Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. April 2014 Volume XVIII, Number 7

Culinary Historians of Washington, D.C. (CHoW/DC)founded in 1996, is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, educational organization dedicated to the study of the history of foodstuffs, cuisines, and culi-nary customs, both historical and contemporary, from all parts of the world. Donations are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.

www.chowdc.org

Sunday, April 134:00 to 6:00 p.m. (note time change)

Alexandria House400 Madison StreetAlexandria, VA 22314

Cooperative Supper Theme:“Eating en Route”

April 13

Cooperative Supper (Note: time change

4:00 to 6:00 p.m.)

Plates, cups, bowls, eating utensils, and napkins will be provided.

But please bring anything needed for serving your contribution, as well as a copy of your recipe, the name of its source, and any interesting information related to the recipe you have chosen.

May 4Program:

(our snow-canceled December program)

Joy Frasier“Addressing the Haggis: Culture and Contestation

in the Making of Scotland’s Dish”

2:30 to 4:30 p.m. Bethesda-Chevy Chase

Services Center,4805 Edgemoor Lane, Bethesda, MD 20814

CALENDAR CHoW Meetings

Think of a memorable meal or dish you sampled while traveling. Choose something with an enduring associa-tion over time that has persisted in your memory.

The “en route” part is up to you: airplanes, trains, automobiles, boats, bicycles, on foot, or…?

PLEASE BRING...... a short written note about your contribution, including the name of the food or recipe, when and where you sampled it, your personal con-nections to the dish, and any histori-cal background you think relevant.

...anything needed for serving your contribution, as well as a copy of your recipe and the name of its source.

PROVIDED:Plates, cups, bowls, eating utensils, and napkins will be provided.

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What Happened at the Sunday, March 9 CHoW Meeting?President Katy Hayes called the meeting to order at 2:40 p.m., welcoming 42 attendees, including 38 CHoW mem-bers and 4 guests.

ANNOUNCEMENTS: 1. Shirley Cherkasky mentioned the Smithsonian “Conference on Stuff” to take place on April 1, 2014. This event is open to the public and will be held at the Warner Theatre (the former Carmichael Auditorium). This year’s topic is “Salt” and the event will include papers, artwork, and a cooking competition – all humorous – on the topic of “Salt.”Participants are traditionally members of the Smith-sonian community. Contact Shirley for further information. 2. Katy Hayes mentioned CHoW’s upcoming field trip to the National Agricultural Library on Friday, April 18 at 11 a.m. (Good Friday). CHoW members will be given a special guided tour of the library, which includes a cookbook collection as well as a number of other inter-esting and important collections. This event is free and limited to 20 attendees. Please send an email to Katy Hayes if you are planning to attend. CHoW members will meet at the library. NOTE: Francine Berkowitz mentioned that Behnke’s Nursery – a great place to buy spring flowers – is close to the National Agricultural Library.

WHATZIT: Members brought 3 “Whatzits” to the March meeting. 1. Willis and Carter Van Devanter brought a metal item, lightweight, with a handle at one end and a double-edged “wheel” at the other that is a noodle cutter. 2. Bryna Freyer brought a small silver pitcher embossed with the initials of the Delaware Lakawanna & Western railroad on the bottom . The item is a creamer used in the railroad’s dining room. 3. Another item, embossed with the initials B&O for the B&O Railroad, is a glass dish resting on a round silver stand. This item is a butter server, also used in the railroad’s dining room.

MEMBERS’ COOPERATIVE SUPPER: In April CHoW members meet for a cooperative supper centered on a his-torical theme. Themes are introduced and voted on during the March CHoW meeting. The theme for this year’s sup-per is “Eating En Route,” was selected from the following suggestions:

• Eating En Route• Pre-Columbian Italy (Italy Before Tomatoes)• Foods With Funny Names (i.e., Snickerdoodles)• Railroad Food Before 1960• Industrial Revolution in Europe (18th-19th century)• Greece Before World War II• Road Kill

Shirley Cherkasky hosts the Cooperative Supper in the meeting room of her building, which has a full view of the Potomac River. Members are asked to assist Shirley with setup and cleanup.

