Most people don’t think about the Edwardian era at all, particularly in the US.  Itn part that’s because a lot of people have very little interest in history, but it’s also because the period’s name is somewhat nebulous for us.

The Edwardian Era (1901-1910, the years of Edward VII’s reign) actually has several different names, depending on what country you’re in.  Very often in the US, it’s called ‘the turn of the century’ meaning the period around the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th. It’s also known as ‘The Progressive Era’, because the politics of the period led to women’s suffrage, a high level of unionization, and high rates of immigration and naturalization.  You could also call it ‘the robber baron period’ but that’s a little too broad. In France the period is known as ‘La Belle Epoque’ (the tail end of the Victorian Era through the Edwardian period) or ‘Le Fin de Siecle‘ (the same, only with an emphasis on decadence). but whatever yu choose to call it, it was a period in which the wealthy ate and drank like no tomorrow, in which diamonds were the rage among everyone from housemaids to dowagers, and the modern world as we know it came into being.

When you look at recipes of that era, what you’ll notice is that everything seems to be calorific.  That’s actually not completely true.  This was the period in which fad dieting and health food first came into vogue.  However, that was because anybody with money was eating way too much of pretty much everything on a regular basis. The concept of the calorie was only then coming into being. Smoking, while it was seen as a vile and smelly habit best carried out in private or in rooms set aside for the purpose, was considered a sign of modernism and wild behavior (if it involved cigarettes, especially for women), wealth and solidity (if it involved cigars), and thoughtfulness (if it involved pipes, which were seen as contemplative). Drinking was something everyone did, and what one drank told a lot about one’s class and aspirations.  Women tended to drink wine, especially champagne or sherry, if they were above the working class level. Fashionable women might enjoy a cocktail or light punch at a party or at dinner as did men, who in turn drank anything that was in a glass and passed by their nose. As for food, the average person’s daily diet was meat-heavy with few non-starchy vegetables. All in all, it was a pretty heavy diet.

Thank goodness we don’t eat like that anymore on a regular basis!  But we shouldn’t congratulate ourselves too much.  The modern American diet is actually worse, with the emphasis on fast foods and processed junk. Still, eating Edwardian for a night isn’t so bad, and if you want to take a look at what banquet food of the era was like, here’s your chance.

Edwardian Promenade has some wonderful articles on food and drink during the Edwardian era, and also works to dispel the notion that everyone during that period was dowdy, sexless, boring and white. I especially loved the post on African-American etiquette books of the period. People tend to forget that this was the period of the chophouse, Escoffier, haute cuisine, extreme fashion, and bawdy entertainment, as well as modern art with lots of nudes, ragtime, and the founding of organizations such as the Wobblies, the Communist Party, and the NAACP.

Last Dinner on the Titanic is one of my favorite cookbooks.  I used it for my seafood Thermidor recipe (pure lobster would have been cost prohibitive). It’s still in print, and the illustrations and photos take us back to an era when travel was much slower than it is now.  What i like about this book is that it doesn’t just list the recipes used to feed the upper classes; it includes the menus used to steerage passengers, too. This is perfect for all of you armchair sociologists out there.

One of the desserts I made, Baked Alaska, is a classic.  It’s cake and ice cream, elegantly presented and covered with a quick-toasted soft meringue. I think it’s the most beautiful ice cream cake you’ll ever see. It takes its name from the acquisition of the now-state of Alaska, although the recipe has been around for a long time (it looks like Thomas Jefferson may have eaten it at least once). Fannie Farmer gave a recipe for it in her 1896 cookbook, the first cooking school cookbook published in America.

I could have used a period recipe for Chocolate Mousse, but it made sense to go for one I knew would work – a recipe by Thomas Keller.  Chocolate mousse has been made in the US since at least 1892, and it was sometime in the latter half of the 19th century that it became a staple of French haute cuisine. Up through the mid-20th century, French cuisine was the standard for fine dining, and Keller’s rendition is beautifully done. The coffee heightens the the flavor and makes the whole thing sing.

At the last minute I had to whip up an Apple Tart. It had to be milk-fee since one of the guests at the event was lactose intolerant.  That was the easy part.  The hard part was making something that would be as elegant as the rest of the meal- so no plain American-style apple pie for the guests. Thank goodness for culinary school!   I made a French style tart, similar to one I’d made in one of my baking classes, and finished it with an apricot glaze, which is simply simmered and strained apricot preserves that have been reduced by half. The recipe shown here is similar to the one I used, although i didn’t add any brandy to mine.

In order to make the Champagne Sorbet, I needed some practice.  I found a recipe, tried it, and the result, while yummy, didn’t freeze.  And then I found the one in the link. It worked like a charm. Champagne sorbets were used as palate-cleansers between the meat and fish courses during the period, and I wanted my sorbet to be special. This one definitely is.

