Culinary Historians: Cooking with Fire, June 7

Culinary Historians of Chicago

Cooking with Fire—
from cavemen to contemporary cooks
Presented by Paula Marcoux
Archaeologist, Food Historian and Author

Saturday, June 7, 2014
10 a.m. to Noon
At
Kendall College, School of Culinary Arts
900 N. North Branch Street, Chicago
(Located just north of W. Chicago Ave. at N. Halsted St.)
Free Parking in lot on north side of school


Long before the charcoal grill was invented, humans have been cooking with fire -- for hundreds of thousands of years. Countless bygone cultures have manipulated fire and food to create desirable flavors and textures. This ancient process — people messing around with ingredients and combustion — is at the foundation of virtually every culinary tradition worldwide.

Paula Marcoux, author of the recently released Cooking with Fire, will discuss her adventures digging among the documents and physical remains of past cookery, as well as her exploits with antiquarian cooking gear and recipes. She will delve into spit-roasting and oven-building, and offer practical advice about upping your own wood-delicacies, whether you'd like to master a spit-roasted pork loin or rabbit, or a crusty naturally-leavened loaf of bread.

Copies of Paula’s book will be on sale, with profits used to fund the Culinary Historians of Chicago.

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Paula Marcoux is a food historian who lives in Plymouth, Massachusetts. She has worked professionally as an archaeologist, cook, and bread-oven builder. She is the food editor of Edible South Shore magazine, writes on food history topics for popular and academic audiences, and consults with museums, film producers, and publishers. She also gives regular workshops on natural leavening, historic baking, and wood-fired cooking. Her web site is http://www.themagnificentleaven.com.

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Cost of the lecture program is $5, $3 for students
and no charge for CHC members and Kendall students and faculty.
To reserve, please e-mail your reservation to: Culinary.Historians@gmail.com.

When I spoke up at the CHEW meeting in Madison last week, they had an advance proof of the Cooking with Fire book, and it's really gorgeous. Looking forward to seeing the presentation that goes with the beautiful book.

today was another stellar lecture at culinary historians. i went to hear the author of a new book called 'cooking with fire' even though i'm not much of a griller because i knew i'd learn something about food history and i wasn't disappointed. paula was brimming with enthusiasm for her topic, as are all the speakers booked at CHC. it continues to baffle me why so few LTH'ers attend these meetings as these food related topics should be of interest to so many of us. after almost 20 years of CHC meetings, i can still count on being highly entertained and informed. and there's always something good to eat as well. today, to match the theme, cathy2 smoked local walleye and served it with a 16th century catalonian agrodulce sauce which was mainly parsley, bread and honey. the sauce recipe came from paula's book. kudos to cathy for ignoring warnings that walleye was too lean to smoke. it was excellent, and i was surprised how well it went with the slightly sweet sauce (which was actually more like the consistency of pesto).

Oh my goodness, what a fun start to the day! First time meeting with Culinary Historians of Chicago- with guest speaker, archeologist, food historian & author Paula Marcoux. Paula discussed her book Cooking With Fire & all manner of cookery- from hand made clay ovens, spits, and underground pits, to fancy 17th century Dutch hearths, American pioneer cooking with cast iron, bread, a creme brulee - ish dish, cocktails.. cooking on the beach: mussels (in pine needles), lobster (steamed in succulent seaweed), & striped bass (nailed to a hardwood plank), and more.. and to top it off, Cathy made & shared mouth watering Hickory Smoked Walleye and a Pebble Seared Parsley Sauce from the book.. just, wow! Can't wait for the next meeting! ..& of course I bought the book if anyone wants to pore over it with me!! Cheers!

Hi,

There were two slides today, I have stirring in my mind:

1. Leg of lamb suspended by twine twisting around a fire stacked on the edge. Maybe I could have a lamb suspended from a ladder?

2. The mussels cooked by mounding pine needles, which quickly ignite to cook and open the mussels. Three minutes until you have a pine resiny mussels.

It was nice to know walleye can be smoked and still taste great.

Regards,

Great presentation -- definitely makes one want to run out and start cooking with fire.

But also wonderful treats after the presentation. As always, Cathy2 did a great job of coming up with appropriate snacks, including awesome smoked fish and a fabulous cake recipe from Paula's book.

I love these Culinary Historian outings -- learn a lot, talk to other people who love food, sample Cathy2's culinary efforts, and go home happy (and often with a new book to enjoy).

Great day. Thanks again, C2, for all you put into these events.

jenjencooks wrote:...& of course I bought the book if anyone wants to pore over it with me!! Cheers!

It was great fun meeting jenjencooks at the meeting yesterday. (As I noted, the people one meets is part of the draw.) Just wanted to note that I greatly appreciate the use of the correct word for talking about examining the book. I'm a borderline grammar obsessive, and it hurts me to see people write that they "pour over books" -- which, of course, just gets them wet. But one who pores over book is clearly a learned individual.

See you at the next CHC outing.

jenjencooks wrote:Oh my goodness, what a fun start to the day! First time meeting with Culinary Historians of Chicago- with guest speaker, archeologist, food historian & author Paula Marcoux. Paula discussed her book Cooking With Fire & all manner of cookery- from hand made clay ovens, spits, and underground pits, to fancy 17th century Dutch hearths, American pioneer cooking with cast iron, bread, a creme brulee - ish dish, cocktails.. cooking on the beach: mussels (in pine needles), lobster (steamed in succulent seaweed), & striped bass (nailed to a hardwood plank), and more.. and to top it off, Cathy made & shared mouth watering Hickory Smoked Walleye and a Pebble Seared Parsley Sauce from the book.. just, wow! Can't wait for the next meeting! ..& of course I bought the book if anyone wants to pore over it with me!! Cheers!

it was great to meet you today, jenny. and welcome to LTH forum.