Calling All Cooks!

On Friday, May 4, the Library’s Community Read Committee and the Medford Historical Society will be holding a joint fundraiser, A Taste of History, featuring a menu inspired by 18th and 19th century recipes. Tastings will occur from 7-9 PM at 10 Governors Avenue.

As part of the fun, we are looking for some cooks to help with the night’s food offerings. In exchange for a dish, we will offer a ticket discount of $5 off the $15 ticket price. Our gratitude, and your name and/or recipe will be listed in the event booklet.

Here is the menu. If an item has an asterisk (*) next to it, that means we have a simple recipe in mind that we can provide. For everything else, we would love to see your version of these traditional favorites. For main courses and appetizers we are asking for enough to serve 12.

If you’d like to cook for us and join the historical fun, please contact Barbara Kerr at the Medford Library by email bkerr@minlib.net or (781) 395-7950.

Main Course
Fish chowder and /or clam chowder
Macaroni and cheese
Fish cakes and/or crab cakes
Chicken Pie
Cornbread
Cole Slaw
Plymouth salad (spinach, beets, currants, oil and vinegar) *

Appetizers
Salmon spread
Crab spread
Cucumbers on toast or mini cucumber sandwiches
Cheese wafers (cheese, flour, sage, mustard, butter) *
Olive & cheese balls (cheese, paprika, flour, green olives) *
Pounded cheese (cheese, mustard, pepper, curry powder, sherry) *

Sweets
Berries and cream
Blueberry Pie
Apple Pie
Gingerbread
Meringues
Cracknels (also known as Shrewsbury cakes – sugar, flour, butter, eggs, caraway) *
Raspberry Charlotte (sponge cake, sugar, jelly, berries and cream) *
Cranberry Pie (cranberries, sugar, water, pie crust) *
Sweet Potato Pudding (Thomas Jefferson’s recipe- sweet potatoes, butter, sugar, eggs, brandy, pie crust) *

– Submitted by Barbara Kerr, Assistant Director, Medford Public Library