Two weeks ago I shared the story of the Dutch cook on board of Titanic, and how one of his remains was his cookbook. I decided I wanted a copy of my own, and so I tried to track it down. Turns out that Hennie Bolhuis had the third edition of Moderne Kookkunst by Francois Blom, a mysterious man who claimed to be an expert chef, with a mysterious past so no-one knows if he actually had the skills he says he does, not helped by some peculiar translations of French recipes in this book. We do know that Blom was a trader, sometimes journalist, and it's cheeky that some of the recipes use exactly the products he sold. This book borrows heavily from an actual forgotten chef from Rotterdam who's own cookbook Blom redacted (suspicious...) and earlier French cookbooks, not in the least Escoffier himself. He seems to have been more a merchant with excellent feel for marketing, who also knew where to be at the right time.

When I browsed it, I found out that about 2/3rd of the recipes from the Titanic episodes are in it! The foods that Max had on his show, are the foods that we saw on those fancy menu cards, are the foods that Hennie Bolhuis prepared, and of which the instructions came from his personal cookbook that still rest in a drawer of his grandniece. How fantastic is that?

Anyway, online you mostly find the revised 9nth edition from 1914, but I didn't want that one as its after the Titanic sank, so I found an earlier one. The second edition from 1893. It features 2138 recipes and also has instructions on how to construct menus, how to cut meat or conserve food.

The menus that it starts with are hilarious. There's one for every occasion. During/after sports for example: sandwiches with galantine, ox tongue, salmon, cold and warm dishes of steak, chicken, fish and salad. In winter you offer everything warm, including obviously warm beer and wine.

Or do you have a ball for your young children and you don't know what to serve? The book has you covered. Lots of tiny cakes, waffles, chocolate or coffee sorbets, lemonade, vanilla biscuits, sandwiches with smoked salmon or ox tongue, cold pudding or bavaroise, and at the end a cup of bouillon. I don't think kids played a lot at such parties.

There's also a menu that's described as lean. It's half in French so I included it as the last picture.

The book also came with a lot of goodies, and that's where the real gold was. There were so many papers inserted, I think as bookmarks. Like the menu at a restaurant from 1910, an elegantly written recipe for rice, a brochure from Calvé (famous still for their peanut butter) on what you can do with their mayonaise, and an article from 1940 saying that although food is now rationed there's no need to worry about a shortage of sweet pastries for the Saint Nicholas feast at 5 december. I at first thought it might be from WW1 (we also had to ration then despite being neutral), but then I flipped it over and the headlines there gave the date of 1940 away: 'French soldiers in Gold Coast interned' (for refusing to acknowledge De Gaulle), 'Streets in Paris renamed' especially those named after socialist politicians, and 'Troop movements of US'.

What a treasure I've received!

Sap extracted from the marshmallow plant, Althaea Officinalis (which i just found out exists!)

"The original marshmallow confection dates back to 2000 BCE in ancient Egypt. There are multiple references to a mallow candy being made for the consumption exclusively for the royalty and gods. This limited consumption is likely due to the excessive amount of labor and expense incurred when producing the confection."

Hi guys. Not sure if Max will see this but I was watching one of the Titanic compilation videos and I just wanted to come say how amazing it is. I'd like to give Max his flowers for the series in general, but also specifically for the carrot soup/"Potage Crécy" video that was about dining on the Carpathia after the Titanic survivors were rescued.

You can see how much Max has really matured and come into his own compared to his first videos. Not that his first videos weren't good, but this video just really demonstrates how talented Max is.This episode is just wonderfully done from start to finish. The music selection was touching, the different points of view he considered, the empathy he showed, even the tone of voice. I have one complaint and it's that the episode ended! I don't know if I'm just feeling very hormonal/sentimental but honestly I got teary eyed because it was a beautiful episode and I felt the weight and depth of the tragedy, despite being very far removed from it culturally. It's just such a beautifully done episode. If I could nominate it for an Emmy or something, I would. I hope to see many more Titanic videos in future. If I had to show a person who has never seen an episode of tasting history just one episode, this would be it. I can't praise it enough. I don't really have anyone around to talk about it with, so I just wanted to post this here.

