New Cookbook: Simple Fare; Recipes from the 1800’s

Priscilla Rall of Rocky Ridge finished her cookbook, and it has been printed. “This has been a labor of love and a long time in the making. It includes a chapter (with my illustrations) on open hearth cooking, its tools, ingredients, methods, etc. Then, there are 178 recipes, including ones for hoe cakes, all kinds of steamed puddings (like fig, hasty, and pease), ginger cake, homemade yeast, beaten biscuits, apple fritters,schnitz un knepp, venison, broiled eels, squirrel, blackbird pie, shad, pickled peppers, sauerkraut, cranberry ketchup, horse cake, green tomato pie, my great grandmother’s kaffee kuchen, corn and locust beer, elder and dandelion wine and much more!” Rall said. “My book is profusely illustrated with vintage botanical illustrations, my own photos, Uncle Wiggely (remember him?), and lots of nursery rhymes. There are some old fashioned remedies, also. It has a spiral binding, so you can open it up flat—the better to read it by.

Learn the history behind our ancestors’ cooking, what they ate, and how they prepared it. This isn’t your Monticello or Mt. Vernon cookbook, but one with seldom seen recipes for everyday folk. Also invaluable for the living history reinactor.

The price for this cookbook is $36.00. “Wish it was lower, but I had to have it printed privately, so no room for wholesale pricing,” explained Rall.

Rall will be scheduling an open hearth cooking workshop this winter, just looking for a nice venue. If interested, let her know at 301-271-2868.