Questions tagged [history]
Questions pertaining to current culinary practices and foods--how did we get where we are today?
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Modern zucchini cooking time?
I have multiple recipes for soup that include zucchini (courgette) that are all at least 30-40 years old, and all of them seem to have you add the zucchini late in the cooking time,
as if the zucchini ...
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4
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Does schnitzel belong on a stick?
I see recipes online about schnitzel... but on a stick. Is this actually a common practice? Was wondering if there is any cultural or historical significance to this.
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1
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My grandmother's recipe for cookies from the 50s or 60s calls for a 5 cent cake of yeast. How many ounces is a 5 cent yeast cake?
I have my grandmother's recipe for cookies, from the 50s or 60s, it calls for a 5 cent cake of yeast. How many ounces is a 5 cent yeast cake?
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1
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What was Hunanese cuisine like before chili peppers were imported to China?
Today, chilis are strongly associated with Hunanese cuisine, which is regarded as the spiciest Chinese regional cuisine. However, Chinese recipe books didn't start mentioning chilis until the 1790s, ...
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2
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1
answer
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Is there a known point of origin for Brined Cheeses?
Heavily brined cheeses, such as feta, akkawi, haloumi, and sirene are popular throughout the Eastern Mediterranean and the Middle East.
It is difficult, however, to find good information on where the ...
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2
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Why doesn't Greek cuisine use a lot of spices, compared to neighbors?
According to what I know almost all countries in the Mediterranean which surround Greece use a lot of spices in their cuisine. Greece itself has been occupied by such countries for hundreds of years. ...
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3
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Earliest pizza recipe?
What is the earliest recorded recipe for pizza ever written? I think it’s in the 1700’s, but I’m just not really sure myself, thusly my question. If this is the wrong stack to put it on I apologize.
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What is a salad knife?
These Web pages all depict a salad knife in a formal table setting:
Petrossian.Com
TheSpruce.Com
CzarInAShop.Com
VectorStock.Com
These Web pages offer to sell or rent salad knives:
...
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1
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Where can I view the pricing evolution for a given type of food?
Recipes over the history were partly influenced by the price and availability of the ingredients. E.g., lobsters, which nowadays are typically rather expensive, used to be very cheap:
When the first ...
8
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1
answer
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What was this "gravel gum candy" product from the early 1990s?
This is such a massive long-shot, but it's been eating me up for decades now. I need to at least try.
In the early 1990s, my brother and I used to walk to this local little grocery store (long gone) ...
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1
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What could be the history of this pan?
I inherited this aluminum frying pan from my grandmother who passed away in 1998. Since then, it has mostly sat in the cabinet thanks to its distinct downward bulge in the center, and its ...
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2
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Why is wheat flour more popular than corn flour? [closed]
If I understand correctly, one of the major reasons that corn syrup is so popular is that it made corn syrup cheaper than sugar. This makes sense to me.
However, it seems odd to me that this never ...
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4
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2
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What was this mysterious food/dessert product in 1990s Finland?
Throughout the 1990s, I often visited Southern Finland with my family. More specifically, Hanko/Hangö.
In the stores, in the refrigerated area, they sold these yummy-looking desserts, or possibly food ...
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9
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1
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How should red wine be used in Spaghetti Bolognese?
The classic Spaghetti Bolognese recipe adds red wine right at the beginning to the fried minced beef until its all absorbed with little liquid remaining. In theory, this makes sense to me in enhancing ...
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1
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Where did the first kombucha SCOBY come from?
I haven't been able to find any information on this online. Kombucha recipes always suggest to either get a bit of the starter from someone else who makes kombucha or to grow the scoby from a ...
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4
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What did European/American historical cooks do with the egg whites?
I do some historical cooking out of old cookbooks, like Amelia Simmons' American Cookery or The Art Of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. One thing I've noticed is that these cookbooks use way more egg ...
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2
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Where did the apples in Japanese Curry come from?
Japanese curry (カレー, karē) is its own distinct style, made with a roux base, mild curry powder, and grated apples or apple puree.
It also has a well-documented origin, having been introduced by ...
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2
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Recipes of Turkish drinks in Voltaire's Novel
There are some description of Turkish drinks in Voltaire's novel 'Candide', written in 1759 -
presented them with several sorts of sherbet, which they had made
themselves, with kaimak enriched with ...
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1
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What are "cheese Parmentiers"?
From Clarissa Dickson Wright's A History of English Food (2012):
[In the 1920s, British] hostesses also started to serve canapés: little cheese Parmentiers, asparagus rolled in thin brown bread and ...
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1
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Is Virginia creeper safe to eat?
Spring and the Virginia Creeper is growing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parthenocissus_quinquefolia
It is native to North America, and common. I read on Wikipedia the berries have "dangerous ...
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1
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What were the main ingredients of the Thai cuisine before global trade? [closed]
The traditional Thai cuisine was very different than the current one in a holistic perspective.
At some point in history the Thai nation started trading globally, directly or indirectly with Indians, ...
user79730
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3
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Cumin in Taco Seasoning?
I've noticed that I never taste cumin in the tacos I get at restaurants, yet cumin is often the most noticeable flavor in pre-made taco seasonings. When and why did cumin get associated with tacos? ...
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4
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What is the history of the white chocolate macadamia nut cookie?
By now in 2019, white chocolate macadamia nut seems a very typical cookie flavor (in the United States), available from lots of different shops and in lots of different brands.
I'm pretty sure I ...
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1
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Is there a wine traditionally served with beef carpaccio?
Is there a wine traditionally served with beef carpaccio?
Like, they would typically serve flammkuchen with federweisser.
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1
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Traditionally, why are 'pasta bowls' wide and shallow?