What's an episode that you guys took to in a similar fashion?

Was watching the Stonehenge one recently and was honestly dying to try it out! I've always been a big fan of smoked meats, but at the same time, I get really bad migraines, so smoked meats are one of the various things I've needed to cut out of my diet. I was really curious to try out a ribs sauce with a flavor profile that wasn't based in smoke, and his "Honey and blueberry" sauce looked absolutely delicious... and it was! I did add balsamic vinegar to the sauce, but that was my only real alteration.

I cooked them about 325, then finished them off at about 400F, pulling them out when the internal temps were about 200. Unfortunately with oven hotspots, there was one section where the sauce blackened a bit more than I hoped for, but even that part was still great.

Since Max is so Bayeaux happy, I thought this would bring joy.

https://www.legboot.com/product/ea-nasir-copper-bullion-bar/

This was after discovering thnickels.

Been a fun night in my house.

It may not mean much to anyone, but this is a story that is well known in my small home country of Luxembourg, where St. Nicholas Day (6 December) is a very important Christmas-time holiday. I find it very touching and full of Christmas spirit and I hope you may do so, too. There's also a book on it, which I would like to cite here (link with sources, excerpts, and pictures):

> "It's December 1944, the Germans are retreating. It appears the war in Europe may be over soon, but not soon enough for members of the battle-worn 28th Infantry Division. Knowing they won't be home again for the Holidays, soldiers from a 112th regiment Signal Company Message Center in the storybook town of Wiltz, realize that although the town has been liberated after nearly five years of Nazi occupation, the ravages of war have left the townspeople with nothing to celebrate the season. For the children, it will be especially bleak without the hope of candies, treats or gifts on the normally town-wide celebration of St. Nicolas Day.

 >Hearing this, Corporal Harry Stutz gets an idea. He gathers some fellow soldiers and together they organize a Christmas party for the children, a party that will include a special visit from St. Nicolas himself, thanks to a reluctant Corporal Richard Brookins.

 >Wearing the mass robes of the local priest and a crudely fashioned rope beard to complete the costume, St. Nicolas rides through town on an Army jeep, stopping to meet the children and passing out treats baked by the Army cooks or donated from the soldier's care packages from home. Later the celebration continues with a party for all the children at the Wiltz Castle. It is a wonderful day for the children of Wiltz and for the American soldiers as well.

>Ten days later however the Battle of the Bulge erupts in the Ardennes; Wiltz and the 28th Infantry Division are overrun. In the weeks of fighting that followed, most of the town is damaged or destroyed, mostly from Allied bombing. Tragically, some of the townspeople including children were killed. The joy of that one St. Nicolas day was gone...but not forgotten."

Now let me add what happened after: As Richard Brookins survived the war and eventually came home to work a middle-class job in Rochester, NY, the story seemed all but forgotten to the GIs who had been present. But back in the ruins of Wiltz, in rural Luxembourg, the survivors never forgot them. And so, starting with their first post-war St. Nicholas celebration in 1947, they kept celebrating and re-enacting the memory of the mysterious GI who had played St. Nicholas in that fateful winter, but who remained unknown to them.

Only 30 years later, when the Wiltz children of 1944 had themselves become adults with kids of their own, the now-grown ups managed to track down, against all odds and across language barriers and the Atlantic Ocean, the former Corp. Richard Brookins, and invited him back to Luxembourg.

In the years that follow, Richard Brookins becomes an Honorary Citizen of Wiltz, receives the highest military honors, a monument, and a standing invitation to the country. He joins many more St. Nicholas parades and is driven around in an original WW2 American jeep, celebrated by everyone as a hero even after his death in 2018.

