Baltimore’s Front Street Theatre had undergone “extensive alterations and improvements” in 1850. Carpenters Carnan & Eckert built out a parquet for standing room theatergoers. “Skillful” painter John Delpher was hired to apply a fresh coat of paint. New curtains were hung, and 600 cushioned seats with spring-backs were installed. A decade and a half later,…
Among the recipes in 19th century cookbooks, you’ll often find advertisements for hats and gloves, ovens, groceries, jewelry, horse accessories and more. Between the ads and the recipes, you could get a sense of a gilded life in the city, full of consumer longing and delicious viands. What is easy to forget- especially with the…
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…
Vinegar is one of those culinary facts of life that existed for thousands of years before being truly understood. (Some probiotics enthusiasts might say that we still don’t truly understand vinegar.) With the ability to sterilize, preserve, and add flavor, vinegar has been made all over the world with as many source ingredients as can…
Occasionally someone will ask about weird foods I’ve tried in the name of history. Beef stuffed with oysters or anchovy may seem weird to some people. Perhaps peanut-pickle sandwich filling is a curiosity from another time. Honestly, I tend to believe that the food we have access to now is weirder than anything found in…