Gingerbread
December 25th, 2010
When I was a wee lass, my very favorite cake was my father’s gingerbread. I can remember an early birthday when I insisted on gingerbread. It’s a very dark cake, so all my 4 and 5 year old friends presumed it was chocolate. You should have seen their little faces screwed up in disbelief when they took the first bite. It seems gingerbread is no longer a familiar childhood taste. But once upon a time, its spicy rich molasses flavor was beloved of children everywhere.
Here’s a page from The New England Economical Housekeeper, and Family Receipt Book, by Esther Howland, 1845, featuring a variety of gingerbread receipts. (Thanks to Feeding America: The Historic American Cookbook Project for making this available.) If you want to try any of these, just substitute baking soda for the saleratus.
One Pie Over the Line
December 18th, 2010
I’ve been baking too much lately. It all started with Thanksgiving, when I decided to break our tradition of substituting pumpkin ice cream for the pumpkin pie. For some reason, I really wanted to make a pie this year.
Served cold with lots of fresh whipped cream, it seems to have jarred something loose in my psyche. In the past two weeks, I’ve made two more pumpkin pies, a chocolate cake, and a pan of bread pudding (though I ended up throwing most of that away). Read on…
Oh, Toddy
December 14th, 2010
No, I’m not pretending to be Benita Colman calling Ronnie by his pet name on the set of their radio show, Halls of Ivy, I’m referring to page 57 of Jerry Thomas’s 1862 treatise How to mix drinks: or, The bon-vivant’s companion which he titles TODDIES AND SLINGS. It’s very cold here in New York this week, and last night, as the snow sifted in through the broken window of our Greenwich Village garret, I decided to give my own mustachioed gent something to warm his cockles.
Read on…
La Patria Punch
November 30th, 2010
Christmas is coming, and with it, the seasonal urge to imbibe. In anticipation of the annual holiday party at the Museum where I work, we decided to try out a new punch receipt. Naturally it’s from Jerry Thomas’s 1862 masterpiece, How to Mix Drinks, or the Bon Vivant’s Companion.
