digging up vintage recipes

Biltong, Part 1

As I mentioned in my last post, I’m single this Valentine’s Day.  I do, however, have a new relationship.  With meat, and the curing thereof.  Right now, I’m have serious and committed ties (for a week at least) to several pounds of beef rapidly on their way to becoming biltong – a kind of South African beef jerky.


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In a Pickle: Pickled Grapes

I love pickled cucumbers: I’m a little ashamed that, like Snooki, I’ll often stand my tiny self (only part Guidette, sadly) in front of the fridge and just eat pickles out of the jar. Thankfully, I’m a little less orange and a little less be-pouffed. And I’m a little more adventurous: I just branched out from classic pickled cucumbers to try pickled grapes.


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Grandma’s Ricotta Cheesecake

This is my grandmother’s cheesecake. It has always brought me near-religious ecstasy, so I thought it only appropriate to make it to help my friend James celebrate finishing his PhD in Religion.


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Mid-Week Tidbits: Cookies and Cocktails

These Sour Cream Drop Cookies come from The Complete American Jewish Cookbook, which is one of the most dessert-centric cookbooks I’ve ever come across. It’s kind of funny: cookies are so common these days, but they don’t appear in a ton of mid-century recipe collections. Except for Jewish and Southern ones. An interesting observation…


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