Eggs for Breakfast – 1890s

Thoughts:

Creamy, delicious eggs. Savory from the broth and mushrooms, with the slightest crunch lent by the onions. It’s not quite an omelet, nor yet scrambled eggs, but something like both, in that the chopped whites and yolks of hard-boiled eggs are combined in a thick, creamy sauce. It’s an interesting spin on eggs for breakfast, and a great way to use up any leftover hard boiled eggs you may have in the fridge. In fact, I bet it would be a terrific way to use up leftover deviled eggs from a party (if there is such a thing… I usually eat them all!). The mustard would be a welcome addition, I think.

I recommend expanding on the original recipe, and putting a hefty layer of the egg mixture on a slice of toast, topping with a sharp cheese, and setting it under the broiler for just long enough to melt the cheese. With this treatment, it can actually stand as a breakfast main course, rather than a side.

Recipe for Eggs for Breakfast

Boiling eggs: 10 minutes Prep time: 15 minutes

Serves 3-4

Cook’s Note: I haven’t the faintest idea where the bay leaf is meant to figure in, so I’ve omitted it altogether. If you like, I suppose you could let it sit awhile in the stock to pass on a bit of the flavor.

Ingredients:

6 mushrooms, diced (~1/4 cup)
6 hard boiled eggs, divided into whites and yolks, both chopped small
1 slice of onion, diced (~1 1/2 Tbs.)
2 Tbs. butter, divided
1 Tbs. flour
2 Tbs. cream
1 cup stock
salt & pepper to taste

Saute the mushrooms in 1 Tbs. butter until soft. Remove from pan and set aside.

Melt the rest of the butter, and add the flour. Stir until the butter bubbles and turns golden. Pour in the stock and cream and stir until it reaches a smooth consistency. Add the chopped egg whites, mushrooms, and salt & pepper to taste. Bring to a bubble, then crumble the yolks into the mixture. Turn off heat and stir to combine.

Klava with Honey – Vlad Taltos series

“How do you brew klava?”

“You don’t know?”

She smiled. “I can serve it with the best, but I’ve never needed to learn how to brew it.”

“You press coffee through a filter made of eggshells and wood chips with vanilla bean, then reheat it so it almost boils, then you pass it through a cloth to remove any oils brought out by the reheating.”

-Issola, by Steven Brust

Thoughts:

Not being an every day coffee drinker, I tend to think Turkish coffee is already superior to the average cup of morning joe. But put through this process, it transcends the bounds of ordinary beverages, and becomes something near ethereal. Each of the different flavors is discernible, from the earthiness of the woodchips to the sweet subtlety of the vanilla bean. The cream thickens the already dense coffee into a silky, decadent drink.

Fun Fact? The eggshells help decrease the bitterness of the coffee. See? Right there, you and I both learned something culinary and fascinating from fictional food. That’s why it’s so cool!

Don’t be intimidated by the list of below ingredients and equipment. Once you get the hang of it, it’s quite straightforward. I’ve also included a version that is french-press friendly, because more people have those than have cezves.

**Disclaimer: I’m not really a coffee drinker, but I thoroughly enjoyed Klava. However, if you are crazy for coffee, you may want to increase the strength of your own brew!**

Recipe for Klava

Prep time: about 10 minutes

Makes 1 (strong) mug-worth, or about 4 Turkish coffee cups-worth

Ingredients:

1 cup water
2 Tbs. Turkish coffee grounds
pinch of cinnamon and/or ground cardamom (optional)
1 Tbs. honey
cream, to taste

You’ll need:

1/4 cup clean eggshells
1/4 cup woodchips (hickory, cherrywood, or other would suit)
1 vanilla bean, chopped roughly and crushed

Helpful Items:

funnel
mesh straining bag/clean scrap of fabric
a cezve (pot for making Turkish coffee)
mason jar

Alright. So. In a small pot, or cezve, combine the water and coffee grounds. If also adding spices, do so at this point. Place over medium-high heat and watch carefully. Heat until it froths up, then remove from heat.

In a mesh bag, combine the eggshells, woodchips, and chopped vanilla bean. Suspend this bag in the mason jar, and pour the coffee over it. Allow to steep for five minutes. Remove the mesh bag, and pour the Klava through a funnel lined with cloth.

Klava is best served in a mug, as opposed to a glass, so it doesn’t get cold. Turkish coffee cups are also ideal serving vessels, albeit on the small side.

