Election Cake with Q&A

[00:00] hello tastorians happy sunday

[00:03] can you all hear me can you all see me

[00:06] it's from harry potter is it working

[00:10] we got you comments

[00:14] wrong all right cool uh well

[00:17] today we're making election cake

[00:20] in honor of our presidential election

[00:22] coming up on tuesday

[00:24] um hope everyone had a wonderful

[00:26] halloween

[00:27] we did we didn't do anything except

[00:29] watch some scary movies which i don't

[00:31] really like

[00:31] and ate pizza which i do like and

[00:35] handed out zero candy zip we didn't get

[00:38] any trick-or-treaters did anyone get any

[00:39] trick-or-treaters

[00:40] i don't know we never get any

[00:42] trick-or-treaters though so i'm not

[00:44] blaming it on anything other than

[00:45] that we live in a condo

[00:48] cool so jose is going to be monitoring

[00:51] the comments today

[00:53] uh i implore you to make his job

[00:57] a little bit easier by keeping

[01:00] everything

[01:00] history and food based and talking about

[01:04] the wonderful elections of

[01:06] 1755 and 1826

[01:11] that's all i'm going to say about that

[01:12] for today make his life easy

[01:15] i beg you um all right

[01:18] so we're going to go into the history

[01:21] of election cake but first let's get it

[01:23] started because this does take a little

[01:25] bit of time to make

[01:26] that said we are doing a modern a

[01:29] modernized

[01:30] version because and we'll get into it

[01:33] but the original cake would take

[01:35] days to make um rather than an hour and

[01:39] since this is a live stream

[01:41] that's not really doable but let's get

[01:44] to it all right so

[01:45] i am basing this off of fannie farmer's

[01:49] the boston cooking school cookbook from

[01:52] 1896.

