The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home: The Happy Luddite's Guide to Domestic Self-Sufficiency

by Ken Albala, Rosanna Nafziger Henderson, Marjorie Nafziger (Illustrator)

Overview

The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home is not about extreme, off-the-grid living. It’s for city and suburban dwellers with day jobs: people who love to cook, love fresh natural ingredients, and old techniques for preservation; people who like doing things themselves with a needle and thread, garden hoe, or manual saw.

Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger Henderson spread the spirit of antiquated self-sufficiency throughout the household. They offer projects that are decidedly unplugged and a little daring, including:

* Home building projects like rooftop food dehydrators and wood-burning ovens
* Homemaking essentials, from sewing and quilting to rug braiding and soap making
* The wonders of grain: making croissants by hand, sprouting grains, and baking bread
* Adventures with meat: pickled pig’s feet, homemade liverwurst, and celery-cured salami

Intended for industrious cooks and crafters who aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves, The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home will teach you the history and how-to on projects for every facet of your home, all without the electric toys that take away from the experience of making things by hand.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781101611838
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	10/02/2012
Sold by:	Penguin Group
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	4 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home is not about extreme, off-the-grid living. It's for city and suburban dwellers with day jobs: people who love to cook, love fresh natural ingredients, and old techniques for preservation; people who like doing things themselves with a needle and thread, garden hoe, or manual saw. Ken Albala and Rosanna Nafziger Henderson spread the spirit of antiquated self-sufficiency throughout the household. They offer projects that are decidedly unplugged and a little daring, including: * Home building projects like rooftop food dehydrators and wood-burning ovens * Homemaking essentials, from sewing and quilting to rug braiding and soap making * The wonders of grain: making croissants by hand, sprouting grains, and baking bread * Adventures with meat: pickled pig's feet, homemade liverwurst, and celery-cured salami Intended for industrious cooks and crafters who aren't afraid to roll up their sleeves, The Lost Arts of Hearth and Home will teach you the history and how-to on projects for every facet of your home, all without the electric toys that take away from the experience of making things by hand.