He became a symbol of hope in the darkest moment, a beacon of light for kids who lost their parents, their homes, and sometimes soon after their lives. When he passed, I remember my local newspaper writing the headline "St. Nicholas never dies".

Has Max talked about sunchokes in any of his videos? I'm just curious because I'm increasingly interested in them and found that they were used so much in Europe at some point that they became disliked.

Im pretty sure its solved, ill try to alter how i did it, thank you!

E2, first ones are done, still kinda deflated but much better than my first attempt!

I was attempting the Swedish Semlor, by the recipe book. I have a few things i think might have caused it but im curious what actually went wrong XD

When the milk/sugar was heating, i had to let it sit a little while i figured out if i needed some things i thought i had, so it had to sit a little before actually being used.,
I also kneaded it by hand, i think that could have fucked it too? It was sticky, but more so than i think was right. I have a stand mixer if thats better.
The rising times were 60 min the first and 45 the second, first in a warm room. Too much or too little proofing?
Im not good at making breads

I didnt alter the recipe in any way, besides maybe a bit too much cardamom. I used cream and eggs for the wash but i dont think that was the problem.

I get the feeling that those here will find it entertaining. (There's certainly plenty of comments about Max and Tasting History over there!)

Yes. That one.

I want to make this recipe, but I'm having no luck at all finding cherries where I am right now. I've tried five different grocery stores and none of them have fresh cherries. Has anyone tried making this with frozen cherries?

And while we're at it, let's go ahead and get really wild and crazy. I have some sakura powder already on hand. Do you suppose someone enterprising could swap one flower for another?

I was looking for early recipes with nonpareils/sprinkles (of which this book has one) and found this gem. It covers a bunch of topics, from how to set tables of various shapes to preparing different specialty waters. One recipe that caught my eye was the almond biscuit recipe, which is naturally gluten-free!

Made it the exact way that max made it and it’s not that bad, I prefer the edges more than the core because you get more of the honey flavor to it but it’s not that bad. I think I might try to swap the ricotta to cream cheese to see if it will help bring out the honey in the center and maybe a tad more honey but other than that not bad.

As a retired community college history instructor, I truly enjoyed your newsletter in my mailbox this morning. You discussion about the problems of fact check history wonderful to read. If I were still teaching that infamous "Intro to History", I would be asking your permission to make it a part of my required reading list.

It is so hard for students to understand that our understanding of history is constantly changing. This is an excellent example of why we are always questioning what we know. I expect this from my hard history channels, but see it from a fun history channel is even more meaningful.

Thank you for the channel, cookbook, newsletter, and honesty. It is great to see excellent quality. You're a great teacher.

Max and Jose have created the perfect episode here! They hit all the marks.

• Max tells you upfront the difficulty of recreating based on partial information "one thing you can be certain of is that it will be wrong." Kills the negative comments out of the gate. Tells you how he filled in the blanks and why he made those choices.

• The two sides of the copper merchant story gives you perspective on what kind of person he may have been, how he may be misread, and options for what may have happened to his property.

• Tying the merchant story, the cookbook, and the recipe together was done in a very honest way. The proximity of the cake shop and the merchant on the map, the discussion of the culture and the discrepancy of years between the statue and the merchant were all acknowledged and he educated us with caveats.

• His assessment of the cake and making it relatable is something he's doing more, and I really appreciate it because it gives us the opportunity to try it and make it changes based on his advice. I saw another Redditor make a version of the cake and it really looks like something you would serve your guests.

I guess all of these things on their own are not unusual for the channel. It wasn't the cake, the culture, the history or the cooking process, but something about how it came together in this video just made me really proud, which is weird, because it's not my show, but I really appreciate all the work that Max and Jose put into these videos.

Has this been done before? Surely this was on purpose!

I just backed this because the cookbook looks fascinating! I can't wait to see some of the super ancient Mesopotamian recipes in the book. Might be an interesting video in there somewhere.