Cooked Books

Happy Birthday Mary Frances

2008-07-03T12:00:00.002-04:00

Mary Frances Kennedy Fisher was born on this day, a century ago, in Albion, Michigan. When she was three years old her family relocated to Whittier, California where her father edited a local newspaper. California remained a place close to Fisher's heart throughout her life. She would later write that although she was not born a Californian, " I truly think I am one."

She established a love of food early on. In her 1983 book As they were, Fisher reminisces about her first meal at a restaurant when she was six years old: "The small room lighted with candles behind pink lampshades, with incredible expanses of snow-white linen, and a forest of glasses sparkling everywhere...."

While at college at UCLA Mary Frances met Alfred Young Fisher. They married in 1929 and soon left for Dijon, France where Alfred was enrolled in university. Like countless culinary luminaries before and after her, M.F.K Fisher fell in love with France: the language, the culture and the deep appreciation of food. She took cooking lessons, and began to write seriously. After the Fisher's stay in Dijon, M.F.K and Alfred moved back to California where the couple became close friends with Dillwyn "Tim" Parrish. Parrish became something of a mentor to M.F.K and persuaded her to continue writing. Fisher's first book, Serve it forth was published in 1937 by Harper Brothers.

Fisher soon divorced Alfred, married Parrish and the couple moved to Vevey, Switzerland. Together they wrote a romantic novel under the pseudonym Victoria Berne called Touch and go (1939) (NYPL is one of the few libraries in the country that owns this book, and just try to find it online...). The marriage ended shortly thereafter when Parrish - suffering from Brueger's disease - killed himself.

Fisher would marry again, this time to literary agent Donald Friede, and she continued to write voraciously: Consider the oyster (1941), How to cook a wolf (1942), The gastronomical me (1943), Here let us feast (1946), as well as a translation of Brillat-Savarin's The physiology of taste (1949).

Fisher later wrote a column for the New Yorker, as well as a children's book, travelogues and novels.

M.F.K. Fisher died at her home in Glen Ellen, California in 1992.

The Library has a large number of her works, in addition to bibliographies of her other writings in magazines and newspapers. Molly O'Neill, in the Times obituary, refers to a documentary -- called simply M.F.K.-- as a "comprehensive view of Mrs. Fisher." The Library owns this as well, so I know what I'll be doing on my lunch hour today.

Fisher's papers are held at the Schlesinger Library and the finding aid is available online. NYPL also has a number of Fisher biographies in both the branches and the 42nd street building, and I highly recommend Joan Reardon's Poet of the appetites (2004) as a wonderful way to immerse yourself in the rich life of a woman whom W.H. Auden called "America's greatest writer."

Toronto Street Dogs

2008-06-18T08:35:00.000-04:00

Toronto has got some tasty hot dogs. I was in T.O. over the weekend on a relaxing break from New York, so I followed the recommendation of Frugal Traveler Matt Gross and sampled a street hot dog with all the fixings. It was a very fine hot dog.

What's especially nice about the Toronto street dogs, as opposed to NYC street dogs, is that Toronto grills not only the frank but the bun as well making for a warm and more textured flavor combination. Plus - and this might be heresy to some hot dog lovers - each Toronto cart offers a slew of enticing condiments which go well beyond the mustardketchupsauerkraut options that NY tends to offer.

I'm hardly a purist when it comes to hot dog toppings -- the more the better -- so I basically buried my dog under a pile of whatever was available to me, including mustard, relish, ketchup, chilies, jalapeno, pickles, and Sriracha (my new favorite hot dog condiment).

Next week I'll be in Los Angeles for a conference and while I've never had a Pink's hot dog, I can't say I'm really interested in trying one. The line just seems too long and the hype seems too large. For those fans I might have just offended, the Library does have a documentary on Pink's which looks interesting, and with a 18-minute running time it's a lot shorter than waiting on line.

Newlywed Cookbooks

2008-06-11T07:52:00.034-04:00

The Times beat me to the (celebratory) punch.

Just last Wednesday, as I was strolling through the stacks of the Library, my eyes landed on this interesting title: The Groom Boils and Stews: A Man's Cookbook for Men.

Cookbooks for men are alone a genre worthy of discussion, but since the New York Times today provides a highly agreeable list of cookbooks suitable for newlyweds, I'm opting to focus on the Groom part of the above title to see what other gems we have in our collection.

In searching for appropriate cookbooks in our online catalog I was somewhat surprised to learn that no subject heading exists for newlywed cookbooks. The closest subject category seems to be Cookery for Two which includes such titles as Cook'n to keep him and the less gendered - and much more appealing title -- Cuisine pour toi et moi.

But back to The Groom Boils and Stews where the first recipe is how to boil water and chapter one starts with "If you've been hooked into the great dragnet of matrimony, there are a few fundamental principals regarding the laws of self-preservation you should know."

Arguably it's not a promising beginning, yet believe it or not, once you get past the silly chapter introductions -- the dessert intro is a doozy -- many of the recipes are straightforward, practical, and dare I say, appetizing. Consider this recipe for Atomic Beets:

Drain and cube two cups of hot cooked beets. Melt one tablespoon of butter in a saucepan. Stir in two tablespoons of horseradish and add the cubed beets. Season with salt and serve steaming hot.

The Groom Boils is also one of the few cookbooks I've found in our collection catered specifically to the groom, that is, a married man sharing the household cooking responsibilities with his wife. Most of the other male-centered cookbooks I've seen simply target bachelors whose main goal is not to starve to death while waiting for the right cook, I mean wife.

Bridal cookbooks are a different story. Cookbooks, in general were often given to young women as gifts upon entering the "great dragnet of matrimony." Some of the more popular gift cookbooks included classics like Joy of Cooking, The Boston Cooking-School cook book, and The Settlement Cookbook , and despite their lack of an obvious "bride" label, there was no doubt as to who they were meant for.

