Durand-Hedden Offers Taste of History at Annual Open Hearth Cooking Demonstration

In an annual tradition spanning over 35 years, visitors have gathered around Durand-Hedden’s 18th century hearth and experienced how Maplewood residents of long ago cooked, ate, and kept warm during the long winter months.

On January 13, Durand-Hedden is pleased once again to welcome cook Margaret Quinn to its kitchen. Margaret is the spirited shearer who trimmed the wool from visiting sheep at our From Fleece to Cloth event in April two years ago and will bring the same energy and skill to our fireplace. She has worked in the living history field for over twenty years and has become proficient at wood stove and open earth cooking. Margaret continually expands her culinary knowledge as a participant in the Association for Living History, Farm and Agricultural Museums and the Historic Foodways Society of the Delaware Valley.

On the menu this year will be roasted larded venison, sour lentils, mashed turnips, Norfolk dumplings and for dessert – barley cream, all prepared from historically accurate recipes. Watch how it’s done, breathe in the wonderful aromas in our historic house, and sample a few centuries-old treats. Children can try their hands at old-fashioned cooking chores like kneading dough and churning butter, and they can watch a spinster make yarn at her wheel.

An Annual Tribute
Durand-Hedden’s mid-winter open-hearth cooking demonstration has become an annual tradition to honor late longtime trustee, Irene Kosinski. Irene, a gifted educator and lover of living history, oversaw the restoration of Durand-Hedden’s beehive oven in 1981. She went on to establish our perpetually popular open-hearth cooking program, which for thirty years has drawn visitors ‘hungry’ for history. Join us on Sunday, January 13, and see why many visitors return for this wonderful tradition year after year.