French Press Recipe for Klava

Makes about 2 mugs, takes about 5 minutes.

Couldn’t be easier.

I doubled the above quantities for the coffee grounds and the water, then let all the ingredients steep together in the pot before pressing down the filter. It’s a great recipe cheat for those who don’t have the cezve for making proper Turkish coffee, but are looking for a quirkier style of caffeine.

Hotel McAlpin Cream Puffs

This recipe requires a small amount of back story, but will be well worth it, I promise you!

In the old family cookbook –For the full story on the book, go here— amidst other random bits of papers and miscellany, I found this envelope, marked with a crest. Naturally curious, I followed the paper trail, and discovered not only what might be the only surviving copy of the hotel’s Cream Puffs, but also fascinating details about the hotel and dessert.

The Hotel McAlpin was built in 1912 on the corner of 34th and Broadway in Manhattan. At the time it opened, it was the largest hotel in the world, had a veritable fleet of staff that numbered more than half the total guests, and even boasted a Turkish Bath on the top floor.

Hotel McAlpin,1914

In the 1950s the hotel was lumped into the Sheraton hotel conglomerate, and in the 70s was converted to rentals. Today, sadly, it is full of condos, but in its prime was one of the striking hotels in NYC, housing guests during both World Wars and the 1939 World’s Fair.

The hotel was also famous for its Marine Grill, whose walls and ceiling were lined with custom tile mosaics depicting scenes from New York Harbor, designed by Fred Dana Marsh. Just barely saved when the hotel was renovated in the 80s, the tiles are now reconstructed in the Fulton/Broadway/Nassau subway stop. The original tiles are visible in this postcard:

Of especial interest here, though, is what was served in said restaurant, including the hotel’s recipe for Cream Puffs. Written on a sliced-open envelope of hotel stationary, the recipe is loosely scrawled in pencil. Presumably, one of my more enterprising ancestors wheedled the recipe out of the hotel chef.

As if it couldn’t get any cooler, I am keenly hoping that this cream puff recipe can be traced back to the period between the 1920s and the 1950s, when Champion Cream Puff Maker Forrest Glen worked there. As you can see from this photo, at over 7′ tall, Chef Glen was also rather tall.

Forrest Glen, Hotel McAlpin’s Champion Cream Puff Maker
photo taken 1925

Based on this reconstructed recipe, the man was indeed a Champion. A giant, if you will, among dessert designers, and a connoisseur of cream filling. Behold, his delicious Cream Puffs:

Thoughts:

Perhaps the best part about this recipe is that it is so easy to make; in well under an hour, you can have a platter filled with these decadent Creme Puffs. The pâte à choux is straightforward process from beginning to end, resulting in tender, hollow little globes of pastry that are the ideal vessel for the filling.

Very light, but sublimely rich, the filling is the star of this dessert. The smell of vanilla curls up from the mixing bowl, enticing one to dip a finger and taste. The secret knowledge of the decadent creme lying in wait within the pastry is a promise more than fulfilled with the first bite. The pastry gives way with little resistance as the filling shifts, always seeming to overflow its bounds in the least expected direction.

A shockingly simple recipe, with stellar results, this one has made it to my permanent cookbook.

Hotel McAlpin Cream Puff Recipe

Makes about 18 Cream Puffs

Prep: 15 minutes Baking: 20 minutes Filling: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter
1 cup boiling water
1 cup flour
4 eggs

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and preheat oven to 400F.

Melt butter in boiling water on stove. Add cup of flour, stirring vigorously until the mixture has become a sort of thick paste. Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer (or a regular kitchen bowl, for use with hand mixer). Break the eggs one at a time into the dough while mixing, making sure each egg is fully incorporated before adding the next. The final batter should be smooth.

Transfer the batter into a pastry bag or a ziploc with one corner cut off. Pipe the batter onto the parchment paper, making large blobs about the size of golf balls, set at least 1 1/2″ apart. You should get about 18 puffs total.

Bake the puffs for about 20 minutes, or until they are a rich golden color.

French Cream Filling:

1 cup whipping cream
4 Tbs. milk
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 egg white
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix heavy cream with the milk and beat until stiff. In a separate bowl, beat the egg white until it too is stiff. Add the sugar and vanilla to the beaten egg white, beat for a few more seconds to mix. Fold the stiff egg mixture into the whipped cream. Immediately transfer to a piping bag, or set to chill in the fridge.

