Have questions? Ask!
Have questions? Ask!
ABOUT CHARLOTTE
"A pudding made in a mould with sponge fingers or bread slices. There are two principal kinds:
baked and unbaked. The best-known baked charlotte is Apple charlotte...It seems clear that this
charlotte began life in Britain. The OED [Oxford English Dictionary] gives the earliest relevant
appearance of 'charlotte' in print as 1796, and at least one recipe for Apple charlotte was
published within ten years or so. The name may have been bestowed in honour of Queen
Charlotte (1744-1818), wife of George III, said to be a patron of apple growers...The principal
unbaked charlotte is Charlotte (a la) Russe. Here the mould is lined with sponge fingers. In some
fancy versions, these are omitted from the bottom, which is covered with a decorative
arrangement of glace fruit with a layer of jelly cementing it into a mosaic. The mould is filled up
with a rich cream filling containing gelatin, so that it sets and can be turned out...The history of
this item seems to have begin with the famous French chef Careme, at the beginning of the 19th
century, probably when he was working for the Prince Regent in England, and perhaps after he
had come across the British baked charlotte. In fact he called his invention Charlotte a la
parisienne; it is said to have acquired the name russe at a banquet in honour of Tsar Alexander I,
or because of the switch in France to service a la Russe. Claudine Brecourt-Villars...dates the
appearance of the term charlotte in a French recipe book to 1806..."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
157)
"The charlotte is a hot pudding consisting of fruit, typically apple, baked within a case of bread,
sponge cake, etc., in a characteristically deep round mould. It first appears on the scene at the end
of the eighteenth century (in a poem called Hasty Pudding by J. Barlow: "The Charlotte
brown, within whose crusty sides a belly soft the pulpy apple hides'), wife of George III, who
apparently was an enthusiastic patron of apple growers. The coincidence of names is probably
fortuitous, but what is certain is that as early as the first decade of the nineteenth century recipes
for the dish had begun to appear; this from M.E. Rundell, A New System of Domestic
Cookery (1807): Cut as many very thin slices of white bread as will cover the bottom and
line the sides of the baking dish, but first rub it thick with butter. Put apples, in thin slices, into the
dish.'
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2003 (p.
66)
How were the first Charlottes made?
[1807]CHARLOTTE RUSSE
"A Charlotte," A New System of Cookery, Maria Rundell[1824]
"Charlotte.
Stew any kind of fruit, and season it in any way you like best; fry some soices of bread in butter, put them, while hot, in the bottom and round the sides of a dish which has been rubbed with butter, put in your fruit, and lay slices of bread on the top; bake it a few minutes, turn it carefully into another dish, sprinkle on some powdered sugar, and glaze it with a salamander."
---The Virginia House-wife, Mary Randolph, facsimile reprint of 1848 edition with Historical Notes and Commentaries by Karen Hess [University of South Carolina Press:Columbia] 1984 (p. 155)
"The apple charlotte has on the whole remained a British dish, but the charlotte has achieved
wider renown in the shape of the charlotte russe, literally Russian charlotte', a cold pudding in
which custard replaces the fruit. It was supposedly invented by the French chef Antonin Careme
in 1802, who, so the story goes, initially named it charlotte a la parisienne, but later changed it to
charlotte russe in honour of his employer, Czar Alexander of Russia."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2003 (p.
66)
"Charlotte russe. A French dessert (supposedly created by Marie-Antonin Careme) made in mold
with ladyfingers and Bavarian cream...While this confection is known and made in the United
States, a simple version consisting of a square of sponge cake topped with whipped cream
(sometimes with chocolate sprinkles) and a maraschino cherry was also called a "charlotte russe,"
a variation of which appeared in Lafcadio Hearn's La Cuisine Creole (1885). This was a
standard item in eastern cities, particularly among urban Jewish Americans (some of whom
pronounce the item "charely roose" or "charlotte roosh"), who made it at home or bought it at a
pastry shop, where it was set on a frilled cardboard holder whose center would be pushed up as to
reveal more cake as the whipped cream was consumed."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 64)
CHARLEY ROOSE/BROOKLYN NY
"Growing up in Brownsville, Brooklyn, you got a charlotte russe at the corner candy store where
everyone hung out until a certain age. They were seasonal, arrayed in a glass container on the
counter, regarded as a special treat. They were spongecake wrapped with stiff cardboard and
whipped cream on top. There were two kinds of bakeries--bakeries that did their own baking
pastries and cakes and commissioned bakeries that got their stuff from other bakeries...Norman
Podhoretz, editor of Commentary Magazine...Although charlotte russe was by no means
Jewish--it was popular a popular Victorian dessert--it became a winter fixture in city
neighborhoods."
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 322)
"The classic French dessert called charlotte russe is an elegant mold of ladyfingers, filled iwth
flavored Bavarian cream. But to old-time Brooklynites, a charlotte russe was a round of sponge
cake topped with sweetened whipped cream, chocolate sprinkles, and sometimes a marashcino
cherry, surrounded by a frilled cardboard holder with a round of cardboard on the bottom. As the
cream went down, you pushed the cardboard up from the bottom, so you could eat the
cake...these were Brooklyn ambrosia."
---The Brooklyn Cookbook, Lyn Stallworth and Rod Kennedy, Jr. [Alfred A. Knopf:New
York] 1994 (p. 386)
[NOTE: this book contains memories and a recipe.]
A SAMPLER OF CHARLOTTE RUSSE RECIPES THROUGH TIME
[1845]
"A Charlotte a la Parisienne.
This dish is sometimes called in England a Vienna cake; and it is known here also, we believe, as a Gateaux de Bordeax. Cut horizontally into half-inch slices a savoy or sponge cake, and cover each slice with a different kind of preserve; replace them in their original form, and spread equally over the cake an icing made with whites of three eggs, and four ounces of the finest pounded sugar; sift more sugar over it in every part, and put it into a very gentle oven to dry. The eggs should be whisked to snow before they are used. One kind of preserve, instead of several, can be used for this dish; and a rice or a pound cake may supply the place of the Savoy or sponge biscuit."
---Modern Cookery for Private Families, Eliza Acton, facsimile 1845 reprint with an introduction by Elizabeth Ray [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1993 (p. 405-6)[1846]
"An Easy Receipt for a Charlotte Russe.
Trim straightly about six ounces of savoy biscuits, so that they may fit closely to each other; line the bottom and sides of a plain mould with them, then fill it with a fine cream made in the following manner: put into a stewpan three ounces of ratafias, six of sugar, the grated rind of half and orange, the same quantity of the rind of a lemon, a small piece of cinnamon, a wine-glass full of good maraschino, a fine noyeau, one pint of cream, and the well beaten yolks of six eggs; stir this mixture for a few minutes over a stove fire, and then strain it, and add half a pint more cream, whipped, and one ounce of dissolved insinglass. Mix the whole well together, and set it in a basin imbedded in rough ice; when it has reamied a short time in the ice fill the mould with it, and then place the mould in ice, or in a cool place, till ready to serve."
---The Jewish Manual or Practical Information in Jewish & Modern Cookery With a Collection of Valuable Recipes & Hints Relating to the Toilette, Edited by A Lady, facsimile of the first Jewish Cookbook in English published in 1846, introduction by Chaim Raphael [Nightingale Books:Cold Spring NY] 1983 (p. 189-190)[1869]
"Apricot Charlotte Russe.
Line a plain mould with some finger biscuits, and put it in the ice; Make 1 pint of Apricot Puree; put it in a basin, and add 3/4 lb. Of ounded sugar and 1 oz. of gelatine, previously dissolved in 1 gill of water; put the basin on the ice, and work the contents with a spoon until the puree begins to freeze; then add 1 quart of well-whipped cream; mix, and fill the mould with the apricot cream, and cover it with a bkaing-sheet with some ice on the top; let it remain in the ice for an hour; then turn the Charlotte out of the mould on to a napkin on a dish; and serve."
---The Royal Cookery Book, Jules Gouffe, tranlsated from the French and adapted for English use by Alphonse Gouffe [Sampson Low, Son, and Marston:London] Second edition, 1869 (p. 542)
[NOTE: This book also includes recipes for Coffee Charlotte Russe and Burnt Almond Charlotte Russe.][1875?]
"Charlotte Russe.
Line a plain round mould with finger biscuits, carefully put them close together, and form a round or star at the bottom of the mould. Take a pint of cream and whisk it well with a little sugar and half an ounce of gelatine dissolved in a little water. Mix with it half a pint of apple, apricot, strawberry, or any other jam, and set it to freeze. Cover it with a piece of Savoy cake the shape of the mould, and be careful to fit it exactly, so that when it is turned out it will not be likely to break. Let it rmain in the ice until it is sufficiently frozen. Turn out and serve. If fruit is not at hand the cream may be flavoured with coffee, burnt almond, vanilla, &c. Time to freeze, about an hour. Probably cost, 4s. Sufficient for a quart mould."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter, Galpin & Co:London] (p. 116)[1885]
"Charlotte Russe in various ways.
There are many varieties of the Charlotte. They are always similarly made, that is with sponge cake or lady fingers, and whipped cream, custard of blancmange. One way is to beat the whites of three eggs to a high froth, with a quarter of a pound of sugar, and a half a pint of cream, until it is quite thick and light; flavor this to your taste with lemon or vanilla, and pour it into a cake-lined mould; place some of the sliced cake or lady fingers on top of the mould and over the cream; set it on ice, and when wanted turn it on a dish and serve. Or, having lined a basin or mould, or small tin cups with any convenient cake, such as lady fingers, sliced savoy cake, or yellow lady cake, fill them with mock cream, blanc-mange or custard, made from the yolks of eggs; let them become cold, then turn them out and serve.""Plain Charlotte Russe.
Boil one ounce of isinglass in a pint of water until reduced one-half. While it is boiling, make a custard of one-half pint of milk, yolks of four eggs, and one-fourth of a pound of sugar; flavor this with vanilla or lemon. Take a quart of cream, whip it up to a fine froth, and when the isinglass is nearly cold, so that it will not curdle wth cream, stir it and the cream into the custard. Beat all thoroughly and set it on ice. This is a nice, easy way to make this dish, and may be made very ornamental, if wanted so, by lining a glass dish with lady fingers, and then pouring in the cream and laying fine fancy sugar-drops on top. If you have no lady finger sponges, you can slice any light sponge cake, and lay it on the bottom and sides of the glass bowl."
---La Cuisine Creole, Lafcadio Hearn [F.F. Hansell & Bro:New Orleans] second edition 1885 (p. 166-7)[1896]
"Charlotte Russe
1/4 box gelatine or 1 1/4 tablespoons granulated gelatine.
1/4 cup cold water
1/3 cup scalded cream
1/3 cup powdered sugar
Whip form 3 1/2 cups thin cream
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
6 ladyfingers.
Soak gelatine in cold water, dissolve in scalded cream, strain into a bowl, and add sugar and vanilla. Set bowl in pan of ice water and stir constantly until it begins to thicken, then fold in whip from cream, adding one-third at a time. Should gelatine mixture become too thick, melt over hot water, and again cool before adding whip. Trim ends and sides of lady fingers, place around inside of a mould, crust side out, one-half inch apart. Turn in mixture, spread evenly, and chill. Serve on glass dish and garnish with cubes of Wine Jelly. Charlotte Russe is sometimes made in individual moulds; these are often garnished on top with some of mixture forced through a pastry bag and tube. Individual moulds are frequently lined with thin slices of sponge cake cut to fit moulds."
---Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer, facsimile first edition 1896 [Weathervane Books:New York] 1973 (p. 359-60)[1929]
"Charlottes.
Whenever the word "Charlotte" appears, the presence of whipped cream is implied, together with sponge cake or lady fingers to form a case or lining. Sometimes the mould is lined with lady fingers or strips of sponge cake and the centre consists of a Bavarian cream. In this case, the charlotte may be made several hours before serving. But if it is the ordinary type of Charlotte Russe the dish cannot stand long unless the whipped cream is stiffened by the addition of a little gelatine...[recipes provided for Charlotte Russe filling with and without gelatine, as well as chocolate, grape juice and coffee flavorings]..."Plain Charlotte Russe. Line sherbet cups with strips of sponge cake or halved lady fingers, sticking them into a little of the charlotte mixture. Full with the charlotte mixture, putting it in by means of a pastry tube and bag, and top with halves of candied cherries, whole nut meats, or candied violets."
---Mrs. Allen on Cooking Menus Services, Ida C. Bailey Allen [Doubleday, Doran & Company:Garden City NY] 1929 (p. 601-2)
[NOTE: recipes for Icebox Cakes in this book are prefaced with a note indicating they are adaptations of charlotte.][1936]
"Charlotte Russe.
Line large mold or line individual paper cases with Lady Fingers or strips of Sponge Cake...Fill with Cream Pudding...or Bavarian Cream Pudding...and chill. Remove from molds and garnish with whipped cream, candied fruit and nuts."
---The Settlement Cook Book, Mrs. Simon Kander [Settlement Cook Book Co.:Milwaukee WI], twenty-first edition enlarged and revised 1939 (p. 373)[1955]
"Charlotte Russe:
Line sherbet glasses with ladyfingers. In each, place mound of sweetened whipped cream; top with maraschino cherry. Serve at once. Or refrigerate; then serve."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh editor [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1955 (p. 381)[1958]
"Charlotte Russe.
1/3 cup extra-fine sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream, whipped stiff
16 split lady fingers (16 halves)
Fold the sugar and vanillla lightly but thoroughly into the cream. Place 4 lady finger halves upright against the sides of each of 4 sherbet glasses. Fill with the cream mixture and chill. This amount serves 4.
Charlotte Russe for Passover: Use 20 strips of Passover Sponge Cake cut into 1 X 2 X 1/2 inch pieces, in place of the lady fingers, in either variation of Charlotte Russe.
Chocolate Charlotte Russe: Mix 2 tablespoons cold black coffee, 1/4 cup of sugar, and 4 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate. Fold into the cream in place of the extra-fine sugar. For Passover, the vanilla may be omitted.
Strawberry Charlotte Russe: Combine 1 pint of sliced fresh strawberries with 1/2 cup sugar and 1 teaspoon lemon juice. Let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Fold into the whipped cream in place of the extra-fine sugar and vanilla."
---The Jewish Cook Boo, Mildred Grosberg Bellin [Tudor Publishing:New York] 1958-(p. 324)NOTE: The 20th century recipes cited above were selected to illustrate America's love for convenience. Recipes for classic' charlotte russe were also printed at this time.
Ancient fare? Not quite.
"Couscous is a North African staple as far east a Tripoli, and particularly in Morocco and Algeria,
where the
local name for it is sometimes identical to the word for food' in general. It is also widely known in
neighbouring African countries from Chad to Senegal and has footholds in
Europe...Syria-Palestine...and
somewhat surprisingly in Brazil, where it is made from maize...Algerian folklore has it that
cousous was
invented by the Djinn. Certainly its early history is obscure, but the evidence does not suggest that
it dates
from remote antiquity. In the 1940s, H. Peres published in the Bulletin des Etudes Arabs
a
compilation of the earliest literary mentions of couscous then known, and all were from the
fifteenth century
or later. The only citation that even claimed to be earlier was a fourteenth-century anecdote
related in the
seventeenth-century book Nafh al-Tib, which told how the mysterious illness of a North African
visitor to
Damascus was cured by making couscous for him. Since the forties we have become aware of
thirteenth-
and fourteenth-century Arabic cookery books which contain couscous recipes. But altogether, the
suspicious silence about couscous in sources from before the thirteenth century, coupled with the
evident
Berber origin of the Arabic word kishusu, suggest that couscous arose among the period between
the
eleventh-century collapse of the Zirid Kingdom and the trimumph of the Almohads in the
thirteenth. A
peculiaritiy of the way couscous is descrived in the thirteenth-century cookery books also argues
that it was
a relatively recent invention, if we see in it an explanation for how the unique process of creating
the
couscous granules originated...The simplest explanation for this that kuskusu was originally a
small noodle,
and the peculiar stirring technique a hasty was of making a noodle. Its unique lightness when
steamed, and
perhaps its resistance to staling, would have been discovered later."
---Medieval Arab Cookery, Maxime Rodinson, A. J. Arberry & Charles Perry [Prospect
Books:Devon]
2001 "Couscous and its Cousins," Charles Perry (p. 235-8)
"Couscous is a staple food in the Maghrib that requires very little in the way of utensils for its
preparation. It is an ideal food for both nomadic and agricultural peoples. The preparation of
couscous is one that symbolizes "happiness and abundance,"...One of the first written references
to couscous is in the anonymous thirteenth-century Hispano-Muslim cooker book "Kitab al-tabikh
fi al-Maghrib wa'l-Andalus...The fact that the name is given with the Arabic article "al" is a flag to
the linguist that the original couscous perparation probably was not an Arab dish, but a Berber
dish, because the Arabic words siksu, kuskus, and kuski, which all mean "couscous" do not take
the article...very early references to couscous show that either it is not unique to the Maghrib or it
spread with great rapidity to the Mashraq (the eastern Arab world)...Although the word
couscous might derive from the Arabic word kaskasa, to pound small," it is generally thought to
derive from one of the Berber dialects. It has also been suggested that the word derives from the
Arabic name for the perforated earthenware steamer pot used to steam the couscous, called a
kiskis...while another theory attributes the word couscous to the onomatopoeic--the sound of the
steam rising in the coucousiere, the most unlikely explanation."
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 659-660)
"The stirring and rolling process by which the couscous granules are formed amounts, it has been
suggested, to a way of preserving grain. Couscous is traditionally made from freshly ground
whole grain, which is much better suited to the purpose than bolted flour, because starch readily
accumulates around the larger and harder particles of bran and germ, much as a pearl forms
around a
grain of sand. The resulting granule is in effect a grain turned inside out, with the part of the flour
that can
deteriorate protected from the air by an envelope of starch. It can thus be kept without spoiling
from months
or years...The wide spread of couscous has been influenced also by economic and aesthetic
reasons...Couscous has continued to spread beyond the S. And E. Mediterranean. At some point
it entered
Sicilian cuisine...Couscous is now a common dish in France and increasingly elsewhere in Europe
and N.
America..."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 220)
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century, translated by Charles Perry
Most Americans associate cranberries with Thanksgiving. They are often classed as *New World* food. Not entirely true. Notes here:
"Cranberry...the most important of the berries bourne by a group of low, scrubby, woody plants of the genus Vaccinium. These
grow on moors and mountainsides, in bogs, andother places with poor and acid soil in most parts of the world, but are best
known in N. Europe and N. America...The generic name for Baccinium is the old Latin name from cranberry, derived from
vacco (cow) and given because cows like the plant...The origin of the name cranberry is obscure, apart from the dubious
suggestion that cranes eat the berries...The plants to which the name cranberry was originally given are two species which
occur in Europe as well as in other temperate parts of the world...When the Pilgrim Fathers arrived in N. America they found
a local cranberry, V. macrocarpon, which had berries twice the size of those familiar to Europeans, and an equally good
flavour. American Indians were accustomed to eating these fresh or dried, and adding the dried fruits as an ingredient in
Pemmican (a dried, preserved meat product)...It was no dobut these large American cranberries which, at an early stage
in the evolution of Thanksgiving Day dinner, were made into sauce to accompany the turkey, which became established as its
centrepiece."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 223)
"Cranberries grow in Britain, but in medieval times they went under a variety of names such as marsh-wort, fen-wort, and moss-berry. The
term cranberry did not appear until the late seventeenth century, in America. It was a partial translation of kranberry, literally
'craneberry,' brought across the Atlantic by German immigrants (the German word is an allusions to the plant's long
beaklike stamens). It was the Germans and Scandinavians, too, who probably popularized the notion of eating cranberries with meat
in the English-speaking world, which led to today's pairing of turkey with cranberry sauce."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 94)
"Cranberry...Of the same genus as the blueberry, the cranberry (Vaccinium macrocarpon) is a North American shrub that is
so named because its flower stamens resemble a beak--hence named "crane berry," a name...assigned to it by the early
European settlers in New England. The berries, which grew wild in New England, had long been used by Native Aemricans for
pemmican (dried and fat). The early European settlers found cranberries too tart to eat by themselves but made them into
pies, puddings, tarts, relishes, preserves, and cranberry sauce. Perhaps appropriately, it was in Massachusetts that commercial
cranberry production was begun in the 1840s..."
