You Have Scurvy!

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I just learned about 826 National, a non-profit tutoring center founded, in part, by Dave Eggers. The first center opened in San Francisco:

“When they looked into the building they wanted to use at 826 Valencia Street, the landlord was open to the idea of a tutoring center, but he told Dave that the address was zoned for retail. They had no choice, the landlord said: at the front of the building, they had to sell something. (TheDieline.com)”

Their solution? Open a (beautifully designed) nonsense store.

“To raise funds, inspire creativity, and advertise our programs to the local community, most of our centers include a street-front retail store filled with unusual products, entertaining signage, and, of course, our books for sale. San Francisco’s pirate supply store sells glass eyes and one-of-a-kind peglegs, 826NYC’s Superhero Supply Company offers custom-fit capes, Seattle’s Greenwood Space Travel Supply Company sells all your space commuting appurtenances, 826michigan’s Liberty Street Robot Supply & Repair Shop specializes in must-have mechanical conveniences, while 826LA features a time travel store, there’s a secret agent supply store in Chicago, and the Cryptozoology shop in Boston is now open! (826 National)”

Below, some of the products sold at The Pirate Supply Store in San Fran, via TheDieline.com. I think my favorite is the pine needle tea because of its obscurity, and that it is a factual 19th century remedy for scurvy. Pine needles, especially white pine, are high in vitamin C.
I plan on visiting the Cryptzoology store in Boston this fall.
(Thanks for the tip, Doan!)




The Gallery: Gilded Fruit Centerpiece; Hawaiin Sunset Supper

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Another wonderful collection of images thanks to Betty Crocker. “Hawaiian Sunset Supper,” from Betty Crocker’s Party Book: More than 500 recipes, menus, and how-to-do-it tips for festive occasions the year ’round, 1960. I’m pretty sure this is the ancestor of Amy Sedaris’ I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence.


A spread for a bridal shower.
Some sort of fish theme for Father’s Day.
And my favorite: Thanksgiving Gilded Fruit Centerpiece. I fucking love that gold pineapple.

Cocktail Hour: Jerry Thomas’ Own Bitters

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I would say that there are two schools of cocktail mixing in New York right now: those who create the cocktails of tomorrow, and those who strive to recreate the imbibements of the past.

I was at an event a few days ago, where a bartender mixed a drink in which he used “Jerry Thomas’ own recipe bitters.” I’ve dug up the recipe, and I invite the more adventurous among you to give this tincture a try. Thomas suggests serving his bitters as a sort of infused rum; if you’d like to use this recipe in mixed drinks, I would recommend infusing a higher proof alcohol like Everclear. For more on the logistics of preparing bitters, refer to this excellent article.
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“Jerry Thomas'” own Decanter Bitters

From How To Mix Drinks, by Jerry Thomas (1862)

1 Ib of raisins
2 ounces of cinnamon
1 ounce snake root
1 lemon and 1 orange cut in slices
1 ounce of cloves
1 ounce allspice

Fill decanter with Santa Cruz rum. Bottle and serve out in pony glasses. As fast as the bitters is used fill up again with rum.

***

*The one problem with the recipe is that snakeroot is highly poisonous; in the 19th century, cows who grazed in wooded areas would eat this toxic plant, and their milk would in turn become toxic. The farmers and their families who drank it came down with “milk sickness,” and were stricken with vomiting and diarrhea. The affliction claimed thousands of lives, most notable Abraham Lincoln’s mother. However, I suspect the death rate was not so much result of the poisoning itself, but because the medical world was yet unaware of the importance of replacing a lost fluids. It was not uncommon for sickly babies to poop themselves to death.
Perhaps snakeroot is safer in smaller concentrations, I don’t know. But please, for the sake of my conscience, don’t mess around with it.


Taste History Today: Ossabaw Pork

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From the ossabaw tasting dinner at Boqueria


New York chefs have been going ga-ga about a new type of upscale pork, that is actually from a very old breed: The Ossabaw.


“The Ossabaw breed is descended from some of the 700 animals left along the Southeast coast by Spanish explorer Hernando De Soto in 1539. The idea was that the hogs would give future colonists a ready supply of meat.

The swine left behind were Ibericos, which Spaniards let graze on acorns and then cured into their famous Jámon Iberico, a flavorful pink ham with droplets of fat that makes pork lovers swoon…Although many of the Ibericos in America eventually died out or assimilated with dominant barnyard breeds over the years, some Ibericos remained genetically pure. These are the Ossabaws, whose name comes from the remote Georgia barrier island where the breed thrived in the wild for centuries. (The News and Observer: High on this Hog)”

There has been a recent movement to save the pig, by breeding it and marketing it’s meat to upscale restaurants, mostly in New York. “It’s oxymoronic to think that eating a rare breed is actually saving it, but it’s true,” said Chuck Bassett of the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy of Pittsboro. I’ve never tasted it, but the meat is supposed to be exquisite.

“Only a few Mennonite farmers agreed to industry-defying lunacy: raising these pigs in the open, and finishing them on acorns, beech and hickory nuts. The six-week autumn feast lays on an incredible layer of burnished yellow, nutty-tasting fat. At 250 to 300 pounds each, 40 Ossabaws are slaughtered each autumn, and the parts sent off to people ready to accord them due reverence.

