Category Archives: Food, Drink, and Diet

A Delectable French Jigsaw Puzzle of Anthropomorphized Fruits and Nuts: Les Fruits animes

Posted on by
box

New acquisition

Above is our newly acquired set of three French jigsaw puzzles: Les Fruits Animes! (The Animated Fruits!). Though Cotsen has many jigsaw puzzles, this might be our first fruit-themed toy. Featuring numerous fruits from around the world, and even some nuts, the jigsaw puzzles gives each piece of produce a personality. I’d also like to mention that this is the best example in the Cotsen collection of figures in period dress . . . with fruits and nuts for heads.

Puzzle 1

Puzzle 1

Puzzle 2

Puzzle 2

Puzzle 3

Puzzle 3

This set of jigsaw puzzles was illustrated by A. Belloguet, and lithographed by H. Jannin at his shop on Rue des Bernardins in Paris. Though undated, other work by Belloguet and Jannin (at this particular address) point towards a date of manufacture in the mid- to late 19th century (maybe 1870s).

Some of the personifications are unfairly essentializing: such as the “savage” looking Ananas (pineapple) or the orientalized Chinois (found in puzzle 3 and 1 respectively). Meanwhile, smaller and sweeter fruit are more likely to be anthropomorphized into young girls. Most of the characters, however, seem to have been chosen for more benign associations: such as the brown-robed monk Noix de coco (coconut) with his brown husked head ( found in puzzle 3). But of course, what 19th Century French publication would be complete without a little dig at proper English ladies:

 

Poire d'Angleterre (the English Pear),

Poire d’Angleterre (the English Pear), Puzzle 1

 

The Biggest Sausage in Children’s Literature

Posted on by

Overindulgence doesn’t end with the 12th day of Christmas, it wraps up with the obligatory spread on Super Bowl Sunday.   To usher out the holiday season, we offer up a seasonal story with a recipe.

titlepagefirstpagepigsandspices

procession-sausage-hhheatingtogethrtsizeandweight2335477year223344We can’t vouch for the veracity of The Wonderful History of the Great Sausage (New York: James Miller, ca. 1880).  But it seems likely that it was translated from an illustrated German-language children’s book or Die Fliegende Blatter, like Schwind’s “Trials of Sir Winter” featured in the previous post.   And it is our considered opinion that the charcuterie in the story must have been a hard smoked sausage if it required a saw to slice.

A recipe from an extremely tattered 1967 printing of The Joy of Cooking follows, just in case one of our loyal followers will be inspired to substitute a Wunderwurst for Buffalo wings at their spread for Super Bowl XLIX…   The recipe will have to be multiplied many times to produce a 1005-yard sausage weighing eight thousand, eight hundred and eighty eight pound, but maybe someone from the world of competitive sausage making can be enlisted to lend a hand.  This is surely a manageable project in comparison to surpassing the  the longest sausage on record (five miles long but of ordinary girth).

Hard Sausage

Have ready: 2 ½ lbs of peeled potatoes. Cook 12 minutes, drain, and cool overnight covered.

Grind three times: 2 ½ lbs of top round of beef, 2 ½ lbs of lean pork, and 2 ½ lbs of small-diced pork fat.  Mix with 2 tablespoons of salt, 1 tsp saltpeter, and 2 teaspoons of coarsely ground pepper.

Grind the cooked potatoes once and add to the meat.  Work together until well mixed.  Put into sausage casing and smoke. After smoking, hang in a cool dry place, about 1 to 2 months to cure.

and-it-was,-pictureThanks to the remote researcher who sent the query that caused us to stumble across this tale and “Sir Winter” (January 30 2014 post) in the Cotsen Collection, both of which seemed too good to keep to ourselves.