Waterworks Wednesday Book Group

Join the monthly Waterworks Wednesday Book Group for discussion of Fannie’s Last Supper: Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer’s 1896 Cookbook by Christopher Kimball. The author, a chef probably best known for his work on “America’s Test Kitchen”, explores the origins of American cooking and recreates a 12-course feast from Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cook School Cook Book.  Even if you have not read the selected book you are invited to join the group for lively conversation about Boston history. All you need to bring is your curiosity – and maybe your coffee!

The Waterworks Wednesday Book Group will meet Wednesday, November 6th, at 10:00 a.m. in the museum’s upstairs Overlook Gallery. There is no admission fee. Book group meetings occur on the first Wednesday of each month and are led by Mary Ann Tricarico, who is a retired librarian and experienced Waterworks Museum volunteer.

After the book group, you are welcome to stay and explore the museum. See engines built in the same decade that Fannie Farmer wrote her famous Boston cook book, and join a guided tour to learn more about life in Boston’s “Gilded Age”.

About the Book:

In the mid-1990s, Chris Kimball moved into an 1859 Victorian townhouse on the South End of Boston and, as he became accustomed to the quirks and peculiarities of the house and neighborhood, he began to wonder what it was like to live and cook in that era. In particular, he became fascinated with Fannie Farmer’s Boston Cooking-School Cook Book. Published in 1896, it was the best-selling cookbook of its age—full of odd, long-forgotten ingredients, fascinating details about how the recipes were concocted, and some truly amazing dishes (as well as some awful ones).

In Fannie’s Last Supper, Kimball describes the experience of re-creating one of Fannie Farmer’s amazing menus: a twelve-course Christmas dinner that she served at the end of the century. Kimball immersed himself in composing twenty different recipes—including rissoles, Lobster À l’AmÉricaine, Roast Goose with Chestnut Stuffing and Jus, and Mandarin Cake—with all the inherent difficulties of sourcing unusual animal parts and mastering many now-forgotten techniques, including regulating the heat on a coal cookstove and boiling a calf’s head without its turning to mush, all sans food processor or oven thermometer. Kimball’s research leads to many hilarious scenes, bizarre tastings, and an incredible armchair experience for any reader interested in food and the Victorian era.