Notes from the kitchen
Everything that is not a recipe. How a farmhouse pantry worked, why a method exists at all, what the books left out, and the occasional word about what is being written next.
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What Is a Moderate Oven Temperature in Old Recipes?
Every moderate oven temperature, and the rest of the old oven words, converted into numbers you can set a dial to. A moderate oven is 350°F. A slow…
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How They Kept Food Before Refrigeration
How they kept food before refrigeration: cellars, salt, sugar, smoke and fat, and every method still works. A farmhouse in 1890 had no refrigerator, no freezer, and roughly…
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When to Make Christmas Cake, and Why It Is November
When to make Christmas cake, and the physical reason the answer is six weeks earlier than feels sensible. If you have ever wondered why old recipes tell you…