Second Annual Cast Iron Chef at Fort Mifflin

On January 28th, Fort Mifflin on the Delaware (www.fortmifflin.us) and the Regimental Brewmeister (www.colonialbrewer.com) will be conducting a very unique program at Fort Mifflin in Philadelphia.  This is our second annual Cast Iron Chef program and it promises to be spectacular. 

Cast Iron Chef is an opportunity our guest to gain hands on experience working with our brewing and hearth cooking experts as we prepare a winter’s meal as it was prepared in the 18th Century.  Each demonstration team will create a critical part of the meal and at the end of the program, we will all sit down to a nice dinner. 

The day will consist of two complementary and concurrent programs.  In the casemate, the colonial brewer will be running an 18th Century brewing class during which participants can experience the process of creating beer with only the resources available to a brewer of 1770.  Samples of this beer will be available to select guests and all of our active participants as well as part of our repast following the program.  In the barracks, we will set up hearth kitchens where teams of cooks will create something for dinner at the hearth. 

This year, we have a unique opportunity in that we have been asked by a team of Pennsylvania State University archivist who have been transcribing, translating, and interpreting the Barklay manuscripts — a collection of 18th C recipes, medicine, and other day-in-the-life dairies — to do a bit of Living History research.  These never before published recipes (https://libraries.psu.edu/about/collections/historical-recipe-books) will be shared with the Cast Iron Chef participants and we will attempt to reproduce these dishes, dyes, and medicines.  It will be real live Living History research and PSU plans to publish what we learn.

Tickets are $99 each and can be found at http://www.fortmifflin.us/event/cic-brew/.  Even though you will be buying tickets for cooking or brewing, you will be able to move between both programs freely.