Of the bridal-specific cookbooks, one of the most comprehensive I've found is Betty Wason's 1964 book Bride in the Kitchen. This all-encompassing volume includes wedding gift/kitchen supply suggestions, grocery saving tips, a meat buying guide, and most importantly -- for the groom, at least -- a chapter titled Desserts for a Sweet-Tooth Man.

For more up-to-date newlywed cookbooks, one could try the Williams-Sonoma's Bride and Groom Cookbook (2006) or Abigail Kirsch's The Bride and Groom's First Cookbook (1996).

But really, if you want my professional (and somewhat biased) opinion, just don't marry anyone that can't cook!

Culinary Research

2008-06-07T11:10:00.004-04:00

I'll be teaching a class on Tuesday, June 10th at 3:15PM at the Humanities and Social Sciences Library on the best ways to begin one's culinary research.

It's free and no reservations are necessary, so feel free to stop in.

The class will take place in the South Court classrooms on the first floor.

Verdura

2008-06-06T12:35:00.018-04:00

After what seemed like weeks of boring cooking and eating takeout, my kitchen was miraculously brought back to life this week, bustling with seasonal ingredients and two cookbooks: a new favorite and an old standby.

On Wednesday after a very special day of talking about artichokes in the Library (more about that at a later date…), my boyfriend and I walked the talk and braised some of the “thistly but delectable vegetable”** with peas and shallots. I’m embarrassed to say that prior to Wednesday night, I was more fluent in opening jars of artichokes than spooning out their chokes, but after Lidia’s recipe for braised artichokes in Lidia’s Italy (my new favorite cookbook), I’m officially a convert.

And last night I broke out Viana La Place's Verdura which, alongside some SPF 60 (you think I’m kidding?), is my constant companion until October. Verdura was given to me years ago by one of my oldest friends who at the time was working at Kitchen Arts and Letters – the ultimate cookbook store. If it’s good enough for Kitchen Arts to recommend, it’s been vetted enough for me. La Place's recipes are all wonderfully simple, allowing the flavors of the vegetables to shine through and take their rightful center stage. I can't think of a better summer cookbook than Verdura.

Last night I made La Place’s recipe for escarole bruschetta, featuring a cast of roasted pine nuts, plumped up raisins, and chopped olives all mixed with wilted escarole for a medley of unique flavors that come together seamlessly. And with escarole blending the winter green with the spring flavor, it was the perfect way to start an early June meal.

I also made what I like to call Old Faithful: zucchini coins cooked over high heat in olive oil and then liberally showered with pecorino romano and basil. A simple, but always satisfying side.

As far as I’m concerned, summer has officially begun.

**This quote, describing artichokes, is featured in a December 22, 1935 article in the New York Times detailing Mayor La Guardia’s ban of the artichoke which was put into effect to help put an end to food racketeers.

Braised Artichokes with Pecorino (and added peas...)
(adapted from Lidia Bastianich’s Lidia’s Italy)

2 lbs. small artichokes
1 lemon for acidulated water
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, sliced
2 cups chopped onion (we used shallots)
1/2 t. coarse sea salt
1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 cup shredded pecorino

Trim the artichokes, slice very thinly and soak the slices in acidulated water.
Pour the olive oil into the skillet, and set it over medium heat. Scatter the garlic and onion in the pan. Cook for 4 minutes or so, stirring and tossing occasionally; season with the salt and red pepper flakes.
When the vegetables are sizzling and wilting, lift the artichoke slices from the acidulated water, drain briefly, and drop them into the skillet. Stir well, cover the pan tightly, and let everything cook slowly.
After 10 minutes, the artichoke slices should be softening - if they're hard and the pan is try, add some spoonfuls of acidulated water and continue cooking, covered. Braise for 15 to 20 minutes total, until the artichokes are tender and lightly colored.
Turn off the heat, and spread the artichokes out in the skillet bottom. Scatter the shredded cheese evenly on top, and cover the pan. Let it melt into the vegetables for several minutes before serving.

Bruschetta with Sautéed Escarole
(adapted from Verdura by Viana La Place)

2 T. raisins
2 T. pine nuts
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 medium head escarole, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2 inch strips
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil, more as needed
1/3 cup Kalamata olives
6 thick slices country bread

Cover raisins with warm water until plumped, about 20 minutes. Drain. Toast the pine nuts in a small sauté pan over medium heat, until light brown, then transfer to a small dish. Pit olives and cut into quarters. Finely chop 3 cloves garlic. Rinse escarole in cold water, and drain but do not dry. Place a large pan over medium-low heat. Add olive oil and chopped garlic, escarole and salt and sauté until escarole is tender, about 10 minutes. Add raisins, pine nuts and olives, and toss. Grill or toast bread. Rub with remaining garlic cloves and drizzle with olive oil. Spoon escarole over bread, and serve.

Florent

2008-05-21T10:36:00.027-04:00

The Dining section of the Times today has a surprisingly moving audio slide show about the history of Restaurant Florent, the last bastion of cool to hit the Meatpacking District, narrated by owner Florent Morellet.

Ever since I moved to New York eleven years ago, Florent has been a mainstay in my late night dining rotation. While I was never one to hit the clubs, much less Hogs and Heifers, Florent would beckon when those 3AM cravings took hold even if I was no where near the Far West Side. I remember seeing Q-Tip there one very early morning many years ago, eating dinner with a beautiful woman. To this day, it remains one of my favorite celebrity sightings.

More recently my forays to Florent have been during somewhat respectable hours for dinner with friends or a glass of Lillet at the bar. The vibe and style of Florent is in a class by itself, and while I relish old-school restaurants that hark back to the 20's or 30's, I also really love (especially being a child of the 80's) the unattainably cool New York of say, Unique Boutique, Desperately Seeking Susan, and yes, Restaurant Florent.

