Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

Children of the desert

by Louis Dodge

CHILDREN OF THE DESERTLOUIS DODGE
Our binding, not the publisher's

“Sometimes they remained in the hut throughout the entire noon-hour, and on these occasions their finely discreet and taciturn old host placed food before them. Goat's milk was brought from an earthenware vessel having its place on a wooden hook under the eaves of the house; and there was a delicious stew of dried goat's flesh, served with a sauce which contained just a faint flavor of peppers and garlic and herbs. And there was _pan_, as delicate as wafers, and coffee.”

From a cookbook of 1806

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1806  ·  Rundell
Coffee Milk

Boil a dessert spoonful of ground coffee, in nearly a pint of milk, a quarter of an hour; then put into it a shaving or two of isinglass, and clear it. Let it boil a few minutes, and set it on the side of the fire to grow fine. This is a very fine breakfast. It should be sweetened with real Lisbon sugar of a good quality.

Sources: The passage is from Louis Dodge, Children of the desert, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Rundell, New system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of of 1806, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — plum cloth, teapot stamp.

← All entries