Tag: French Cuisine
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The French Origins of Rufus Estes’ Fried Chicken Recipe
In 1857, a man named Rufus Estes was born into slavery in Tennessee. Despite this poor start in life, Estes went on to become an accomplished chef and worked on the luxury railcars of the Pullman Company, as well as publishing a recipe book, titled Good Things to Eat, as Suggested by Rufus (1911). In…
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The French Origins of Hannah Glasse’s ‘Fried Chicken’ Recipe
1747 saw the publication in London of the first edition of the English cookery writer Hannah Glasse’s book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. Glasse’s book quickly gained huge popularity, both in England and in the British colonies of North America. In her book, Glasse rails against the upper-class English obsession with French cuisine…
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Tracing the Origins of Mary Randolph’s ‘Fried Chickens’ Recipe
Mary Randolph, author of the seminal Southern cookery book, The Virginia Housewife (1824), was raised in an environment in which English culinary influences were strong. Indeed, she was arguably, at core, an English cook. Many writers gloss over this rather obvious fact, and certain dishes in Randolph’s book are regularly highlighted because they stand out as antecedents…