---Cambridge World History of Food, Kenneth F. Kiple and Kriemhild Conee Ornelas [Cambridge University Press:Cambridge] 2000
Volume Two (p. 1764)
"Cranberry...The Native Americans of New England, who called them sassamensesh or ibimi, long enjoyed cranberries, both raw
or sweetened with maple sugar...The first European settlers found the fruit similar to their lingonberry, but somewhat too tart
unless sweetened or made into a condiment. There is no hard evidence that the Pilgrims ate cranberries at the First Thanksgiving,
held in October of 1621, but it is a fair assumption that the Native Americans might have brought them to the feast at a time when
the cranberries were at their ripest in that region. The name "cranberry" was not English,...the settlers probably called the
berries "fenberries," after a fruit they knew at home. years later the Dutch introduced the word kranbeer...Others referred
to them as "bounce berries," because of their bouncy quality."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 104-5)
""As American as cranberry pie" makes much mores sense than the usual saying. Cranberries, after all, are native to America, and pies
or tarts made from them appear in colonial records as early as 1672. Before the middle of the nineteenth century, when
they began to be shipped to cities and larger towns, cranberries, like most fresh produce, were a local item eaten in the places
where they grew wild--in parts of New England, New Jersey, Oregon, Washington, and Wisconsin."
--- Giving Thanks: Thanksgiving Recipes and History, from Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie, Kathleen Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver, and
Plimoth Plantation [Clarkson Potter:New YOrk] 2005 (p. 184)
Cranberries in New Jersey, Massachusetts & Wisconsin.
Why do we eat cranberries with our Thanksgiving turkey?
Food historians tell us the practice of pairing of citrus fruits with fatty meat is thousands of years
old, likely originating in the Middle East. Examples are found in many cultures and cuisines. The
acid in the fruit cuts the fat in the meat, making the dish more enjoyable and digestible. Think:
pork & applesauce; goose & cherry sauce, fish & lemon, and duck a l'orange. In the case of lean meats such as
turkey and chicken, cranberries add flavor to what is generally considered a bland food.
A SURVEY OF EARLY AMERICAN CRANBERRY RECIPES
[1798] Cranberry tart,
American Cookery, Amelia Simmons
[1832] Cranberry pie &
Cranberry pudding,
Frugal Housewife, Lydia Maria Child
[1840] Cranberry sauce,
Directions for Cookery in its Various Branches, Eliza Leslie
[1845] Cranberry jelly,
Housekeeper's Assistant, Ann Allen
[1869] Cranberry preserves,
Domestic Cookery, Eliza Ellicott Lea
[1885] Cranberry sauce,
La Cuisine Creole, Lafcadio Hearn
[1896] Cranberry sauce & Cranberry Jelly,
Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Fannie Merritt Farmer
[1911] Cranberry mold,
Good Things To Eat, Rufus Estes
[1913] Frozen cranberry sauce,
Dishes and Beverages of the Old South, Martha MaCulloch-Williams
[1919] Cranberry sauce,
International Jewish Cookbook, Florence Kreisler Greenbaum
Recommended reading: The Cranberry: Hard Work and Holiday Sauce/Stephen Cole & LIndy Gifford (Cape Cod focus) & The American Cranberry/Paul Eck (agricultural science focus).
The history of curry is two-fold: curried-style foods, the Indian dish composed of spices, meat and rice AND curry powder, a combination of various spices used to flavor food. In India, the basic formula for 'curry powder' is called 'garam masala', though Indian cookbooks are quick to note there are many regional variations to this powder.
"Curry. From the tamil word kari' a term for black pepper, derives the Indo-Anglian curry, which
has come to symbolize Indian food for the westerner. The term originally denoted any spiced dish
that accompanied south Indian food, and was first so referred to, using the term caril', by
Correra as early as in AD 1502...Later the word cury was greatly widened in usage to include a
liquid broth, a thicker stewed preparation, or even a spiced dry dish, all of which appear in turn in
a south Indian meal, each with its own name."
---A Historical Dictionary of Indian Food, K. T. Achaya [Oxford University Press:Delhi]
1998 (p. 58)
"Spices are the key to Indian cooking. Masalas vary widely and each is designed for a special
purpose. Garam masla, for example, is a basic blend of dried spices to be used alone or with
other seasonings."
---The Cooking of India, Foods of the World [series], Time/Life (p. 6).
"Curry is from the Tamil word "kari", meaning stew. Tamil is one of the most widely spoken
languages of the whole vast Indian subcontinent. An Indian curry is indeed made rather like a
stew. It may be of meat, fish, or vegetables, and herbs and spices are added; they are mixed
together and ground to a powder which itself eventually became known as "curry." Originally
every region and every family had its own secret [curry] formula. At the end of the nineteenth
century, however, ready-prepared curry powder could be found for sale in Indian towns.
Then, so the tale goes, an Englishman named Sharwood was dining with the Maharaja of
Madras, who mentioned to him the shop kept by a famous master maker of curry powder
called Vencatachellum. The Englishman visited it and obtained the secret of Madras curry
powder, a mixture of saffron, tumeric, cumin, Kerala coriander and a selection of Orissa
chillies..."
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble:New York] 1992 (p.
498-9)
"Curry, a term adopted into the English language from India...The Tamil word "kari" is the
starting point. It means a spicy sauce, one of the sorts of dressing taken in S. India with rice,
and soupy consistency...The traditional S. Indian kari does not have a fixed set of ingredients,
by a typical mixture was and remains the following, all roasted and ground to a powder: kari
patta (curry leaf), coriander, cumin, and mustard seeds, red and black pepper, fenugreek,
tumeric; and less certainly cinnamon, cloves, cardamom."
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 235-6)
"Curry, a mixture of powdered spices. Some curry powders contain up to 16 different ground
spices. Curry was at one time an epicurean rite of English army circles in India, officers
priding themselves on the special combination of spices they had invented."
---Master Dictionary of Food and Cookery, Henry Smith [Practical Press:London] 1950
(p. 74)
A brief history of curry
Recommended reading: Curry A Global History, Colleen Taylor Sen
According to the food historians, modern stuffed grape leaf recipes descended from ancient Mediterranean fare. Turkish "dolma" and Greek "thrion" were known to ancient cooks. The earliest recipes of this sort were both sweet and savory and used fig leaves. Reference to grape leaves began to appear around the 1st century AD.
"Dolmades are stuffed vine leaves (the singular is dolma). The dish is popular all over the eastern
Mediterranean, and particularly in Greece and Turkey. It consists of grapvine leaves blanched
and then wrapped around a filling (typically cooked rice and herbs, and often minced lamb as
well), braised, and usually served cold as part of a mezze, or mixed hors d'oeuvres. The word
dolma itself is of Turkish origin, and is a derivative of the verb dolmak, fill'; dolmades is the
Greek plural form."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 111)
"Dolma. Vegetables stuffed in the E. Mediterranean style. There are two main categories: those
with meat stuffings (usually extended with grain), which are served hot, often with as sauce..."
and those with rice stuffings (often enriched with nuts, raisins, or pulses), which are served cold,
dressed with oil...In Turkey, a distinction may also be made between dolma ( stuffed thing'),
made from a hollowed-out vegetable...and sarma (rolled thing), where the filling is rolled in an
edible leaf, such as the vine leaf or cabbage...The distribution, as well as the name dolma itself,
indicates that this dish belongs to the court cuisine of the Ottoman Empire. Vegetables had been
stuffed before Ottoman times, but only sporadically. For instance, the ancient Greek "thrion" was
a fig leaf stuffed with sweetened cheese..The Ottoman origin is somewhat obscured by the fact
that in some countries stuffed vegetables may be referred to by a native name meaning
"stuffed."..In places as remote as Kuwait and Damascus, instead of mahshi waraq inab (stuffed
fine leaf) one may say mahshi yabraq (in Kuwait, mahshi brag), which comes from the Turkish
yaprak (leaf)."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 253).
"Fig leaves, thrion, pickled to reduce their bitterness, were required in a well-stocked larder; they
served notably as wrapping for dishes resembling modern dolmadhes."
---Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece, Andrew Dalby
[Routledge:London] 1996 (p. 79)
Mr. Dalby presents this ancient fig leaf recipe, attributed to the Greek cook Archestratus [350BC]:
"In autumn, as the Pleaides go down, you can cook bonito-and you can cook it in any way you please...But if you want to be told this too...the very best way for you to deal with this fish is to use fig leaves and fresh oregano (not very much), no cheese, no nonsense. Just wrap it up nicely in fig leaves fastened above with string, then hide it under hot ashes, keeping a watch on the time when it will be baked. Don't overcook it.""Dried figs were particularly popular in Rome, and though Columella [Roman agricultural expert & author, 1st century AD] considred them to be the winter food of country people, he gives details of an attractive way of preserving them. He suggests treading them out, them mixing them with toasted sesame, anise, fennel seed, and cumin and wrapping balls of this mixture in fig leaves."
---The Classical Cookbook, Andrew Dalby and Sally Grainger [J. Paul Getty Museum:Los Angeles] 1996 (p. 59-60)
"The Arab world was under Ottoman rule for five hundred years, and the Turkish influence is
seen in may preparations, such as stuffed grape leaves. But the stuffing of vegetables has its roots
in the Arab cookery of the early Islamic empire of the Abbasids in Baghdad, possibly learned
from the Persians. Ottoman chefs perfected the stuffing of vegetables, and today nearly
everything that can be stuffed is stuffed. Stuffed grape nad cabbage leaf are probably the most
common and loved of all the stuffed vegetables. Stufed grape leaves are a popular mese or mazza
in Greece, Turkey, and the Arab Levant and are known as dolmades in Greece and dolma in
Turkey. With Arab cooks, the stuffed grape leaf becomes a littel more complex and elaborate. It
can be served at room temperature and is called waraq inab ni'l-zayt (grape leaves with olive
oil) or it can be served hot and is called waraq inab (grape leaves)."
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 322)
"The use of grape leaves as an ingredient in cooking is limited to Greece, the Balkans, and the Middle East. The name dolmas is Turkish, which might be a clue not so much of its provenance but of its travels. Nowhere in Europe and certainly not in any of the vine-growing regions of the European Mediterranean west of Greece do we find any dish even remotely resembling our dolmades. Perhaps one reason the dish stopped short in Greece and never spread westward was because the Ottomans never made it as far as Italy or France. The Ottomans spread the dish we know as dolmas all over their empire. Guessing the origins of any dish is always a tentative excercise. In the case of dolmathes, rice-the main ingredient-might be the key.
"The ancient Greeks knew of rice. In fact, Theophrastus mentions it in his 300 B.C. work,
Enquiry into Plants, but 18 centuries elapsed before rice became a part of the Greek table. Greeks
began cooking with rice in the 15th and 16th centuries. As for the provenance of the grain itself,
it
is known with relative accuracy that the grain first grew in Persia. And it is in fact there that the
first written mention of a dish similar to dolmades appears, in the diaries of a symposiast at one
of
the banquets of King Khusrow II at the start of the 7th century. There in short is the long and
winding history of one of our favorite foods. We might claim it as our own, as every one of our
neighbors does, but the dolma followed its own fateful path through history and time. It is a dish
that belongs both to everyone and, alas, to no one."
---http://www.gourmed.gr/mediterranean-diet/inseason/show.asp?insid=11
[NOTE: history page no longer connects. Base site is still viable & includes recipes]
The history of doughnuts is interesting and complicated. Even the story about the how the hole was invented is full of conflicting evidence. Although ancient Roman cooks were known to fry sweet breads in oil, food historians generally credit the invention of deep-fried yeast pastries (oly koeks) to the people of Northern Europe. Presumably during Medieval times.
"The history of the doughnut in America had begun by the first decade of the 19th century, when
Washington Irving wrote in a comical description of Dutch settlers in New Amersterdam (later
New York) that "The table ...was sure to boast an enormous dish of balls of sweetened dough,
fried in hog's fat, and called dough nuts, or oly koeks." The oly koeks were Dutch in name and
possibly German in origin. They were, as Irving said, just balls of dough; there was no hole. The
same was true of the many other doughnut-like confections which could be found all over Central
Europe, where they had a long-standing association whigh carnival, saint's days, and fesivals. It
must have been around the middle of the 19th century or soon afterwards that they acquired the
characteristic hole...Not all American doughnuts have the hole. They may be filled, e.g. with a
blob of jam; this produces the jelly doughnut', similar to the Berliner Pfaannkuchen of
Germany. Fillings have been quite common in parts of Europe, e.g. an apple filling in Denmark.
The usual mixture for an American doughnut is a combination of four, eggs, and milk, raised by
baking powder or by bicarbonate of soda activated by sour milk. The formula echoes many used
in Europe in a broad region stretching from the Ukraine...through Germany...and into the
Netherlands...and Denmark....The frontier between doughnut and fritter is often indistinct.."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
254-5)
"Doughnuts are deep-fried cakes with a long European history and roots in still earlier Middle
Eastern cuisine. They were introduced to America by the Dutch in New Newtherland as
oliekoecken (oil cakes or fried cakes)...The were eaten during the Dutch Christmas season...and
for special occasions throughout the year. Once in the New World, the Dutch replaced their frying
oil with the preferred lard (far more available here), as it produced a tender and greaseless crust.
The other ethnic groups brought their own doughnut variations. The Pennsylvania Dutch and the
Moravians who settled in North Carolina made fastnachts on Shrove Tuesday, and the French
established beignets in New Orleans. Ultimately, the English American cooks adopted them as
well. By 1845 doughtnuts appeared in American Cookbooks as staples, and the weekly Saturday
baking (breads, cakes, and pies) included doughtnut frying. In this same antebellum period, two
changes in technology contributed to a basic alteration of the doughnut. Chemical leavening
(notably baking powder) was substituted for yeast, producing a more cakelike and less breadlike
product. In the same era inexpensive tin doughnut cutters with holes were manufactured
commercially and sold widely."
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith [Oxford
University Press:New York] 2004 (p. 408)
Who's responsible creating the doughnut hole?
Lots of theory but very little documentation. In sum? An excellent lesson in foodlore.
"The first American doughnuts did not have holes at all; they were quite literally little "nuts" of
dough. The Pilgrims, who had spent the years 1607-1620 in Holland, learned to make doughnuts
there and brought them to New England; the most direct antecedent of the pastry seems to be of
German origin, and these doughnuts came in all shapes and sizes. The first mention of the term in
print was in Washington Irving's History of New York...[1809]...
The Pennsylvania Dutch were probably the first to make doughnuts with holes in their centers,
a perfect shape for "dunking"...in coffee, which has become a standard method of eating
doughtnuts for Americans. There seems little real evidence to support the story of a Rockport,
Maine, sea captain named Hanson Crockett Gregory, who claimed to have poked out the soggy
centers of his wife's doughnuts in 1847 so that he might slip them over the spokes of his ship's
wheel, thereby being able to nibble while keeping an even keel. Nevertheless, in 1947, a centenary
plaque commemorating Gregory's alleged culinary creation was placed on the house where he had
lived. By the middle of the nineteenth century the hole must have been widely accepted, and a
housewares catalog of 1870 shows a doughnut cutter including a corer, as does the 1897 Sears,
Roebuck Catalog...By the twentieth century doughnuts, dusted with powdered sugar or
cinnamon, iced, or stuffed with jelly...or cream...had become an American favorite..."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 114-5)
[NOTE: We have a copy of an article from the [Boston] Times dated Saturday Evening, January 30, 1808, containing
this phrase "...then the company sat round the large round table to their tea, while a plentiful supply of fire-cakes and dough-nuts
furnished out the repast..." "Sketches and Views, No. V. (Volume 1, No. 8, page 1)
Probable source of above information
"The man who invented the hole in the doughnut has been found. He is Capt. Hanson Gregory, at present
an inmate in Sailor's Snug Harbor, at Quincy, Mass. Doughnut cutters have made fortunes for men; millions eat doughnuts for breakfast and feel satisfied. Doctors
do not assail the doughnut. And all of this owes its being to Capt. Gregory, who made the doughnut a safe, sane and hygienic food. It's a long story, mates; but as
the 85-year-old chap relates it, it's only too short. Outside the fact that Capt. Gregory is a bit hard of hearing, he's as sound as new timber. He's a product of
Maine; and so Maine can lay claim to the discoverer of the hole in the doughnut, along with the discoverer of new ways to evade the prohibition laws. But Capt.
Gregory's discovery is of real use in the world; millions have risen, and millions more shall rise up, and call him blessed. _'Bout '47 Was the Date._ "It was way
back--oh, I don't know just what year--let me see--born in '31, shipped when I was 13--well, I guess it was about '47, when I was 16, that I was aboard ship
and discovered the hole which was later to revolutionize the doughnut industry. "I first shipped aboard the Isaac Achorn, three-masted schooner, Capt. Rhodes, in
the lime trade. Later I joined other crews and other captains, and it was on one of these cruises that I was mawing doughnuts. "Now in them days we used to cut
the doughnuts into diamond shapes, and also into long strips, bent in half, and then twisted. I don't think we called them doughnuts then--they was just 'fried cakes'
and 'twisters.' "Well, sir, they used to fry all right around the edges, but when you had the edges done the insides was all raw dough. And the twisters used to sop
up all the grease just where they bent, and they were tough on the digestion." "Pretty d--d tough, too!" profanely agreed one of the dozen pipe-smoking fellows
who were all eyes and ears, taking in their comrade's interview by The Post reporter. With a glance at the perfervid interrupter, the discoverer continued: "Well,
I says to myself, 'Why wouldn't a space inside solve the difficulty?' I thought at first I'd take one of the strips (Col. 2--ed.) and roll it around, then I got an
inspiration, a great inspiration. "I took the cover off the ship's tin pepper box, and--I cut into the middle of that doughnut the first hole ever seen by mortal eyes!"
"Were you pleased?" "Was Columbus pleased? Well, sir, them doughnuts was the finest I ever tasted. No more indigestion--no more greasy sinkers--but just
well-done, fried-through doughnuts. "That cruise over, I went home to my old mother and father in Camden, Me., where I was born. My father, Hanson
Gregory, sr., lived to be 93, and my mother lived to be 79. She was a pretty old lady then. I saw her making doughnuts in the kitchen--I can see her now, and as
fine a woman as ever-lived, was my mother. _Taught Trick to Mother._ "I says to her: 'Let me make some doughnuts for you.' She says all right, so I made her
one or two and then showed her how. "She then made several panfuls and sent them down to Rockland, just outside Camden. Everybody was delighted and they
never made doughnuts any other way except the way I showed my mother. "Well, I never took out a patent on it; I don't suppose any one can patent anything he
discovers; I don't suppose Peary could patent the north pole or Columbus patent America. But I thought I'd get out a doughnut cutter--but somebody got in ahead
of me. _Hole "Cut Out," His Joke._ "Of course a hole ain't so much; but it's the best part of the doughnut--you'd think so if you had ever tasted the doughnuts we
used to eat in '31. Of course, lots of people joke about the hole in the doughnut. I've got a joke myself: Whenever anybody says to me: 'Where's the hole in the
doughnut?' I always answer: 'It's been cut out!'" and the old chap laughed loud and longat his little sally, while the rest joined in. So there he sits--in the Snug Harbor
by the sea. And whenever there's doughnuts on the day's fare, Capt. Gregory takes a personal pride trying to do what nobody's succeeded in doing yet--in trying
to find the hole in the doughnut. And whenever the old salts rally him about it, he always springs his little joke: "The hole's been cut out, I guess!" to the delight of
the whole shipful."
---"'OLD SALT' DOUGHNUT HOLE INVENTOR TELLS JUST HOW DISCOVERY WAS MADE AND STOMACH OF EARTHS SAVED,"
The Washington Post Mar 26, 1916; ES9;
Why are they called "doughnuts?"
"The word [doughnut] is presumably an allusion to the small, rounded shape of the original
doughnuts; the element -nut is used similarly in gingernut and its now obsolete sysnonym
spicenut."
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
113)
The Oxford English Dictionary (2nd edition) traces the first print instance of the word doughnut to 1809. Contemporary spelling variations (donut, etc.) are typically generated by marketing firms and business owners.
Olie-koekan recipes
If you would like to see old recipes for olie-koeken ask your librarian to help you find this book:
The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and New World, tranlated and Edited by
Peter G. Rose. This recently published book reproduces De Vertandige Kock, a Dutch coobook
from 1669. This book also has some recipes that have been updated for modern kitchens.
