Dear Friends This month we shine the spotlight on Jeanette Keyser Maygarden, who has generously donated her collection of cookbooks and related works to SoFAB. This donation, which represents a lifelong habit of preserving memories through cookbooks, will form the core collection of the research library of SOFAB. This core will be known as the Jeanette Keyser Maygarden Collection. Because Ms. Maygarden and SOFAB want to share this collection, it will eventually be available to the public on a non-circulating basis at our permanent location. However, while we wait for that to materialize, the collection will be available in New Orleans by appointment at the Savvy Gourmet. We are inventorying and cataloging the books now. When we finish this process, we will announce the opening of the Collection to the public. Jeanette Keyser Maygarden, besides being a cookbook collector, has led a colorful and peripatetic life.
| Catch Our Current Exhibits |  | We currently have two great exhibits that can be seen in New Orleans. Toast of New Orleans, celebrating the beverages of New Orleans, is still on display at the Old US Mint, 400 Esplanade Ave. And Tout de Sweet, the story of sugar in Louisiana, can be seen at the Riverwalk Marketplace on the Mississippi River. |
| In Praise of Virginia Apples | |  By Marty Kauchak
I am an unabashed fan of apples. Many of the apples that I eat during the Fall and winter months are grown in Virginia. About 250 commercial apple growers, the majority located in the Shenandoah Valley, annually produce about 8 to 10 million bushels of fruit. In 2004, Virginia ranked first among Southern states (6th in the country)in apple production. Virginia apples are shipped to 15 other states and more than 20 nations. The industry contributes about $235 million annually to Virginia's economy.
Virginia's rich, deep soil and climate of warm days, cool nights and consistent rainfall, enable its growers to produce Red Delicious, York,Golden Delicious, Fuji and seven other major varieties. About 70 percent of the apple crop is processed to make applesauce, apple butter, apple slices, apple juice, and other products.
An interesting Virginia apple product is Heirloom Cider,a non-alcoholic, sparkling apple juice. The pedigrees of some of the apples used to make this cider can be traced back to the earliest days of the commonwealth. Thomas Jefferson grew two Heirloom varieties, Esopus Spitzenburg and Calville Blanc, at Monticello. The cider also contains Ashmead's Kernel, Newtown Pippin and Black Twig apples-each having its unique history.
Until the Fall of 2004, Jim Law, the owner and winemaker of Linden Vineyards in Linden, Virginia, pressed the five historical varieties grown on his vineyard property into Heirloom Cider. I consider myself fortunate to have tasted a superb cider, and to have enjoyed a small part of the South's rich culinary heritage. The cider is still available at the Vineyards.
Marty Kauchak, of Woodbridge, VA, can be reached via email at MPKauchak@ comcast.net |
| Toy Donation and Story Request | | Our next exhibit will focus on Kitchen Toys. The exhibit will open at Mardi Gras World in New Orleans, in November 2005. It will include objects like the Easy-Bake-Oven your child clamored for, that tea set you served your dolls from, the minature rolling pin you used to help your grandmother roll out pie crust, and the Barbie Kitchen whose pieces were constantly getting sucked up in the vacuum cleaner. We would greatly appreciate any culinary toys you would be willing to loan us for the exhibit. If you don't have the toys any longer, but have a very vivid memory (funny, sad, astonishing) about these kinds of toys, we are also collecting stories to accompany the exhibit. If you have a toy to loan or a story to share, email our curator, Elizabeth Pearce at etpearce@hotm ail.com or info@southernfo od.org. Please put "toy exhibit" in the reference line, so she will know what the email is about. We look forward to hearing from you. |
| Review Antoine's Restaurant Cookbook | | By Roy Guste , Jr.
Keeping a record of the past is important. When the record is kept by those involved, there is a perspective that cannot be captured by even the keenest outside observer. That is the perspective reflected in Antoine's Restaurant Cookbook by Roy Guste, Jr. The book has just been reissued. It reminds us again of the food that made up Creole cuisine as distinguished from Cajun. In addition to recipes, it tells family stories and tells the history of the New Orleans at the same time. It is particularly interesting that because the city was once so important, and because its food was so renowned, that we memorialized people in food. Oysters Rockefeller, Oysters Bienville, Eggs Sardou, to name a few.
The recipes are presented in a very straightforward style. Some of them are easily prepared in the home kitchen, but I will wait for my next meal at Antoine's for pommes de terre soufflées. In addition to the stories and the recipes, I also like the design of the book. Instead of photos of the prepared food, which always date a book through trends in food styling, this book has agreeable portraits of people, old photographs, old menus and very delightful watercolors of the ingredients that are key to Creole food. It is visually delightful and gastronomically tempting. It is good to have this book available again and not be forced to luck upon it in used books stores Reviewed by Liz Williams, president of the Southern Food and Beverage Museum. Buy the Antoine's Restaurant Cookbook |
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