You are invited to a twelve course Christmas dinner but be prepared there are some unusual dishes like mock turtle soup and molded Victorian jellies. Based on a menu from Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking School Cook Book published in 1896, this book, Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook, dives into the past and re-creates this memorable meal.
Full of rigorous details the book discusses the creation of twenty different recipes as well as vivid descriptions of Victorian Boston and the kitchen tools of the time. The foods and techniques have gone through incredible change as is evident from the attempts to make a soup stock from boiling a calf’s head which is not that easy or necessarily appetizing.
Your host/author is Chris Kimball who is the founder of Cook’s Illustrated and the host of America’s Test Kitchens and Cook’s Country has created a down and dirty account of perhaps one of the most elegant dining experiences.