When I heard that Florent was closing, I asked Monsieur Morellet if he would be so kind as to donate some menus to the Library. He most graciously obliged and now, I'm pleased to say, the Library's menu collection has a nice range of his quirky menus (designed by Tibor Kalman's M&Co) including one from 1985, the year Desperately Seeking Susan was released and opened my eyes to a new world, and the year Florent opened its doors and changed the Meatpacking District forever.

I can't image any future NYC historian researching the Meatpacking District without referring to Florent, and I'm hoping that these menus will allow for a richer and more detailed look at this uniquely New York neighborhood.

Friendly's

2008-05-06T18:15:00.002-04:00

I'm fascinated by fast food. I don't eat much of it, except for the occasional McDonald's meal on I95, but I'm still really interested in the history of fast food: the "where, who and why" of it all. From the Harvey Girls who made waiting tables into a real career on the railroad lines, to Duncan Hines and his drives across the country discovering hole-in-the-wall restaurants, to Burger King, Wendy's and Fat Burger -- behind every fast food joint there is usually a great American story.

Fast Food: Roadside Restaurants in the Automobile Age is a wonderfully readable book on the history of roadside restaurants, and it offers quite a bit of background on fast food culture, including one of my all-time favorite restaurants: Friendly's.

For those of us who grew up in suburban New York or anywhere in New England, Friendly's is an important landmark. It's where you went with your friends after a movie, or where your parents took you after a school play or concert. Friendly's is where I experienced my first real stomach ache (Jim Dandy? I don't think so...) and where I learned that I do indeed have a delicate constitution. Regardless of all that, I can't get over the feeling of nostalgia that warms over me when I walk into a Friendly's restaurant.

According to the book, Friendly's originated in Springfield, Massachusetts in 1935 as a dairy and soda shop. They shut down during the war due to gasoline rationing which cut automobile traveling, but opened up again afterwards, serving ice cream throughout Massachusetts. In the 1950s Friendly's expanded to upstate New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, D.C and even to parts of Indiana and Ohio, but still remained an ice cream-only destination. It was only in the 1980s that Friendly's began to serve food.

And speaking of food, while my love for Friendly's is vast, my heart belongs to the Fishamajig.

A little background before you think I'm crazy. I grew up in a kosher home. We didn't eat out much, and when we did it was to a deli or Moshe Peking or Pizza Hut. However, we did love a good Friendly's meal. Besides ice cream though, the only thing we were allowed to order was a Fishamajig. The Fishamajig is essentially a grilled cheese sandwich with fried fish and tarter sauce in the middle. A bit like the Filet-O-Fish, yet probably less healthy (if that's even possible) and I'm guessing just as non-kosher. I had one this past weekend, and while I did feel a tad sickly afterwards, it was worth the pain. It was a sublime Fishamajig.

For those of you who haven't tried a Fishamajig yet, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it. It's kind of an acquired taste. But should you desire to peruse a menu to see your other options, we have one in the Library's Menu Collection. I should know - I put it there myself.

A Good Meal is Equal to Victory

2008-04-24T15:33:00.000-04:00

The other day my friend and colleague Jessica Pigza was teaching her class on all things Hand Made (she'll be teaching more of those in the coming months so be sure to check it out...) and she emphasized something I should have brought up with culinary researchers long ago: pamphlet volumes.

In non-library lingo, pamphlet volumes are essentially short pamphlets that have been bound together into a book. The pamphlets range from topic to topic, and sometimes pamphlets bound together have absolutely nothing to do with one another except format, while other times they're bound by subject as well.

What makes these little guys so great is that they often cover subjects that are difficult to find in any free-standing book. Case in point: A Soldier's Simple Cooking Recipes for Cooking in the Trenches and Billets (with vocabulary of French words), published by Harrison and Sons, London and printed sometime between 1914 and 1918.

The preface reads:

Tommy Atkins has the best rations of any soldier in the world, but at the same time Tommy Atkins is the very worst cook in the world. These recipes, however, will help him in his difficulties when he needs to turn his hand to cooking.

The pamphlet provides recipes for trench cooking, including a jam roll and trench cake, and also provides a glossary of French words and pronunciations for those soldiers needing to purchase supplies.

Some examples include:

Chicken...Poulet...Poo, lay

Dining Room...Sale a manger...Sarle ah monjhay

Tongue...Langue deboeuf...Longe der berf

So if you're ever looking for wonderfully quirky cookbooks, look no further than pamphlet volumes (indicated by a p.v. after the call number).

Trench Cake

Crush 4 or 5 Army biscuits into powder.
Add enough water to make a stiff paste, mix in sugar and a tiny pinch of salt with a tablespoonful of butter if available.
Knead it well, but not too heavily.
Bake on a flat hot stone which has been heated in a fire. (If you can, use a beaten egg instead of the water; it will make the cake much more tasty and light.)

Apollo 11 Menu

2008-04-24T14:10:00.000-04:00

I've spoken often about the Library's Buttolph restaurant menu collection, but it's worth mentioning that we have menus in other collections as well.

The other day a reader requested mementos from an official state dinner honoring the astronauts of the Apollo 11 voyage. The menu, seating plan, invitation, and some related correspondence from that dinner are part of the Rare Books Division (but not the Buttolph Collection), and I highly doubt I would've come across it had a reader not requested it.

The dinner was held on August 13, 1969 at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles and was called by the Los Angeles Times, "the dinner party of the decade, perhaps of the century."

According to articles in both the New York and L.A Times, the dinner was one of the most coveted invites in town, with the White House fielding phone calls all week from those asking to be included on the guest list ("[The White House secretaries] have been surprised by the blunt language some of the callers have used.")

Some of the invites included Charles Lindbergh and Howard Hughes (both turned it down), Jimmy Stewart, Joan Crawford, Fred Astaire, and former President Johnson (also turned it down).

Those that did come were treated to a menu that included the following:

Supreme of Salmon Commodore

Filet of Beef Perigourdine

Artichauds Columbia

Carottes des Indes

Limestone lettuce (all veggies were California grown)

Fromages de Brie, Bel Paese and Roquefort

and for the finale...

