Saturday, March 27, 2010

driving along


White House Coffee

One full cup of ground coffee, stirred with
one egg and part of the shell, adding a half
cupful of cold water. Put it into the coffee
boiler and pour on to it a quart of boiling
water; as it rises and begins to boil, stir it
down with a silver spoon or fork. Boil hard
for ten or twelve minutes. Remove from
the fire and pour out a cupful of coffee,
then pour back into the coffeepot.
Place it on the back of the stove
or range where it will keep
hot (and not boil); it will
settle in about five minutes.

from the White House Cook Book
1887 best seller
by Mrs Fanny Gillette (of the razor family)


19 comments:

Crazy Ass Beastard said...

Have you ever tried this yourself?

karen said...

Egg and eggshell in coffee? Have you tried it? I like how you made the recipe for it in the shape of a cup...pretty cool! And your artwork always fun to see here!
I'll have to check out the link against theocracy...and add to my blog.
Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Tom said...

that's a lot of work for a cup of coffee. ..but i'm intrigued.

Tess Kincaid said...

That White House coffee sounds like it would grow hair on my chest.

Coffee Messiah said...

simstone: Being the snob I am, a french press or our espresso machine is all we utilize here. Looking at the time line of this recipe, and knowing what was available then, it sounded (having read about it before) like it was pretty tasty.

maggie: See above and Thanks, you too.

tom: Again, looking at the time period, it was probably quite rewarding and not thought of as a lot of time. We take too much for granted time wise these days.

willow: Must have been some pretty hairy women back in those days then.

Subby said...

Um...I'll leave out the egg but will add the shell. And a pinch of salt...

lettuce said...

why the shell? i dont understand...

ratatouille's archives said...

Hi! C.M.,
Really interesting graphics-I had to rethink whether my artwork is the on the same scale as yours...because my collages are computers generated.

The White House (recipe) is really something...truly different from just using a simple...coffee machine.

Thanks, for sharing!
DeeDee ;-D

David G. said...

Call me cynical, Coffee, but I'd be wary of anything that came out of the White House!

Perhaps the 'shell' is symbolic of the propensity for the White House to rush to war?

Hope life is treating you well, old friend.

Coffee Messiah said...

subT: ; )

lettuce: Calcium?

dd: Will you share your collages? Am curious now.

david: Everything was (is) a possibility. Hope you are well!

Sam Juliano said...

That's quite a recipe there, though the inclusion of part of the egg shell is most peculiar. But I bet it's a glorious brew, as you acknowledge yourself. It's always marvelous to have these various old cook books around that unearth concoctions like this, and again you've employed your patented artistic embellishments to achieve sensory wonderment.

ratatouille's archives said...

Hi! C.M. and Sam Juliano,
After a visit over there to Wiki(pedia) and placing the word...collage in the search engine...This is what appeared

Collage

If you go over there to Noirishcity you will see two examples(Metropolis and CoCo Chanel digital collages)of what I just learned is called...Digital collages.

Thanks, for journey to Wiki...
DeeDee ;-D

ratatouille's archives said...

Hi! C.M.,
I'am not sure if this is the technique that you use to create your artwork:

A collage (From the French: coller, to glue) is a work of formal art, primarily in the visual arts, made from an assemblage of different forms, thus creating a new whole.
A collage may include newspaper clippings, ribbons, bits of colored or hand-made papers, portions of other artwork, photographs, a piece of moss or even a dead mole and other found objects, glued to a piece of paper or canvas.

Cont...

ratatouille's archives said...

Digital collage is the technique of using computer tools in collage creation to encourage chance associations of disparate visual elements and the subsequent transformation of the visual results through the use of electronic media. It is commonly used in the creation of digital art.
I'am not quite sure, but I think that I'am using this technique called...Digital collage.

layers said...

hello. I have been out of town teaching a workshop and am slowly getting back to the blog world.
that coffee recipe does not sound too good to me but love your collages.
thanks for the tip on James Castle youtube video-- have not had time to go there yet-- have had too many painting deadlines since arriving back home.

Coffee Messiah said...

dd: Will take a look. Also, I make both types and a majority that aren't sent through the snail mail, are digitally manipulated.

layers: Hope you get to see the film, it was very interesting!

California Girl said...

I've read and re-read the recipe and nowhere does it say to pour out the egg shell. I've often heard of using an eggshell in a coffee pot. I believe I'm thinking back to the old Corning Ware stove top coffee makers that you boiled til it perked, then removed the gadgets that held the grounds & allowed the water to boil up and over (I can't think what they are called).

Anonymous said...

Egg in the coffee. My "spontaneous innovations" in the kitchen don't sound so weird at all now.

;-)

PS: I agree with others about the art. Very good.

Coffee Messiah said...

decker: Back then, who knows what me may have tried ; )