We were blessed to spend the day at the restored Collier House (circa 1810) at Catoctin Furnace at an open hearth cooking class titled “Feast at the Furnace”. While I have some experience with open-hearth cooking from working at Mount Vernon, I jumped at the chance to spend a full day getting more comfortable with fire management. I cook a LOT, so the recipes weren’t my focus — what I really needed was a better comfort level working with the fire and to learn how to cook with coals.
Priscilla Rall put together the program, and it was amazing! I am so thankful to have met Priscilla at one of our demos at the Market Fairs at Claude Moore Colonial Farm and she happened to remember from our conversation that I was looking for an open hearth cooking class. She emailed me about the opportunity and we seized it…the whole family came. Jeff intended to drop me off and take the kids hiking, but there was an open fire….and you know how he is about fire! :-) Plus, he became intrigued by a waffle maker and wanted to get it working properly!
The menu included apple pies, apple fritters, apricot and apple pudding, gingerbread waffles, toast, gingerbread, chestnuts, rabbit smothered in onions, fried sausages with apple and sauerkraut, grilled venison, ham hocks, freshly-churned butter, scrapple, the beginning stages of sauerkraut, and rice cakes. It was a ton of food — when we got one thing off the coals, another took its place. And, that was the type of class it was….you jumped in and got involved with whatever recipe intrigued you, and then moved onto another…and there were at least 4 recipes going on at a time.
What an amazing experience! If you get the chance to attend one of the Catoctin Furnace Historical Society's Open Hearth Cooking Class, please do so! You won’t be disappointed.
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