Clair de Lune - marzipan, meringue, blackberry sauce and of course - an American flag.

What's also fascinating about this folder of mementos is the correspondence that's attached to it. These items - given to the Library in the fall of 1969 - tracks the request from the New York Public Library to the Century Plaza Hotel, who sent the request to NASA , who passed it along to the Social Secretary of the White House, who honored the Library's request and sent the menu and invite to the Rare Books Division.

And now I'm passing it along to you.

Does anyone know the email address of Bush's social secretary?

Au Revoir, Chez Laurence

2008-04-10T01:50:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago on Friday March 21st, Chez Laurence, a little restaurant on Madison Avenue favored by many librarians, closed its doors for the last time. Even to me, a relative newbie at NYPL, it was a rather upsetting day and to the older librarians who had been going for years, it was heartbreaking. While its prices were in keeping with the times, some of Chez Laurence's menu offerings were remarkably atypical of current Manhattan restaurants. With sandwiches like Mackerel and Grated Carrot or Sardine with Cream Cheese, eating at Chez Laurence felt like going back in time so that at any moment Kay Leiland Strong (Vassar class of '33) might walk in for a cup of coffee.

On its second to last day, I stopped in for breakfast, a take-out breakfast of coffee and a croissant. People were lining up for their morning fix saddened that in a few days they'd be forced to join the masses at Starbucks and Pret a Manger. When I went back that Friday - their last day - and secured the Chez Laurence menu for the Library's menu collection, regulars were on line for pastries stunned that the restaurant wouldn't be open for dinner that night.

With its French decor, Polish waitresses, and tinned fish sandwiches - is there any restaurant in New York that serves a mackerel sandwich? - Chez Laurence will be a greatly missed midtown destination, especially to those of us working at this great New York cultural institution.

And while I don't have the recipe for Chez Laurence's sardine sandwich, I will subject myself to potential ridicule (in case I haven't already...) by posting a family-favorite sardine recipe. Some may call it a spread, others might appreciate the term pâté, but at home we've always just called it Sardine Dip.

Sardine Dip
(courtesy of Claire Federman. All measurements are approximate and to taste)

1 tin of sardines, reserve liquid
Philadelphia cream cheese, about 1-2 tablespoons
French's yellow mustard (or Dijon if you must), 1 to 2 teaspoons
lemon juice, about 1 teaspoon
salt and pepper

Pulse in a food processor or "mini prep". Spread on bread or crackers.

Culinary Class

2008-04-02T15:00:00.000-04:00

This Friday, April 4th, I'll be giving a free class in the South Court classrooms of the New York Public Library on how to get started using our materials for culinary research. The Library can be rather intimidating to new users in any subject, but for those who specifically want to research culinary history, cookbooks, or archival material, it can be more so. There are a number of databases where one can search for material and there are quite a few regulations related to rare book and menu research.

I'll be going over our catalog of books (CATNYP), some electronic databases that lend themselves well to culinary history, and the Library's menu collection database. I'll also bring some examples from the collection for your viewing pleasure.

Friday, April 4th
3:15 - 4:15
New York Public Library South Court Classrooms
1st floor (enter on Fifth Avenue between the lions)
42nd and 5th
No registration necessary. Just walk in.

Ma Gastronomie

2008-03-27T09:53:00.000-04:00

If you tuned in to Charlie Rose last night you might have seen Rose's interview with Thomas Keller. While the conversation was hardly earth-shattering, Keller did mention Fernand Point as the one person, living or dead, that Keller would most want to share a meal with. Keller went on to mention that Point's Ma Gastronomie is a must-read for all his staff.

Fernand Point, former chef and owner of Lyon's famed Restaurant de la Pyramid (you can see the menu and interiors in Vincent Price's book), died in 1955. After his death, Point's wife kept Fernand's high standards in place and the restaurant continued to thrive. Ma Gastronomie was compiled by Madame Point from her late husband's notes and was published in 1969.

It's not the easiest book to get a hold of. Recently Charlie Trotter mentioned the book in a Wall Street Journal piece, and the book flew off the shelves of used book stores. Rest assured, a new edition will be published this year by Overlook Press. In the meantime, get inspired by Point's gastronomical genius at the Library! We have both the French and English versions in the stacks.

Fannie Farmer

2008-03-20T15:15:00.000-04:00

Fannie Merritt Farmer, Boston Cooking School’s esteemed graduate, director, and the author of its best-selling cookbook, The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book, was born on this day in 1857.

Within just a few years of graduating from the Boston Cooking School, Farmer became its director and in that role she revised the school’s previous cookbook, Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book written by her former teacher Mary J. Lincoln in 1883. Farmer's The Boston Cooking- School Cook Book was published by Little Brown in 1896 and was an immediate hit. The book not only cemented Farmer’s reputation as a thorough and creative cook, but also forever labelled her as the “Mother of Level Measurements.” Farmer strongly believed that one could not produce consistent results with vague instructions and her book was the first to insist that measurements be leveled with a knife or spatula. Gone were instructions for heaping tablespoons or scant teaspoons. As Farmer writes “A cupful is measured level. A tablespoon is measured level. A teaspoon is measured level.”

Farmer eventually left the Boston Cooking School in 1902, yet she continued to lecture and write. Her Food and Cookery for the Sick and Convalescent in 1904 was a particularly personal cookbook for Farmer. When she was in high school Fannie was taken ill with a sickness (most likely polio) which not only kept her bedridden for months, but also ruled out any college prospects and left her with a permanent limp. Food and Cookery (the 1912 edition is available in the full-text via Google Books) promotes a healthy diet “from infancy to old age” with the emphasis on nutritional values and digestibility. One glance at the first few pages and one knows Farmer was serious about the subject. In addition to elaborate diagrams of the stomach and intestine, Farmer covers the chemical breakdowns of various foods and also includes tips on making food more palatable to the patient. Farmer wanted others to receive better treatment than she herself had received as a young woman.