The original edition of this book has recently been uploaded to the Web, in Dutch:
"To fry Olie-koeken"A SURVEY OF DOUGHNUT RECIPES IN AMERICAN COOKBOOKS
119 Om oliekoecken te backen Neemt tot 2 pont tarwemeel 2 pont lange rosijnen (als die schoongewassen zijn, laetse in lauw water wat staen zwellen), een kop van de beste appelen (schilt die en snijtse in heel kleyne stucxkens, de klockhuysen wel uytgedaen), een vierendeel of anderhalf gepelde amandelen, een loot caneel, een vierendeel loots witte gember, een weynigh nagelen (dit wel ondereengestoten), een half kommeken gesmolten boter, een groote lepel gist en niet wel een pintje lauwe soetemelck, want het moet heel dick beslagen zijn, dat het beslagh noch tay om de lepel blijft. En dan alle het andere daerin geroert en soo laten rijsen. Neemt daertoe een mengelen van de beste raepolie, doet daerin een korst broot, een halve appel. Settet op het vuur en laet het uytbranden. Keert het broot en appel altemet om tot het zwart en hart wort. Giet er dan een schootjen schoon water in en laet het dan in de lucht kout worden, en daernaer weder op 't vuur geset, als ghy die wilt gebruyken.
De Vertandige KockEnglish translation here:
"For 2 poond of Wheat-flour take 2 poond long Raisins, when they have been washed clean soak them in lukewarm water, a cup of the best Apples, peel them and cut them in very smallpieces without the cores, a quarter poond or one and a half [quarter poond: 6 ounces] peeled Almonds, a loot Cinnamon, a quarter loot white Ginger, a few Cloves this crushed together, half a small bowl of melted Butter, a large spoon Yeast, and not quiet a pint of lukewarm sweet Milk, because it must be a thick batter [so thick] that the batter is tough when spooned and then everything stirred together. Let it rise then take a mengelen of the best Rapseed [Colza] oil, add a crust of Bread, a half Apple. Place it on the fire and let it burn, keep turning the bread and the Apple until it blackens and hardens, then pour in a dash of clean water, let it cool in the air, then put it back on the fire when you want to use it."
--- The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and the New World, Translated and Edited by Peter G. Rose [Syracuse University Press:New York] 1989 (p. 78)
[NOTE: a Loot is about 14 grams]"Olie-koeken, in New Netherland usage variously spelled as olicook, or olykoecks: one of the forerunners of the doughnut. A ball of dough prepared from flour, milk, and yeast, with or without sweetener and various fillings and deep fried in hot oil (for which they get their name), or lard."
---The Sensible Cook (p. 126)
[1828]
"Dough Nuts
Three pounds sifted flour.
A pound of powdered sugar.
Three quarters of a pound of butter.
Four eggs.
Half a large tea-cup full of best brewer's yeast.
A pint and a half of milk.
A tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon.
A grated nutmeg.
A table-spoonful of rose-water.
Cut up the butter in the flour. Add the sugar, spice, and rose-water. Beat the eggs very light, and pour them into the mixture. Add the yeast, (half a ttea-cup, or two wine-glasses full,) and then stir in the milk by degrees, so as to make it a soft dough. Cover it, and set it to rise. When quite light, cut it in diamonds wiht a jagging-iron, or a sharp knife, and fry them in lard. Grate loaf sugar over them when done."
---Seventy-Five Receipts for Pastry, Cakes, and Sweetmeats By A Lady of Philadelphia (Eliza Leslie), facsimile reprint of 1828 Munrow and Francis:Boston edition [Applewood Books:Chester CT] (p. 70)[1847]
"To Make Doughnuts
Take of risen wheatbread dough the size of a quart bowl; work into it a teacup of butter, two teacups of clean brown sugar, rolled fine, half a nutmeg, greated, a teaspoonful of ground cinnamon, and two eggs; work it into a smooth paste; strew some flour over a paste table and rolling-pin; put on some of the paste, and roll it to a quarter of an inch thickness; rub and roll it to a quarter of an inch thickness; rub more flour over the rolling-pin, if the paste sticks; cut it in small squares, stars, or diamonds; fry in hot fat."
---Mrs. Crowen's American Lady's Cookery Book, Mrs. T. J. Crowen [Dick & Fitzgerald:New York] 1847 (p. 286)"To Fry Doughnuts and Crullers.--Have a small iron or porcelain kettle; put into it a pound of lard, set it over a gentle fire; when it is boiling hot, drop a bit of the dough in to try it; if the fat is not hot enough, the cakes will absorb it, and thereby be rendered unfit for eating; if too hot, it will make them dark brown outside before the inside is cooked: boiling hot is about the heat the fat should be; if it is at a right heat, the dough nuts will in about ten minutes be of a delicate brown outside, and nicely cooked inside: five or siz minutes will cook a cruller; try the fat, by dropping a bit of the dough in; if it is right, the fat will boil up when it is put in: keep the kettle in motion all the time the cakes are in, that they may boil evenly: when the cakes are a fine color, take them out with a skimmer on to an inverted sieve."
---ibid (p. 286)"Doughnuts, without Yeast--Half a pound of butter, a pint of sour milk or buttermilk, three quarters of a pound of sugar, a small teaspoonful of saleratus dissolved in a little hot water, two well-beaten eggs, and as much flour as will make a smooth dough; flavor with half a teaspoonful of lemon extract, and half a nutmeg, grated; rub a little flour over a paste-board or table, roll the dough to a quarter of an inch thickness; cut them in squares, or diamonds, or round cakes, and fry in boiling lard as directed. These cakes may be made in rings, and fried."
---ibid (p. 287)[1849]
"Dough Nuts
Take two deep dishes, and sift three quarters of a pound of flour into each. Make a hole in the centre of one of them, and pour a wine glass of the best brewer's yeast; mix the flour gradually into it, wetting it with lukewarm milk; cover it, and set it by the fire to rise for about two hours. This is setting a sponge. In the mean time, cut up five ounces of butter into the other dish of flour, and rub it fine with your hands; add half a pound of powdered sugar, a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, a grated nutmeg, a table-spoonful of rose water, and a half a pint of milk. Beat three eggs very light, and stir them hard into the mixture. Then when the sponge is pergectly light, add it to the other ingredients, mixing them all thoroughly with a knife. Cover it, and set it again by the fire for another hour. When it is quite light, flour your paste-board, turn out the lump of dough, and cut it into thick diamond shaped cakes with a jagging iron. If you find the dough so soft as to be unmanageable, mix in a little more flour; but not else. Have ready a skillet of boiling lard; put the dough-nuts into it, and fry them brown; and then cool grate loaf-sugar over them. They should be eaten quite fresh, as next day they will be tough and heavy; therefore it is best to make no more than you want for immediate use.. The New York Oley Koeks are dough-nuts with currants and raisins in them"
--- Directions for Cookery in its Various Branches, Miss [Eliza] Leslie [Carey & Hart:Philadelphia] 1849 (p. 358-9)[1877]
"Albert's Favorite Doughnuts.
One pint sour milk, one cup sugar, tw eggs, one tea-spoon soda, half cup lard, nutmeg to flavor; mix to a moderately stiff dough, roll to half inch in thickness, cut in rings or twists, drop into boiling lard, and fry to a light brown.--Mrs. A.F. Ziegler."Doughnuts. One egg, a cup rich milk, a cup sugar, flour enough to roll out, three tea-spoons baking-powder.--Mrs Jenks, Bellfontaine.
"Raised Doughnuts.
Warm together one pint milk and one small tea-sup lard, and add one cup yeast; stirr in flour to make a batter, let rise over night; add four eggs, two and a half cups sugar, two tea-spoons cassia, half tea-spoon soda, and a tea-spoon salt; knead and let rise again; roll, cut out, and let rise fifteen minutes before frying."
---Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping, facsimile reprint of 1877 edition printed by the Buckeye Publishing Company:Minnealpolis MN, [Applewood Books:Bedford MA] (p. 77)[1884]
Doughnut recipes, Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A. Lincoln (page through for crullers & fritters)
History of some popular American doughnuts
Doughnut Day, Salvation Army [1917]
Krispy Kreme [1937]
Dunkin
Donuts [1950]
ABOUT FRITTERS
Fritters (aka frytors, frytos) are deep-fried batters containing sweet (fruit & nuts) or savory
(cheese, fish, vegetables) fillings. Like doughnuts, pancakes, and waffles, they are often associated
with Northern European cooks and connected with Christian feast days. About deep frying.
"Fritter. The English word for a small portion of deep-fried batter, usually but not always
containing a piece of fruit, meat, fish or vegetable. Fritters are generally eaten immediately after
cooking, as, like all deep-fried foods, they taste best hot and fresh...Fritters are often sold at fairs,
freshly cooked a special stalls. In several countries they are made as part of the carnival binge of
rich foods, eaten before the fast of Lent begins...The Roman scriblita, described by Cato in the
2nd Century BC, was probably a precursor of both fritters and doughnuts. Lumps of moist dough
(leavened with sourdough) were spooned into hot fat, and allowed to stream in random shapes.
Medieval cryspeys were described in the Harlean MS of 1430; a liquid yeast batter using the
whites of eggs only was run down the cook's fingers so that five narrow streams entered the hot
oil, where they set into a tangle. They were served sprinkled with sugar...Medieval batters for
sweet fritters, like those for pancakes, contained wine or ale, sometimes cream, and more eggs
than are usual today. Choux paste mixtures were in use for making fritters in France by the end of
the 16th century...in the 18th century [fritters] were piped with a forcing bag. This shape survives
in the old French bugne and the American cruller.""
"Fritters are portions of food--fruit, vegetables, seafood--coated in batter and deep-fried. The
name reflects the method of cooking; it was borrowed in the fourteenth century from Old French
friture, which came ultimately from Latin frigere, fry'. The cooking method itself is said to have
been introduced from the Middle East by Crusaders returning to Wester Europe...The Japanese
equivalent to fritters is tempura."
"Egg-batter fritters containing meat, fish or fruit were fried in lard or oil. Apple fritters, strewn
with sugar when it was available, were prehaps the best loved, but fritters of skirrets or parsnips
were well liked too, because of their natural sweetness. The physicians condemned fritters as
indigestible, but they remained irresistable to the layman and appeared regularly in medieval
menus, usually as part of the last course. John Russell observed that "apple fritter is good hot, but
the cold ye [should] not touch." Herb fritters, the batter aerated with a little yeast, and "fritters of
milk" were made from curds and egg whites were two other popular versions."
"Bugne
Karen Hess makes this connection between fritters and french fries:
Fritter recipes through time:
ABOUT FUNNEL CAKES
Food historians frequently remind us that recipes often predate their current "popular" names.
Such is the case with funnel cakes. Modern dictionaries and food references generally place
"funnel cakes" in the 20th century. Culinary evidence confirms the recipe is much older.
The oldest authentic German recipe we have for an item that would create what we now call
"funnel cakes" is from 1879. The original cookbook is in German. Gisela Harpell, one of our
colleagues at the Morris County Library, was kind enough to offer this translation:
Recipe: p.468. #248 "Pressed Pastry cooked in melted Butter"
#246, p466-467 listed detailed instructions for baking in butter, lard and oil.
[TRANSLATOR'S NOTE: This is a more literal translation because I wanted to keep some of
the flavor of the original. The title page also mentions that this cookbook is designed for
beginning cooks and new housewives. The author also states that the recipes are reliable and
have been tested by Henriette Davidis. She also includes instructions for entertaining and
menues for the various seasons.]
Related foods? bunuelos & churros, doughnuts, pancakes, waffles, sopaipillas
& fry bread
Dumplings are an ancient food, known to cooks in many cultures and cuisines. The ingredients
(grain, meat, vegetable, fruit), serving customs (with gravy, in soup, as dessert), and cooking
methods (steamed, fried, boiled) vary according to cultural taste. Ancient Roman isicium, Czech knedliky,
Hungarian tesztak, Jewish matzo balls, Russian pel'meni, Chinese wontons
and Italian ravioli & gnocchi are all variations along the same culinary theme.
"Dumpling. A term of uncertain origin which first appeared in print at the beginning of the 17th
century, athough the object it denotes--a small and usually globular mass of boiled or steamed
dough--no doubt existed long before that. A dumpling is a food with few, indeed no, social
pretentions, and of such simplicity that it may plausibly be supposed to have evoloved
independently in the peasant cuisines of various parts of Europe and probably in other parts of the
world too. Such cuisines feature soups and stews, in which vegetables may be enhanced by a little
meat. Dumplings, added to the soup or stew, are still, as they were centuries ago, a simple and
economical way of extending such dishes. The dough for most dumplings has always been based
either on cereal, whichever was the staple in a given region (oats, wheat, maize, etc.), or on one
of vegetables from which bread dough can be made...(potato, pulses, etc.)...However, despite its
simplicity, the humble dumpling, or anyway the range of foods to which the name is applied, has
evolved in the course of time from the prototypes into something more complex. A first step was
provided by the filled dumpling, in which the dough encloses something else, for example apple in
an apple dumpling, and a sour Zwetschke cooking plum (its stone replaced by a lump of sugar) in
the Austrian and Czech Zwetschkenknodel...[in] Europe, it would be fair to say that dumplings
are almost ubiquitous in that continent, but by no means of equal importance in the various
countries. They are more popular in colder climates...there are three regions in which they have
flourished most: England...the much larger area of C. Europe (including Bavaria, Austria, Bohemia)...and the specialized
habitat provided by Italy for gnocchi."
"Dumpling. A ball of dough, originally savoury and served as an accompaniment to meat or as a
dessert...A simple, satisfying food, dumplings were boiled and served to extend small amounts of
meat. Originally made by shaping small portions from a batch of bread dough before specific
mixtures were developed using flour, cereals, pulses, stale bread, potatoes or cheese, sometimes
with a raising agent added or enriched with fat in the form of suet, were developed. Local
ingredients and method are used across Europe to make a variety of large or small dumplings,
plain or flavoured with herbs, vegetables, spices or other ingredients...Dumplings are closely
related to pasta. Italian gnocchi are good examples of small dumplings usually grouped with pasta
and the spatzle of German and Austria, made from batter simmered until set in finger noodles,
also hover between the two descriptions. Polish plain or filled dumplings are also very similar to
gnocchi or filled pasta...The name dumpling is also used for Oriental specialties, such as the small
filled dumplings of Chinese cookery, related more closely to pasta than European-style
dumplings."
ANCIENT ROMAN DUMPLINGS
Apicius offers three dumpling recipes in his famous text. The are:
[49] Dumplings and Hydrogarym [Hydrogarata Isicia]
[52] Plain Dumplings with Broth [Isicium Simplex]
CENTRAL EUROPEAN DUMPLINGS
"In the region of Bavaria...Austria and Bohemia...the common material of dumplings is stale bread. This is broken into small
pieces and soaked in water or milk, and combined with any available enriching ingredients: bacon, eggs, cheese, chopped liver, or herbs.
There are several sweet types stuffed with fruit...Another kind is the Nockerl, made from a softer dough of flour with butter,
milk and egg (or leftover noodle dough...) Because the dough is soft, it is not rolled into balls to make the dumplings; small
pieces are picked off with the fingers and throw into the boiling water...Another related dumpling, made in a similar manner,,
is the Spatzle...most common in the Alsace and S. Germany...The Dampfnudel ('steamed noodle') is...a medium-sized German dumpling
made of yeast dough, cooked in a shallow bath of milk in a tightly lidded pan...Potato dumpling tupes are exemplified by
Kartoffelkloss...Other potato dumplings include the Russian Pampuska..."
Gnocchi
Gnocchi is a classic example of what happened when "New World" foods met "Old World"
recipes. It took a century or two, but eventually most European countries and cuisines embraced
the potato and made it their own. Early potato recipes were not new inventions, they were new
twists on familiar traditions. Gnocchi were inspired by dumplings.
"We don't know when the potato was introduced to Italy. It seems likely to have arrived via
Spain sometime between 1569 and 1588, when it is clearly described in a document as fodder for
pigs. Gnocchi, before the introduction of the potato, referred to little balls of flour or bread or
both that were boiled. The earliest of these recipes that I am aware of is the nochi of the
anonymous early fifteenth-century cookbook by the writer known as Anonimo Meridianale. But
even by 1692, when Antonio Latini published his Lo scallo alla moderna, gnocchi were still
made of flour and considered a kind of macaroni. In Genoa gnocchi are today called trofie, but
were originally a form of pasta secca in the Middle Ages, made from hard wheat flour and not
potatoes. Eventually the potato was used for making gnocchi and the result was heavenly."
"Gnocchi, essentially a kind of dumpling, are distinguished from other dumplings by being
Italian and having a close link with pasta. The are made either from a pasta dough or from a
mixture of potato flour and wheat flour, or from semolina or maize (polenta)...The origin of
gnocchi is inescapably tied up with that of pasta, partly because at first a simliar mixture was used
to make both, and partly because many old works called both 'm'caroni'. (The confusion persists
in modern Padua). It has been suggested that the macaroni method mentioned in the Decameron
(1351) as being rolled down a mountain of grated Parmesan by the inhabitants of the mythical
land of Bengodi were actually gnocchi or they would not have rolled. The original four and water
mixture for gnocchi is still used in some parts of Italy, but mostly they are now made of potato
flour with a little wheat flour. This usage dates only from about 1860, but the curious Manutan
gnocchi made from pumpkin are two or three centuries older than that."
"Although some authorities believe gnocchi may have originated in Piedmont, potato recipes
were far more popular in Liguria by the early 19th century, and there is a recipe for an elaborate
form of potato gnocchi containing veal fat and hard-boiled eggs in the fifth edition of Vincenzo
Corrado's Il Cuoco galante (1801)...Gnocchi is also the name of a small, rippled dried pasta
shell. The name gnocchi may derive from the Latin 'nucleus'..., though some authorites believe it
may derive from the Middle High German 'knochel' (knuckle.)
"Gnocchi is the plural of gnoccho, which is an alteration of nocchio, 'knot in wood, lump',
perhaps of Germanic origin. The dish is first mentioned in an English cookery book in 1891, in
A.B. Marshall's Larger Cookery Book of Extra Recipes."
The French connection
"Gnocchi. Small dumplings made of flour...or choux pastry. They are usually poached, then they
may be cooked au gratin in the oven and served as a hot entree. This dish is Italian in origin (the
word means lumps') and is classified with pasta, but it is also found in Austro-Hungarian and
Alsatian cookery in the form of knepfle, knodel, noques, or quenelles, which are all quite
familiar. Italian gnocci all Romana are made with semolina, egg and cheese' gnocci a la
parisienne are prepared from choux pastry with milk and cheese; and gnocchi a la piemontaise or
a l'alsacienne are made with potato puree, eggs and flour."
Escoffier (Le Guide Culinaire, 1903) contains four recipes for gnocchi: Gnocchi au Gratin,
Gnocchi a la Romaine, Gnocchi de Pommes de Terres, Noques au Parmesan. If you need these
recipes let us know.
Polish gnocchi?
Knedliky (Czech and Slovak dumplings)
"Czech dumplings a (knedliky) are unforgettable. The huge loaf-sized ones, which are served in
slices with stews, are one of the first things which a visitor notices...tiny liver dumplings...are
traditionally served in soup by the bride to her new husband...[also popular are] ham dumplings,
cheese/curd dumplings, sweet fruit dumplings, and many others."
[Polish]"'Little ear' Soup Dumplings (uszka)...The mushroom filled of these dainty little dumplings are the classic
accompaniment to the clear beetroot barszcz served on Christmas Eve."
"Dumplings (Tesztak). A friend visiting Hungary recently wrote to me that he had always thought that dumplings were used to repel
the Turks in the Battle of Buda, but after sampling them he was sure that even a fool would not have thrown such admirable
food. There is such a vast selection of dumpling recipes...The Hungarian housewife uses dumplings for many occasions: as luncheon
dishes, as desserts, as part of a dinner, even as a snack. And of course some are sued as soup garnishes...Flour, wheat, rye and
all other types of cereal are truly the staff of life in Hungary. Hungarians used these grains to develop the dumpling family to
bewildering variety...Here are some of the basic varieties: Galuska...Gomboc...Kasa"
JEWISH MATZO BALLS
About matzo
"Matzo. A word which has now entered the English language from the Hebrew matzah."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 484)
"Unleavened cakes of bread, azymi, symbolizing purity, were eaten...on solemn occasions, and constituted
the ritual offering. Cooked at home on the hearth, in the embers, on a griddle, or on a stone or tile covered
with an earthenware bell, the thick pancake would swell to a certain extent, but assumed no definate shape,
and perhaps looked all the more artistic a creation for that. This kind of bread was maza."