[01:55] which i have right here

[01:58] so what we'll need is one half cup of

[02:01] butter or one stick for us americans you

[02:04] want that softened really everything

[02:05] should be at about room temperature

[02:08] it's not going to kill you if it's not

[02:10] but it does help

[02:11] so uh there is that and then two

[02:14] eggs which i actually have been keeping

[02:17] in here just to

[02:19] leave at room temperature uh two eggs

[02:21] pre-cracked

[02:23] don't microwave your eggs

[02:27] one cup or 200 grams of brown sugar

[02:32] definitely stick to brown sugar i'm

[02:34] using dark brown sugar either that or

[02:36] light brown sugar will work

[02:37] don't use regular sugar for this it'll

[02:39] it'll come out too dry you don't want

[02:41] that

[02:42] two-thirds cup raisins

[02:45] and eight finely chopped

[02:49] dried figs if you have fresh figs you

[02:51] can use those

[02:52] um they're they're going to be fine

[02:54] they're a little bit more moist because

[02:55] they're not

[02:56] dried but that it actually works i i

[03:00] it'll work either way but you want them

[03:02] finely chopped if you're using huge

[03:04] raisins as well

[03:05] you actually want to chop those too you

[03:07] don't want anything too too big but just

[03:09] a regular old like

[03:11] sun-made raisin that's fine you don't

[03:14] need to chop them

[03:16] then we need one and two-thirds cup or

[03:18] 210 grams of

[03:20] flour all-purpose flour is fine you can

[03:22] use

[03:23] pastry flour for this as well whole

[03:26] wheat

[03:26] whole wheat pastry flour is actually

[03:28] really great for this um

[03:29] but you can also use just plain

[03:31] all-purpose flour

[03:32] and then our raising agents and this is

[03:34] this is where things

[03:36] are going to differ from from the

[03:37] original recipes and i'll talk about

[03:39] that

[03:41] we're going to use one uh we'll go with

[03:43] the

[03:44] one-half teaspoon of baking powder oh

[03:47] sorry one teaspoon of baking powder

[03:49] and one half teaspoon of baking soda do

[03:52] you like my new bowls

[03:53] it's got these um hey max can you

[03:56] substitute

[03:57] the brown sugar for white sugar and

[03:58] molasses you

[04:00] can substitute the brown sugar brown

[04:02] sugar for white sugar and molasses

[04:06] it kind of throws off the the uh the

[04:08] measurements exactly so

[04:11] you want to cut back a little bit on on

[04:13] maybe another liquid

[04:14] that you're going to be using um just

[04:18] don't

[04:18] use two you don't need too much molasses

[04:20] if you add probably

[04:22] i'd say two tablespoons of molasses in

[04:26] there

[04:26] that's actually fine now you don't have

[04:27] to change anything else just

[04:29] add a couple tablespoons of molasses

[04:30] it'll be fine

[04:32] can everyone hear jose when he talks i

[04:34] think that we've

[04:35] figured out i'm using a better camera

[04:37] i'm using a better microphone than our

[04:39] previous live streams so

[04:40] hopefully that's showing so let me know

[04:43] if you cannot hear him

[04:45] because then i'll just repeat everything

[04:47] that he says and then

[04:49] a teaspoon of salt regular old

[04:52] salt and then spices

[04:55] which is really what this cake is all

[04:57] about we're doing

[04:58] a calls for one teaspoon of cinnamon

[05:02] ground up

[05:03] uh i pre-ground everything a quarter

[05:06] teaspoon of cloves

[05:07] do not use more than a quarter teaspoon

[05:10] if you want to add more of any spices

[05:12] great don't add any more cloves they're

[05:15] already

[05:16] pretty strong in the cake um one quarter

[05:18] teaspoon of mace

[05:20] that's actually the one that i would add

[05:21] a little bit more if i could and then

[05:24] as john townsend would always double

[05:26] this we're doing one quarter teaspoon of

[05:28] nutmeg

[05:29] uh grated nutmeg he'd probably use a

[05:32] half teaspoon or more

[05:33] um and that would be okay he loves his

[05:36] nutmeg

[05:38] and then buttermilk so

[05:41] one half cup or 118 milliliters of

[05:44] buttermilk

[05:45] so the buttermilk is if if anyone makes

[05:48] like soda bread like irish soda bread

[05:50] the way that it usually gets its

[05:52] leavening is from buttermilk and

[05:54] baking soda which is what we have and

[05:56] that is in the original recipe

[05:58] the acid and the baking soda they

[06:01] you know create a leavening but the

[06:04] original recipe and most of the early

[06:06] recipes for this were made

[06:07] before there were a lot of leaveners

[06:11] quality leaveners at least and so it was

[06:13] a sour dough

[06:15] yeasted cake i've tried them

[06:18] they're people today they're not they're

[06:21] not the most popular thing one because

[06:23] they're a lot of work but two

[06:24] they tend to not have the that cake-like

[06:27] or

[06:27] or even bread like quality that we want

[06:30] um

[06:31] one of these days i'm i should do it

[06:33] maybe in four years uh i'll do another

[06:35] i'll do amelia simmons election cake and

[06:37] we'll get into that um

[06:39] but it takes days days to make so

[06:42] that is why i have added the one

[06:45] teaspoon

[06:45] of baking powder seems like a lot but it

[06:48] works

[06:49] and then we'll get into the whiskey

[06:52] sauce later

[06:52] uh you can also do a brandy sauce just

[06:55] swap out the whiskey for the brandy just

[06:56] real quick you have a thousand people

[06:58] watching along a thousand and you have

[07:00] uh quite a few people sending your love

[07:02] starting with juan carlo who is our

[07:04] local neighbor

[07:05] ah fluffy monkey thank you fluffy monkey

[07:08] thank you juan carlo

[07:09] senor mr giggles thank you senor mr

[07:13] giggles

[07:14] and the senor oh senor and mr giggles

[07:18] and then felix asked for valentine's day

[07:20] if you could make a capizzoli

[07:24] i'm gonna have to look that one up for

[07:26] valentine's day um yeah i haven't

[07:28] actually started to plan out i've pretty

[07:30] much got the rest of the year planned

[07:32] uh what i'm going to be doing but

[07:34] starting january 1st

[07:36] i'm taking suggestions so if you got

[07:38] suggestions

[07:39] don't leave them in the in the feed

[07:41] because i will probably never

[07:43] get to see it but send me an email or

[07:46] shoot me a instagram message or or

[07:50] twitter message

[07:52] that's going to be the best way to do it

[07:53] taking suggestions

[07:55] all right so let's do this

[08:00] so what we first need to do is mix

[08:02] together our

[08:03] dry ingredients and it's super easy this

[08:06] cake is actually super easy to make

[08:07] the way that i'm doing it so you take

[08:09] the flour

[08:11] dump that in there oh if you haven't

[08:14] turned on your oven

[08:15] turn on your oven i kind of like these i

[08:17] love the look of my wooden bowls but

[08:19] they um they tend to like hold

[08:21] they're hard to get some of the

[08:22] ingredients out so i kind of like these

[08:23] nice smooth ones they're terracot on the

[08:25] outside

[08:27] and then all of your spices we've got

[08:29] our nutmeg i'm going backwards here

[08:32] get all of you out we've got our mace

[08:38] uh so how many i'm curious how many

[08:40] people are actually making this

[08:41] few days and then whisk all of these

[08:43] together so the

[08:45] the first recipe that we have for

[08:47] something called election cake

[08:49] actually comes from amelia simmons

[08:52] american cookery which is often

[08:56] satirical writers coming out of yale

[08:58] university

[09:00] who were writing satire

[09:04] at first the government in connecticut

[09:07] but later on they were

[09:10] a connecticut form of government to be

[09:13] adopted

[09:14] uh as part of the u.s constitution and

[09:16] making up their laws

[09:17] as as a colony um and we're going to get

[09:20] into

[09:22] going way way back uh um

