» Culinary History

Culinary History

Culinary history is still the purview of amateurs — people without specialized degrees. The internet continues to open up the field to anyone who has a computer. While there is no substitue for doing research in books — there is also no substitute for doing research online. The following pages will introduce you to many of the resources I use in my culinary research.

The breadcrumb trail: Home » Culinary History William Rubel Author and Cook Specializing in Traditional Cooking
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Home Hearth Cooking Bread Bread Ovens Homemade Alcohol Wild Mushrooms Heritage Turkeys Unrelated to Food Traditional Foodways Kitchen Gardening Culinary History Samburu Eggs How to Contact Me Blog	Culinary History Culinary history is still the purview of amateurs — people without specialized degrees. The internet continues to open up the field to anyone who has a computer. While there is no substitue for doing research in books — there is also no substitute for doing research online. The following pages will introduce you to many of the resources I use in my culinary research. Directions for Cookery, 1840 edition Author: Miss Leslie Harvestfields Online Cookbook Collection Author: An impressive collection of European and American Cookbooks is only one of the treasures of this web site. R. Chambers, ed. Author: test author The Book of Days, 1869 edition The Cook's Oracle Author: Kitchiner, William M.D. According to the preface of the first American edition of 1830, The Cook's Oracle first edition of 1824 sold 45,000 copies in that year, alone, and 70,000 in its first twelve years. The first New York edition was published in 1830 and follows closely the seventh English edition of 1929. The title page of the American edition claims to have been "Adapted to the American Public by a Medical Gentleman" although I have yet to find how the recipes in the American edition differ. If any of my readers have compared edition, please let me know. The preface to the American edition makes the claim that this work supercedes Hannah Glasse's mid-eighteenth century cookbook, here referenced as The Art of Plain Cookery. Given my interest in bread, I always check bread recipes first. Kitchiner calls for "good yeast" in his basic bread, but "half a pint of small-beer yeast" in his French bread. This is the first reference I can think of for small-beer being specifically referenced in a bread recipe. Small-beer is made without hops -- and so I suspect that it is the hop-less nature of the barm that Kitchiner was after for his more refined French bread. If I am right, then this choice of small-bear yeast implies that bread made with "best yeast" had a taste from the hops -- was thus slightly bitter -- but that taste was expected and acceptable.