March 2018 - OLD LINE PLATE

Russian Tea Cakes

March 29, 2018January 12, 2019

“All the tea I drank in Russia was delicious. It is brought overland from China, and always sold fresh; and not, as in this country, after it has lain for two or three years in warehouses.” – Sir James Edward Alexander 1830 in “Travels to the seat of war in the East, through Russia and the Crimea, in 1829″

The recipe once commonly known as ‘Russian Tea Cakes’ has many variations and twice as many names; Kourabiedes, Mexican Wedding Cakes, Biscochos, meltaways, pecan sandies. An informal poll of my friends also turned up ‘snowballs,’ ‘hermits,’ and ‘pecan puffs.’ These cookies’ tendency to be named for foreign countries may have helped them to take on some of these other confusing or inaccurate titles. It may be that the deceptive mask of confectioners’ sugar further obscures the variations within (anise, nuts, cinnamon…) One thing that seemingly everyone agrees on is that they are delicious.

I found versions of this recipe in “Grannie’s Goodies From Somerset County,” “300 Years of Black Cooking in St. Mary’s County,” and “Fun With Food,” a cookbook compiled by the Baltimore chapter of the Jewish women’s organization The United Order of True Sisters. This alone represents a culturally and geographically diverse appreciation for these nutty little cookies here in Maryland, without even having to drag in Greece, Mexico or Russia.

There are some 19th century recipes for something called Russian Tea Cakes – but those recipes take the ‘cake’ part a little more seriously and often contain many eggs, which is not particularly common in modern recipes and would change the crumbly texture.

Some people believe that Russian Tea Cakes originated in Eastern Europe, but as far as I could tell, they inherited the name from the 19th-century American fascination with Russian tea culture.

“Russian Tea Parties” were common fundraising events. 1884, Baltimore Sun

“Queen of the Kitchen” Mary Lloyd Tyson printed this recipe for the “Russian Mode of Making Tea” in her 1870 cookbook:

“Put 1 tea-spoon of tea to each person that is to partake of the tea; place the leaves in a saucer, and slightly moisten them with cold water, and set them for 2 or 3 minutes in a hot oven; then put them in a tea-pot, having first rinsed it well; pour upon the leaves half the quantity of water needed, and add boiling water to the tea as you use it. Cover the spout and lid with a thick piece of flannel to keep in the aroma.
Chips of cherry bark placed in the tea-canister impart a fine flavor to the tea, but care must be taken not to let them be used.
A slice of lemon served in each up is considered an improvement.”

An 1888 book by Emanual Bonavia, M.D. on the cultivation of oranges and lemons noted that “the Russians are great tea-drinkers, and their favorite mode of drinking tea is with a slice of lemon with sugar…” The book optimistically pointed out the potential for “each Russian [to use] one lemon per day,” creating a vast market for the fruit. Once the trend inevitably spread to Central Asia, Bonavia added, “the future prospects of the lemon trade in India are not all bad.”

Modern American recipes for “Russian Tea” consist of an instant concoction containing lemonade mix and/or Tang. Not a lemon in sight. Bonavia may well be turning in his grave.

Russian Tea recipe card, yesterdish.com

Russian culinary historian William Pokhlyobkin wrote that tea in 19th century Russia was always served with some kind of cakes, cookies or candy – offering at least a tenuous tie between “Russian Tea Cakes” and actual Russian tea culture. I doubt that English surgeon Nathaniel Edward Yorke-Davies took cookies into consideration when, in his 1889 book “Foods For the Fat,” he advised “the Russians take [tea] with lemon-juice… In America we know it is customary to add cream, milk, or sugar, but for corpulent people the Russian mode would be best.”

Restaurant historian Jan Whitaker writes that “not until after World War I (and the Russian Revolution), when a very different wave of anti-revolution, pro-Czar Russian immigrants arrived, did explicitly and self-consciously Russian-themed restaurants come into being. They flourished in the 1920s and 1930s.” This timing fits in with the first appearances of the current formulation of “Russian Tea Cakes.” Like so many faux-exotic bits of American culture, maybe the name just sounded cool.