[09:25] why they were this cake is really

[09:28] associated with hartford

[09:30] that will actually start not with

[09:32] hartford but with

[09:34] massachusetts um then we need a big bowl

[09:37] you can do this by hand i don't suggest

[09:40] it

[09:41] uh but i'm going to use my stand mixer

[09:43] because i got it

[09:44] and mix basically everything else

[09:46] together but we have to do it in a

[09:48] certain order so you want to do is

[09:50] add your sugar powdered sugar

[09:54] it's french for some reason today and

[09:56] your butter and really

[09:57] if i had been prepared i would have

[10:02] sliced this butter up you want at room

[10:03] temperature but even if you

[10:05] don't put the whole stick in there i'd

[10:06] slice it into maybe you know

[10:08] like tablespoons so between four

[10:11] and eight little

[10:15] issues lagging issues

[10:21] is it lagging is my voice not matched

[10:23] with the

[10:25] the video is that what it is

[10:29] i think it's just freezing

[10:33] a ramp is there any way to

[10:37] lower the ability

[10:41] i don't know what that means lower the

[10:44] ability

[10:49] what if it's our internet we have

[10:52] terrible internet

[10:55] for some reason all of like los angeles

[10:58] county

[10:59] now has fiber pretty much except for

[11:02] burbank

[11:03] no fiber for us we get the worst

[11:05] internet

[11:09] i'm going to keep going on and hopefully

[11:13] the lagging isn't too too bad so we want

[11:17] to cream this

[11:18] together so butter and sugar

[11:22] just cream it together until it's nice

[11:24] and smooth

[11:29] probably not probably can pick this up

[11:31] so i'll try not to

[11:33] talk about anything too important while

[11:34] this is going on

[11:36] i did want to um mention that a bunch of

[11:40] people have asked me to make merchandise

[11:42] um and i've been putting it off it's you

[11:45] know

[11:46] something i haven't done but i finally

[11:50] got some up

[11:51] um it's you can see it actually below

[11:55] the video but i'm kind of curious what

[11:58] people want

[11:59] um there's a really i think it's really

[12:01] cool that you can get

[12:02] aprons and shirts and stuff with the

[12:05] garum bottle on it

[12:06] and with that painting that is at the

[12:08] end of my opening which is called de

[12:10] fille

[12:10] with the rotund gentleman

[12:14] who keeps eating um so

[12:17] let me know you know what else you you'd

[12:19] like to see because

[12:20] because i'm curious how are the lagging

[12:23] issues uh it's

[12:24] it's kind of a little better uh asians

[12:26] and uh jordy and her husband love your

[12:28] show

[12:28] and has anyone told you that you look

[12:30] like rich for community a lot of people

[12:32] have told me that i look like rich from

[12:33] community i

[12:35] i didn't know who that was until i

[12:36] started getting comments and we actually

[12:37] started watching it

[12:38] because everyone was like you look like

[12:40] rich from community

[12:42] um and i don't mind that because he's a

[12:45] good looking fella

[12:46] all right so once the butter and sugar

[12:49] is beat in

[12:50] then just add your eggs but really it's

[12:52] always a good plan

[12:55] to i'm going to use a buttered knife to

[12:58] break them up give them a little whisk

[13:00] just kind of mix them before they go

[13:02] in it's not obligatory but

[13:06] any pastry chef would would say do this

[13:09] i'm not a pastry chef but i watch a lot

[13:12] of pastry chef

[13:14] do things and i learn from them i try to

[13:16] understand

[13:18] so add your eggs and then

[13:21] mix

[13:28] you want to mix until fairly well

[13:29] incorporated not very difficult

[13:31] but there it is um

[13:36] and then add in your buttermilk when you

[13:40] add this

[13:40] in it might look curdled

[13:43] uh especially if your buttermilk is cold

[13:46] it might look curdled and that's okay

[13:48] it does not matter um

[13:52] it's fine it will not look curdled later

[13:55] on

[13:57] i promise

[14:01] we mix that in until well incorporated

[14:08] and then we mix in our fruits

[14:11] uh i got my figs

[14:14] and a little piece left and my raisins

[14:18] so um

[14:22] one one thing about election day cake is

[14:24] you know we're making this for our

[14:25] presidential election but when

[14:27] election day cake started we didn't have

[14:29] a president

[14:32] so it was actually not even done in uh

[14:35] november

[14:36] so first we have to figure out what is

[14:39] election day

[14:40] when it comes to election day cake

[14:44] and for that we have to go back to two

[14:46] traditions

[14:47] of election day and muster day or

[14:49] training day

[14:51] so the holiday and it was a holiday

[14:54] though they wouldn't have called it a

[14:55] holiday because they were

[14:56] completely anti-holiday the puritans in

[15:00] when they came to new england brought

[15:02] this tradition of

[15:05] muster day which is used to happen in

[15:08] england when

[15:10] in a small town all of the local

[15:12] militiamen would come together

[15:14] uh once or twice a year and and train so

[15:17] it was also training day not the

[15:19] denzel washington movie but maybe it

[15:22] comes from the same place i don't know

[15:23] um and and so they brought that

[15:26] tradition over because the puritans did

[15:28] not have

[15:29] easter or new year's or birthdays or

[15:32] christmas

[15:32] or any lovely holidays

[15:35] they were all um is this mustard

[15:39] day no mustard so like when a mustard

[15:42] day

[15:42] is a totally different holiday uh now

[15:45] muster day

[15:46] m-u-s-t-e-r so that would be like

[15:50] when when a militia musters

[15:54] or or a regiment musters it means they

[15:56] they all come together and get ready and

[15:58] present

[15:59] um and it can actually mean different

[16:01] things at different times in history

[16:03] specifically with

[16:04] regarding different military units and

[16:06] everything but

[16:07] in this case it would mean that they

[16:09] came together

[16:10] presented themselves and readied

[16:13] themselves to train

[16:15] uh and surely the training was more than

[16:18] a day

[16:19] i don't know maybe not um because

[16:22] i imagine that it's hard to fire learn

[16:25] how to fire a

[16:26] musket which is what they would have

[16:28] been fighting with at the time

[16:30] anyway we're going to do this next part

[16:34] by hand so as you can see kind of looks

[16:37] looks kind of gross i don't know if you

[16:38] can see that but it's it's it's kind of

[16:41] muddled but as soon as we take our dry

[16:43] ingredients and put them in

[16:45] the mottling goes away and it'll look

[16:46] nice and smooth

[16:49] but before we do that we have to prepare

[16:52] our pan

[16:54] the best thing to do to prepare a

[16:57] bread pan you can use a cake pan or

[16:58] bread loaf these would have been served

[17:00] in

[17:00] loaves like this you can also double the

[17:03] recipe and use like a bundt cake

[17:05] they wouldn't have done that but it's

[17:06] much prettier but i'm going to use

[17:08] a standard bread loaf pan um and i'm

[17:11] going to cheat and use this uh

[17:13] baking with flour pam stuff but the best

[17:16] thing to do is actually

[17:17] put butter on the inside think of butter

[17:20] then

[17:21] dump out the flour and then freeze it

[17:23] for about 15 minutes

[17:25] that's the best thing to get stuff to

[17:27] not stick but

[17:29] i didn't remember to do that so i'm

[17:31] using i'm cheating

[17:33] there you go anyway muster day where was

[17:36] i

[17:38] so when they would when they would get

[17:41] so they brought the

[17:42] the tradition of mustard a to the new

[17:45] world uh to new

[17:46] new england and that was their

[17:49] equivalent of a holiday

[17:51] muster day and election day because

[17:54] they would elect certain certain members

