 |
 |
|
|
| |
| |
| |
|
|
|
| The Old Foodie |
| The Old Foodie gives you 400 words each weeday on a food history topic related to the day, plus a historic recipe and sometimes a historic menu. |
| Language: English |
| RSS Feeds for this Blog |
|
Statistics |
| Unique Visitors: 0 |
| Total Unique Visitors: 6180969 |
| Visitors Out: 169720 |
| Total Visitors Out: 366528 |
|
|
|
| |
|
|
| |
|
| DIY Condensed Milk. |
| 2012-01-11 14:48:00 |
Have you ever had the urge to make your own condensed milk? I thought not. Perhaps you are curious however, as to how it could be made at home on your own stove, should the desire or need arise? The Genesee Farmer in 1864, tells how:“A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph says: "To one quart of new milk, take one pound of the best crushed sugar; let the milk boil, then stir in the sugar until all is dissolved; continue to stir until it has commenced again to boil, which must be on a gentle, heat to keep from burning. When it becomes the consistency of molasses it is done for use. Put in cans or close jars and cork them tightly. This is of much value where fresh milk cannot be had, either in preparing food for the sick, or to use in tea and coffee. In hospitals this is a valuable art...
|
| |
|
| A Jug of Hare |
| 2012-01-10 13:00:00 |
In therecipe for Beef Tea Ice-cream which I posted the other day, the beef tea itselfwas made in a stone jar set in a pot of boiling water. Before electricslow-cookers, this was also a great way to cook things like chutneys, saucesand conserves which need to slowly thicken by evaporation, but are in danger ofburning if put directly on a low flame (see links below for examples.) This methodof cooking is called ‘jugging.’ The OxfordEnglish Dictionary definition is interesting as it is more specific. Itsays that ‘to jug’ is ‘to stew or boil in a jug or jar (esp. a hare or rabbit)’.In yet another common interpretation, ‘jugging’ refers specifically to cookingthe hare or rabbit in its own blood – resulting in a dish which in the classicFrench tradition is called a civet.I give...
|
| |
|
| Being a Phagist. |
| 2012-01-09 13:23:00 |
As you willbe aware, if you are a regular reader, I am a word-lover. I just looked up thedictionary to see if there was a word to describe people like myself. I shouldhave thought about it for a moment. It is, of course - logophile. Believe it or not, there is also such a thing as a logophobe, if the presence of a dictionarydefinition indicates the physical reality rather than just word theory. Alogophobe is someone with a fear ofwords or of talking, not a person who simply dislikes words however, so it is not a true antonym of logophile. Idon’t know if there is a word for word-haters,is there?I have neveractually met a logophobe, and I don’t know what I would do with one if I did,but I have long been puzzled by the antipathy that some people have about theword ‘foodie.’ It is sill...
|
| |
|
| Plough Monday Lunch. |
| 2012-01-08 13:00:00 |
Today is Plough Monday, which is to say it is the firstMonday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany) and the traditional first day of theBritish agricultural calendar, when farm-workers return to their jobs. I bet farmworkers of the past were overjoyed when Epiphany fell on a Tuesday.A ‘traditional’ dish on this day was said to be ‘PloughPudding,’ which I do not fully understand as heavy, plain suet puddings were aneveryday starchy filler for the British populace throughout the year. In otherparts of the world, it is said that sausages are ‘traditional,’ but this alsoseems difficult to verify. Surely, theobvious dish of the day is a traditional‘Ploughman’s Lunch’? The OxfordEnglish Dictionary tells mehowever that ‘although often assumed to be a traditional rural ...
|
| |
|
| Twelfth Day Cake. |
| 2012-01-05 13:00:00 |
January 6 is the Twelfth Day of Christmas,and according to the calendar of the Christian Church it is the Feast of theEpiphany (or Three Kings Day, or the Day of the Magi) – the day whichcommemorates the visit of the Three Kings to the infant Jesus. On a secularnote it is the traditional end of the Christmas season – the day to putunwanted gifts into the furthest reaches of the highest cupboard and the hambone in the freezer ready for winter soup, and to take down the tree and the decorations. There are of course a number of eatingtraditions for the day. The tradition of a special cake on this day (the KingCake) has been maintained in Europe, but seemsto have fizzled in England,where it used to be called Twelfth Cake. As with so many celebrations, thetraditions of Twelfth Dayare the re...
