serve at once. Makes 6 servings. Note: In testing this recipe I used real (not imitation) mayonnaise.--C.B."
---"'Impossible' Reuben Pie is New, Savory," Los Angeles Times, December 6, 1979 (p. OC_D40)
Key lime pie
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson
[Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 377)
[NOTE: This book has a recipe for Key Lime Pie.]
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 184)
"Key Lime Pie
4 eggs
1 can condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
Break eggs in bowl and beat lightly. Add condensed milk and beat until well blended. Add lime
juice slowly mixing well. Custard will thicken as you add lime juice. Pour into baked pie shell and
top with meringue. Bake in slow oven until brown.
Beat whites of 2 eggs unitl stiffl. Add 3 teaspoon sugar and 1/2 teaspoon baking powder beating
constantly. Put on custard and brown.--Eva Navarro (Mrs. Dan Navarro)."
"Q. I would like to make a good key lime pie. I think the version at The Breakers in Palm Beach is outstanding. Could you get the recipe?-- M. Herzog, Highland Beach
A. Executive chef Michael Norton provided the recipe, which uses typical key lime pie ingredients -- but with several significant differences in their use. The recipe calls for about twice as much condensed milk as the standard recipe, and then the pie is baked, rather than simply refrigerated. The result is a very creamy filling, a bit stiffer and higher than the usual, that lacks the raw egg flavor one sometimes encounters in a key lime pie. The use of cake flour in the pastry makes the crust very tender and delicate; use some extra care in the rolling process.
Crust:
5 tablespoons shortening
7 tablespoons cake flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg
3 tablespoons milk
Filling:
3 egg yolks
5 ounces (10 tablespoons) lime juice
2 14-ounce cans, minus 4 tablespoons, sweetened condensed milk
Garnish:
Lightly sweetened whipped cream
Lime slices
To make the crust: Cut the shortening into the flour. Sprinkle on the sugar, then blend in the egg and milk. Roll on a lightly floured surface into a circle to fit a deep, 10-inch pie plate. Place in plate, prick bottom and sides, weight with beans or rice and bake about 6 minutes at 375 degrees, or until pastry is a light brown. Cool before filling.
To make the filling: Beat the egg yolks, lime juice and condensed milk until smooth and creamy. Pour into pre-baked pie shell and bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees. Watch pastry crust during this time; if the rim starts to get too brown, shield with foil. Cool pie and then top with whipped cream. Garnish with slices of fresh lime. Makes 8 to 10 servings.
Several readers wrote with suggestions for those who suffer from the hard brown sugar blues. "I take it out of the cardboard box as soon as I bring it home from the
store," said Sally Lewis of Miami. "I then repack it in an airtight Tupperware container. In 11 years of using this method I've never had a case of hard brown sugar,
even when I've kept the same sugar for a year." Dorothy Ligush of Pompano Beach advocates using the same method. "It will save a lot of tempers." She says that
if the sugar does pack some from nonuse, "I just run a fork or knife through it to fluff it." J. Pierce says she uses a wide-mouth glass jar to store her brown and confectioners' sugars and never is faced with hardness or too much moisture."
---"Breaker's Key Lime Pie is Creamier Than MostREAKERS' KEY LIME PIE," Linda Cicero, The Miami Herald, April 21, 1988 (p. E10)
Dave's Frozen Key Lime Pie
2 graham cracker pie crusts
8 ounces Key lime juice
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 8-ounce tubs frozen whipped topping, defrosted
Bake pie crusts following package instructions and cool. Beat together the Key lime juice and
condensed milk. Fold in 1 tub
of the whipped topping. Divide filling into the 2 crusts. Top both pies with the remaining frozen
whipped topping. Chill, or
freeze as desired. Makes 2 pies, 16 servings. Per serving: 338 calories (40 percent from fat), 15 g
fat (8.1 g saturated), 11.3
mg cholesterol, 4 g protein, 45.4 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 214 mg sodium.
2 eggs, separated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup lime juice
1 teaspoon grated lime zest (if desired)
1/2 cup sugar
1 graham cracker pie crust
Beat egg yolks until thick and lemon-colored. Combine with sweetened condensed milk. Stir in
lime juice and zest, stirring
until mixture thickens. Beat egg whites until they stand in soft peaks. Gradually add sugar and
continue beating just until
mixture stands in firm peaks. Do not overbeat. Fold egg whites into lime mixture. Pour into crust
and freeze six hours or
overnight. Makes 8 servings. Per serving: 431 calories (30 percent from fat), 14.5 g fat (5.6 g
saturated), 75.8 mg
cholesterol, 8.2 g protein, 69.4 g carbohydrates, 0.5 g fiber, 271 mg sodium.
---"Frozen Key Lime Pie; Poached Salmon with Cucumber Sauce," Miami Herald, The
(FL), Apr 09, 2001
Lemon meringue pie
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 182)
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York]
1996 (p. 275)
---American Food: The Gastronomic Story, Evan Jones [Vintage Books:New York] 1981,
2nd edition (p. 465-6) [includes recipe]
Blanch and beat eight ounces of Jordan almonds with orange flower water. Add to them half a
pound of cold butter, the yolks of ten eggs, the juice of a large lemon, half the rind grated fine,
work them in a marble mortar or wooden basin till they look white and light. Lay a good puff
paste pretty thin in the bottom of a china dish and pour in your pudding. It will take half an hour
baking."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, with an introduction by Roy
Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1997 (p. 82)
This may be made by adding to a nicely made and baked tart, a nice whip, made as follows: to the
white of a fresh egg, add two tablespoons of finely pulverized white sugar; flavor with lemon,
vanilla, or any other flavor, which may be liked, whip the same as for kisses, then with a knife lay
it on the top of the tart, and whape it nicely off at the edges, then set it into an oven and close it
for a few minutes until it is delicately browned."
---Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's Cook Book, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [Dick &
Fitzgerald:New York] 1847 (p. 256)
[NOTE: A recipe for lemon pie immediately precedes this recipe. It has both top and bottom
crust.]
Grate one-half outside of a lemon and squeeze out the juice, yolks of two eggs, two
tablespoonsful heaped of sugar, half a cup of water, one teaspoonful of butter; stir well, and bake
in a deep dish lined with crust; beat the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth; stir in two
tablespoonsful of pulverized sugar and spread over the top of the pie as soon as it is baked set in
the oven till the top is nicely browned."
---Mrs. Porter's New Southern Cookery Book, Mrs. M. E. Porter [1871] (p. 296)
Yolks of four eggs, white of one, beaten very light; grated rind and juice of one large lemon; five
heaping tablespoonfuls of sugar. Bake in an undercrust till the pastry is done. Froth the whites of
three eggs with five tablespoonfuls sugar. Spread over the pies and bake again till brown.--Mrs.
Col. S."
---Housekeeping in Old Virginia, Marion Cabell Tyree [1879] (p. 406)
3 eggs
1 great spoonful butter
3/4 cup white sugar
Juice and grated peel of lemon
Bake in open shells of paste.
Cream the sugar and butter, stir in the beaten yolks and the lemon, and bake. Beat the whites to a
stiff meringue with three tablespoonfuls powdered sugar and a little rose-water. When the pies are
done, take from the oven just long enough to spread the meringue over the top, and set back for
three minutes. This mixture is enough for two small, or one good-sized pie. Eat cold."
---Common Sense in the Household: A Manual of Practical Housewifery, Marion Harland
[1882] (p. 350)
"Lemon pie.
Grate the rind and express the juice of three lemons; rub together a cup and a half of powdered
sugar and three tablespoonfuls of butter; beat up the yolks of four eggs, and add to the butter and
sugar, lastly the lemon; bake on a rich puff paste without an upper crust. While the pie is baking
beat up the whites of the four eggs with powdered loaf sugar, spread it over the top of the pie
when done; then set back in the oven a few moments to brown slightly."
---La Cuisine Creole, second edition [F.F. Hansell & Bro:New Orleans] 1885 (p. 191)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
197)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
211)
[The 2008 online Oxford English Dictionary confirms the earliest Englis print reference for meringue dates to 1706:
1. a. A light mixture of stiffly beaten egg whites and sugar, baked until crisp; a shell or other item of confectionery made of this mixture, typically decorated or filled with whipped cream.
In some recipes, esp. when meringue is used as a topping, cooking of the mixture is stopped before it is completely crisp: cf. SNOW n.1 5a.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (ed. 6), Meringues (Fr. in Cookery), a sort of Confection made of the Whites of Eggs whipt; fine Sugar, and grated Lemmon-peel, of the bigness of a Wal-nut; being proper for the garnishing of several Dishes.
---Food and Drink in Great Britain from the Stone Age to the Nineteenth Century, C.
Anne Wilson [Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 148)
"To Make White Bisket Bread
Take a pound & a half of sugar, & an handfull of fine white flower, the whites of twelve eggs, beaten verie finelie, and a little
annisseed brused, temper all this together, till it bee no thicker than pap, make coffins with paper, and put it into the oven,
after the manchet is drawn."
---Elinor Fettiplace's Receipt Book, original recipes published in London, 1604; edited and modern notes added by Hilary
Spurling [Elisabeth Sifton Books:London] 1986 (p. 118)
[NOTE: The editor of this book states this recipe produced meringues. Our survey of historic meringue recipes
indicates flour was never a traditional ingredient. Book includes modernized recipe/instructions.]
"Dry Meringues.
It is to be observed, that meringues, to be well made, require the eggs to be fresh, and that you
are not to break them till the very moment you are going to use them. Have some pounded sugar
that is quite dry, break the white of the eggs into a clean and very deep pan, break them without
loss of time, tell they are very firm, then take as many spoonsful of sugar as you have whites, and
beat them lightly with the eggs till the whole is well mixed. Observe, that you are to be very
expedtious in making the meringues, to prevent the sugar from melting in the eggs. Have some
boards thick enough to prevent the bottom of the meringues from getting baked in the oven. Cut
slips of paper two inches broad, on which place the meringues with a spoon; give them the shape
of an egg cut in half, and let them all be of an equal size: sift some sugar over them, and blow off
the sugar that may have fallen on the paper; next lay your slips of paper on a board, and bake
them in an oven moderately hot. As soon as they begin to colour remove them from the oven:
take each slip of paper by the two ends, and turn it gently on a table; take off a little of the middle
with a small spoon. Spread some clean paper on the board, turn the meringues upside down on
that paper, and put them into the oven, that the crumb or soft part may be baked and acquire
substance. When you have done this, keep them in a dry place till wanted. Then you send them up
to table, fill them with creme a la Chantilli, or with something acid. Remember, however, that you
are not to use articles that are very sweet, the meringues being sweet in themselves. Mind that the
spoon is to be filled with sugar to the brim, for the sweeter the meringues are, the better and
crisper they are; but if, on the contrary, you do not sugar enough, the meringues are tough. The
pink is sometimes made by adding a little carmine diluted in some of the apareil, but the white
ones are preferable; if a clean sheet of paper is put into a small stock-pot, and the meringues also
put therein, and well covered, they will keep for one or two months as good and crisp as the first
day: on which account, if you have a vacancy for one dish, which is wanted in haste, it will be
found very advantageous to have them made beforehand."
---The French Cook, Louis Eustache Ude, photoreprint of 1828 edition published by
Carey, Lean and Carey:Philadelphia [Arco Publishing Company:New York] 1978 (p. 408)
For a pound of sugar take the whites of ten eggs, and clarify the sugar as directed in its proper
place. Reduce it almost au casse, then let it cool, while you beat your eggs well; next put them
with the sugar. When the sugar begins to get cool, mix the eggs well with it with a wooden
spoon; then mix two spoonsful of marasquin with the whole; dress the meringues on some paper
as above, and glaze with sugar sifted over them, before you put them into the oven, which, by the
by, is not to be so hot as for other meringues. As soon as the top gets a substance, take them from
the paper, stick two together, and put them into the hot closet to dry. Leave the most part in the
middle. These meringues belong more particularly to confectionary, as they are sweeter than any
other."
---ibid (p. 408-9)
"Meringues.
Put 10 whites of egg in a whipping bowl, and whip them very firm; add 1 lb.
of pounded sugar; mix; and, with a spoon, set the mixture at intervals on sheets of paper, in
portions of the shape and size of an egg; dredge some pounded sugar over the meringues, and,
after a minute, shape off the superfluous sugar; Cook the meringues in the oven of some baking
boards; and, when they assume a pale yellow tinge, take them off the paper; Remove some of the
inside with a spoon,--being careful not to spoil the shape of the meringues; dredge a little sugar
over, and put them on a baking-sheet, in a slack oven, to dry; Reduce 1/2 pint of very stron coffee
with 3/4 lb. of sugar, to obtain a syrup registering 38 degrees F. On the syrup gauge; when cold,
mix this syrup to some well-shipped double cream; Fill the meringues with the cream, reversing
one, meringue over the other, and pile them up on a napkin on a dish."
---Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, translated by Alphonse Goufee [Sampson Low,
Son, & Marston:London] 1869 (p. 517)
Whip 6 whites of egg, and, when very firm, mix in 1/2 lb. of pounded sugar; Cut 5 rounds of
paper, 6 1/2 inches diameter; Put the meringue in a paper funnel, and press it out on each round of
paper into rings 5 1/2 inches in diameter; sprinkle some sifted sugar over the rings, and put them
on baking boards in the oven; When they are of a nice yellow colour, turn the rings over on to a
baking-sheet, and dry them in a slack oven; Make some Geonoise Paste, as directed for Timbale
de Genoise with Orange Jelly (vide page 527); When the paste is done and cold, cut out a round,
5 1/2 inches diameter, and put the 5 rings of meringue on it, one above the other; Reduce 1 gill of
strong coffee and 1/4 lb. of sugar to a syrup registering 36 degrees F.; when cold, add it to one
quart of well-whipped double cream; Fill the centre of the meringue with this cream, piling it up 2
inches above the meringue; and serve."
---ibid (p. 529)
[NOTE: This books also contains recipes for meringues filled with creams...chocolate, strawberry,
and vanilla creams.]
"4347: Ordinary Meringue
Whisk 8 egg whites until they become as stiff as possible. Rain in 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) fine caster
sugar mixing lightly with a spoon so that the egg whites do not lose their lightness. Note:
The proportion of whites used in the making of meringues is variable and it is posible to use as
many as 12 egg whites for 500 g...of sugar. It should be noted, however, that the lighter the
meringue the lower the cooking temperature should be; they should be dried rather than
cooked."
---The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, A. Escoffier, translated by H.L.
Cracknell and R.J. Kaufman [John Wiley:New York] 1979 (p. 518)
Place 500 g. Fine caster sugar and 8 egg whites into a copper bowl and mix together. Place over a
gentle heat so as to warm the mixture slightly and whisk until it is thick enough to hold its shape
between the wires of the whisk. If not for immediate use, place the meringue in a small basin and
keep in a cool place covered with a round of paper."
---ibid (p. 518)
Whisk 8 egg whites until very stiff whilst 500 g (1 lb 2 oz) sugar is cooking to the hard ball stage. Pour the sugar on to the whites
in a continuous thin stream whisking vigorously intil it has all been absorbed."
---ibid (p. 518)
"Meringues or Kisses
Whites 4 eggs, 1 cup fine granulated sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Beat whites until stiff and add, a spoonful at a time, two thirds cup sugar, beating vigorously
between each addition, and continue to beat until mixture will hold its shape. Carefully cut and
fold in vanilla and remaining sugar. Drop from tip of spoon, or force through pastry bag and tube
on tin sheet or wet board covered with a sheet of paper. Bake thirty minutes in a very slow oven,
not allowing them to change color until the last few minutes, when they should become a very
delicate brown. Remove from oven, invert paper and kisses, and wet paper with a damp cloth,
wehn kisses many be easily removed."
------The Candy Cook Book, Alice Bradley [Little,Boewn & Company:Boston] 1929 (p.
175-6)
[NOTE: This book also contains recipes for French Meringues (2 cups sugar, whites 5 eggs, 2/3
cup water, 1 teaspoon vanilla), Mushroom Meringues (meringue mixture shaped like mushroom
caps & stems, topped with grated chocolate or cocoa), Turkey Meringues (ice-cream filled
meringues shaped like turkeys served on spun green sugar), Nut Meringues (any kind of chopped
nutmeats) and Cocoanut Meringues (whites of 2 eggs, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla, 1/2 cup fine
granulated sugar, few grains of salt, 1/2 cup cocoanut shredded).