When the pastry puffs have cooled, the cream can be piped into them. Give each puff a good squeeze of the filling, but make sure you have enough to go around. You may also split the puffs and simply spoon the filling in, but I found that this made for messier eating, with more places for the filling to go. If you like, drizzle with a little chocolate.

The finished Cream Puffs should be enjoyed shortly after making them, but can be chilled for a few hours.

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Cream of Mushroom and Escargot Soup

Medieval Cream of Mushroom and Escargot Soup

“The first dish was a creamy soup of mushrooms and buttered snails, served in gilded bowls. Tyrion had scarcely touched the breakfast, and the wine had already gone to his head, so the food was welcome. He finished quickly.” -A Storm of Swords

Modern Cream of Mushroom and Escargot Soup

Our Thoughts:

An inherently a rich, decadent dish, the modern soup was devine. The creamy texture of the escargot is countered nicely by the fresh, clean taste of parsley. The wine in the broth adds a depth of flavor, and the longer the broth is cooked down, the creamier and more decadent it becomes. Also makes fantastic leftovers!

The medieval dish was an odd one- not bad, but very different. Extremely spiced, the almond milk just didn’t seem to have the proper robustness to support the clove and mace. That said, it was a very interesting dish, and very typically medieval in it’s flavor profile.

Recipes are available in the Official Cookbook!

Thick Stew of Mussels, Crabs, and 3 kinds of Fish

“The food was plain, but very good; there were loaves of crusty bread still warm from the ovens, crocks of fresh-churned butter, honey from the septry’s hives, and a thick stew of crabs, mussels, and at least three different kinds of fish. Septon Meribald and Ser Hyle drank the mead the brothers made, and pronounced it excellent, whilst she and Podrick contented themselves with more sweet cider.” -A Feast for Crows

Modern Fish Chowder

Thoughts

For this dish I opted for a hearty New England style fish chowder. I threw together a couple of different recipes, tweaked them to suit, and this is the incredibly tasty result!

One bite of this modern stew will make you forget the effort that went into creating it. This is the earthly realization of platonic fish chowder. We asked the guests at our dinner table to give their thoughts, but only received grunts of approval and moaned delight. Imagine yourself eating this meal in a tranquil sept on an island, savoring the hearty broth in peace while chaos rages around you. Imagine that, because eating this stew can transport you out of your everyday life.

Part of the challenge of food blogging is making the photos show just how delicious the dish is, and that’s often done with atmosphere. The building in the photo is a perfect stand-in for the Sept from the books. In reality, it’s a gutted and abandoned church near where my parents used to live, in West Boyleston, MA. I drove by the place once, and immediately knew I would have to use it for a photo. I must have been quite a sight as I made my way down the embankment, folding table, dishware, food, and camera all teetering precariously. But the photo made it all worth it, and I got a great picnic lunch, to boot!

Modern Fish Stew Recipe

Ingredients

1.5 oz salt pork or thick cut bacon, diced
1 lb potatoes (about 2 medium), chopped into 1/2″ cubes
1 yellow onion, finely diced
1.5 lb fish (we used salmon, haddock, and cod), about 2 fish or 4 fillets, cut into 1″ chunks
2 c water
1 cup heavy cream
12 oz can evaporated milk
2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
~1/2-1 cup crab meat (imitation is fine, and cheaper!)
around a dozen mussels (ours were precooked)

Place 1/2 lb fish (about 1 fillet) in a pot with 2 c cold water. Bring to boil and boil 10 minutes.

While that is cooking, fry up the salt pork over medium heat. Once the bits are beginning to turn crispy and brown, add the diced potato. Cook 5 minutes over medium-high, stirring frequently. By now the fish broth should be done, so add it and the fish to the potato, then spread the remaining cubed fish atop this mess. Let this burble for about 10 minutes on medium-high.

At this point, if your pan won’t hold an additional 3 cups of liquid, transfer everything to a larger pot. Add heavy cream, evaporated milk, salt & pepper, crab meat, and whole mussels still in the shell. Bring to just under a boil, then reduce to medium-low, cover, and simmer about an hour.

To serve, ladle into bowls and garnish with additional pepper. To really round out the meal, serve it with the other original components from the book: crusty fresh bread with butter and honey, mead, and cider.