Shapenote Singing

Once popular among Pennsylvania German communities, shapenote singing is an experimental form of music developed in the 19th century and characterized by lesser emphasis on harmonized melodies. Complementing the meals and recipes in Sauerkraut Yankees, a shapenote serenade could be just the thing to round out a re-creation of a proper 19th-century Pennsylvanische meal.

Gioachino Rossini

For over one hundred years, chefs have taken Auguste Escoffier’s (1846-1935) writings as the first and last word on culinary technique. Here, the renowned chef gives instructions for Tournedos Rossini, popularly regarded as the creation of composer Gioachino Rossini (1792-1868).

Giuseppe Verdi

Occasionally, a Great Composer dish fails to seduce 21st-century palates—the 2002 Sicilian salad of calves’ feet and cucumber pickles was a little too authentic for Verdi aficionados. When Blank once asked Louis Szathmary just how authentic one needed to be when recreating historic menus, the Hungarian chef declared, “Chust up to the point of indichestibility!”

Mozart and Beethoven

Like many older books, Hagger’s title varies even within the same volume. Blank believes it to be the only known recipe book in circulation during Mozart’s lifetime written by a professional Austrian cook. Although it is an indispensable guide for interpreting menus that honor both Mozart and Beethoven, the book raises some unresolved questions. “If this is the new Salzburg cookbook,” Blank queries, “what was the old it was reacting against since there was, famously, no plain old Saltzburgisches Koch-Buch?”