Recipe:

1 Cup butter
.5 Cup confectioner’s sugar
2.75 Cups all-purpose flour, sifted
.25 Teaspoon salt
.75 Cups chopped nuts
1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

Cream butter and sugar, add flour and salt, vanilla and nuts. (Or grind all in food processor then stir in nuts.) Shape into balls. Put on ungreased pan, well separated, and bake at 375°, about 15 minutes, or just until they begin to get light brown. “Immediately when out of oven roll in XXXX sugar and roll again in sugar when cold.”

Recipe adapted from “Fun With Food” by the United Order True Sisters, Baltimore, 1948

Mapping “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland”

March 23, 2018January 17, 2021

Hopefully the first of several recipe maps on Old Line Plate, I’ve put the 512 recipes in “Eat, Drink & Be Merry in Maryland” on a map. A lot are just pinned to counties, but if you zoom in you can also view recipes connected to specific locations like hotels, steamship ports, and manors. The Maryland Historical Trust Medusa map has been instrumental in locating some of these places. Links to MHT documents included when possible.

Let me know what you think – the eventual plan is to map all of the recipes posted on this site but it could take awhile to pinpoint some of the locations!

Click Here for the Full Map

Spiced / Pickled Oysters

March 23, 2018January 12, 2019

“Mr. W. B. Burke of this city has the reputation of preparing the very best spiced oysters which leave our market, and if all are like the can which he left with us on Tuesday, his reputation is well deserved. They are truly a delightful article… He will forward them according to order to any part of the city or the U. States.” – The Baltimore Sun, 1839

In 4th or 5th grade, my class took a field trip to the Museum of Industry. It was one of the more memorable school field trips – especially the part where we lived out a day in the life of an oyster cannery. Innocent tomfoolery reflected real-life situations – kids smugly docked each-others pay for “contamination,” the “big boss” sat in an office and did very little for the most ‘pay’, everyone irritated the hell out of each other. At the end of it all, we took home an ‘oyster can’ of the clay blobs we’d steamed and packaged. I kept that can for a really long time, occasionally handling it to admire its old-timey label.

Love or hate them, its impossible to envision a Baltimore without oysters. The booming and often violent trade touched everyone in the region from the families who labored in the plants to the aristocratic epicures who couldn’t have a feast without them- on down to the dogs and rats picking over the shells in the city’s garbage-filled alleys.

Baltimore Oysters advertised in a Cleveland, Ohio newspaper, 1858

With advances in harvesting and canning, Chesapeake Bay oysters could be had far and wide. An 1879 newspaper ad from Deadwood, South Dakota advertised a surprising range of foodstuffs for a town that was considered “lawless”: Spanish olives, capers, curry powder, coconut, gelatin, chocolate, French mushrooms, New Orleans shrimp, and spiced oysters.

“Spiced oysters” being the same thing as “pickled oysters,” I’d assumed that these must be some vinegary, fermented concoction approaching fish sauce. This sounded like just the perfect somewhat repulsive thing to make when I recently interviewed for Atlas Obscura.

When I took closer look at the recipes, I was surprised to find very little vinegar included in most of them. The vinegar might give the oysters a little leeway in travel time, but pickled oysters turned out to be just another way to enjoy them – and a way for some of the many oyster packing companies in Baltimore to distinguish their product.

W. B. Burke operated one such business, and his spiced oysters were beloved by the Baltimore Sun. This could be because he more or less bribed the staff with free product. In December of 1840 they reported receiving two cans as a “Christmas Presents” (quotes used in the original.) “We have not tried them yet,” wrote the Sun, but “we do not hesitate to recommend persons in want of good spiced oysters give him a call.”

“Man with a derby hat stands atop a mound of oyster shells outside the C.H. Pearson & Company oyster cannery,” Baltimore, c. 1890

Despite being a common item offered by oyster canneries, no 19th-century Maryland cookbook was complete without a few recipes for “Spiced” or “Pickled” Oysters. Recipes appear in published books as well as manuscripts. The quantity of oysters is typically in the gallon range, with anywhere from a few tablespoons to a pint of vinegar.

