[Sca-cooks] OP request for information

[Johnna Holloway]

Huette von Ahrens wrote:

Hi!

I am working on an out of period [for this list] article on foods served 
at Abraham Lincoln's second inauguration.  There is a bill of fare still 
in existance and I have gone through at least 30 American and British 
cookbooks dating from 1800 to 1900 and there are listed on this bill of 
fare items that I cannot identify other than their general class.  I 
have found a lot of the recipes, but not everything.  So I am writing 
here to see if any of you who have done culinary history for the Civil 
War era and/or 1860's American food, or anyone at all, if you have heard 
to recipes with these titles or have even a basic clue as to what they 
might be.

Here is the list that I have been unsuccessful in finding:

--------------------------------
What a wonderful challenge and so suitable!
Speaking as farmer's daughter from Mr. Lincoln's state of Illinois (who
used to routinely
write articles on the President and his family for the February issue of
the high school Illinois History magazine), let's see what I can do
to help.

The menu turns up in a couple of books including Sandburg's Lincoln volumes.
Also given in The President's Cookbook from 1968 on page 255.
Or see
http://gherkinstomatoes.com/tag/abraham-lincoln/
and it's described here:
http://www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/bai/szathmary.htm

The bill of fare is also described here in the original NYTimes article.
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?_r=1&res=9902E7DE123EEE34BC4053DFB566838E679FDE
It's sub-headlined as
"Terrific Crush at the Supper Table."
It's noted by the NYTimes reporter that within an hour the table was a
wreck and that the supper was a disaster.

Your dishes:

> Under the category "Cakes and Tarts":
>
> Belle Alliance
>   
Belle Alliance is given as being a winter pear, yellow on one side and
red on the other in
The Wordsworth dictionary of culinary & menu terms. Was this a dish made
with these pears
or was it just a serving of these pears?
Salad a la Belle Alliance is a seakale salad according to a recipe
published in the 1890's.
There's also a snuff mixture connected and named after Wellington and
Blucher -- the
"belle alliance" of Waterloo.
Warne's Model Cookery and Housekeeping Book of 1879 lists a Pheasant A
la Belle Alliance so it
turns up as a phrase.*

*
> Tart a la Nelson or tarte a la Nelson as given by Carl Sandburg

Nelson puddings appear in The Thorough Good Cook
  By George Augustus Sala.
Sweet Dishes
  By A. R. (Arthur Robert) Kenney-Herbert mentions a Velvet Pudding
and then mentions a Mr. Nelson in connection with that dish.
Nelson or Eccles Cakes are mentioned in The Pastrycook & Confectioner's 
Guide  By Robert Wells.


> Tarte a l'Orleans
Le livre de patisserie by Jules Gouffé has a Pudding d'Orleans.
Orleans Pudding (" Pudding" a I' Orleans) also appears in
Sweet Dishes  by A. R. (Arthur Robert) Kenney-Herbert.

> Tarte a la Portugaise or tarte a la Portugueseas given by the NYT
The Illustrated London Cookery Book
  By Frederick Bishop  includes 610. SOLES A LA PORTUGUESE. There are
also mutton recipes that are A LA PORTUGUESE.
But probably you might want the Portuguese Pudding recipe that uses
rice. There's one in Sweet Dishes
  By A. R. (Arthur Robert) Kenney-Herbert published in 1884. It's baked 
in a well buttered pie dish.

>   

> Tarte a la Vienne 
Still looking on this one.
>
> Under the category "Jellies and Creams":
>
> Crême Neopolitane
>   

Crême Neopolitane
Neopolitane refers by the 1880’s
to layered desserts as in ice creams. Is this a layered cream?

> Crême Chateaubriand
>   
The name seems to refer to François René, Vicomte de /Chateaubriand/ 
(1768-1848), French writer and statesman.

1441J. CREAM A LA CHATEAUBRIAND appears in The Modern Cook
  By Charles Elmé Francatelli.The 1877 9th edition is online. There's
an edition dated 1846.


> Crême Smyrna or creme a la Smyrna 

Smyrna was known for figs and raisins.
  Maybe a crème decorated with or containing Smyrna raisins or figs?
The Modern Cook by Charles Elmé Francatelli calls for Smyrna raisins.
Sweet Dishes by A. R. (Arthur Robert) Kenney-Herbert has a Fig Pudding 
that calls for Smyrna figs.


---
The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner
  By Charles Elmé Francatelli is online and contains numerous desserts 
but not any that can be identified as these.

I wonder if looking through the Ladies Magazines of the 1860's would be 
helpful.

Hope this helps

Johnnae

> I did find two recipes for Portuguese Torte and Viennese Torte from around that period, but I am not entirely sure that these are the same.  It is possible that there is a misprint.
>
> So, is there anybody here who can help me?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Huette
>