Helping cooks make authentic foods
Wondering what to cook for Thanksgiving? Want to make something a little different, yet traditional? 21 Historic Thanksgiving Foods has dozens of ideas, from a 1615 recipe for venison to a 1955 recipe for Green Bean Casserole.
This ebook includes the original recipes for the Thanksgiving foods that Americans have eaten over the centuries. The antiquated recipes are followed by updated versions with detailed instructions.
Each set of recipes comes with a fascinating story about how that food got made, who made it or who wrote it down. For example, the author of “Over the River and Through the Wood” also wrote a cookbook. And you’ll find out about the four women who cooked that Thanksgiving meal for over a hundred people in 1621 in Plymouth.
Make a historic meal
You’ll learn how people made old-fashioned Thanksgiving foods back in the day, and how you can make them with modern tools and ingredients. Mince pie with beef. Plum pudding in a bag. Even venison – in a crockpot.
And if you’re feeling adventurous, maybe you want to try roasting a fresh turkey over an open hearth. You’ll find out how to do that, too, in 21 Historic Thanksgiving Foods. If not, you may want to try a foolproof method used by a popular television personality in the 1960s and ’70s.
Looking for something new, yet traditional to eat for Thanksgiving?
Can’t eat gluten? Try an Abenaki recipe for corn bread. Looking for a new kind of pie to bring? The delicious Marlborough Pie was once a standard Thanksgiving dessert. Hate turkey? The pilgrims ate oysters, cod and bass, and you can too – the recipes are in 21 Historic Thanksgiving Foods.
Learn New England history through food
Did you know the wild turkey disappeared from New England and then came back? It was practically gone when Ben Franklin wanted to make it the national bird. And mincemeat pie – that never would have appeared on the Pilgrims’ table, and not because they didn’t have flour or sugar or raisins. You’ll learn why – and so much more!
Revive old favorites
Remember green bean casserole with onion rings? Marshmallows on top of sweet potatoes? Those neon-colored molded salads? If you’ve lost the recipe for a favorite vintage food from your childhood, you might find it in 21 Historic Thanksgiving Foods.
Avoid that argument over politics
If that annoying uncle starts a fight over the latest election, you can change the topic with fun facts from this Thanksgiving e-cookbook. Try asking “What New England town postponed Thanksgiving because of a molasses shortage?” Or you might want to mention that Myles Standish may have owned a cookbook. 21 Historic Thanksgiving Foods is chock full of little-known facts to help you change the subject.
About the authors
This book is written by two award-winning journalists, Dan and Leslie Landrigan. As authors of the New England Historical Society website, they’ve written thousands of stories about New England history over the past decade. They’ve had two books published, Bar Harbor Babylon and New England’s Hidden Past, which you can buy online or in electronic form.
Dan and Leslie also collect old cookbooks, which is where they found many of the recipes for this e-book. You can buy their first e-book, 29 Historic Apple Recipes: Cooks’ Favorites from 1650 to 1960, from Amazon.
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