{"id":9888,"date":"2020-12-23T08:00:06","date_gmt":"2020-12-23T13:00:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/?p=9888"},"modified":"2020-12-18T11:38:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-18T16:38:43","slug":"cookbooks-history-stewed-pumpkin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/2020\/12\/23\/cookbooks-history-stewed-pumpkin\/","title":{"rendered":"Cookbooks & History: Stewed Pumpkin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Students in Cookbooks and History (MET ML 630), directed by Dr. Karen Metheny, researched and recreated a historical recipe to share with the class. They were instructed to note the challenges they faced, as well as define why they selected their recipe and why it appealed to them. Here is the next essay in this series, written by Kris Kaktins.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Pumpkins are a fruit native to North America (OED Online 2020; Terrell 2017).\u00a0 In looking for a historical recipe to recreate, I searched for pumpkin recipes since I had three sugar pumpkins that had been harvested from my garden this summer.\u00a0 It could be that recipes including pumpkin were not listed under the fruit, however, I perused over 20 cookbooks on the Feeding America website (https:\/\/d.lib.msu.edu\/fa) looking for \u201cpumpkin\u201d in indices before finally finding some options.\u00a0 Most references were for pumpkin pie of which I am not a fan.\u00a0 Maria Parloa\u2019s 1883 Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking<\/em> held a recipe for pumpkin soup.\u00a0 This seemed promising, however the final instructions required three slices of stale bread.\u00a0 This would mean baking a loaf of bread and allowing some slices to stale.\u00a0 I did not have time for this.\u00a0 F.L. Gillette\u2019s 1887 White House Cook Book: A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, During a Period of Forty Years’ Practical Housekeeping<\/em> had three pumpkin pie recipes, but also one for \u201cstewed pumpkin\u201d (Gillette 1887, 190).\u00a0 I had my recipe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mrs. Fanny Lemira Gillette published her cookbook in 1887 at 60 years old \u201cat the urgent request of friends and relatives\u201d (Michigan State University 2020).\u00a0 Dedicated to \u201cthe wives of our presidents\u201d for no apparent reason other than perhaps marketing, she defines her audience as housekeepers and assures readers that she has \u201c40 years of practical housekeeping\u201d and the recipes have been vetted: \u201cafter trying <\/em>and testing <\/em>a recipe, and finding it invariably<\/em> a success, and also one of the best of its kind, to copy it in a book\u2026 (Gillette 1887).\u201d\u00a0 Her recipes are arranged in the \u201csingle-paragraph narrative structure of early print recipes\u201d (Fleitz 2009, 59).\u00a0 Gesture sequences, or cooking instructions, are simple and authoritative. These are much harder to follow than the multimodal formats of today that separate out ingredients and measurements from the instruction.\u00a0 Her wording does not freely evoke the senses and does not readily encourage the reader to reconstruct herself as the coauthor.\u00a0 The layout has nominal margins and does not allow for the reader to add her own notes and share ownership of the recipes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

As soon as I begin the recipe, I am ordered to refer to other recipes and must look up \u201cstewed pumpkin for pie,\u201d \u201cmashed potatoes,\u201d and \u201cbaked winter squash.\u201d\u00a0 Fleitz notes that referencing other recipes asks readers to be active and make referenced connections (Fleitz 2009, 43).\u00a0 I do not feel that I am making active, reference connections, however. I merely feel annoyance at having to scroll back and forth through the online scan of the book.\u00a0 Finally, I copy and paste each recipe I need and print them out onto one piece of paper.\u00a0 Now, I am actually ready to start.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Most recipes have scant cooking or baking times and no temperature, and narrative is used for quantities.\u00a0 There is little standardized measurement in the recipe I have picked, although the back of the book has a measures and weights section.\u00a0 The recipe for \u201cStewed Pumpkin for Pumpkin Pie\u201d (Gillette 1887, 298) calls for a deep-colored pumpkin.\u00a0 Apparently, there was implied knowledge during that time about size and type of pumpkin.\u00a0 I am asked to pare the pumpkins.\u00a0 As I woefully assess my knife skills and the amount of pumpkin I am losing, I miss my vegetable peeler.\u00a0 Further instructions call for cutting into imprecise sizes such as \u201cthick slices\u201d and \u201csmall pieces.\u201d\u00a0 I am instructed to use \u201cvery little water\u201d in the pot where I put my prepared pumpkin pieces.\u00a0 When referencing the mashed potato recipe (Gillette 1887, 170) for seasoning, I am struck by the beginning of the first sentence \u201cTake the quantity needed (of potatoes).\u201d\u00a0 Surely, the seasoning amounts would differ if one were making mashed potatoes for four or for 10, but there is no mention of altering the seasoning amounts.\u00a0 Then there is the question of what counts as \u201cseasoning.\u201d\u00a0 Normally, I would think of spices.\u00a0 But it seems more effort to direct someone to a whole new recipe just for salt and pepper.\u00a0 Therefore, I reason that she is including butter and milk as seasoning as well.\u00a0 I need \u201cbutter the size of an egg,\u201d a \u201cgood pinch of salt,\u201d and \u201cdots of pepper\u2026as large as half a dime.\u201d\u00a0 There is actually a measurement provided for the milk.\u00a0 My assumption is that whole milk would have been used, however, only having 1% milk, I measure out half a cup of that.\u00a0 I also use unsalted butters since it does not specify.\u00a0 There is a little ambiguity in the recipe, however I interpret the overall instruction as stopping the pie filling recipe prior to the colander step and then moving on to \u201cseason the same as mashed potatoes,\u201d therefore, I decide that they should be served hot.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

