To Make a Dish of Curry After the East Indian Manner
When I picked this blog up again last year I had every intention of blogging regularly. I had these grand ideas of how much redacting and historical cooking I was going to do, and...
HISTORICAL FOODWAYS Blog
Book Review: To the King’s Taste
The book is a bit dated, it was first published in 1975, and our knowledge of Medieval foodways has improved leaps and bounds since. However, there are a few errors that I think are...
Rys. A 15th Century Rice Pudding
Remember the Almond Milk from the previous post? Well, I didn’t make the almond milk for its own sake, I made it so that I could use it for a rice pudding, Rys, recipe...
Froyte de Almondes (Almond Milk)
Almond milk has been around for far longer than most of us think, as is clear by its extensive use in Medieval households. It was used as food for the sick and invalid but...
Pound Cake Project, Conclusion
I went into this project knowing that what we call pound cake today is far different from what pound cake was originally but I wanted to learn why there were such differences. Along the...
Pound Cake Project, Part 5
I had originally intended to examine only four recipes but after seeing the dramatic changes between the previous two recipes, my curiosity was piqued and I wanted to see if a modern recipe, from...
Pound Cake Project, Part 4
The fourth recipe in this project finally takes us into the 20th century. It comes from a book called The Perfect Hostess Cook Book, written by Mildred O’Knopf in 1950. This recipe’s format gives...
Pound Cake Project, Part 3
The third recipe for this project comes from an 1886 cookbook titled Mrs. Rorer’s Cook Book. I own an original copy, not a facsimile and it’s in excellent condition. I wonder how many books...
Pound Cake Project, Part 2
The recipe for the second installment of The Pound Cake Project comes from The Virginia Housewife, or Methodical Cook, by Mary Randolph. This book was first published in 1824. The copy that I own...
Pound Cake Project, Part 1
Pound cake gets its name from the original composition of the cake, which was nothing more than one pound each of sugar, butter, eggs and flour. It is difficult to make this connection today,...