|
| |
|
| Beefing up your Ice-Cream. |
| 2012-01-04 13:00:00 |
A littlebook which has featured here previously - and which I love on principle if notin practice on account of its title - gives us today’s recipe. The book iscalled Quick Cooking: A Book of CulinaryHeresies for the Busy Wives and Mothers of the Land: by one of the heretics,Flora Haines Loughead (New York 1887)This recipeis a cheat, really, on two counts. Although it is listed in the ‘Quickest Dishes’section (recipes taking five to fifteenminutes), it actually takes double the time as it requires the priorpreparation of the basic beef tea, which is also another Quick Dish. The secondfib is that it is “ic-cream” which it is clearly not, there being nothingcreamy about it at all. It could be more accurately described, perhaps as asavoury granita, or maybe a verychilled soup....
|
| |
|
| Cheese That’s Not Cheese. |
| 2012-01-03 13:00:00 |
There aremany wonderful cheeses in the world. Lard cheese is not one of them. I say thisfrom a stance of pure prejudice, as I have never (knowingly) tasted it. Even when it iscalled imitation cheese, fake cheese, substitute cheese or filled cheese, I don’tlike it any better. I bet cheese mites won’t touch it either.The New York Times of March 26, 1881 ran anarticle under the heading Cheese that’snot Cheese. They began by announcing that "The Assembly Committee on PublicHealth met yesterday to investigate ‘lard cheese’ and oleomargarine, with aview to finding what legislation is necessary to protect the interests of thecheese and butter trades from the injury threatened by the production of thesespurious articles." The cheeseand butter trade may have been at risk of injury from th...
|
| |
|
| The Dust that Moves. |
| 2012-01-02 13:00:00 |
I promised you something on cheese mites today. I hope Idon’t put you off cheese. Or honey. Or flour. Or any other staple foodstuffs. Alittle knowledge of mites and other micro-fauna makes you realise that veganismand vegetarianism can only ever be relative.Like it or not, you must accept it. There is no agriculturalpractice or food technology process that can remove every little beast from the food you eat. Food laws take this into account, and there are allowable levelsof all sorts of insects and animal detritus (‘filth types’, according to theUS Food and Drug Administration) in all sorts of products. Medical knowledge supports this principle too –have you heard of the ‘Hygiene Hypothesis’? Basically it means that exposure toa certain amount of dirt and bugs is good for the d...
|
| |
|
| Certifiably Cheese. |
| 2012-01-01 13:00:00 |
I have heardStilton cheese referred to as ‘The King of Cheeses’, which is, of course, only someone’sopinion, or perhaps someone’s clever marketing. An Italian may disagree, andsay that Parmigiano-Regiano is the King, a Frenchman may insist it is Brie deMeaux, and a good Fetta will almost certainly get the vote of a Greek. Theappellation is silly. There are only good cheeses and bad cheeses, and amongstthe good cheeses, some are superb.There aretwo cheeses that I personally associate with the Christmas season. The first isEnglish Wensleydale, because that was the traditional cheese to serve alongsidethe Christmas cake when I was growing up in Yorkshire. The second is Stilton,for reasons which remain completely obscure to myself. One thingthat can be said with certainty about Stilton...
|
| |
|
| New Year’s Cookies and Cakes. |
| 2011-12-29 13:00:00 |
There are just a couple of days left to do some New Yearbaking. You could go the nutritious, historically intriguing, but rather stolidroute and make some Ankerstock, but you probably wont. You could instead make New Year Cakes from the recipe below,provided of course that you have ‘man,or a very strong woman’ to do the kneading for you. I wont make these, I assureyou. The dough sounds like a rich, sweet scone dough, and as every good bakerknows, the rule for scones is mix as lightly and quickly as possible. Even ifit is intended to be like a rich, sweet bread dough, I don’t understand theinsistence on such serious kneading. Perhaps one of the serious bread-bakersamongst you could make comment?The New Year Cookiesgiven below also seem like a cheat - they sound more like sweet cracker...
|
| |
|
| |
 |
|
| |
| |
|
 |
