An evening of antique drinking and games: The Brooklyn Cocktail and Mah Jongg

An old fashioned game and an old fashioned cocktail to go along with it made up my tuesday evening.  Here is old-fashioned style black and white to get in the mood. 

What sort of cocktail, say you? Nope, not a an Old Fashioned. Nor a Manhattan. It's a Brooklyn! The evening's plan was to play Mah Jongg with my fabulously fun aunt. She was recanting a tale about an impressive cocktail she had enjoyed the evening previous at Rialto while celebrating her anniversary. So, we decided to keep celebrating and make a few Brooklyns.

Rye whisky, Picon, Dry Vermouth, Maraschino Liqueur. And a cherry if you please.

Wait a minute, what is Picon? It is rare around here, very difficult to find in the US. A French aperitif, made from bitter oranges. It reminds me of marmalade. The glorious parts of marmalade flavor in booze. I loved it from my first taste when I was last in France. It is commonly served in a Picon Biere, simply a pale beer with the aperitif added. For one thing, it makes the so-so beer taste more interesting. A picon biere is are nice on an afternoon after a walk when the sunshine has warmed the stones underfoot and there is nothing left to do but pull together dinner. People mix it with white wine too. 

I dragged this bottle of Picon back in my suitcase and have been enjoying it slowly, hoping the day never arrives when it is empty. (Honestly, I forget about it for long stretches of time which is why I still have it)

Ok, so you didn't bring Picon back in your suitcase (but now you wish you did) so what can you use? Torani Amer, perhaps Cynar. Or mix Campari and Triple Sec for a balanced sweet-bitter profile.

The equipment is simple enough. Stirring glass, bar spoon, measuring device. And a glamorous coupe to serve it in. There should also be a strainer here, to keep the ice behind in the cup.

Brooklyn Cocktail

1 3/4 ounce Rye Whisky

1/2 ounce Dry Vermouth

1/2 ounce Maraschino Liquer (Luxardo)

3/4 ounce Picon or other digestif

Combine all ingredients in a stirring glass with plenty of ice. Stir until very cold. The sides of the cup should be covered with condensation. Strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

This is what mah jongg looks like. Previously I only knew some ancient computer game where the tiles seemed to be stacked like a pyramid. That is not this as far as I can tell. This is a mind bogglingly old game from China. It is also mind boggling to learn it, but well worth it. Similar to poker or bridge, although I have never played bridge. There are suits, numbers, jokers, and you try to make patterns.

 Mah Jongg became popular in the US in the 1920's, so a lot of the sets are vintage bakelite which makes it fun to play with them! There is a portion in the beginning of each hand called "the charleston" where players trade tiles. It mimics the footwork of the Charleston dance, (popularized at the same time) so at a previous game I got up to dance the charleston in front of my opponents to demonstrate this right-over-left / left-over-right pattern. Such a good teaching moment. 

Happy playing, cheers!

Biddeford, the town with Two Bookstores. Where we Find Julia Child and calves brains.

I am still daydreaming of my visit to Rabelais' Books in Biddeford Maine. Hidden away in a converted mill building about twenty minutes from Portland is a treasure trove of culinary history.

Recommendations from two separate people on the same day sent me there. (It was so bizarre I couldn't not-go) Not knowing what I would find, but sure it would be inspiring from the stories I had heard.

It was a couple of the most fun hours I had spent and I have been telling all my foodie friends about it since. Don Lindgren gave us a tour of his shop and let us dig around the shelves and drawers rifling through antique books, cooks journals, farm ledgers and menus from restaurants that long ago shut their doors. 

For a girl who heads straight to the cooking section in every used book store and is always keeping an eye peeled for the odd old cookbook in antique shops and yard sales this was a dreamland. It was almost too much, I wanted to look at every book, I could have spent days and days there.

I know everyone might not love old cookbooks as much as I; imagine you ended up in a store filled with seemingly every book ever published on the subject that excites you most. Like a kid in a candy store I was literally bouncing up and down. I felt like the luckiest lady to be where I was at that moment.