"Iced Meringue
10 egg whites, 1 lb granulated or powdered sugar.
Whip the egg white almost stiff and then gradually add the sugar and continue whipping until very
stiff. Put the mixture in a big pastry bag with a large plain tube and form into round or oblong
shapes on white paper placed on a baking sheet. Bake in a very slow oven of about 250 degrees F.
until very lightly browned. Remove from the paper and press the bottom lightly with the thumb to
make a slight impression. To serve, put two of these meringues together with ice cream of any
desired flavor. Decorate with whipped cream."
---Cooking a la Ritz, Louis Diat [J.B. Lippincott Company:New York] 1941 (p. 399)
Lemons (and other citrus fruits) were known to ancient cooks. According to the food historians,
their
acid flavor was appreciated and incorporated into many dishes. These fruits were expensive and
usually preserved (dried) then used in cakes reserved for special occasions. Fruitcake, great bride's
cake, Gallette du Roi are examples.
The lemon cakes we know today trace their roots to Medieval European cooks. These cooks
often
used "perfumed waters" (such as rosewater) to flavor their foods and for medicial purposes.
Recipes
for these "perfumes" were later employed to make fruit flavorings. Orange water (aka
orangeflower
water) was popular in France during the seventeenth century. Culinary evidence confirms cakes,
cookies, puddings, cheesecakes, tarts, jellies, and other sweet desserts often incorporated orange
flavoring. Lemon recipes followed, often as a simple ingredent substitition for oranges.
18th century English cookbooks list lemon cakes as a recipe variation for Orange Cakes (Mrs.
Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper [1769]. By the 19th century, lemon cakes
were
standard fare in American cookbooks. Popular American recipes featuring lemons include:
Lemon Meringue Pie, Lemon Bars
& Lemonade.
"Lemon
The fruit of Citrus medica, a tree whose original home may have been in the north of India. It only
reached the Mediterranean towards the end of the 1st century AD, whemn the Romans discovered
a direct sea route from the sourthern end of the Red Sea to India. Tolkowsky...adduces complex
arguments in favour of this view (as against the earlier view that the lemon did not arrive until the
10th century), and refers to frescos found at Pompeii (and therefore prior to AD 70) which show
what he regards as indisputably lemons; also a mosaic pavement probably from Tusculum...of
about 100 AD in which a lemon is shown with an orange and a citron.
Thus the fruit which can reasonably be regarded as the most important for European cookery was
a comparatively late arrival. Nor was its use in cookery, as an acid element, appreciated at once.
Nor, indeed, was there a Latin word for lemon. It seems likely that in classical Rome the fruit was
treated as a curiosity and a decoration, and that lemon trees were not grown in Italy until later.
The Arabs seem to have been largely responsible for the spread of lemon cultivation in the
Mediterranean region...Arab traders also spread the lemon eastward to China...During the Middle
Ages lemons were rare and expensive in N. Europe, and available only to the rich...Lemons
reached the New World...in 1493, when Columbus, on his second voyage, established a
settlement on Haiti."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
449)
[NOTE: this book has much more information on the history of lemons than can be paraphrased
here. Ask your librarian to help you find a copy of this book.]
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble Books:New York]
1992 (p. 662)
---Food in Early Modern Europe, Ken Albala [Greenwood Press:Westport CT] 2003 (p.
51-2)
"In the eighteenth century and earlier, citrus juices were among many articles of diet used in
attempts to find a cure for scurvy...Lemon juice was favored by the early Spanish explorers as an
antiscorbutic, and Dutch and English voyagers also included it in their ships' stores, although it
was more likely to find a place among the medicines than as a regular article of diet....Captain
Cook...was supplied with lemon juice as a concentrated syrup, with most of the vitamin C
unwittingly boiled out in the preparation..."
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas,
[Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2000 Volume 1 (p. 704)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 182)
---The Grocer's Companion and Merchant's Hand-Book [New England Grocer Office:Boston] 1883 (p. 74-5)
"Volume of Average Annual Imports and Exports at Cincinnati by Canal,
River, and Railway for Five-Year Intervals, 1846-1860 (years Ended August
31). Seleccted Textiles and Groceries:
Imports (in thousands)
1846-1850=3.1
1851-1855=5.9
1856-1860=9.9
SOURCE: Western Prices Before 1861, Thomas Senior Berry [Harvard University Press:Cambridge MA] 1943 (p. 320)
The cargo of 2,400 boxes of oranges and 5,500 boxes of lemons that the
steamer Iniziativa brought from Messina was sold yesterday by Brown &
Seccomb of 25 State Street. Prices of lemons had been steadily advancing
for over a week, until an advance of $1 per box was reached, and a story
was started that a storm in the Mediterranean had shaken down a very
large number of lemons from the trees at Messina, and that consequently
there was a scarcity of that fruit, as the shaken lemons had rotted on
the ground. Mr. Brown, however, denied that there had been any storm about
Messina, and said that the advance in price was owing to the light
receipts and the warm weather. There were plenty of lemons in Messina, and
as soon as prices advanced here the shippers there would sent on all that
were needed. After the first sale yesterday prices declined 50 cents per
box."
---"Lemons Going Down," New York Times, June 15, 1888 (p. 8)
"There has been a considerable advance in the price of lemons, owing
partly to the increased demand for them, caused by the hot weather and
partly to a shortage in the Sicilian crop. A box of lemons which would
sell in ordinary seasons for $2.50, is now worth between $5 and $6. The
dealers in this crop feel sure that nothing but prolonged cool weather can
diminish the present price of the fruit."
---"Lemons Advance in Price," New York Times, June 21, 1895 (p. 2)
Our survey of historic newspapers confirms lemons were sold by the dozen in 1928. Prices ranged from 21 to 41 cents a dozen,
39 cents most prevalent. The majority of the ads were for Sunkist brand lemons. We cannot confirm packaging (sold in prepacked bags?). Of course, it is possible the were sold as individual units. Generally, individual items are priced higher than
larger quantities. Take the price of a dozen, divide by 12, and add extra (round up for profit).
"In this era of beautiful women, lemons are becoming very popular as cosmetics for the hands, face and hair. There seems to
be some kind of belief that a highly decorated jar with a pretty ribbon helps the beautifier, but lemons are probably the most
inexpensive as well as one of the most effective cosmetics obtainable. Every beauty shop uses lemons in some of its preparations, and
many housewives make it a rule to use the juice of a lemon on their hands after washing the dishes or on their hair after a shampoo.
The mild citric acid removes the soap curd that attaches itself to the hair after washing...[lemons] make an excellent
dentifrice to use on sore and bleeding gums. Used night and morning it will make a remarkable change in tightening up loose gums
and improving the circulation and cleanliness of the mouth. There are a number of household uses of lemon juice for removing rust,
ink or fruit stains, polishing aluminum ware and piano keys. The lemon is chiefly valuable for its antiscorbutic vitamins. Bottled
lemon juice, sterilized at low temperature may be kept for a long time and should be carried by those who are compelled to make long
trips into regions that will be deficient in fresh fruit and vegetables. Lemons may be preserved from drying out by
immersing in fresh cold water."
---"Many Uses for Lemons," Dr. Frank McCoy, Muscatine Journal [IA], July 11, 1928 (p. 3)
"Fancy Sunkist Lemons, 29 cents dozen. These are Southern California lemons. There is a big difference between
Southern California and Northern California Lemons."---display ad, Reno Evening Gazette [NV], February 24,
1928 (p. 2)
Sweet lemons may take their place besides oranges and plumbs as a table delicacy. A new variety, as large as grape fruit and sweet
enough to eat without sugar, has been developed by growers in Porto Rico, it is reported. Another unusual quality of the fruits,
says Popular Science Monthly, is said to be a reasonably sweet penetrating odor. The lemons are being used as perfume in linen
closets an the Island. Cultivators of the new fruit claim that the flavor lasts as long as two months."
---"A New Fruit--Sweet Lemons," Syracuse Herald [NY], December 12, 1928 (p. 8)
[NOTE: We wonder if this variety is related to Meyer lemons.]
Sweet, tangy, delicious and amazing. If you have the opportunity to taste one of these special lemons, go for it!
Originating in China, introduced to the USA in 1908, popular in the 1930s.
Who was Frank Meyer?
---"Garden Notes," John A. Armstrong, Los Angeles Times, February 12, 1933 (p. H12)
---"Why Mourn About Peaches?," John A. Armstrong, Los Angeles Times, May 6, 1934 (p. H3)
---"Sunday's Gardener," Los Angeles Times, June 19, 1960 (p. M50)
Palmiers
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter] 2001 p. 832)
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 237)
---The International Dictionary of Desserts, Pastries and Confections, Carole Bloom [Hearst
Books:New York ] 1995 (p. 210)
--- "A Palmier by Any Other Name . . .," Renee Schettler, The Washington Post, November 7,
2001 (p. F7)
Elephant Ears & Goash-e-feel
"Goash-E-Feel (Elephant's ear pastry)
Compare with this sampler of modern American Elephant Ear recipes
makes 8
milk
8 oz (225 g) plain white flour
salt
vegetable oil for frying
2 oz (50 g) icing sugar
2 oz (50 g) ground pistachio
Break the egg into a bowl, beat it, and add enough milk to make the liquid up to 8 fl oz (225 ml). Sift the flour with a pinch of salt, add it to the egg and milk mixture, and mix well to form a firm dough. Knead on a lightly floured board for about 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Divide the dough into eight equal balls, cover with a moistened cloth and set to one side in a cool place for about half an hour. On a lightly floured board, roll out each of the eight balls until paper thin; they should be approximately 7" (18 cm) in diameter. Shape the 'ears' by pleating one side of each round piece of dough. Nip together with wet fingers, to prevent the pleats from opening during drying. In a frying-pan of similar diameter, heat enough oil to shallow-fry the pastries. When the oil is very hot, put in the 'ears' one at a time and fry until golden brown and bubbly, then turn and fry the other side until golden brown. As you remove the pastries from the pan, shake off the excess oil gently, then sprinkle them on both sides with a mixture of sifted icing sugar and ground pistachio.
"There are many variations of goash-e-feel, so do not feel limited as to the size and shapes you can make."
---Noshe Djan: Afghan Food and Cookery, Helen Saberi [Prospect Books:London] 1986 (p. 136-137)
"Elephant Ears
2 to 2 1/2 cups unsifted all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup margarine
1 egg (at room temperature)
1 cup sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
Melted margarine
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix three-fourths cup of the flour, the quarter-cup sugar and undissolved dry yeast. Combine milk, water and quarter-cup margarine in a
saucepan. Heat over how heat until liquids are warm. (Margarine doesn't need to melt.) Gradually add dry ingredients and beat two minutes on medium speed of
electric mixer, scraping bowl occasionally. Add egg and another quarter-cup of the flour, or enough flour to make a thick batter. Beat at high speed two minutes,
scraping bowl occasionally. Stir in enough additional flour to make a soft dough. Turn out on lightly floured board; knead until smooth and elastic, about eight to
10 minutes. Cover: let rise in warm place, free from draft, until doubled in bulk, about one hour. Punch down and let rise an additional 30 minutes. Combine one
cup sugar and pecans. Punch down dough; run out on lightly floured board. Roll dough into a rectangle, nine by 18 inches. Brush with melted margarine. Sprinkle
dough with half the sugar-nut mixture. Roll up fro long side as for jelly roll; seal edges. Cut into one-inch slices. Roll each slice into a four-inch circle, using
remaining sugar-nut mixture in place of flour on board, coating both top and bottom of each circle. Place on greased baking sheets. Cover; let rise in warm place,
free from draft, until double in bulk, about 30 minutes. Bake in a preheated 375-degree F. oven about 10 to 15 minutes, or until done. Remove from baking sheets
and cool on wire racks. makes 18."
---"The Kitchen Hot Line," Evelyn Larson, Winnipeg Free Press [Canada], January 8, 1977 (p. 46)
1 loaf frozen white (or sweet) bread dough, thawed
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teasoons cinnamon
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted
Let dough rise untildoubled in size. Combine sugars and cinamon. Roll out dough on a floured surface to a 16-by-12-inch rectangle. Brush with half the butter and sprinkle
with 2 tablespoons of the sugar mixture. Fold in half and roll out again into a 16-by-12-inch rectangle. Brush with remaining butter and sprinkle with 2 tablespoons of sugar
mixture. Roll up, starting with the 16-inch side. Cut into 16 pieces. Sprinkle rolling surface with sugar mixture. Roll out each piece into 1/8 to 1/4 inch, turning to coat both
sides with sugar. Place on well-greased cookie sheets. Let rise 15 minutes and bake at 375 degrees for 15 to 18 minutes.
3 egg yolks
1 whole egg
6 tablespoons cold water
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups flour
Confectioners' sugar
Beat eggs until fluffy. Beat in water and salt. Stir in flour, working with hands. Roll out dough onto a floured board and knead until not sticky but soft. Divide into 12 portions
and roll out VERY thin. These will be very large. Heat 1 inch of oil (she uses her electric frying pan) to 375 degrees. Fry until golden. Drain and sprinkle with
confectioners' sugar."
---"Letters get to 'sole' ear debate," Daily Herald [Chicago IL], June 3, 1997 (p. 78)
Pecan pie
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 384)
[1886]
"Pecan Pie.
Is not only delicious, but is capable of being made a 'real state pie,' as
an enthusiastic admirer said. The pecans must be very carefully hulled,
and the meat thoroughly freed from any bark or husk. When ready, throw the
nuts into boiling milk, and let them boil while you are preparing a rich
custard. Have your pie plates lined with a good pastry, and when the
custard is ready, strain the milk from the nuts and add them to the
custard. A meringue may be added, if liked, but very careful baking is
necessary."
---"The Kitchen," Texas Siftings, [Austin TX] February 6, 1886 (p. 3)
"Texas Pecan Pie
Cook together one cup of sweet milk, one cupful of sugar, three well beaten eggs, one tablespoonful of flour and one half cupful
of finely chopped pecan meats. Line a pie tin with rich crust, fill with the mixture and bake until done. Whip the whites of two eggs
with two tablespoonfuls of sugar until stiff, spread over the top of the pie and brown slightly in the oven, sprinkling a few chopped
nuts over the top."
---"Tried Recipes," Christian Science Monitor, March 24, 1914 (p. 6)
"Karo Pecan Pie
By: Mrs. Frank Herring
3 eggs, 1 cup Karo (blue label), 4 tabpesloons corn meal, 1/2 cup sugar, 1/2 cup chopped pecans or less if desired, 2 tablespoons melted
butter, pastry. Method: Beat whole eggs slightly, add Karo, corn meal, sugar and melted butter, then stir all thoroughly. Line pie tin with flaky
pastry andfill generously with mixture. Sprinkle chopped pecans on top, bake pie in a moderate oven until well set when
slightly shaken."
---"Favorite Recipe," The Democrat-American [Sallisaw OK], February 19, 1931 (p. 3)
"White House Pecan Pie
1 cup unbroken pecan meats
1 cup dark table syrup
2 tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
Cream the butter and sugar, add the table syrup, the beaten eggs, the pecans and vanilla. Beat together well. Put in unbaked
pie shell and bake in a slow oven (275 degrees F.) for about 30 minutes. Serve with whipped cream."
---The Southern Cook Book of Fine Old Recipes, Lillie S. Lustig compiler [Three Mountaineers::Asheville NC] 1938 (p. 38)
"Surprise the Folks with karo Pecan Pie Tonight...it's wonderful!
Try this Texas favorite"
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
Mix together all ingredients, adding nut meats last. Pour into 9-inch pie pan lined with your favorite pie crust. Bake in hot oven
(450 degrees F.) ten minutes, then reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees F.) and continue baking until a silver knife blade inserted in
center of filling comes out clean."
---display ad, Karo, Big Spring Daily Herald [TX], April 17, 1941 (p. 8)
Pecan Pie
True Southern pecan pie is one of the richest, most deadly desserts of my knowledge. It is more overpowering than English
treacle pie, which it resembles in textrue, for to the insult of the cooked-down syrup is added the injury of the rich
pecan meats. It is a favorite with folk who have a sweet tooth, and fat men in particular are addicted to it.
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups Southern cane syrup
1 1/2 cups broken pecan meats
1 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
Boil sugar and syrup together two or three minutes. Beat eggs not too stiff, pour in slowly the hot syrup, add the butter, vanilla,
and the pecan meats, broken rather coarsely. Turn into a raw pie shell and bake in a moderate oven about forty-five minutes, or
untl set.