PROGRAM: Sheilah Kaufman introduced the March speaker, Jim Porterfield, whose talk, “From Soot to Souffle,”

focused on the history of meals served on American trains. Mr. Porterfield is the author of Dining by Rail: The History and Recipes of America’s Golden Age of Railroad Cuisine (St. Martin’s Griffin, 1998) and From the Dining Car: The Recipes and Stories Behind Today’s Greatest Rail Dining Experiences (St. Martin’s Press, 2004). Mr. Porterfield is also a Contribut-ing Editor for Railfan & Railway magazine where his monthly “On the Menu” column details all aspects of railway dining. He is the Director of both the Center for Railway Tourism at Davis & Elkins College in Elkins, West Virginia and the American Society of Railway Artists.

DOOR PRIZES: Members attending the monthly meetings are eligible to win a door prize. Thank you to Claudia Kou-soulas for donating cookbooks as the door prizes.

REFRESHMENTS: Thank you to Anne Whitaker for pro-viding beverages for the meeting, and to our members who brought the following refreshments:• Beverly Firme: Chocolate Bourbon Cake and Kentucky Buttermilk Bourbon Cake• Sheilah Kaufman: Roasted Red Pepper and Walnut Spread with Crackers• Phyllis Krochmal: Missouri Pacific Corn Muffins• Clara Raju: Ginger Muffins from Dining by Rail by James Porterfield• Liz Sullivan: Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries The meeting adjourned at 4:15 p.m. Thank you to the mem-bers who volunteered to reset the meeting room. Respectfully submitted, Beverly Firme, Recording Secretary

September 8, 2013. Gabriella Petrick, “Industrializing Taste: Food Processing and the Transformation of the American Diet, 1900-1965”

October 13, 2013. Rob Kasper, “Baltimore Beer: A Satisfying History of Charm City Brewing”

November 10, 2013. Monica Bhide, “Sacred Foods of India through Its Temples, Mosques, and Gurudwaras” December 8, 2013. Cancelled due to bad weather.

January 12, 2014. John DeFerrari, “The History of Washington, D.C.’s Seafood Restaurants”

February 9, 2014. Luigi Diotaiuti and Amy Riolo, “Pasta and Cheese Making History in Southern Italy”

March 9, 2014. James D. Porterfield, “From Soot to Souffle”

April 13, 2014. Cooperative Supper, Alexandria House

May 4, 2014. Joy Fraser, “Addressing the Haggis: Culture and Contestation in the Making of Scotland’s National Dish”

CHoW Programs 2013-2014

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“I am not a vegetarian because I love animals; I am a vegetar-ian because I hate plants.” --A. Whitney Brown

I’ve never quite figured out why vegetarianism is consi-dered so funny, even among vegetarians. It must go back to a time when we used to launch our Brussels sprouts out the window when our mothers weren’t looking.

Vegetarianism has a long history with ethical, religious, and economic roots. You have early Greeks, Hindus, Buddhists, and Jainists who practiced non-violence by not harming animals. You have moral and social writers throughout the centuries extolling the physical and spiri-tual health benefits. But let’s face it, the main reason to eat beans and rice is that they’re filling and cheap. Who among us has not dined upon Macaroni and Cheese or Oodles of Noodles at some impoverished time? Yes, vegetarianism is often an ethical choice forced by economics.

You have lots of different types of vegetarians. Vegans eat no animal products at all. Ovo-lacto vegetarians eat eggs and milk products. Pescatarians eat fish. As for me, I’m a carni-vegetarian; I love classic vegetarian dishes, especially when accompanied by great slabs of pork.

While vegetarianism is simply a personal choice, it is hard to believe how much animosity it stirs up from the meat eating community. I wonder if there is a psychological term for people with this odd condition, like “carnagression” or “vejudice?” They have even invented a new word, “meata-tarian,” to mock the meek and meatless. But the great thing about vegetarians is that most of them enjoy a good joke, even on themselves. Here are a few that I dug up:

Q: Why does vegan cheese taste so bad? A: Because it wasn’t tested on animals!

