If you are a history buff, a food buff or (ideally) both, then you have to read A History of the World in Ten Dinners: 2000 Years, 100 Recipes. This book is so well-organized and natural that I’m not sure if I should say that it’s a food book with history or a history book with food. I was this many days old when I learned about Edible History. Victoria Flexner and Jay Reifel host … Continue reading A History of the World in Ten Dinners by Victoria Flexner and Jay Reifel →
GUESS WHAT’S COMING BACK TOMORROW? OUTLANDER. OUTLANDER RETURNS. THE DROUGHTLANDER IS OVER. I might be a bit excited. So, I thought we’d make some Scottish bannocks! It’s a flat bread with no leavening, made with oats, or barley, or beremeal. Beremeal is a variety of barley that grows in Orkney and Shetland. It has a lower yield than regular barley, but apparently more flavor. I chose to go with oats because I already had Scottish … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Bannocks →
I got inspired by The Spellbook of Katrina Van Tassell and went looking for a Dutch recipe that was very seasonal and tasty and also used the oven because IT GOT CHILLY HERE, and that was from the general era and might have been something that Katrina would have eaten. This was made much easier by a friend of mine who is a living history nerd (much like myself) and also a Dutch American who … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Apple Taert in the Walloon Manner →
This is a recipe that drifted across my Facebook feed a couple weeks ago, and it looks so delicious I had to make it. It’s from a 10th Century Arabic cookbook, Kitab al-Ṭabīḫ, in Arabic: كتاب الطبيخ, or “The Book of Dishes.” Barida refers to a cold starter dish. The theory at the time was the stomach needed to be “warmed up” before starting a full meal. It’s like stretching but for your digestive system. … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Black Barida →
It’s been too damn hot to cook, so I thought I would give you my thoughts on something you can do, sitting in the air conditioning, drinking a cool beverage of your choice. A few weeks ago, I discovered a new show on Netflix, and it was clearly perfectly aligned to my interests that I have to assume that Raidió Teilifís Éireann and Mind the Gap Films created a show just for me. Lords and … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Lords and Ladles →
One of the things about food history that fascinates me is the origin of some of the things that we now take for granted. We accept that cheese comes in a near-infinite variety, but we don’t often think about WHY we figured out how to make cheese to begin with. It’s because milk spoils, and it spoils really fast when you don’t have refrigeration. Cheese and butter is a way to preserve milk and reduce … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Butter and Cheese →
When I was in London last fall, I had dinner at Rules Restaurant, in Covent Garden. Rules claims to the be the “Oldest Restaurant in London” (established in 1798) and that might be true, depending on how you’re defining terms like “oldest” and “restaurant” and probably “London.” The decor is very Edwardian, and several scenes from the later seasons of Downton Abbey were shot there. The food is focused on “classic game cookery.” I had pheasant, … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Golden Syrup Steamed Sponge →
My friend Abigail is going to be disappointed, because this was her suggestion…only she suggested a more recent variation, and I like to start at the beginning. She told me she had a vague memory of a steamed pudding that has a whole lemon in it, so when you cut into it, there’s a falling apart almost marmalade inside. “It’s like…Frog Pond pudding? That’s not right.” (We live in Boston. The Frog Pond is our … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Sussex Pond Pudding (Original Flavor) →
One of the fun things about travelling in the UK is the amount of tea I drank. But this isn’t about tea, the drink, it’s about the dizzying number of things that word can mean. (And yeah, showing off some food I ate.) “Tea” can mean this: Or this: Or this: Seriously, what kind of language is English that when you say “Tea,” it could mean “a hot drink made from leaves” or it could … Continue reading RedHeadedGirl’s Historical Kitchen: Tea →
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 →