I have nibbled at the Utterly Deadly Southern Pecan Pie, and have served it to those in whose welfare I took no interest, but
being included to plumpness, and having as well a desire to see out my days on earth, I have never eaten a full portion. I do make a pecan
pie that is not a confection, like the other, not as good, if one is all set for a confection, but that I consider very pleasing
and definately reasonable. Make a thick custard as for Banana Cream Pie, using brown sugar instead of white, and adding two tablespoons
butter. Chill the custard, add one cup coarsley broken peanc meats, one teaspoon vanilla, and turn into a baked crisp pie crust.
Top with sweetened whipped cream. Dear knows, this is deadly enough."
---Cross Creek Cookery, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1942 (p. 179-181)
"Karo Pecan Pie
Crispy nut-brown top...carmel-y filling
1/2 recipe pastry
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup KARO Syrup, Blue Label
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 cup pecan meats
Roll pastry 1/8 inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie pan. Mix remaining ingredients together, adding pecans last. Pour into pastry
shell. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F.) 15 minutes; reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees F.) and bake 30 to 35 minutes longer or
until a silver knife inserted in center of filling comes out clean. *If salted nuts are used omit salt in recipe.
---display ad Better Homes & Gardens, December 1952 (p. 87)
[NOTE: "Blue Label" Karo was dark-colored corn syrup.]
"De Luxe Pecan Pie
(A traditional Southern favorite)
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup KARO Syrup, Blue label
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
2 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
1 cup pecans, whole or chopped
1 unbaked 9-inch pastry shell
Mix eggs, KARO syrup, salt, vanilla, sugar and butter. Stir in pecans. Pour into shell. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F.) 15
minutes; reduce heat to moderate (350 degrees F.) and bake 30 to 35 minutes longer. Filling should appear slightly less set
in center."
---Happy Holidays: recipes and 'Goodies for Giving,', Corn Products Refining Company [New York] undated, probably early 1960s](p. L)
[NOTE: Karo Kookery, 1956, offers a recipe for "De Luxe Peanut Pie," but no pecan pie. The recipes are identical
except for the nutmeats.]
"Pecan Pie # 1
Makes a crispy nut-brown top.
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup Karo syrup (Blue label)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/8 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. melted butter
1 cup pecan halves
1 unbaked 8-inch pie shell
Beat eggs until lemon-colored, then add sugar, Karo, vanilla, salt and melted butter. Spread pecan halves in unbaked pie shell.
Pour egg mixture over nuts. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees F.) 15 minutes; reduce heat to 350 degrees F. and bake 30 or 35 minutes longer.
3 eggs
1 cup light Karo syrup
1 pinch salt
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup broken peanut meats
1 unbaked 8-inch pie shell
Beat eggs slightly; add sugar and Karo and beat again. Stir in salt, vanilla and pecan meats. Bake pie shell for 10 minutes at 350
degrees F. Do not brown. Beat filling once again and pour into partially baked pie shell. Bake pie at 350 degrees F. for about
45 minutes. Serve hot or cold. Serves 6 to 8."
---The Wide, Wide World of Texas Cooking, Morton Gill Clark [Funk & Wagnalls:New York] 1970 (p. 349)
Pecans are a "new world" food. They are indigenous to North America and were known to Native
Americans long before the Europeans settled there. Traditionally, these nuts are connected with
the
American south where they have been incorporated into many sweet treats, especially pecan pie and
candy.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
592)
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple & Kriemhild Conee Ornelas
[Cambridge
University Press:Cambridge] 2000, Volume Two (p. 1831)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
236)
Pizza
---Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece, Andrew Dalby
[Routledge:London] 1996 (p. 157)
---The Pizza Book: Everything There is to Know About the World's Greatest Pie, Evelyn
Slomon [Times Books:New York] 1984 (p. 3)
NOTE this book has much more information on the the history of pizza...ask your
librarian to help you find a copy or obtain reprints of pages 3-13.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
611)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 259)
---Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998
(p. 196-199)
NOTE this book also has much more information on the the history of pizza.
---The Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York]
1998 (p. 197)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 286)
---"Pizza a la Mode," Herbert Mitgang, The New York Times, February 12, 1956 (p. SM
133)
Early pizza prices are extremely difficult to research. These eateries did not (have to) advertise to
draw business. Nor were they *worthy* of recognition by mainstream newspapers or menu
collectors.
Our research indicates the first pizzas may have cost 5 cents:
---"Ten History Courses: There are some interesting stories behind NYC restaurant names--just
ask Jimmy," Sunny Lee, Daily News [New York], February 16, 2003 (p. 17)
[NOTE: there is no reference to product size sold in 1905 vs. today. Hamburgers and hot dogs were also sold for a nickel at this time.]
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University
Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 286)
---Paradox of Plenty: A Social History of Eating in Modern America, Harvey Levenstein
[University of Californa Press:Berkeley] 2003 (p. 229-30)
According to the food historians the introduction of pizza to New York City is attributed to
Gennaro Lombardi when he opened up his pizzeria at 53 1/2 Spring Street in 1905.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 244)
---The Encyclopedia of New York City, Kenneth T. Jackson editor [Yale University
Press:New Haven] 1995 (p. 1000)
---New York Pizza, the Real Thing, Makes a Comeback, The New York Times, June 10,
1998, Section F; Page 1; Column 2 (this article includes a list of notable historic pizzarias
including Totonno's in Coney Island and Grimaldi's in Brooklyn.
"Pizza a la Mode," The New York Times, Feb. 12 1956 VI 64:3 (profile of Gennaro
Lombardi)
"The pizza with an attitude," Travel Holiday, Jun97, Vol. 180 Issue 5, p44, 4p, 7c
"Bravo! Original New York pizzeria still serves up the best," Sacramento Bee, January 7,
2001, pg. E1
Food historians generally credit Ike Sewell and Ric Riccardo for the "invention" of Chicago's
deep-dish style pizza. The year? 1943. The restaurant? Pizzeria Uno. Uno's "legend" here
---"Cold War Looms: Pizza Pie Vs. Hot Dog," Thomas Morrow, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 3, 1954 (p. 18)
"The only place in Chicago where you can buy Italian pizza is at a little restaurant on Taylor street near Halsted. There you can
wath Tom Granato, for sixteen years the proprietor of Chicago's only pizzeria, concoct the delicacy and carefully deposit it in his
big brick oven slipping it off long handled shovels of well sandpapered wood onto the hot bricks. The foundation of pizza is a
dough similar to that in English muffins. To rolls out a piece the size of a pie crust on his marble slab, cuts up fresh
Italian cheese over it, covers it with tomato--the little Italian pear tomato--sprinkles olive oil over it, and deposits
it in the brick oven for a few minutes. It is served in a tin pie plate, cut into four sections, and eaten with the fingers. Try it with
a salad. Young Blackie, waiter at Tom's Pizzeria Napolitana, who tells you how Tom and his wife, Molly, took him off the street
ten years ago, made known the other specialties of the place--stuffed macaroni, eggplant parmigiano, and cannoli, an Italian
dessert, with sweet, cold Italian cottage cheese served in a fold of ice cream cone like pastry."
---"Front Views and Profiles," June Provines, Chicago Daily Tribune, October 17, 1939 (p. 17)
""When Riccardo opened the Uno, there was only one other place to buy pizza in Chicago and that was on Taylor street," [Ike]
Sewell said."
---"Story of 2 Pizzerias and 1.5 Million Pizzas," Chicago Tribune, July 31, 1964 (p. C6)
---"Ike and Ric: They were the first with the thickest," Chicago Tribune, August 1, 1976 (p. G16)
---"Florence Sewell, 95, Chicago philanthropist," Art Golab, Chicago Sun-Times, April
10, 2000 (p. 56)
--- Pizza Today, June
2005 [NOTE: page no longer connects, 10 April 2009]
Many people assume pizza originated in Italy. Certainly there is ample
evidence. On
the other hand? Food does not respected man-made political boundaries. Countries sharing
common
borders likewise share similar dishes, ingredients, and flavors. Pizza-type foods are popular
throughout the
Mediterranean region.
Yes, there is French pizza. It flourishes in the balmy southeast region of the country. The
ingredients are
quite similar to those of neighboring Italy.
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p. 899)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
258)
---"Vive la Pizza: An Italiam Classic Gets a French Makover," Mark
Bittman, New York Times, Sept. 23, 1998 (p. F1)
Legend likes to claim the first pizza delivery took place in Italy, 1889:
---"PIZZA: SOME TOPPING FACTS, "Press Association November 11, 2002
---"When Else Would Call Hamburgers the Enemy?," Judy Klemesruds, New York Times, March 31, 1971 (p. 38)
The earliest print reference we find to manufactured frozen pizza (in the USA) is patent
2,688,117, "Method for Making Frozen Pizza," filed by Jo Bucci, Philadelphia PA, August 10, 1950. We also find
evidence of refrigerated pizza products penetrating grocery stores. It was just a matter of time before frozen pizzas
were competing with TV Dinners for space on the consumer's ubiquitous living room feeding tray.
"...Leo Giuffre has introduced his ready-to-cook pizzas in... the last two weeks. Already the cheese and tomato-topped "pies," which made their debut in Bean Town three
months ago, are available for 49 cents each in a few stores here, including Kaboolian's Market, 389 Avenue of the Americas, and Philip's Quality Market, 80-28
Thirty-seventh Avenue, Jackson Heights, Queens. The pizzas, which are kept under refrigeration but not frozen, are ready to pop into the oven...One pizza (about nine
inches in diameter) yields two generous servings, or three for not quite such ambitious appetites...Though Mr. Giuffre's Roma Pizza Company, Inc. has been operating in
Long Island City for only a little more than ten days, it is already turning out 3,000 of the delectable pastries daily."
---"News of Food: Pizzas Now Offered Here Ready-to-Cook," New York Times, June 28, 1950 (p. 34)
"With almost every jobbing musician in the local working at another trade or business during the day, it remained for Emil De Salvi, band man about town, to finally shelve
his music vocation when his odd-hour avocation paid off highter than the union scale. De Salvi has perfected a frozen pizza pie, six fanciful fillings, for the television viewing
home trade."
---Tower Ticker," Savage, Chicago Daily Tribune, February 7, 1953 (p. 23)
"Giuseppi's Frozen Pizza Pie, Philadelphia."
---"Advertising News & Notes," New York Times, December 7, 1951 (p. 50)
"Del Buono Frozen Pizza, Camden NJ."
---"Advertising News," New York Times, December 19, 1951 (p. 56)
"Pizza, not undergoing a curious gustatory vogue, is a hot freezing item in New York and Chicago with at least a half dozen local concerns in action. E. De Salvi,
president of Pizza-Pro Corp. of Chicago, who claims to do 95% of the frozen pizza business in the Windy City, is now trying to line up distributors in St. Louis, Nashville,
Rockford, Indianapolis and surrounding points. But the competition is tough. In St. Louis, Mr. De Salvi found a local tavern owner who was freezing the Italian specialty
during slack times at the bar."
---"Frozen Foods: Nation Eats Mountain Tonnage of Them as Competition Cuts Prices," Wall Street Journal, March 5, 1953 (p. 1)
"Another of the week's 652 patents was granted to Joseph Bucci of Philadelphia for a method of making in frozen form that popular delicacy, pizza, sometimes called
tomato pie. He says the method applies also to other edibles that combine layers of dough with liquid or moist filing, such as upside-down cakes, puddings and
dumplings. After he shapes the pizza shell out of dough, Mr. Bucci spreads on a "sealing agent" such as tomato puree, and bakes it. The sauce is cooked separately,
cooled and placed on the shell. Optional items such as cheese trips are added and the whole is then frozen. The patent number is 2,688,117."
---"Walking Truck-Boat Just Puts one Pontoon Before the Other: Frozen Pizza...," Stacy V. Jones, New York Times, Feburary 6, 1954 (p. 23)
[NOTE: Mr. Bucci's patent can be viewed online.]
"Feast on frozen foods from famous houses...Like "Little Bo-Pizzas," delightful miniature hors d'oeuvres pizzas from the Petite Food Corporation."
---"Live to Eat in Macy's Food Festival," New York Times, April 22, 1954 (p. 7)
"Petite Foods Corporation, Brooklyn...its line of frozen food specialties, one of which rejoices in an unlikely name, of Little Bo-Pizzas, a miniature frozen pizza product."
---"New Business," New York Times, October 7, 1954 (p. 35)
"Frozen pizza is available in many groceries, ready to eat after heating in the kitchen oven."
---"Pizza Pies Hit Big Time in America," James D. Schacter, Washington Post, March 9, 1954 (p. 25)
---"Cold War Looms: Pizza Pie Vs. Hot Dog," Thomas Morrow, Chicago Daily Tribune, August 3, 1954 (p. 18)
"It's new--A new frozen food product, Little Bo-Pizzas are the first miniature pizzas to make their apperance. Tasty rounds of a special dough blended with imported type
aged cheese, spices, olives and tomatoes, Little Bo-Pizzas are ideal for a party canape tray. Also nice served with salads or cold cuts for luncheon; and ideal for bridge
or canasta nibblers. Just pop them in the oven until crisply touched with brown--about 8 minutes, serve."
---"It's New," Washington Post and Times Herald, February 18, 1955 (p. 67)
"Frozen pizza crust ready for you to top with anything that pelases the whimsey or taste of your family, is the newest twist in the pizza craze. Holton's Pizza Crusts are
partly cooked, ready to brown and serve. The bottom of each crust is pierced with holes to allow the heat to penetrate and crisp the batter. You can top it with anything
from sausage to ice cream. It is frozen, but if it is partly thawed when it reaches your kitcen it can be refrozen safely, acording to the manufacturer. Each package
contains three individual portions."
---"'Round the Food Stores: for a look at the latest ideas," Lois Baker, Chicago Daily Tribune, July 12, 1957 (p. B17)
"For a teenage get-together or a family supper, you can't go wrong when you serve Miniature Pizzas. With one recipe you get 30 pizzas--to bake and serve or store in the
freezer for a spur-of-the-moment gathering. They're easy to make with refrigerated biscuits, a seasoned tomato sauce and grated cheese. Topped with anything you
choose to mix, match or even scramble, these make-ahead finger foods are fun. Heap them on a serving tray, hot from the oven, and watch them disappear."
---"They're Frozen Assets," Washington Post, July 21, 1966 (p. D3)
"One of the best sellers it the Grotto is a $.75 snack--the famous Pizza Tichinese, somewhat similar to the pizzas of southern Italy. You can make an excellent facsimile
back home using a frozen pizza for a base. "Pizza Ticininese, U.S.A. For each person provide 1 individual-size frozen pizza..."
---"The Fast Gourmet," Poppy Cannon, Chicago Daily Defender, June 1, 1967 (p. 24)
"If your taste runs to pizza, we have some good news and some bad news. As snack foods go, frozen pizza is remarkably nutritious. But judges by CU's test of 41
products, it isn't apt to be very good. We were disappointed by the crusts, taste or high bacteria counts on all but four brands, and we could rate those bands only Fair.
Our tests centered on the four most popular pizza styles. We evaluate 17 brands of cheese pizza, 14 of sausage, seven of pepperoni and three topped with hamburger.
By way of comparison, we also bought and tested at least one sample of fresh pizza in each of those four styles. On average, our frozen pizzas contained a bit more
dough than a fresh pizza of the same type, and a bit less cheese. The ran neck and neck in the amount of sauce. Our taste-tests indicated though, that liberality or
stinginess with any given ingredient wasn't a reliable guide to eating quality...Chemical analysis indicated that the samples averaged roughly half water, about 30 per cent
carbohydrate, 10 per cent protein and, depending on pizza variety, anywhere from 6 1/2 to nine per cent fat. A typical, four-ounce serving would provide 220 to 304
calories. So, despite their status as a snack food, the pizzas we checked fulfill many of the nutritional requirements of a main dish...pizza's balanced protein-calorie
relationship, uncommon in a snack food, might well promote the use of pizza as a meat substitute in your meal now and then...Pizza's main pitch for the buyer's dollar is
based on sensory appeal. Accordingly, CU's food technologists evaluated from three to six samples of each frozen pizza fro flavor, aroma, texture and
appearance...Unfortunately, very few crusts filled the bill even well enought to be rated Fair...No CU food project would be complete without a close look at product
cleanliness. We accordingly analyzed duplicate samples of every product for viable microbes. Our first effort was a total bactyeria count per gram of pizza. That's usually a
pretty good indicator of a food's sanitary status...our findings were far from reassuring...To be fair, such a dismal bateriological showing doesn't necessarily mean that a
food is leaving the factory in filthy condition. Those bacteria can thrive at freezing temperatures will get a chance to increase inordinately in a pizza that's mishandled or
stays overlong in a retail showcase...A check of the pizzas for extraneous matter also yielded disquieting results--about 96 per cent of the samples tested contained
some quantity of insects or insect fragments. Those unsavory intruders turned up in every brand, and represent a higher level of such contamination than we have found in
any other food category...As far as taste goes, we think most would do well to buy a freshly cooked pizza at a pizza parlor they know to be good and freeze it
themselves..."