Q: If vegetarians eat vegetables, what do humanitarians eat?

Q: Vegetarian devil worshipers sell their souls to seitan….

Q: What do you call a militant vegan? A: Lactose intolerant!

Q: What does it mean when a restaurant beefs-up its vegetarian menu? A: Can vegans eat eggplant? Animal crackers? Mince meat?

In the end, it’s just a matter of what you believe, and how many jokes you can get out of it.

Cheers! TW

Culinary Humor

By Tom Weiland

The Election DayUpcoming Events87th Shenandoah Apple Blossom Festival

April 25 – May 4, Winchester, Va. The annual celebration of spring show-cases the blooming apple trees in the Shenandoah Valley with more than 45 events, including the Grand Feature Parade, band competitions, dances, a carnival, a 10K run, an apple pie baking contest and more. www.thebloom.com/For more information about Winchester, see Felice Caspar’s “Culinary Byways” article on page 4.

Around the World Embassy Tour

Passport DCMay 2014 See www.passportdc.org for the complete sched-ule of programs offered by 45 embassies.

This annual celebration of international culture presented by Cultural Tourism DC, showcases Washington’s em-bassies and cultural organizations with a wide range of performances, talks, and exhibits. In addition to embassy open houses and events, several Washington museums participate in Passport DC with special programming. On May 3, 10 a.m. –4 p.m., the celebration show-case embassies from Africa, Asia, Oceania, the Middle East, and the Americas, with artists and artisans, performers, lecturers, teachers, and others providing a range of educa-tional and cultural programming designed for people of all ages. A new feature this year is the celebration of the In-ternational Year of Quinoa. A tour honoring the origins of the grain is offered by the Embassies of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela.

A Dip Into the Past: The History of America in Ice Cream Scoops

Wednesday, May 146:45 to 8:15 p.m.$22 members; $30 general admissionS. Dillon Ripley Center1100 Jefferson Drive, SWMetro: Smithsonian Mall Exit

From the first patented scoops from 1876, through the “parachute” model, the “heart” scoop, and the mystifying “cold dog,” collector Don Kaufman knows them all. He serves up a lively and entertaining history of this humble tool, and along the way offers a look at the tastes and trends that have kept us screaming for ice cream for generations. An ice cream social follows. Other Connections: Camphor buffalo-milk ice cream is one of the frozen concoctions that emperors of the Tang dynasty may have enjoyed. Get more fascinating facts about the origins of everybody’s favorite dessert from the History Kitchen, and find several recipes for ice creams with considerably more appeal to modern tastes.

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There is more to Winchester, Va., than Apples. Had it not been for an accidental detour through downtown Win-chester, when I was startled to see cows grazing in a field by an impressive stone entrance, I might not have noticed the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley at all. Within a month, a weekend trip back was planned. Winchester is a great escape from D.C., be it apple harvest season or in the spring, with unexpected bits of culture with a dash of ec-centricity around every bend.

An easy and enjoyable route is just to take Route 50 the en-tire way. Take a break in the tiny town of Aldie at the Little Apple Pastry Shop, offering full-size and miniature pies, cookies, and turkey sandwiches. Beyond seven types of apple pie, there are dozens of types of other pies and cakes that can be ordered. See www.hotapplepie.com for the full list.

Visitors to Winchester will enjoy the historic downtown area, known for some landmarks such as the Beaux Arts Handley Library, stores, including one devoted to White House Applesauce products, antique shops, trendy restau-rants, and gigantic decorated apples. This being my sister Bryna’s and my annual joint birthday trip, we headed out to the “suburbs” on Valley Avenue to treat ourselves to dinner at Shenandoah Fine Chocolates, a combination fine restaurant and artisan chocolate shop. Also on Val-ley Avenue is a used bookstore, Blue Plate Books (www.blueplatebooks.com), which had a quirky cookbook section from which I scored some great finds.

