[Sca-cooks] OT... Fannie Farmer's Last Supper
Johnna Holloway
johnnae at mac.com
Fri Oct 1 09:28:06 PDT 2010
I actually got the book yesterday and thought it would be worth
reporting on later.
It's by Chris Kimball of Cooks Illustrated.
Here's what the Christian Science Monitor had to say:
3. Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie
Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook
Fannie’s Last Supper, by Chris Kimball, 272 pp., $25.99 (on sale as of
Oct. 5)
Leave it to Christopher Kimball, founder of America’s Test Kitchen and
Cook’s Illustrated, to take Victorian cooking to the extreme. After
moving into an 1859 five-story townhouse in Boston’s South End, the
chef extraordinaire grew curious about the period, particularly in
culinary terms. Using the legendary Fannie Farmer as a guide, Kimball
set out to learn bygone techniques, ingredients and recipes,
culminating with a 12-course Christmas dinner from the expert’s
bestselling work "The Boston Cooking School Cook Book."
Mockturtle soup with fried brain balls, saddle of venison with
lyonnaise potatoes and sugared beets, fried baby artichokes, and a
trio of molded Victorian jellies only skim the surface of the
elaborate 28-recipe dinner. In "Fannie's Last Supper," Kimball
recreates the famed menu the way they did a century ago: from scratch,
food coloring included. He even forgoes the luxury of most modern
appliances, and installs an authentic cast iron coal stove into his
kitchen.
As Kimball describes the daunting – even for him – task of testing and
mastering the recipes, he recounts an American era rich in culinary
history. His take is enthusiastic (“the meat would have to be larded,
a technique I was eager to test”), frank (on Farmer: “To tart up a
recipe, she would simply give it an ersatz French name”), and overall
entertaining. Ambitious readers can attempt any of Kimball’s revamped
recipes – he includes them in the book.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/2010/0930/3-promising-books-for-October/Fannie-s-Last-Supper-Re-creating-One-Amazing-Meal-from-Fannie-Farmer-s-1896-Cookbook
Definitely a volume for food historians and a good read for what
promises to be a very wet homebound weekend.
Johnna
On Oct 1, 2010, at 9:34 AM, Helen Schultz wrote:
> To see the preview of an excellent recreation of a large 12-course
> Victorian feast, visit this web site... www.fannieslastsupper.com
>
> ~~ Katarina Helene (Midrealm)
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