---"Frozen Pizza," Consumer Reports, June 1972 (p. 364-367)
"Coming to Chicago [and other markets] shortly as a part of a national roll-out is Stouffer's French Bread Pizza, a frozen prdouct in test in four markets including
Indianapolis, through a good part of 1975."
---"Souffer's Heats Up Frozen Foods Mart," Chicago Tribune, February 26, 1976 (p. C10)
[NOTE: Records of the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office indicate this product was introduced to the American public October 4, 1973. Registration #73414283]
Pork pies (also: Cheshire & Cape Breton
Pork Pie)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 625)
---The British Housewife: Cookery Books, Cooking and Society in Eighteenth-Century Britain, Gilly Lehmann [Prospect
Books:Devon] 2003 (p. 194-5)
[1861]
"PORK PIES (Warwickshire Recipe).
835. INGREDIENTS.—For the crust, 5 lbs. of lard to 14 lbs. of flour, milk, and water. For filling the pies, to every 3 lbs. of meat allow 1 oz. of salt, 2–1/4 oz. of pepper, a small quantity of cayenne, 1 pint of water.
Mode.—Rub into the flour a portion of the lard; the remainder put with sufficient milk and water to mix the crust, and boil this gently for 1/4 hour. Pour it boiling on the flour, and knead and beat it till perfectly smooth. Now raise the crust in either a round or oval form, cut up the pork into pieces the size of a nut, season it in the above proportion, and press it compactly into the pie, in alternate layers of fat and lean, and pour in a small quantity of water; lay on the lid, cut the edges smoothly round, and pinch them together. Bake in a brick oven, which should be slow, as the meat is very solid. Very frequently, the inexperienced cook finds much difficulty in raising the crust. She should bear in mind that it must not be allowed to get cold, or it will fall immediately: to prevent this, the operation should be performed as near the fire as possible. As considerable dexterity and expertness are necessary to raise the crust with the hand only, a glass bottle or small jar may be placed in the middle of the paste, and the crust moulded on this; but be particular that it is kept warm the whole time.
Sufficient.—The proportions for 1 pie are 1 lb. of flour and 3 lbs. of meat.
Seasonable from September to March..."
836. INGREDIENTS.—2 lbs. of flour, 1/2 lb. of butter, 1/2 lb. of mutton suet, salt and white pepper to taste, 4 lbs. of the neck of pork, 1 dessertspoonful of powdered sage.
Mode.—Well dry the flour, mince the suet, and put these with the butter into a saucepan, to be made hot, and add a little salt. When melted, mix it up into a stiff paste, and put it before the fire with a cloth over it until ready to make up; chop the pork into small pieces, season it with white pepper, salt, and powdered sage; divide the paste into rather small pieces, raise it in a round or oval form, fill with the meat, and bake in a brick oven. These pies will require a fiercer oven than those in the preceding recipe, as they are made so much smaller, and consequently do not require so soaking a heat.
Time.—If made small, about 1–1/2 hour.
Seasonable from September to March."
Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management, Isabella Beeton
"Pork Pies.--Pork pies are generally made of the trimming taken from a hog when it is cut up. Make and shape the pies according to the directions given in the
following recipe, and remember that the pies must be moulded while the paste is warm, and that they are much more easily made with a mould than without one. As
a mould is not always at hand, those who are note particularly expriernced in the work (and it requires skill) may mould the pie round a jelly-pot or bottle, which
has beeen made warm by beining immersed for some time in warm water. Cut the meat into pieces the size of a small nut, and keep the meat and fat separate.
Season the whole with pepper and salt, half a dozen young sage-leaves finely shred; or a tea-spoonful of dried and powdered sage, one ounce of salt, two and a
quarter ounces of pepper, and a pinch of cayenne, may be allowed for a pie containing three pounds of meat. Pack the fat and lean closely into the pie in alternate
layers until it is filled. Put on the cover, press and pinch the edges, and ornament according to taste. Brush over with well-beaten egg, and bake in a slow oven, as
the meat is solid and requires to be soaked thorugh. Neither water nor bone should be put into pork pies, and the outside pieces will be hard unless they are cut
small and pressed closely together. The bones and trimmings of the pork may be stewed to make gravy, which should be boiled until it will jelly when cold, and
when this has been nicely flavoured, a little may be poured into the pie after it is baked through an opening made in the top. When pies are made small they require
a quicker oven than large ones. Time to bake, about two hours for a pie containing three pounds. Probable cost, 3s."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co.:London] 1875 (p. 610)
---ibid (p. 610-1)
"Pork Pie, Raised.--Those who kill pigs of their own have no trouble in obtaining suitable pie meat; those who buy it should be careful to get the best quality,
and to see that it is free from the slightest taint, every slice being carefully looked over. Required: for a medium-sized pie, a pound and a half of pork, the same
weight of paste, about a teaspoonful and a half of salt, or, for some, two teaspoonfuls will be none too much, nearly as much pepper, and herbs if approved, and a
little gravy. Cost, about 7d. per pound.
The meat should be fairly fat, and is best from a bacon pig, but the loin or neck of pork may be used; the foreloin is preferred by many. Cut into dice (by means of a
mincer, or by hand), the pieces bieng even in size, the fat and lean mixed will, and the seasoning thoroughly blended with the meat; the meat should be sprinkled with
a spoonful of water or stock during the mixing, as it tends to bind it. Full directions for the raising of the paste will be found on page 785, and either of the reicpes
on page 748 may be followed in making it; the medium paste is suitable. Those who possess moulds sometimes prefer a pork pie raisied by hand, and baked out of
a mould, as the consider the flaour is better. The meat should be packed in firmly, and the lid put on after the inner edges have been egged over; the edges should
be crimped with the paste nippers (opage 741), and leaves put round the side and on the lid; make a hole or two, and put a centre ornament of paste or not, as
preferred. Then egg the pie over, and put in a good oven. (See the directions for RAISED PIES, page 785). This will take about two to two and a half hours; the
latter will not be too long in most cases, and a skewer should be passed into the middle of the meat to test it. The gravy should be made from the bones and any
skinny and gristly parts of the meat, seasoned as required, and strenghthened with gelatine or meat of a gelatinous sort; the liquor form boiled pork should be used
in place of water at the start, should any be handy; supposing, for instance, the feet and ears of a pig to have been boiled, there is in the liquor a good foundation for
the gravy of the pie.
NOTE.--Should herbs be used, any of those named under PORK SAUSAGES in a previous chapter will answer; but sage is generally liked. If fresh, about half a
teaspoonful would be enough to flavour the above for most people. Doupble the quantity of dried sage could be suet. We may mention that at a certain farmhouse
in the Midlands, the pork pies are always made with layers of stoned raisins betweent the layers of pork. We never met with these pies elsewhere, but can
recommend them."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and Company:London] 1894 (p. 782-3)
[NOTE: the Raised Pie recipe referred to above (p. 785+) is too long to transcribe. We can mail/fax/scan if you like.]
Cheshire Pork Pie descends from the long and venerable line of English meat pies. Food historians traces these dishes to
the Middle Ages, if not before.
Ingredients, cooking methods and size vary according to place and period. The pairing of
pork and apples is ancient. Mincemeat pies are closely
related.
Shortcrust pastry
1 kilo (2 lb) boned loin of pork
4 rashers (2 lb) streaky green bacon, chopped
250 g (8 oz) chopped onion
Salt, pepper, nutmeg
275 g (12 oz) Cox's orange pippins, or similar dessert apple
Brown sugar
Butter
150 ml (1/4 pt) white wine, dry cider or light ale
Beaten egg or top of milk, to glaze
Line a 1 1/4 litre (about 2 pt) capacity pie dish with pastry. Slice and cube the pork, them put in a layer. Mix bacon, onion and seasonings and scatter some over
the pork. The peel, core and slice the apples and arrange them on the meat; scatter with a little brown sugar; the amount depends on the sweetness of the apples,
but it should not be overdone. Repeat the layers until the ingredients are used up. Dot the top with butter--about 60g (2 oz)--and pour on the alcohol. Cover with
pastry in the usual way, and brush with beaten egg or top of the milk. Bake at mark 7, 220 degrees c (425 degrees F), for 20-30 minutes, then lower the heat to
mark 3, 160 degrees C (325 degrees F), and leave for a further 45 minutes, or until the pork feels tender when tested with a larding needle or skewer through the
central hole in the pastry lid."
---English Food, Jane Grigson [Penguin Books:London] 1994 (p. 231-2)
[1747]
"A Cheshire Pork-Pye.
Take a Loin of Pork, skin it, cut it into Stakes, season it with Salt, Nutmeg, and Pepper; make a good Crust, lay a Layer of Pork, and then a large Layer of Pippins
pared and cored, a little Sugar, enough to sweeten the Pye, then another Layer of Pork; Put in half a Pint of White Wine, lay some Butter on the Top, and close
your Pye: If your Pye be large, it will take a Pint of White Wine."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 72)
Take some salt Pork that has been boiled, cut it into thin Slices, and equal Quantity of Potatoes, pared and sliced thin, make a good Crust, cover the Dish, lay a
Layer of Meat, seasoned with a little Pepper, and a Layer of Potatoes; then a Layer of Meat, and a Layer of Potatoes, and so on till your Pye is full. Season it with
Pepper; when it is full, lay some Butter on the Top, and fill your Dish above half full of soft Water. Close you Pye up, and bake it in a gentle Oven."
---ibid (p. 125)
"Cheshire Pork Pie.
Take the skin of a loin of pork, and cut it into steaks. Season them with pepper, salt, and nutmeg, and make a good crust. Put into your dish a layer of pork, then a
layer of pippins, pared and cored, and sugar sufficient to sweeten it. Then place another layer of pork, and put in a half a pint of white wine. Lay some butter on the
top, close your pie, and send it to the oven. If your pie is large, you must put in a pint of white wine."
---The Female Instructor: Young Woman's Guide to Domestic Happiness [Thomas Kelly:London] 1817 (p. 452)
Food historians tell us traditional European pork pies date to medieval times. Modern Cape Breton pork
pies, however, are different. Why? Pork is not an ingredient. Recipes suggest this item evolved from the
mincemeat/mince pies tradition.
Excellent question. Up until the 20th century, lard and suet were common ingredients in
pies and pie crusts. In the Old World beef suet was the norm. In the New World hogs were
plentiful. It is quite likely the original Cape Breton pork pies employed lard from these animals.
Now butter and other shortenings are used, thus rendering the moniker "pork pies" a delicious
relic of times past.
"Cape Breton Pork Pies
How these little tarts got their name remains a mystery to us. It could be that pork fat was once
used as the shortening, or it might be a reflection of the wonderful Cape Breton sense of
humor.
Tart Shells
1 cup butter
4 tablespoons icing sugar
2 cups flour
Cut the butter into the flour; add the sugar and knead until well blended. Press small amounts of
cough into small muffin tins. Bake in a 425 degrees F. Oven for 10 minutes. When cool fill with
the following:
Filling
2 cups chopped dates
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
1 cup water
Lemon juice
Simmer the above ingredients until the dates are of a soft consistency. Cool; then fill the tart
shells. Ice with butter icing."
---Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens, Marie Nightingale [McCurdy Printing
Company:Nova Scotia] tenth printing May 1977 (p. 164)
Portable pies (a random global history): Italian calzones,
Spanish empanadas, Louisiana Natchitoches, Cornish pasties,
Polish-Russian pierogi, Kellogg's Pop Tarts,
Middle-Eastern/Indian sanbusaq
(aka samosa), Italian-American stromboli & English turnovers.
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 573)
---Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Food Encyclopedia, Joan Whitman compiler
[Times
Books:New York] 1985 (p. 461-2)
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 353)
[1753]
"Apple Pasties to Fry.
Pare and quarter apples, and boil them in sugar and water, and a stick of cinnamon, and when
tender, put in a little white wine, the juice of a lemon, a piece of fresh butter, and a little
ambergrease or orange-flower water; stir all together, and when it is cold put it in puff-paste, and
fry them>"
---The Complete Housewife: or Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E. Smith,
facsimile reprint of 1753 edition [Literary Services and Production Ltd.:London] 1968 (p. 154)
"Apple Puffs.
Pare, quarter, and core six large apples, put them into a sauce-pan with a little water and
lemon-peel, cover them close, and stew them gently till they are tender; take out the lemon-peel,
and
with a spoon put in a tea-spoonful of rose water, make a nice puff paste, roll in out thin to any
small size you please, put in a little of the apple, turn the paste over, and close them with a knife;
cut them either three-corner ways or square, or in any shape you please, ice them, and bake them
in a moderate overn or tin or iron plates."
---The New Art of Cookery According to Present Practice, Richard Briggs [W.
Spotswood, R. Campbell, and B. Johnson:Philadelphia] 1792 (p. 382)
"Puffs.--Roll out puff paste nearly a quarter of an inch thick, and, with a small saucer, or tin
cutter of that size, cut it into round pieces; place upon one side raspberry or strawberry jam, or
any sort of preserved fruit, or stewed apples; wet the edges, fold over the other side, and press it
round with the finger and thumb. Or cut the paste into the form of a diamond, lay on the fruit, and
fold over the paste, so as to give it a triangular shape."
---The Good Housekeeper, Sarah Josepha Hale, facsimile reprint 1841 edition with new
introduction by Janice (Jan) Bluestein Longone [Dover Publications:Mineola NY] 1996 (p. 85)
"Turnovers.--Make some good pastry, roll it out to the thickness of a quarter of an inch, and
stamp it in rounds from four to seven inches in diameter, lay fresh fruit and sugar, or jam, on one
half of the pastry, moisten the edges, and turn the other half right over. Press the edges closely,
ornament them in any way, and brush the turnovers with white of egg. Sprinkle a little powedered
sugar over them, and bake on tins in a brisk oven. Serve on a dish covered with a neatly-folded
napkin. Time to bake, fifteen to twenty minutes. Probably cost, 1d. Each. Sufficient, one pound of
pastry will make two dozen turnovers."
---Cassell's Dictonary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1874? (p. 1017)
---ibid (p. 233)
[NOTE: this book also instructs the reader to refer to recipes for Fruit Pasties.]
"Apple Turnover
Put one pint of flour into a bowl; add half a teaspoonful of salt, two level teaspoonfuls of baking
powder; mix thoroughly, then rub into the mixture one tablespoonful of butter, and add sufficient
milk to make a soft dough. Roll out in a sheet half an inch thick; cut with a biscuit cutter into
circles. Put two tablespoonfuls of stewed apples on one-half the dough; fold over the other half,
pinch the edges together; place these in a baking-pan, brush with milk, and bake for twenty
minutes."
---Mrs. Rorer's New Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Arnold and Company:Philadelphia]
1902 (p. 590-1)
The concept of fruit-filled pastry is thousands of years old. Kellogg's Pop Tarts descend from the
venerable culinary tradition of personal-sized portable pies. Our survey of historic
newspapers and US Patent Office records confirm toaster pastries
were introduced to the American public in 1964. Pop Tarts quickly became national icons of Baby Boomer cuisine. Why? They were convenient, tasty
AND required no help from mom or dad. Hot or cold, on-the-go breakfast or late night snack, Pop Tarts were perfect.
According to an Kellogg's advertisement published in the Los Angeles Times October 28, 1965 (p. D15): blueberry, strawberry, apple-currant
and brown sugar-cinnamon. The ad reads "New Pop Tarts drop'em into the toaster or eat'em just as they are. A wonderful breakfast treat-
grand for lunch or snacks too. We call 'em Kellogg's Pop-Tarts. Tasty, tender pastries--four kinds--each ready-filled with a
different and luscious flavor...You'll call 'em the most convenient, tasty change-of-pace breakfast idea that's come along to
brighten you your mornings in a long, long time. Six big tarts in each handy package. Baked and sealed in foil envelopes to stay
fresh without refrigeration. A nourishing all-family treat for lunch boxes and after-school snacks as well as for breakfast
." [NOTE: the ad also mentions Smuckers brand jelly and preserves was used for the filling.]
