Karen Hess, 1918-2007

Culinary historian Karen Hess died yesterday in Manhattan a week after suffering from a stroke. Eric Asimov wrote a nice obituary is today's Times about her life and work.

She is best known for co-authoring with her husband John Hess on The Taste of America.

The Library also has all her other books, plus an interesting review of Taste of America from the Times when the book came out.

She is also known for her work annotating Mary Randolph's Virigina House-wife Cookbook.

Desert Island Cookbook

Rebecca Federman

Librarian

Brooklyn, NY

Cookbook: Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking by Marcella Hazan.

Why: Every recipe that I've tried is delicious, but also easy and not too fussy to make on a weeknight. I can't imagine life without it.

Favorite Recipes:

Chicken with Red Cabbage

Al Amatriciana

Asparagus Risotto

Walnut Cake

Librarian Libations

Our weekly Friday drink recipe comes from A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain.

A favorite eighteenth-century drink, brought from India in the late seventeenth century by merchants of the East India Company:

2pt. claret

1/2 pt. brandy

grated nutmeg, sugar and lemon juice to taste.

toast, to serve.

Mix the ingredients and serve in a punchbowl with toasted bread floating on top. A variation of this was milk punch, where milk replaces the wine.

June 7th

On Thursday, June 7th I will be teaching my final class on the NYPL menu collection. The New York Public Library has one of the largest menu collections of any library in the world. Come hear about who started, how to search through it and what's in it!

Humanities and Social Sciences Library
South Court - Classroom B.
And if you have donations, please consider bringing them! Menu, donations that is.