Fannie Merritt Farmer died on January 15, 1915.

In addition to the 1896 edition, the Library has a number of facsimiles and later editions of the Boston Cooking-School Cookbook, as well as her later writings. We also have Marion Cunningham’s wonderful Fannie Farmer Cookbook.

Farmer’s contribution to American cooking cannot be underestimated. Her sophisticated recipes somewhat belie her scientific approach to cooking, which reminds me of my favorite Vermont “Farmer” Christopher Kimball who, to many people, has created something of his own Boston Cooking School via Cook’s Illustrated and America’s Test Kitchen. Something about Boston brings out the precise measurements in people.

For more information on Fannie Farmer, please consult the indispensable Perfection Salad by Laura Shapiro.

Oatmeal Muffins
(These muffins are a favorite of my colleague (and wonderful cook) Jessica Pigza.)
(Adapted from Marion Cunningham’s Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

1 ½ cups flour
2 T. sugar
4 t. baking powder
½ t. salt
½ cup milk
1 egg, well beaten
2 T. butter, melted
1 cup cooked oatmeal

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter the muffin pans. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl stir the milk, egg, and butter into the oatmeal. Stir until well-blended. Combine the two mixture and mix well. Spoon each muffin cup two-thirds full of batter. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out dry when inserted in center.

Rice Griddle Cakes
(from Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cookbook)

2 ½ cups flour
½ cup cold cooked rice
1 T. baking powder
½ t. salt
¼ cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
1 egg
2 T. melted butter

Mix and sift dry ingredients. Work in rice with tips of fingers; add egg well-beaten, milk, and butter. Drop by spoonfuls on a greased hot griddle; cook on one side. When puffed, full of bubbles, and cooked on edges, turn, and cook other side. Serve with butter and maple syrup.

Cocktails for Stormy Weather

2008-03-19T11:28:00.001-04:00

If I wasn't at work today I'd be at home reading, cooking, or perhaps, possibly, drinking.

Mind you, I'm no lush. Far from it, in fact. I've even been called, yes, a teetotaler. But something about nasty weather, be it cold and rainy or hot and stifling, brings out the bartender in me.

At home I might just have a shot of horseradish vodka, but this most delicious libation deserves a writeup of its own - perhaps in April when we celebrate this bitter herb.

In the meantime I'll just have to be satisfied with something made up, or knowing me, from a book. On my desk I have the Savoy Cocktail Book and there are more than a few recipes in here that strike my fancy. How about the De Rigueur Cocktail with whisky and grapefruit, or the Devil's Cocktail with port and vermouth, or even the Orange Bloom cocktail?

And there is always the well-appointed new bar that recently opened in my neck of the woods called, appropriately enough, Weather Up. It's on Vanderbilt Avenue in Prospect Heights and although the prices might keep my visits to a minimum, their Brooklyn cocktail - served ice cold and packing a punch - is sure to pull me back in again. That is, of course, when the weather improves.

De Rigueur Cocktail (adapted from the Savoy Cocktail Book by Henry Craddock)
1/2 Whisky
1/4 Grapefruit juice
1/4 Honey
Cracked Ice.

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Devil's Cocktail
1/2 Port
1/2 French (Dry) Vermouth
2 dashes Lemon Juice (or perhaps orange or grapefruit bitters?)

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass.

Orange Bloom Cocktail
1/4 Italian (Sweet) Vermouth
1/4 Cointreau
1/2 Dry Gin

Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass and add a cherry.

Vincent Price

2008-03-11T18:43:00.000-04:00

There's no need to argue that Vincent Price was a fine thespian. I should say that his work in The Tomb of Legia ("I tried to kill a stray cat with a cabbage, and all but made love to the Lady Rowena....") and The Tingler speaks for itself. But many might not realize that Mr. Price was quite the gourmet and also wrote a few cookbooks. The Library has two of his culinary works in our collection, both of which he co-wrote with his wife Mary Price.

A Treasury of Great Recipes is not simply a recipe book, but a celebration of fine dining around the world, something the Price's - no doubt - were very familiar with. Restaurants throughout Europe, Mexico, and the United States are all represented, from Restaurant de la Pyramide in Vienne, France to Chavez Ravine in Los Angeles. The menus of these establishments are printed inside, along with lush color photographs of the dining rooms.

It's so nice (yet rare) to have photographs of restaurant interiors. It's one question I get asked frequently by scholars researching historical restaurants. Yet we sadly have very few restaurant photographs unless images of the interior are part of the menu (La Côte Basque for example), or are included in the Library's extensive postcard collection.

(Vincent Price serving up some white wine)

Also in the Price family oeuvre is a five-volume set celebrating our nation's culinary history. Called A National Treasury of Cookery, each volume celebrates a different historical movement of American history and food. From the recipes of Early America (pickled oysters and chicken pudding) to Victorian America (Bonne Femme Soup and Beef Roulade), these quick little volumes feature surprisingly appetizing recipes with beautiful prints and photographs. Any lingering bad memories of cooking in costume at Philipsburg Manor* in grade school have suddenly vanished with the Price's recipe for Roast Duck with Virginia Cornbread Stuffing.

Gâteau Grand Marnier
from Hostellerie de la Poste, Avallon FRANCE
(adapted from A Treasury of Great Recipes)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream one cup butter with one cup sugar until pale and fluffy.

Beat in 3 egg yolks, one at a time.

Add 1 teaspoon Grand Marnier

Sift together 2 cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, and 1 teaspoon baking soda.

Add dry ingredients to batter, alternating with 1 1/4 cups sour cream, beginning and ending with dry ingredients and mixing until smooth.

Stir in grated rind of one orange, and 1 cup chopped walnuts.

Beat in 3 egg whites until stiff, and fold into batter. Pour batter into greased 9" tube pan.

Bake in the over for 50 to 55 minutes, or until cake tests done.