[17:58] of their their groups in the different

[18:01] you know that you had boston and

[18:02] braintree and all of these

[18:04] little areas were very very separated

[18:06] and they would elect

[18:07] different people um once a year to kind

[18:10] of

[18:10] represent them and we can actually see

[18:13] this

[18:14] in the very closing scene

[18:17] of the scarlet letter if you've ever

[18:18] read the scarlet letter

[18:20] um the the last scene

[18:23] is it's election day and

[18:27] what was his name dimsdale who was

[18:30] spoiler alert uh he was the one who

[18:34] had the illegitimate child with hester

[18:37] prynne who had the scarlet letter the a

[18:39] well he was also the minister so he was

[18:42] giving what was known as

[18:43] the election day sermon or the election

[18:46] sermon

[18:46] and they were a big deal they were long

[18:50] and kind of rambling because

[18:53] while obviously that's a fake one

[18:55] because it's you know

[18:56] a book uh we have

[18:59] election day so i'm adding the dry

[19:01] ingredients you can do this in one or

[19:03] two it's probably better to do it in two

[19:04] but i just didn't one

[19:05] and then fold it in you don't want to

[19:07] work it very

[19:09] hard that's why you want to do this part

[19:11] by hand uh

[19:12] rather than with a with a machine um so

[19:16] anyway we

[19:16] have one of these long-winded sermons we

[19:19] actually have a bunch of them

[19:20] from 17 uh sorry

[19:24] 1676 an election day sermon

[19:27] by increase mather who was the father of

[19:30] cotton mather who was

[19:31] uh much more well-known but increased

[19:33] mather gave one of these he was

[19:35] in boston on election day and

[19:38] just the title of this sermon was

[19:44] big breath an earnest exhortation to the

[19:46] inhabitants of new england to hearken to

[19:48] the voice of god

[19:49] in his late and present dispensations as

[19:52] ever they desire to escape

[19:54] another judgment seven times greater

[19:56] than anything which has

[19:57] which as yet hath been that's the title

[20:01] the sermon goes on for quite some time

[20:04] it was actually published

[20:06] in a in a local uh publication at the

[20:09] time it's like

[20:11] 30 pages it's long um questions for you

[20:14] two questions edward asks uh do you need

[20:17] to sift

[20:18] the flower you can always zip the flour

[20:22] it's good to sift the flour

[20:23] you don't need to with this if you're

[20:26] making

[20:27] something really delicate like pastry or

[20:29] cookies

[20:31] i would always sift the flour with

[20:33] breads

[20:34] and even cakes like this you don't need

[20:37] to

[20:37] if you're making something like like a

[20:40] chiffon cake

[20:41] you definitely want to sift it um

[20:44] but with this one it's just not going to

[20:47] you're not going to notice a difference

[20:49] um so now that we have that

[20:52] and the second question was would you

[20:54] compare this to a fruitcake

[20:56] i would not compare it to a fruitcake

[20:58] it's not going to be as dense i would

[21:00] actually compare this

[21:02] the way that we are making it closer to

[21:04] like

[21:05] banana bread should have more that

[21:08] consistency

[21:10] not as dense there isn't nearly as much

[21:12] fruit as a fruitcake first of all

[21:15] the original recipes that were leavened

[21:17] with sourdough

[21:19] they're going to be a lot more dense

[21:20] again still not like a fruit cake

[21:22] but more like bread um more like a fruit

[21:26] bread a little bit like the soul cakes

[21:29] that if you if you watch the episode on

[21:31] soul cakes that came out on friday

[21:33] more of that texture a little bit

[21:35] chewier less less cake-like so it's

[21:37] election cake but the term cake then

[21:40] we would not we would be very

[21:41] disappointed in

[21:44] if you've ever had leavened cakes that

[21:46] way

[21:47] they just aren't the same as our modern

[21:49] lemoners so i'm going to put this

[21:52] i'm going to spoon this in here you're

[21:53] probably not going to be able to see it

[21:54] because

[21:55] i don't have three hands but that's what

[21:57] we're going to do

[21:59] anyway so now we have election day

[22:03] uh that was going to be in may that's

[22:06] when they tended to

[22:07] to hold it was election day was always

[22:10] in may and that was the case

[22:12] with all of the colonies uh in new

[22:14] england

[22:15] that had election day ceremonies

[22:20] they started to we have been having

[22:22] cakes at these but the puritans

[22:25] not huge on the cakes not huge on the

[22:27] drinking

[22:29] but as you know as less

[22:33] as the colonies changed from being all

[22:35] puritan to a little bit more mixed as

[22:38] more english settlers came over they

[22:40] brought the idea of

[22:41] adding cake and they really brought the

[22:44] idea of adding booze

[22:46] and election day ended up becoming

[22:50] a drunken festival

[22:53] of sorts they would still have the

[22:55] sermon they would still have the

[22:56] election they would still count the

[22:58] votes

[22:59] but then afterward they would usually

[23:01] have a big ball

[23:03] big party everybody would get drunk um

[23:06] there are actually uh

[23:09] there are stories that they would the

[23:12] people would get so drunk that by the

[23:13] time

[23:14] the governor was elected people were

[23:16] just passing out

[23:18] uh kind of a mess um

[23:21] and we'll get into that more as well all

[23:24] right so i'm smoothing it out

[23:27] i don't wanna it is smooth it's not so

[23:29] easy now i have it on my finger as well

[23:32] um there it is there's our election cake

[23:37] batter

[23:37] because it is more of a batter than

[23:39] anything else and then we just

[23:41] pop it in the oven

[23:45] for about 50 minutes uh

[23:48] you really want to you know everybody's

[23:49] oven is different

[23:51] it's going to be about 45 to 55 minutes

[23:54] i would start checking it about 45

[23:56] um because

[24:00] you want it you want it you don't want

[24:02] it to dry out but you want it to be done

[24:03] in the center so take a

[24:05] a wooden skewer or a knife and stick it

[24:08] in the center at about 45 minutes

[24:10] and if it pulls out clean and it's done

[24:13] if it does not pull out clean then it is

[24:15] not done keep it baking

[24:17] can you set i'll set it i will settle

[24:19] alarm for 55 minutes

[24:21] the thing is we're not going to be here

[24:22] for 55 minutes i promise uh sorry 45

[24:24] minutes

[24:25] i promise i actually movie magic

[24:29] i baked one earlier so i'm going to be

[24:32] icing that one

[24:34] so you don't have to sit here and wait

[24:36] for 45 minutes

[24:38] anyway um let's get back to elections

[24:42] so these election cakes started

[24:45] really getting popular in hartford and

[24:48] they ended up becoming

[24:49] very associated with heart etiquette

[24:53] uh the first actual mention that we have

[24:56] of an election day cake doesn't come

[24:59] until 1771

[25:00] we know that they were doing this long

[25:02] before that but in 1771

[25:05] from the connecticut uh general

[25:06] assembly's notes

[25:08] they were repaying an ezekiel williams

[25:10] two pounds

[25:11] [ __ ] seven shillings and nine pence for

[25:13] the raisins clove

[25:15] mace sugar etc for the cake and they

[25:18] were paying another two pounds five

[25:19] shillings to miss leslie

[25:21] for making it if you know anything about

[25:24] money in the 18th century

[25:26] that is a lot of money it's hard to

[25:29] uh to make an exact you know

[25:32] currency translation it's the word i'm

[25:35] looking for

[25:36] i don't know it was between

[25:39] twelve hundred and eighteen hundred

[25:41] dollars for this cake

[25:43] because it was a huge cake so i'm going

[25:46] to read you

[25:47] one of the the first recipe that we have

