Open Hearth Cooking: A Taste for History

In an annual tradition spanning 35 years, visitors have looked forward to gathering around Durand-Hedden’s 18th century hearth and experiencing how Maplewood residents of long ago cooked, ate, and kept warm during the long winter months. This January, Durand-Hedden is pleased to welcome a new cook to its kitchen.

Susan Luczu is a New Jersey food historian who has a passion for open hearth cooking that she has practiced at historic sites such as Monmouth County Historical Society’s Covenhoven House as well as the cooking fireplace of her own circa 1705 home in the historic Old Bridge community of East Brunswick. On the menu this year will be vegetable beef soup, apple-cornbread fritters, bubble and squeak, beer batter bread and hearth roasted beets cooked over the fire. Children can try their hands at old-fashioned cooking chores like kneading dough, churning butter, and watch a spinster make yarn at her wheel.