In M.F.K. Fisher's Kitchens

(Town of Tomorrow, New York World's Fair Collection)

This past May marked my thirteenth year living in New York City. In those thirteen years I've lived in five apartments, all in Brooklyn, each more beautiful than the previous (I guess that's progress...), but not without quirks, annoyances, frustrations.

One seemingly perfect apartment (Built-in bookshelves! My friend as upstairs--and only--neighbor!) was right above an unfinished basement where my landlord liked to spend his nights hanging out and raking the dirt floor, or so it seemed. There was no floor underlay beneath the old wood planks and I would often wake in the middle of the night to the sound of John Montone's 1010 WINS broadcast in my ear, while the dark apartment -- eerily lit from below with light escaping through gaps in the floorboards -- filled with the smell of his cigarette smoke. And the kitchen wasn't too hot, either.

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On the Menu: Red Sox World Champions (1912)

"BOSTON NOW SUPREME IN BASEBALL WORLD" read the front page of the Boston Globe on Thursday, October 17, 1912 after the Boston Red Sox beat the New York Giants in an eight game (one was a tie) World Series:

 Words were never invented that could fully describe the outburst of insane enthusiasm that went thundering around Fenway Park yesterday afternoon as Steve Yerkes crossed the rubber with the winning run in the 10th inning. 

Men hugged each other, women became hysterical, youths threw their caps in the air, one man in the bleachers fell in a dead faint, strong hearts lost a beat and started off again in double time.

In honor of this momentous occasion, F.H. Putnam, a Worchester-based silversmith or possibly a Boston-based druggist, hosted a dinner for the Members of the Boston American Baseball Club. This is the menu.

 (click to enlarge)

Among the dishes served that evening: Blue Points Stahl Style, after Sox Manager Jake Stahl; Fried Native Smelts, Speaker Sauce after Tris Speaker — whose homer in the 10th inning of the second and (ultimately tied) game saved the day; Fresh Putnam Farm Chicken, à la Wagner after shortstop Charles "Heinie" Wagner; and Frozen Pudding, Cady Style, after catcher Forrest Leroy Hick Cady (whom the Globe called "a farmer's son with a strong heart and a mighty punch").

To read more about this fascinating, white-knuckle series, check out the Library's collection of digitized historical newspapers including the Boston Globe, whose illustrations, statistics, and detailed play-by-plays are a dream for any baseball historian or enthusiast.

Independence Day Menus

Happy Fourth of July! To read the dishes served, click on image and then image set.

(Brunswick Hotel -- Asbury Park, NJ. 1907)

(Hotel Magnolia -- Magnolia, MA. 1900)

(Grand Hotel Hungaria -- Budapest, Hungary. 1907)

(Hotel Colorado -- Glenwood Springs, CO. 1900)

(Catskill Mountain House -- Palenville, New York. 1900)

(Ebbitt House -- Washington, D.C. 1898)

Micro Fish Eater: Whiting Escabeche

Perhaps the highlight of my Memorial Day weekend was this whiting escabeche. Served on my roof overlooking an unusually quiet Brooklyn thoroughfare, with a loaf of crusty bread and a bottle of  wine, this escabeche ushered in summer -- not with a big bang, but with a mixture of deep and arresting flavors and textures.

Escabeche is popular in North Africa, Southern Europe, and the Caribbean as a method of preparation, relying on vinegar or wine to preserve and thereby allowing the dish to keep for days at a time. Frequently, as is above, fish is lightly sauteed and then marinated with vinegar, olive oil and lots of optional aromatics.

James Peterson, in his encyclopedic Fish & Shellfish, calls for sardines, but unfortunately none were available at the monger's that morning. Instead, whiting. Gutted and filleted, it's quickly dipped in flour, then 1-2-3 in the frying pan before it's doused with vinegar and onions, thyme, olive oil, garlic, bay leaves, parsley and olives. Into the fridge it goes until appetizer time. Served at room temperature with good bread (and even better wine), you've got yourself the start of a fantastic evening.

While lots of fish can be substituted for the sardines, Peterson's recipe provides a helpful framework from which to begin.


Sardine Escabeche (from James Peterson's Fish & Shellfish)

18-30 fresh sardines, about 3 lbs, cleaned with scales rubbed off
salt and pepper
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup olive oil
1 medium red onion, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, peeled
2/3 cup sherry vinegar or white wine vinegar
2 bay leaves
1/2 fresh thyme, or 1/4 t. dried
2 T finely chopped parsley
1/2 cup green French or Italian olives, pitted and coarsely chopped (these are optional, but highly recommended. Other optional additions in Peterson's recipe include pearl onions, fennel, and baby artichokes).