After preparing everything, I head outside to put my pot on a firepit.\u00a0 We only have an electric stovetop, so the firepit is my attempt at using a flame I need to tend to.\u00a0 A little more than an hour in, I decide to put a lid on the pot because the cooking is going very slowly. \u00a0It simmers away for nearly an hour, until during one of my pot checks I am alarmed to see it severely discolored from soot. \u00a0I scurry the pot inside and place it on my inauthentic electric stove pot.\u00a0 An hour later, I consider the pumpkin cooked per the instructions.\u00a0 From the start of prep and lighting the fire to having a final product, I have spent almost five hours.\u00a0 I was warned.\u00a0 The recipe mentions cooking the pumpkin \u201ca long time, at least half a day\u201d while \u201cstirring often.\u201d\u00a0 The expectation of the time was that the women will be at the stove all day cooking.<\/p>\n

\"\"The baked pumpkin recipe (Gillette 1887, 188) turns out to be much easier and faster.\u00a0 I merely need to cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds.\u00a0 There is no paring or chopping.\u00a0 I cheat and put parchment paper between the baking sheet and the pumpkins.\u00a0 The only ambiguity is that I need to bake in a \u201cmoderately hot oven\u201d for about an hour.\u00a0 I decided to cook at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.\u00a0 This recipe calls for no seasoning and ends up as plain mashed pumpkin.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Both recipes, even the one that is seasoned, are bland for my family\u2019s taste buds.\u00a0 I season the stewed pumpkin further, and to the baked pumpkin I add vanilla and sugar so that my family will eat them.\u00a0 The stewed pumpkin has less moisture and darker color, however both products are similar and were I to cook my own pumpkin again, I would surely use the baked method.\u00a0 I conclude my experiment appreciative of the material culture available to me and for the fact that I can choose to spend half a day cooking rather than being expected to do so,<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Bibliography<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fleitz, Elizabeth J. 2009.\u00a0 The Multimodal Kitchen: Cookbooks as Women’s Rhetorical Practice. Ph.D. dissertation, Graduate College, Bowling Green State University.<\/p>\n

Gillette, F. L.\u00a0 1887. White House Cook Book A Selection of Choice Recipes Original and Selected, during a period of Forty Years\u2019 Practical<\/em> Housekeeping.\u00a0 <\/em>Chicago: R. S. Peale & Company.<\/p>\n

Michigan State University Libraries. 2020. Gillette, F. L (Fanny Lemira), 1828-1926.\u00a0 Date of access November 12, 2020. https:\/\/d.lib.msu.edu\/content\/biographies?author_name=Gillette%2C+F.+L+%28Fanny+Lemira%29%2C+1828-1926<\/a><\/p>\n

OED Online. 2020. “pumpkin, n.\u201c Oxford University Press. Date of access November 13, 2020. https:\/\/www-oed-com.ezproxy.bu.edu\/view\/Entry\/154536?redirectedFrom=pumpkin<\/a><\/p>\n

Parloa, Maria. 1883.\u00a0 Miss Parloa’s New Cookbook: A Guide to Marketing and Cooking.<\/em> New York: C.T. Dillingham.<\/p>\n

Shanahan, Madeline.\u00a02015. Manuscript Recipe Books as Archaeological Objects: Text and Food in the Early Modern World<\/em>. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books.<\/p>\n

Terrell, Ellen.\u00a0 2017. A Brief History of Pumpkin Pie in America. Library of Congress.\u00a0 Date of access November 12, 2020. https:\/\/blogs.loc.gov\/inside_adams\/2017\/11\/a-brief-history-of-pumpkin-pie-in-america\/<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Students in Cookbooks and History (MET ML 630), directed by Dr. Karen Metheny, researched and recreated a historical recipe to share with the class. They were instructed to note the challenges they faced, as well as define why they selected their recipe and why it appealed to them. Here is the next essay in this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17971,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4,10,15,24],"tags":[209],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9888"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17971"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9888"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9956,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9888\/revisions\/9956"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/gastronomyblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}