Our research confirms Kellogg's was not the first to bring a toaster pastry to market. It was, however the most successful.
---"Toasting of an Icon the Pop-Tart marks 30 Years as Part of American Life," Steve Hymon, Chicago Tribune, September 25, 1994 (p. 1)
---"Pop-Tarts," Encyclopedia of Consumer Brands, Janice Jorgensen editor [St. James
Press:Detroit] Volume 1: Consumable Products (p. 309-310)
[NOTE: this book contains a list of sources for further study.]
Regarding the origin of calzones there are a couple of theories:
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 563, 573)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
125)
(calsone is the British spelling for calzone)
How old is stromboli & where did it originate? Excellent questions! Italian food history books/cookbooks are curiously silent
on this topic. This suggests an Italian-American genesis. South Philadelphia is generally regarded as the American epicenter for
this delcious dish. Our survey of historic newspapers confirms stromboli piqued the palates of mainstream America in the 1990s.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Freidman:New York]
1999 (p. 313)
---"Rolling Stromboli," James Scarpa, Restaurant Business, May 20, 1993, (p. 107)
Empanadas are considered part of the gastronomic history of Spanish Galicia. The Empanada
Festival is one of this region's major annual events. These portable pies were introduced to the
"New World" by Spanish explorers and missionaries.
---The Foods and Wines of Spain, Penelope Casas [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1982 (p.
52)
[NOTE: Ms. Casas mentions on p. 64 of this book that Empanada de Lomo (pork pie) is the most
commonly prepared Galician pie.]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
273)
Personal portable pies, Louisiana-style!
---"Turnovers: A Dish With an International Heritage, Craig Claiborne, New York Times, May 5, 1982 (p. C8)
[NOTES: (1) Mr. Claiborne's recipe here. (2) Lasyone's is
[NOTE: Lasyone's continues to thrive!]
Natchitoches Meat Pies
Pastry for deep-fried turnovers
3 tablespoons bacon fat or corn oil
3/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 1/2 teaspoon finely minced garlic
1/2 pound ground lean beef
3/4 pound ground lean pork
1 cup finely chopped scallions
1/3 cup finely chopped parsley
Salt to taste, if desired
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 teaspoons finely chopped hot red or green pepper or use Tabasco souace or cayenne pepper to taste
Corn, peanut or vegetable oil for deep frying
1. Prepare the pastry, and let stand, covered, while preparing the filling.
2. Heat the fat or oil in a skillet or saucepan and add the onion and garlic. Cook, stirring, until wiltd. Add the beef and pork and cook, stirring and chopping down
with the sides of metal spoon to break up any lumps. Cook until the meat loses its raw look. Add the scallions, parsley, salt, pepper and chopped pepper. Let cool.
3. Roll out one-quarter of the dough at a time on a lighly flowered board to the thickness of about one-eighth inch or less.
4. With a cutter six inches in diameter, cut out circles.
5. Gather the scraps of dough and form a ball quickly. Roll out this dough to the same thickness, and cut it ito six-inch circles.
6. Continue rolling and cutting circles until all the dough has been used.
7. Fill one-half of each sircle of dough with about three tablespoons of filling, leaving a margin for sealing when the dough is folded. Moisten all around the edges
of the circle of dough. Fold the unfilled half of dough over to enclose the filling. Press around the edges with the tines of a fork to seal well.
8. Heat the oil to 360 degrees. Add the meat pies, four to six at a time without crowding. Cook, turning the pies in th hot fat until nicely broaned and cooked
through, about eight minutes. Drain well on absorbent toweling. Serve hot. Yield: about 20 meat pies."
---"Turnovers: A Dish With an International Heritage, Craig Claiborne, New York Times, May 5, 1982 (p. C8)
These traditional Welsh meat-filled pies often served as a miner's lunch. When these laborers came
to America to work the copper mines, they brought lunch with them. Efficient & portable, easily re-heated & ultimately
delicious. Foods like these transcend time and place. If you have the opportunity to taste the real thing NEVER
pass it up. After the experience, you will know why.
"Pirog. The Russian word for pie, together with its diminutive pirozhki (plural), some from the
word pir
(meaning feast)...Pirozhki (pierogi in Poland) come in a variety of shapes including small
half-moons, and
may be either fried or baked. They are popular accompaniment to soups, especially clear broths
and
borshch, or as part of zakuski (hors d'oeuvres)."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
609-610)
"Pierogi or Pierozki: dumplings or "dough pockets" made by preparing thinly rolled noodle
dough, cutting
into squares and filling them poaching the sealed triangles until cooked. Fillings may be of meat,
mushrooms, cheese, cabbage, or potatoes--all seasoned. These are served with drawn butter, meat
gravy,
or sour cream.
---You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein
[Firefly
Books:Buffalo] 1999 (p. 350)
---Food and Drink in Medieval Poland: Rediscovering a Cuisine of the Past, Maria
Dembinska
[University of Pennsylvania:Philadelphia] 1999 (p. 112)
---You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein
[Firefly
Books:Buffalo] 1999 (p. 373)
---Classic Russian Cooking, Elena Molokhovets' "A Gift to Young Housewives," 1861,
translated and
introduced by Joyce Toomre [Indiana University Press:1992] (p. 273)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2007(p. 690)
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrrow:New York] 1999(p. 573)
---A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K. T. Achaya [Oxford University Press: Delhi] 1998 (p. 224)
Cream puffs & eclairs
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang, editor [Crown:New York] 1988 (p.
777-8)
---"Powches, Puffs and Profiteroles: Early Choux Paste Receipts," David Potter, Petits Propos Culinaires 73 [Prospect Books]
2003 (p. 25-40)
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 75)
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble:New York] 1992
(pages 243-244)
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 269)
"App. < Middle French, French profiterole (although this is first attested later in the sense relevant to sense 1: 1549; 1881 in sense 2) < profit PROFIT n. + -erole, diminutive suffix (extended form of -ole -OLE suffix1).
French profiterole is attested slightly earlier in its literal sense ‘small profit’: 1542.] .
1. A type of savoury cake or dumpling, (perh.) baked in ashes. Obs.
?1515 A. BARCLAY Egloges IV. sig. Bijv, To tost white sheuers, and to make prophytrolles And after talkyng, oftymes to fyll the bolles. 1702 F. MASSIALOT Court & Country Cook 207 A Ragoo is to be made..with which the Potage is to be garnish'd, the Profitrolle-loaf being laid in the middle. 1727 R. BRADLEY Family Dict. s.v. Carp, They likewise make a pottage of profitrolles with Carp flesh minced."
The food history encyclopedias (including the Larousse Gastronomique) and reference
books all
describe eclairs but provide little if any details regarding their origin. This probably means the
eclair is a product of food evolution. There is some conjecture that perhaps Antonin Careme
(1784-1833), a famous pastry chef for French royalty might have created something akin to
eclairs. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the term "eclair" in the English language to
1861 "Vanity Fair
[magazine]2 Feb 50/1 A Waiter, whereon, stood..a plate of macaroons, eclairs and sponge cake."
In French, the word eclair means a flash of lightning.
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2003 (p. 117)
"Cream cakes
1 cup hot water
1/2 teaspoonful salt
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 cup pastry flour
5 eggs, yolks and whites beaten separately
Eclairs--bake the Cream Cake mixture in pieces four inches long and one and a half wide. When
cool, split and fill with cream. Ice with chocolate or vanilla frosting.
1 pint milk, boiled
2 tablespoonfuls cornstarch
3 eggs, well beaten
3/4 cup sugar
1 saltspoonful salt, or
1 teaspoonful butter
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A. Lincoln [1884] (p. 389)
Pot pie
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 254)
---"ONE CRUST OR TWO?" Leslie Land, Los Angeles Times, September 24, 1992 (p.
H11)
---"POT PIES," John Mariani & Gail Bellamy, Restaurant Hospitality, April 1998 (p. 80)
Primary evidence suggests recipes for chicken pot pie (in concept, but not name) were known in
England as far back as the Middle Ages. As one would expect, these early meat pies were quite
different from ones we know today. Robert May's Accomplist Cook [1685] lists several
recipes for poultry pies (chicken, turkey, pheasant etc.). These generally still relied on Medieval
flavors: pepper, salt, nutmeg, orange juice, lemon, chestnuts, mace, sugar, gooseberries,
barberries, grapes etc. Vegetables were sometimes employed: " artichock
bottoms, or the tops of boild sparagus...Otherways for the liquoring or garnishing of these Pies,
for variety you may put in them boil'd skirrets, bottom of artichokes boil'd, or boil'd cabbidge
lettice...whole onions being baked...Or bake them with candied lettice stalks, potatoes..."
---The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon]
2000 (p. 212-3)
[1805]
"To make a pot Pie. Make a crust and put it round the sides of your pot, then cut your meat in small pieces, of whatever kind the pot pie is to be made of, and
season it with pepper and salt, then put it in the pot and fill it with water, close it with paste on the top; it will take three hours doing."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Mrs. [Hannah] Glasse, a new Edition with modern Improvements, facsimile 1805 edition printed by Cottom and Stewart and sold at their Book-Stores in Alexandria and Fredericksburg 1805, introduction by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] 1997 (p. 144)
An Apple Pot-Pie
Rub the bottom and sides of a porridge-pot, or small oven, with butter, and then with dry flour.
Roll out some pieces of plain or standing paste about half an inch thick, line the sides of the pot or
oven with the pieces of paste, letting them nearly touch the bottom. Having pared and sliced from
the cores some fine cooking apples, nearly fill the oven with them; pour in enough water to cook
them tender, put pieces of paste on the top, or put a paste all over the top, and bake it with
moderate heat, having a fire both on and under the oven. When the apples are very soft, the crust
brown, and the liquor quite low, turn the crust bottom upwards in a large dish, put the apples
evenly over it, strew on a large handful of brown sugar, and eat it warm or cold, with sweet milk.
This is quite a homely pie, but a very good one."
---the Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, facsimile reprint of 1839 edition stereotyped
by Shepard & Stearns:Cincinnati [Image Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 267-8)
A Peach pot pie, or cobler, as it is often termed, should be made of clingstone peaches, that are
very ripe, and then pared and sliced from the stones. Prepare a pot or oven with paste, as directed
for the apple pot-pie, put in the prepared peaches, sprinkle on a large handful of brown sugar,
pour in plenty of water to cook the peaches without burning them, though there should be but
very
little liquor or syrup when the pie is done. Put a paste over the top, and bake it with moderate
heat, raising the lid occasionally, to see how it is baking. When the crust is brown, and the
peaches very soft, invert the crust on a large dish, put the peaches evenly on, and grate loaf
sugar thickly over it. Eat it warm or cold. Although it is not a fashionable pie for company, it is
very excellent for family use, with cold sweet milk."
---ibid (p. 268)
"Pot Pie or Soup
Scraps and crumbs of meat make a very good dinner, when made into soup. Put all your crumbs
of meat into the dinner-pot. Slice in two onions, a carrot; put in a little salt and pepper, and water
enough to cover it; then cover it with a crust, made with cream tartar...Stew it one hour and a
half, or two hours. A flour thickening should be put in five minutes before you take it up. You
make bake your potatoes, or slice them, and cooke them with the meat."
---The New England Economical Housekeeper and Family Receipt Book, Mrs. E.A.
Howland [E.P. Walton and Sons:Montpelier VT] 1845 (p. 56)
Chicken pot
pie, Buckeye Cookery, Estelle Woods Wilcox
Pumpkin pie
Recipes for stewed pumpkins tempered with sugar, spices and cream wrapped in pastry trace
their roots to Medieval cuisine. We find several period European/Middle Eastern recipes
combining fruit, meat and cheese similarly spiced and presented. The Columbian Exchange [16th
century] flooded the "old world" with "new world" foods. These new foods (pumpkins, potatoes,
tomatoes, peanuts, corn etc.) were incorporated/assimilated/adapted into traditional European
cuisines, each in their own way and time. Culinary evidence confirms it took several generations before
many "new world" foods were accepted by the general public. Pumpkins seem to have skipped
this honeymoon period. They were similar to "old world" gourds and squash, and superior in
flavor. They were also just as easy to cultivate. As such, pumpkins (aka pompions) were
embraced almost immediately.
---The Medieval Kitchen: Recipes from France and Italy, Odile Redon, Francoise Sabban,
& Silvano Serventi, translated by Edward Schneider [University of Chicago Press:Chicago] 1998
(p. 55-6)
---America's Founding Food: The Story of New England Cooking, Keith Stavely &
Kathleen Fitzgerald [University of North Carolina Press:Chapel Hill] 2004 (p. 67-8)
[NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be paraphrased here. Please ask your
librarian to help you find a copy.]
---Eating in America: A History, Waverley Root & Richard de Rochemont [William
Morrow:New York] 1976 (p. 41)
The earliest European recipes for pumpkin pie appear in the 17th century. They are titled
"pompion." The early English use of the word "pompion" (French for "pumpkin") may imply
these recipes originated in France.
[1653]
"Potage of pumpkin.
Seethe well your pumpkin, so that it will be more thickened than ordinary, then fry a chibol with
butter, and put it in with salt, and serve with pepper." (p. 213)
[NOTE: potage is akin to soup]
After it is well sod, pass it through a straining pan, and leave not much broth in it, because of the
milk which you must put in it. When it is well seasoned with milk and a little butter, stove or soak
your bread, and serve with pepper if you will." (p. 213-4)
Boile it with good milk, pass it through a straining pan very thick, and mix it with sugar, butter, a
little salt and if you will, a few stamped almonds; let all be very thin. Put it in your sheet of paste;
bake it. After it is baked, besprinkle it with sugar and serve."
---The French Cook, Francois Pierre La Varenne [1653], Translated into English in 1653
by I.D.G., Introduced by Philip and Mary Hyman [East Sussex:Southover Press} 2001 (p.
199-200)
[NOTE: the word pumpkin is thought to derive from the old French word pompion, which in turn
is derived from the Greek pepon, meaning melon. The tip of this complicated linguistic puzzle!]
"To make a Pumpion Pie.
Take a pound of pumpion and slice it, a handful of thyme, a little rosemary, and sweet marjoram
stripped off the stalks, chop them small, then take cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, and a few cloves all
beaten, also ten eggs, and beat them, them mix and beat them all together, with as much sugar as
you think fit, then fry them like a froise, after it is fried, let it stand till it is cold, then fill your pie
with this manner. Take sliced apples sliced thin round ways, and lay a layer of the froise, and a
layer of apples with currants betwixt the layers. While your pie is sitted, put in a good deal of
sweet butter before your close it. When the pie is baked, take six yolks of eggs, some white-wine
or verjuyce, and make a caudle of this, but not too thick, but cut up the lid, put it in, and stir them
well together whilst the eggs and pumpion be not perceived, and so serve it up."
---The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facisimile reprint 1685 edition [Prospect
Books:Devon] 2000 (p. 224)
[NOTE: according to the glossary in the back of this book, a "Froise" was like a pancake or
omelette.]
American Cookery,
Amelia Simmons
"To make Pumpkin-Pie.
Take the Pumpkin and peel the rind off, then stew it till it is quite soft, and put thereto one pint of pumpkin, one pint of milk, one
glass of of malaga wine, one glass of rose-water, if you like it, seven eggs, half a pound of fresh butter, one small nutmeg, and sugar and salt to your taste."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Mrs. [Hannah] Glasse, a new Edition with modern Improvements, facsimile 1805 edition printed by Cottom and Stewart and sold at their Book-Stores in Alexandria and Fredericksburg 1805, introduction by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] 1997 (p. 138)
"Pumpkin pudding
Stew a fine sweet pumpkin till soft and dry, rub it through a sieve, mix with the pulp six eggs
quite light, a quarter of a pound of butter, half a pint of new milk, some pounded ginger and
nutmeg, a wine glass of brandy, and sugar to your taste. Should it be too liquid, stew it a little
dryer; put a paste round the edges and in the bottom of a shallow dish or plate, pour in the
mixture, cut some thin bits of paste, twist them and lay them across the top and bake it
nicely."
