TastingHistory « Quotulatiousness

April 19, 2024

Breakfast in Jane Austen’s England

Filed under: Books, Britain, Food, History — Tags: Cooking, England, Recipes, TastingHistory — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Jan 16, 2024

What you could tell about someone from their breakfast in Jane Austen’s England, and a recipe for Bath buns as she might have eaten them for her first meal of the day.

Caraway buns topped with glaze, sugar, and caraway, served with butter. Perfect for a Jane Austen inspired breakfast with some hot chocolate

City/Region: England
Time Period: 1769

It is a truth universally acknowledged that a person who has recently risen from bed must be in want of breakfast. In Jane Austen’s time, breakfast could be around 8:00 or 9:00 in the morning if you were a manual laborer or servant, or it could be as late as 3:00 or 4:00 in the afternoon if you were upper class.

Jane wrote a letter to her sister Cassandra saying that she wanted to join her on her trip to Bath, but didn’t want to inconvenience their hosts, so she would fill up on bath buns for breakfast. I can see why this would have been a sound strategy. The buns are denser than modern versions, but still soft and very good (they would certainly fill you up). The caraway is present but not overpowering, and they’re sweet but not as sweet as a dessert.

Caraway comfits were candy-coated caraway seeds (think M&Ms), but they don’t use caraway to make them anymore. I mimic them as best I can with caraway seeds and sugar.

To make Bath Cakes.
Rub half a pound of butter into a pound of flour, and one spoonful of good barm, warm some cream, and make it into a light paste, set it to the fire to rise, when you make them up, take four ounces of carraway comfits work part of them in, and strew the rest on the top, make them into a round cake, the size of a French roll, bake them on sheet tins, and send them in hot for breakfast.
— The Experienced English Houskeeper by Elizabeth Raffald, 1769

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April 13, 2024

The Legend of the Wiener Schnitzel

Filed under: Europe, Food, History — Tags: Austria, Cooking, Debunking, Recipes, TastingHistory, Vienna — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Jan 9, 2024

Variations of wienerschnitzel throughout history and its legendary origin stories, and a recipe for a 19th century version.

Fried breaded veal cutlets served with the traditional lemon wedges and parsley

City/Region: Vienna
Time Period: 1824

Breaded and fried meat has been around for a very long time in many places, but it wasn’t until 1893 that we get the first mention of the word wienerschnitzel. Then in the early 20th century, the Austrian culinary scene decided to champion this term to refer to a veal cutlet that is made into a schnitzel, and restaurants in Vienna began specializing in schnitzel.

This recipe predates the term wienerschnitzel, and unlike modern versions it isn’t dredged in flour first. This makes it so that the breading doesn’t puff away from the meat, but the flavor is rich and delicious, just like I remember from my trip to Vienna. If you don’t like veal or don’t want to use it, you can use pork or chicken. It won’t technically be wienerschnitzel, but nobody’s going to judge you. You can also use another fat instead of the clarified butter, but butter gives the best flavor.
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April 6, 2024

The Fake (and real) History of Potato Chips

Filed under: Britain, Food, History, USA — Tags: Cooking, Debunking, NewYork, Recipes, TastingHistory — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Jan 2, 2024

The fake and true history of the potato chip and an early 19th century recipe for them. Get the recipe at my new website https://www.tastinghistory.com/ and buy Fake History: 101 Things that Never Happened: https://lnk.to/Xkg1CdFB
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March 28, 2024

The History of Fish Sauce – Garum and Beyond!

Filed under: Asia, Food, History, Italy, Middle East — Tags: Cooking, Mesopotamia, Recipes, RomanEmpire, TastingHistory — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Dec 26, 2023

Sweet frittata-like patina of pears with classic ancient Roman flavors and sprinkled with long pepper

City/Region: Rome
Time Period: 1st Century

This patina de piris is one of over a dozen recipes for similar dishes in Apicius’ De re coquinaria, a staple for ancient Roman recipes. It would have probably been part of mensa secunda, or second meal. Not a second breakfast, it was the final course in a larger meal and usually consisted of sweets, pastries, nuts, and egg dishes, kind of like a modern dessert course.

I finally made my own true ancient Roman garum in the summer of 2023, from chopped up fish pieces and salt to clear amber umami-laden liquid. There’s no fishiness in this surprisingly sweet dish, just a saltiness and savory umami notes that complements the other very ancient Roman flavors.

As with all ancient recipes, this is my interpretation and you can change things up how you like. I separated my eggs before beating them, but you could just whisk them up whole and add them like that.
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March 13, 2024

The History of the Chocolate Chip Cookie – Depression vs WW2

Filed under: Food, History, USA, WW2 — Tags: Cooking, GreatDepression, Massachusetts, Rationing, Recipes, TastingHistory — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Dec 5, 2023

WWII ration-friendly chocolate chip cookies made with shortening, honey, and maple syrup

City/Region: United States of America
Time Period: 1940s

During WWII, everyone in the US wanted to send chocolate chip cookies to the boys at the front. With wartime rationing in effect, we get a recipe that doesn’t use butter or sugar, but shortening, honey, and maple syrup instead.

The dough is much softer than the original version, and the cookies spread out a lot more as they bake. They bake up softer than the crunchy originals, with a light pillowy texture. They aren’t as sweet, but still have a really lovely flavor. It kind of reminds me of Raisin Bran, but with chocolate. All in all, I was pleasantly surprised.

Check out the episode to see a side-by-side comparison with the original recipe.
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March 2, 2024

The Hindenburg Disaster – Dining on the Zeppelin

Filed under: Food, Germany, History, Technology — Tags: Aircraft, Cooking, Fascism, InterwarPeriod, Propaganda, Recipes, TastingHistory — Nicholas @ 02:00

Tasting History with Max Miller
Published Nov 28, 2023

Decadent vanilla rice pudding with poached pears, chocolate sauce, and candied fruit

City/Region: France
Time Period: 1903

Everything about this dish exudes fanciness, and it comes as no surprise. A ride across the Atlantic on the Hindenburg cost around $9,000 in today’s money, and the whole experience was meant to be luxurious. The head chef on the Hindenburg, Xaver Maier, had worked at the Ritz Hotel in Paris, which was still cooking from the recipes of Auguste Escoffier.

The Escoffier recipe for pears condé seems simple enough, until you realize he references about 5 other recipes in total in order to make the dish. It’s a lot of work, but it’s so good. The rice pudding has such an intense vanilla flavor that really elevates it and is the perfect base for the poached pears. Don’t get too much of the rich chocolate sauce or it will overwhelm the other flavors.

Really you could make just the rice pudding and have that be a fancy dessert all on its own if you don’t want to go to all the fuss.

Poires Condé:
Very small pears which are carefully peeled and shaped are most suitable for this preparation. Those of medium size should be cut in half. Cook them in vanilla-flavored syrup then proceed as for Abricots Condé, recipe 4510.
Abricots Condé:
On a round dish prepare a border of vanilla-flavored Prepared Rice for sweet dishes (recipe 4470)

— Auguste Escoffier, 1903

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