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Press ReleaseThe New York Public Library Publishes Authentic American Recipes, Adapted for the Modern CookAround The American Table Chronicles the History of America and its Ethnic Heritage Through Food and TraditionFollow in the footsteps of the Cherokee, Plymouth colonists, and 19th-century Americans. Around The American Table, a New York Public Library book written by Michael Krondl and published by Adams Media Corporation, offers a rich heritage of seasonal and diverse "ethnic" recipes from The Library's culinary collection, adapted for today's cooks and kitchens. This compendium of inviting recipes lends a social and historical perspective to food and cookery origins, traditions, and adaptations. As attested by the recipes in Around The American Table, good food is timeless.The recipes, prints, drawings, and photographs in Around The American Table are gems from one of the most important cookbook collections in the country. The New York Public Library's culinary collection includes over 50,000 items, from food technology to menus. Food journalist Michael Krondl worked with New York Public Library librarians to trace the origins and early recipes for all-American favorites like ice cream, chili, and macaroni and cheese. Also included is the first known recipe for fried chicken with gravy, taken from The Virginia Housewife written by Mary Randolph and published in 1824. Around The American Table presents a culinary time machine, redolent with hints of European influence, ethnic spices and traditions, and seasonal bounty. It serves to document American culinary heritage, in its endless varieties. One chapter traces Native American foodways and the arrival of European colonists. Another looks at what may have been served at the first (1621) and subsequent "Thanksgivings." Later chapters examine specific American genres and defining meals. African American foods from the late 19th century include Harriet Tubman's favorite recipe for cornbread. The Jewish cooking tradition in America is represented by recipes from turn-of-the-century New York City. The influence of the Pennsylvania Dutch, known for their delicious baking, is documented with 19th-century recipes for Aunt Sarah's Walnut Gingerbread and a bounty of breads, cookies, and coffee cakes. American culinary past is brought to life in the plantation fare of the Founding Mothers, a farm breakfast on the prairie, a Texas ranch of the 1920s and more. There are recipes for holidays, for entertaining, and for everyday pleasures. Around The American Table also examines non-traditional American foods, and includes dishes that tell something about a specific place and time. Hearty breads and airy biscuits of the 19th century can be found, as well as the distinctly French, stewed ducks of Reconstruction-era Louisiana, weddingcake-like Metropolitan Cake of the Victorian period in America, and even the cheese balls and cocktails of the suburban 1950s. Around The American Table documents America's favorite dishes, and the ways in which we have cooked and eaten them, inspired by native ingredients and our varied ethnic heritage, and formed by ingenuity. Each recipe has been adapted for modern cooks and kitchens, but authentic flavor has been carefully maintained. Around The American Table is a rich source of new ideas for any celebration -- and a special gift idea for any cook or historian. Around the American Table: Treasured Recipes and Food Traditions from the American Cookery Collections of The New York Public Library, by Michael Krondl 6 3/4" X 9 1/4 ", 352 Pages over 50 historical illustrations Available at The New York Public Library Shop Also Available at National Bookstores PRO: rc, jb: 1/23/96 thoerenz, pro, 3/15/96 |