Rather than serving as a condiment, spiced oysters were typically sent to the table along with other dishes like roast ham, chicken croquettes, olives, bananas, and champagne. The 1883 Chicago Cooking School cookbook mentions that spiced oysters can substitute for fresh ones in a salad with cabbage, celery, and mayonnaise dressing. It is possible that they could be used in recipes where oysters were used to stuff meats. (This is how I’m using them.)

Even if they’re not fermented and shelf-stable, the idea of pickled oysters elicited cringes from several friends of mine. As a non-convert myself, I have to assume that part of the appeal of voracious oyster appreciation comes from their very grossness. Pickled oysters may be due for a comeback. What better way to one-up everyone in your adventurousness?

Recipe:

From “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen,” by Mrs. B.C. Howard

To Spice Beef (An Irish Receipt)

March 15, 2018January 12, 2019

There are some very appealing options in the Old Line Plate database for an “Irish” theme.

In “Domestic Cookery”, Elizabeth Ellicott Lea suggests a hearty Irish Stew of mutton chops with onions, potatoes, black pepper and mushroom catsup for extra umami. (No, she did not use that word but that’s what it’s there for!) “A slice of ham is a nice addition,” she wrote.

“Queen of the Kitchen” author Mary Lloyd Tyson added “a cup of rich milk or cream” to her Irish Stew of Mutton. Sounds good to me!

Instead of indulging that route, I decided to reckon with a dish from my youth that I was never on very good terms with: Corned Beef and Cabbage.

The Pennsylvania Gazette, 1737

In Ireland, Corned Beef is considered more of a Christmas dish, and beef in general has historically been less popular there than it is here. But this isn’t an Irish food blog, it’s a Maryland food blog, and Marylanders have probably been consuming “Irish Beef” since European colonization. The semi-preserved beef was favored for its ability to survive the journey across the Atlantic.

The first digitized newspaper mention that I found of “Irish Beef” is in the Pennsylvania Gazette in 1737. The fact that it is “sold by the barrel” makes it apparent that this beef was corned beef.

According to “Irish-American Trade, 1660-1783,” by Thomas M. Truxes, Irish beef was readily available in most mainland ports in small casks “fit for family use.” This is likely meant in contrast to the portion used as provisions on the weeks at sea… maybe less appetizing to non-sailors.

Domestic colonial beef was “considered second-rate by comparison” at the time.

As the young nation began to sprawl westward, it made more and more sense to produce beef domestically. Interestingly, some of the first American recipes for what we might recognize as corned beef were printed in Maryland.

Although the method of curing beef with salt and nitrates and seasoning with cloves, mace, and allspice is ancient, Mary Randolph didn’t include such a recipe in her book. She only included a recipe for corning beef in hot weather (no spices mentioned, but she did include molasses.)

Before that, Eliza Leslie described brining and spicing the meat – but goes on to smoke the beef. Amelia Simmons stuck to more of an ‘á la mode’ dish in her slim 1796 cookbook.

Elizabeth Ellicott Lea in 1859 suggests serving corned beef (or pork) with Cabbage.

It was Mary Lloyd Tyson, in 1870, who printed the “Irish Mode of Spicing Beef.” Like so many other recipes in “Queen of the Kitchen,” it was copied by Mrs. B.C. Howard and altered slightly into “To Spice Beef (An Irish Receipt.)”

As it turns out, neither of these recipes even contains cabbage. Instead, the beef is served with carrots and turnips and a buttery sauce made with some of the cooking gravy.

This was a very gradual way for me to come to terms with Corned Beef and Cabbage… because there was no cabbage. The problem is that cabbage can be so easily overwhelmed by the power of corned beef. But curing and seasoning the meat yourself gives you more power over the end result. Newer recipes include mustard seeds and garlic, which sounds inviting. Undertaking the process of spicing the beef helped me get an appreciation of the flavors – and the possibilities.