The back fat was doled out to a who’s who of four-star and locally focused enclaves. Everyone from Craft and Craftsteak, Aureole, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Gramercy Tavern,Café Boulud, and Four Seasons, to Savoy, A Voce, Tao, Tabla, Morandi and Commerce got their slab. Salumeria Biellese takes the bellies for pancetta, the front legs for coppa(thanks, shoulders) and the trim for cured salami including sopressata and cacciatorini. (Time Our New York: Ossabaw Pig Legs Ready for the Eatin‘)“


The meat is also occasionally available at Murray’s Cheese. You can see the pigs in the flesh at Mt. Vernon, in Washington DC, where they are bred every spring. Ossibaw is also being championed because it is raised organically on wild forage, and it’s fat has healthy properties similar to olive oil. I’ve heard, however, that they can be extremely aggresive, particularly the males.


For more on this heritage breed, read this great article at Rural Intelligence.

The First Stop for All You Historic Baking Needs

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Eva forwarded me a link to an amazing site, Deborah’s Pantry. This site is seriously the go-to for all your hard to fine 18th and 19th century culinary needs.

Items I want particularly excited about:
Nutmegs with the mace still on it!! I have been trying to explain to people what this looks like for years.
Loaf Sugar: “Sugar was purchased in tall conical loaves. Pieces were cut from them with special sugar-cutting implements. Well-to-do households bought whole sugar loaves, but smaller quantities could be purchased from the apothecaries (originally sugar was treated as a spice), and later from apothecaries and grocers. Loaf sugar is suitable for use in cooking and baking without being clarified further (boiled to remove scum).”
Seeing these loafs was also great, because it answered my questions about how refined baking sugar was; the answer is very. These loaves are quite white. And the best part? She makes them herself:

“Sugar Loaves may not be available for immediate shipment: Deborah refines the sugar properly and makes the loaves herself using 18th-century techniques, and the curing process is very time-consuming.”

Deborah also carries two types of historic leavening, Saleratus, a 19th Century leavening; and Pearlash, appropriate for the 18th century. When I do my historic baking, I substitute Baking Powder with no adverse side affects, and will probably continue to do so. But it’s nice to know the real stuff is out there.

And she’s having a sale in August!

Deborah Peterson’s Pantry

History Dish Mondays: Peach Brandy

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I have long dreamed of making peach brandy from scratch, a key component of my favorite summer-time drink: The Mint Julep. Too long have I made-do with “Mr. Boston.” The time is right for plump, ripe peaches, so I am seizing the day and attempting to infuse my own peach brandy.

I consulted Jerry Thomas for guidance:

I took two large, very ripe peaches, and smushed them up good, skins and all , with the bottom of a rocks glass. I spooned them into a mason jar, and then filled the jar with brandy to the top. I mixed it around a little bit to ensure a happy marriage of brandy and peach. Thomas recommends letting the mixture macerate for 24 hours, which means in the future this mixture could be made on relatively short notice. However, I’m going to Alaska tomorrow morning for two weeks. How could letting it sit a little longer possibly hurt? It could only improve the flavor, right??

So I’ve just covered the jar, and pushed it to the back of the fridge. See you in two weeks, Peach Brandy! When I return, I will strain the liquid, and mix some cocktails.

Save the Date: The 19th Century Pub Crawl

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Are you in New York? Do you like history? Do you like alcohol? Then put this on your calendar:


Come join us for a full night of nineteenth-century debauchery at several of New York City’s oldest bars and most notorious dens of vice.

We will meet promptly at 5 PM in front of the Merchant’s House Museum (29 East 4th Street). Our evening will commence at Swift, then proceed to Death & Company; McSorely’s Old Ale House; Pete’s Tavern; Old Town Bar; Keen’s Steakhouse; and, should we still possess the fortitude and sobriety, P.J. Clarke’s.

Stay tuned for more details…

The Best Laid Cookie Plans

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I’ve been kicking around the idea of selling baked good inspired by historic recipes, but I yet to find an appropriate venue. In the meantime, I need to test some recipes. Here’s a list of cookies I’m going to attempt:

Almond and Rosewater Macaroons

Mexican Chocolate Macaroons – Based off of the earliest known recipe for chocolate used in baking.
Kisses– Lemon meringue filled with cranberry jelly.
Jumbles – A spiced cookie made with mace and lemon.
Caraway cakes – Flavored with ground caraway seeds.
Cream Short Bread – A rich cookie, good for tea, made with sweet cream
Cayenne Ginger Bread
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And if these sell alright, I’ll experiment with more recipes. Keep an eye out for my recipe tests in the coming weeks, and I’ll let you know when and where I’ll be selling my wares!

From The French Chef to the Iron Chef

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The New York Times has an interesting interactive feature called “The Origins of the Cooking Show.” It starts with Betty Crocker’s radio program, and continues to the Top Chefs and No Reservations of today.

The feature accompanies a new article by food writer Michael Pollan, who ponders the question “How is it that we are so eager to watch other people browning beef cubes on screen but so much less eager to brown them ourselves?” The article is very interesting…although long. And in exactly the kind of ADHD moment that Pollan rails against, I haven’t quite finished it. Sometimes I feel like Mr. Pollan is the strict parent I will never please.

A Proliferation of Jellies

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I’ve been recently inundated with Jelly.
My mom gave a sampler set of jellies from the historic Knott’s Berry Farm, which has been famous for their jellies since the 1920s and is now some sort of Cedar Point-style amusement park…it’s all very confusing and odd.
So far, I’ve had the apple cinnamon and the strawberry; both were excellent.
My friend Mark, who has shared my recent interest in foraging, harvested mulberries off a tree in his yard. On the occasion of my last visit, he presented me with a jar of mulberry jam.
My friend Ryan just returned from a two-month bike trip around Finland. Before he left, I asked him to bring me back something typically Finnish. He gifted me this package of jelly, made from some mysterious albino berry.

I’m not quite sure what to do with them all, except maybe have a toast party.