A Very Steampunk Menu

I must apologize for the long period of time since my last post; my computational engine has been rather stubborn as of late. Therefore, this new year, I resolve to stop using stupid excuses like that to slack off. More posts are coming, I swear!

On the subject of the new year's festival--food and feasting! I present to you this Victorian-inspired compilation of recipes for your next celebration, dinner party, or whenever you're feeling bored and want to cook something interesting.

Beverages--Lavender Lemonade
Appetizer--Salmagundy
Main Course--Beef Wellington
Dessert--Pudding (this link provides a choice of recipes)

Three Tasty Bread Recipes

There are few things sadder about modern life than that spongy, tasteless bread that lines the shelves of grocery stores. The steampunk solution? Bake your own, of course! A few of my favorites are this simple crusty bread, and French bread. If you're feeling ambitious, try some sourdough. 
Let us begin the great bread revolution!

Cookbook Review: Fuel for the Boiler

With Thanksgiving coming up here in the States, I thought it would be appropriate to dedicate a fair number of this month's posts to the subject of food. The topic of steampunk food is one that I've spent many hours wandering the vast recesses of the aethernet in search of, usually with little luck. Needless to say, I was just about drooling in sheer joy when I discovered the existence of a steampunk cookbook, that is Fuel for the Boiler, compiled by Elizabeth Stockton.

To begin with, this is not going to be the most professionally organized and edited cookbook you'll ever read. Being compiled from an online forum, it contains the best and worst of the aethernet--great ideas, terrible grammar. Likewise, this is the first cookbook I've ever read which includes the phrase "stir the shit out of it."

Some of the recipes require hard-to-find ingredients (do they even sell buttermilk at the grocery store?) or imprecise measurements, which make them rather hard to prepare, while many others are both simple and delicious, and have become staple foods in my home. In fact, I ate macaroni and cheese made using a recipe from this book for breakfast this morning. Mmmmm... Nothing like a little mac and cheese with the morning tea...

Homemade Soda Recipie

While people today normally associate sodas with the mass-produced cans of mysterious God-only-knows-what that we buy in grocery stores, its history goes back much farther, to the Victorian Era drugstores and soda fountains. Rather than being purchased from large corporations, sodas of that era were mixed from soda syrup and seltzer water. In the attitude of steampunk, I'll post this surprisingly easy recipe for making your own syrup at home.

Flavoring can be achieved using either fresh sources--fruits, herbal tea, and ginger all work quite well--or by using extracts such as vanilla or orange.

1. Fill a saucepan with water. The amount of water you add will amount to about half the volume the finished syrup.

2. (Optional) If using fresh flavoring, put whatever fruit or herb you're using in the water and boil it until the water becomes thoroughly colored from the flavoring.

3. Add in sugar to make the total proportions 1/2 sugar and 1/2 water. Heat this mixture, stirring constantly, until the sugar is completely dissolved.

4. If using an extract flavoring, add a few drops of flavoring.

5. If desired, add a little bit of food coloring to the syrup.

6. Unless you intend to use all of the syrup right away, add a little cream of tartar to keep it from hardening.

7. Mix together about one part syrup to three parts seltzer water. Enjoy.

A large number of flavoring ideas can be found at this site.

Afternoon Tea Recipies

If you, like myself, are not lucky enough to have any awesome little cafes withing walking distance, you'll probably have to end up baking your own food, or *gasp* going without. To prevent your next tea from turning into a disaster, I've found this fantastic list of recipes. 

Fish and Chips Recipe

With Victorian London being the center of the Industrial Revolution, as well as the setting for a large number of novels and films, England and steampunk have always been closely connected. In honor of the Olympic games being held in London, I'll post this recipe for fish and chips. These are baked, and are therefore more healthy but less authentic, although it could easily be adapted into a fried meal.

Ingredients: Fish (Cod works best)
                  A small amount of flour
                  A couple eggs
                  Breadcrumbs
                  Red Potatoes
                  Olive oil
                  Malt Vinegar

1. To prepare the fish, dredge it in flour, and then coat it with eggs and breadcrumbs. Bake on a greased pan at 400 degrees Fahrenheit until flaky.

2. To make the chips, slice the potatoes into wedges and coat them in olive oil. Bake until browned.

3. Serve the fish and chips together, topped with a little salt and a lot of malt vinegar.