Recipe:

Recipe from “Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen” by Mrs. B. C. Howard

What I did, more or less:

Most recipes say to use brisket. I bought a way cheaper cut of beef because I’m not Rockefeller over here. Rubbed it with brown sugar and pink curing salt (this contains

sodium nitrite not

potassium nitrate but I had it on hand) and sat overnight. The next day, added crushed up black pepper, cloves, allspice, and on a whim some bay leaves. Turned once a day for the next 7 days.

Cooked the meat for 8 hours in a slow cooker.

Boiled the vegetables and cooked in a generous amount of butter plus some of the beef-cooking broth, strained. Then thickened it a little to serve.

One Pot Dinner, Marjorie Orewiler

March 12, 2018January 12, 2019

Yet another quick recipe and quick post… I have some fun stuff in the works behind-the-scenes so please bear with me. I picked up the 1994 “Brentwood Foursquare Gospel Church” cookbook because I don’t do very many recipes from P.G. County even though I grew up there.

The recipe was contributed by Marjorie Elton Orewiler. Marjorie and her husband served as pastors of the Foursquare Gospel Church in Maryland, Maine, Pennsylvania and her home state of Ohio, where they returned upon retiring.

The Orewilers in the News-Journal, Mansfield, Ohio, 1997

I was unfamiliar with the “Foursquare Gospel” denomination, and researching it sent me down a rabbit-hole of history that is hard to summarize here.

The church was founded in 1923 by the charismatic and controversial Aimee Semple McPherson, a Canadian-American evangelist who pioneered the use of radio to reach followers. She founded one of the first “megachurches” in Los Angeles, the Angelus Temple, where she attracted a large following with her flamboyant sermons.

In one famous sermon entitled “Arrested for Speeding,” she took inspiration from the experience of being pulled over. She dressed in a police uniform and appeared on stage revving a motorcycle and warned followers about “speeding to hell.”

While she decried the godlessness of theater and film, she sought to make her church as entertaining an experience as those mediums.

One of McPherson’s critics was Baltimore’s H.L. Mencken, who of course had little praise for McPherson’s ideology or for her support of the anti-evolution side of the Scopes trial.

MacPherson recovering after kidnapping incident, 1926

He ended up coming to her defense during a media circus in which she was accused of staging her own kidnapping in 1926. It seems that Mencken detested the growing culture of Hollywood spectacle as much as he detested anti-science crusaders.

The trial in which McPherson stood accused of the fraud, wrote Mencken, “was an orgy typical of the half-fabulous California courts. The very officers of justice denounced her riotously in the Hearst papers while it was in progress….”

The Foursquare Church continued to flourish after McPhersons death in 1944. Having been racially integrated under McPherson’s leadership, the church continues to have a diverse membership. The Brentwood cookbook includes standard church cookbook recipes like Scripture Cake, plus some surprises like bagels and Nigerian Jollof Rice.

I took the easy way out with this tasty concoction and I can’t say I regretted it… With low energy and hostile weather going on, I’d eat something like this every night of February if I could.

Recipe:

1 Lb beef, ground
1 Cup chopped onion
2 15-oz cans pork & beans
1 can butter lima beans, drained
1 Cup tomato catsup
1 Tablespoon liquid smoke
3 Tablespoon white vinegar
1 dash pepper
.5 Lb bacon, cut into small pieces
1 can kidney beans, drained
.25 Cup packed brown sugar
1 Teaspoon salt*

Brown ground beef in skillet; drain off fat and put beef in large crock pot. Brown bacon and onions; drain off fat. Add bacon, onions and remaining ingredients to crock pot. Mix well. Cover and cook on low 4 to 9 hours.Recipe may be cut in half for small crock pot.

Recipe from “B. F. G. C. Cooks”

* As much as I love salt, I’m gonna have to disagree with Marjorie on this one. With all the canned things and ketchup and bacon? I assure you it was fine without.