Newsletter Archive

It is speculated that Peking Man roasted meats – though not proven. What is known is that during the Paleolithic Period, that’s 33,000 years ago, people living in southern France (where else?) began to steam their food over hot embers by wrapping it in wet leaves. It wasn’t until the 16th century, when Catherine de Medici arrived in France from Florence, that steaming entered the modern cooking lexicon. For her marriage to Henry II she brought a humdinger of a dowry, introducing milk-fed veal, baby peas, artichokes, broccoli and pasta. Also for the first time, the French court tasted such delicacies as zabaglione, scaloppini [...]

Here’s a sentence you never thought you’d read: We have the Black Plague to thank for extension tables. Before that time, tables were little more than a plank set upon a trestle base, temporarily pinned in place. Unused tables were dismantled by servants and set aside for the next meal. But the Plague decimated the world's population, including servants. Large assemblies of folks eating together were a thing of the past. Add to that the religious persecutions under Henry VIII, and it became unwise to speak freely at mass gatherings. So tables became smaller and "fixed" with permanent tops and bases. Coincidentally, the concept of [...]

The treasures we’ve assembled here were once a customary part of any well-to-do household. Now days, they are atypical – adding individuality and character to your home. Plus, they have great back stories! Take the fans, for instance. During the 19th century, to separate oneself from field laborers, the trend among the upper class was to have the whitest skin possible. So makeup was created using a mixture of beeswax and white lead paint. The resulting application worked perfectly just as long as one sat away from the fireplace. Too close and the beeswax and white-face melted away. Hence the invention [...]

Many believe civilization was enabled by fire and light. From a bundle of sticks tied together and lit, to a hollow shell bright with flaming moss soaked in animal fat, flammables were the driving force moving civilization forward. The earliest candle, from China in 200BC, literally enlightened the world. Fast forward through beeswax, tallow, spermacetti and paraffin. Then, made from a derivative of coal, the miracle of gas lighting changed the world again. In the 1840s, it was all the rage. Englishwoman’s Domestic Magazine recommended that [for parties] “you must close the shutters and draw the curtains, the better to show off [...]

In 1650, the British East India Company gambled on importing two new commodities found in China.  The first was tea, the second, porcelain wine ewers.  Because the ewers were breakable, they were packed for the long voyage inside the bales of tea.  The British, unaware that the Chinese steeped tea in individual cups, concluded that the bulbous ewers must be for tea preparation, despite the pesky problem of the leaves pouring out the spout.  Soon the first teapots, special porcelain ewers with an integral strainer at the base of the spout, were being ordered for export. The high cost of [...]

It’s only been in the past 50 years that the work of illustrators has been recognized as art. Even some artists themselves argued that the real art was the finished product, the print. As a result, no one handled an illustrator's work with any consideration for value or posterity.  Such a loss of creativity! Consider the craft of these earliest illustrators.  Before 1820, the artist covered a copper plate with wax, then carved the design onto the plate with a knife-like tool. Each illustration took 6-8 hours to complete and left the artist with bloodied fingers. After about 100 impressions the [...]

Let's consider the history of the unique turnings that adorn our popular studded leather cupboard-on-stand, shown above. Today they're called “barley twists”. Why? The answer lies in a recipe created in 1638 by French Benedictine monks. It involves boiling down cane sugar with barley water, then twisting the amber strands into candy. The result looks remarkably like these spiral twists. Used on tables, stands, even bedposts, the barley twist was a familiar feature in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, then revived again by Queen Victoria in the mid-to-late 1800s. While many cabinetmakers can create fine pieces with skilled [...]

It's time for holiday entertaining and imbibing. We have just what you need to do it in style.  Not that you can't use these pieces any time of year.  But, somehow, holiday festivities just seem to lend themselves to especially thoughtful presentations. Just having an incredible wine cellar isn’t enough. You need to serve those vintages with respect – and style. What’s the point of having a case of Sterling Vineyards 1978 Merlot if you don’t have a wonderful hammered wine bucket to showcase your bottle at the table? O.K., so maybe a case of '78 Merlot is a push for us, too.  You can still [...]

The first gas stove factory in England opened in 1836.  A gas stove was shown at London's World Fair in 1851, but no real inroads were made until the 1880s when piped gas was available in large towns in Britain. By that time, the price of gas was about 36 cents a month. What does the affordability of gas have to do with the beautiful copper pot in the photo?  Simple. Virtually overnight, cooking large quantities over a fire, or a coal stove, became a thing of the past, leaving substantial inventories of outsized, beautiful copper unused. Enter the log [...]

People love roasts. It’s not just the luxury of a meal prepared over a l-o-n-g cooking period, it’s the succulence, the tenderness and the aroma of a roast. At least those were the standards that Louis IX sought when he created the Confrerie de la Chaine des Rotisseurs (The Brotherhood of the Chain of the Roasters) in 1248. The French King was bragging, really. After all, he had access to prodigious amounts of meat – in big pieces suitable for roasting, and, he had plenty of fuel to keep the fires going for hours.  Neither of these excesses were enjoyed by commoners. Originally the technique of [...]