I got to look through a stack of books owned by Julia Child's in her french apartment. That is her signature on top of La Chanso de Roland. My favorite was La légende de St Germain des Prés, a 1950 photo book celebrating a classic day in the quintessential Parisian neighborhood. Young Parisians drinking cafe a lait for breakfast, in the afternoon they are "practicing jitterbug in the flower market", at midnight they are twisting at a night club, and the last image is (my favorite) a girl sleeping on her knee in the subway waiting for the metro home after a night of so much jitterbugging. The only caption: "6 a.m." Hilarious!

Flipping the pages of Julia Child's books was the tip of the iceberg. Lindgren has organized the shop by both subject and time period. Bouncing from one section to the next I found myself in a shelf or two of books on spices, next fruit, with a large section devoted to plums.  I breezed over the sections on how to raise chickens and bees.





Among the bins of cookery pamphlets, you know the type sold or given away by baking soda or mayonnaise companies, I found this definitive 60 ways to Serve Ham. I did not feel the need to bring this home, having never been a fan of ham. I am NOT a ham fan. My little sister always liked ham a lot. She was and still is a big ham fan! I doubt my mother had more than 3 recipes for ham. They all involved swiss cheese or mustard. And sometimes there were cans of deviled ham, which were strangely wrapped in white paper. When I had to eat ham I never liked it very much but felt that since it was my sister's favorite I should not complain so she could enjoy it and mom would make it again for her. That sounds very nice of me!

The real joy for me were the oldest cookbooks. The leather bound volumes kept behind glass doors were books I had read about in other books, but never seen in person. Cookbooks from grand houses in England, the very first Parisian restaurant reviews, some things in Latin I was amazed to see in the flesh. Don could tell how excited I was and carefully brought down his favorites for show and tell.



 He allowed met to take a few photos, above is a delicious sounding seed cake with rosewater and caraway seeds from The Complete Court-Cook.

There are very few pictures in these old books, these were a highlight; the carving diagrams take up much of this book, all varieties of dead fowl and where to cut up a calfs head. Look the poor calf's brain on display, like a brain hat.

Old British cookbooks are far from vegan. So so far.

I gleefully fell in love with many books with smaller price tags than the brain-hat book. I went home with a big armful of new and old books which I am still working my way through.

I already wrote a post about the beautiful grey book; Good Things in England.


If you happen to make it to Biddeford to find this mecca of cookery books I urge you to go down the street about 6 blocks or so to Elements, a coffeeshop and used book store. This is where I found a hilarious book called the ABC of Casseroles and a classically bad blender cookbook for a total of $5. The bar is covered with photos of authors, it is clean, sunny, and witty. Clever people, all the signs play with the periodic table concept.

Now I need to create more bookshelf real estate in my apartment.

Old Fashioned Morning: Attempted Fig Pancake, Recipe circa 1845

I love love love reading old cookbooks. Lets be honest they can be tricky to cook from. Sometimes they are recipes big enough to feed an entire boarding school or made all of butter and beef fat. And there are rarely enough green vegetables. But such fun all the same. I just bought this gorgeous reprint of Florence White's Good Things in England which aims to celebrate the history of British cooking. The real roots of British cooking are milk, butter and flour it seems. (read more of what I found in the book here). I had to give one a try. Considering the fridge was pretty bare and breakfast was wanted rapidly, from my limited options I tried this funny Apple Fraize or Froise. Its a pancake type of dish, see the process in photos below; simple enough with a messy outcome!

I followed the recipe, you can read it at top. From Good Things in England by Florence White. Using figs instead of apples. Since I had no apples. Also, I used part buttermilk, which wasn't right either. I am too independent. And I make do.
It wasnt bad, a rustic sort of stuffed pancake. I don't think ill make it again. But I might try, and if I do, I would use a small personal sized frying pan for each portion instead of one enormous 8 inch plate sized pancake. It did not stick but was unwieldy to flip and it might cook better (on medium low) if smaller.
Adventures!

Morning Tea & Reading: a Sunday Ritual

Sunday morning has always been a special time carved out for reading. Anytime before noon it is acceptable to be curled up, doing no work, simply reading and indulging in my best cup of tea. Sunday mornings are sacred in our own way, we read the New York Times and the Boston Globe all morning, passing sections back and forth, pointing out articles. We read out loud the best parts and discuss.