"A classic Passover dish that has undergone a metamorphosis in this country is the
venerable matzah ball. In the early nineteen hundreds, before commercial matza meal was
available, these matzah dumplings were made with soaked or ground-up matzah, onions,
eggs, chicken fat, and spices. They were also called "klose," "Kneidel," "kleis," or
"kneidlach." Florence Kresiler Greenbaum in her Jewish Cook Nook in the twenties
includes and early recipe for what she called "matsah meal kleis." Soon after, the B.
Manishewitz Company, in its Tempting Kosher Dishes Cookbook of 1930, called them
"feather balls, Alsatian style," a matzah ball made from processed matzah meal with one
whole cup of chicken fat (!). The term "matza balls rose to prominence in the 1930s--accompanied by all the Jewish mother jokes. The matza business was started by families
like Goodman, Manischewitz, and Horowitz, all baked by Manischewitz today...The
publication of Passover reicpes almost kept pace with the volumen of matzah production.
Recipes were printed in company-sponsored cookbooks...and...on the backs of matzah
packages. Other recipe evolved naturally as Jews adapted local dishes for Passover use."
Compare these 19th & 20th century Matso ball soup recipes:
Matzoth Meal Kleis, International Jewish Cookbook/Florence Kreisler Greenbaum [1919]
RUSSIAN DUMPLINGS
"Almost every national cuisine boasts its own version of boiled dumplings wrapped around pockets of seasoned meat...
Pel'meni are the Siberian version, now popular throughout the Soviet Union. Moscow alone has several pel'menyanas, cafes
specializing in these dumplings. Pel'meni are pratical for the harsh Siberian winter. Prepared in large quantities, they can be
buried in the snow where they keep for months on end, ready to boil up at a moment's notice. Siberians swear by a mustard and
vinegar sauce for pel'meni: place a spoonful of hot mustard on the edge of each plate and mix it with concentrated vinegar to
taste. Muscovites prefer a milder garnish, slathering butter and soured cream on the dumplings in lavish amounts. Pel'meni are most
often served steaming hot, mounded high on a platter, but they may also be boiled in chicken broth and eaten with soup."
"Pel'meni are filled with dumplings made of noodle dough, similar to ravioli. A Siberian contribution to Russian cuisine,
they are of Mongolian origin. In Siberia...the filling is made of young horsemeat, which is frozen, cut into shavings, and seasoned
with onion, salt, and pepper. Small squares of noodle dough are filled, sealed, and then frozen in sacks for the whole winter, to
be cooked as needed. Nowadays, in European Russia, uncooked ground beef is used instead of horsemeat, and mushroom-filled pelmeni
are an accepted variation. Pel'meni are served in several ways: they can be cooked in stock or consomme and served in a bowl
with some of the soup. As a delicious main course for lunch or dinner, they can be served drenched in butter or Siberian-style...
sprinkled with vinegar and spiced with freshly ground pepper. In late nineteenth-century France, where Russian food had already
made a considerable impact on haute cuisine, pel'meni began to appear on restaurant menus, and, contrary to Russian custom, Escoffier
included them in his Guide Culinaire as a hot hors d'oeuvre. In Moscow, during the last quarter of the nineteenth century,
the best restaurant to eat pel'meni was Lopashov's, one of the oldest taverns in town...Lopashov's was the showcase of authentic
Russian cuisine, and the most distinguised foreign visitors were invited there for intimate dinners in the izba...Lopashov was as
much a perfectionist in shaping his menu as in furnishing his establishment. To offer genuine Siberian pel'meni, he brought the
best-known pel'meni chef from Siberia, and pel'meni connoisseiurs were his most devoted fans. When, in the 1880s, the owners of the
most important Siberian gold mines had an exhibit in Moscow, their dinner at Lopahsov's Tavern made the front pages of the
Moscow newspapers. In memory of the conqueror of Siberia, cossack chieftain Yermak, the dinner was named "A Feast in Yermak's
Field Camp." It consisted of two courses only: zakuski (hors d'oeuvre) and pel'meni. For the twelve participants, 2,500 pel'meni were
cooked. There were meat pel'meni and fish pel'meni, and, as an innovation, fruit pel'meni in rose champagne glasses were
introduced as a dessert."
ASIAN DUMPLINGS
"These are different from European ones. Indeed what English-speakers in the Orient call dumplings are more like what would be called
filled pasta in Europe. The Chinese type of dumpling...bears close resemblance to ravioli. Chinese records of dumplings go back at
least as far as te Sung dynasty (AD 960-1279), when they were described as being sold..from stall much in the way that snacks
are in modern China. Mantou are among the best-known Chinese manifestations of the genre, but probably originated in C. Asia
rather than China. Whatever the truth may be about their ultimate origin, this type of oriental filled 'dumpling' has spread westwards;
it is met in Tibet as momo, in Russia as Pelmeni...and in Jewish cuisine the similar kreplach...In many parts of Asia the dumplings
commonly met are rice dumplings...Japan...has glutinous rice dumplings, mochi...Onde onde is the name of a small Indonesian
sweet dumpling...from Thailand...[come] saku sai mooh: small sago dumplings enclosing a filling of pork, onion, and groundnuts;
cooked by steaming; served hot or cold."
About wontons
Food historians generally agree the practice of ingesting gold (and silver) originated in the Indian subcontinent. It spread
to China, then across the Middle East to Europe.
Gold's culinary applications descend from ancient medicinal prescriptions & alchemist wares. Gold was also employed as a food colorant, decoration,
and obvious display of wealth. Today, edible gold leaf is readily available for purchase. Glittering traces of this element adorn cakes, candies, salads...
EASTERN ORIGINS: DECORATION AND MEDICINAL APPLICATIONS
"Embellishing foods with precious metals is a centuries-old tradition that originated in the East, where it served
as a symbol of hospitality and wealth, a garniture to honor the presence of a special guest at the table.
Edible silver foil was widely used by Moguls in India to decorate elaborate preparations of sweemeats, kabobs, and
special rice dishes at court and was believed to be beneficial for the liver and to posess aphrodesiac qualities. In
Europe, a medieval banquet concluded with dramatic slabs of gilded gingerbread dotted with gold-brush cloves. Later,
Elizabethan decorated their tables with piles of gold-spangled pomegranates, oranges, and grapes. To this day,
Japanese artisans who gild screen gather up their skewings at the end of the workday, mix them in sake, and then sip
it all down as a thank-you to the gods for their creative powers."
THE CHINESE CONNECTION
"Not surprisingly, the Eastern Zhou period was a period of which great scientific advances were amde in alchemy and
aurification...By the late Warring States period, mercury gilding had almost completely replaced gold foil as a means of altering the
appearance of bronze. The search for man-made gold was spurred by popular ideas originating in the south that connected gold with
immortality, an exotic view traceable to India that led countless aristorcats to ingest gold in every conceivable form."
MEDIEVAL EUROPE: DECORATION, FOOD COLORANT, SPICE ADDITIVE
"Gold and silver leaf are both used to decorate foods, and have so been used for many centuries. Surprisingly,
both are harmless as long as they are consumed as pure metals, though many silver compounds are
poisonous. The are on the EC list of approved colourings, having the numbers E175 and E174. Usually they
are applied in the form of very thin sheets known as gold or silver leaf. Narrow ribbons and powder are also
sold. They are tasteless and odorless...In An Ordinance of Pottage, an edition of the 15th-century culinary
recipes in the Beinecke MS 163, there is a recipe (138) in which a sweet pie is ornamented with blanched
walnuts, wetted with saffron water, and impaled on a pin or needle for ease in handling. The needle is held in
one hand and gold foil is laid on with that other hand with a thyng made therfore, & blow theron esyly with thy
mouth, & that shall make thy gold to abyde. & and so thru may gylt them over, and florich thy bakyn meat
therewith.' This is a precise description of how to use goldleaf, for if it is touched before it is fixed it will cling to
the fingers and cannot be removed intact...Axioms and quotations warn us that appearances can be
deceptive and all that glistens or shyneth is not gold, and the enticing gold of gingergbread on sale at fairs could
not have been genuine for the high price would have ensured a restricted sale...Elizabeth Raffald (1782)
describes her Gilded Fish in Jelly...Silver leaf is used in India (under the name vark or varaq) to decorate
various foods, especially in Moghul cuisine...Scraps of silver (or gold) leaf may sometimes be seen at Indian
and Pakistani weddings, tossed casually on heaps of rice or wrapped around cakes."
"Another practice, similar to colouring food, was to cover a dish in gold or silver foil. One dish in the third
course was described as 'pety chek in bolyen' (that is small chicks in bullion, or gold foil). Other recipes are
known in which this occurs. In one case a pig was stuffed with a cock, which was itself stuffed with a mixture of
pine nuts and sugar, and the whole roasted. It was then coloured with eggs, saffron, and gold and silver foil."
"According to Hieronymous Bock...Saffron was stretched wITHh sandalwood, and sometimes even gold dust was mixed in with the spices
to bring them up to the right weight."
---Food in Medieval Times, Melitta Weiss Adamson [Greenwood Press:Westport CT] 2004 (p. 66)
"...the practice dates from the Middle Ages and was quite common in Renaissance Italy. Did you
know that Galeazzo Visconti served an entire calf wrapped in a thin layer of gold at the wedding of
his daughter Violante in 1386? They were serving ostrich meat covered in gold in Venice in 1561.
Gilded foods were so ubiquitous in Padua in the 16th century that authorities suggested serving no
more than two courses in gold per feast. Martha Bayless, an English professor and director of the
medieval studies program at the University of Oregon (who is teaching a course titled "The Medieval
Feast in Theory and Practice"), says Neuberg is correct. In fact, Middle Age strivers viewed their
holiday food fests as a "mini-paradise" of peace and abundance, a temporary reprieve from a world of
uncertainty, hunger and war. The medieval fable about the Land of Cockayne is in part a food fetish
fantasy -- about a place where cooked geese fly over rivers of wine. And yes, gold was employed,
Bayless says, to dress up the food and create a sense of awe and bounty. "It is valuable and light and
attractive and shiny," Bayless says. For the rich who hosted the feasts, to celebrate weddings or
coronations, the use of gold "shows how much you can provide." The feasts, which could exceed 40
courses, were designed to overwhelm. That was the point."
"Gold and silver leaf were also used with sweetmeats, for decoration and because they were thought
medicinal."
"...for a display of wealth combined with the magical properties of an elixer of life, you could lay golde or silver
on your comfits,' creating the ancestors of the silver dragees, the little cake decorations still sold for children's
party cakes."
RENAISSANCE PRESCRIPTIONS: PRESERVATIVE & MEDICINAL VALUES
"The topic of corruptability was also a perennial obsession for dietary authors...physicians often recommended drinking wine after
corrutible fruits like melons and peaches. In fact any "spiritual" and incorruptible substance can acrt as a preservative.
Gold and pearls were often used for [preservative] purpose, ground into food or drunk in life-preserving fluids such as "aurum potabile,"
[drinkable gold]."
Food historians generally agree that classic English trifles are products of the Renaissance.
Related foods are medieval fools and (in very recent times) tiramisu.
The Oxford English
Dictionary traces the trifle (as it relates to food) in printed English texts to 1598 and defines it
thusly: "A dish composed of cream boiled with various ingredients. Obs. A light confection of
sponge-cake or the like, esp. flavoured with wine or spirit, and served with custard and whipped
cream." Related recipe? Zuppa Inglese.
The food historians add these notes:
"Trifle: a traditional English sweet or dessert. The essential ingredients are sponge cake soaked in
sherry or white wine, rich custard, fruit or jam, and whipped cream, layered in a glass dish in that
order. The cream is often decorated with, for example, slivers of almond, glace cherries, angelica.
The word trifle derives from the Middle English trufl which in turn came from the Old
French trufe (or truffle), meaning something of little importance. Originally, in the late 16th
century, the culinary meaning of the word trifle was a dish composed of cream boiled with
various ingredients...The first known recipe entitled trifle was in The Good Hyswife's
Jewell,
1596 by T. Dawson, and there were many such recipes in the 17th century, including a Triffel
from the great cookery writer Robert May (1685), but these were little more than spiced and
sweetened cream, latterly thickened by renneting. It was not until the mid-18th century that something like the modern trifle began to emerge. Biscuits wetted with wine were then in place at
the bottom of the bowl, and custard was on top of them, while the topmost layer could be
achieved by pouring whipped syllabub froth over all. When this froth was replaced by plain
whipped cream, the process of evolution was virtually complete."
"In Elizabethan times trifles were simply cream warmed through and flavoured with sugar, ginger,
etc., but
gradually, in successive recipes, we find them being thickened up by boiling and adding rennet,
enlivened
by additional ingredients such as crushed macaroons, and decorated on top with comfits, until by
the mid-eighteenth century they are very much as we would recognize them today. Hannah Glasse
in the 1755
edition of her Art of Cookery gives a recipe for a 'Grand Trifle' which includes naples biscuits,
ratafias, and
macaroons soaked in sack with custard poured over them and topped with syllabub, and which
she
describes as 'fit fto go to the King's table, if well made...'. Trifles were indeed very popular in the
eighteenth
century, and there were several different variants...The original meaning of the word in medieval
English
was 'an inconsequential or insubstantial tale, told either to amuse or to deceive', but it was not
long before
this broadened out to 'a thing or matter of little importance', from which the dish took its name.
The
immediate source of the word was Old French truffle, a variant of truffe, meaning 'deceit,
trickery', but
where this came from is not clear; there may be some connection with truffle the fungus, though
this has
never been established for certain...The French call trifle creme anglaise."
"Among the creamy dishes of the Tudor and Stuart period were trifles, fools and white pots. An
Elizabethan trifle was made thus: Take a pint of thick cream, and season it with sugar and ginger,
and rosewater, so stir it as you would then have it, and lake it luke warm in a dish on a
chafingdish and coals, and after put it into a silver piece or bowl, and so service it to the board.
In later recipes the cream was boiled and lightly renneted to make it thicker and when you serve
it in, strew on some French comfits. By 1751 trifle was being made with broken Naples biscuits,
macaroons and ratafia cakes wetted with sack at the bottom of the bowl, good boiled custard in
the middle, and then put a syllabub over tha'. Subsequent recipes replaced the syllabub with
whipped cream, milled in a chocolate mill; and the modern trifle was established."
EARLY TRIFLE RECIPES
[1685] "To make a Triffel
[1769] "To Make a Trifle.
If you need more details, ask your librarian to help you find this article from Petits Propos
Culinaires, a British food history journal: "Whims and Fancies of the Trifle," Helen Saberi
issue 50, page 11.
Related foods? Tipsy Parson &
Victorian Sandwich Cakes.
Tiramisu
Food historians generally date the invention of tiramisu in the 1960s-1970s and acknowledge its
zenith of popularity in the 1980s. It was THE dessert in movie Sleepless in Seattle.The first restaurant to serve Tiramisu is generally thought to be El Toula (est. 1968) in Italy.
Or...was it invented in
Baltimore? Either way, the
ancestors of this dessert (minus the chocolate and the coffee) are Renaissance-era English trifles, 18th
century Tipsy cake and
19th century Zuppa Inglese. Before this? Ancient Romans enjoyed breads steeped in honey, wine and
spices.
"Eating habits are notable in that they don't change quickly and cultures resist new foods probably
as often as they accept them. People are deeply attached to their traditional foods. Occasionally
foods appear to be rapidly accepted. An example of the coffee sponge cake called tiramisu,
meaning literally "pick-me-up," that was invented in the 1960s by the chef at El Toula restaurant
in Trevisio in the Veneto region of Italy and is now ubiquitious in Italian restaurants in
America."
"If memory serves, it was Gael Greene, restaurant reviewer for New York Magazine, who
first
swooned over this rich mocha Italian sweet. I also believe it happened in the early 80s, but
perhaps the late 70s. In any event, nearly every Italian restaurant of status scrambled to put
tiramasu on is menu. Soon, however, tiramisu began to suffer from overexposure and by the 90s,
to vanish from menus."
"Tirami su
"Tiramasu. Italian dessert invented during the 1970s, based on plain cake or a yeasted sweet
bread soaked in spirits of liqueur and coffee, topped with a mascarpone mixture, sometimes
containing beaten egg yolks lightened with whisked egg whites."
"Italy is known for romance. Now, with help from the movie ‘Sleepless in Seattle,’ so is one of its desserts…As lovers of Italian cuisine can testify, tiramisu is a
rich, layered dessert made with lady finger cookies and mascarpone cheese, among other unhealthy things. And now the film’s director, Nora Ephron, has
released a recipe for the after-dinner treat.
"Mascarpone...a fresh Italian cheese made from cream coagulated by citric or tartaric acid, and
therefore a kind of cream cheese. This product does not keep, and is mainly produced in the
autumn and winter. It is usually sold in small containers and is eaten by itself or in various
mixtures with cocoa, coffee, liqueurs, etc. One such confection is the Venetian dessert tiramasu,
meaning pick-me-up..."
Zuppa Inglese
" Dessert made of sponge cake soaked in liqueur and topped with custard or whipped cream. The
name translates literally in Italian as English Soup and may in fact connote its similarily to
English trifle. Others believe it is a dialectical corruption of the verb inzuppare, meaning to
sop."
"A dessert invented by Neapolitan pastrycooks of Europe during the 19th century. Inspired by
English puddings that were fashionalbe at the time, zupp inglese...usually consists of a sponge
soaked wtih kirsch, filled with confectioner's custard (pastry cream) and crystallized (candied)
fruits macerated in kirsch or Maraschino, then covered with Italian meringue and browned in the
oven..."
"A dukedom, a country palace, and this rich dessert were among the many tributes bestowed on
Lord Nelson by the grateful Neapolitans after his victory over Napoleon in the Nile in 1798.
"English Soup," as it was called, was the creation of an anonymous pastry cook smitten with the
admiral, the English, and their spirit-soaked Trifles."
Food historians agree that [cheese] fondue began in Switzerland there is no exact inventor or
date. The cooking method, dipping pieces bread into melted (fondue means melted in French)
cheese, is not disimilar to that of tempura (dipping pieces of shrimp into hot oil for cooking) and
other quick cook methods employed in the Middle East and Asia. These were popular in the
middle ages. The simple ingredients suggest it was a peasant meal. This is perhaps confirmed by
the fact that Ude, Gouffe and Escoffier do not include recipes for "classic" cheese fondue in their
master works. Escoffier (1903) does, however, include recipes for tomato fondue (a tomato
reduction) and Fondus au Parmesean. The latter recipe is described as having nothing to do with
Swiss Fondue au Fromage.
One of the first print references (and most often quoted) to fondue was written by Jean-Anthelme
Brillat-Savarin in his Physiologie du Gout, 1826. His description and recipe is
unanimously regarded by fondue connosieurs as incorrect. Why? Because a real cheese fondue
does not contain eggs.
Culinary evidence confirms recipes for fondue have changed through time. While the Swiss
(rightfully) claim the original recipe, the French and Americans have skillfully tweaked the
concept to create new dishes with alternative ingredients and cooking methods. Until the
mid-20th century, American fondue recipes were a cross between cheese souffle and casserole.
Traditional Swiss fondue was embraced by American cooks as a party novelty in the 1960s.
McCall's Cook Book [1963] makes a distinction between these two recipes, naming one
"Cheese Fondue," (p. 27) and the other "Fondue Americaine," (p. 34). Both recipes are listed
under the appetizer category. In the 1960s and 70s many American households added "fondue
pots" to their party ware. These were often colorfully glazed pots with legs secured over a Sterno
(small open fire) can.
Chocolate fondue is mid-20th century with several claimants with regards to "invention."
