Sample Presentations

My powerpoint presentations pages are in the process of moving to seperate pages.

The word lemonade first appeared in an English work in the mid 1600s and has remained a popular beverage. In the early 1800s lemonade flavored soda was created in Great Britain. By the Civil War instant lemonade was available. Lemonade was portrayed in Victorian cook books and literature as a temperance drink, a fermented beverage, a base for numerous alcoholic mixed drinks, a staple by the bedside of the sick, a refreshment at balls, theaters, and at Teas and a drink for soldiers, sailors and travelers. Samples for the audience to guess the European and the American methods of preparing lemonade.

From the pod of the unusual cacao tree to it's use as a spicy drink for the wealthy and then the candy bar, chocolate has an interesting history and specialized implements. Samples from 18th and 19th century receipts [recipes]

Using period pictures and excerpts from books to show how table settings and dining manners have changed over time... when to eat off a knife, use two, three or four pronged forks, use napkin or tablecloth; how many tablecloths.

Starting with Native Americans and the Spanish, each successive group of immigrants have changed their cooking and eating habits over time, by intermingling with other groups and local ingredients.

Images of bake ovens have existed from the Egyptians to the present and ovens appear in all shapes, even some ovens on carts in medieval times. In addition to showing various baked goods in paintings, the process of heating, testing the temperatures and baking in an oven will be detailed.

Period images of raised cooking surfaces and stew stoves, set kettles, Rumford & other iron wall ovens, Steam Kitchens, kitchens using steam, early gas and coal stove, with modern photographs from sites around the US and Europe are used to explain how they were used.

The variety and popularity of cakes exploded in the last quarter of the 19th century and continued for one hundred years. Angel Food Cake was created in the 1870s in St. Louis and the recipe was initially sold or given with each pan sold; and Lady Baltimore Cake was connected to Philadelphia rather than Baltimore. Before baking powder or soda, cooks had to stiffly beat egg whites, beat the cake for 45 minutes or more, or use yeast.

In April 1861, tens of thousands of volunteer troops arrived to protect the Washinton City, and they all needed to be fed, including a loaf of bread a day. Since thousands were using the Capitol building as a barracks, bread gas ovens were hastily built in the basement. At its height, the Army bakeries produced 58,000 loaves of bread a day. Within months, complaints were raised about the black smoke and soot, but it would take almost a year of the Senate trying to convince the House and then the Army, before the ovens were removed.

The progression of cooking on hearth, stew stove, range, cookstove, beehive & squirrel tail oven to the early 20th Century fireless cooker will be shown in pictures of numerous Maryland museum kitchens. Basic Maryland foods are described such as beaten biscuits, stuffed hams, crabs and oysters. Samples from 19th century Maryland cookbook authors and roasted cornmeal cornbread. This talk is also part of the Maryland Humanities Council Speakers Bureau.