Gigot D’Agneau is simply leg of lamb. My clients provided the lamb from a relative of one of them.  I massaged the outside with herbs and spices, and it was lovely.  Lamb and mutton were both very popular during the Edwardian period, so this was a perfect addition to the menu.

Roman Punch was very popular as a party cocktail.  I found the recipe for this version that was originally published in the  NY Times  on the Food52 website.  It’s a recipe the paper originally published during the late 19th century, so it fit perfectly with the menu. Roman Punch was popular until about 1920, when more potent cocktails became popular.

Finally, my favorite recipe.  I first made these Gougeres about a year ago for a friend’s party, and they were a hit. The recipe is by Alain Ducasse, but gougeres were made in the early 20th century, so I had a good excuse to make them.

There is a certain type of person who, when she cannot write for whatever reason, curls up into an elegant ball and sobs. I assure you Dear Reader, I am not that type of person.  Being made of sterner stuff, I spent my time . . . cooking.

Cooking up a storm, I might say, in a variety of places. First stop was at a certain emporium of cuisine in New York, well known for its superlative fish. I toiled there for several months demonstrating various dishes.  While this was entertaining and I learned a great deal, the pay was not as nice as I would have liked, so there was a parting of the ways. One might see this as a blessing in disguise, as the position had cut severely into my writing time.

However, this position helped me land something else – cooking a bit for a family in New Jersey.  The best dinner was the one I made for Thanksgiving, which was a wow. I made almost everything except the turkey.  The sweet potato pudding was superb, if I may say so. All of these resume-builders helped leda into another position; a six-course dinner for a group of discerning diners in Newark.

Now, there are some who might wonder if there is any food at all in Newark, to which I say, ‘Don’t be such a ninny.’  Of course there is food here, and good food too – just not a lot of it.  It’s rather thin on the ground. And as for cocktails, the tongue merely shudders, if tongues can do such things.  Nevertheless, there are people in Newark who appreciate good food – we usually call them ‘people who moved to Newark from New York City’. While there are native Newarkers who love a good tipple and a dinner slightly above the level of a pizza from Domino’s, most of these who are true aficionados have moved here from somewhere else (by the way, this happens to be true of large numbers of people living in New York, too). As it happens, the gentlemen who advertised for someone to prepare an Edwardian dinner were originally from Other Parts of the Country.

It happened like this – I was checking my alumni newsletter when I saw an ad for someone to make a fancy dinner in honor of their home, which dates from the early 1900s. As it happens, I know more than is probably healthy about the Victorian and Edwardian eras, and had just the week before watched some shows on Youtube about food during those time periods.  So, armed with nothing more than a set of cookbook recipes and sheer gall, I made contact, got an interview, and wowed them with my knowledge.

As it turns out, ‘dinner’ was more than mere dinner.  The event was a banquet for twelve people,n ad was to be six courses. I realized I needed a minimum crew of two people to pull it off, and immediately began to look for help.

Here is where it gets strange.

I found two chefs who were willing to work with me. Both were brilliant and on the tops of their games. Unfortunately, both of them had to cancel, one after the other, due to deaths in the family. Which left me, four days before the event, with just myself t make dinner for twelve people.

Did I quail? No. did I whimper? Of course not. Instead, I reminded myself of how I had in the past pulled off similar feats, like the time I made a ten-dish Thanksgiving dinner for ten people with no culinary school background whatsoever.  The secret to such things is fairly basic- it’s having the time to cook, and the refrigerator space to store what’s finished.

Day One

I spent that Wednesday shopping for herbs and vegetables at the Union Square Greenmarket.  A few days before I had gone to Hoboken to buy a few items (I wanted to make gougeres as part of an amuse bouche, and I needed cheese). I spent Wednesday afternoon putting away my groceries, making gougeres, and laying out the items I needed for the next day.

Day Two

Thursday was spent baking like mad.  I’d found out a few days before that one of the guests was lactose intolerant, and my plans for dessert were all dairy-based.  So I made a crowdpleaser, an apple tart with a frangipane filling. And yes, I made the crust, a pate brisee, from scratch. AI also made a pullman loaf, which is a tightly crumbed bread, even though I didn’t have a proper pullman bread mold. Go figure. Finally I made a cake, which was to be the base for one of my desserts.

I finished the evening carving carrots and parsnips into little football shapes, because turning carrots, while the bane of cooking school students everywhere, was the way things were done in the early 20th Cenury.

Day Three

On friday, I packed up all my supplies, called the clients and asked them to pick me up. i was going to spend the day cooking at their house.