Topping:
Combine 1/2 cup sugar, 1 cup orange juice, and 1/3 cup Grand Marnier. Pour over hot cake while it is in the pan. Sprinkle with blanched slivered almonds and let cake cool before removing from pan.

* I may have spoken too soon! The Philipsburg Manor website now features recipes, (How 1750 of them...) and I have to admit, they look pretty tasty.

Washington's Beer Recipe

2008-02-22T11:24:00.000-05:00

Today is George Washington's birthday. To celebrate I present to you his beer recipe which is included in one of his notebooks, located in the Manuscripts Division at the Library.

If making beer is too difficult (amateurs!), why not just toast G.W with a round or two at Fraunces' Tavern - the historic inn where Washington bid farewell to his officers at the end of the Revolution.

To Make Small Beer (from George Washington, 1757)

Take a large Sifter full of Bran
Hops to your Taste -- Boil these
3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gall.
into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons
Molasses while the Beer is
scalding hot or rather drain the
molasses into the Cooler. Strain
the Beer on it while boiling hot
let this stand til it is little more
than Blood warm. Then put in
a quart of Yeast if the weather is
very cold cover it over with a Blanket.
Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours
then put it into the Cask. leave
the Bung open til it is almost done
working -- Bottle it that day Week
it was Brewed.

Cabbage, Two Ways

2008-02-15T14:27:00.000-05:00

I've always been a fan of the cabbage family. I even had a cabbage family of my own in the 4th and 5th grade. One little girl Cabbage Patch Kid named Angelina Alberta (whose name I changed — but I won't say to what), and my dear little "preemie" Roy Len. I loved those two kids until mildew grew on their cloth limbs. Then, instead of hugging and kissing members of the cabbage family, I started eating them. And I haven't stopped.

Brussels sprouts are still my favorites. From steamed with lemon and butter, to roasted with olive oil and lots of salt, to the magnificent cream braised recipe from Molly Stevens' All About Braising, which will make any Brussels hater into a Brussels inhaler.

Molly Stevens' book is chock-full of wonderful braised vegetable recipes. One of my other favorites is her Braised Cabbage with Saint-Marcellin Cheese. It's pure decadence, and perfect along side some roast chicken during these cold winter months.

Another cabbage recipe I love is from Marcella Hazan's Marcella Says'. It's a raw cabbage salad which is obviously much lighter than Stevens', yet equally satisfying. While I'm the first to admit I've only tried a handful of recipes from Hazan's book, this recipe stood out for its simplicity and ease. So while Angelina and Roy have been sent along to Cabbage (Patch) Heaven, these two recipes should be titled, ahem: Heavenly Cabbage.

Savoy Cabbage Gratin with Saint-Marcellin Cheese
(from Molly Stevens' All About Braising)

3T. unsalted butter
1 head Savoy cabbage, cored, halved, and cut into 1/2" shreds
1 bunch scallions, greens and whites, cut into 1/2" pieces
Coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 3/4 cups chicken broth
1 ripe Saint-Marcellin cheese

Heat oven to 325 degrees. Butter a large gratin dish. In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add cabbage and scallions, season with salt and pepper and saute, stirring often, until the cabbage is just beginning to brown in spots, 10 to 12 minutes. Pour in the stock, and bring to a steady simmer, scraping the bottom of the pan, and cook for about 2 minutes.

Scrape the cabbage, scallions, and all the juices into the gratin dish. Cover tightly with foil, slide onto the middle rack of the oven, and braise for 45 minutes. Remove foil and continue to cook until the liquid is mostly evaporated, another 20 minutes.

Cut or tear the cheese into small lumps (about 1/2") and scatter them across the gratin. Increase oven temperature to 375 degrees and cook until the cheese is thoroughly melted, about 10 minutes. Serve hot or warm as a first course, side dish or on its own as a light supper.

Savoy Cabbage Salad with Avocado
(from Marcella Hazan's Marcella Says...)

3 to 4 cups shredded Savoy cabbage (I've also used red cabbage, shredded finely)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly smashed with the flat part of a heavy knife blade
1/2 large ripe avocado or 1 small, peeled and cut into thin strips
Fine sea salt*
1 1/2 T wine vinegar
2 T extra virgin olive oil
Black pepper ground fresh from the mill.

Put all the ingredients in the salad bowl, toss thoroughly, and let stand at room temperature for 30 to 40 minutes (or longer). Remove the garlic cloves and serve at room temperature.

* I do think sea salt makes a difference here. Maldon entered my life recently and will never leave it.

Happy Valentine's Day

2008-02-14T18:44:00.000-05:00

For all those readers who will be enjoying a nice night out for V-day tonight, I would deeply appreciate any menus you can gather that will document this holiday. I'm always on the lookout for good Valentine menus.

This Bug's For You

2008-02-03T18:00:00.000-05:00

Edible bugs, according to last week’s New York Times Magazine, are making a comeback. Writer Sam Nejame explores the new fascination (and long history) of eating insects. When asked why Americans don't include more -- or any -- insects in their diet, Florence Dunkel, the current editor of the Food Insects Newsletter, blames simple social aversion.

I’ll be the first to admit that I have a social aversion to them. I have close to zero interest in trying insects. I am, however, fascinated by the fact that a Food Insects Newsletter exists, which yes, we do have at the New York Public Library. The Newsletter, which began in 1988 and is published out of the Department of Entomology at University of Wisconsin, Madison, has helped foster a community of scholars and scientists interested in consuming bugs. They make some valid arguments. According to their first issue, "...the prevailing opinion among those most knowledgeable about the situation in specific regions is that edible insects not only continue to be nutritionally important but could make an even greater contribution to human nutrition if supplies were increased or better distributed seasonally."