--- The Virginia House-Wife, Mary Randolph, with Historical Notes and Commentaries
by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1984 (p. 154)
"Abigail Adams' Pumpkin Pie
1 1/2 cups pumpkin
3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, grated
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup dark rum, or brandy
3 eggs, lighly beaten
Pecans
Whipped cream
10-inch pie shell, unbaked
---The Thirteen Colonies Cookbook, Mary Donovan et al, [Montclair Historical
Society:Montclair NJ] 1975 (p. 34)
[NOTE: If you are, or will be serving this to people under 21, please OMIT THE ALCOHOL.]
Quiche
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] 2001 (p. 957)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 274-5)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
644)
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 206)
---Encyclopedia of Amercan Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999
(p. 260)
---Fashionable Food: Seven Decades of Food Fads, Sylvia Lovegren [Simon &
Schuster:New York] 1995 (p. 317)
[1903]
1230 Quiche a la Lorraine (for 10 persons)
Line an 18-20 cm (7-8 in) plain or fluted flan case with ordinary short paste taking care that the
sides are a little higher than the rim of the case. Cover the base with thin rashers of bacon which
have been blanched and lightly fried in butter. These my be arranged alternatively with slices of
Gruyere cheese but the addition of cheese is optional and is not correct as far as local custom is
concerned. Fill the flan with a mixture made of 4 dl (14 fl oz or 1 3/4 U.S. cups) cream, 3 eggs
and a pinch of salt. Finish by dotting the surface with 25 g (1 oz) butter cut in small pieces; bake
in a moderate oven for 30-35 minutes and cut into triangles whilst just warm."
---The Complete Guide to the Art of Modern Cookery, Escoffier [Le Guide Cuiliniare
1903], The First Translation into English by H.L. Cracknell and R.J. Kaufmann [Wiley:New
York] 1979 (p. 148)
[NOTE: This recipe is included in the chapter: Hors-d'oeuvre. Escoffier also provides a recipe for
Quiches au Jambon.]
"Quiche Lorraine
---La Bonne Cuisine, Madame E. Saint-Ange, 1927 edition translated and with an
introduction by Paul Aratow, forward by Madeleine Kamman [Ten Speed Press:Berkeley CA]
2005 (p. 702)
[NOTE: We have a copy of the original 1927 French edition. If you would like the original recipe
please let us know. Happy to fax or mail.]
"Quiche Lorraine
tart pastry...for 8 to 10-inch pan
6 slices bacon, not too thin
6 ozs. Swiss cheese, thinly sliced
2 cups milk
3 eggs and 1 yolk, beaten
1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
a little nutmeg
1 tablespoon butter
Line an 8 to 10-inch pie plate with the tart pastry. Cut bacon slices in two and broil them. (If
bacon is very salty, parboil it and drain before broiling.) Overlap slices of broiled bacon and
cheese over the bottom of the pastry. Mix together eggs, flour, salt, and nutmeg, and combine
with the milk. Melt butter and let it continue cooking until it starts to brown, then add it to the
custard mixture and pour it all over the bacon and cheese. Bake in a moderately hot oven of 375
degrees until custard is set and brown on top, about 35 to 40 minutes. Serve warm. Serves
6."
---Louis Diat's Home Cookbook: French Cooking for Americans [J.B. Lippincott:Philadelphia]
1946 (p. 76)
---Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Simone Beck, Louisette Bertholle, Julia Child [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1963 (p. 146)
"Quiche Lorraine," (Cream and Bacon Quiche)
6 to 8 pieces thick-sliced bacon
An 8-inch partially cooked pastry shell placed on a buttered baking sheet
3 eggs (U.S. graded "large")
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/4 tsp salt
Pinch of pepper and nutmeg
1 to 2 Tb butter
(Preheat oven to 375 degrees.)
Slice bacon into 1/4-inch pieces and brown lightly in a frying pan; drain and spread in bottom of
pastry shell. Beat eggs, cream, and seasonings in a bowl to blend. Just before baking, pour cream
mixture into the shell, filling to within 1/8 inch of the top. Cut butter into bits and distribute over
the cream. Bake in upper third of oen for 25 to 30 minutes, until quiche has puffed and browned,
and a small knife, plunged into custard, comes out clean. Serve hot, warm, or cold; quiche will
sink slighly as it cools."
---The French Chef Cookbook, Julia Child [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1972 (p. 240-1)
Cheesecake, tarts, pizza & souffle.
Refrigerator Pie
[1931]
"An innovation in cookery, which offsets every possibility of failure and offers a light, dainty, fluffy dessert, fit to be set
before the most fastidious taste, is the sunshine ice box pie. Begin by making the family's favorite pie crust or the regulation
of one of 1 cupful of flour, 3 tablespoonfuls of shortening, 1/2 teaspoonful of salt and enough ice water to mix. Line a deep pie pan
and bake in a slow oven so as to dry out the pastry. When it is light brown remove it from the stove to cool. To make the filling,
separate the yolks and whites of 4 eggs. Beat yolks and whites separately. To the whites add 1/2 cupful of sugar and beat until
very stiff. To the yolks and 2 tablespoonfuls of lemon juice and a grated rind of 2 lemons, a pinch of salt and 1/2 cupful of
sugar. Dissolve for 5 minutes 1/2 tablespoonful of gelatine in 1-3 cupful of cold water. Place the yolk mixture in a double boiler,
stirring constantly until the liquid is thickened and creamy. Remove it from the fire and add the gelatin. Fold the pie crust and set it in the ice
box until time to serve. Just before serving spread the top of the pie with a thin layer of whipped cream. This pie keeps for days."
---"A Novel Ice Box Pie," Christian Science Monitor, September 18, 1931 (p. 6)
"Pie is always acceptable as a dessert no matter what
the season. We are sometimes reluctant about serving it in warm weather bcause we dislike to heat the oven. This is no
longer an excuse for not having it because there are the uncooked varieties, the ones which require no heat. They are sometimes called
refrigerator pies. Refrigerator pies usually have crumb crusts. Corn flake crumbs are excellent for this purpose. They have a
good color and add a distinctive flavor. The crust may be made in two different ways."
---"Home Service Bureau Conducted by Marian Manners Timeline Suggestions...What is Your Favorite?," Marian Manners,
Los Angeles Times, June 10, 1932 (p. A7) [NOTE: this snippet does not provide a recipe or elaborate on the "two ways"
of crust making.]
"Those gorgeous creations of lady fingers and whipped cream and nuts and macaroons known as refrigerator cakes have long been great favorites...But for the times when
a less rich and elaborate creation is in order, good cooks of 1933 have opened up a whole new bag of tricks. In place of so much cream, for instance, they are using
mixtures that depend more on eggs and cornstarch and gelatin and marshmallows for the thickening ingredient. Instead of making these desserts always in the form of the
deep loaf cake, they are making them in pie plates to be cut exactly like pies. And in place of lady fingers or sliced sponge cake or angel food, they are using all sorts of
sweetened wafers such as graham crackers, chocolate or vanilla wafers, gingersnaps. To show you what I mean here is a recipe for orange pie...
First soak 1 1/2 tablespoons gelatin in 3 tablespoons cold water. Then turn this into 1/2 cup boiling water in the top of double boiler, and stir till dissolved. Next stir in 4
tablespoons sugar. Let mixture cool. Then add 1 cup strained orange juice and 1 tablespoon strained lemon juice. Put some ice water in bottom of double boiler and set
the top part into it. Let stand till mixture starts to set. Then beat with rotary beater with rotary beater. Next fold into the mixture 1/2 cup of diced orange and 2 egg white
beaten stiff. For the crust to this pie, use either vanilla wafers or gingersnaps. Crush or grind enough of them to make a thick layer of crumbs in the bottom of the pie plate.
Line the sides of the plate with wafers broken into halves (round side out) with more crumbs between the wafers. Then turn in the fruit mixture. and place in the refrigerator
to set. This will take about 4 hours. But there'll be no harm done if you want to make this pie the night before. And in case you'd like to use berries in place off oranges
that'll be good, too. Just substitute the same amount of berries and juice."
---"Refrigerator Cakes and Pies Eliminate Baking Drudgery," Ann Barrett, Washington Post, August 1, 1933 (p. 9)
---"Refrigerator Now the Place to Bake Pies," Mary Meade, Chicago Daily Tribune, April 16, 1933 (p. D1)
[NOTE: Includes recipes for Coffiee Chiffon Pie, Chicolate Chiffon, Refrigerator Walnut Pie and Strawberry Chiffon Tarts.]
"Hawaiian Refregerator Pie
Crust
20 graham crackers, rolled fine
4 tablespoons sugar
5 tablespoons melted butter
Filling
1 package lemon flavored gelatin
1 3/4 cups boiling water
1 cup canned crushed pineapple and juice
1 1/2 cups cream, whipped stiff
8 graham crackers, rolled fine
1 tablespoon confectioner's sugar
Combine the ingredients of the crust, blending well. Pat the mixture firmly over the inside, bottom, and sides of a ten inch pie pan. Chill this while you make the filling. For
the filling, dissolve the gelatin mixture in the boiling water, then add the pineapple, which--if fresh--must be scalded. Chill this combination and just as it starts to thicken
add the whipped cream, graham cracker crumbs, and the sugar. Our the mixture into the cracker shell until set."
---"Tribune Recipes," Chicago Daily Tribune, September 11, 1936 (p. 22)
""Give us more refrigerator cakes and pies" some of my readers have begged. So today I am persenting one of those fluffy-as-a-cloud chiffon pies which looks ok,
so hard to make, but actually requires no cooking at all! You will win instant fame as a cook when you sevre this one, and you can take the bows with a chuckle up your
sleeve knowing it is easier that "pie." Refrigerator pies can be made in a pastry shell, which, of course, is baked before the filling it put in. This pie today, is made in a
crumb shell, which is much easier. Crumb shells can be made of dry, crisp cereals, vanilla wafers, graham crackers or dry cake crumbs. Simply roll the cereal, crackers
or crumbs fine, and to 1 cup of crumbs add 1-3 cup softened butter and 1-4 cup sugar. Press firmly on sides and bottom of buttered pie plate and chill. Filling:
1 tablespoon gelatin
1-4 cup cold water
1 1-2 cups diced fruit
3-4 cup fruit juice
1-2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1-8 teaspoon salt
1-2 cup whipping cream
Sprinkle gelatin over cold water and allow to soften. Combine fruit, juice and sugar, cook about 5 minutes. Stir in gelatin, lemon juice and salt. Chill. When mixture begins
to thicken, fold in cream which has been whipped stiff. Pour into pie shell, and chill until well set.
Note: Fresh uncooked pineapple will not congeal in gelatin mixture. There are lots of things you can do with fresh pineapple, but for molded desserts and salads you will
have to use cooked or canned pineapple. Almost daily some imaginatie and enterprising woman phones to ask why her gelatin will not congeal, after hs she has put fresh
pineapple in it. It just won't."
---Refrigerator Pies Are Easy; Chiffon Variety Recipe Given," Sally Saver, Atlanta Constitution, June 27, 1939 (p. 14)
Key Lime Ice Box Pie
"Lime Icebox Pie
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons butter
2 eggs, separated
1/4 cup sugar
1 15-oz. can Eagle brand condensed milk
1 16-oz. can frozen limeade
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 or 4 drops green coloring
Combine crumbs and butter; reserve 1/4 cup of mixture and press remaining mixture and sides of buttered refrigerator tray and
chill. Beat egg yolks until light and thick, mix with condensed milk and add limeade and vanilla. Stir until mixture thickens
and tint pale green. Beat egg whites until foamy and add sugar and beat until stiff. Fold into lime mixture and pour into
chilled tray. Brder or sprinkle with reserved crumb mixture and freeze 4 to 6 hours. Cut in squares or triangles to serve."
---"Favorite Recipes," Mrs. J. S. Mulhern, El Paso Herald Post [TX], July 17, 1958 (p. 13)
Remember making this pie with ice cube trays?
"Lime Icebox Pie
Crust:
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons melted butter
Filling:
2 eggs, separated
1 can Eagle Brand milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
3 to 4 drops green food coloring
3 tablespoons sugar
Crust: make crust in ice cube trays. Chill before filling is added.
Filling: Beat egg yolks, add milk, limeade, vanilla and green coloring. Stir well. Beat egg whites and fold in sugar. Fold white and limeade mixture together. Pour into
trays. Top with a few crumbs. Store in freezer."
---"Something's Cooking," Denton Record-Chronicle [TX], June 24, 1971 (p. 13)
Sawdust pie
COMPARE THESE RECIPES
8 to 10 Servings
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups flaked coconut (6 ounces)
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans (6 ounces)
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
7 egg whites, unbeaten
1 unbaked 10-inch pie shell
Unsweetened whipped cream (garnish)
1 large banana, thinly sliced (garnish)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine sugar, coconut, pecans, graham cracker crumbs and whites in large bowl and mix well; do not beat. Turn into pie shell. Bake until filling is just set, about 35 minutes; do not overbake. Serve warm or at room temperature. Top each serving with generous dollop of whipped cream and several banana slices."---Bon Appetit, May 1983 (p. 8)
This is no more Japanese than the fruitcake of that name, but is simply the cake's coconut filling turned into a custard pie. It is very rich; serve in small slices with
strawberries or raspberries and Soured Cream.
3 eggs
1 partially baked 9-inch pie shell
Beat the eggs into the coconut filling. Pour into the partially baked pie shell and bake in an oven preheated to 325 degrees F. for about 40 minutes, until the top is
slightly brown but not puffed up."
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1990 (p. 270)
1 medium coconut
1 1/2 c. sugar
2 Tb. cornstarch
Pinch of salt
2 lemons, grated zest and juice
Whipped cream or Fluffy Icing
...For the filling, drain the juice from the coconut and reserve. Crack the coconut, discard the outer shell, and pare away the brown skin. Grate the meat and add to
a saucepan with 1 1/2 cups sugar. Measure the liquid from the coconut. If necessary, add water to make up 3/4 cup liquid and stir into the saucepan with 1 1/2 \
cups sugar. Measure liquid and stir into the saucepan. Bring to boil and cook about 5 minutes. Dissolve the cornstarch in 2 tablespoons of coconut liquid if you have
it, or water. Add some of the hot liquid to the cornstarch to cook at the simmer 3 or 4 minutes. Season up with a few grains of salt and lemon zest and juice. Set
aside to cool, stirring constantly."
---ibid (p. 295)
Shepherd's pie
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
92)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
717)
Mutton and beef pies are found in Medieval British texts. Minced meat pies were favored during
the Tudor
years. Minced mutton and potato recipes begin showing up in the 18th century. These dishes are
listed by various names. The oldest recipe we have for something called "Shepherd's Pie" is dated
1886:
[1596]
"For to Make Mutton Pies
Mince your mutton and your white together. When it is minced season it with pepper,
cinnamon, ginger, cloves, mace, prunes, currants, dates and raisins, and hard eggs, boiled and
chopped very small, and throw them on top."
---The Good Housewife's Jewel, Thomas Dawson, 1595 edition With an introduction by
Maggie Black [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 68)
"To make minced Pies of Mutton
Take to a leg of mutton four pound of beef-suet, bone the leg and cut it raw into small pieces, as
also the suet, mince them together very fine, and being minc't season it with two pound of
currans, two pound of raisins, two pound of prunes, an ounce of caraway seed, an ounce of
nutmegs, an ounce of pepper, an ounce of cloves, and mace, and six ounces of salt; stir up all
together, fill the pies, and bake them as the former."
---The Accomplisth Cook, Robert May, facsimile 1685 edition [Prospect Books:Devon]
1994 (p. 232)
"To Make a very fine Sweet lamb or Veal Pye.
Season your Lamb with Salt, Pepper, Cloves, Mace and Nutmeg, all beat fine, to your Palate. Cut
your Lamb, or Veal, into little Pieces, make a good Puff-paste Crust, lay it into your Dish, then
lay in your Meat, strew on it some stoned Raisins and Currans clean washed, and some Sugar;
then lay on it some Forced-meat Balls made sweet, and in the Summer some Artichoke-bottoms
boiled, and scalded Grapes in the Winter. Boil Spanish Potatoes cut in Pieces, candied Citron,
candied Orange, and Lemon-peel, and three or four large Blades of Mace; put Butter on the Top,
close up your Pye, and bake it. Have ready against it comes out of the Oven a Caudle [thick
drink] made thus: Take a Pint of White Wine, and mix in the Yolks of three Eggs, stir it well
together over the Fire, one way, all the time till it is thick; then take it off, stir in Sugar enough to
sweeten it, and squeeze in the Juice of a Lemon; pour it hot into your Pye, and close it up
again.Send it hot to table."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse [London:1747]Chapter VIII,
"Of Pies."