"Fondue originated in Switzerland, where it was part of peasant families' one pot cooking
methods and a means of using hardened cheese. The word comes comes from the French verb
fondre,' "to melt." The classic fondue, called fondue neuchateloise, is made with Emmenthaler or
Gruyere cheeses and a Swiss white wine intended to provide acidity...Although the French
gastronome Brillat-Savarin referred to fondue in the nineteenth century, the dish actually remained
a peasant meal of little interest until it was introduced in the United States in the 1950s. In 1952
chef-owner Konrad Elgi of New York's Chalet Swiss restaurant made a fondue bourguignonne,
made with beef cubes cooked in hot oil, that became an overnight sensation that spread rapidly to
other restaurants. In the early 1960s Egli, who noticed that many of his diet-conscious customers
avoided his rich chocolate desserts, consulted with his public-relations agent, Beverly Allen, and
came up with a chocolate fondue (introduced on July 4, 1964) into which one dipped pieces of
cake, fruit, or cream-puff pastry--a variation completely unknown in Switzerland but one that
became popular even there within the last few years."
"Fondue, the French word for 'melted', is the name of a Swiss dish made of melted cheese...There
are many recipes for cheese fondue, including that given by Brillat-Savarin (1826) which has been
condemned by Swiss authorities as being for scambled eggs with cheese rather than true fondue.
Eggs do not appear in classic Swiss recipes. Most Swiss would agree that a proper fondue is
made with a blend of cheeses--of gruyere, emmental, and a softer local sheese such as raclette or
appenzell--white wine, a little kirsh, a spoonful of flour to prevent curdling, salt, pepper, nutmeg,
and nothing else. Fonduta, the Italian version of fondue, is made with fontina cheese...There is
also a similar Dutch dish called kaasdoop (cheese dip)."
"Cheese fondue. Thumb through almost any basic, late-nineteenth-century cookbook and you will
find something called fondu' or fondue." but this is not the Swiss classic that became so popular
in the 50s and 60s. Those early fondues were mock cheese souffles plumped with bread
crumbs."
"Chocolate fondue, unlike cheese fondue, is not Swiss. According to Jane and Michael Stern
(American Gourmet, 1991), it was dreamed up in the Madison Avenue test kitchens of the
Switzerland Association to promote Toblerone Swiss chocolate. The Stern's don't say when the
great event took place, but I distinctly remember chocolate fondue being a late-'50s to early'60s
phenomenon."
"Fondue--Le terme fondue s'applique a diverses perparations qui different sensiblement les unes
des autres. Ansi, on designe sous ce nom une sorte des creme au fromage, orginaire de Suisse, et
dont nous donnons les recettes plus loin. Sous le meme nome, et cela de facon impropre, on
designe un appret d'oeufs brouilles au fromage, appret dont, dans la Physiolgie du gout,
Brillat-Savarin donne une recette assez originale. V. Plus loin Fondue au fromage. On appelle
aussi
fondue un mode de preparation des legumes qui, apres avoir ete cuits longuement dans du beurre,
de la graisse ou de l'huille, sont complement fondus. Ces diverses fondues de legumes sont
employees come elements complementaires dans un tres grand nombre d'apprets."
The oldest recipe for fondue on our (small) collection is dated 1913. It is the one generally cited
for denouncing Brillat-Savarin's bon mots.
Fondue gruyerienne au vacherin.
Modern American fondue
"Cheese Fondue. Thumb hrough almost any basic, late-nineteenth century cookbook and you will find something called
"fondu" or "fondue." But this is not the Swiss classic that became so popular in the '50s and '60s. Those early fondues
were mock cheese souffles with bread crumbs."
"Cheese Fondue
Related foods? Welsh Rabbit, Grilled Cheese & Tempura.
The origin and evolution of Welsh Rabbit (aka Welsh Rarebit) differs according to one's point of view. Certainly, combinations of melted cheese and toasted bread have been
enjoyed in several cultures and cuisines for thousands of years. The proceedings of this particular recipe hinges on political persuasion.
"There is no evidence that the Welsh actually originated this dish of toasted cheese, although they have always had a reputation as cheese-lovers. A more likely
derivation of the name is that Welsh in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was used as a patronizingly humorous epithet for any inferior grade or varitey of
article, or for a substitute for the real thing...Welsh rabbit may therefore have started life as a dish resorted to when meat was not avialable. The first record of the
word comes in John Byron's Literary Remains (1725): 'I did not eat of cold beef, but of Welsh rabbit and stewed cheese.' Although the term is often used simply
for a slice of bread topped with cheese and put under the grill, the fully-fledged Welsh rabbit is a more complicated affiar, with several variations: the cheese
(classically Cheddar or Double Gloucester...) can be mixed with butter or mustard, beer or wine, and it can be pre-melted and poured over the toast rather than
grilled...Welsh rabbit has of course produced one of the great linguistic causes celebres of gastronomy with it genteel variant Welsh rarebit. There is little doubt that
rabbit is the original form, and that rarebit (first recorded in 1785) is an attempt to folk-etymologize it--that is, to reinterpret the odd and inappropriate-sounding
rabbit as something more fitting to the dish. Precisely how this took place is not clear; it has been speculated that rarebit was originally rearbit, that is, something
eaten at the end of a meal, but there is no actual evidence for this. However that may be, the spurious rarebit has continued to be preferred up to the present day by
those who apparently find honest-to-goodness rabbit slightly vulgar."
"One thing which is not in doubt is Welsh fondness for cheese...The real problem is to find a plausible explanation for 'rabbit'. This difficulty has caused some
authorities to declare that the term should really be 'rarebit', meaning a choice morsel. However, this does not work. The 'rabbit' version has been found in print as
early as 1725, whereas 'welshe rarebit' was first recorded 60 years later...One piece of evidence of which the significance is difficult to discern is that Hannah
Glasse (1747) gives four of these rabbit-cheese recipes: one for Scotch-Rabbit, one for Welch-Rabbit, and two for an English-Rabbit....Graham (1988) is one
recent authority who should definitely be consulted about these mysteries, to which he devotes several pages. He remarks that: 'The French have always prized the
Welsh rabbit. To the best of my knowledge, the dish first appeared in a French cookbook in 1814, when Antoine Beauvilliers published a recipe for wouelsch
rabette (lapin gallois) in his L'Arte du cuisiner. But it really came into fashion when Anglomania was at its height around the turn of the century. In L'art des mets,
published in 1959, the French gourmet Francis Amunategui remembers the atmosphere, decades earlier, at the then very British restaurant, The Criterion...
Anglophiles flocked there specially to order Welsh rabbit (by that time spelt correctly but usually abbreviated to le welsh) and wash it down with English ale in
pewter mugs.'"
"The English, the Scots, and the Welsh do not always get along as well as most Americans might presume. The English traditionally scorned the Welsh as poor and
not always trustworthy...When a new dish of melted cheese on toast was devised in the eighteenth century, it was jokingly called Welsh Rabbit, meaning that a
Welshman, too poor to have meat, would call his cheese a rabbit. The alternative spelling, Welsh Rarebit, developed later and is imitative. If a Welshman had some
cheeese, it would be a "rare bit."
"I like the story that this dish, so much like fondue, got its name when Welsh wives, waiting anxiously, spied ther husbands or sons returning from a hunt
empty-handed and set cheese before the fire to melt, as a substitute for a dinner of game. But my friend Paul Leyton,...has delved into the musty past to come up
with an explanation of why Welsh Rabbit is sometimes called Welsh Rarebit. In England...there was a time when hors d'oeuvre were known as "forebits," because
they were served in advance, and the characteristic savouries that come at a meal's end on British menus were called "rearbits"--hence the rarified pronunciation
"rarebit.""
"Welsh Rabbit.--Let the Welsh tell their own take in the words of Lady Llanover:--"Welsh toasted cheese and the melted cheese of England are as different in the
mode of preparation as is the cheese itself; the one being adapted to strong digestions, and the other being so easily digested that the Hermit frequently gave it to
his invalid patients when they were recovering from illness. Cut a slice of the real Welsh cheese, made of sheep and cow's milk; toast it at the fire on both sides,
but not so much as to drop; toast a piece of bread less than a quarter of an inch thick, to be quite crisp, and spread it very thinly with fresh cold butter on one side
(it must not be saturated with butter); then lay the toasted cheese upon the bread, and serve immediately on a very hot plate. The butter on the toast can of course
be omitted if not liked, and it is more frequently eaten without butter." It is quite intelligible that one cheese should be more wholesome than another; but that there
is any marked difference in digestibility between cheese toasted and cheese melted or stewed, is difficult to believe. In case the wandering Englishman should
suddenly feel in his travels of a sort of home-sickness, and desire to partake of Welsh rabbit, let it be known that in Viard's cookery book, which has a great
reputation, the recipe is quite correctly given; and that on this authoritiy the said Englishman may safely call either for Wouelche Rabette or for Lapin Gallois."
Origin of this dish from the Welsh point of view:
"The Welsh had an early passion for roasted, or toasted, cheese--caws pobi (caws cheese, pobi roasted), the forerunner of what became known eventually as
Welsh Rarebit. From medieval times there are numerous references to it, and by Tudor times it had become something of a national dish. References to Welsh
efforts to trade for the hard cheeses, especially of Cheddar, they coveted for roasting, confirm that the acidity of the soil in such a large part of Wales produced
milk more suited to making soft cheeses of whole, or at least only semi-skimmed milk matured for a short time; though this is not to say that hard, well-matured,
less rich cheeses were not made in some places. The poem in dialect by Dewi Emrys contains the line (in translation)'...and a hunk of a fine cheese', yet the soil in
that part of west Wales is notoriously acid--hence the proliferation of lime kilns along that coast. But perhaps the cheese was made from ewes' milk, always specified as an alternative to Cheddar for caws pobi because of its sharp-flavoured hardness."
"The Welsh loved the hard English cheeses which they could not easily produce themselves because of the soft, acid soil which covered such a lard part of Wales.
Those who lived in east Wale, in the old counties of Monmouth and Glamorgan, and perhaps parts of Breconshire and Radnorshire, too, drove their flocks of sheep
to barter for the Cheddar cheese they wanted above oall for their saws pobi (literally toasted or roasted cheese) for which they had a passion since at least
medieval times. In areas of Wales where Cheddar cheese was unavailable, ewes' milk cheese was used for caws pobi, as it had been form earliest times. Eventually
this Welsh specialty became known as 'Welsh Rabbit'; finally, about the end of the 18th century we find the term 'rare-bit' coming into use. Nearly all the southern
and western English counties had a 'rabbit', and all were on the same lines--either toasted or melted cheese, or a cheese sauce with the addition of beer and
mustard, and sometimes onion. I think caws pobi was a part of Welsh fare much too early on, and the term rabbit too commonplace throughout Britian to give
credence to the popular tradition that the dish was meant to replace the rabbits the English landlords forbade their Welsh tenants to catch. But it is a fact that there
are few recipes in Welsh collections for rabbit dishes, though rabbits mush have been taken to supplement an impoverished diet...Lady Llanover gave precise
instructions for caws pobi in her Good Cookery."
English Welsh Rabbit recipes through time:
[1753]
[1861]
[1875]
"Cheese, Toasted or Welsh rarebit.--Cut some slices of the crumb of bread about half an inch in thickness, and toast them lightly on both sides. Lay on them in some slices of good, rich cheese, and put them in a cheese toaster till the cheese is melted. Spread a little made mustard and pepper over them, and serve on very hot plates. It is most desirable to send this dish to table quite hot, as without this it is enirely worthless."
[1902]
"A Homely Rarebit
[1934]
Tomato Welsh Rarebit
[1956]
[1968]
Related foods? Fondue & grilled cheese.
In France, oil & vinegar dressings are called vinaigrette. The term "French dressing" (used to
denote vinaigrette and its many variations) became popular in Britain and America in the 1880s.
As salads gained popularity in the early 20th century, recipes for "French dressing" proliferated.
The famous Edgewater Beach Hotel Salad Book, Arnold Shircliffe [Hotel Monthly
Press:Evanston]1928 says this:
Creamy French dressing (mayonnaise base) is similar to Remoulade.
The tomato-based French dressing we Americans currently purchase in grocery stores probably
also began in the twentieth century. Prudence Penny's Cookbook, Prudence Penny [1939]
contains two recipes for a tomato-based French dressings. She uses ketchup & tomato soup to
flavor her dressings (see recipes below). According to advertisements in Favorite Recipes from
Marye Dahnke's File, Kraft-Phenix Cheese Corporation [1938] Kraft was marketing "Two
distinctive French Dressings, both made by Kraft. Kraft French Dressing with its delicately
appetizing tang has long been a favorite. Miracle French Dressing woes its wonderful "racy"
flavor to a special French trick in seasoning." (p. 47). NOTE: the "Miracle" version of this
dressing is made with Kraft's Miracle Whip Salad Dressing. It is red in color. The Heinz Company
provided recipes for French Dressing (with and without) ketchup. See below for recipe.
This is what the food historians have to about Vinaigrette/French dressing:
"Vinaigrette...The word, which originated as a diminutive form of French vinaigre (vinegar), was
first used in English as long ago as 1699 (John Evely mentioned it in his book on salads, Acetaria)
but it did not really become established until the end of the nineteenth century. French dressing,
which originated around 1900, is a widely used synonym in British English. In French, vinaigrette
was also applied formerly to a sort of small two-wheeled carriage, from a supposed resemblance
to a vinegar-seller's cart."
"Vinaigrette. Also known in Europe as French dressing, is probably the most common dressing
for salad (barring commercial preparations) in the western world."
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 827)
"Vinaigrette. A cold sauce made from a mixture of vinegar oil, pepper, and salt, to which various
flavourings may be added...Vinaigrette is used especially for dressing green salads...It is considred
to be a typically French sauce and is often called "French dressing" in Britain. It was a French
emigre, Chevalier d'Albingac, who started the fashion in London high society for salads dressed
in ths way."
"French dressing.
"Like salads, salad dressings metamorphised this century. There were new additions: Green
Goddess, Thousand Island, Russian, Roquefort, ranch. But the bottling of dressings had greater
impact. Hellmann's creamy "deli-style" mayonnaise went into the jar in 1915--a landmark...Kraft
played a pivotal role early on, too, with a slim but select repetoire of bottled dressings including
the ever popular Miracle Whip and coral-colored French dressing. Busy cooks loved these
"convenience" dressings. In fact many considered them superior to anything they themselves
could make.... Family French dressing...This is the dressing most of us grew up on. And until
Julia Child
taught us how to make vinaigrette in the 1960s, it was the one we ladled over wedges of iceberg
or toseed with mixed greens."
"Crisp mixed greens, potato sald done the French way, or that tantalizing Mediterranean
compantion of greens, vegetables, tuna, olives, eggs, and anchovies known as salade nicoise--it's
the dressing that makes the dish. And it's the excellence of the oil and the vinegar that make the
dressing...For real French dressing, you want a wine vinegar, either red or white, which is not
overly strong and biting. The best imported French wine vinegars come from Orleans..."
Culinary evidence confirms French dressings weren't invented in the 1880s...that's the
approximate date when dressing recipes with this name begin to appear in American cookbooks.
Prior to this time French dressing-stype recipes are are simply called dressings, or salad dressings.
They often contain egg, in the Ancient Roman manner.
A buffet of "French" dressings through time:
[1475] "On Seasoned Lettuce...
[1669]
Aceteria
[1849] "To dress lettuce as salad...
[1875?] "Sauce a la Vinaigrette
[1875?] "Remoulade--French Salad Dressing
[1884] "French
dressing"
[1923] "Dixie French Dressing
Mix the dry ingredients, add the remaining ingredients and beat vigorously for three minutes.
Serve very cold on slices of cucumber or on head lettuce."
[1930] French dressing--foundation recipe
Mix the salt,sugar and paprika together. Add vinegar and oil and beat thoroughly, or put all the
ingredients into a glass jar, screw top on tightly and shake thoroughly. NOTE: Plain French
Dressing is the only dressing in which we marinate salads. "To marinate" means to mix the
ingredients in French Dressing until every portion of them is well coated." (p. 10)
[1930] Ketchup Dressing
[1939] "De Luxe French Dressing
Method:
The popular history behind French toast (aka German toast, American toast, Spanish toast, Nun's
toast, Cream toast, Amarilla, Poor Knights of Windsor) is that it was created by medieval
European cooks who needed to use every bit of food they could find to feed their families. They
knew old, stale bread (French term "pain perdu" literally means lost bread) could be revived when
moistened with milk and enriched with eggs. The traditional method of cookery was on a hot
griddle prepped with a little fat (butter, oil). Quite like today.
Actually, recipes for "French toast" can be traced Ancient Roman times. Apicius simply calls it
"Another sweet dish." Linguistic evidence confirms the connection, as one of the original French
names for this dish is "Pain a la Romaine," or Roman bread. Culinary evidence confirms "French
toast" was not just a food of the poor. Recipes printed in ancient and medieval texts employed
white bread (the very finest, most expensive bread available at the time) with the crusts cut off. In
many cases, expensive spices and almond milk were listed as ingredients. This is not something a
poor, hungry person would
have eaten. It is also important to note that until very recently, cook books were not written for
the the "average" person. Only the noble, wealthy, and religious leaders were taught to read. The
recipes contained in them reflect the meals of the upper classes.
"French toast" recipes exist in many countries and cuisines.The beauty of this simple dish is that it
can be as basic or fancy as the cook pleases. "French toast" is most often eaten for breakfast,
although some variations are enjoyed for dessert. It has also been incorporated into popular other
dishes, such as the Monte Cristo
sandwich. Did you know if you go to France it is unlikely you will find "French toast" on the
menu? That's because in France the dish is called "pain perdu!"
"...what amounts to French toast seems to have been popular throughout [medieval] Europe. But
everyone seems to have has his own name for the dish: Maestro Martino and some English
authors called it "suppe dorate" and "soupys yn dorye" respectively, while French writers favored
"tostees dorees," reserving the word "soupe" for slices of bread soaked in the potage (which gives
rise to the expression "trempe comme une soupe," the French equivalent of "soaked to the skin").
Eventually, as we know, the world "soup" would come to mean the actual liquid in which these
soupes were soaked. Other English sources surprisingly call this dish "payn purdeu," clearly the
same as today's French name, "pain perdu." And of course the modern English term is "French
toast": what goes around comes around. In England and in Italy, these golden brown bread slices
were served with game meats and with peacocks and other grand birds. We do not know exactly
how they were used in France even though there are several otherwise undefined menu references
to venaison aux soupes, "game meat with sippets." In any event, we have once again thrown in
our lot with Maestro Martino, because his recipe is the most polished of them all, using rose
water where no one else thought to do so. Still, some of the English recipe are not without
delicacy, specifying that the butter for frying the toast should be clarified (gently boiled to
separate out its impurities, which prevents burning) and that the bread would be soaked not in
whole eggs but in beaten egg yolks that have been put through a sieve to make them perfectly
smooth and creamy."
"This dish does have its origins in France, where it is known as "ameritte" or "pain perdu" ("lost
bread"), a term that has persisted, in Creole and Cajun cookery; in Spain it is called "torriga" and
in England "Poor Knights of Windsor," which is the same name for the dish in Denmark, "arme
riddere," and Germany, "arme ritter." At one time or another in America it has been referred to
as "Spanish," "German," or "nun's toast," and its first appearance in print as "French
Toast" was in 1871. "
"French toast is a dish we have borrowed from the French, who call it "pain perdu", or lost
bread...It is known in England as the poor knights of Windsor, which is the same phrase used in
many countries: "fattiga riddare" in Sweden; "arme ridder" in Danish; and "armer ritter" in
German.
One theory about how the latter name came about goes as follows: In olden times, one of the
symbols of distinction between the gentry and the common herd was that the former were
expected to serve dessert at dinner. Knights, of course, were gentry. But not all of them were
rich. Those who were not, in order to maintain their status, made do with "armer ritter'," often
served with jam."
Interested in old recipes?
[1450]"Suppe dorate (Gilded sippets)
[1660] "To make the best Pamperdy"
[1747] Pain Perdu, or Cream Toasts
[1884] "Egg toast, or
bread sauteed
[1887] "American Toast
[1926] "French Toast (Amarilla)
Cut bread as for toast, without removing crust. Beat egg slightly, add milk. Dip bread slices with
a fork into milk mixture, moistening well on both sides, not too wet. Cover bottom of a hot skillet
one inch or more with hot or rendered butter. Brown moistened bread quickly as soon as dipped,
first on one side then on the other in hot butter. Do not cook more than two or three slices at one
time. If cooked too slowly, toast will be greasy. Drain and sprinkle while hot with confectioner's
sugar and cinnamon mixed together."