While searching through our collection of edible bug cookbooks I came across Creepy Crawly Cuisine by Julieta Ramos-Elorduy, a biology professor from the National University of Mexico. If you only buy one book dedicated to insect consumption, buy this. Even for someone like myself who has no interest in bugs, I thought some of the recipes sounded...edible. Ramos-Elorduy also includes nutritional information on these critters, all of which -- you'll be happy to know -- are very Atkins-friendly. She also describes what the insects taste like, and some sound downright tempting. For example, wasps resemble pine nuts, stinkbugs resemble apples, and Nopal worms taste similar to fried potatoes.

If you’re not interested in preparing bugs at home, try to score a ticket to the annual Explorer’s Club gala at the Waldorf-Astoria. When I went a few years ago, the insects were served atop rice, like sushi. For more of their recipes, try The Explorer’s Cookbook, so that after you’ve perfected insects, you can move onto snakes, lions and giraffes: A regular Great Adventure safari.

Wasp Salad (from Creepy Crawly Cuisine)
1/2 lb. larvae and/or pupae of bees or wasps
1/2 c. olive oil
1/2 c. peanut oil
1/4 c. honey vinegar (or other vinegar)
1/2 lb. mushrooms, finely chopped
1/4 head lettuce, finely chopped
1 can hearts of palm, chopped
1 mango, peeled and cut in pieces
1 t. salt, or more to taste
1/8 t. pepper, or more to taste

Fry the larvae in the olive oil at medium heat until they are crunchy. Place in a serving dish and add the peanut oil, honey, vinegar, mushrooms, lettuce, hearts of palm, and mango. Mix well, adding salt and pepper to taste. This salad makes an excellent accompaniment to the main course dishes.

Fried Katanga Termites (from The Explorer's Cookbook)

Trap them, put them in a jar, and seal with a tight screw top. When they are dead, simply dump in a frying pan rubbed with olive oil. Fry just a few seconds until crisp. Serve while hot. Goes wonderfully well with ice cold tequila.

Beefsteak Dinners

2008-01-30T04:42:00.000-05:00

The New York Times today has a wonderful article on beefsteak dinners. While the article focuses on present-day dinners held in New Jersey, it does note that the dinners were immensely popular in New York in the early part of the 20th century, especially among political and commercial organizations.

The most famous depiction of a beefsteak dinner is in Joseph Mitchell's "All you can hold for five bucks" which, of course, is available to read here at the Library.

The Library also has a number of official beefsteak dinner menus. The menu above, one of my favorite menus in the collection, is from the Piano Club from 1910. If only today's menus were so simple.

The menu below is from a dinner held in Brooklyn to honor the Brotherhood of Commerical Travelers in 1899. It's interesting to note the similarities between the two menus, not just in their edible offerings, but in their entire design. They're both very masculine and industrial compared to many menus of that time period. While the Times article does mention the lack of silverware at these events, I had also heard that plates were generally optional as well. Perhaps the paper choice for these menus is to connote the paper tableclothes that the meat would've be eaten on. Just a thought....

Graphic Recipes

2008-01-22T13:56:00.000-05:00

Pineapple Upside Down Cake by Sally Moffat

Plums by Barbara Miller

I was filing away some menus in the menu collection archive when I came across a folder filled with these beautiful, graphic broadside recipes. In addition to the recipes shown here, there are also recipes for Apple Pie, Pear Cheese Salad, Baked Cherry Pudding, and Coconut Zonk, among others.

The recipes were apparently part of a book project by the students at the Typography Workshop at the Cooper Union Art School in the Spring of 1966, and were printed by the students at the Ram Press in April of that same year. Only twenty-five copies of the book were made and we seem to have most of the individual, loose recipes. These recipes are either proofs or extra printed sheets from the book, but unfortunately, we don't have the published book in our collection. I also looked in WorldCat (a union catalog of libraries throughout the country), but I wasn't able to find any Library that has the published book. Now I'm not only on the lookout for this book, but for other interesting typographical cookbooks. I'll keep you posted with what I find in the Library's collection, and please share your own findings as well.

Avocado Supreme by Brenda Hardin

Hungry Planet

2008-01-11T14:57:00.000-05:00

Written by Faith D'Aluisio and photographed by Peter Menzel, Hungry Planet documents the weekly grocery costs and items of thirty families from around the globe. It's a fascinating look, not only at what the world eats in a given week (bananas and soda appear frequently), but also at what people spend on their food, and how it differs so widely country-to-country. The family above, the Revises of North Carolina, spend roughly $341.00 a week, the majority of which is spent on beverages and fast food. Meanwhile the Aymes of Tingo in Ecuador spend only $31.00, nearly all of which is spend on grains.

Interspersed among Menzel's photographs of grocery shopping outings in Australia, bleak farmer's markets in Bosnia, and fishing expeditions in Greenland, are statistics of the respective country's food consumption (in Japan, 146 pounds of fish are consumed per person a year, while Mexico is the number 1 world consumer of Coca-Cola), and essays by such prominent food writers as Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan and Corby Kummer.

Hungry Planet was released in 2005 by Ten Speed Press, so I'm a little late recognizing this work. I became aware of it on a trip to Copia this past August. Copia had Menzel's blown-up photographs on display, and I was absolutely riveted by the food, the colors and the uniqueness of each family dynamic. I was lucky enough to receive the book as a gift last month, and everyone I've shown it to has been equally drawn to these families, and to something as simple as their grocery lists.

Snow

2008-01-08T13:15:00.000-05:00

While New York City hasn't had much snow this winter (it's nearly 60 degrees in New York today), when the big nor'easter does come there will be plenty of recipes to choose from. Snow, as an ingredient, makes its appearance in quite a few early American (and many British)cookbooks as evidenced in a search through Feeding America, the wonderful digital archive of American cookbooks from the University of Michigan.

But according to Alan Davidson in his Oxford Companion to Food, when cookbooks list snow as an ingredient they are not necessarily referring to the stuff found outside, but rather to a mixture of stiffened egg whites, cream, and either rosewater, sugar or a variation on the two. Sometimes this edible "snow" was used on twigs to replicate real snow on table centerpieces, and sometimes it was used in recipes.