Season the fillets or whole fish with salt and pepper and dredge them in flour. Pat off any excess flour.

Over medium to high heat, brown the fish for about 1 1/2 minutes per side in 2 tablespoons of the olive oil in a non-stick pan. Especially if you're using fillets, keep the fish slightly undercooked so that they won't fall apart when stirred with the marinade. Transfer the cooked fish to a bowl or square casserole large enough to hold them in a single layer.

Wipe out the saute pan and add 2 more tablespoons of olive oil. Cook the red onion and garlic over medium heat until the onion softens but remain crisp, about 8 minutes. Pour in the vinegar, bring to a simmer, and add the bay leaves and thyme. Simmer gently for 5 minutes, then pour in the rest of the olive oil and the parsley. Pour this mixture over the fish. Let cool, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but up to 3 days.

A Guide to Culinary Research

While I've taught a number of classes about how one would begin culinary research at the New York Public Library, I understand that people can't always make it to midtown in the middle of the day, nor does everyone live in New York. For those reasons and more, I've put together a brief tutorial on how to begin culinary research at a library and I will attempt to make this as universally applicable to other libraries as possible.

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Running Rampant: Ramp Suppers from the Library of Congress

(Courtesy of the Library of Congress. Click on images for more information.)

If you live in New York, as I do, and frequent the kinds of restaurants that serve seasonal food, as I sometimes do, you can't escape ramps in May, even if you wanted to.

Ramp pancakes, ramp pesto, charred ramp aioli, pickled ramps, ramp butter, and grilled ramps, have quickly become the allium du jour through the spring months, finding their way into menus and dishes and pickling jars.

But there is a fascinating folklife/foodways component to ramps, as beautifully photographed and documented by the Library of Congress Folklife website.

Ramps are one of the first edible wild foods to grow in the Appalachia mountain region in spring, and to celebrate this annual rite, ramp suppers and festivals are organized throughout the area.

(American Folklife Center poster collection)

The oldest festival is said to be the Cosby Festival, which was founded in 1954 and takes place on Kineauvista Hill, near Cosby in East Tennessee.

(Courtesy of Library of Congress)

And then there are the spring suppers at the Ramp House in Drews Creek, West Virginia where weeks before the supper is held, the community comes together to prepare for the big event. One of the most important jobs is to clean the ramps, and to do so, the women gather together in ramp circles. "The female camraderie on these evenings, pungent with the aroma of ramps, coffee, and sassafras tea, and punctuated with laughter, makes this an event in its own right," writes Mary Hufford in Folklife Center News (1998).

(Courtesy of the Library of Congress)

Hufford's piece is filled with fascinating anecdotes about ramps. They're higher in vitamin C than oranges, they're believed to thin and purify the blood, and "they satisfy the body's craving for living food at the end of a winter filled with produce that's been dried, canned, frozen, or shipped from faraway places."

Another interesting tidbit about ramps: The Menominee Indians referred to the smelly ramps as "pikwute sikakushia" which meant skunk. So they called a large ramp-filled Illinois land mass "shikako" which was then anglicezed to Chicago.

The ramp history in the United States is rich and deep, and I'll be thinking of those ramp circles the next time I buy a bunch from the farmer's market.

For Hufford's beautiful piece and more photographs of Ramp House Suppers in West Virginia, see the Library of Congress' "Ramp Suppers, Biodiversity, and the Integrity of 'The Mountains'."

Oh, What a Night...

Looking through the world famous Savoy Cocktail Book can make you thirsty: thirsty for their clever and creative drinks; thirsty for more information about Harry Craddock, the bartender at the Savoy Hotel in London who wrote the lovely book; and thirsty for a modern cocktail book that can make drinks sound as good as this one.

Well, some of my thirst was momentarily quenched last night after I made a Savoy cocktail at home. The drink is called One Exciting Night, but unless you call watching My Nine News with Harry Martin and Brenda Blackmon exciting, than I'm afraid I didn't live up to the name's slightly high expectations. The flavor, on the other hand was completely satisfying. Equal parts sweet and dry vermouth, gin, sugar, and a splash of orange juice work well together and I wouldn't shy away from making it again...but next time I'll attempt to do right by its title.



One Exciting Night
(from the Savoy Cocktail Book)

1 dash orange juice (I added more than a dash. Call it a splash)
1/3 French [dry] vermouth
1/3 Italian [sweet] vermouth
1/3 gin (the Savoy specifies Plymouth for you purists)

Frost edge of glass with castor sugar. Put all the ingredients in a cocktail shaker and shake well and strain into Port Wine glass. Squeeze lemon peel on top.