The history of honey is rich in tradition. This ancient substance has been used for food, drinks
(mead!), medicine, gifts for the gods, barter, cosmetics, cooking, food preservation, cosmetics,
art, etc.). It has been used in religion, art, mythology, legends and literature as well as studied by
scientists.
"The oldest written reference to the use of honey is thought to be Egyptian, of about 5500BC. At
that time Lower Egypt was called Bee Land while Upper Egypt was Reed Land. By the 5th
dynasty (c.2600BC) apiculture was well established and is shown in several reliefs in the temple of
the Sun at Abusir. Honey was a valuable commoditiy used widely in trade--in the accounts
of Seti I (1314-1292BC) 110 pots of honey were equivalent in value to an ass or an ox...The use
of honey was taken to India by its Aryan invaders and became associated with religious
rites....Honey is also mentioned on ancient Sumerian clay tablets, possibly even older than the
Egyptian reference. Later Babylonian tablets give recipes for "electuaries"--medicines based on
honey. An electuary mentioned in the 1st century AD by the Roman writer Pliny the Elder
included powdered bees. It was said to be a cure for dropsy and bladder stones..."
Recommended reading:
Honey in mythology & religion
"The principal honey of Israel seems to have been a thick syrup made from either grapse or dates,
called
dibs in Arabic. It is often mentioned in lists of foodstuffs of the land...It is considered a
delicacy...and
is mentioned as the epitome of sweetness...Along with leven it was prohibited in burnt
offerings...but the
Talmud declares that it had this taste only for children...Its quality of sweetness caused it to be
used
figuratively for gracious and pleasant things, such as the words of God...the wisdom of
Torah...the speech
of a friend...as well as the seductive language of the strange woman...Bees' honey, found wild, is
sufficently
rare to have been considered among the finest of foods...This wild honey figures prominently in
the story of
the wedding of Samson and Timnah...where Samson, having found honey amid a swarm of bees in
the
carcass...of a lion he had killed, wagered thirty festal garments on the riddle "out of the eater
came
something to eat, out of the strong came something sweet"...Bees' honey was also found in the
forest,
where it was eaten by Jonathan in violation of this father's oath...During the Talmudic
period...honey came
to refer specifically to bees' honey, with the result that a distinction was made; regarding vows,
the
commonly accepted use of the word determined the extent of the vow, and it was decided that
"He who
takes a vow to abstain from honey is permitted to eat date honey."
"Honey...is one of the seven characteristics of the "good land," Israel...according to the Talmudic
sages, this
is date rather than bee honey, since the other seven qualities derive from plants, not animals. The
period
between Passover and Pentecost is crucial for the success of the olive, grape, pomegranate, date,
fig,
wheat, and barley crisps, but is not so for the successful production of bee honey. The frequent
references
to "a land flowing with milk and honey" imply, depending on context, either blessing or
destruction. In most
instances the expression indicates the riches of the land...The references to the land of milk and
honey in
the Pentateuch and Joshua are to uncultivated land. These pastures, good for the grazing of sheep
and
goats, and therefore milk production, were rich in flowers on which wild honey bees thrived. In
the OT honey
was gathered from wild bees, rather than cultivated in domestic hives...Since the land was
cultivated during
the Monarchy, prophetic announcements of a return to the land of milk and honey indicated the
deportation
of the people, which would result in cultivated land returing it to its natural state: a land flowing
with milk and
honey."
Health aspects
Preservative properties
"In 1800 some archaelogists working in Egypt found a large jar of honey. They opened it and
found that it tasted perfect even though it was thousands of years old."
"The shelf-life of honey is sometimes quoted commerically as 2 1/2 years, but honey does not go
bad as many foods do; it is still wholesome after decades...The oldest honey I have seen is in the
Agricultural museum at Dokki in Egypt, where two honey pots from New Kingdom tombs (c.
1400BC) still have their contents in them...It is important to store honey under suitable
conditions. If honey is not kept sealed it can deteriorate through fermentation; if it is stored at
high temperatures...honey can deteriorate through abnormal chemical reactions."
Shelf-life of honey from the National
Honey Board
About beekeeping/honey in the American colonies:
"America has always had many species of honey-producing bees, and Waverly Root in
Food (1980)
noted that the Spaniards found the Aztecs and Mayas consuming honey made by the species
Melipona
beecheii. But it was not until 1638 that honey was available to New England settlers, who had
introduced
the bee species Apis mellifica (possibly Italian or Dutch varieties), which the Indians called
"English" or
"white man's flies." In Food and Drink in America (1981), Richard J. Hooker cited a
chronicler's
description of New York in 1670: 'You shall scarce see a house, but the South side is begirt with
Hives and
Bees.' By 1812 the honeybees had moved as far as Texas, where in 1821 Stephen F. Austin found
a bee
tree that provided his party with a gallon and a half of honey."
"Honey bees were not native to the Americas. Aztec and Mayan cultures of South and Central
America kcpt
colonies of
native, stingless bees for their honey and wax, mainly for use as a medicine. We do not know
precisely
when the first colonies
of honey bees were brought to North America. Ships crossing the Atlantic in the winter carried
bee colonies
to Virginia
before 1622 and to Massachusetts prior to 1638. The honey bee did very wcll in the forest
clearings of early
colonial
America, using the abundant nectar and pollen available from the trees and shrubs native to the
eastern
U.S.
As European settlers spread across the U.S., they took bee hives with them. Bees were
recorded in Florida by 1763 and
west of the Mississippi by 1800. Russian settlers carried bees to Alaska in 1809 and to California
by 1830.
The Spanish may
have brought them from Mexico into the southwest before that date."
The Complete Country Housewife [London:1770] contains a chapter on bee-keeping.
Though this is
from UK, the methods used by colonial housewives would have been quite similar. We would be
happy to
fax these pages to you. If you are looking for something to give you an edge for the judges this
might just do
the trick.
Web sites with basic honey history & facts (good for kids)
Although recipes combining cowpeas (aka
black-eyed peas) and cereal grains can be traced
to Ancient African cultures, food historians generally agree that "Hopping John" is an American
dish with African/French/Caribbean roots. There is much controversy about the origins of the
name.
"Hopping john.
"The sustaining combination of rice and peas--black-eyed peas, cowpeas, or whatever legume is available--is an African dish that
took various forms in the Americas...The only specifically American versions of this dish are the hoppin' John of South
Carolina and red beans and rice of New Orleans. Hoppin' John may have its leguminious component cowpeas, or black-eye peas...Congo
peas, or pigeon peas...but green or yellow field peas are not used..."
"Popular to this day [hoppin John] is a dish that Carolina slaves popularized and thrived on in their quest for substistence. For
all its longevity, though, it's also a dish whose exact composition, origin, and name remain shrouded in the mystery typical of
food forged on the frontier. Hoppin' John underwent constant change. While we know that it essentially consists of rice and beans
in some combination, it has...be variously concocted to include cowpeas, red peas, small black peas, and calavances, as well as
Crowder peas on whipperwoll peas...Other recipes asked for some combination of bacon, fried sausage, ham, onion, mint, red
pepper, file powder, cured pork, pork jowls, ham hock...Some culture traditionally serve hoppin John ingredients on the same plate
but kept the rice, beans, and meat seaparate from one another...Hoppin' John's versatility further confounds its origin. Some
scholars identify it as a strictly West African dish carried to the colonies by slaves from the Congo. Others...plausibly
suggest an Islamic origin, noting that Senegalese and Nigerian Muslims cooked hoppin' John with jerked beef rather than
verboten pork. Yet another popular theory highlights the influence of the Seminole Indians, as runaway slaves living among the
Florida Native Amemicans may have adapated the dish to Seminole practices, particularly with respect to the incorporation of
beans. Even the dish's name has been subjected to a rash of theorizing, ranging from a variation on the French
pois de pigeon to an elision of bahatta kachang--the latter word being a Madagascar-based term for "pea" and the former a
Hindi word for "cooked rice." How did hoppin' John come from either of these phrases? No one truly knows. In the end,
we're left to conclude that hoppin' John's authenticity comes from its versatility and...its mystery."
"hoppin' John, a dish of cowpeas (black-eyed peas), cooked with fat pork...and rice and some seasoning. It is often served with
collard greens and cornbread...Everyone seems to agree that the indisputable basis of the dish is cowpeas, which the slaves
brought to N. America...John Thorne...gives a generous amount of space to the
subject, in the course of a chapter about the various forms which 'Rice and Beans' have take in the Americas and especially in
the southern states of the USA. The origin of the name is uncertain. Thorne cites several theories which have been advanced by
etymologists and cookery writers, none of which is irresitibly plausible."
Afro-Americans have had profound influence on many aspects of American culture, especially
cooking...The descendants of these first Afro-Americans used many traditional foods of Africa
and adapted the time-honored dishes so that they were no longer African but Afro-American.
Because of these culinary wizards,...the black bean dishes of Burundi have been transformed into
such dishes as ham hocks with black-eyed peas or hoppin john..."
"Cowpeas and Rice: Hoppin' John
Another view of the New Year's connection
"Way down South, in the old days, they used to say that you would have as many dollars during the year--as black-eyed peas on
New Year's...For luck, for joy, and nowadays, to be in fashion, you must eat black-eyed peas with rice (some people call it Hop
John or Hopping John) for New Year's Eve or on New Year's Day. The old-fashioned New Year's food of the south has taken up during
the last few years in all parts of the country. Soul food is the rage...In Harlem and Chicago's South Side, they say that
'Eating peas is just for coins. Collard and other greens bring folding money. And pig, all parts of the pig, will make you
healthy, wealthy and sharp'."
Recommended reading
ABOUT COWPEAS:
RECIPES:
Hush puppies are a popular southern American twist on an ancient culinary theme. Thousands of
years ago Romans and Greeks made fritters: deep fried flour
mixed with milk, eggs, spices, and honey. These ancient cooks also sometimes coated their fish
and other meats with similar concoctions before frying. Presumably, the practice of cooking
leftover coating was one of sensibility and frugality. Were these scraps fed to hungry dogs to keep
them quiet? The ancient texts do not say.
"Modern" hush puppies are made with corn meal. Corn is a new world food adapated by old
world cooks. Corn bread, spoon bread, hoe
cakes, and corn dodgers are all related to hush puppies. The primary difference? Cooking
method. We find several 18th and 19th century American recipes for fritter-type foods and fried
fish dredged in flour/corn meal and spices. They go by several names, none of them "hush
puppies."
It's unlikely we will ever find a definative account when it comes to the exact origin of the term
"hush puppies" because the food historians have yet to agree. The general concensus is that the
name DOES have something to do with keeping dogs quiet. The place? The American deep
south. Catfish, frequently referenced in hush puppy lore, is a favorite in that region. In the larger
frame of culinary research, it is not uncommon for recipes often precede their popular names.
This is what the food historians say on the subject:
"Hush Puppy. A dumpling of cornmeal that is deep-fried, especially popular in the South. The
term appears in print for the the first time about 1915. Although unconfirmed, the common
assumption regarding the hush puppy's origin is that it dates from the period of scarcity following
the Civil War, when cooks would toss scraps of corn batter to hungry dogs with the words "Hush
Puppies!" But the Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins cites a Southern reader's
account that in the South the aquatic reptile called the salamander was often known as a "water
dog" or "water puppy"...These were deep-fried with cornmeal dough and formed into sticks, and,
so the accout goes, they were called "hush puppies" because eating such lowly food was not
something a southern wife would want known to her neighbors."
"Hush Puppy, a small sausage-shaped fritter made from white cornmeal, milk, water, and chopped
onions, fried in fat which has been used for frying fish. Its origins are obscure, but it seems to
have originated in Florida before 1920. According to legend it was devised by hunters, who
would throw an occasional fritter to their hunting dogs to keep them quiet. However, public
outdoor fish frying sessions were common in Florida, and it is plausible to suppose that the hush
puppy came into being at these, whter or not it owes its name to the abitlity to quieten hungry
dogs."
"Hush puppies seem to have originated in the day-long hunting and fishing expeditions popular
among Southern men a few generations ago. Cooking their catch over an open fire was part of
their enjoyment of the day...as a side dish they fried little cornmeal cakes in the pan they had used
for the fish, and when the meal was over the leftovers went to the tied-up, yelping dogs,
presumable with the cry "Hush, puppies." The name first appears in print in 1918, but probably
was used much earlier."
"Hush puppies--golden-brown puffs invented to shush up the barking puppies at an outdoor feast;
made by putting corn-bread batter into deep fat."
"The origin of hush puppies sounds like an urban legend, but the same explanation pops up again
and again in cookbooks, as well as in the Encyclopedia of Southern Culture. Back in the
day, the dudes who were gathered around the campfire for a fish fry would take the cornmeal
leftover from preparing catfish, fry it up in little balls and toss 'em to the dogs tosilence their
whining. Get it? Hush, puppies."
Related food? Croquettes
Millet has been consumed by humans from prehistoric times to present. General notes here:
"The general name used for many similar cereals, notably of the genus Panicum. These bear small
grains, yielding a coarse flour. They have been and in many places still are important staple foods,
especially in dry, hot regions...Millets vary in flavour from thoroughly palatable to bitter and upleasant.
Many are grown mainly or exclusively as fodder crops for animals or poultry. Since most of them have
many alternative common names the only clear way to list them is by their botanical names. Panicum
miliaceum is known as common, hog, or Indian millet, or as proso...or as broomcorn...This species
originated in the Near East, where it has been cultivated since prehistoric times. By the beginning of the
third millennium BC it had spread through Asia to China where...it was one of the sacred five
grains...which were ceremonially sown by the emperor and his family...Common millet arrived in
Europe before 200 BC. It was a staple food known to the ancient Greeks as kenkhros and to the Romans
as milium (whence modern names). It was used for porridge and rough, unleavened bread."
"Millet, a general English name for cereals not belonging to the genera of wheat, barley, rye and oats.
None of the millets were favourite crops in the classical Mediterranean; the best known in Greece and
Rome was broomcorn millet. This had been domesticated, probably in the region of the Caucasus, before
5000 BC. It spread both westwards to central Europe (it was being cultivated in eastern France before
4000BC) and eastwards to China. It was known in Greece and Italy by the late prehistoric times. It must
have been a convenient crop in certain special circumstances, since it will ripen in Mediterranean lands
even if planted as late as the second half of June. Millet was made into a kind of porridge."
"Though people in the United States and Europe today generally think of millet as fodder for horses, millet is an important
staple grain for poor people in much of Asia, Russia, and western Africa, just as it was for Europeans though the Middle Ages. Like
other staple grains, millet represented the earth's nourishment and the harvest. In southern Europe, people cultivated millet
extensively as an alternative to oats and barley. It grew prolifically and produced astounding supplies. In China, millet had
special significance because it required the earliest sowing and yielded the earliest harvest of any grain crops. The Chinese
have worshipped the spirits of millet and of the soil since ancient times. Becuase they believed that this
precious grain ensured their survival on earth, they used millet and millet wine ceremonially in the ritual sacrifices. The myths
and believes surrounding millet closely parallel the myths and beliefs about other staple grains. These tales recount
the supernatural origin of the crops and attempt to explain how people on earth received these divine gifts...Although in western
Europe it was generally the poor who consumed millet, some Europeans belived that whoever ate the grain on New Year's Day would become
rich."
"Romans considered oats to be suitable only for animals, while millet and panicum were commonly used
for porridge. Millet continued to figure as a staple for the poor up thorugh the Middle Ages, usually in
soups."
"8. On Italian Millet. Italian millet and almost all leguminous plants are considered of bad juice. As
Pliny says, Italian millet [panicum] is so called because it is wrapped in paniculae [little tufts]. Aquitania
especially uses Italian millet, while the Pontic race prefers no food to it, and the region around the Po
also abounds in it. When Italian millet is ground and used in food, alone, it constricts the stomach, but
cooked with milk, it is very nourishing.
9. On Millet. Millet and Italian millet deplete the earth and for this reason should not be sown among
vines or fruit trees. The Ethiopians know no other grain than millet and barely, while Campania also
rejoices in it. It is cleaned by mortar and pestle, as are many others. Country people call its chaff apulda.
From millet is made porridge and very sweet bread, which the people this side of the Alps, and especially
the northern Italians, use. The principle use of millet is kneaded with must is for leaven, since it lasts a
year. The use of millet is considered inferiour to Italian millet, for it is dry and cold and slowly digested
and nourishes badly."
Recommended reading:
About culinary research & about copyright.
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 320-1)
---An A-Z of Food & Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 133)
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Ann Wilson
[Academy Chicago Publishers:Chicago] 1991 (p. 143)
[NOTE: the author is referencing Medieval English cuisine]
A large fritter from the Lyonnais region, traditionally eaten on feast days, especially Shrove
Tuesday. In the Middle Ages, fritter makers sold bugnes in the open air, from Arles to Dijon.
They have become a specialty of Lyon, as common during the vogues (fairs) as waffles are in
other regions. Bugne dough was originally made from flour, water, yeast, and orange flowers.
When the eating of dairy products until Ash Wednesday became permitted, it was enriched with
milk, butter, and eggs and bugnes have become true pastries. They are cut with a pastry wheel
into ribbons which are then knotted. Bugnes are better hot than cold."
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang (ed.) [Crown Publishers:New York]
1988 (p. 156)
"The earliest receipt that can unequivocally be identified as calling for the frying of sliced raw
potatoes that I have found is one given in La Cuisiniere R‚publicaine. Among some thirty-five
receipts for pommes de terre there is one for '[Pommes de terre] Enfriture", which involves the
classic fritter method, that is, thin slices, dipped in batter and fried in deep fat, an ancient
procedure recorded in medieval manuscripts, early making its way to English court cuisine as in
this archetypical receipt for 'Fretoure' calling for making the batter, then 'take fayre Applys, & kut
hem in man'er of Fretourys,' dipping the slices of apple in the batter and frying them in 'layre Oyle.'
In short, a procedure already so established even in early fifteenth-century England that one is to
'kut hem in man'er of Fretourys,' that is, raw in slices, and so understood. Note that all the terms
come directly from the French: Frire and friture always refer to frying in deep fat. Always. What
we now know as French fries may have started out as potato fritters, but it would not have taken
long for French cooks to realise that potatoes are starchy enough not to need the coating of batter
to provide the attractive characterizing crust of deep fried foods; that may well have occurred
long before 1795, given the historical lag between practice and the printed word. I note that La
Cuisiniere Republicaine is thought to have been written by a woman, not a chef (the cover title,
Paix au Chaumieres, salutes women who are out of work - an early feminist cookbook).3 Chefs
had other worries in 1795, and many of them had already fled France, among them Louis
Eustache Ude and very likely Honore Julien, who was to become chef de cuisine at the President's
House."
The Origin of
French
Fries, Petits Propos Culinaires, Number 68
Although fried breads of many kinds were eaten by Ancient Romans and Greeks, food historians
generally agree the idea
of funnel cakes (as we know them today) were probably created in Northern Europe. They are
quite similar in recipe and
method to fritters, doughnuts , and cryspes. These foods are
historically connected with holidays and street fairs. Notes here:
[1879]
The oldest recipe we find for a recipe titled "funnel cake"in an English language book is
this:
Source:Practical Cookbook for the ordinary and elegant Kitchen by Henriette
Davidis. 23rd Edition. Pub. Velhagen & Klasing. Bielefeld and Leipzig, 1879.
200 gr. fine flour, an equivalent amount of water, 100 gr. butter, 5 eggs,1 tablespoon sugar,
grated rind of 1/2 lemon.
Bring water and butter to the boil, gradually add the flour,and stir until the dough turns
dry and does not stick to the pot. Remove the pot from the fire, to the hot mixture add 1 egg,
lemon rind, sugar, and when cooled gradually add the remaining eggs one at a time. The
dough is then firmly beaten, added to a syringe, pressed into the hot melted butter, baked to a
yellow color according to the instructions in #246, dusted with sugar and cinnamon.
[1935]
"Mix 1 pint of sweet milk, 2 eggs well beaten, (yolks and whites together), enough flour to make
a thin batter, 1/2 teaspoonful baking powder, 1/4 teaspoonful salt. Mix in a pan thoroughly. Place
enough lard in a pan to cover the bottom. Let it get quite hot before cooking the batter. Now put
the batter through a funnel into the hot lard, beginning at center of pan, and turning the stream
around in a gradual enlarging circle, being careful not to touch the sides of the other dough. Fry a
light brown and serve hot with any tart jelly."
