[Sca-cooks] OP request for information

Fri Jan 16 20:06:20 PST 2009

Thank you Johnnae for your help.  You have given me things to think about.

I have seen the Gerkinstomatoes article.  The author of that article only listed one recipe for a beef dish.  I am working on the desserts from the list.  It is interesting from her article that she transcribed the menu and mis-spelled several of the dish names and dropped two of them entirely.

I already have the Nelson pudding recipe.  There are two dishes on the bill of fare.  One is Tart a la Nelson and the other is Creme a la Nelson.  I think that the pudding fits the Creme but is it related to the tart?  I doubt if the tart and the creme would be the same ingredients.  But stranger things have happened.

Thank you for the helpful insights into the other dishes.  It will give me something to search for.  Thank you!

Huette

--- On Fri, 1/16/09, Johnna Holloway <johnnae at mac.com> wrote:

>> 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
> >