But our main reason to visit Winchester was to see the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley (MSV). Designed by Michael Graves, the Gallery is beautiful, especially inside with a soaring wood ceiling. It houses a much more exten-sive and varied collection than we had anticipated, includ-ing quite a bit of space devoted to local home life through the decades, from a settler’s sparsely outfitted cabin to a mid-20th century kitchen, showing all the kitchenware used in each period.

The R. Lee Taylor collection of miniature houses and rooms, with meticulously hand-crafted furnishings is remarkable. The docent was especially proud of this treasure pointing out dozens of special features and details in each display.

Our trip was timed to see the exhibit “Being Patsy Cline,” which has just been extended to run until July 6. We also made the pilgrimage to see her childhood home.

A real surprise at the MSV was “Moveable Feasts: Enter-taining at Glen Burnie,” an exhibition of vignettes showing how MSV benefactor Julian Wood Glass and his partner at the time, R. Lee Taylor, hosted brunch, afternoon tea, cocktails, and dinner at the mansion in the 1960s, and it was easy to imagine how sought after their invitations must have been! The exhibition was set up in the Gallery because the Glen Burnie Manor has been undergoing a ren-ovation; it will re-open on June 10. The six-acre gardens, also being renovated, are open from April to October and include a vegetable garden with a pattern that is changed annually. The MSV is open Tuesday through Sunday. Visit www.theMSV.org for hours and details for the gallery, café, shop, mansion, and gardens.

Another bit of serendipity: Bryna and I relished a meal of shrimp and grits and crab cakes at the Bonnie Blue Southern Market and Bakery, which features Gulf Coast specialties, seasonal produce, and locally made products. It is housed in a renovated 1920 Esso station at the corner of Amherst and Boscawen streets, just a short distance from the MSV. Recently, Bonnie Blue has taken over the food service at the Gallery café in the MSV.

Now some of the same southern fare can be enjoyed at the modern MSV café, on Fiesta ware plates with Michael Graves’ serving pieces, while the full menu is served at the original shop where guests are seated at rustic tables indoors or out. The Bonnie Blue name is that of the short-lived Republic of West Florida, circa 1810, in what is now part of Louisiana. Who knew? If this has whetted your appetite to see more about this restaurant, or to learn more of the story of Bonnie Blue, visit www.bonnieblue.us. And after this horrendous winter, follow their motto, “Treat Yourself!”

Winchester,Virginia

Culinary BywaysBy Felice Caspar

Miniature Kitchen

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Book ReviewSherbet and Spice, The Complete Story of Turkish Sweets and Desserts

by Mary Isin, I.B. Tauris 2013, hardback $28.00, 322 pages

Claudia Kousoulas is an urban planner who also writes cook-book reviews. Her blog is appetiteforbooks.wordpress.com

Reviewed by Claudia Kousoulas

Sugar is a refinement of civilization and in the Turkish Empire, sweets became the products of expertise as well as taking on symbolic meaning. Distinct branches of trade developed for the yufka roller, molders of sugar candies, and ice cream mak-ers.

In this book, Isin begins with sugar itself, tracing its development as a product, and then moves on to chapters for each confection including puddings, pastries, can-dies, and ice cream. She adds value with a pronunciation guide, and a glossary to terms of art and measurement. Throughout the book, she includes ninety authentic historical recipes, and finishes with extensive notes.

Isin notes that Turkish confectionary owes its diversity to the wealth of the Persian, Arab, and Ottoman empires. Techniques reach back into Neolithic times with a dish like asure, a pudding of wheat berries and dried fruits; honey soaked cakes are an ancient Roman tradition; and paper thin pastry comes from Central Asian food-ways.

Sweets are always symbolic of good wishes and, as Isin writes, “No social event or public occasion, including birth, marriage, religious festivals, and official ceremo-nies was complete without the particular sweet food associated with it.”

She goes on to describe the spun and molded sugar gardens created for the mar-riage of the Sultan’s daughter, the ropes of sugared grapes served to mark the circumcision of the Sultan’s sons, and the streets devoted to expert dough makers.