---Pennsylvania Dutch Cookery, J. George Frederick, reprint of 1935 edition [Favorite
Recipes Press:Lousiville KY] 1966 (p. 137)
Dumplings
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p.
261)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] 1002 (p. 437-8)
[48] Dumplings of the Pheasant [Isiia Plena]
[Lightly roast choice] fresh pheasants [cut them into dice and mix these with a ] stiff forcemeat made of the fat and the
trimmings of the pheasant, season with pepper, broth and reduced wine, shape into croquettes or spoon dumplings, and poach in
hydrogarum [water seasoned with garum, or even plain salt water].
Crush pepper, lovage and just a suspicion of pellitory, moisten with stock and well water, allow it to draw, place it in a
sauce pan, boil it down, and strain. Poach your little dumplings or forcemeat in this liquor and when they are done served in a
dish for isicia, to be sipped at the table."
To 1 acetabulum of stock add 7 of water, a little green celery, a little spoonful of ground pepper, and boil this with the
sausage meat of dumplings. If you intend taking this to move the bowels the sediment salts of hydrogarum have to be added."
---Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, Apicius, edited and translated by Joserphy Dommers Vehling [Dover:New York]
1977(p. 65-66)
---Oxford Companion to Food, (p. 262)
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 61-2)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 341)
---Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1997 (p.
118-9)
---An A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 143)
About pasta & potatoes
The current edition of Larousse Gastonomique clues us in on French gnocchi variations:
---Larousse Gastronomique, completely revised and updated [Clarkson Potter:New York] 2001
(p. 563-4)
Kopytka (aka potato dumplings) are a traditional Polish food.
"Kopytka from Potatoes
Tb 2 lbs. cooked, warm potatoes through a sieve, or put through a meat grinder. Cool the potatoes and beat in 1 large
(or 2 small) egg, add about 14-16 oz. flour and salt to taste. Mix, place on a pastry board dusted with flour and knead to a smooth
dough. Divide the dough into 2-4 parts, form into finger-thick rolls and slice diagonally into small dumplings 1 inch thick.
Cook in a large amount of salted boiling water. Take out the cooked kopytka with a straining spoon and drain well. On a dish pour
hot butter or pork fat with cracklings over this. 1 small, very finely chopped onion may be fried in the pork fat. The
Kopytka may be cooked a day ahead. Before serving, throw them into boiling salted water and bing to a boil only once. They will be like
fresh. They also taste exquisitely if reheated by frying."
---Old Polish Traditions: In the kitchen and at the table, Maria Lemnis & Henryk Vitry [Hippocrene Books:New York] 1996 (p. 264)
"Knedliky or knedlicky: dumplings. The variety made is staggering. Anything that will form a stiff
dough and can be made steamed or poached seems to qualify: rice, potatoes, many vegetables
alone or in combination, chopped or mashed, bread crumbs or cake crumbs, brains, liver, ham,
smoked meat, arrow-all combined with enough egg, milk, and flour or crumbs to be shaped. May
be served alone with sour cream, cream, chopped nuts, caraway seeds, poppy seeds, gravy, fruit
sauces, or served with meats, fish or in soups."
---You Eat What You Are: People, Culture and Food Traditions, Thelma Barer-Stein
[Firefly
Books: Ontario] 1999 (p. 106)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
239)
---Polish Heritage Cookery, Robert & Maria Strybel [Hippocrene:New York] 2005, Expanded and Illustrated Edition (p. 226)
---The Cuisine of Hungary, George Lang [Atheneum:New YOrk] 1982 (p. 295-296)
Matzo balls belong to the "dumpling" family. These filling, doughy knots are known in
many cultures and cuisines.
---History of Food, Maguelonne Toussaint-Samat [Barnes & Noble:New York] 1992 (p. 223)
---Jewish Cooking in America, Joan Nathan [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1998 (p. 107)
[NOTE: This book contains far more information than can be paraphrased here. Your
librarian will be happy to help you find a copy.]
"Matso Soup.
Boil down half a shin of beef, four pounds of gravy beef, and a calf's
food may be added, if approved, in three or four quarts of water;
season with celery, carrots turnips, pepper and salt, and a bunch of
sweet herbs; let the whole stew gently for eight hours, then strain and
let it stand to get cold, when the fat must be removed, then return to
the saucepan to warm up. Ten minutes before serving, throw in the
balls, from which the soup takes its name, and which are made in the
following manner: Take half a pound of matso flour, two ounces of
chopped suet, season with a little pepper, salt, ginger, and nutmeg;
mix with this, four beaten eggs, and make it into a paste, a small
onion shred and browned in a desert spoonful of oil is sometimes
added; the paste should be made into rather large balls, and care
should be taken to make them very light."
---The Jewish Manual, edited by A Lady, facsimile of the first Jewish
cookbook printed in English published in 1846, introduction by Chaim
Raphael [Nightingale Books:New York] 1983 (p. 9-10)
---A Taste of Russia, Darra Goldstein [Jill Norman:London] 1983 (p. 183-184)
---The Art of Russian Cuisine, Anne Volokh [Macmillan Publishing:New York] 1983(p. 188-189)
---Oxford Companion to Food, (p. 262-263)
Edible gold & silver
---"The Gold Rush," Joni Miller, Harper's Bazaar, December 1992 (p. 97)
---"Gold in the Ancient Chinese World: A Cultural Puzzle," Emma C. Bunker, Artibus Asiae, No 1/2, 1993 (p. 35)
[NOTE: The footnote accompanying this section cites this book: The Functions and Significande of Gold in the Veda,
Jan Gonda [Leiden: E.J. Brill] 1991.]
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 343)
---Food and Feast in Medieval England, P.W. Hammond [Wren's Park:Phoenix Mill] 1993 (p. 138)
[NOTE: This book contains several references to gold. Many are footnoted for further study.]
---
"Eat Your Karats," William Booth, Washington Post, December 18, 2005
---Sugar-plums and Sherbet: The Prehistory of Sweets, Laura Mason [Prospect Books:Devon] 2004 (p. 197)
---Sugar-plums and Sherbet (p. 126)
---Eating Right in the Renaissance, Ken Albala [University of California Press:Berkeley] 2002 (p. 159)
[NOTE: German "Goldwasser" is similar.]
English trifle
---The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999 (p. 805)
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p.
349-50)
---Food and Drink in Britain From the Stone Age to the 19th Century, C. Anne Wilson
[Academy Chicago Publishers:Chicago] 1991(p.
168-9)
[1596] "To make a Trifle
Karen Hess, food historian, explains the connection between fools and trifles:
"The oldest meaning of fool in English cookery, long since obsolete, is a custard dish. There is
some dispute over the derivation of the word; a cook might opt for French fouler (to press or
crush) given the present composition of the dish, but OED [Oxford English Dictionary] spurns
this construction and agrees with those who link it with trifle, or a bit of foolishness. The earliest
citation, from Florio, 1598, "a kinde of clouted cream called a fool or a trifle in English," is
compelling....In later English cookery, the sort of dish described in our recipe above [To Make a
Fool] came to be known as a trifle, nowadays typically made of stale sponge cake, custard sauce,
and sherry...."
Take a pint of thick cream, and season it with sugar and ginger, and rose water. So stir it as you
would then have it and make it luke warm in a dish on a chafing dish and coals. And after put it
into a silver piece or a bowl, and so serve it to the board."
---The Good Housewife's Jewell, Thomas Dawson, with introduction by Maggie Black
[Southover Press:East Sussex] 1996 (p. 90)
Take a quart of the best and thickest cream, set it on the fire in a clean skillet, and put to it whole
mace, cinnamon, and sugar, boil it well in the cream before you put in the sugar then your cream
being well boiled, pour it into a fine silver piece or dish, and take out the spices, let it cool till it be
no more than blood-warm, then put in a spoonful of good rennet, and set it well together being
cold scrape sugar on it, and trim the dish sides finely."
---The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May, facsimile of 1685 edition [Prospect Books:2000]
(p. 292)
Put three large macaroons in the middle of your dish, pour as much white wine over them as they
will drink. Then take a quart of cream, put in as much sugar as will make it sweet, rub your sugar
upon the rind of a lemon to fetch out the essence. Put your cream into a pot, mill it to a strong
groth, lay as much froth upon a sieve as will fill the dish you intend to put your trifle in. Put the
remainder of your cream into a tossing pan with a stick of cinnamon, the yolks of four eggs well
beat, and sugar to your taste. Set them over a gentle fire, stir it one way till it is thick, then take if
off the fire, pour it upon your macaroons. When it is cold put on your frothed cream, lay round it
different coloured sweetmeats and [put] small shot comfits in, and figures or flowers."
---The Experienced English Housekeeper, Elizabeth Raffald, with an introduction by Roy
Shipperbottom [Southover Press:East Sussex] 1997 (p. 128-9)
---Martha Washington's Booke of Cookery, transcribed by Karen Hess [Columbia
University
Press:1995] (p. 132)
[1747] "Westminster-Fool.
Take a Penny-loaf, cut it into thin Slices, wet them with Sac, lay them in the Bottom of a Dish,
take a Quart of Cream, beat up six Eggs, two Spoonfuls of Rose-water, a Blade of Mace, some
grated Nutmeg, sweeten to your Taste. Put this all into a Sauce-pan, and keep stirring all the time
over a slow Fire for fear of curdling. When it begins to be thick, pour it into the Dish over the
Bread; let it stand till it is cold, and serve it up."
---The Art of Cookery, Hannah Glasse, facsimile of the first (1747) edition, [Prospect
Books:Devon] 1995 (p.79)
---A Mediterranean Feast, Clifford A. Wright, [William Morrow:New York] 1999 (p. 37)
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 416)
"'Pick me up'. A rich dessert made of layers of ladyfingers, mascarpone, espresso, and chocolate.
The dish was created in the 1960s at El Toula restaurant in Treviso and has since become one of
the classic and international Italian desserts."
---Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998
(p. 258)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Completely Revised and Updated [Clarkson Potter:New
York] 2001 (p. 1214)
Tiramisu
4 fresh eggs
˝ cup Tia Maria or brandy
1 lb. mascarpone cheese
˝ cup granulate sugar
1 package of stale ladyfingers
˝ cup strong espresso (decaf is fine)
2 1-oz squares semisweet chocolate
Separate eggs into two large bowls. Add liqueur to egg yolks and stir till blended. Add mascarpone. Stir till blended. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form.
Continuing to beat, add sugar a little at a time until stiff peaks are formed. Add half of the egg whites to the cheese-egg yolk mixture and blend well. The add the
rest and fold in gently. Set aside. Dip lady fingers quickly in espresso. Don’t saturate them. Place flat side down in a shallow dish 910-inch round or 9 X 12 inch
oval, for example). Add half the cheese mixture and smooth the top. Grate half the chocolate over the top covering the surface. Then add another layer of
espresso-coated ladyfingers. Top with remaining cheese mixture and smooth the top. Cover with remaining chocolate. Refrigerate, covered, several hours or
overnight. Proceed at your own risk.”
---“The Dessert of ‘Sleepless in Seattle,” John Horn, Daily Record [Morris County, NJ], July 28, 1993 (p. A14)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
483)
---Dictionary of Italian Food and Drink, John Mariani [Broadway Books:New York] 1998
(p. 286)
---Larousse Gastromique, Completely Updated and Revised [Clarkson Potter:New York]
2001 (p. 1310)
---The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the
Ages, American Heritage [Doubleday:New York] 1968 (p. 710)
Fondue
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 130).
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p.
312)
---The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 207)
---The American Century Cookbook (p. 403)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Prosper Montagne [Library Larousse:Paris] 1938 (p. 483)
[NOTE: This book contains 17 different recipes for fondue, including the one by Brillat-Savarin.]
Voici la recette de la vrai fondue,--de la fondue fribourgeoise et gruyerienne, qui est un mets de
fete, un plat de regalade dans son pays d'origine. Brillat-Savarin donne la recette d'une fondue au
fromage qui est toute differente, et qui ne saurait etre appreciee des gourmets et des gourmands
comme cell ci:
Prenez un kilogramme de vacherin frais et blanc; coupez-le en petits cubes dans une marmite de
terre ou de tole emaillee, et protez le tout sur un feu doux.
Surveillez, sans vous laisser distraire par la fumee ordorante que degage le vacherin fondant, et
remuez continuellement avec une fouchette de bois neuve, jusqu'a ce que la masse, qui present
alors l'aspect et la consistance d'une creme epaisse et filante, commence a bouillonner.
A ce moment precis, retirez du feu et ajoutez du poivre (mais pas de sel). Puis servez sur un
rechaud la marmite elle-meme ou s'est operee la fondue, et mange bien chaud.
Les petits cubes de pain frais, qui, piques a la fourchette, sont plonges et retournes dans la
marmite, placee au milieu de la table; une fois bien enrobe dans la fourchette, sont la table; une
fois bien enrobe dans la creme fumante, chaque petit fragment de pain est ressorti au bout de la
fourchette et savore deliciusement entre deux verres de vin blanc, Yvorne ou Villeneuve. De cette
facon la fondue reste bien au chaud dans le reciepient meme ou elle s'est fabriquee, et ne subit pas
de transvasement. Un kilogramme de vacherin suffit pour rassasier de fondue quatre personnes.
C'est un plat extremement nourrissant et trais sain. Et en effet, le vacherin qui en est la matiere
premiere se fait absolutment comme le fromage de Gruyere--si ce n'est que pour celui-ci, le lait
est chauffe a un degree superieur.Le vacherin a meme un gros avantage sur le fromage de
Gruyere: it contient tout le lait (creme, petit-lait, etc.), tandis que, au course de al fabrication du
fromage, de nombreuz accessoires sont elimines (petit-lait, serac, etc.). Le vacherin de fabrique
dans la Suisse francaise, surtout dans la Gruyere; il s'expedier par pieces de 5 a 15 kilogrammes,
et vaut de 1 fr. 40 a 1 fr. 60 le kilogramme. Victor Tissot."
---L'Art du Bien Manger, Edmond Richardin [Paris:1913] (p. 44-45)
NOTE: Our French passages are missing accents marks and other diacritical notation. If you
need the exact passage we can mail or fax.
---American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 207)
[1955]
"Swiss Fondue
2 cups grated natural Swiss cheese (1/2 lb.)
1 1/2 teasp. flour
1 clove garlic (optional)
3/4 cup Chablis or sauterne
1/4 teasp. salt
Speck pepper
Nutmeg
2 tablsp. kirsch or cognac (optional)
French bread, cut into bite-size chunks
Toss cheese with flour. Rub skillet or blazer of chafing dish with garlic; pour in wine; heat over low heat till almost
boiling. Add cheese; stir until melted. Add salt, pepper, nutmeg, kirsch. When fondue bubbles, lower heat; serve. To serve:
let each eprson spear bread with fork or toothpick, then dunk it into fondue, stirring. (If fondue becomes too thick, add a little
heated wine.) Makes 3 or 4 servings as main dish, 6 yo 8 as nibbler, served kitchen, living-room or dining-room style."
2 1/4 cups milk
2 cups coarse day-old bread crumbs
2 2/3 cups grated process American cheese (2/3 lb)
1 teasp. salt
Dash cayenne pepper
1 tablesp. bottled thick meat sauce
2 tbsp. minced onions
1 teasp. dry mustard
4 eggs
Start heating oven to 325 degrees F. Scald milk in double boiler; then cool. In large bowl combine rest of ingredients except eggs;
add milk; stir well. Separate eggs. Beat yolks until thick and lemon-colored; slowly stir into bread mixutre. Beat whites till
stiff but not dry; fold into bread mixture. Pour into greased 2-qt. casserole; set in pan filled with warm water to 1" from top
of casserole. Bake, uncovered, 1 1/2 hr., or until delicate brown and firm when touched in center. Serve at once, as is or
with Tomato Sauce...Makes 6 servings."
---Good Housekeeping Cook Book, Dorothy B. Marsh [Good Housekeeping:New York] 1955 (p. 214)
Welsh Rabbit
---An A to Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 365)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2nd edition, 2006 (p. 844)
[NOTE: See below for Hannah Glasse's recipes & others]
---Rare Bits: The Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [University of Ohio Press:Athens OH] 1998 (p. 124)
---The World of Cheese, Evan Jones [Alfred A. Knopf:New York] 1970 (p. 158)
---Kettner's Book of the Table, E.S. Dallas, facsimile 1877, preface by Derek Hudson, London edition [Centaur Press:London] 1968 (p. 486)
---Traditional Food from Wales, Bobby Freeman [Hippocrene:New York] 1997 (p. 31)
---ibid (p. 153-4)
[NOTE: See Kettner for Lady Llanover's discourse.]
[1747]
"To Make a Scotch-Rabbit. Toast a piece of Bread very nicely on both Sides, butter it, cut a Slice of Cheese, about as big as the Bread, toast it on both Sides, and lay it on the Bread.
"To make a Welsh-Rabbit. Toast the Bread on both Sides, then toast the Cheese on one Side, and lay it on the Toast, and with a hot Iron brown the other Side. You may rub it over with Mustard.
"To make an English-Rabbit. Toast a Slice of Bread brown on both Sides, then lay it in a Plate before the Fire, pour a Glass of Red Wine over it, and let it soak the
Wine up; then cut some Cheese very thin, and lay it very thick over the Bread; put it in a Tin Oven before the Fire, and it will be toasted and brown presently. Serve
it away hot."
---The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse, facsimile 1747 edition [Prospect Books:Devon] 1995 (p. 97)
"To make a Scotch Rabbit. Toast a Piece of Bread on both Sides, butter it, cut a Slice of Cheese about as big as the Bread, toast it on both sides, and lay it on the Bread."
"To make a Welch Rabbit. Toast the Bread on both Sides, then toast the Cheese on one Side, lay it on the Toast, and with a hot Iron brown the other Side. You may rub it over with Mustard."
"To make a Portugal Rabbit. Toast a Slice of Bread brown on both Sides, then lay it in a Plate before the Fire, pour a Glass of red Wine over it, and let it soak the Wine up; then cut some Cheese very thin, and lay it very thick over the Bread; put it in a Tin Oven before the Fire, and it will be toasted and brown'd presently. Serve it away hot with Sugar over it, and Wine poured over."
"Or do it thus. Toast the Bread and soak it in the Wine, set it before the Fire, cut your Cheese in very thin Slices, rub Butter over the Bottom of a Plate, lay the Cheese on, pour in two or three Spoonfuls of White Wine, cover it with another Plate, set it over a Chafing-dish of hot Coals for two or three Minutes, then stir it till it is done, and well mixed. You may stir in a little Mustard; when it is enough lay it on the Bread, a just brown with a hot Shovel. Serve it away hot."
"An Italian Rabbit. Toast a Slice of Bread, butter it, put upon it a Slice of Cheese the Length of your Bread, Let that be toasted; then put upon the Cheese some Mustard and Pepper, then Parsley minced, and upon the whole some Anchovies, in Pieces, very thick, to serve away."
---The Lady's Companion [J. Hodges:London], 6th edition with large additions, 1753 (p. 264-5)
"TOASTED CHEESE, or WELSH RARE-BIT.
1652. INGREDIENTS.—Slices of bread, butter, Cheshire or Gloucester cheese, mustard, and pepper.
Mode.—Cut the bread into slices about 1/2 inch in thickness; pare off the crust, toast the bread slightly without hardening or burning it, and spread it with butter. Cut some slices, not quite so large as the bread, from a good rich fat cheese; lay them on the toasted bread in a cheese-toaster; be careful that the cheese does not burn, and let it be equally melted. Spread over the top a little made mustard and a seasoning of pepper, and serve very hot, with very hot plates. To facilitate the melting of the cheese, it may be cut into thin flakes or toasted on one side before it is laid on the bread. As it is so essential to send this dish hot to table, it is a good plan to melt the cheese in small round silver or metal pans, and to send these pans to table, allowing one for each guest. Slices of dry or buttered toast should always accompany them, with mustard, pepper, and salt.
Time.—About 5 minutes to melt the cheese.
Average cost, 1–1/2d. each slice.
Sufficient.—Allow a slice to each person. Seasonable at any time.
