Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #17 - Revolutionary Food

17. Revolutionary Food January 11 - January 24
The theme is revolution, and it’s all about ch-ch-ch-changes. Food can be inspired by revolution, can showcase a revolutionary technique, or come from a revolutionary time. Give us your best documented interpretation of revolution.

Today is January 27th and although our Challenge is late we have a perfect excuse - we were ziplining in Haiti.  Yes, really! 

 

We might be "historical" by definition, but we still have a lot of fun!

Of course we did a lot of other things during our January vacation on the Victorian Dance Cruise.  This is the gown made for the Historical Sew Fortnightly Challenge #24 - All That Glitters - and we danced at the Diamond Ball and had a wonderful time!

Now that vacation is over, it's time to get back to the Historical Food Fortnightly Challenges and our late Challenge entry for Revolutionary Food.

For our Revolutionary Food we would like to offer a simple yet powerful beverage - coffee.  In his book Uncommon Grounds, author Mark Pendergrast follows the history of coffee and its impact on the world.  Coffee plants grow wild in Ethopia and were perhaps used by people for thousands of years.  In the 1400s people began to roast the seeds and by the 1500s the drink had spread to coffeehouses across the world.  Europe began to enjoy this beverage 150 years later with London having 2,000 coffeehouses.  Coffeehouses became a place to bring people together to enjoy a cup and to exchange ideas.  Pendergrast outlines the probability of both the French Revolution and the American Revolution being planned in coffeehouses.

"It is often said that after the Boston Tea Party of 1773, when American colonists raided British tea ships and threw crates of tea into the harbor, Americans universally switched over to drinking coffee.

"There's a lot of truth to the story, I found," Pendergrast says. He cites a letter John Adams wrote to his wife, Abigail, in which the Founding Father proclaims his love of tea but says he will have to learn to embrace coffee instead, because drinking tea had become unpatriotic."

You can listen to the NPR interview with Mark Pendergast here:

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=178625554&m=178754341


We LOVE tea!  Black, green, white, flavored, herbal.....and we have quite a selection in the cupboard right now.

I used to host monthly teas for the ladies and gentlemen in the retirement communities we managed, and still host some of my special Kentucky Derby and Witch's Brew Teas.

We also LOVE coffee!  We always have a selection of coffees, coffee cups, our grinder for whole bean, and our Keurig for quick cups.

Our 1950 and 1951 CBS Homemaker's Exchange Recipe Booklets have a selection of coffee directions and recipes.

Drip Coffee recipe.

Iced Coffee and Cold Café au Lait recipes.

We remember a number of different coffeemakers as we were growing up.

1950 Stovetop Coffeemaker like our grandmothers used.

1950 Electric Coffeemaker like our mothers used.

1950 two-layer electric coffeemaker like our sophisticated aunts used.

As a teenager I was taught how to make coffee with only a saucepan, cold water, coffee grounds, and an egg.  The recipe served me well and I became the designated coffeemaker in my first job as night shift nurse aide where coffee kept the staff alert through the long nights.  I later learned that the recipe is called Kahvi or Finnish Egg-Cleared Coffee and since I'm of Finnish descent, I guess it all ties together nicely.  So from "The Finnish Cookbook", here is the recipe for you.

 

Kahvi -- Finnish Egg-Cleared Coffee

8 cups cold water

1 egg, well washed
16 slightly rounded teaspoons coffee, plus one for the pot

Bring the cold water to a boil in a coffeepot or saucepan. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, crush the egg (shell and all) into the dry coffee grounds and mix thoroughly. When the water has come to a rolling boil, add the egg-coffee mixture and stir quickly. Let it come to the boiling point, and remove from the heat. Repeat this twice more. Then cover and let stand about 5 minutes so the grounds can settle. Makes 8 cups.

 

The secret is to never NEVER boil the coffee.  Just bring it to the boil and then remove from heat.  Coffee is the national drink of Finland so I trust they know what they are doing.

 

 Here is the recipe preparation:

16 rounded teaspoons plus for 1 for the pot of ground coffee and 1 egg including shell.

Mix egg and coffee grounds.

Bring 8 cups cold water to rolling boil, then add egg/coffee mixture.

Stir quickly.

Return to boil and immediately remove from heat.

Repeat twice.

Cover and let stand for 5 minutes.  Coffee/egg mixture will settle to the bottom.  I used a soup ladle to skim coffee without disturbing grounds.



A breakfast of eggs with peppers, toast with North Carolina Traffic Jam made from strawberries, blueberries and red raspberries, fresh strawberries, and the world's most smooth coffee!  Stop by, pull up a chair, and we'll pour you a cup!

Drink Up!
Patrick and Jeanette