Okay, maybe not totally
ignored, but I venture to say that few historical fiction authors go hunting
for vintage cookbooks of their era in order to add yet another level of veracity
and fulsomeness to the story. A dinner scene described and not just mentioned.
An interaction in the kitchen while preparing food that reveals some intrigue
brewing. A shopping trip to the village market for local produce that allows
observation of an historic event.
These are some of the ways
vintage cookbooks can beef up (so to speak), your novel’s authenticity and
inform the reader of culinary aspects they might not know of. We want to tell a
good story, right, but we also want to illuminate our era so others learn and
are as fascinated as we are.
I collect vintage cookbooks
(and replicas of cookbooks no longer available or beyond my budget). They are
fascinating! The oldest cookbook to survive is 2500 years old. Fish with Feta
was described by Mithaecus, who lived in the late 5th century B.C.E.
He was Sicilian who spoke
Greek. He is the one, purportedly, who brought knowledge of Sicilian cooking to
Greece. He also worked in Sparta and in Athens. He got kicked out of Sparta
because he was a bad influence. Plato dissed him in his work, Gorgias.
Not only is his the first cookbook
in Greece, his cookbook, The Art of
Cookery, is the earliest cookbook author whose name is known in any language.
Only one of his recipes
survives, unfortunately. When I tell you the original recipe, you’ll see why
people have adapted it. In a single sentence, here is Mithaecus’ recipe for the
fish, tainia: ‘Gut, discard the head, rinse, slice; add cheese and oil.’ Inside
the fish? On the top? A cook of the era would know.
Even then, good cooks knew
you didn’t have to spell out everything. Of course you cooked it! Just the
facts, ma’am. ‘Tainia’ is known in modern Greek as ‘kordella’. Apparently
adding cheese to the fish was a controversial move back in the day. One Greek
guy warned about spoiling good fish by adding cheese. To adapt this recipe, use
tilapia, haddock, or another firm white fish.
If you want to try it, my
adapted recipe (with stuff he didn’t have access to) for “Fish with Feta” based
on Mithaecus is below.
But back to cookbooks, when
I was working on my middle grade bio of Elizabeth Jennings Graham, I got hold
of recipes from an 1840’s cookbook that I could include in the text to show the
kind of food Elizabeth might have helped her mother prepare.
Anyone interested in
Victorian and Edwardian eras should know about the Downton Abbey cookbooks and Downton Abbey: Rules for Household Staff.
These are not themselves vintage, but they include pretty accurate era-specific
recipes (updated with ingredients and directions) to bring realism to your work.
Another cookbook/household
management book that is vintage for the era is the 1112 page, 1861 Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management,
a compilation of newspaper columns over a two-year period. My copy is a
replica, obviously! There’s an interesting back story to this book that I might
share on this blog someday. Fascinating!
But back the volume,
As I work on my historical
fiction of a Singua woman from the mid-15th century, I am tapping
into recipes for cooking game as hunters do when they cook in the wild. Catching
the food and cooking it was an essential element of her culture, and I want to
be as accurate as I can be.
One thing I have noticed as
a difference between vintage cookbooks and modern cookbooks is the amount of
detail. Few if any pictures are in vintage cookbooks. Often they give
information about availability of certain foods in specific seasons. They didn’t
have access to foods in the same way we do.
All in all, reading cookbooks
of different eras offers cultural insights and allows for another layer of authenticity
for your writing. Happy cookbooking!
Fish with Feta (adapted from 2500 year old Greek recipe)
¾-1 pound of fresh white fish fillets (tilapia,
haddock, etc.)
¼ cup plain dried bread
crumbs or panko
3 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 tablespoon extra virgin
olive oil
1 tablespoon minced fresh dill
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
Fresh ground pepper
Take fish out of refrigerator 30 minutes before
cooking.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Mince fresh dill & fresh chives.
Combine bread crumbs/panko, feta, olive oil, dill,
and chives in a bowl.
Pepper the fish and place it on a lightly greased
baking sheet.
Lightly press the bread crumb mixture on top of each
fillet.
Bake the fish uncovered until the fish is firm and
cooked through, about 20 minutes.
Serve immediately.
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