European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 29, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Anything but fast Southern food of mid-1800sby Sherrie Ruhl the Baltimore Sun life was difficult for Sarah a free Black woman working As the single servant in a Middle class family in 1840s Baltimore Long before the common use of refrigeration or even electricity Sarah would Rise each morning at 4 to build up the fire in the basement Kitchen and to begin breakfast for a household of eight her name might or might not have been Sarah. But there is proof from old census and tax records that a Young woman Between 16 and 20, worked at what is now known As the 1840 House one of the Baltimore cily life museum Sites. The records show that Sarah was Black and free. The records also show that a younger Black girl lived in the House As Well. Museum staff theorize that she was Sarah s daughter. Quot we know a lot about How people in general lived during that time though we Don t know a lot about specific individuals Quot says sue Latini one of the museum s volunteers and an expert in mid-19th Century foods and food preparation. Late no who makes her own period clothing says she feels a special kinship with Sarah who would have spent most of her Long Busy Days in the basement Kitchen. Food preparation was labor intensive. Quot if the family wanted a Chicken dinner they would have had to buy or raise a Chicken kill it clean it and Pluck out its feathers before cooking it Quot mrs. Latini says. Shopping for food was a daily chore because there were few ways to store food. Sarah was probably responsible for buying the food either from Farmers driving their carts through the streets or from a nearby Market during the summer Sarah would have had to dry Pickle or Salt foods to store them. She would also have put up jams and jellies using fresh fruits. Sometime during the Day Sarah would have to walk two blocks to the neighbourhood Well for to wooden buckets of water she would have emptied the water into a Large barrel returning to the Well until the barrel was full. Water would then have been dipped out of the barrel for cooking cleaning and bathing. The wooden buckets Are heavy even when empty. Museum goers Are encouraged to pick up the buckets and Yoke similar to what Sarah might have used. Participants in latin s workshops do More than Sample mid-19lh Century cuisine. Museum goers limited usually to a group of 12, Are paired off and Given responsibility for preparing various dishes using cooking techniques from the 1840s. Students for example get to Cook Over an open fire As Sarah would have done regulating temperature in a fireplace is difficult. Pots for slow foods such As stews would have Hung from a Metal rack suspended inside the fireplace. Foods that needed to Cook faster a bread for example a could be prepared in various cast Iron pots and placed in the fireplace sitting in the coals or resting on trivets. Most families ate their biggest meal Al midday. The evening meal was a smaller affair quite probably leftovers Latini says. The household went to bed Early because firewood and candles were very expensive for a Middle class family. Late no s recipes Are representative of foods eaten in the 1840s. She makes a few concessions to the 20th Century. Baking powder for example is used to make bread instead of the traditional yeast. Her 1840s menu includes a Chicken rubbed with Sage and cooked Over an open flame Corn bread made with crackling the crispy bits of pork fat left Over after the fat is rendered into lard and collards with pig tails. Most of these dishes Are too time consuming for modern Day Cooks. She recommends preparing your favorite roasted Chicken recipe with lots of Sage for an authentic touch. Any Good Corn bread a Staple of mid-18th Century life could be served. Finally flavor your Quot mess Quot of collards with a readily available Ham Hock. Here Are some easier recipes Black eyed peas and Ham Hocks 1 Pound dried Black eyed peas 2 pounds Ham Hocks 2 chopped onions 1 Small Bay Leaf 1 dried red Pepper pod Wash peas. Cover with water and soak overnight. The next Day boil meat for 30 minutes in water to cover. Drain peas. Add peas and remaining ingredients to Ham Hocks. Cover and simmer until tender about 2 hours. Discard Bay Leaf and red Pepper. Buttermilk pie 3 eggs separated 2 cups sugar is cup butter 4 Tablespoons flour 2 cups Buttermilk 1 Tablespoon Lemon Ulce v2 Teaspoon Nutmeg i recipe Plain pastry Cream together egg Yolks sugar and butter. Add flour and beat. Stir in Buttermilk and Lemon juice beat egg Whites until stiff and fold into Buttermilk mixture. Add Nutmeg and pour into pie Shell made from Plain pastry recipe below. Bake in 300-degree oven until firm about 30 minutes. If baking in a Hearth place in heated dutch oven Over pile of coals. Bank coals on top of oven. Check after 20  pastry 2 cups flour 1 Teaspoon Salt i cup lard or shortening 4 Tablespoons co d water sift flour with Salt. Add lard and blend with two knives mixing lightly with Fork As water is gradually added. Divide dough in half reserving half for another use. Roll out dough i Inch thick and line 9-Inch pie plate. Backbone and dumplings 3 pounds of pork Backbone neck Bones can be substituted dried red Pepper pod 2 cups flour 2vi Teaspoons baking powder 1 Teaspoon sugar 1 Teaspoon Salt a cup shortening milk Cut pork Backbone into bite size pieces and Cook in water to cover until tender keep covered with a lid. Season to taste with Salt and Pepper after one hour of cooking. Add More red Pepper if desired. Place dumplings on top of meat cover and Cook for about 15 minutes. To make dumplings sift together dry ingredients. With pastry blender or fingers Cut in shortening. Gradually stir in enough milk to make a soft dough that can be