When I made Elizabeth Ellicott Lea’s French Rolls, I wrote a lot about the historical puzzles of flour and yeast. Despite her wealthy background, Lea’s culinary style is fairly rural. Her book contains a lot of information on bread baking, calling bread “the most important article of food.” She included instructions for baking bread in…
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…
In 1906, The Frederick News printed a whimsical explanation for the ‘bakers dozen.’ A Dutch baker in the 1600’s bickered with an “ugly hag” over whether a dozen was twelve or thirteen, stingily sending the woman away with only twelve New Year’s cakes. His shop became cursed until the baker conceded that a dozen was…
“Being at the house of a good old German friend in Pennsylvania, in September last, we noticed upon the table what was called apple butter; and finding it an agreeable article, we inquired into the modus operandi in making it, which we give for the gratification of such in New England as may wish to…
This isn’t the official Smearcase post- that’s to come later. (Update: Click here for Official Smearcase Post) This is just a brief post with two recipes from Elizabeth Ellicott Lea’s book. I thought they might offer some insight into the history of smearcase. Many Baltimoreans know “Smearcase” as a beloved cheesecake of German origin, available at many…