Seeking the historical cook : exploring eighteenth-century southern foodways / Kay K. Moss.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Moss, Kay.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cooking, American--Southern style--History--18th century.

Cooking, American.

Cooking, American--Southern style.

History.

Food habits--Southern States--History--18th century.

Food habits.

Southern States.

Genre:

Cookbooks.

Physical Description:

xxi, 274 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Columbia, South Carolina : University of South Carolina Press, [2013]

Summary:

Seeking the Historical Cook is a guide to historical cooking techniques from eighteenth- and nineteenth-century receipt (recipe) books and an examination of how those methods can be used in kitchens today. Designed for adventurous cooks and "foodies," this volume is rich with photographs, period images, and line art depicting kitchen tools and cooking methods. Kay K. Moss invites readers to discover traditional receipts and to experiment with ancestral dishes to brighten today's meals. From campfires to modern kitchens, Seeking the Historical Cook is a primer on interpreting the language of early receipts, a practical guide to historical techniques, and a memoir of experiences at historic hearths. Scores of sources, including more than a dozen unpublished personal cookery books, are compared and contrasted with a new look at southern foodways (eating habits and culinary practices). After decades of research, experimentation, and teaching in a variety of settings, Moss provides a hands-on approach to rediscovering, re-creating, and enjoying foods from the early South. The book begins by steeping the reader in history, culinary tools, and the common cooking techniques of the time. Then Moss presents a collection of tasteful and appealing southern ancestral receipts that can be fashioned into brilliant heirloom dishes for our twenty-first-century tables. There are dishes fit for a simple backwoods celebration or an elegant plantation feast, intriguing new possibilities for a modern Thanksgiving dinner, and even simple experiments for a school project or for sharing with a favorite child. This book is for the cook who wants to try something old... that is new again. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I. Discovering and recreating: a curious cook, that has a good fancy

Chapter 1. Interpreting historical receipts

Chapter 2. Developing an eighteenth-century mindset

Part II. Cookery methods: this most noble art and mystery

Chapter 3. From a pot of boiling water

Chapter 4. With a good bed of coals

Chapter 5. At the fireside

Part III. Collected receipts: foods of our ancestors, ancestors of our foods

Chapter 6. Soups, stews, and made dishes

Chapter 7. Vegetables: salads, potherbs, sauces, meagre dishes

Chapter 8. Special occasion foods

Chapter 9. Miscellanies, musings, and whimsies

Appendix A. Fireside advice

Appendix B. Ingredients defined: equivalents, measures, weights

Appendix C. Their usual and best food for breakfast and supper.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

1611172608

9781611172591

1611172594

9781611172607

OCLC:

828332518

Publisher Number:

99955078745