taken up and dropped by spoonfuls. Makes about 12 dumplings. Favourites of Lack family cooking by Rose Dosti the los Angeles times during decades of Public life i have seen More problems settled in a dining room than in a conference room. A Good meal creates a special Fellowship that can break Down barriers. A Dorothyl. Height the Black family reunion Cookbook Dorothy height president of the National Council of negro women knows firsthand the Power of a Good meal. Consider the dinners and lunches she shared in 1963 with or. Martin Luther King jr., Whitney m. Youngjr. Of the National Urban league James Farmer of the Congress of racial Equality Roy Wilkins of the National association for the advancement of coloured people and a few other civil rights leaders brought together by Stephen Currier of new York s Taconic foundation. Currier height writes in the Black family reunion Cookbook trader House publishers Quot had an almost biblical sense of the importance of breaking bread together. We came together with a kind of contract. Each of us agreed to come to the meals regularly and Send no substitutes. This we did. Except of course when or. King was in the Birmingham jail. There was a sense of Unity. And eventually we formalized the Strong Bonds among the group and incorporated under the name of the United civil rights leadership. Later when the March on Washington developed. The meal table was  its the african american meal table that the Black family reunion Cookbook celebrates. With the help of both prominent and lesser known african americans from Al Over the country height s National Council of negro women gathered recipes and stories that show the diversity of the african american culinary experience a ranging from Southern Corn Pone to Caribbean meat pie african ground nut Stew Midwest sauerkraut salad Creole Gumbo and new England molasses Brown bread. Of course this Cookbook is not just about recipes. Quot it is about the richest part of our memories Quot height said Quot the part that revolves around bringing people together around a table and giving us another Way of showing the development of our african heritage and our  actress Esther Rolle remembers the Joyful time during meal times a when no scolding was allowed. Quot if you had done something wrong Quot she writes Quot you would try to think of something interesting to say to get Poppa to forget what you had done wrong earlier in the  recording artist Natalie Cole writes of the Quot tender Loving care and affection of growing up in a household where food was always delicious and satisfying a everything from Turkey and dressing to Sweet potato pie. Quot Quot although my grandmother was not Able to teach me her skills As a chef Quot writes democratic congresswoman Eleanor Holmes Norton Quot i am grateful for the More important lesson of her example a a whatever you do do your very best.1 Quot she shares her grandmother s recipe for Golden yellow cake. Quot our Hope is that this Book will make a difference As we Are trying to build on the historic strengths of the family Quot height said. A a realized that we had to use every device in our culture to help raise self esteem. And there is nothing More natural and positive than sharing something of our culture and proceeds from soles of the Book Are to be distributed among 159 come Umito Bosch sections and the Ncnew s National Headquarters to promote of Titan american family history values and traditions. As a Bonus the Ting bound volume includes menus for graduation celebrations fourth of july barbecues barbecued pig s feet As Well As Chicke kwanzaa celebrations family reunion picnics Skillet Fried Chicken and Jambalaya fish Fry Catfish and a Martin Luther King or. Breakfast Celebration Chicken and cheese fritters and hash Browns. And there is a useful african american food glossary but the most historically valuable part of the Cookbook might be the writings of Ncnew founder Mary Mcleod Bethune which begin each of the books chapters. The Book is dedicated to Bethune born to former slaves in 1875 and a major Force of her Era in the emerging struggle for civil rights. She was an adviser to presidents Coolidge and Hoover and director of negro affairs under president Roosevelt. According to the Book she is the first woman of any race to be honoured with a Public Park Monument in Washington . Before she achieved Fame however Bethune struggled. She founded the Bethune Cookman College with just five girls her son and $1.50. When times were Tough she cooked and sold Sweet potato pies to raise the funds needed to keep the school open. Now Bethune s pie recipe is being called into fundraising service once again a it leads off the chapter on family desserts. Mary Mcleod Bethune s Sweet potato pie 9 medium Sweet potatoes or yams about 4 pounds 1 cup butter or Margarine softened v4 cup granulated sugar i cup Brown sugar packed i Teaspoon Salt is Teaspoon ground Nutmeg 3 eggs beaten 2 cups milk 1 Tablespoon Vanilla 3 9-Inch unbaked pie shells Cook potatoes in boiling salted Waler until tender. Drain Peel and Mash. Combine butter sugars Salt and Nutmeg in Large mixer bowl. Beat at medium Speed until creamy. Beat in Sweet potatoes until Well mixed. Beat in eggs. Gradually add milk and Vanilla and beat at Low Speed. Spoon into 3 unbaked pie shells using about 4 cups filling per Shell. Bake at 350 degrees 50 to 60 minutes or until set. Cool to room temperature before serving. Store in refrigerator until ready to serve. Makes 3 9-Inch pies or 18 to 24 Servings. The Black family reunion Cookbook is not available through the stars and stripes bookstores. However it can be ordered directly trader House publishers 4210 b f. Goodrich blvd., Memphis tenn., 38110 0 Page 14 the stars and stripes Friday May 29> 1992 the stars and stripes Page