At the end of the summer, of my best friends went to Colonial Williamsburg for some teacher something something retreat something thing. That’s not important. What is important is that she picked up the cookbook of recipes from the Raleigh Tavern Bakery, and as I flipped through it, I happened on a recipe for Sally Lunns. Now wait a second, says I. Isn’t that the name of those Bath Buns that are, like, super well … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Sally Lunns→
So, like, a month ago, Elyse was going through some of her mother’s storage, and found a General Electric Microwave Guide and Cookbook from 1977, and began sending me pictures of the recipes. And I, being a masochist, send SEND IT TO ME and she did (after I’d forgotten about the whole thing, so it was a pleasant surprise to get bookmail from the 1970s). Even though she KNOWS that I will probably hurt myself … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: This is Elyse’s Fault→
It’s been too hot to cook, and one thing that’s good to do when it’s really hot is to go to museums. They’re air conditioned and educational and, if you play your cards right, you can go for free! The Harvard Art Museums and the Harvard Natural History Museum/Peabody Museum of Archeology and Ethnology are free for Massachusetts residents on Saturday (Art) and Sunday (Natural History) mornings from 9 until noon. This post is also … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Cooks Your Story→
This has been a full month for me, so I thought I’d give you all a couple of examples for historical drinks that are good for hot weather, so when you’re on the beach with your beach reads, or sitting on the porch with your porch reads, you have some solid options to choose from. Throughout a lot of history, drinking water hasn’t always been that safe to drink straight, and it’s often just not … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Baby It’s Hot Outside→
I’ve been feeling a bit under the weather this week – nothing huge, just my usual summer cold, right on time. A year ago or so, I got a copy of A Handbook of Invalid Cooking: For the Use of Nurses in Training Schools, Nurses in Private Practice, and Others Who Care For the Sick , published in 1898. Sadly, it’s not an original (that would be awesome, wouldn’t it?) but a reprint; that said, it’s … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Beef Tea→
A few weeks ago, my friend Abigail and I went to Plimoth Plantation, the living history village that recreates life in the Plymouth Settlement. It’s very cool, and lots of fun. In addition to the settlement from the Mayflower pilgrims (with both first person interpreters who portray actual people who lived in the village and modern interpreters as well) there is a Wampanoag settlement where members of the Wampanoag tribe (as well as other Native tribes … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Farced Eggs→
At the meeting of my medieval cooking nerd group this month, I made a Roman dish that Apicius (my buddy!) gives about five thousand variations on. It’s called a patina, and it’s… basically an frittata. With different stuff in it. In the original recipe, Apicius calls for nettles, but, surprisingly, my local grocery store did not HAVE nettles. Sally Grainger, a classicist (not a classist, that’s a different thing) and a cook who has done … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Spinach Patina→
This past week was Shrove Tuesday and the beginning of Lent. Lent, especially in the Middle Ages if you were Catholic, involved a lot of rules and fasting when it comes to food. Basically, you were supposed to not eat any animal meat or animal products from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, except on Sundays. (Fish did not count as “animal” and sometimes there were some interesting logical contortions to classify something as a fish: … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Semlor→
I’ll admit that I’ve been a bit busy this month- there’s a full calendar of political demonstrations and lists of phone calls to make, meetings to attend, and dinners to be eaten on the run. Hardtack is a biscuit/cracker that requires three ingredients, stores forever (give or take a weevil or two) and tastes like…. nothing. Not a thing. It’s there to fill your belly and that’s about it. I used the recipe from Lobscouse … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Hardtack→
Back in the mists of time, lo these many months ago, for the Movie Matinee, we watched The Desk Set with Katherine Hepburn and some guy who recognized he was only barely worthy of her awesomeness. But we’ve already talked about that. Featured in The Desk Set is a dessert called “Floating Island,” and the other Bitches challenged me to make it. As it so happens, I have a friend (Abigail, who has featured here before) … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Floating Island→
So….there was a plan for this month, but it got derailed by my partner in crime getting a new stove (yay!) but not the right connector thingies (boo!) so this crazy-ass plan that was supposed to happen today will have to wait until next month. I shall leave you on the edge of your seats. Instead I decided to play with MY NEW TOY MY NEW KITCHEN AID MIXER THAT I OWN AND WILL NOT … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Ma Ingalls’ Light Bread→
