I loved partnering with Jason Townsend&Sons, my favorite historic clothier and provider of historic goods to produce a few videos for their wildly popular You Tube series on cooking in the 18th century, depicting the influence of enslaved Africans and African Americans in early American cuisine. We prepared these dishes out at George Mason’s Gunston Hall Plantation in Mason Neck, Virginia. We prepared a simple okra soup based on early receipts including that of “Queen Molly,” herself, also known as Mary Randolph, author of the first Southern cookbook, The Virginia Housewife, and other recipes of the late 18th and early 19th century. For those who may not get an opportunity to see me do historic cooking live will certainly enjoy this. I will put up later videos which I will post to Afroculinaria, we will be demonstrating an early barbecue sauce and black eyed pea cakes!
Many thanks to Jas.Townsend&co for their generosity and kindness and for the wonderful videos they put together as well as my friends over at Gunston Hall. Many many thanks to all. If you like this post or the videos, feel free to share!