But sweets were not only for special occasions—upper classes developed a refined cuisine that included a wide variety of sweets and juices made from rose, quince, aubergine, walnut, mulberry, sage gall, persimmon, wild apricot and more. And as with European pastilles or American drugstore soda fountains, sugar was the prov-ince of the pharmacist—who used it to make medicine palatable.

Further refinements came from the palace kitchens, where artisans could make those sugar gardens, and creative cooks developed new dishes to please their pa-trons. In particular, Isin gives the example of kadayif, which started as a medieval Arab griddle cake and was reimagined as a nest of delicate pastry threads.

And just as palace preferences and the flow of Central Asian trade and politics played roles in developing this diverse confectionary, so did Europe. In 1529, “Turkish-style rice,” cooked with milk, sugar, butter, and rose water, was served at Ercole d’Este’s wedding in Venice. In 1675, Venetian confectioners were prepar-ing the festivities for the circumcision of Sultan Mehmed IV’s sons. And by the early nineteenth century, French confectioners opened shops in the hilltop Beyoglu neighborhood to sell bonbons to the upper classes.

No review of Turkish confection-ary would be complete without mention of baklava—described in poems as “exemplary” and by the Grand Vizier as “the king of sweets.” Isin records its Arab and Central Asian roots, teases out theories on the origin of the word, and describes the skill required to roll out the yufka dough. That skill and the luxury ingredients—honey, sugar, butter, and nuts—are what give baklava its special status. In the mid-seventeenth cen-tury, one observer hyperbolically describes wedding baklavas the size of cartwheels and a thousand layers each.

Isin has captured this sweet culture from techniques to noted cafes, street vendors, and palace artisans. As she quotes a Turkish poet, “This sea of sugar knows no shore, no boundary.”

Linda Holden Hoyt, author of Presidents’ Gardens, (Shire Publications 2013) was interviewed about the fruit, vegetable, and flower gardens, and farms, of presidents and their families from George Washington to Barack Obama. Linda appeared in February on Dianne Hen-nessy King’s television program.

Several CHoW members were speakers on March 8 at Les Dames d’Escoffier’s all-day symposium “Celebrat-ing FOOD!” Lisa Cherkasky and CiCi Williamson (“Do-It-Yourself Food Photography); Sheilah Kaufman (“Vegetables at the Center of the Plate”); Kari Barrett (“Food and Culture: American Food Roots”); and Evelyn Bunoan (“The Noodle-Making Culture of Asia”).

News of Our Members

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Carson Gulley (1897-1962) was the head chef at University Wisconsin-Madison (UW-M) for 27 years. He took a leave of absence to organize a dietetics training program at Tuskegee Institute at the request of George Washington Carver. He also set up a training program for Navy cooks and bak-ers during World War II. Once the war was over, Gulley developed a two-year cooking course at UW-M that was attended by many under the GI Bill. In the 1950s and 1960s he hosted radio and television shows. He was the first person of color and the first civil service em-ployee to have a campus building named after him at UW-M. Thanks to the Culinary History Enthusiasts of Wisconsin (CHEW.org) for this link to the Carson Gulley Cook-book Collection.http://uwdc.library.wisc.edu/collec-tions/HumanEcol/CarsonGulley

The Dinner Table Bargain, June 1790On a June evening in 1790 Thomas Jefferson hosted one of the most momentous dinner parties in U.S. history, one that would shape, and perhaps even save, the American republic. Read the rest of the story at: www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/hamil-ton/peopleevents/e_dinner.html

Radio.KojoNnamdi of wamu.org. A February 26 discussion of earli-est African American cookbook authors with former ChoW speaker Psyche Williams-Forson (Build-ing Houses Out of Chicken Legs: Black Women, Food, and Power) and Amanda Moniz, Historian; As-sistant Director of the National History Center of the American Historical Association; Author of the culinary blog "History's Just Desserts"http://thekojonnamdishow.org/shows/2014-02-26/soul-food-rede-fined-early-african-american-cooks