I was curious as to why they're marketed as pasta bowls in the UK, and it's because they're frequently used for pasta (obviously). Buy why are bowls used for pasta traditionally wide and relatively ...
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1
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What is "White Moist Sugar"?
Looking online at a copy of Mrs Beetons Book of Household management and I came across a recipe that called for "White Moist Sugar".
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:Mrs_Beeton%...
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4
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Is spaghetti and bechamel sauce an authentic Italian dish?
I have seen instances where people mix white sauce / bechamel with spaghetti or macaroni but never seen a reputable chef to do so. This mix is sometimes mistaken for carbonara since its creamy white. ...
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2
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1
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What vinegar was used in 1904?
What kind of vinegar would best replicate that was being used in the USA, upper Midwest in a recipe dated 1904? It is a potato salad recipe. The potatos & egg yolks are mashed together with minced ...
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1
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What is the historical origin of the sauté cooking technique?
Although the term sauté is used colloquially in the US to refer to other types of frying, it is a specific cooking technique that involves high heat and constant movement of the ingredients in the pan....
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2
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Has the storage duration of packaged "fresh" dairy products increased in the last 30 yrs?
Has the general shelf life / storage duration / packaging hygiene / of pasteurized milk, cream or yogurt significantly increased in the last 30 years in western Europe (or the US)?
Or has there been ...
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2
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Was honey in ancient times different than now?
I am trying to reproduce a recipe found in the Roman "cookbook" Apicius, Conditum paradoxum: it is a spiced wine that calls for honey as an ingredient, but it uses a lot (30 % of the volume of the ...
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3
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How much is "1-2 cents worth" of yeast in an old recipe?
I'm looking through an old cookbook, ''The Art of German Cooking and Baking'' by Lina Meier (2nd Ed., 1922, Milwaukee, file on wikipedia). There is a recipe for waffles here which calls for "1-2 cents ...
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Why did flatbread dominate the Middle East but Europe adopted raised breads?
This may be a history question so please move it if appropriate.
Culturally, local ingredients dominate cooking recipes and national dishes (e.g., soy in SE Asia), but why do Europeans add a raising ...
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3
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Is allspice traditional in the Levant?
From the Wikipedia entry for allspice:
Allspice is also indispensable in Middle Eastern cuisine, particularly in the Levant, where it is used to flavour a variety of stews and meat dishes.
I am ...
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1
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Is sour cream in olde recipes the same as sour cream today? [duplicate]
I have a really old cookbook (about 1890) that calls for soured cream or sour cream in some recipes. Is this the same as the stuff you get in a tub at the store or is it like sour milk where you put ...
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Concerning meat of hard digesture
Relating to the history of food and cooking, I have two questions pertaining to this quote by the (rather) late Philip Stubbs:
Questions:
What would constitute “meat of hard digesture” in 1583?
...
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Interpreting a recipe from Mrs Beeton: "carbonate of soda"
Prompted by a discussion at English.se I may be going to make Mrs Beeton's soda biscuits recipe:
SODA BISCUITS.
INGREDIENTS.—1 lb. of flour, 1/2 lb. of pounded loaf sugar, 1/4 lb. of fresh butter, 2 ...
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What are mandrakes? Are they edible? How are they prepared?
Mandrakes (mandragora) are mentioned in the Bible as an aid to fertility (cf. Genesis 30:14), but what exactly are mandrakes? I hear they are poisonous, have narcotic properties, or aid with fertility....
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Why is there no pork on the Indian take-away menu?
The standard Indian takeout menu does not represent the kind of food eaten in India. India is a large country and "Real Indian food" is little more meaningful than "Real European food". Dishes ...
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7
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How did people transport food before aluminium foil was invented?
I know this question does not concern cooking, however I wondered how people transported their food before aluminium foil was invented (circa 1900, which is not too long ago).
Did people in the ...
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Why do so many things cook at 180C/350F
It seems that many, if not most recipes, that involve cooking something in an Oven specify a temperature of 180 Celsius or 350 Fahrenheit (if using a Fan oven, 20/70 more if not). This also seems to ...
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Why are these called "no bake" brownies?
I have this old recipe, that my grandmother's aunt's, someone or other (don't really know any more, no one alive can remember) cut out of a magazine years and years ago. The Title is "Blondie Brownies,...
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7
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What was Indian food like before the arrival of the chili pepper from the Americas?
One of the things associated with Indian cuisine is heat from chili peppers. Yet, chili peppers can only have been introduced to Asia from their Central and South American homeland after the Spanish ...
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What are these sweets from 16th century?
I keep seeing them in old European paintings from 16th - 17th century. I think they still must exist present days.
White irregular shaped sweets on the left hand side.
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How was the usage of yeast for bread discovered?
From where did people get the yeast for their bread??
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What is the history of the standard sheet (bun) pan?
What is the history of the standard sheet (bun) pan? Who came out with the sizing? Why that size? When did it occur?
There are full size(26x18 Inch), half(18x13) and quarter(13x9).
image from
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Why should food be frozen quickly?
I was reading one of the articles in Uncle John's Curiously Compelling Bathroom Reader about the history of harvested ice and ice houses. The article mentioned that electrical freezers and ...
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How did Cardinal Mazarin give name to a Swedish cake?
Mazarin is a classic Swedish pastry, well known in neighbouring countries as well in lots of variations. It seems that - as one with a bit of historic background may guess - it is of French origin.
...
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Is "medium white sauce" a usefully distinct term?
I am familiar with a basic white sauce, or béchamel, and know how to make it. I recently came across a recipe (circa 1950's) that calls for 1 cup medium white sauce.
Is this the same as a béchamel? (...
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Why is supermarket bread soft?
Nearly all "good" bread (from a traditional bakery, made at home by a competent baker) comes with a thick, hard crust. However in every supermarket there are shelves and shelves full of soft (white, ...
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