This Asparagus Soup recipe comes to us from a 1920s copy of Mrs. Beeton's Cookery Book that I picked up at an antiques market. Our soup recipe contains asparagus, of course, and also a lot of spinach. The spinach in this soup provides the vibrant green colour, but most of the flavour comes from the asparagus. The puréed creamy soup is offset nicely with the tender asparagus tips, that provide a nice variety in the texture and a flavour pop to boost.
Read MoreI agree, the name of this recipe doesn't sound very exciting. To boil green Peas? Really, what you end up with is green peas, with a touch of fresh mint, butter and salt. It's a simple, yet flavourful recipe that you'll find in American Cookery from 1796. Our authoress is Amelia Simmons (who has the tagline "An American Orphan" added to her name on the title page) and American Cookery is the first cookbook that was both written and published in the United States.
Read MoreI made Italian White Bean Salad along with Mushroom Rolls to take along to a potluck picnic. Both of these recipes are found in The White House Chef Cookbook, written by René Verdon in 1967 after spending 4 years as the White House Executive Chef. Verdon was appointed the first Executive Chef of the White House in 1961, a position created by the Kennedys. My version of this salad features green garlic instead of the red onion listed in the recipe (a shopping list oversight on my part), and I really like the green garlic's blend of onion and garlic flavours.
Read MoreMushroom Rolls would be perfect for your next afternoon tea, or as an appetizer at your next celebration. Or anytime. They would probably be perfect to eat at any point in time. I'm a huge fan of mushrooms and butter, and this recipe uses both ingredients liberally. Add lemon juice, curry powder, salt & pepper, a dash of cayenne pepper...and additional butter...to the mushrooms, then package it up in crispy bread. Yum.
Read MoreWith only three chopped ingredients in the salad, this is a fairly simple but delicious recipe to prepare. The dressing is also rather easy to put together, but is subtly flavourful. This recipe is found in The Modern Family Cook Book from 1953, which was written by Meta Given, who probably has the best cookbook author name in history! When I was growing up, my Mom had her own copy of this cookbook in our kitchen, and I remember loving its design even as a kid. I think it's the most gorgeously designed cookbook in my collection today. Each time I open it, I marvel at the care that went into designing the layout, the illustrations and the attention paid to the tiny details.
Read MoreThis Taheeni recipe isn't a Tahini recipe, simply because its main ingredient is eggplant and not sesame seeds. I'd describe Taheeni as basically Baba Ganoush, ironically without the tahini! I found this recipe in The Blender Cookbook by Ann Seranne & Eileen Gaden from 1961 in the International Specialties chapter under "The Near East". Today, I'm able to walk into almost any grocery store and buy myself a container of tahini or baba ganoush, but this was likely not the case in 1961. I'll chalk up the name to something getting lost in translation, but whatever it's called, my tastebuds give this this dip two thumbs up.
Read MoreMiss Leslie would be appalled, and perhaps stupefied, that I made this recipe today. In April. In Canada. She put forth a very strong opinion about cucumbers and their longevity in Miss Leslie's Directions for Cookery, stating that "few vegetables being more unwholesome when long gathered". Who knows when my grocery store cucumber was harvested, but I still found this recipe to be delicious. It's fresh-tasting, subtly flavoured by the salt, pepper & onion.
Before I began speaking to people about trying out Fannie Farmer's German Cabbage recipe from 1896, I never knew how many people had a passionate love affair with cabbage! I really like how the flavours are balanced in the German Cabbage: some tang thanks to the vinegar, a bit of sweetness from the nutmeg & sugar, and a hint of spice from the cayenne pepper. And of course, if a dish is fried in butter, it's got to be delicious.
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When I decided to start my own food history blog, I knew right away that my first blog post would be about Cayenne Cheeses. Why? Cayenne Cheeses were the first historic food that I fell in love with when I started working as a Historical Interpreter, and I'm not alone. If my coworkers don't have dietary restrictions against dairy and wheat, it's a pretty safe bet that they're also mad about Cayenne Cheeses.
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