Revolutionary Pie

Historic American cooking in a 21st-century kitchen

About revolutionarypie

Freelance writer and editor Karen Hammonds describes her adventures in preparing historic recipes based on those in old American cookbooks. She is a former editor at WeightWatchers.com and has written for a blog at Saveur.com.

Sally Lunn bread

Posted on August 18, 2012 by revolutionarypie

I don’t make yeast breads often, so was very pleased with myself when my Sally Lunn bread turned out well. This wonderfully light, brioche-like bread, made either as buns or as a cake, is really not difficult at all, just time-consuming. Legend has it that it was named for a young French Huguenot girl, Solange Luyon, who sold the buns on the streets of Bath, England, in the 1600s, and whose name was Anglicized to Sally Lunn. Another theory is that the name comes from the French soleil et lune, meaning “sun and moon,” from the shape and color of the buns. Continue reading →

Hoe Cakes

Posted on August 12, 2012 by revolutionarypie

I really wanted to follow a true colonial recipe for my first blog post, and what could be more authentic than hoe cakes in their oldest, simplest form. I scalded cornmeal with boiling water (a technique settlers learned from Native Americans), then baked the batter in small cakes on a pan greased with bacon fat. My source was a recipe in The Williamsburg Art of Cookery said to date from 1776:

“Scald one pint of Indian meal with enough boiling water to make a stiff Batter (about three Cups). Add one Teaspoon of Salt. Drop on hot greased Tin and bake in hot Oven thirty Minutes.”

“Tastes like rocks and sand,” pronounced my seven-year-old daughter. I didn’t think they were quite that bad — not as bad as they looked, anyway…

Continue reading →