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How to Plan a Menu for your Sleepy Hollow Party
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How to Plan a Menu for your Sleepy Hollow Party
[This Legend of Sleepy Hollow feast was originally posted in 2014. I’ve since updated photos, included references for those hoping to do their own reading and updated the historical recipes based on recent research]
Such heaped-up platters of cakes of various and almost indescribable kinds, known only to experienced Dutch housewives! There was the doughty doughnut, the tenderer oly koek, and the crisp and crumbling cruller; sweet cakes and shortcakes, ginger cakes and honey cakes, and the whole family of cakes. And then there were apple pies and peach pies and pumpkin pies; besides slices of ham and smoked beef; and moreover delectable dishes of preserved plums, and peaches, and pears, and quinces; not to mention broiled shad and roasted chickens; together with bowls of milk and cream, all mingled higgledy-piggledy, pretty much as I have enumerated them, with the motherly teapot sending up its clouds of vapor from the midst — Heaven bless the mark! I want breath and time to discuss this banquet as it deserves, and am too eager to get on with my story. Happily, Ichabod Crane was not in so great a hurry as his historian, but did ample justice to every dainty.
-The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, Washington Irving
To recreate the feast Ichabod partakes in at the Van Tassels, we need to take a step back in history to explore the food that would have been served, not only in 1790 when Sleepy Hollow was set but also in the region. New York State’s Hudson Bay, where the town of Sleepy Hollow is located, has a history of Dutch colonization dating back to the seventeenth century.
Ready to create the recipes for your Sleepy Hollow party? Use the recipes below to present an authentic meal for your Sleepy Hollow-themed feast in the 21st century.
To help guide you through creating these recipes for your Sleepy Hollow party, you can also download a planning timeline to ease the process. I’ve created this feast twice, and while it is possible over two days, there are elements to some recipes that can be prepared in advance.
THE AUTHENTIC SLEEPY HOLLOW MENU
THE AUTHENTIC SLEEPY HOLLOW MENU
Preserved plums, peaches, pears, quinces
The meats: broiled shad, roast chicken, slices of ham, smoked beef
Milk and cream
Tea
Resources
Extra reading
Disclaimer: links will lead you to Amazon.
If you’re interested in following up with some reading, the following books and cookbooks will provide additional insight into the recipes and cooking styles of the times.
- Food in Colonial and Federal America walks the reader through the availability of foodstuffs and discusses the cultural differences by region.
- The Sensible Cook is an English translation of the favourite 1600s cookbook, ‘De Verstandige Kock’. The author also includes additional ‘modern’ variations from the Dutch colony in the US, providing additional insight and access to recipes likely used during Ichabod Crane’s time.
Four American cookbooks printed during the 1700s and early 1800s were also referenced, providing additional insight into the era. All of the following are available online through websites like Gutenberg.org.
- The Complete Housewife by Eliza Smith. The first American printed cookbook in 1742. (links to a digital version from University of Michigan)
- American Cookery by Amelia Simmons in 1796 (links to a digital version on Gutenberg.org)
- The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse in 1805 (links to digital versions on archive.org)
- and The American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Child in 1829.
Great Post! I love the legend of sleepy hollow! Everything looks delicious.
This is a such a gorgeous (and a little bit spooky) spread! Am in love with your whole site actually 🙂 Will definitely be back for the recipes.
Thanks Carrie!
Trying to convince my daughter to do this for my Grandson’s first birthday party which is October 31st!!
Oh, that would be a beautiful theme! Lucky kid, having the best day of the year for his birthday 🙂
Oh my! This is exactly what I’m looking for! My husband’s birthday is Oct. 13th, (on a Friday this year no less!) and he loves Sleepy Hollow, so I’m definitely cribbing for dinner ideas. Any suggestions for a vegetable that would go well? I need a little green for my kids health…
Please tell me you’re going to publish an actual cookbook!
Hopefully one day!