[25:51] from 1796 from american cookery the

[25:54] second

[25:54] edition so the first edition did not

[25:57] have this most people

[25:58] that's what you're going to usually find

[25:59] if you buy this book you're going to

[26:01] have the first edition this cake will

[26:02] not be in there but in the second

[26:04] edition

[26:05] she calls for 30 quarts flour 10 pounds

[26:09] butter

[26:10] 14 pounds of sugar 12 pounds of raisins

[26:13] three dozen eggs one pint of wine

[26:16] one quart of brandy four ounces of

[26:18] cinnamon four ounces fine colander seed

[26:20] or coriander

[26:22] three ounces of allspice then wet the

[26:24] flour

[26:25] and mix the consistency of bread

[26:27] overnight add a quart of yeast

[26:29] so this is why it takes days because

[26:31] then you also have to have the yeast a

[26:33] quart of yeast which is the sour dough

[26:34] the next morning

[26:35] then work in the butter and sugar for

[26:37] half an hour

[26:39] which will render the cake much lighter

[26:40] and whiter when it has risen

[26:43] work ever in every other ingredient

[26:45] except the plums

[26:47] back then plums simply meant dried

[26:49] fruits hence

[26:50] uh the raisins which work

[26:53] uh in when going into the oven so that

[26:56] is a

[26:57] big cake and it actually probably would

[26:59] have been made into 12

[27:00] smaller cakes because these cakes

[27:03] would were meant to feed an entire

[27:06] community

[27:07] it wasn't you didn't have this cake just

[27:10] for your house

[27:11] all of the women of a community would

[27:12] come together and bake these cakes

[27:14] and give them out on election day

[27:17] because

[27:18] the election day had people coming in

[27:20] from all other

[27:22] all the other villages and they would

[27:25] come into one

[27:26] one town and have to stay the night

[27:28] sometimes a couple nights

[27:30] and so this cake was kind of a way to to

[27:32] welcome everyone and

[27:34] uh you know it was part of the

[27:36] festivities they actually had

[27:38] other baked goods from the time period

[27:40] from the late 1700s

[27:42] uh that had very patriotic names um

[27:46] like franklin gingerbread democratic t

[27:48] tea cakes small d

[27:50] independence cake they were you know it

[27:53] was it was a brand new democracy um

[27:55] brand new country so they were very very

[27:57] patriotic and excited about that which

[28:00] i think we should i want to make that

[28:01] franklin gingerbread that's that's

[28:02] something i want to make

[28:04] um there is a really cool so

[28:08] there's a historian that um i actually

[28:11] have a link to his book

[28:13] called creating connecticut down in the

[28:15] description of this video

[28:17] if you want to learn more about

[28:18] connecticut history you should get it

[28:21] there's also a lot in there about

[28:22] election cake he's fantastic

[28:24] uh william walter woodward is his name

[28:27] and he found in a hartford current

[28:30] article from 1867 titled

[28:33] hartford ladies reminiscences uh a

[28:36] description of what election day

[28:38] used to be like now she's so this is in

[28:42] the 1860s she's talking about elections

[28:44] back in

[28:44] like the 1820s um and she says

[28:49] and i'm shortening this it's very very

[28:51] long it's a whole article

[28:52] so i'm shortening this and it's still

[28:54] going to be take me a minute to read

[28:56] will someone who remembers it all tell

[28:58] about election in

[28:59] old times in hartford how every house

[29:02] was in

[29:04] how every house was in apple pie order

[29:06] summer arrangements all completed i love

[29:08] that

[29:09] apple pie order and everything was you

[29:11] know put put in its place

[29:13] there was a grand ball in the evening

[29:15] then and in those times two

[29:17] there was an election sermon preached at

[29:19] the meeting house

[29:21] oh the quantities of cake a batch of

[29:23] election cake was

[29:24] 12 loaves but there but there had to be

[29:27] many more than one batch and plenty of

[29:29] sponge cake with it

[29:30] the best clothes go on as soon as

[29:32] possible after breakfast

[29:35] white frock to be pure new bonnet pink

[29:38] ash

[29:38] and the red shoes i left my bonnet in

[29:41] pink pink sash upstairs

[29:43] shame on me lots of money to spend

[29:46] children could have a scent any time

[29:47] they asked for it in election day

[29:49] and cake a big piece not not a slice

[29:52] every time they would run into the house

[29:54] nobody dared refuse them it stands ready

[29:57] all day for wagons full of country

[29:59] friends and acquaintances

[30:00] come to see the parade all must eat loaf

[30:02] cake and tell what luck they had with

[30:04] theirs

[30:05] if you go to the neighbors you must eat

[30:07] a piece of course

[30:09] it is next in importance to the governor

[30:11] and the stars and stripes

[30:12] and wherever there is a connecticut man

[30:14] or woman man especially

[30:16] not sure why because they only had the

[30:18] vote probably

[30:19] there is one who will not refuse a piece

[30:21] of election cake

[30:23] and there are recipes from the 1800s

[30:25] everybody's cake was a little bit

[30:27] different so there isn't a standard

[30:28] election cake

[30:29] because um in in one collection of

[30:31] recipes you've got 20 different

[30:33] different election cakes all a little

[30:34] bit different you've got miss rebecca

[30:36] butler's election cake

[30:38] mrs lewis welds mrs nathaniel terry and

[30:41] mrs

[30:41] henry hudson i think it's so

[30:44] i i think it's so weird still that they

[30:48] would basically just give up their name

[30:50] first and last in writing when they got

[30:52] married mrs henry hudson

[30:54] i don't know glad we don't do that

[30:56] anymore um what's interesting

[30:58] about connecticut elections

[31:01] is that starting in 1755

[31:05] there were two sets of elections and

[31:07] there were two

[31:08] governors and it went all the way pretty

[31:10] much up until the civil war

[31:12] because there was a white election with

[31:15] a

[31:15] white governor and a black election with

[31:18] a

[31:19] black governor and it

[31:22] it was of course largely um

[31:25] ceremonial but it was actually a

[31:28] big deal at the time it didn't happen

[31:32] anywhere else uh it was

[31:33] it was just in connecticut and

[31:35] connecticut was on the forefront

[31:37] not in 1755 but but soon after of of

[31:40] abolition and everything and

[31:43] the history around the uh around the

[31:47] black governors is really

[31:48] interesting because sometimes sometimes

[31:50] you read about it and it's like oh

[31:52] this is you know this this is a step in

[31:54] the right direction then sometimes you

[31:56] read about it and

[31:57] they were often used by

[32:00] uh by the the rest of the people

[32:04] um to in

[32:08] in less than than nice ways to kind of

[32:11] um keep order and everything but

[32:15] it's a fascinating subject and uh i i

[32:18] encourage you to

[32:18] to look it up because it's a part of

[32:21] american history that i

[32:22] had no idea about um

[32:26] it's just it's an interesting time so in

[32:28] that same year that they started

[32:30] uh those um the the two elections

[32:33] 1755 down in the house of burgesses

[32:37] in virginia they were having elections

[32:40] and

[32:42] this has nothing to do with election day

[32:43] cake because they did not celebrate

[32:45] election day

[32:46] the same way that they did in new

[32:48] england and they didn't have cake

[32:50] but the story of this election

[32:53] and the following election is so great

[32:55] um i just had to share it

[32:58] so in may of 1755 uh

[33:01] when he heard about an open seat in the

[33:03] house of burgesses down in virginia

[33:05] george washington who was fighting in

[33:08] the

[33:09] french and indian war i believe at the