"A Casserole of Mutton
Butter a deep dish or mould, and line it with potatoes mashed with milk or butter, and seasoned
with pepper and salt. Fill it with slices of the lean cold mutton, or lamb, seasoned also. Cover the
whole with more mashed potatoes. Put it into an oven, and bake it till the meat is thoroughly
warmed, and the potatoes brown. The carefully turn it out on a large dish; or you may, if more
convenient, send it to table in the dish it was baked in."
---Directions for Cookery in Its Various Branches, Miss Leslie [Philadelphia:1849] (p.
111)
---Mrs. Beeton's Book of Houeshold Management, Isabella Beeton [London]
[NOTE: Mrs. Beeton's minced meat pies are served hot or cold.]
"Shepherd's pie
1 pound of cold mutton
1 pint of cold boiled potatoes
1 tablespoon of butter
1/2 cup of stock or water
Salt and pepper to taste
The crust
4 good-sized potatoes
1/4 cup cream
Salt and pepper to taste
Cut the mutton and boiled potatoes into pieces about one inch square; put them in a deep pie or
baking dish, add the stock or water, salt, pepper, and half the butter cut into small bits. The make
the crust as follows: Pare and boil the potatoes, then mash them, add the cream, the remainder of
the butter, salt and pepper, beat until light. Now add flour enough to make a soft dough--about
one cupful. Roll it out into a sheet, make a hole in the centre of the crust, to allow the escape of
steam. Bake in a moderate oven one hour, serve in the same dish."
---Mrs. Rorer's Philadelphia Cook Book, Mrs. S[arah] T[yson] Rorer [Philadephia: 1886]
(p. 117)
"Cottage Pie
Required: a pound and a half of cooked potatoes, half a pound to three-quarters of cold meat,
seasoning and gravy as below. Cost, about 9d. The potatoes must be nicely cooked and mashed
while hot...The should be seasoned, and beaten until light with a wooden spoon. A pie dish should
then be greased, and the potatoes put at the bottom, to form a layer from half to an inch in
thickness. The meat should be made into a thick mince of the usual kind with stock or gravy...or it
may be mixed with Onion Sauce, or any other which may be sent to table with meat. The nicer the
mince, the nice, of course, will be the pie. The meat goes next, and should be put in the centre of
the bottom layer, leaving a little space all around. Then drop the remainder of the potatoes on the
top, beginning at the sides--this prevents the boiling out of the gravy when the meat begins to
cook--go on until all the used, making the pie highest in the middle. Take a fork, and rough the
surface all over, because it will brown better than if left smooth. For a plain dish, bake it for
fifteen to twenty minutes. Or it may be just sprinkled with melted dripping (a brush is used for
this), or it may be coated with beaten egg, part of which may then be used in the mashed potatoes.
As soon as the pie is hot through and brown, it should be served. There are many recipes for this
pie, or variation of it, and in some, directions are given for ptuting the meat in the dish first, and
all the potatoes on the top. The plan above detailed will be found the better, because the meat
being enveloped entirely in potatoes runs no risk of becoming hard, as it wold do it exposed to the
direct heat of the oven. Any other cooked vegetables may be added to the above, but they should
be placed between the meat and potatoes, both top and bottom. If a very savoury pie is desired,
make the mince very moist, and allow longer time for baking. The potatoes will absorb some of
the gravy, and found tasty. In this case, the heat must not be fierce at starting, only at the end for
the pie to brown well. For a richer pie, allow a larger proportion of meat. For a very cheap one,
half a pound of meat will do for two pounds of potatoes."
---Cassell's New Universal Cookery Book, Lizzie Heritage [Cassell and
Company:London] 1894 (p. 512-3)
Required: two pounds of meat, half-a-pint of canned tomatoes, half-a-pound of fried onions, salt
and black pepper, and any herbs preferred, four pounds of potatoes, and some gravy. Cost, 1s. 6d.
To 1s. 8d. First grease a deep baking dish with some of the melted fat from the tin. Boil or steam
the potaotes, mash and season them ...and put them in an inch thick at the bottom and sides of the
dish. Then put the onions all over the potato layer. Mince the meat, add the jelly from it, and the
tomatoes, with a little more stock or plain gravy of any sort; pile this in the centre of the dish; put
the remainder of the potatoes thickly on the top; rough the surface with a fork, and bake until well
browned in a moderate oven about three-quarters of anhour. The potatoes will absorb some of the
gravy and be very savoury. The dish is an excellent one, considering its small cost. If liked, some
pork can be added, and apple sauce used instead of the tomatoes. Tinned ox-tails, ox cheek,
kidney, &c., may take the place of the beef or mutton. Either will provide a hot, cheap meal in a
short time."
---ibid (p. 533)
In American cuisine, shoofly pie is a sort of treacle tart, made with molasses or brown sugar and
topped with a sugar,
flour, and butter crumble. It's name is generally taken to be an allusion to the fact that it is so
attractive to flies that they
have to be constantly shooed away from it, but the fact that it originated as a Pennsylvania-Dutch
specialty suggests the
possibility that shoofly is an alteration of an unidentified German word."
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
310-1)
There are two basic variations on the traditional Amish Shoofly Pie recipe."Traditional" Shoo-fly
pies are made with
either a "wet bottom" (soft filling and crumb topping) or "dry bottom" (crumb topping is mixed
into the filling), which is
commonly served for breakfast."
Wet-Bottomed Shoofly Pie
3/4 cup Flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp each nutmeg, ginger, and ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt
2 tablespoons shortening
1 egg yolk, beaten well
1/2 cup barrel molasses
3/4 cup boiling water
1/2 tsp baking soda
Piecrust dough for 9-inch pie
Original recipes for "molasses pie" read like this:
Four eggs--beat the Whites separate--one Teacupful of brown Sugar, half a Nutmeg, two
Tablespoonfuls of Butter; beat them will together; stir in one Teacupful and a half of Molasses,
and then add the Whites
of Eggs. Bake on Pastry.
Related foods? Chess Pie (aka sugar pie) & Mongtomery Pie,
(Mrs. Cole's Recipes, c. 1837--reprinted in The Williamsburg Art of Cookery, Helen
Bullock [Colonial
Williamsburg:Williamsburg VA] 1937 (p. 127)
Sweet potatoes are "New World" foods, pie is an "Old World" recipe. Creamy recipes combining
orange vegetables with sweeteners, spice and cream were known in Medieval Europe. Carrots
were sometimes employed in this manner in England. Sweet
potatoes (like pumpkins) were introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Food historians tell
us these new vegetables were greatly prized by some European kings and queens.
---The Potato: How the Humble Spud Rescued the Western World, Larry Zuckerman
[North Point
Press:New York] 1998 (p. 9)
---Biscuits, Spoonbread, and Sweet Potato Pie, Bill Neal [Alfred A. Knopf:New
York] 1996 (p. 268)
During the late 19th/early 20th century marshmallows were very trendy. Mass-manufactured,
plentiful and
inexpensive, they were agressively promoted by food companies. Campfire Brand is one of the oldest. Marshmallows were incorporated into cakes, pies, gelatin desserts, hot chocolate, candies, and
the like.
Marshmallows were promoted as a moden whipped cream substitute. About marshmallows. The earliest recipes we find
combining sweet
potatoes (& to a lesser extent, yams) with marshmallows date to the 1920s.
According to
these recipes, marshmallows were layered casserole-style or placed on top of the finished dish for decoration. Candied yams
were sometimes served with marshmallows.
Coincidentally, many signature dishes of the 1920s were exceptionally sweet. Some food historians hypothesize this was a tasteful
reaction to Prohibition.
[1921]
"I sometimes serve sweet potatoes in this way: Pare and boil medium-sized sweet potatoes until tender and remove and place in a
pan in this way: One layer of the sweet potatoes, sliced; a little sugar sprinkled over the slices, a thin layer of marshmallows
cut into small pieces, and then another layer of the sliced sweet potatoes--and so repeat the order of these layers till the dish
is full; finish with the marshmallow layer. Set the dish in the oven and let bake until the marshmallows melt and are brown on
top."
---"Efficient Housekeeping," Laura A. Kipkman, Los Angeles Times, June 23, 1921 (p. II8)
"Sweet Potatoes and Marshmallows
Three cupfuls freshly boiled sweet potaotes mashed, one-half cupful sugar, one-quarter cupful butter, one cupful chopped pecans,
add raisins if desired or any other combination of nuts or raisins or either alone. Place whole marshmallows on top and bake."
---"Chef Wyman's Suggestions for Tomorrow's Menu," Los Angeles Times, March 4, 1927 (p. A5)
The earliest references we find to potato pie in English cookbooks were printed in the 18th
Century. There bear striking resemblance in both ingredients and method to pompion (pumpkin)
pies of the 17th century. About pumpkin pie.
Early potato pie recipes are included with savory/vegetable dishes; 19th century recipes are
grouped with desserts. Culinary evidence reveals a variety of different ways for making these pies.
Did the early cooks use "sweet potatoes" or were white potatoes that were sweetened? It's
difficult to determine from the primary evidence.
[1747]
"Potato-Cakes.
Take the Potatoes boil them, peel them, beat them in a Mortar, mix them with Yolks of Eggs, a
little Sack, Sugar, a little beaten Mace, a little Nutmeg, a little Cream, or melted Butter, work it
up into a Paste, then make it into Cakes, or just what Shapes you please with Moulds, fry them
brown in fresh Butter, lay them in Plates or Dishes, melt Butter with Sack and Sugar, and pour
over them."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile reprint 1747
edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 98)
[NOTES: Although the type of potatoes is not specified (white, sweet), the recipe is strikingly
similar to that of modern-day sweet potato pie. Many 18th century English and American
puddings were baked in pie crust. "Sack" is a type of sweet wine.]
"A Potato Pye.
Having made your Crust, lay a Layer of Butter in the Bottom, and having boiled your Potatoes
tender, lay them in, and upon them may Marrow, Yoks of hard Eggs, whole Spice, blanched
Almonds, Dates, Pistachoes, Orange, lemon, and Citron -peel candy'd; then lay in a Layer of
Butter over all, close up your Pye, bake it; and when it comes out of the Oven, cut up the Lid, and
pour in melted Butter, Sutagr, Wine, and the Yolks of Eggs."
---The Lady's Companion, Sixth Edition, Volume II [J. Hodges:London] 1753 (p. 161)
"Potatoe Pudding.
Take two pounds of potatoes, boil them, peel them, bruise them fine, and rub them through a
sieve with the back of a wooden spoon, mix them with half a pound of fine sugar, a pound of
fresh butter melted, a glass of sack or brandy, half a nutmeg grated, a little lemon peel shred fine,
and beat up six eggs well and put in; mix all the ingredients well together, and put in half a pound
of currants clean washed and picked; dip your cloth into boiling water, put in the pudding, tie it
close, and boil it one hour; when it is done turn it into the dish, pour melted butter, sack and sugar
mixed over it, and send it to table hot. You may leave out the currants if you please.
Boil two pounds of white potatoes, peel them, and bruise them find in a mortar, with half a pound
of melted butter and the yolks of four eggs; to it into a cloth, and boil it half an hour; then turn it
into the dish, pour melted butter, with a glass of sweet wine and the juice of a Seville orange
mixed over it, and strew powder sugar over all.
Take about two pounds of yam, pare it, boil it till it is tender, mash it, and rub it through a sieve;
beat up the yolks of eight and the whites of four eggs, with a half pint to cream, half a pound of
melted butter, and same quantitiy of sugar, a gill of sack, a small glass of brandy, a little grated
nutmeg and ginger, a tea-spoonful of salt, a spoonful of orange flower or rose water, put in the
yam, and mix all well together; either put it in a cloth, and boil it one hour, or lay a puff-paste
round the edge of the dish, pour it in, and bake it three quarters of an hour. You may put in half a
pound of currants well washed and picked."
---The New Art of Cookery According to the Present Practice, Richard Briggs [W.
Spotswood, R. Campbell and B. Johnson:Philadelphia] 1792 (p. 328-330)
"Sweet potato pudding.
A quarter of a pound of boiled sweet potato.
Three eggs.
A quarter of a pound of powerered white sugar.
A quarter of a pound of fresh butter.
A glass of mixed wine and brandy.
A half-glass of rose-water.
A tea-spoonful of mixed spice, nutmeg, mace and cinnamon.
Pound the spices, allowing a smaller proportion of mace than of nutmeg and cinnamon. Boil and
peel some sweet potatoes, and when they are cold, weigh a quarter of a pound. Mash the sweet
potato very smooth, and rub it through a siever. Stir the sugar and butter to a cream. Beat the
eggs very light, and stir them into the butter and sugar, alternately with the sweet potato. Add by
degrees the liquor, rose-water and spice. Stir all very hard together. Spread puff-paste on a
soup-plate. Put in the mixture, and bake it about half an hour in a moderate oven. Grate sugar
over
it."
---Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats, By a Lady of Philadephia
(Eliza Leslie), facsimile reprint of 1828 edition, Boston:Munroe and Francis [Applewood
Books:Chester CT] (p. 21)
"Sweet potato pie.
Peel your potatoes, wash them clean, slice and stew them in a very little water till quite soft, and
nearly dry; then mash them fine, season them with butter, sugar, cream, nutmeg and cinnamon,
and when cold, add four beaten eggs, and press the pulp through a sieve. Roll out plain or
standing paste as for other pies, put a sheet of it over a large buttered patty-pan, or deep plate,
put in smoothly a thick layer of the potato pulp, and bake it in a moderate oven. Grate loaf sugar
over it when done, and send it to table warm or cold, with cream sauce or boiled custard."
---Kentucky Housewife, Lettice Bryan, facsimile reprint 1839 edition [Image
Graphics:Paducah KY] (p. 268)
"Sweet Potato Pudding.
1 lb parboiled potatoes.
1/2 cup of butter.
3/4 cup cup of white sugar.
1 tablespoonful of cinnamon.
4 eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately.
1 teaspoonful of nutmeg.
1 lemon, juice and grated rind.
1 glass brandy.
Let the potatoes get entirely cold, and grate them. Cream the butter and sugar; add the yolks,
spice and lemon. Beat the potato in by degrees, to a light paste; then the brandy, lastly the whites.
Bake in a buttered dish, and eat cold."
---The Dinner Year-Book, Marion Harland [Charles Scribner's Sons:New York] 1878 (p.
164)
"Sweet potatoes may be baked or boiled, The are better baked. Cold sweet potatoes may be
cut in slices, warmed in milk, and seasoned with butter and salt, or browned in butter.
A Southern Dish...Cut cold baked sweet potatoes into quarter-inch slices, and put them in an
earthen dish. Spread each layer with butter, and prinkle slightly with sugar, and bake until hot and
slighlty browned. Sweet potatoes are much richer when twice cooked."
---Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln, facsimile 1884 edition [Dover
Publications:Mineola NY] 1996 (p. 296)
"Sweet potato pie. Boil the potatoes and peel them, rub throguh a colandar, and to every pint
of potatoes take a cupful of rich milk or cream, four eggs beaten separately. Cream a cup of
butter and one of sugar together, add the yolks to the sugar and butter and beat well, then stir in
the poatoes and beat again. Season with grated nutmeg and a wineglass of brandy. Then gently
stir in the beaten whites of the eggs. Line deep pie plates with puff pastry and fill with this
mixture; put into the range and bake. This must have no top crust."
---Warm Springs Receipt Book, E.T. Glover [B.F. Johnson Publishing Co.:Richmond VA]
1897 (p. 248)
"Sweet Potato Pie.
1 cup mashed sweet potato
1/2 cup sugar
yolks of 2 eggs
2 cups rich milk
salt
Mix all with beaten yolks of eggs, bake slowly, flavor meringue of whites of eggs with
vanilla."
---The Laurel Health Cookery, Evora Bucknum Perkins [Laurel Publishing
Company:Melrose MA] 1911 (p. 365)
"Sweet Potato Custard
Boil, peel, and mash through a sieve sweet potatoes, adding a little milk or water to make them press through easily. Take
1 quart of this sweet potato
1 quart sweet milk
1 pint granulated sugar
8 eggs, yolks only, well beaten
an mix well together. Flavor with essence of lemon or lemon rind, and a good pinch of powdered mace. Add a pinch of salt. Beat the
whites of the eggs to a stiff froth, and add one-third to the batter. Bake in pans lined with rich pastry. The custard could not
be more than three-fourths of an inch deep. When done, cover with meringue made of the remaining whites well beaten with five
tablespoonfuls of pulverized sugar, and flavored with vanilla. Set in a warm oven until the meringue is set and colored a
good cream color. Eat when quite cold."
