cover image Prairie Avenue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Prominent 19th Century Chicago Families

Prairie Avenue Cookbook: Recipes and Recollections from Prominent 19th Century Chicago Families

Carol Callahan. Southern Illinois University Press, $38.5 (224pp) ISBN 978-0-8093-1814-8

It's hard not to like a cookbook that includes a chapter called ``Oystermania,'' as this one does--enthusiasm with a tinge of oddness can't fail to charm. But in spirit the volume is actually more historic than eccentric, concerning itself with the pantries and the kitchens of famously wealthy Chicagoans who cooked and ate in the period 1880-1910. These people were American-style Victorians, of course, and they were feeding their newfound industrial fortunes at the same time as they put dinner on the table: among the families who lived on Prairie Avenue were the George Pullmans and the Philip Armours. Callahan, a curator of Glessner House, an honored survivor of the era and the neighborhood, organizes recipes, when possible, in terms of the families who favored them, and doesn't seem to slim down much: at breakfast, some could--and we still can--eat hashed potatoes in cream, while ethereal ``lemon sandwiches'' waited until tea time, and pheasant pie with oysters (listed under poultry) came later still. Unsurprisingly, this amusing and informative book is loyal to sweets, from rhubarb marmalade to hermits and ``Afterthought Pudding.'' In between treats, Callahan offers thoughts on the life that went on around them: short chapters on the etiquette of social calling, the work and play of children, and more. Photos not seen by PW. (Mar.)