[33:10] time uh wrote to his brother

[33:13] brother john i should be glad if you

[33:15] could come at

[33:16] colonel fairfax's intentions and let me

[33:18] know whether he

[33:19] proposes to offer himself as a candidate

[33:21] if he does not i should be glad to take

[33:23] a poll

[33:24] if i thought my chance tolerably good so

[33:27] he wanted to be in the house of

[33:28] burgesses makes sense

[33:30] and his brother and his friends ended up

[33:32] kind of you know putting his name out

[33:34] there and

[33:35] and trying to get him uh to be elected

[33:37] that december

[33:39] though washington wasn't actually there

[33:40] for the vote and the votes then were

[33:42] taken by voice so you knew

[33:44] what people voted as and they would

[33:45] write them down on a piece of paper

[33:47] and there were three people running hugh

[33:49] west who received 271 votes

[33:52] tom swearingen 270 and george washington

[33:55] the great

[33:56] george washington 40 votes

[33:59] wiped out did not win so you know you

[34:02] can

[34:02] you can feel good that if if at first

[34:05] you do not succeed

[34:06] try try again obviously george

[34:07] washington uh did pretty well for

[34:09] himself

[34:10] so he ended up keeping that that paper

[34:13] that had everybody's vote and how they

[34:14] voted on it

[34:15] for the rest of his life uh first i was

[34:18] like oh that seems a little petty but i

[34:19] think it was actually maybe

[34:20] like as a i'm gonna show you kind of

[34:24] thing you know it was a

[34:25] encouragement for him um

[34:29] a few years later in november of 1757 he

[34:32] decided to run again when another seat

[34:34] opened up

[34:35] and he still wasn't in virginia at the

[34:37] time but

[34:39] he had a plan he sent his friends a

[34:42] bunch of money

[34:43] and they campaigned around frederick

[34:45] county plying the voters and remember

[34:47] there are only like

[34:48] 600 people in the county who can vote

[34:50] because you have to be a

[34:52] a male who owns land property owner

[34:56] they applied them with 46 gallons of

[34:58] beer

[34:59] 40 gallons one hog's head one barrel and

[35:01] ten bowls of rum punch

[35:02] 35 gallons of wine two gallons of cider

[35:05] and three and a half

[35:06] pints of brandy and when the result came

[35:09] in on july 24th

[35:10] 1758 george washington won with 370

[35:14] 307 votes so he learned what the people

[35:18] want um and

[35:19] you know now we would be like well that

[35:21] that doesn't really seem

[35:22] seem right but that was tame in

[35:25] comparison

[35:26] with what was happening in elections

[35:29] around the same time

[35:30] in other parts of the country in new

[35:31] york city

[35:33] it was customary for the the people who

[35:36] were being

[35:37] uh who were up for office the candidates

[35:39] to

[35:41] be there at the polls as people came

[35:44] onto the green to vote

[35:45] and heckle them and badger them and

[35:49] yell like horrible stuff um

[35:53] and and then whoever won had to take

[35:56] all of the voters to a nearby tavern and

[36:00] treat them to drinks

[36:01] regardless of how the voters ended up

[36:02] voting uh so you know

[36:04] maybe maybe we should bring that that

[36:07] back

[36:07] do we have questions uh people are

[36:09] asking about a cooking book

[36:12] a cookbook it is forthcoming uh

[36:15] i can't give any details about it but i

[36:18] am working on it

[36:19] um there's going to be something still

[36:21] kind of figuring out exactly what it's

[36:22] going to be

[36:23] but it will come i promise you that

[36:27] people always curious about the pokemon

[36:29] what's your favorite

[36:30] so today's pokemon so there was no like

[36:34] american pokemon or election pokemon so

[36:36] we have

[36:37] election electo over here

[36:41] um he's adorable but definitely not my

[36:44] favorite pokemon i've got to go with

[36:47] blastoise or blastoise

[36:50] but i say blastoise i also like whale

[36:52] mer

[36:53] and snorlax i like the big like

[36:57] pokemon i don't know why i find them

[37:00] less

[37:01] less intimidating

[37:05] um all right so

[37:08] the next thing we need to do is make our

[37:11] icing

[37:14] and for that we need now you can do this

[37:17] again by hand

[37:18] i'm going to use my uh electric

[37:21] mixer for it but it's super super easy

[37:25] and the amounts don't really

[37:28] you can vary them uh kind of depending

[37:30] on what on what you want

[37:32] to do um

[37:36] depending on how how liquidy you want if

[37:38] you want it more like a thick sauce or

[37:40] like a frosting you can do that

[37:42] or if you want it more like a glaze you

[37:43] can do that the thing is

[37:45] the closer to a glaze you get the more

[37:47] alcoholic it's going to be

[37:48] closer to a frosting the less alcoholic

[37:50] it's going to be you can also make this

[37:52] non-alcoholic

[37:54] by just using milk instead of

[37:58] whiskey or brandy and note that the

[38:00] early

[38:01] election cakes used to actually have a

[38:04] lot of

[38:05] alcohol in them they would uh

[38:08] often like have it sit for a day or so

[38:11] and pour alcohol over it and let it soak

[38:14] in and pour some alcohol over and let it

[38:16] soak in

[38:18] as we get through the 19th century

[38:21] in new england there starts to be a lot

[38:23] more um kind of this idea of temperance

[38:25] you know it was kind of the precursor to

[38:27] the 1920s when they

[38:29] had prohibition that whole idea is

[38:32] coming about and so all of these

[38:33] election cakes which used to be huge

[38:35] now they're being baked by a single

[38:37] person in their household so they're

[38:39] much smaller

[38:40] and they get rid of the alcohol

[38:43] typically but there's still often

[38:45] alcohol in the glaze and that's why

[38:47] we're making this anyway two cups 240

[38:50] grams of

[38:51] powdered sugar they would have had

[38:53] powdered sugar in the 1890s though

[38:55] would have been a little bit different

[38:56] than our powdered sugar today

[38:58] but it is what it is and then

[39:02] one teaspoon of vanilla and you can use

[39:05] more than that if you want and just pour

[39:07] it right in

[39:09] i wouldn't use much more than that but a

[39:10] little bit and then

[39:13] three tablespoons i'm using three

[39:15] tablespoons and probably gonna add some

[39:17] more

[39:17] of uh whiskey or brandy i actually

[39:20] decided today to use brandy

[39:24] because we're out of whiskey and then

[39:28] again you can do it by hand or you're

[39:30] going to lose you could you can use an

[39:31] electric mixer and that's what i'm going

[39:33] to be doing

[39:37] and do it slow at first because it is

[39:39] powdered sugar and it will go

[39:40] everywhere so as you can see

[39:44] it's maybe you can't see as you can see

[39:47] it's coming together and um

[39:50] and will eventually become rather thick

[39:52] and this

[39:53] so this amount of liquor that i put in

[39:57] is perfect for like a frosting if you

[40:00] want to

[40:01] you could either kind of spoon it on

[40:04] with a spatula

[40:05] or a spoon or you could put it into a

[40:08] bag and pipe it on

[40:09] that'd be lovely if you want it more

[40:12] like a glaze

[40:13] just start adding alcohol or cream or

[40:17] milk

[40:17] either one will work so i'm going to add

[40:19] a little bit because i want it a little

[40:21] bit more like a glaze

[40:22] we'll just take some brandy here gave a

[40:25] song to go for that with that whiskey

[40:28] i don't have a song to go with that

[40:30] whiskey i don't know what

[40:32] i'm trying to think of what's a good

[40:34] election day song

[40:37] i really don't know um

[40:41] i think that this is a you know i think

[40:42] that election day

[40:44] cake is something that really should

[40:47] come back

[40:48] we should have election day cake at the

[40:50] polls um

