Recipes and food history of the Hudson
Valley
Foods of the Hudson:. a seasonal sampling of the region's bounty. 172 recipes for spring's shad and asparagus; summer's corn and crabs; fall's apples and game; winter's stews and breads and lots of regional food history. Includes a chapter on fireplace (open hearth) cookery.
Here is a sample recipe for a highly flavorful venison chili, which can also be made with beef. The recipe comes from Lithgow Deer Farm in Millbrook, NY, which raises a herd of approximately 300 fallow deer. The animals are sold as breeding stock all over the United States and as meat to local restaurants. This dish is frequently served during the once a year roundup at the farm, hence its name.
Lithgow roundup chili
3 pounds venison burger (ground venison), or use ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 12-ounce can of tomato paste
1 29-ounce can tomato puree
1-1/2 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1-1/2 tablespoon ground cumin
1 tablespoon ground coriander
2 tablespoons chili powder
4 cans (15-ounces each) dark red kidney beans, drained
In a large kettle, brown the venison, or beef, onion, and garlic. Pour off excess fat, if any. Add tomato paste, tomato puree, mustard, cumin, coriander, and chili powder. Mix well. Stir in the kidney beans and heat through. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper to taste. Serve with red pepper flakes, sour cream and grated Cheddar cheese as garnish. Serves 6 - 8.
Price: (paperback) $16.95, plus shipping.
To order: call 1 800 473 1312.
Gourmet's reviewer Anne Mendelson remarked "There could be many volumes like Peter Rose's Foods of the Hudson but there aren't. The author casts a net as wide as the old New Amsterdam Dutch, modern Jersey City Puerto Ricans, and Mohawk and Lenni Lenape Indians. The recipes are arranged by season, a touch I like."
Daily life of the early Dutch settlers
The Sensible Cook: Dutch Foodways in the Old and the New World. It contains a translation of the definitive Dutch cookbook of the 17th century. An introduction explains what recipes, plants and seeds the Dutch brought to America. It records the cooking methods and typical dishes they prepared, and the implements and ingredients they employed. It includes recipes for the modern kitchen.
Here is a sample recipe for caraway cookies from the book. They were adapted from the handwritten cookbook of Anna de Peyster from the archives of Historic Hudson Valley in Tarrytown, NY. She suggests to "drop them in Lumps As big as Nutmegs" and calls them:
Small seed cakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 tablespoon caraway seed, crushed with a rolling pin
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream the butter with the sugar. Add eggs one by one and incorporate thoroughly. Add caraway and flour a little at a time, stir well. Use two teaspoons to shape the cookies about the size of a nutmeg and place them on a buttered baking sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the rims are browned. Makes 4 dozen.
Price: (paperback) $19.95, plus shipping.
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The New York Times describes it as: "a rich picture of a people who ate well and heartily, and stocked their larders with a range of fruits, meats and spices that even by today's standards would be considered varied."
About the Dutch in America
Donuts, pretzels, coleslaw, pancakes, waffles, wafers, and above all, cookies are all part of America's culinary heritage brought to New Netherland by the Dutch in the seventeenth century. The Dutch words "koolsla" and "koekjes" were even adopted into American English with only a slight transformation. "Koolsla" became coleslaw and "koekjes" became cookies. When the settlers came to New Netherland-a vast area, comprised of the present-day states of New York, New Jersey, Delaware, and parts of Pennsylvania and Connecticut-they brought with them seeds, tree stock, and cattle. Recipes for these and other Dutch foods can be found in hand-written cookbooks, spanning more than three centuries, that belonged to the descendants of these settlers. The Dutch touch left a lasting mark on America's kitchen.
NEW/NEW/NEW:
Matters of Taste
Food and Drink in 17th-Century Dutch Art and Life
This lavishly illustrated volume offers a unique approach to both culinary and art history. Each of the sixty paintings presented are discussed both from an art historical and culinary point of view and accompanied by a period recipe. In turn, these recipes are adapted for the modern kitchen in an accompanying cookbook.
Drawn exclusively from American museums, art galleries, and private collections, the artworks portray still lifes, Dutch tavern and market scenes, and festive occasions by more than thirty Dutch artists including Jan Steen, Adriaen van Ostade, and Pieter Claesz.
Here is a sample recipe from the book. Coleslaw now is accepted as an American dish, but it was the Dutch who introduced it here. Its origin is sometimes so forgotten that is referred to in some cookbooks as "cold slaw," but the name comes from the Dutch word "kool" or cabbage and "sla" or salad. The Dutch frequently used a dressing of melted butter and vinegar.
Coleslaw (koolsla)
4 tablespoons hot melted butter
1/3 cup wine vinegar
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups green cabbage, cut into thin strips
2 cups red cabbage, cut into thin strips
In a saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the vinegar, salt, and pepper and heat through. Pour dressing on the cabbage and toss to combine. Make sure the cabbage is at room temperature when dressed and be sure to keep the coleslaw at room temperature, or the dressing will congeal. Allow to stand at least 1 hour before serving.
(Syracuse University Press and the Albany Institute of History and Art, September, 2002)
Price: $49.95, plus shipping
To order:
Gillian Riley said in her review in Gastronomica:
"This book delights with its well-reproduced paintings, the meticulous descriptive notes of the contents, their possible interpretations, and insights into what foodstuffs people ate and how they cooked them. Art historical and gastronomic studies here complement each other and enhance our appreciation of the artists' works, an admirable example of how food history can illuminate art history, while taking on board the complexities of interpretation that might otherwise distort our vision."
"Ms. Rose has interpreted traditional recipes for modern kitchens, among them salmon in a thickened pepper sauce, sliced turnips braised with butter and sugar, and almond tartlets. She also includes instructions for hearth cooking."
---New York Times
