Grab your nerf gun and goggles, kids, because we’ve got a vintage version of your favorite excuse for December Day Drinking – Eggnog! The Victorians may have enjoyed ether sniffing parties, making wreaths from dead people’s hair, and grinding up Egyptian mummies to use in makeup, but even they found limited entertainment value in a roaring case of salmonella. Sugar
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If you enjoy the hundreds of free recipes here at Kitchen Overlord, help me keep the lights on by picking up a cookbook or two. As a historian who grew up reading Tolkien, An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery is one of my favorites. (You know you’re a hardcore nerd when you’re super excited about using international
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No hobbit meal is complete without a mushroom dish. These stuffed, roasted mushrooms make a great main course for nights when you’re too tired from adventuring to make a rack of lamb or roast a chicken. In middle class Victorian households, stuffed vegetables were a way to make a meal look a little fancy while also being economical. Instead of
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No hobbit meal is complete without a mushroom dish. These stuffed, roasted mushrooms make a great main course for nights when you’re too tired from adventuring to make a rack of lamb or roast a chicken. In middle class Victorian households, stuffed vegetables were a way to make a meal look a little fancy while also being economical. Instead of
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In honor of our last cinematic trip to Middle Earth, this week Kitchen Overlord is treating you to one recipe per day from each chapter of An Unexpected Cookbook: The Unofficial Book of Hobbit Cookery. While there’s nothing wrong with some cold chicken and pickles for a quick bite on a busy morning, if you want to impress visiting wizards,
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Don’t be intimidated by the list of ingredients. This isn’t fancy Elven baking chemistry. Like most Shire foods, this is good, solid stuff that can handle a lot of improvisation depending on what you happen to have in your pantry. All you really need is some butter, sugar, flour, eggs, a cup of whatever fruits you like best, a couple
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Chocolate and vanilla may seem ubiquitous today, but they’re actually both new world beans. That means Tolkien explicitly excluded them from the Shire, even though both flavors were quite popular in Victorian England. Plum Heavies were the cheap, kids cookies of their day. Victorian country cooks would knead in a handful of diced plums plus a little extra sugar into
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Forget those crunchy triangles you find at Starbucks. The Victorian scones of Tolkien’s day were far more like southern style American biscuits. Like American biscuits, these are best served hot and buttered. Unlike their modern counterparts, they’re served at teatime, around 4 p.m., with clotted cream or home made raspberry jam. The creamy interior bears little resemblance to the brick-like
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It’s well known Hobbits love mushrooms. These hearty hand pies are an inexpensive and durable way to bring the best taste of the Shire along on any adventure. Enjoy a couple for a quick Elevenses or save them for supper when the crust can soak up a little mutton gravy. While Hobbits are well known for enjoying meat as much
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These pies are a great snack for small adventures taken just outside the borders of the Shire. A hunk of bread, a little cheese, and 2-3 of these make a perfectly portable elevenses, just the right size to tide you over until a civilized lunch back in the comfort of your Hobbit Hole. In the middle ages, mincemeat pies included
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