---Old Southern Receipt, Mary D. Pretlow [Robert M. McBride:New York] 1930 (p. 139)
Although both yams and sweet potatoes edible starchy tubers, they evolved from two totally
different plant species. True yams are Old World (there is one varietal exception) and sweet
potatoes are New World (Peru). The confusion between these two is said to be attributed to
linguistics. When Europeans introduced the sweet potato to Africa, (already familiar with yams),
native cooks gave this similar-looking vegetable the same name.
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas
[Cambridge University:Cambrdige] 2000, Volume One(p. 207)
[NOTE: This source contains several pages describing the origin, history and dispersal of both
foods and an extensive bibliography for further study.]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
775)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 318)
---The Virginia House-Wife, Mary Randoph, with Historical Notes and Commentaries by
Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1984 (p. 284-5)
[NOTE: The above are Ms. Hess' commentaries.]
---On Food and Cooking: The Science an Lore of the Kitchen, Harold McGee [Simon & Schuster:New York] revised edition 2004 (p. 304)
"Yams existed at least as far back as the beginning of the Jurassic era, when dinosaurs had not yet
been succeeded by mammals and S. America and Asia were still joined. After the continents
separated at the end of the Cretaceous era, the evolution of American yams proceeded separately,
but they are still not much different from their Old World relatives. The differences between Asian
and African yams, which were separated only in historic times by the drying up of the intervening
land, Arabia, are also slight...Even within the main cultivated species, yams vary to a remarkable
extent in size, shape, and colour...The origin of the word yam'...story goes the Portuguese slave
traders, watching Africans digging up some roots, asked what they were called. Failing to
understand the question aright, the Africans replied that is was something to eat', "nyami" in
Guinea. This became "inhame" in Portuguese and then "igname" in French and "yam" in
English."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 856)
---The Africa Cookbook: Tastes of a Continent, Jessica B. Harris [Simon & Schuster:New
York] 1998 (p. 6)
---Nectar and Ambrosia: an encyclopedia of food in world mythology, Tamra Andrews
[ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara] 2000 (p. 250)
"Sweet potato...the most important of the tropical root crops, is the starch tuber of a vine of the
concolcus and morning glory family. It is not related to the ordinary potato, although both plants
are of American origin. The sweet potato is the cultivated descendant of a wild plant, the remais
of whose tubers have been found in a cave in Peru inhabited before 8000BC. It was taken into
cultuvation during the last centuries BC, well before th etime of the Incas, and became a staple
food all over tropical America as far north as Mexico and on the Caribbean islands. It is likely that
it was during the 13thc century AD that the sweet potato was taken westward to Easter Island
and Hawaii, and in the next century to New Zealand...The first European to taste sweet potatoes
were members of Columbus' expedition to Haiti, in 1492...Early accounts give various local
names, aji, camote, apichu, and others; but the name which stuck was the first known Haitian one,
batata...Native American sweet potatoes in use at that time were not all sweet. Some were plainly
starchy and others markedly fibrous...But the European explorers were interested only in the
sweet kinds, and it is these which have been spread by European influence while the others have
largely died out...The sweet potato was cultivated in the south of Spain from the early 16th
century, and proved a popular novelty...On the North American mainland sweet potatoes had long
been grown by the Indians in Louisiana, where de Soto found them in 1540, and as far north as
Georgia. By 1648 the colonists in Virginia were cultivating them. The sweet potato was especially
valued during the war against the British and the Civil War, for it grows quickly and its
underground habit makes it less vulnerable than surface crops to deliberate destruction."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
774-5)
---Dining with William Shakespeare, Madge Lorwin [Atheneum:New York] 1976 (p. 41)
"..when lovesick Falstaff greeted Mistress Ford with 'let the sky rain potatoes in Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor (1598) he was referring to sweet
potatoes--and appealing to their aprhodesiac effect."
---A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2000 (p. 331)
[NOTE: Harvard Shakespeare Concordance confirms the use of the word 'potato' in Act 5, Scene 5, Line 19. The Riverside Shakespeare
[Houghton Mifflin:1974] note 19 states: "Potatoes--sweet potatoes (which were thought to stimulate sexuality.)]
"To Make a Tart That Is Courage To A Man Or Woman
Sweet potatoes in North America
Take two quinces and two or three bur [burdock] roots, and a potato, and pare your potato and scrape your roots, and put them into a quart of wine. Let them boil till they
be tender. And put in an ounce of dates. When they be boiled tender draw them through a strainer, wine and all, and then put in the yolks of eight eggs, and the brains of
three or four cock sparrows, and strain them into the other, and a little rose water. Seethe them all with sugar, cinnamon and ginger, cloves and mace. Put in a little sweet
butter, and set it upon a chafing dish of coals between two platters. And so let it boil till it be something big."
---The Good Housewife's Jewel, Thomas Dawson, with an introduction by Maggie Black [Southover Press:East Sussex]
1996 (p. 135)
Like their white potato [Virginia] cousins, sweet potatoes were introduced to North America via Europe.
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 318-9)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 520)
Food historians tell us tarts were introduced in Medieval times. Like pies, they could be savoury
or sweet. Generally, the difference between a tart and a pie is the former does not contain a top
crust. This made tarts a popular choice for cooks who wanted to present colorful dishes.
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
785)
---An A to Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
338)
La Varenne's Cuisiner Francaise [1651] contains several savory and sweet tarts. Samples
here:
[1651]
"Tourte of peares
Pare your peares, and cut them very thin. Seeth them with water and sugar; after they are well
sod, put in a little of some very fresh butter, beat all together and put it in your sheet of paste very
thin. Bind it, if you will, and bake it; when it is baked, besprinkle it with water of flowers, sugar it,
and serve."
---The French Cook, Francois Pierre, La Varenne, Englished by I.D.G. 1653, Introduced
by Philp and Mary Hyman [Southover Press:East Sussex] 2001 (p. 200)
[NOTE: This book also offers recipes for tourte/tarts of cream, apples, massepin (Marzipan),
almonds, pumpkin, melon, spinach, pishachios, butter, frogs, crawfisnh, carp, liver, and new
oysters.]
Savory (meat, vegetables) and sweet (fruit, cheese, custard, jam), dozens of recipes are offered to
cooks in this period. Note: some have "lids" (top crusts); others do not.
[1747]
"To made different Sorts of tarts
If you bake in tin Patties, butter them, and you must put a little Crust all over, because of the
taking them out: If in China, or Glass, no Crust but the top one. Lay fine Sugar at the Bottom,
then your Plumbs, Cherries, or any other Sort of Fruit, and Sugar at Top; then put on your Lid,
and bake tem in a slack Oven. Mince-pies must be baked in Tin patties; because of taking them
out, and Puff-paste is best for them. All Sweet Tarts the beaten Crust if best; but as you fancy.
You have the Receipt for the Crusts in this Chapter. Apple, Pear, Apricock, &c. Make thus:
Apples and Pears, pare them, cut them in Quarters, and core them; cut the Quarters a-cross again,
set them on in a Sauce-pan with just as much Water as will barely cover them, let them simmer on
a slow Fire just till the Fruit is tender; put a good Piece of Lemon-peel in the Water with the Fruit,
then have your Patties ready. Lay fine Sugar at Bottom, then your Fruit, and a little Sugar at Top;
that you must put in at your Discretion. Pour over each Tart a Tea Spponful of Lemon-juice, and
three Tea Spoonfuls of the Liquor they were boiled in; put on your Lid, and bake them in a slack
Oven. Apricocks do the same Way; only don't use Lemon. As to Preserved Tarts, only lay in your
preserved Fruit, and put a very thin Crust at Top, and let them be baked as little as possible; but if
you would make them mice, have a large patty, the Size you would have your Tart. Make your
Sugar-Crust, roll it as thick as a Halfpenny; then buter your Patties, and cover it; shape your
Upper-crust on a hollow Tin of purpose, the Size of your Patty, and mark it with a Marking-iron
for that purpose, in what Shape you please, to be hollow and open to see the Fruit through; then
bake your Crust in a very slack Oven, not to discolour it, but to have it crisp. When the Crust is
cold, very carefully take it out, and fill it with what Fruit you please, ay on the Lid, and it is done;
therefore if the Tart is not eat, your Sweet-meat is not the sorse, and it looks genteel."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 reprint
[Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 75)
"To make Orange or Lemon Tarts.
Take six large lemons, and rub them very well with salt, and put them in water for two days, with
a handful of salt in it; then change them into fresh water without salt every other day for a
fortnight; then boil them for two to three hours till they are tender; then cut them in half quarters,
and then cut them...as thin as you can; then take pippins pared, cored and quartered, and a pint of
fair water, and let them boil till the pippins break; put the liquor to your orange or lemon, half the
pippins well broken, and a pound of sugar; boil these together a quarter of an hour; then put it in a
gallipot, and squeeze and orange in it if it be lemon, or a lemon if it is orange; two spoonfuls are
enough for a tart; your pattipans must be small and shallow; put fine puff-paste, and very thin; a
little while will bake it. Just as your tarts are going into the oven, whith a feather or brush do them
over with melted butter, and then sift double refin'd sugar on them, and this is a pretty icing on
them."
---The Compleat Housewife: Or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion, E Smith,
facsimile reprint 15th edition 1753 [Literary Services and Production:London] 1968 (p. 153-4)
These were very similar to European fare. Sample recipes:
18th century
"[To Make] a Codling Tarte Eyther to Looke Clear or Greene
First coddle [the] apples in fair water, [then] take halfe the weight in sugar & make as much
syrrop as will cover the bottom of your preserving pan, & the rest of the suger keep to throw on
them as they boyle, which must be very softly' & you must turne them often least they burne too.
Then put them in a thin tart crust, & give them with theyr syrrup halfe an hours baking; or if you
pleas, you may serve them up in a handsome dish, only garnished with suger & cinnamon. If you
would have your apples looke green, coddle them in faire water, the pile them, & put them into
the water againe, & cover them very close. Then lay them in your coffins of paste with lofe suger,
& bake them not to hard. When you serve them up, put in with a tunnell to as many of them as
you please, a little thick sweet cream."
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery and Booke of Sweetmeats, Transcribed by
Karen Hess [Columbia University Press:New York] 1995 (p. 95-6)
[NOTE: Ms. Hess adds "Tarte comes unchanged form Old French.A tart differed from a pie in
that it was baked open, a distinction that did not always hold true, however. A more important
difference lay in the choice of paste; in principle, a tart was made of thinly rolled fine rich paste
that could not be raised, as coffins were.]
Take oringes, pare them not too thin. Lay them in watter 2 days shifing them often in a day, for 2
days and one night, Civell orenges so pyle them in a suger and Lay them in patty pans making the
Crust of puff past, sprinkell suger on every Row, Laying not too much watter, but as they
presarve them, for the syrup that is Left you may put it in the pyes and use Less suger--"
---Penn Family Recipes: Cooking Recipes of Willaim Penn's Wife, Gulielma, Edited by
Evelyn Abraham Benson [George Schumway:York PA] 1966 (p. 130)
[NOTE "Civell" are oranges from Seville, Spain].
"Apple Tarts.
Stew and strain the apples, add cinnamon, rose-water, wine and sugar to your taste, lay in paste,
No. 3. Squeeze theron orange juice--bake gently."
---American Cookery, Amelia Simmons, facsimile reprint of the second edition printed in
Albany, 1796, with an introduction by Karen Hess [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] 1996 (p. 28)
[NOTE: This book also contains a recipe for Orange or Lemon Tart and Gooseberry Tart.]
"The Romans introduced new economic plants. The had already developed several apple varieties,
with fruits smaller than those of today but larger and sweeter than those borne by Britain's
indigenous wild crabs...Their apple varieties included types for good keeping, and villa owers
stored them spread out in rows in a dry, well-ventilated loft...Apples were sliced into two or three
pieces with a redd or bone knife (since metal stained the fruit), and were put to lie in the
sun."
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 325-6)
"The first Englishmen to enjoy oranges, lemons...were probably the crusaders who wintered with
Richard Coeur-de-Lion in the fruit groves around Jaffa in 1191-2. About a hundred years later
citrus fruits had begun to arrive in England itself. Fifteen lemons and seven oranges, together with
two hundred and thirty pomegranates and some dried fruits were brougth from a Spanish ship at
Portsmouth in 1289 for Queen Eleanor...The Southern fruits were very expensive at that
time...The oranges that reached England in those days were always bitter, of the type of the
Seville orange. From the end of fourteenth century the consignments became more frequent,
coming in from Spain or Portugal, or on the Italian spice ships. Not only were citrus fruits
themselves imported, but also confectionery made from them."
---Food and Drink in Britain: From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago:Chicago] 1991 (p. 332-3)
---Food and Feast in Medieval England, P.W. Hammond [Wren's Press:Gloucestershire]
1998 (p. 11)
---Food and Feast in Tudor England, Alison Sim [Sutton Publishing:Gloucestershire] 1997
(p. 11)
Baked pears (in syrup/wine/spices) were recorded in Anient Roman texts. They were also quite
popular in Medieval Europe. Sample recipe here.
"To make a Warden or a Pear Tart quartered.
Take twenty good wardens, pare them, and cut them in a tart, and put to them two pound of
refined sugar, twenty whole cloves, a quarter of an ounce of cinnamon broke into little bits,
and three races of ginger pared and slic't thin; then close up the tart and bake it, it will ask
five hours baking, then ice it with a quarter of a pound of double refined sugar, rose water,
and butter."
---The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facsimile reprint of 1685 edition [Prospect
Books:Devon] 2000 (P. 244)
"An orange pudding.
Boil the rind of a Seville orange very soft, beat it in a marble mortar with the juice. Put ot it two
Naples biscuits grated very fine, half a pound of butter, a quarter of a pound of sugar, and the
yolks of six eggs. Mix them well together, lay a good puff paste round the edge of your china
dish, bake in a gentle oven half an hour. You may make a lemon pudding the same way but
putting in a lemon instead of the orange."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, facsimile 1769 edition with
an introduction by Roy Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1997 (p. 82)
Arguably, the most famous of all French tarts! Happy accident or stroke of genius? You decide...
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 785)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001
(p. 1198)
[NOTE: The original Larousse Gastronomique (1938) contains information on apple tarts but
does not make reference to Tarte Tatin.]
---"One Great Dish," Roy Andres de Groot, Washington Post, October 14, 1979 (p. K1)
From pioneer times through WWII, vinegar was a handy substitute for lemons. Why? It was inexpensive, domestically
made & easily transported. It provided the tangy zing our fore-mothers hoped to replicate in their baked goods. Most notably pies.
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p.
340-1)
---The Pioneer Cook: A Historical View of Canadian Prairie Food, B. Barss [Detselig Enterprises:Calgary Alberta] 1980 (p. 111)
While food historians confirm Vinegar Pie originated in the American midwest, they are curiously silent about Vinegar Pie
Crust. It is possible the two are connected. Crisco is sometimes cited as an ingredient. We do not, however, find the recipe in
Crisco's cooking brochures. It is unlikely this was a "corporate kitchen" product.
"Vinegar Pastry
A MIDWEST CONNECTION:
4 cups sifted flour
1 tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups lard or solid shortening
1 egg, well beaten
1 tbsp. vinegar
1/2 cup cold water
Blend flour, sugar and salt. Cut in lard until particles are the size of small peas. Combine egg, vinegar and water. Sprinkle
over flour mixture, a tablespoonful at a time, mixing in with a fork. Form dough into a ball, divide and roll out as usual. Makes
two 9-in. crust pies and a pie shell or five 9-in. pie shells."
---"No Shortening Cuts in Fine Pastry," Dorothy White, Los Angeles Times, February 15, 1968 (p. F20)
---"Midwestern Big 'Apple'," William Rice, Washington Post, September 9, 1976 (p. F2)
[NOTE: the recipe in this article is identical to the once cited above.]
About these notes: Food history can be a complicated topic. These notes are not meant
to be a
comprehensive treatment of the subject, but a summary of salient points supported with culinary
evidence. If you
need more information we suggest you start by asking your librarian to help you find the books
and articles cited in these notes. Article databases are good for locating current recipes, consumer
trends, and new products.
Have questions? Ask!
Research conducted by Lynne
Olver, editor The Food
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