Patricia Winton, author of "The Tiramisu Is Out of This World," CHoW Line No-vember 2013, writes about Sicilian cheese making and foods for Martedi Grasso in her March blog post. www.italianintrigues.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 21, 2014Cheese on the Farm By Patricia Winton

I recently visited Sicily as the guest of Cronache di Gusto—an online magazine about food and wine. One word describes the people I met: passion. Passion for the island, passion for the food and wine, passion for their work, passion for the

way of life. During the next several weeks, I will be writing from time to time about how the Sicilian people revealed that passion to me. The Cucchiara family has been making cheese in the Belice Valley near Sa-lemi, Sicily, for five generations. The newest member of the team, twenty-six-year-old Baldo Cucchiara, began hanging around the cheese-making shed at the age of five. Today, he works beside his father Salvo and uncle Liborio to produce, among other cheeses, Vastedda del Belice. The Vastedda del Belice is protected by Italian and European laws which ensure that only cheese made from sheep’s milk produced in the valley using tradi-tional methods can be identified with that label. A completely organic cheese, the Vastedda del Belice from the Cucchiara brothers is made from milk from about 500 sheep which feed on grass and are milked by hand. The family continues to use the traditional method of making this cheese. First, rennet from a sheep’s stomach is mixed with the fresh milk. This first cheese is allowed to solidify in round forms. The cheese is then cut into slices, mixed with hot water, and kneaded with a wooden paddle. This kneading process stretches the cheese, eliminating any holes and producing a smooth texture. Once the cheese has been kneaded, it is rolled into balls for the final forma-tion. The day I visited the farm, Liborio squeezed out the balls and handed them over to Salvo and Baldo. These two quickly weighed out by hand 500-gram pieces, returning the leftover bits to Liborio. They didn’t use a scale but relied on their ex-perience to gauge the weight. They flattened the balls and placed them in a ceramic saucer to harden. They worked quickly, forming about three dozen cheeses in less than ten minutes while fielding questions from eight writers. On the day I was there, they were also making fresh ricotta. I arrived just in time to see the final step when the cheese is scooped into the plastic baskets. When the cheese is first transferred to the baskets, it is quite liquid. Initially, the whey drains away quickly. Over time, as the product is shipped to vendors, the drying out process slows down so that by the time I buy a good sheep’s milk ricotta at my local market, it will have a semi-solid texture.

Once we had viewed the cheese-making, our driver began rounding up my group to leave. “Wait,” called Salvo. “You may leave when I tell you.” He then led us to another building with tables. Here, the Cucchiaras set out several cheeses—including that still-warm ricotta—salami, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, homemade bread, and wine. Deli-cious.

Baldo, the next generation, is passionate about his calling. His eyes reflect joy as he forms the cheese. Asked by a journalist if he is satisfied. “Oh, yes,” he said. “I went to a classical high school, but all I really wanted was to make cheese.” The only thing he wants now is to get married and start a family. And I suspect he hopes to continue the tradition that his family started in 1870.

Radio, Websites, & Blogs

The Still-Warm Ricotta in a Copper Pot To Collect the Whey

Driving from NORTH of Alexandria, VA: Alexandria House (tallest building - 23 stories - in Old Town), is at the intersection of North Pitt and Madison Streets, just five minutes south of Washington National Airport. N. Pitt Street is parallel to and two blocks east of Washington Street (George Washington Parkway), toward the Potomac River. Entrance to the building is on the 700 block of North Pitt Street.

Driving from SOUTH of Alexandria: Madison Street is 7 blocks north of King Street. From the north, enter Alexandria on the Parkway, turn left at Madison St. and go 2 blocks. The entrance to Alexandria House is on the 700 block of North Pitt Street.

Parking: Park on the street where there should be ample free spaces.

Room at the Top:You will be met in the lobby, possibly by Shirley Cherkasky, who lives there and arranged for the room. Take the elevator to the top floor of the building, turn right, and go up the short flight of stairs to the party room..

DIRECTIONS TO ALEXANDRIA HOUSE

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