New Hampshire’s favorite fall fruit is on the menu for our October Hearth Cooking Saturday. Stop by the Phoenix Mill House to sample apple recipes prepared over the open hearth and learn about life in a 1830s mill village from our costumed interpreters, the Prescott Family. The Phoenix Mill Hous is a millworker’s home where […]
We planned to travel back to the year 1848 at this year’s Historic Dinner Benefit. On July 19-20, 1848, the first Woman’s Rights Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York. Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott, the convention set in motion a 72-year journey to secure for women their full rights as […]
July 14, 1837 We have been enjoying these long summer evenings. What a pleasant change from those short, cold days of winter. Just a few months ago we’d be in bed before it was dark under the table. Just too cold to stay up any longer. Tonight it was still light outside at half past […]
Nancy Prescott came to Peterborough with her husband Samuel and their children when he was hired as an overseer at the Phoenix Mill. Because of his position, they were able to rent one of four small mill houses. Their home was situated about 25 feet from the Nubanusit River on Samuel Smith’s downtown mill property. […]
Bird’s Nest Pudding Recipes for Bird’s Nest Pudding, or Crow’s Nest Pudding as it was sometimes called, were popular in the late 18th century. In the fall when apples would be readily available to housewives, they would make fresh apple pie, apple sauce, apple butter, and recipes like this one. Extra apples might be stored […]
This recipe for Lemon Minced Pie comes from Maria Rundell‘s 1808 cookbook, A New System of Domestic Cookery. This recipe makes a delicious pie with a bright taste. It’s easy to make as long as you can find the rendered suet (the beef tallow from the cow’s kidney area). I purchased some online from James Townsend & Sons. […]
It is root vegetable season in the historic Phoenix Mill House and our garden has produced an abundance of beets this year. The following are two 19th century recipes that describe ways to serve beets in ways that I doubt many of us use today. Dressed Beets from Boil two good-sized beets tender; when cold […]
This past February we held an event called the Presidential Plate. The dinner featured the favorite foods of former Presidents John Adams, Frank Pierce, Teddy Roosevelt, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. Based on that night’s menu, I’ve decided if I could travel through time and join one of these presidential families for dinner, I’d pick eating […]
Without a doubt one of the strangest foods I have ever prepared during a hearth cooking demonstration was forced cucumbers. The word “forced” implies these are stuffed cucumbers which isn’t that unusual. But it’s the technique used in preparing them that was so unique; you actually end up sewing the cucumber with a needle and […]
This month’s recipe is for Cup Cake should not be confused with modern cupcakes. Cup Cake is so named for the ingredients, 1 cup butter, 2 cups sugar and so on. At a recent hearth cooking demonstration in the Phoenix Mill House, we tried out a new piece of kitchen equipment that my demonstration partner […]
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