My Word with Douglas E. Welch

I can’t say I agree with all of these recommendations, but there are a few I could add to my own kitchen. – Douglas

Historical Cooking Books – 51 in a series – The new London family cook; or town and country housekeeper’s guide by Duncan MacDonald (1808)

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CONVINCED by my own experience, and by the numerous Complaints of others’, of the deficiency of all former books relating to Cookery and Domestic Economy, I have been induced to pre- pare the following work; in which I trust it will be found that many of the imperfections incidental to earlier publications, have been obviated.

 

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“The search for authentic Mexican food—or rather, the struggle to define what that meant—has been going on for two hundred years,” writes Jeffrey Pilcher at Guernica. Arguments over national cuisine first divided into factions along historical lines of conquest. Indigenous, corn-based cuisines were pitted against wheat-based European foods, while Tex-Mex cooking has been “industrialized and carried around the world,” its processed commodification posing an offense to both indigenous peoples and Spanish elites, who themselves later “sought to ground their national cuisine in the pre-Hispanic past” in order to fend off associations with globalized Mexican food of the chain restaurant variety.

If the hardest decision at your holiday table is choosing between desserts — be it a slice of pumpkin pie, a scoop of seasonal fruit crumble, or even a simple sugar cookie — these pumpkin pie bars are a sweet solution to your Thanksgiving troubles. Made with a sweet cookie crust, a spiced pumpkin filling, and a buttery oat crumble, these pumpkin pie bars will satisfy all your cravings — and they couldn’t be easier to make.

As we stay home, wait out this crisis, and bake our hearts out, sourdough is surging. No yeast needed, sourdough lets anyone turn flour, water, and time into absolutely spectacular bread. If you’ve thought about trying sourdough yourself, now is the time. Today I and the rest of the Kitchn team are kicking off Sourdough for Beginners, the perfect starting place for a baking adventure. Are you in?

Historical Cooking Books – 47 in a series – House and home : a complete housewife’s guide by Marion Harland (1889)

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Historical Cooking Books – 43 in a series – Cups and their customs by George Edwin Roberts (1863)

PREPACE.

The principal object of these pages is to furnisli a collection of recipes for the brewing of com- pound drinks, technically termed ” Cups/’ all of which have been selected with the most scrupu- lous attention to the rules of gastronomy, and their virtues tested and approved by repeated trials. These we are inclined to put into type, from a belief that, if they were more generally adopted, it would be the means of getting rid of a great deal of that stereotyped drinking which at present holds sway at the festive boards of England. In doing this, we have endeavoured to simplify the matter as much as possible, adding such hints and remarks as may prove serviceable to the uninitiated, whilst we have discarded a goodly number of modern com- pounds as unpalatable and unscientific. As, in this age of progress, most things are raised to the position of a science, we see no reason why

Bacclianology (if the term please our readers) should not hold a respectable place, and be entitled to its due mead of praise ; so, by way of introduction, we have ventured to take a cursory glance at the customs which have been attached to drinking from the earliest periods to the present time. This, however, we set forth as no elaborate history, but only as an arrange- ment of such scraps as have from time to time fallen in our way, and have helped us to form ideas of the social manners of bygone times.

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* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library

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Traditional Peanut Butter Cookies

One more batch to bake for this year’s Christmas Cookie Party. Then it’s a full focus on organizing and clean up.

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** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out!
† Available from the LA Public Library

Christmas Dinner Menu No. 1

FRUIT-JUICE COCKTAIL
ROAST STUFFED TURKEY, CHICKEN OR VEAL
GIBLET OR MILK GRAVY
CRANBERRY JELLY BREAD SAUCE
RICED OR MASHED POTATOES
CREAMED CAULIFLOWER BAKED SQUASH
MINCE PIE CHEESE
COFFEE
FRUIT NUTS MINTS

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library

 

PREFACE.

If the one who makes two blades of grass grow where only one grew before is “a public benefactor” so is the one who improves the daily food of the people, either by supplying articles of superior excellence or by suggesting superior methods of preparation, thus adds to the health and happiness of the people.

This book is presented to the public with the purpose in mind of impressing the importance of using only high grade food articles of known purity and excellence and at the same time suggesting methods of preparing the food that will add to their palatability and wholesomeness.

The government reports as well as the thousands of family papers are constantly calling attention to the dishonest and often injurious adulteration of food articles and are constantly reiterating the fact that the only protection the purchaser can have is by buying only in packages bearing the name of a reliable manufacturer.

 

* A portion of each sale from Amazon.com directly supports our blogs** Many of these books may be available from your local library. Check it out! † Available from the LA Public Library