Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | April 14, 2010

Confectionery Workshop

Sugar plate fountain, playing cards of sugar and coloured jelly

Sugar plate fountain, playing cards of sugar and coloured jelly

 On May 22,2010 I will be conducting my second Confectionery Workshop at Bolton Mansion in Levittown, Pennsylvania.  The first one was so much fun as participants learned to make the same sugar plate that was used by Ivan Day when he created this beautiful sugar plate fountain.  The techniques and receipt will be taught so that you can practice and perhaps make a fountain of sugar one day.  But you will have a small piece that you have made as a starter!   The process of making comfits (seeds with many layers of sugar that were used to “ease digestion) will be taught.  I will have my comfit making pan and former confectionery students may bring their comfits that they started last year to add more layers of sugar!  It is so much fun!  And I will have my syllabub engine  for making syllabub and MORE!  Registration for the workshop is limited as I want everyone to have   a wonderful hands-on experience working with sugar, sugar,and more sugar.  If you are interested in participating, please contact me.  Registration information is on my website www.hearttohearthcookery.com.

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Posted in Bolton Mansion, confectionery, culinary history, food history, Hearth cooking classes, Sweetmeats, syllabubs | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | April 10, 2010

Spurtles, Barred Girdles and Bannock Spades

Turning a bannock on the barred girdle with a spade

Today at the Trent House, the air was filled with the fragrance and smoke of peat burning as the Scottish Highland heritage of William Trent was honored with the preparation of oat bannocks and kale.  The large cast iron pot (to the left in the picture) is filled with kale.  Participants in the program ground oats with a quern to prepare the oat flour that was mixed with water with a spurtle.  Just enough liquid was added to use the bannock roller to make an oatcake the size of a plate.  The bannock spade (pictured) was used to turn the bannock on the barred girdle.  At the right in the picture is an oatcake toasting on the backstone or bannock toaster.  As the Trent House could not have open fires, the peat burned in braziers.  This program is wonderful for any Celtic event, to bring to life the foodways of Scotland!  For information on this program and other programs available through Heart to Hearth Cookery, visit www.hearttohearthcookery.com

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Posted in bannocks, culinary history, food history, hearth cooking demonstrations, Scottish Foodways, The Quern | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | March 20, 2010

Starting Spring with a Hearth Cooking Class

March 20, 2010 Class with Dinner!

This was a wonderful beginning of Spring, as I spent the day with enthusiastic students of the art of hearth cooking!  A couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary by participating today in preparing a meal at the hearth with friends and family members.  The dinner included receipts that involved as many hearth cooking techniques as possible and of course wonderful flavors.  Symmetrically arranged on the table are the following receipts:  To bake a rump of Beefe,  A Carett pudding baked, Fritters of Spinage, For a Boyled Plain Pudding, To make Naples Biskits and keeping cool for the dessert course To make Chocolate Creame. 

Naples Biskets and Pipkin

Naples Biskits and Pipkin

  In the picture to the right, I am removing the Naples Biskits from the Bake Kettle and in the large pipkin to the left is a rump of beef stewing with thyme, marjoram, parsley, cloves, onion and claret wine!  See more information on the pipkin on my food history source page.

Join me in more hands-on food history fun at my second Confectionery Workshop May 22,2010 at Bolton Mansion.  If you would like to learn about making comfits, sugar plate, syllabub with a syllabut engine and more, visit my website at www.hearttohearthcookery.com and click on the class page for more information.  Class size will be limited to maximize the hands-on experience. 

!

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Posted in Bolton Mansion, chocolate, confectionery, culinary history, food history, Hearth cooking classes, pottery | Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | March 14, 2010

Lamb Pastey

 

Delighted with my Lamb Pastey

  Today after what seems like years of preparation, I (with the assistance of great support from volunteer hearth cooks) was successful in reproducing the coffin design for  a Lamb Pastey!  I will be using exclamation points throughout this post, as I do not think there are words that can express the feelings that I had when I opened the door of the bake oven and found this beautifully browned coffin!  (Note: the darkened areas are the effect of the heat of the oven on the parchment paper that I decided to use to line my tin baking sheet.)  The process started at about 10:30 a.m. with the melting of the lard in hot water and weighing of 3 pounds of flour.  Visitors watched as each sheet of coffin paste was rolled and cut to shape and patiently placed on the coffin.  I was still working on the coffin decorations at 3:30 p.m. to complete the bird sitting in a tree with intricate designs and leaves around the central motif.  I opened the door and removed the magnificent coffin at 4:19 p. m.  Seeing the results, made all the research, tool acquisition and anxiety over the end results, WORTHWHILE!!!!  Perhaps my picture with the coffin, at left, shows some of the absolute delight I was feeling holding this masterpiece coffin.  Teaching hearth cooking and baking techniques is something I delight in doing as well,  I have a filled hearth cooking class March 20th at Bolton Mansion, but still have some openings in the class at the same location on March 27th.  And May 22nd, 2010, I will be teaching 18th century confectionery skills.  Come join me in the fun!  Visit my website www.hearttohearthcookery.com for more information.

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Posted in 17th century foodways, Bake oven, Bolton Mansion, Coffins, culinary history, food history, Hearth cooking classes | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | March 6, 2010

Chocolate Workshop 2010

March 6, 2010 Chocolate Workshop

Participants March 6, 2010 Chocolate Workshop

Making Chocolate

 Today at the Johnson Ferry House in Washington Crossing State Park, New Jersey, the house was filled with the aroma of chocolate.  This was the location of  Heart to Hearth Cookery’s annual chocolate workshop. Seven patient participants were finally able to roast cacao beans and use metates to produce chocolate liquor that solidifies into “chocolate cakes”.  This workshop had to be postponed due to the February 6th blizzard!   It was a beautiful day in the park and everyone was ready to work and make as much chocolate as they could.  This class has set the record for the most production of chocolate cakes!  They seem very happy in the picture above as they will take these 100% cacao cakes home.  The next scheduled chocolate workshop will be February 5, 2011.  Registration is very limited so that all are able to have maximum hands on experience.  Visit my website at www.hearttohearthcookery.com for more information about the 2011 chocolate workshop; March 27th, 2010 hearth cooking class; and May 22nd, 2010 confectionery class.

