Next month I’ll be attending the Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery in the UK. Each year, this conference on food, its culture, and its history focuses on a different theme; this year it’s Cured, Fermented, and Smoked Foods. Living in a New York City apartment, the temperature and humidity of which is difficult to [...]
Archive for the ‘recipes’ Category
The Kind of Pickle You Want To Get Into
Posted in Farmers' Market Cooking, Food History, Ingredients, Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2010, recipes, Traditional Foodways, tagged cucumbers, Food History, homemade pickles, jewish food, kosher dill pickles, Oxford Symposium on Food and Cookery 2010, recipe on June 15, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Fresh (and Fashionable) English Pea Soup
Posted in Cocktails, Farmers' Market Cooking, Food History, Ingredients, recipes, tagged English Pea Soup, English peas, Food History, garden peas, green peas, recipe on June 10, 2010 | 1 Comment »
What was the latest fashion at court of Versailles in 1696? Why English peas of course, hadn’t you heard? The ladies of Versailles knew a good thing when they tasted it. In the late 17th Century fresh, green English peas were all the rage. It may seem odd to us, since today peas are seen [...]
Scottish Shortbread: Gluten-free Baking Ahead of Its Time
Posted in Food History, Ingredients, recipes, Traditional Foodways, tagged gluten-free, oat flour shortbread, recipe, Scottish shortbread on June 7, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
The current popularity of gluten-free foods has prompted the creation of many wheat-free versions of traditional baked goods, including Scottish shortbread. It turns out that this actually isn’t an innovation at all. Historically shortbread was a food of the poor in Scotland and was made with oat flour, which is (usually) gluten-free. While looking for [...]
Is Slow Food Really Slow?: Granola
Posted in Food History, recipes, tagged Food History, granola, history of granola, recipe on June 1, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“Is Slow Food Really Slow?” is a series here on Comestibles in which we explore the hypothesis that some of the processes many modern home cooks have declared too time consuming are a lot easier than the admen would have us believe. If your house is anything like ours, you’ve got a pantry full of [...]
It’s a Potluck and a Talent Show: A Brief History of the Picnic
Posted in Food History, recipes, tagged Food History, history of the picnic, James Gillray, London Pic-Nic Society, picnic loaf, recipe on May 27, 2010 | 2 Comments »
Prior to the 1860s a pic-nic (yes, that’s how they spelled it), was not the ant-filled, outdoor revelry many of us will enjoy this coming holiday weekend. The original meaning is closer to what we would call a potluck meal, with each guest expected to bring a dish; and it was held indoors. In 1802 [...]
Jeweled Rice for a Persian Wedding
Posted in Festival Cooking, Food History, recipes, Traditional Foodways, tagged cooking with rose petals, Food History, Jeweled Rice, Persian food, Persian wedding food on May 24, 2010 | 3 Comments »
I find there is no better way to get to know a culture than by cooking some of its festival food. When I saw a recipe in Margaret Shaida’s absorbing historical cookbook, The Legendary Cuisine of Persia, for a special rice dish, traditionally served at weddings in Persia, I couldn’t resist. Not only does it [...]
Tasting the Crossroads of the Mediterranean
Posted in Food History, recipes, Traditional Foodways, tagged chicken with lemon and olives, Food History, Moroccan food, recipe, tagine on May 17, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Oh, to be in the souk bargaining with an olive merchant, while chickens destined for the pot scurry around your feet. I’ve never been to Morocco, but if the mysterious flavors of its cuisine are any indication, I must visit. One of the classic combinations is a tagine of chicken with lemon and olives. A [...]
Is Slow Food Really Slow?: Vinaigrette
Posted in Food History, Ingredients, recipes, tagged homemade vinaigrette, recipe, salad dressing, vinaigrette on May 10, 2010 | 2 Comments »
“Is Slow Food Really Slow?” is a series here on Comestibles in which we explore the hypothesis that some of the processes many modern home cooks have declared too time consuming are a lot easier than the admen would have us believe. I challenge you to find a bottle of commercial salad dressing that is [...]
18th Century Prawns
Posted in Farmers' Market Cooking, Food History, recipes, Travel, tagged 18th Century recipe, Australian prawns, Food History, recipe on April 26, 2010 | 2 Comments »
While visiting Australia I had a chance to catch up with one of my favorite food history bloggers Janet Clarkson of “The Old Foodie”. We had a great visit, diving into her terrific collection of historical cookbooks, including her latest work: Menus from History: Historic Meals and Recipes for Every Day of the Year. I [...]
Coffee as it was Served A Thousand Years Ago
Posted in Food as Anthropology, Food History, Ingredients, recipes, Traditional Foodways, tagged ancient coffee recipe, cascara, coffee, dried coffee cherries, history of coffee, quishir, recipe, sufism on April 7, 2010 | 2 Comments »
It must have seemed like magic, a substance that not only granted boundless energy, but curbed hunger as well. It wasn’t the first drug of course, we’ve had opium, alcohol, and psychedelic mushrooms for a lot longer. But coffee was different. As Balzac wrote: Ideas quick-march into motion like battalions of a grand army to [...]