As children we started with the (oh so special!) comics. We slowly graduated to the entire breadth of the paper, which is a great excuse for lounging and reading until noon. Now living three blocks away from my parents I begin my Sunday morning reading at my own house and inevitably travel over there before the morning is over for more reading, especially when my sister is in town. 

Sunday is also the best day of the week for really taking time to enjoy the best cup of tea. For me it is Earl Grey from Upton Tea Imports, made in a glass tea pot, served in a china tea cup with my favorite miniature creamer (unsweetened hemp milk) next to it. It is nice to take time to enjoy special something special and thoughtful for oneself.

I was especially excited today to dive into my haul of new and used cookbooks I acquired over the last two days on a visit to Maine. I will write about the phenomenol cookbook store very soon. But, see all the books, a dozen of them! All full of promise...

 (the blender cookbook from 1961 and ABC of Casseroles is sort of a joke.) But look at it, each letter of the alphabet has a poem about casseroles. Im not kidding.

The beautiful gray book in the top photo, Good Things in England by Florence White has a cheerful end paper. 

This is a new reprint of her 1933 compendium of British cookery. Between the wars she was urging her countryfolk to stop trying to cook like French people, as it does not suit the British taste at all. ... "Anyhow, we must not become a weak inferior imitation of any other country, however great or friendly, or however much we may admire its people and their ways."  

I love the book, the soft gray cover and the early typeset. Like reading an antique book but the binding is oh so solid! Without any delay she tells how to make a correct cup of tea. I checked, my cup of tea was well made according to Ms. White. Although I steep mine for 4 minutes before removing the leaves.

There are 370 pages full of historical recipes, 1399 to 1932. Documented from houses of Queens, lords, normal folk and down to odd specialties from the Isle of Mann like Limpets and this "Dumb Cake" which reads: 

" 'This cake,' says Mrs. Cashen, or Peel Castle, 'must be made of flour and water without any leaven, and is mixed and maked in the hot turf ashes. A piece which must be eaten walking backwards to bed. A number may join in the performance and they will dream of their future husbands.' "

I will skip the doubtful Dumb cake as it seems I already have a suitable husband. However, this book has me all excited to make english muffins and try a few other things also. I will post them here! 

How do you make Peach Mangoes?

One of my most delightful Christmas gifts was some antique cookery/housekeeping books found by my uncle, and avid old-book collector. I have had such fun with them, some new ideas and mysteries too. I saw this recipe or "recipt" as they said, for "Peach Mangoes" in the Williamsburg Art of Cookery by Mrs. Helen Bullock, originally printed in 1742. 

"TAKE large plum Peaches, sufficient Quantity to fill the Jar. Peel nicely and take out the Stones. Have ready the Stuffing in proportion to the peaches, preserved Orange-peel, preserved Ginger, Coriander seed, Celery seed, a small quantity of Mace, Cinnamon, candied Strawberries, if you have them, and pickled Cherries. Sew the Peaches up after stuffing them and fill the Jar. Then to every Pound of Sugar add one-half Pint of Vinegar, allowing the above quantity to two Pounds of Fruit. Make a Syrup of the Sugar and Vinegar, and pour on the Peaches, boiling hot. Repeat this for three mornings; the forth Morning put them all together, and boil a short Time; add a few spices; Cinnamon and Ginger to the Syrup when you make it. They will be ready for Use in a few Weeks."

Essentially a sweet and sour pickle, of a peach where the stone-cavity was filled with minced sweet preserved fruit and spices. Definitely something new I have never tasted before. I will have to try this in August when I have too many peaches. I like the part where she describes sewing up the peaches. Or, she does not describe it and leaves it all to the imagination. Would you use cotton string? Are the peaches ripe or crunchy?

But, where do the mangoes come into play, in early America, I was wondering? I looked it up. The Mango, from India, was first is found mentioned in Italy in 1510 (manga). When mangoes were transported by ship to further affar such as England and America, they were only in their unripe and pickled form. Apparently novel and popular, "mango" became a synonymous to pickle. Perhaps more specifically pickled fruit?