[40:53] what's also interesting about election

[40:54] day uh the early election day is

[40:57] often you know the election and the

[41:00] counting and

[41:01] everything would happen all at once and

[41:04] it would happen

[41:05] you know out loud and everyone would be

[41:07] there it's a lot easier when you have

[41:10] you know when you're a small town or or

[41:13] village

[41:14] and like 10 of the population can vote

[41:18] because you had to be of a certain age

[41:20] and you had to be a land holder and you

[41:21] had to be male and you had to be white

[41:23] so

[41:24] you know you have 5 000 people but only

[41:26] maybe

[41:28] 200 could vote you can go a lot quicker

[41:32] but i i just love the idea of you know

[41:35] that

[41:36] that tradition happening i guess it's

[41:38] just kind of

[41:39] outdated and quaint but i think it's

[41:41] interesting so

[41:42] what what is interesting too is that

[41:48] when when they ended up moving election

[41:50] day so first they moved election day

[41:52] from may

[41:54] to uh

[41:57] so presidential election day was always

[41:59] um you know

[42:00] was november but election day what they

[42:03] still considered election day

[42:04] in connecticut and much of new england

[42:07] was

[42:07] still in may all through the the 1800s

[42:10] until

[42:12] they started changing in the mid-1800s

[42:14] and i think hartford and connecticut

[42:16] did it in like 1871 might not be right

[42:19] uh they changed it to january

[42:22] and well now it's too cold to have any

[42:26] of these outside

[42:27] festivities and it was right after

[42:30] christmas because by now they're

[42:31] celebrating christmas

[42:33] and and new year's and everything and so

[42:35] they didn't the festivities kind of fell

[42:37] apart

[42:37] and the parades didn't happen anymore

[42:39] but

[42:40] they said you know the one thing that

[42:43] we're keeping

[42:44] is election cake and they did keep it

[42:46] for a while

[42:47] but as an influx of new people from

[42:51] europe started coming in

[42:52] in you know the 1890s and the early

[42:54] 1900s

[42:57] it wasn't uh it wasn't important to this

[43:00] to this it wasn't part of their

[43:01] tradition so the tradition of election

[43:04] cake kind of faded away and

[43:05] really by the 19 teens and 1920s

[43:09] you stopped seeing election cake in

[43:12] in a lot of cookbooks um it's kind of

[43:15] sad

[43:16] plus and right right about the time that

[43:20] fanny farmer

[43:22] and i should do a show on on on her

[43:25] is writing her cookbook in 1896

[43:29] the way that cooking in the household

[43:31] was was changing

[43:32] because now you've got kind of a

[43:34] burgeoning middle class

[43:36] that can they can't afford uh to have

[43:40] a maid or or servants cooking because

[43:43] most cookbooks during the 19th century

[43:45] had kind of been written for

[43:46] that for for someone who was cooking all

[43:49] day

[43:50] that was their job they couldn't really

[43:52] afford that

[43:54] so now it's for the housewife and that's

[43:56] what the boston cooking school was for

[43:57] it was

[43:58] to teach housewives how to cook

[44:01] so things are starting to change recipes

[44:04] are getting a lot

[44:05] smaller and then not long after that

[44:09] world war one women start kind of

[44:11] entering the workforce

[44:13] and it's it's interesting to see how

[44:16] cookbooks through the late 19th century

[44:18] and early 20th century

[44:20] change as society changes and

[44:24] that yeah that could be a whole episode

[44:26] um i won't go into it all right now but

[44:28] um it's just interesting you know hey

[44:31] max

[44:32] uh yami sent you the good guy to wine

[44:34] from your amazon wishlist

[44:37] thank you yummy i i can't wait to uh

[44:41] to get that there are actually a few

[44:42] books i need to look into okay so this

[44:45] once you take your cake out of the oven

[44:48] it would be like this

[44:49] um you want to let it cool in the pan

[44:52] for about five maybe 10 minutes and then

[44:55] you want to flip it out

[44:57] onto a wire rack

[45:00] at which point if you want a glaze you

[45:04] can actually put a little bit of glaze

[45:05] on there while it's still warm but i

[45:08] would wait until

[45:09] it's it's pretty much room temperature

[45:13] otherwise it can slide off it's not

[45:15] pretty

[45:16] but i'm going to just um i'm going to

[45:19] just pour this on here

[45:21] see see what see what happens it's still

[45:24] pretty

[45:25] pretty thick can you see

[45:29] oh pretty thick but i'm pointing it on

[45:32] there

[45:36] it's like ribbons almost i love that uh

[45:39] this was

[45:39] totally not on purpose but the um

[45:44] it's plenty you can save a little bit

[45:46] and put it on an individual piece maybe

[45:48] um so there

[45:52] as you as you see election day cake

[45:56] it's all ready i'm going to cut myself a

[45:57] slice because i haven't eaten this

[45:59] clearly

[46:00] i did it earlier but i haven't eaten

[46:01] this one um

[46:05] what was i saying i was saying something

[46:08] i just ramble uh

[46:11] i honestly can't remember what i was

[46:14] saying

[46:16] i don't know it'll come back to me let

[46:19] me grab a knife here

[46:21] can you talk a little bit about what's

[46:22] coming for november december yes i can

[46:24] talk about what's coming for november

[46:26] and december so

[46:28] for november well on tuesday

[46:31] this tuesday on the real election day um

[46:36] i have an episode that a lot of people

[46:37] have been asking about

[46:39] which is silphium i talk about silphium

[46:42] and go into the history of

[46:44] that lost roman aphrodisiac uh

[46:47] silphium really interesting history i've

[46:49] also been

[46:50] maybe toying with some mead making uh

[46:53] we've got some pumpkin pie

[46:56] from the 17th century coming

[46:59] some interesting history there uh and

[47:02] then

[47:02] you know a lot of holiday recipes i'm

[47:04] not gonna i'm gonna try not to do every

[47:06] single episode

[47:07] a holiday recipe save some for next year

[47:09] hopefully i'm still around

[47:10] um but i'm not saying i'm going to be

[47:13] dead i'm saying

[47:14] hopefully this show is still around this

[47:16] is a little more of it

[47:18] um but you know i'm going to be doing

[47:20] gingerbread

[47:21] and one thing

[47:24] so i had some mishaps with uh

[47:28] christmas pudding the first recipe for

[47:31] something actually called christmas

[47:33] pudding before that it was

[47:34] plum pit pudding or figgy pudding but

[47:36] for christmas pudding

[47:38] uh it needs to be boiled in a

[47:41] cloth and it is hard and so easy to

[47:45] mess up and i messed up and had some

[47:48] very expensive

[47:49] um mishaps so i'm going to cut this cake

[47:54] hey max chris asks if you can add food

[47:56] coloring to that glaze so you can make

[47:58] it

[47:58] look like an american flag absolutely

[48:00] you can

[48:02] you can add food coloring to everything

[48:06] so

[48:10] so i didn't want to um completely change

[48:13] the texture of the cake i wanted it to

[48:15] be

[48:16] you know akin to what a yeasted cake is

[48:18] going to be so it is

[48:19] a fairly tight crumb that's why i'm

[48:21] saying like it's not going to be like a

[48:22] chiffon or angel food cake or anything

[48:24] like that it's more like a

[48:26] banana bready cake um but

[48:30] it's still a looks really good and it's

[48:32] just chock full

[48:34] of fruit and the nice thing is because

[48:36] it's a little bit thicker

[48:38] the fruit stays nicely um

[48:42] spread out it doesn't all fall to the

[48:46] bottom

[48:51] okay that brandy is really strong

[48:55] maybe not use as much brandy as i did

[48:56] maybe i should have put a little bit of

[48:58] milk in there

[48:59] i like it but it's strong

[49:05] let me show you i can

[49:08] [Music]

