Going old style
Cookbook focuses on local foods, traditional N.S. recipes
Chefs from across the province were given heritage recipes dating back as far as 1768, to interpret and recreate.
Chicken soup for invalids, rice pudding with a hint of mace, and popcorn balls made with molasses are some of the old recipes local chefs modernized for a new cookbook.
Chefs from Governor’s Pub and Eatery in Sydney and Kiju’s Restaurant in Membertou are some of the culinary experts from across the province who took part in Nova Scotia Cookery, Then and Now.
Given heritage recipes dating back as far as 1768, the chefs were asked to interpret and recreate them with a modern twist.
“I was just like – chicken soup for invalids – what’s an invalid? ’Cause you know even the wording in some of the recipes you don’t know what they meant. Then you’re like, chicken soup for sick people. Oh, I got it,” Ardon Mofford, executive chef at Governor’s, said about a recipe from 1874.
“I was looking up some of the words because even the grammar they used then was different. But it did inspire me. It brings you back to the roots of cooking.”
The idea to bring recipes linking the past to the present into one cookbook was a joint venture by the Nova Scotia Archives and Select Nova Scotia.
“It was super cool to do some- thing like that. . . . It’s cool to see how they cooked in the olden days,” said Aimee Mcdougall, sous chef at Governor’s. “Their recipes were very different, like there was no real method to the madness. They are written as you would say it.
“There were not a whole lot of changes, not in the food preparation itself. But the recipe itself, it was difficult to read it and make it our own. Ours were super old and they were difficult to comprehend . . . the writing itself was really hard to decipher.”
Photos of the dishes were shot in historic sites across the province, like Cossit House in Sydney. The original recipes are printed next to the modernized versions.
“It was great, a lot of fun. It was a great learning experience. People don’t realize how much there is to food styling and food photography,” said Shaun Zwarun, executive chef at Kiju’s, who hopes to publish his own cookbook one day.
Wayne Odo, pastry chef at Governor’s, agreed. “The whole experience was interesting, in between the photography, the plate-up, just to see what’s actually involved in putting together a cookbook. I think a lot of us take that for granted.”
Another thing that was an eyeopener for the chefs was realizing how easy chefs have it today.
“What really stands out to me is when you see something like that and you look at how far we’ve come today, and how much culinary has evolved from back in that day and age until now,” said Mofford.
“They didn’t have what we have. Being a chef today is so much easier. Today if you don’t know something you just Google it . . . and watch a quick Youtube video.”
As a pastry chef, Odo found some of the ingredients they used interesting.
“Things like rose water and wine, things that were a lot heavier. I did a dessert and there’s things you wouldn’t see in any common dessert today,” he said.
“In my seven years as a pastry chef I have never seen mace used. . . . I have heard of the spice, I have never used it and I have never seen a use for it before.”
The cookbooks are currently available for sale at Kiju’s and will soon be available at Governor’s and the Old Sydney Society. They can also be ordered online at www.numbus.ca.
Mofford said he might feature the cookbook’s version of chicken pot pie and some of the recipes from other chefs in the book at Governor’s.
Kiju’s has already featured the Dragon’s Breath Corn Bake, which Zwarun said many people liked even though blue cheese isn’t something everyone loves. But there was one recipe he wasn’t sure of until he made it.
“One of the dishes that was really neat that I never really thought I would like was the maple-glazed popcorn. What a cool little snack; just a cool recipe.”
Maple Popcorn Balls Ingredients:
1 1⁄2 cups Acadian maple syrup 1⁄2 cup unsalted butter 5 cups icing sugar 2 cups marshmallows 4 tbsp. water 10 litres popped popcorn
Directions
Combine everything but popcorn in large pot. Heat to boil, then reduce to simmer. Add popcorn and coat evenly. Let cool enough to touch. Wearing gloves, form into balls. Cool.
Store in airtight container.
Tip: Use cooking spray on hands to prevent sticking.