Cooking “Maccarony Cheese” in the Archives

So, how long have people been eating macaroni and cheese? According to a new vintage recipe website, mac and cheese has been around for almost 250 years. This could be the perfect website for genealogists who want to combine their cooking skills with their passion for family history.

The inaugural recipe selected for the website, Cooking in the Archives: Updating early modern recipes (1600-1800) in a modern kitchen, is Maccarony Cheese. It was found in a collection of recipes “most likely written and bound between 1765 and 1830.”

The original recipe for Maccarony Cheese calls for “two or three Spoonfulls of Sack or Mountain Wine.” While this recipe (apparently) does not contain any unknown ingredients (Sack Wine?), the authors of this website promise there may be some very interesting vintage recipes. They also explain why we can use sherry instead of Sack Wine for this recipe.

Cooking in the Archives is a food history project run by Alyssa Cannell and Marissa Nicosia with funding from Funding from a University of Pennsylvania GAPSA-Provost Fellowship for Interdisciplinary Innovation. Ms. Cannell is a PhD candidate in English at the University of Pennsylvania and Ms. Nicosia is finishing her PhD in English at the same university.

Other recipes posted on the website are 17th-century Could Possett, Carrot Pudding, and Pease Pods of Puff Paste.

Now that they have whet our appetite, let’s hope these ladies continue to post recipes on a regular basis. Visit Cooking in the Archives here.

Bon appétit!