Apple Snow, a recipe found in quite a number of cookery books of the time, Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book and Fannie Farmer's Boston Cooking School Cookbook to name just two, calls for heated, peeled, and cored apples to be mixed with sugar and then added to stiffened egg whites.

Another recipe, Snow Cream, also calls for egg whites to replicate snow. It was apparently a very popular recipe throughout the 18th and 19th century, as I found recipes for it ranging from Richard Bradley's 1762 book The Country Housewife, to Fanny Gillette's 1887 book The White House Cookbook. Richard Bradley's recipe reads:

A pint of cream, sweetened to your taste, and the whites of four eggs, whip them up in a froth; take it off as it rises, and lay it in glasses, or a dish, with mashed raspberries or strawberries underneath.

Elizabeth Lea's 1869 book Domestic Cookery also features a recipe for Snow Cream but she forgoes the egg whites completely, and adds real snow to the mixture right before serving:

Take the richest cream you can procure, season it with a few drops of essence of lemon, or syrup of lemon peel, and powdered white sugar, and if you choose a spoonful of preserve syrup, and just as you send it to the table, stir in light newly fallen snow till it is nearly as stiff as ice cream.

And some recipes just use the snow, as is. Take, for example, the recipe for Snow Griddle Cakes in the Women Suffrage Cookbook:

Take six tablespoonfuls flour, add a little salt, and six tablespoonfuls of light freshly-fallen snow. Stir the flour and snow well together, adding a pint of sweet milk. Bake the batter in small cakes on a griddle, using only a very little nice butter. They may be eaten with butter and sugar, and are very delicate.

So next time you're out and about in the mess of the city, cursing the mile-high snow banks stained brown and yellow, think of all these delicious recipes you could be making instead.

Free Cooking Shows

2008-01-07T13:05:00.000-05:00

Sunday is "cooking show heaven" on PBS. The line-up changes every few months, but the shows (America's Test Kitchen, Mark Bittman, Lidia, Daisy, Jacques) are always highly educational (in a good way) and generally better than anything you can find on the Food Network.

Now the Library has a new service that will extend my Sunday cooking show viewing. MyLibraryDV is a free program, through the Library, that allows users to download and view a host of television programs and classic and independent films. Included among the TV programs are America's Test Kitchen, Michael Chiarello's Napa, and Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home. If you're into travel shows, your options are even greater with tons of episodes of Globe Trekker and Rick Steves' Europe.

To download the shows and movies, you need a New York Public Library account, and a computer that will run Windows Media Player. One essentially "checks out" up to ten programs at a time for one week. After the week the programs will disappear from your computer. The site's FAQ has more information.

Elizabeth David's Cookbook Picks

2008-01-03T13:35:00.000-05:00

With all the "Best of 2007" cookbook lists that have come out in the past few months, I was reminded of an article in the London Times from February 1971 that my friend and colleague at the Library, Amy Azzarito, pulled for me. The article lists twenty-seven cookbooks that culinary writer Elizabeth David recommends one have in one's library. The books are broken down into categories such as French and International; English and Scottish; Basic; Levantine and Mediterranean; Oriental; and Reference.

While some of these cookbooks are very familiar (Escoffier, Child, Roden), there are also quite a few I had never heard of. Fortunately, the Library owns most of those listed and I intend to pull them from the stacks and get more acquainted with these writers and their works.

I will list them as David has done in the article.

French & International:
1. Guide to Modern Cookery by Auguste Escoffier (1903)

2. Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Child, Beck and Bertholle (1963)

3. Cooking with Pomiane by Edouard de Pomaine (1962)

4. Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson (1967)

5. The Constance Spry Cookery Book by Constance Spry and Rosemary Hume (1956)

English and Scottish:
6. Food in England by Dorothy Hartley (1954)

7. Good Things in England by Florence White (1932)

8. The Scots Kitchen by F. Marian McNeill (1946)

9. Farmhouse Fare by Agricultural Press (1935)

10. The Best of Eliza Acton edited by Elizabeth Ray (1968)

11. Mrs. Beeton's Household Management - facsimile of the original 1861 edition.

12. Jams, Preserves and Home Made Sweets with supplement for Home Freezing (1969)

Basic:
13. The Penguin Cookery Book by Bee Nilson (1952)

14. The Peacock Cookery Book by Betty Valk (1964)

Bread, Cakes and Yeast Cookery:
15. Home Baked by George and Cecilia Scurfield (1956)

16. Talking About Cakes, with an Irish and Scottish Accent by Margaret Bates (1964)

Levantine and Mediterranean:
17. A Book of Middle Eastern Food by Claudia Roden (1968)

18. Home Book of Greek Cookery by Joyce Stubbs (1963)

19. Italian Regional Cooking by Ada Boni (1969)

20. Mrs. Balbir Singh's Indian Cookery Book by Mills and Boon (1961)

Oriental:

21. How to Eat and Cook in Chinese by Buwei Yang Chao (1956)

22. South East Asian Food by Rosemary Brissenden (1970)

Reference Books:

23. Larousse Gastronomique, English translation by Paul Hamlyn (1928)

24. Herbs, Spices and Flavourings by Tom Stobart (1970)

25. The Oxford Book of Food Plants (1969)

26. A Garden of Herbs by Eleanour Sinclair Ronde (c.1920)

27. Herb Gardening by Claire Loewenfeld (1964)

Elizabeth David's own works are definitely worth looking through as well, especially her studies on Italian and Mediterranean food. "She was hailed not only as Britain's foremost writer on food and cookery, but as the woman who had transformed the eating habits of middle-class England," writes the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. The Library has most, if not all, of her books.

As for the cookbook list above, if any of you are familiar with the more esoteric of these titles, please share your thoughts and perhaps your favorite recipes of the bunch.

Here's to a new year of cooking and reading! Happy 2008!