There was a bit of a problem, though. Well, two. The clients were having the house cleaned and so I couldn’t start cooking until about 11am. And even more importantly, they hadn’t done the main food shopping yet. When I arrived, I knuckled down and started prepping everything I could, such as the sorbet I needed to freeze.  The rest of the food finally arrived at about 2pm, and I began to work in earnest. I finished at about 8pm, cleaned up as much as possible, and went home to bed.

Day Four

This was the big day. I went over to the clients’ home and hit the ground running. The day before I had cleaned shrimp, prepped brussels sprouts, made sorbet, prepped the ice cream, and boiled the quail eggs. The clients and I decided on how to set the table, and I went back into the kitchen.  By the time the first guest arrived at 6pm, I was ready t start serving.  And here is what I made.

To Start: Quail Eggs with Creme Fraiche and Flying Fish Roe

Alain Ducasse’s Gougeres

Country Pate (made by my marvelous clients)

Roman Punch (you didn’t think I’d ignore the cocktails, did you?)

First Course: Celery Root Soup

Second Course: Seafood Thermidor with Turned Carrots and Parsnips and Duchess Potatoes

Third Course: Champagne Sorbet

Fourth Course: Leg of Lamb with Brussels Sprouts

Fifth Course: A Trio of Desserts – Baked Alaska, Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Mousse and Apple Tart

To top it off, each course was served with wine, much of it having been made by my clients, who are whizzes in the kitchen.  In between course I came out to the dining room and explained the menu choices, and how they related to the Edwardian period.

A brief explanation:

your humble scribe has been exhausted.  Really. between finding work, having family issues and other matters too distressing to describe, I have been unable to write.

However, I am feeling fit again and ready to scribble, so let’s start, shall we?

Alcohol has a well-deserved image problem.  There. I said it. Because so many people abuse it, it’s seen as one of the most evil things on earth. The majority of people I know drink in order to get drunk or feel squiffy, so that they can do or say things they wouldn’t ordinarily do or say.

I don’t get this.  While alcohol is indeed a mind-altering drug, and it can make one feel good, I somehow never forget that it’s a poison.  Acohol is toxic to the human system; that’s what causess that up in the air feeling.  But lots of thingsare bad for you.  It’s not a good idea to drink milk after childhood for instance, because our bodies don’t need it, but choclate chip cookies would be a bore without it.

Michele B. here. The other day I had a business meeting with my friend Jackie, who is starting a new venture. Jackie said she’d arrive around tea time, so that meant making something to eat. In this case, it was chicken.

The last time we’d seen Jackie I’d made omelets, and found out that she hated eggs.  Not fun. So this time I decided to go the meat route.  I picked up a fresh chicken from a gourmet food shop in Manhattan, roasted it, and chopped up the breast. Lately I’ve been dreaming about a dish called Coronation Chicken, and  decided to take a swipe at it. Since I didn’t have all the ingredients I made a modified version of it, which I include below. I had fresh bread so I used this wonderfully glorified chicken salad  as sandwich filling and cut off the crusts before putting the sandwiches in the fridge.

Then I tackled dessert, which was easy.  I had Cafe Du Monde Beignet Mix and I made up half a recipe, and fried up the dough squares on the stovetop.  I covered them with powdered sugar and cinnamon sugar, in time for me to answer the door for my guest.

We ate, talked, and drank tea, and ate beignets. Supposedly, 3 beignets per person are enough, but Jackie and I are pigs. I think we ate about six each (although I had cut them on the small side).  Then it was cocktail time.  Or, rather, Jackie announced it was cocktail time, and looked at me expectantly.

I was flummoxed.  I didn’t have a lemon or lime in the house, I’d drunk my Q-Tonic up a few weeks before, and I didn’t even have a bottle of club soda.  However, I did have tons of alcohol, and a bag of clementines. Thinking quickly about flavor profiles, I decided to experiment.  I remembered that I’d picked up some genever (more on what that is later) from an event, and there were more than a few bottles of St. Germain liqueur lying around the house (that’s a long story). I also had a bottle of sake that was decent and had been given to me a while back.

Which led to the following cocktail.  I called it The Clementina, but Jackie took a sip, smacked her lips, and called it The International.

The International (serves 2; make a serving for 8 if Jackie comes over)

juice of 4 medium clementines from Trader Joe’s (they tend to be on the small side, but very sweet)

2 1/2 oz. sake (I used Gekkeikan Black and Gold)

2 oz. St. Germain liqueur (I figured the floral fruityness would work well with the sake and that the color would be good)

2. oz Genevieve genever (Genever is the grandparent of gin; this one is made in San Francisco by Anchor Distilling in a pot still according to a 17th century recipe, which calls for grain mash, and is a lot sweeter than modern gin)

small wine glass filled with cracked ice

Combine the ingredients with ice in a shaker and give it a whirl. Strain into a glass and garnish with a clementine peel.