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Posted in chocolate, confectionery, culinary history, food history, Hearth cooking classes | Tags: , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | February 28, 2010

Think Spring-Think Food History Classes

Hearth Cooking Class Participants at Bolton Mansion

 I am pleased to announce the addition of two NEW classes to my  2010 hearth cooking class schedule.  The March 20th class at Bolton Mansion is now filled and with more requests a SECOND class on March 27th, 2010 has now been added!  The picture at the left shows a class posing for pictures with their 18th century dinner meal that they produced on the table.  The registration information is on my website www.hearttohearthcookery.com under the class section.  All registrations for the March 27th class are with Jim Snow of Bolton Mansion.

In addition, there will be Confectionery Workshop on May 22, 2010.  This workshop will include comfit making, syllabub with use of syllabub engine and more.  If registering, please let me know your interests in what you would like to learn.  For the confectionery class the fee is $50.00 per person and should be sent to Susan McLellan Plaisted, PO Box 1162, Morrisville, PA 19067.  Both of these new classes have not been added to my website yet as they are that new.

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Posted in Bolton Mansion, confectionery, culinary history, food history, Hearth cooking classes, syllabubs | Tags: , , , , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | February 23, 2010

Gingerbread for George

Centuries of Gingerbread

Sunday, February 21, 2010, the Johnson Ferry House in Washington Crossing Park, New Jersey, held their annual birthday celebration for George Washington.  The house came to life with demonstrations in every room.  In the kitchen, I was telling the story of gingerbread from the earliest receipts of the 15th century to a receipt found in the manuscript receipt book of Martha Custis Washington while preparing the 1747 receipt To make Ginger-bread cakes from H. Glasse’s The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy.  In the picture to the left, you can see the plates of gingerbread from the different centuries.  I have a wonderful slide/lecture presentation on The Evolution of the Gingerbread Man that delights all with the geneology starting in China with a rhizome and culminating with a decorated ginger cookie man.

Visit my website for more information on my demonstrations and programs  www.hearttohearthcookery.com

Johnson Ferry House
Johnson Ferry House

The Johnson Ferry House, pictured at right, is also the location for the re-scheduled 2010 Chocolate Workshop.  There is just one opening left in the workshop if you love chocolate and are interested in attending.  More information on registering is on my website www.hearttohearthcookery.com

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Posted in culinary history, food history, George Washington, Gingerbread | Tags: , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | February 20, 2010

Hands-on Chocolate at the Morris Jumel Mansion

The Mansion February 20, 2010

The Morris Jumel Mansion February 20, 2010

This is a picture of the Morris Jumel Mansion today as I saw the picturesque historic site for the first time.  You would hardly believe that the Mansion was in Manhatten!!!  Situated on a hilltop, gives it the appearance that it is not in a city at all, and made the mansion the perfect location for General George Washington to be headquartered in the Fall of 1776.  But today the mansion held its 2nd Annual Chocolate Day and I was fortunate to be part of the program demonstrating and providing guests with hands-on opportunities to grate chocolate cakes and use a molinello to produce a frothy chocolate beverage.  Many people tasted St Disdier’s 1692 receipt (recipe) for chocolate that calls of sugar, cinnamon, Indian

Preparing for hands-on grating and mxing of chocolate

chili, cloves and vanilla.  The room was filled with the aroma of chocolate and spices.

There are a few places left in my Chocolate Workshop on March 6, 2010 where participants roast cacao beans, use the metate and try several chocolate receipts.  Visit my website at www.hearttohearthcookery.com.

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Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | February 16, 2010

Breakfast for George Washington

George Washington's Breakfast

George Washington's Breakfast

 What fun it was on President’s Day, February 15th to debut a new Heart to Hearth Cookery program Breakfast for George Washington.  This program was hands-on and interactive and many hands both young and young-at-heart worked to produce the breakfast (pictured left) presented as if George Washington was to come and partake.

The quern (pictured below) was used and almost two pounds of Indian flour was ground and sifted as many aspects of 18th century life were discussed.  This new program will soon be added to the many other food history programs/demonstrations that are on my website- www.hearttohearthcookery.com

Grinding Indian flour

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Posted in Corn, culinary history, food history, George Washington, The Quern | Tags: , , , ,

Posted by: hearttohearthcookery | February 4, 2010

From Bitter Seed to Chocolate!

Susan at the metate

Susan making chocolate liquor

 February is one of my favorite months as it has become for me a month of chocolate demonstrations, workshops and lectures.  My power point slide presentation Chocolate: From Cacao to Chocolate is one of my most frequently requested programs.  In my research on chocolate in search of more information on the beverage favored by William Penn, I traveled to England.  I had equipment reproduced so that I could prepare chocolate in the fashion of a chocolatier.  But I had a goal, I wanted to actually visit the area in which chocolate first was produced and I did!  I was part of a research group that spent ten days studying the Mayan and chocolate in Mexico.  We gathered achiote, visited cacao plantations, participated in Mayan chocolate rituals and took many pictures.  With these pictures and experiences, I am able to bring the chocolate story to life.

Information on the chocolate lecture can be found on my website at www.hearttohearthcookery.com .  Just click on the lecture tab.

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Posted in chocolate, chocolate lectures, culinary history, food history, Food history lectures | Tags: , , , ,

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