Table of Contents

To the Gentle Reader xi

1 Grains 1

Absolutely Antiquated Bread 4

Efforteless Sourdough Bread with Whey or Brine 5

Couscous 8

Croissants 9

Dumplings 11

Panisses 13

Dosas 13

Crepes 15

Acorn Crepes 17

Injera 19

Paõ de Queijo 20

Lefse 21

Whey Polenta 22

2 Fruits, Vegetables, Nuts, and Condiments 25

Stuffed Vegetables 26

Colcannon Ramped Up 27

Pickling 28

Using Brines, Pickles, and Whey 33

Jams and Mostarda 35

Soy Sauce 38

Ginkgo Nuts 39

Durian 41

Pickled Green Walnuts 41

Pomegranate Molasses 42

Carob Molasses 43

Sanct Johansbern-Suppen 44

3 Meats 47

Weight Watcher's Veal 48

Pottage of Fat Goose with Pureed Peas 50

Pickled Pig's Feet 52

Boudin Noir 53

Liverwurst 55

Coteghino 56

Pig Jam 57

Beef Rindsrouladen 59

The Celery Cure for Salumi 61

Salam d'la Duja 65

Salo 66

Stock 67

Chicken Feet 71

Gizzard and Heart Paprikash 73

Marrow Bones 76

Pork and Sauerkraut 76

4 Fish 79

Smoked Trout 79

Tonno Sott'Olio 81

Garum 83

Fish Head Stew 84

Cured Fish 86

Pickled Fish 88

5 Dairy and Eggs 89

Cheeses 90

Eggs 106

Ambergris 108

6 Desserts 111

Italian Ice 111

Apple Cider Doughnuts 113

Hamantaschen 115

Jasper of Milk 117

Sugar Candy 118

7 Brewing and Distillation 127

Mead 128

Cider 129

Birch Beer 130

Hooch 131

Rose Water 135

Rossolis 136

Some Mixed Drinks 138

8 Nostrums and Household Stuffe 141

Kombucha: Growing Your Own Mother and Brewing It for Refreshment or Utility 142

Soap 148

The Epistolary Art 154

The Simple Broom 158

Rings for Weddings or Amusement 160

9 Sewing 165

Useful Tools 167

Seams 168

Basic Stitches 169

Hems 174

On Pins and Irons 176

Buttons 177

Darts and Tucks 178

Embroidery 180

Alterations 181

Mending 184

Decorative Modifications: Pleats, Ruffles, and Other Trim 189

Clothing Design 191

10 Making Quilts 201

Design 202

Piecing 204

Quilting 205

Finishing 209

Crazy Quilts 209

11 Rug Braiding 211

Material 212

Equipment for Braiding and Lacing 216

Braiding Technique 217

Starting a Rug 219

Lacing 222

Changing Colors 224

Finishing a Rug 224

Shapes 226

Patterns 227

Caring for the Finished Rug 228

12 Gardening 229

Bamboo 229

Tobacco 232

Gourds 233

Herbs Gardening 234

13 Building Projects 239

Pottery 240

A Proper Dehydrator 242

Fornax: Oven Goddess 244

Acknowledgments 253

Index 255

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“If Irma S. Rombauer hadn't used the phrase more than 70 years ago, the ideal title for this engaging little volume—half cookbook, half culinary sermon—might have been The Joy of Cooking.”—The Wall Street Journal on The Lost Art of Real Cooking

“The Lost Art of Real Cooking is a reminder that inspiring cookbooks can be more useful kitchen tools than any appliance.”—LA Weekly on The Lost Art of Real Cooking

Editorial Reviews

Albala and Henderson follow up their The Lost Art of Real Cooking with an utterly charming collection of recipes and how-tos for the 21st-century hipster homemaker. Like postmodern Elizabeth Davids, they augment their own recipes with obscure, intriguing ones from earlier centuries, such as Apicius’s fourth-century Apricot Minutal, which stews up the fruit with spices and garum, an ancient fish sauce. The book consists mostly of recipes—albeit for unusual, slow-food, and occasionally bizarre dishes such as injera (Ethiopian sourdough pancakes), liverwurst, thousand-year-old eggs (“among the scariest things I have ever tried at home”), kombucha, and butter sauce with ambergris (yes, the “waxy glob that forms in the intestines of sperm whales, which they barf up”)—but, like a quirky updated 1896 Fannie Farmer cookbook, it also includes eccentric but usable household hints and instructions, from soap-making to pounding a ring out of an old silver quarter (using an expedited method invented by Henderson’s father). A fun gift for any curious reader, the book is a must-have for makers and urban homesteaders. (Oct. 2)

Publishers Weekly

If Irma S. Rombauer hadn't used the phrase more than 70 years ago, the ideal title for this engaging little volume—half cookbook, half culinary sermon—might have been The Joy of Cooking.”—The Wall Street Journal on The Lost Art of Real Cooking

“The Lost Art of Real Cooking is a reminder that inspiring cookbooks can be more useful kitchen tools than any appliance.”—LA Weekly on The Lost Art of Real Cooking

From the Publisher

Albala (history, Univ. of the Pacific) and Henderson (coauthor with Albala, The Lost Art of Real Cooking) here tackle household projects both comestible (brewing, preserving) and not (rug braiding, hammering silver quarters into wedding rings, making one's own broom). Despite the depth and breadth of topics covered here, the book is not for homesteaders or those heading for a life off the grid. The intended audience is city dwellers or suburbanites whose time is limited but who want to regain a measure of self-sufficiency over their domestic lives by making some of the objects they use and foods they consume and who want to have fun doing so. Recipes are written in an informal, narrative format, rather thanproviding the standard list of ingredients followed by directions. The projects range from familiar items like sourdough bread and liverwurst to more unusual ones like Acorn Crepes, Jasper of Milk, and something known, mysteriously, as Pig Jam. The authors also explore ingredients and animal parts used infrequently in American kitchens, such as gingko nuts and chicken feet. VERDICT The project instructions are clear and easy to follow and there's quite a lot of humor in the text. Recommended for anyone interested in learning new domestic skills.—Stephanie Klose, Library Journal

Library Journal