Northern Comfort

Traces New England’s rich baking tradition with historic recipes, carefully adapted for the modern kitchen

In the wake of the American Revolution, a culinary style formed that would set the standard for American cooking. In Northern Comfort, acclaimed food historians Keith Stavely and Kathleen Fitzgerald draw history lovers and home cooks alike into the kitchen with fifty-two recipes for breads, pies, cookies, and cakes. Readers will bake alongside the abolitionist kneading dough for her immensely popular white bread, the teacher frosting one of the world's first layer cakes, and the housewife cutting through the thick crust of a meat pie. The result is a delicious, intimate journey through the lives of everyday people who built our nation.

From comparing the meals of patriots and loyalists to mediating long-running disputes over the best way to make Johnny cakes, Northern Comfort offers a taste of life in historic New England that is as enticing as the baked goods themselves.