[49:09] around up here

[49:14] how incorporated that fruit should be

[49:18] see it's it's all very nicely

[49:22] incorporated i guess i'm saying the same

[49:26] word

[49:26] um it was funny we were watching the

[49:28] great british bake off the other

[49:30] the other day and we've watched every

[49:32] episode it was actually the 100th

[49:33] episode that paul hollywood had done

[49:35] 100th episode of

[49:36] great british bake off and never once

[49:39] has he used the term what was the term

[49:42] oh god uh concertina

[49:45] in response to a cake when you make a

[49:47] layer cake sometimes you know they can

[49:49] get squished down or

[49:50] or whatever and so he used the term

[49:53] concertina

[49:55] which is correct you know but he uses it

[49:58] like

[49:59] 20 times during the episode every time

[50:02] he's looking at a cake oh it didn't

[50:04] concertina or it did concentrate

[50:05] it's just funny and i do the same thing

[50:08] i'm like i never use this word and then

[50:10] all of a sudden i've just said

[50:11] incorporated like five times in a row

[50:14] because i'm not a human thesaurus um

[50:18] it is what it is anyway do we have any

[50:21] more questions because i think that

[50:22] we're

[50:23] we're about out of time how about five

[50:26] minutes

[50:28] let me know if you have questions

[50:30] comments concerns

[50:33] also just a reminder that i would love

[50:36] to

[50:36] have some uh suggestions

[50:40] on on episodes for next year um

[50:43] i've i've got tons but i want more

[50:46] uh you know so as we go i'm also going

[50:48] to keep trying to do these live streams

[50:50] maybe once a month or so

[50:52] um and i just started uh patreon

[50:56] my my 10 20 and 25

[50:59] uh patrons we're getting together once a

[51:02] month and doing a cocktail hour so we

[51:04] pick a historic cocktail

[51:05] and you know just chat about history and

[51:08] food and it's

[51:09] you know a nice small small gathering uh

[51:12] which is

[51:13] which is really lovely kind of kind of

[51:15] nice to to actually get to

[51:16] because right now we're still doing it

[51:18] it's like a zoom so we're

[51:20] face to face actually talking with each

[51:21] other which is which is cool

[51:23] you know people sometimes bring up the

[51:25] 60s and 70s

[51:26] weird jello foods but why do you

[51:29] kind of shy away from that so a few

[51:31] reasons why i shy away from

[51:34] really from foods from the from the 40s

[51:36] 50s 60s 70s all of that

[51:39] one reason is because

[51:42] uh public domain it's i use a lot of

[51:46] images

[51:47] in my in my videos and

[51:50] if you use older images their public

[51:52] domain i need permission

[51:54] the later you get it gets a little bit

[51:56] harder uh

[51:58] so there's that but it's also

[52:02] it's it's just not my my [ __ ] as as

[52:05] musicians would say it's not my

[52:07] my wheelhouse that said i would actually

[52:09] love to try some of these um especially

[52:12] like the the right post world war ii

[52:15] things um and and some of those 50s kind

[52:17] of

[52:18] weirder the aspects and stuff like that

[52:21] but

[52:22] there are other people who who do that

[52:23] and they do that well

[52:25] um i'm actually going to be uh i i

[52:28] worked on the the pumpkin pie

[52:29] episode the one that i did is from the

[52:32] 1670s

[52:33] but then i'll point you in the direction

[52:35] of my friend jill who has a channel

[52:38] called yester kitchen where she really

[52:39] focuses on the 50s 60s 70s and 80s

[52:43] american recipes kind of some of those

[52:45] weirder things and she does a more

[52:47] modern

[52:48] pumpkin pie i think from the 60s um

[52:52] so there are other people doing it but

[52:53] that doesn't mean i'm not going to do it

[52:55] so uh if if that's something that people

[52:57] want to watch

[52:59] i will do it uh i trick and join light

[53:02] but he wants

[53:04] after lockdown maybe like a fan meter

[53:06] grip some kind of get together

[53:08] yeah no after lockdown i i mean

[53:12] i would love to get to meet

[53:15] people and and have more of you know

[53:18] build that

[53:18] build that community and and travel so

[53:20] you know we could do it in in several

[53:22] different places which would be really

[53:23] cool

[53:24] and then i would love you know they have

[53:25] cons like vidcon and and all these

[53:28] different things where

[53:30] it just tends to have you know people

[53:32] get together so it's kind of like a

[53:34] on purpose get together i guess uh so i

[53:37] hope to do those

[53:38] um but it's kind of like when when is

[53:41] the world gonna be back to normal i

[53:43] don't know

[53:45] uh this is the only world i know now

[53:47] because i've been doing this only

[53:48] since lockdown so

[53:51] uh ian crowe sends us thanks they're all

[53:54] gathered and suggests that for next year

[53:55] you do pierogies

[53:57] i will do pierogies and one of these

[54:01] days

[54:02] i'm going to do jose's favorite thing

[54:04] that i make

[54:05] which is it's it's not pro but it's a

[54:08] little bit similar to pierogies in a way

[54:10] called beerox uh and the history behind

[54:14] the people who made them

[54:15] the uh they were the volga germans

[54:19] who came over to russia from germany

[54:23] invited by catherine the great such an

[54:25] interesting story so i will be making

[54:27] those

[54:28] they are amazing they're basically

[54:31] ground beef cabbage uh

[54:35] cheese and onion kind of like

[54:38] cooked and then into the most pillowy

[54:40] soft dough that you have

[54:42] ever had in your life it's like almost

[54:44] like japanese milk bread but

[54:45] filled with food oh so good and i will

[54:49] do that

[54:49] one of these days any more questions uh

[54:52] native american foods

[54:53] food some turkey yes well

[54:56] i was going to be doing saleb which is

[54:58] from from uh

[55:00] turkey but one of the ingredients that

[55:02] was supposed to come

[55:04] never came it's not legal in the united

[55:06] states to

[55:07] have it imported and so i was having

[55:09] anyway

[55:10] that's hopefully i'll be able to do that

[55:12] eventually and i do want to do some

[55:14] turkish food

[55:15] i actually love turkish food um

[55:18] and and there's some interesting history

[55:20] and how turkish food in

[55:22] in germany actually became a thing

[55:26] um a native american cuisine i

[55:28] definitely want to

[55:29] to do it i'm still looking to partner

[55:32] with someone

[55:33] who really knows the history behind it a

[55:35] little bit more than i do because

[55:37] there hasn't been a lot written about it

[55:39] and i'm

[55:41] i i feel like i could screw it up all

[55:43] too easily

[55:44] especially because they didn't write

[55:45] down recipes and so a lot of it

[55:48] you know was was transmitted orally and

[55:51] a lot of what we do have written down

[55:52] is not authentic so i'm i'm looking for

[55:55] people to work with i have some names

[55:58] i just haven't gotten around to it but

[56:00] it is on the docket sounds of sushi sent

[56:03] you a benjamin

[56:05] thank you sounds of sushi appreciate

[56:07] that

[56:08] more live streams more live streams

[56:11] probably once a month um i would like to

[56:14] do more

[56:15] but this is actually a lot of work

[56:19] um and you know putting putting each

[56:21] episode together is a lot of work so

[56:23] unless they were just q and a's which we

[56:25] could be um

[56:26] maybe a little bit of history uh they'll

[56:28] probably have to stick to once a month

[56:30] but maybe we have some of those where

[56:31] i'm not actually cooking

[56:33] a dish which means i haven't had to

[56:34] develop a recipe

[56:36] because that's what takes a long time to

[56:38] do um

[56:40] i'll try to get more maybe after the new

[56:43] year

[56:44] loaded question but people want to know

[56:46] about the books you are using

[56:48] the books i'm using tons of books for

[56:51] for this

[56:51] specifically so

[56:55] this recipe came from fannie farmer's

[56:58] 1896 cookbook i also definitely went to

[57:03] well i went to that amelia simmons

[57:05] american cookery

[57:06] and let me tell you it was so

[57:07] frustrating because all online if you

[57:09] look up election cake everybody's using

[57:11] amelia simmons

[57:12] recipe and then i have her book and it's

[57:15] not in there

[57:16] and i was like what is going on because

[57:18] a lot of times you find things online

[57:19] that are not true so i was like is this

[57:22] one of those things that isn't true it's

[57:23] not actually her recipe

[57:24] turns out it's from the second uh

[57:27] edition

[57:27] so i don't have that very few people do

[57:30] i guess

[57:30] um but so i referenced her first edition

[57:33] as well for some of her techniques

[57:35] um and then for this i i relied a lot on

[57:39] the uh historical society the

[57:41] connecticut historical society the new

[57:43] england historical society they're not

[57:45] books they're

[57:46] wonderful you know websites and

[57:49] then the one book that i did really

[57:51] delve into is

[57:53] uh walter woodward i believe the the one

[57:57] that i mentioned

[57:58] creating connecticut it's fantastic um

[58:00] really just some interesting stuff he

[58:02] knows connecticut history like

[58:03] the back of his hand um really

[58:06] interesting guy

[58:08] outside of that you know i have tons of

[58:10] cookbooks that i rely on but a lot of

[58:12] what i try to do is find primary sources

[58:17] and the best way to do that is by there

[58:20] are some online

[58:22] and and sometimes i have trouble because

[58:24] they're behind paywalls or you have to

[58:26] belong to a university or something like

[58:27] that

[58:28] um but a lot of online like

[58:31] i don't know how to say it jstor jstor

[58:34] is one website that has all of these

[58:37] uh academic papers and if you read in

[58:40] the academic paper and then go to

[58:42] the bibliography they often have their

[58:44] sources and sometimes those are primary

[58:46] sources so

[58:46] i'll pick up you know one of these uh

[58:50] articles and go straight to the

[58:51] bibliography and be like okay

[58:53] where are you getting your where are you

[58:54] getting your stuff and then i go find

[58:56] that stuff either online or have it sent

[58:58] to me

[58:58] and then a lot of books lately i've been

[59:00] having viewers sent to me which has been

[59:02] really awesome i've had several recipes

[59:03] that i've already done

[59:04] and several more that i'm going to be

[59:06] doing the makshufa

[59:07] the arabic candy was one of them um so

[59:12] tons of places lots and lots of places

[59:14] the chat is asking about

[59:15] armored turnips do you know what those

[59:17] are armored turnips you know what i've

[59:19] heard of that but i don't know what that

[59:22] is

[59:23] i don't have to look it up armored

[59:26] turnips

[59:27] um too far doug asks are there any

[59:29] drunken toasts or quotes from your

[59:31] research on election day drunken toasts

[59:34] or quotes you know what

[59:36] if i'd come across any they would have

[59:39] been in the episode

[59:40] would have been a nice way to close

[59:41] things out i didn't come across anything

[59:43] they didn't write it down you know which

[59:46] is okay

[59:48] what they did write down were these long

[59:49] sermons so

[59:51] but they're not i don't think they're

[59:53] drunken they didn't drink

[59:57] and that's it good place to wrap up

[1:00:00] all right well there is election cake

[1:00:04] wonderful history behind it wonderful

[1:00:06] history about

[1:00:07] our elections and you know how they've

[1:00:10] changed and

[1:00:12] you should definitely go out vote on

[1:00:13] tuesday if you haven't already i think

[1:00:15] most people already have

[1:00:16] um and i'll see you on tuesday for an

[1:00:20] episode of tasting history

[1:00:22] thank you everyone until next time

[1:00:30] you