Note.—Should the cheese be dry, a little butter mixed with it will be an improvement."
---Mrs. Beeton's Book of Cookery, Isabella Beeton
"Welsh Rarebit.---Cut half a pound of a mellow Gloucester cheese into thin slices. Put an ounce and a half of butter upon a plate and knead it before the fire with a tea-spoonful of unmixed mustard and a pinch of cayenne till it looks like thick cream. Cut from a large laof a round of bread half an inch thick. Trim away the crust, toast the bread, and butter thickly. Lay half the cheese upon it, pour half the seasoned butter upon that, and add, first the remainder of the cheese, then the rest of the butter. Put the bread in a Dutch oven before a clear fire, and let it remain until the cheese is melted. Serve very hot. Time to toast the cheese, twenty minutes. Probalbe cost, 6d. Sufficient for two or three persons."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations, [Cassell, Petter, Galpin:London] 1875 (p. 1107)
---ibid (p. 120)
"Welsh Rarebit
Like every other cook, my own recipe for Welsh rarebit exeed all others in quality. There is not a dish in the whole list that has
so many methods of making, all more or less alike, but the simple change of seasoning gives different results. To each pound of
soft Aemrican cheese allow a teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce, six tablespoonfuls of musty ale or beer, a saltspoonful
of salt, a dash of red pepper, a saltspoonful of white pepper, a teaspoonful of horeseradish, one clove of garlic. Chop or grate
the cheese. Rub the pan or chafing dish with the garlic. Mix all the seasoning with the cheese. Put the ale or beer into the
saucepan; as soon as it is hot and boiling, throw in the cheese and stir constantly and continuously until smooth and creamy.
Toward the last, beat rapidly. Turn it on to a very hot platter that has been nicely covered with toasted bread. Serve at once. The yolks of
two eggs may be added to the cheese before heating."
1 pound of chcese
A teaspoonful of Worcestershire sauce
4 tablespoonfuls of cream
Yolks of three eggs
1/2 teaspoonful of salt
A dash of red pepper
Beat the yolks of the eggs and cream together. Add the seasoning to the cheese. Turn the whole into a saucepan; stand over the
fire, stir and beat until smooth and creamy. Serve on toast at once."
---Mrs. Rorer'sNew Cook Book, Sarah Tyson Rorer [Arnold and Company:Philadelphia] 1902 (p. 272-3)
"Welsh Rarebit
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups American cheese, cut up small
1 teaspoon butter
1/2 cup ale (or cream
Melt the butter; add the cut up cheese, the salt, paprika, and mustard. When melted, add the ale (or cream). Stir rapidly and
constantly until smooth. Pour over hot buttered toast."
1 can tomato soup
1 cup hot water
1 medium sized onion, thinly sliced
1 lb American cheese
1 egg, separated
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Empty soup into small saucepan; add hot water and thinly sliced onion and let simmer until onion is tender, or about 10 minutes. Cut cheese
into thin slivers, then gradually stir cheese into tomato soup and continue stirring until all is perfectly blended. Remove
saucepan from fire, add beaten egg yolk into which the seasonings have been beaten. Return saucepan to very low heat and let cook
for 1 minute. Then add the egg white which has been whipped to a froth. Stirr egg white well until the mixture is like a souffle.
Serve on toast or crackers."
---Mystery Chef's Own Cook Book, John MacPherson [Blakiston Company:Philadelphia] 1934 (p. 286-287)
"Welsh Rabbit is the English version of a fondue. The cheese used would be a dry 'flavoury' cheddar. Ale replaces the kirsch, otherwise rabbit is made in much the same way as a fondue. Ideally it should be made on the table in a chafing-dish, hot toast and hot plates being provided and the rabbit poured bubbling on them. Buck rabbit is a Welsh rabbit with a poached egg on the top.
4 oz. dry well-matured cheddar cheese
1 oz. butter
1/2 gill brown ale
salt, pepper, cayenne
hot buttered or plain toast
Thinly slice or grate the cheese. Put into a shallow saucepan or chafing-dish with the butter, ale, and seasonings, set over a gentle heat and stir continouously until melted. Do not allow to get too hot. When smooth and creamy pour immediately over the toast. Dust with cayenne and eat at once."
---The Constance Spry Cookery Book, Constance Spry & Rosemary Hume [Pan Books:London] 1956 (p. 751)
"Golden Rabbit
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed Cheddar cheese soup
1/4 cup milk
1 can (10 3/4 ounces) condensed tomato soup
6 slices toast or crackers
Stir cheese soup until smooth. Gradually blend in milk and tomato soup. Heat; stir often. Serve over toast or crackers. 4 to 6 servings."
---Easy Ways to Delicious Meals, Campbell's Soup Company, revised edition [Campbell's Soup Company:Camden NJ] 1968 (p. 62)
French dressing
"The salad Dressing Recipes are segregated and classified under the headings of French Dressings, Mayonnaises, Boiled Dressings, Sour Cream Dressings, Vinegars, and Miscellaneous
Dressings, and the final section is devoted to Quantity Recipes of the four universally used
dressings, French, Mayonnaise, Roquefort, and Thousand Island." (p. 242)
This book contains instructions for five different French dressing bases (lemon color, pink
color (2), orange color & with cream) and 54 different "French dressing" recipes using these
bases (p. 243-253).
---A-Z of Food and Drink, John Ayto [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2002 (p. 359)
---Larousse Gastronomique, Jenifer Harvey Lang [Crown:New York] 1988 (p. 1137)
A salad dressing made by mixing three parts oil to one part vinegar, though some other
seasonings like mustard or bleu cheeses may be added (1880)."
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Freidman:New
York]
1999 (p. 133)
---American Century Cook Book: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century, Jean
Anderson [Clarkson Potter:New York] 1997 (p. 296)
---The French Chef Cookbook, Julia Child [Knopf:New York] 1972 (p. 14)
[NOTE: Ms. Child's French dressing is titled "Sauce Vinaigrette" (p. 14-15)]
[1390] Salat
A
Forme of Cury [English cook book]
They say the divine Augustus was preserved in a time of ill health by the use of lettuce, and no
wonder, because it aids digestion and generates better blood than other vegetables. It is eaten
cooked or raw. You season raw lettuce this way if it does not need washing...put it in a dish,
sprinkle with ground salt, pour in a little oil and more vinegar and eat at once. Some add a little
mint and parsley to it for seasoning so that it does not seem entirely bland..."
---Platina: On Right Pleasure and Good Health, [Italian:1475, original text in Latin],
translated by
Mary Ellen Milham [Medieval & Renaissance Texts & Studies:Tempe] 1998 (p. 213)
John Evelyn [England] (recipe on left)
Put the yolks of the eggs on a large plate, and with a wooden spoon mash them smooth, mixing
with them a table-spoonful of water, and two table-spoonfuls of sweet oil. The add, by degrees, a
salt-spoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of mustard, and a tea-spoonful of powdered loaf sugar. When
these are all smoothly untied, add very gradually three table-spoonfuls of vinegar. The lettuce
having been cut up fine on another plate, put it to the dressing, and mix it well."
---Directions for Cookery in Its Various Branches, Miss [Eliza] Leslie [Carey &
Hart:Philadephia]
1849 (p. 203)
This is a sauce much used in Paris for cold viands. Sauce a la vinaigrette is composed of salad oil,
vinegar, finely-chopped parsley, and shallots, onions, or chives, with pepper and salt to taste. For
those who have no objection to oil this sauce is infinitely superior to mere vinegar, pepper, and
salt. It is suitable for every kind of cold meat, and especially for cold calf's head; and is admirable
with cold salmon, turbot, or indeed any sort of cold fish."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations [Cassell, Petter,
Galpin:London] 1875? (p. 1091)
This sauce is very much like ordinary English salad-dressing, and is used in the same way. It is
also an excellent accompaniment to chops or cold meats of various kinds. To make it, boil three
eggs till hard. Throw them into cold water, strip off the shell and the white of the eggs, and pound
the yolks in a mortar, with a dessert-spoonful of mustard and a little salt and cayenne. When these
ingredients are thoroughly blended, and the paste is quite smooth, add first by drops and
afterwards by tea-spoonfuls, three table-spoonfuls of olive oil, and beat the sauce well between
every addition. When it is quite thick, add the yolk of a raw egg, and afterwards, very gradually,
one tablespoonful of plain or tarragon vinegar. The flavour of this sauce may be varied at pleasure
by the addition of a tea-spoonful of Harvey's Sauce, two or three pounded shallots, a very small
piece of garlic; or chilli, cucumber, or vinegar. The proportion of oil and vinegar used may be
varied according to taste. Time, a quarter of an hour to boil the eggs."
---Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery with Numerous Illustrations, [Cassell, Petter, Galpin &
Co.:London] 1875? (p. 727)
Boston Cooking School Cook Book, Mrs. D.A. Lincoln
One level teaspoon salt
One level teaspoon sugar
One level teaspoon mustard
One-half level teaspoon paprika
Three tablespoons vinegar
Two tablespoons lemon juice
Two tablespoons chili sauce
One level tablespoon chopped sweet pickle
One level tablespoon chopped olives
Two tablespoons catsup
one-half cup salad oil
---Bettina's Best Salads and What to Serve With Them, Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen
Cowles LeCron [A.L.Burt Company:New York] 1923 (p. 9-10)
1/ 2 teaspoonful salt
1 teaspoonful sugar
1/8 teaspoonful paprika
1/4 cupful Heinz Pure Vinegar
1/2 cupful Heinz Pure Olive Oil
To foundation recipe (see above) add 1/4 cupful Heinz Tomato Ketchup and
mix thoroughly." (p. 11)
---Heinz Book of Salads, H.J. Heinz Co., Pittsburgh.
3 tablespoons sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup oil
1 clove garlic (peeled and sliced in two)
1. Place ingredients in order given in a pint jar; shake thoroughly or beat with spoon until
consistency of maple syrup.
2. Keep in cooler and shake or beat well before using.
Makes 1 1/2 cups dressing."
---Prudence Penny's Cook Book, Prudence Penny, [Prentice Hall:New York] 1939 (p.
208)
French toast
---The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy, Odilie Redon et al, [University of
Chicago Press:Chicago] 1998 (p.207) Maestro Martino's recipe.
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 134)
---Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Food Encyclopedia [Times Books:New York]
1985 , Craig Claiborne (p. 178)
Related foods? bread
pudding & fritters.
[Ancient Rome] "Another sweet dish
Break [slice] fine white bread, crust removed, into rather large pieces which soak in
milk [and beaten eggs] Fry in oil, cover with honey and serve."
---Apicius Cookery and Dining in Imperial Rome, edited and translated by Joseph
Dommers Vehling , recipe 296 [Dover Publications:New York] 1977 (p. 172)
Take slices of white bread, trimmed so that they have no crusts; make these slices square and
slightly grilled so that they are colored all over by the fire. Then take eggs beaten together with
plenty of sugar and a little rose water; and put the slices of bread in this to soak; carefully remove
them, and fry them a little in a frying pan with a little butter and lard, turning them very frequently
so that they do not burn. The arrange them on a plate, and top with a little rose water colored
yellow with a little saffron, and with plenty of sugar."
---The Medieval Kitchen, Recipes from France and Italy, Odilie Redon et al, [University of
Chicago Press:Chicago] 1998 (p.207)
(recipe translated from Libro de arte coquinaria, Maestro Martino [1450])
To make the best Pamerdy [Pain perdu], take a dozen Egges, and break them, and beat them very
well; then put unto them Cloves, Mace, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, and good store of Sugar, with as
much Sall [salt] as shall season it: then take a Manchet [bread of the finest quality], and cut it into
thick slices like Tostes; which done, take your Frying-panne, and put into it good store of sweet
butter, and being melted, lay your slices of bread, then powr [pour] upon them one half of your
Egges then when it is fryed, with a dish turn your slices of bread upward, and then powre on them
the other halft of our Egges, and so thurn them till both sides be brown; then dish it up, and serve
it with Sugar strewed upon it."
---The English Hous-wife, Gervase Marhkam [London] (p. 57-8)
[NOTE: supper was the early evening meal. It typically consisted of light fare. Dinner (the early
afternoon meal) was considered the main meal of the day at that time.]
Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book, Mrs. D. A. Lincoln
To one egg thoroughly beaten, put one cup of sweet milk, and a little salt. Slice light bread and
dip into the mixture, allowing each slice to absorb some of the milk; then brown on a hot, buttered
griddle or thick-bottom frying pan; spread with butter, and serve hot."
---White House Cook Book, Mrs. F. L. Gilette(p. 246)
1 egg
4 slices sandwich bread
1/3 cup milk
Sugar and cinnamon mixture
Butter
---Every Woman's Cook Book, Mrs. Chas. F. Moritz (p. 509)
Honey
---The Oxford Companion to Food, [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 Alan
Davidson (p. 384)
"The ancients considered honey a divine substance. Mythmakers linked it to nectar and ambrosia,
the
heavenly dew that miraculously flowed from the celestial regions, dripped from the world tree,
and fortified
the gods. In the Old Testament, the Promised land flowed with milk and honey. Clearly, ancient
people
connected the golden elixir to holy places. They used it for libations and offereings, to cleanse and
to purify;
and because it connoted immortality, they used it in funeral rites, obviously considering it a
worthy enough
food to nourish the dead in the otherworld. Early mythmakers believed that honey existed long
before bees,
because myths commonly tell of god nourished by honey in the early stages of the universe's
creation...Civilizations all over the world considered honey sacred and magical, especially because
it was
created by a seemingly mystical process no one fully understood...The veneration of honey and of
the bees
that created it permeated ancient cultures in which honey was not only eaten but also made into
an
intoxicating drink--mead--that was consumed at public festivals and offered to the gods...Because
of its
purity and other virtues, the ancients used honey in marriage rituals. Honey could cleanse and
purify as well
as promote fertility and act as an aphrodesiac...Cultures around the world used honey for a variety
of
purposes--as a purifier, love charm, curative, preservative, and offering to the dead. The use of
honey as an
offering to the dead probably arose form the ancient belief that honey warded off demons, and
extension of
its evident curative powers...As honey was thought to sustain the dead in the afterlife, it was used
as a
preservative for food storage and in preparing the dead bodies for burial."
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews
[ABC-CLIO:Santa
Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 116-118)
---Encyclopedia Judaica [Keter Publishing:Jerusalem] 1971, Volume 8 (p. 963)
[NOTE: This source sites selected Bible passages referring to honey. If you need all references
ask your
librarian to help you find a Bible Concordance.]
---Eerdmans Dictionary of the Bible, David Noel Freeman et al [William B. Eerdmans
Publishing
Company:Grand Rapids MI] 2000 (p. 603)
"Honey in first aid. In Ancient Egypt honey was the most popular medicament of all; it is
mentioned some 500 times
in the 900 remedies that are known. Honey was also a common ingredient of medieval medicines,
for it was often the only substance available to make some of the more nauseating ingredients
palatable. But in early cures and remedies, for instance those described in medieval leech
books, honey seems to be cited for frequently for external than for internal use...Many properties
have been attributed to honey which have no foundation in fact -- as a cure for serious disorders
such as consumption and the plague. Nevertheless, honey is used today in hospitals proprietary
and dispensed medicines..."
---A Book of Honey, Eva Crane [Charles Scribner:New York] 1980 (p. 96-99)
There is a trivia quiz on the Internet that asks Which food does not go bad? The
answer
provided is honey. In fact, we have evidence of several foods that can last hundred of years (and
still be edible) as long as they are properly treated and stored. Some of most ancient are
honey and dried/salted/frozen meats. Notes on the longevity of honey:
---Pickled, Potted and Canned: How the Art and Science of Food Processing Changed the
World, Sue Shepard [Simon & Schuster:New York] 2000 (p. 11)
---A Book of Honey, Eva Crane [Scribner's:New York] 1980 (p. 41-2)
---Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p.
156)
...Beekeeping,
University of Delaware
--extensive information on all bee products--includes medicinal data.
Hopping John
Also, "hoppin' John" and "happy John." A southern dish made of cowpeas and rice, served
traditionally on New Year's Day to ensure good luck for the year. The origin of the name is
obscure, but several stories abide. One ascribes the name to the custom of inviting guests to eat
with the request to "hop in, John." Another suggests it derives from an old ritual on New Year's
Day in which the children in the house hopped once around the table before eating the dish. The
first mention of the dish by name was in 1830.
In Rice & Beans: The Itinerary of a Recipe (1981), John Thorne suggest that the name is a
corruption of "pois a pigeon," a French term for "pigeon peas," which flourished in the Caribbean
but not in the American South, resulting in an etymological dissolve into "hoppin john." Whatever
the origins of the name, the dish quite definately was a staple of the African slaves who populated
southern plantations, especially those of the Gulla country of South Carolina, and one will find
similar dishes throughout the Caribbean..."
---The Encyclopedia of American Food and Drink, John F. Mariani
[Lebhar-Friedman:New York] 1999 (p. 157)
---Oxford Encyclopedia of Food and Drink in America, Andrew F. Smith editor [Oxford University Press:New York] 2004, Volume 2 (p. 363)
---A Revolution in Eating: How the Quest for Food Shaped America, James E. McWilliams [Columbia University Press:New York] 2005 (p. 131-2)
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson, second edition edited by Tom Jaine [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 2006 (p. 386)
[NOTE: John Thorne's book is Serious Pig, New York:North Point Press 1996]
---Better Homes and Gardens Heritage Cook Book, Better Homes and Gardens
[Meredith:USA] 1975 (p. 228)
The dish is simple but the names for it are not. Cowpeas are not botanical peas at all but a type of
bean, a low legume that was fed to cattle and calves in eighteenth-century America and named for
the more valued animal. Brought to the West Indies from Africa, cowpeas crept north into
Georgia in the 1730s and multiplied so rapidly that they became both the common "field pea," as
they are often called, and the decorative "black-eyed pea" that Jefferson planted at Monticello.
Creoles called the peas "congri," echoing Congo Square. And when they mixed the peas with rice
and threw in pickled pork, they called the dish "jambalaya au congri.
The combination of cowpeas and rice also got known as "hoppin' John" for reasons lost in
the mists of popular naming. One lexicographer suggests the name may have been a corruption of
pois a pigeon, since pigeon peas were common in the Caribbean. Another suggests that the name
originated in a children's game played on New Year's Day, since the dish and the game were
thought to bring good luck, beans carrying with them the magic of voodoo..."
---I Hear America Cooking, Betty Fussell [Viking:New York] 1986 (p. 107)
---A Party Can Be Any Old Time, Poppy Cannon, Chicago Daily Defender, January 11, 1968 (p. 24)
"Hoppin' John and Other Bean Pilaus of the African Diaspora," chapter 5: The Carolina Rice Kitchen, Karen Hess
[University of South Carolina Press:Columbia SC] 1992 (p. 92-110).
National Geographic
Purdue
University
Hopping John I & II,
Cooking in Old Creole Days, Celestine Eutis [1904]
Hush puppies
---The Encyclopedia of American Food & Drink, John F. Mariani [Lebhar-Friedman:New
York] 1999 (p. 161).
--- The Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford]
1999(p. 390-391)
---Rare Bits: Unusual Origins of Popular Recipes, Patricia Bunning Stevens [Ohio
University Press:Athens] 1998 (p. 139).
---American Heritage Cookbook, American Heritage [American Heritage:New York]
1964 (p. 128)
---Willamette Week
Millet
---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 506)
---Food in the Ancient World from A to Z, Andrew Dalby [Routledge:London] 2003 (p. 218)
---Nectar and Ambrosia: An Encyclopedia of Food in World Mythology, Tamra Andrews [ABC-CLIO:Santa Barbara CA] 2000 (p. 149-150)
---A Taste of Ancient Rome, Ilaria Gozzini Giacosa, translated by Anna Herklotz, forward by Mary
Taylor Simeti [University of Chigago Press:Chicago] 1992 (p. 16)
---On Right Pleasure and Good Health, Platina [Italy, 1475], a critical edition and translation of De
Honesta Voluptate et Valetundine by Mary Ella Milham [Medieval & Renaissance Texts &
Studies:Tempe AZ] 1998 (p. 309, 311)
Cambridge World History of Food/Kiple & Ornelas, Volume 1 (p. 112-120)
---history, taxonomy and distribion of millet; extensive bibliography for further study.
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
Timeline. About this site.