Michele’s Kind-of Coronation Chicken (makes 4 sandwiches)

2 chicken breasts, roasted and medium chopped

1 celery rib, chopped

2 small white onions, chopped

1/2 cup mayonnaise

2 tsp. curry

1 Tbsp. currants

salt and pepper to taste

Mix together all the ingredients  and check the seasoning. You want this to be moist and creamy, but not too top-heavy on the mayo.

Cafe Du Monde Beignets (serves 4 normal people, or two pigs; I used half of this recipe, so keep that in mind.)

2 cups mix

7 fl. oz. water

combine ingredients and roll to 1/8″ thickness on a floured surface, using flour librally on the dough. Cut into 2 1/4″ squres. Makes about two dozen. Fry squares about three at a time in an inch or two of canola or cottonseed oil at 370 degrees, basting continually on each side until puffy and light golden (or, use 4″ of oil in a pot and heat the oil to deepfry).  Cover with sugar and eat while hot. Best enjoyed with coffee, although tea is just fine.  And cocktails. By the way, eating fried dough with cocktails helps to absorb some of the alcohol.

I’ll put up pictures tomorrow, so today you will just have to drool and wonder.

Two well-known area bartenders made cocktails for the Casa Noble tequila tasting. Abigail Gullo and John Pomeroy created coktails that took advantage of this particular tequila’s natural flavors.  You might want to try these at home. One of the best ways to taste-test tequila (or any other beverage for that matter) is to try two or more in the same category alone, and then in the same cocktail recipe.

While both recipes call for La Sierra agave nectar, you can substitute any light agave nectar. We suggest using the freshest juices possible in order to make your cocktails, although feel free to go with bottled if that’s all that’s available.

Sonrisa Noble (Noble Smile) (serves 1 – created by John Pomeroy)

2 oz. Casa Noble Crystal

1 oz. orange juice

1/2 oz. pomegranate juice

1/2 oz. La Sierra agave nectar

Mix pomegranate and agave nectar and pour in a glass. Add ice. Add tequila and OJ to cocktail shaker; ice, shake, and strain over ice. Garnish with orange wheel.

Casa en Llamas (serves 1 – Created by Abigail Gullo)

2 oz. Casa Noble Reposado

1 oz. mango nectar or puree

1/2 oz. fresh lime

1/2 oz. chili-infused La Sierra agave nectar

chili-cinnamon salt for rim

Shake all ingredients well over ice and strain over rocks in a salted old fashioned glass.

When the presidents of the US have White House visitors, they usually propose a Champagne toast.  But recently, another toast was made, and it was made with tequila.

President Calderon came to visit the White House a while back, and he brought Obama a present. Of all the items he chose to bring the man who has everything, he brought Casa Noble Tequila. After tasting it a few days ago, I can see why.  Unlike most tequilas, Casa Noble in all its incarnations is smooth and sophisticated. At a recent tasting held at Sinigual in Manhattan, I was given a chance to taste the basic Casa Noble line, both alone and in cocktails. The company makes a triple distilled Blanco, Reposado and Anejo; usually tequila doesn’t go through that level of distilling, which is removes most of the impurities that can lead to that nasty tequila hangover so many associate with the drink. To give you a hint of the flavor, Casa Noble  uses cognac barrels for aging, which provides the tequila with a subtle flavor. Blanco has a slightly smoky taste with hints of grassiness, agave sweetness and some pleasing heat at the back of the throat. Reposado has hints of pepper, cinnamon, and fruit. Anejo is creamy, spicy, and has the most pronounced hint of cognac.  I have to say that my favorite is a toss-up between the Reposado and the Anejo, although I definitely liked the Blanco.  This of course is when tasting alone. In cocktails, I would definitely want to use the Blanco tequila in a Mojito, especially if I was using key limes or agave nectar as a sweetener. The Reposado reminds me very much of a relatively young single malt scotch, and I would use it the same way.  As for the AAnejo, I would drink that on its own.

Tomorrow, I’ll give you some tequila recipes, and write up some recipes for the coming Halloween weekend.

We received a note on Facebook today regarding the Northeast Tiki Tour. It’s going to happen somewhere in New England in November. ight now, the intel is sketchy, but we here at The Cocktail hour will keep you apprised.

We at The Cocktail Hour were invited to a lovely do last week, on the Upper West Side. The Sunburnt Calf, a delightful Autralian boite run by the same group who run The Sunburnt Cow and Bondi Road downtown, was celebrating its fall menus.  Naturally that included a bar menu, and two new drinks, using Inocente Tequila and Russian Standard Vodka. Our favorite drink was made with an Australian ginger beer and Russian Standard. Absoluttely delicious. Iwe suggest thatyou go up there and try one, as well as the delicious bar food.