In an old (turn-of-the-last-century) book of recipes from Delmonico's
called "The Epicurean" there is a menu for a dinner in honor of the
Russian Fleet in 1862, or
thereabouts. One of the hors d'oevres was something called "Snit-mitch
a la Russe". There wasn't any explanation, and no recipe for it was
included. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Or any tips for
how one goes about tracking down what appears to be an extremely
obscure historical recipe? My sister sent me this question, she says
she's had no luck tracking it down and thinks I might do better. Well,
posting to this group is the best idea I've had, and I really hope
someone here can give me an idea of where to go next. Thank you!

Maria

On Fri, 12 Aug 2005, wrote:

> In an old (turn-of-the-last-century) book of recipes from Delmonico's
> called "The Epicurean" there is a menu for a dinner in honor of the
> Russian Fleet in 1862, or
> thereabouts. One of the hors d'oevres was something called "Snit-mitch
> a la Russe".

This is entirely speculative, based on no evidence whatsoever, so those
whose time is valuable are hereby warned to skip to the next message.

I used occasionally to meet a dish called "russian salad" which consisted
of root vegetables, diced into quarter-inch cubes, parboiled, mixed up
together with cooked green peas, dressed in a light mayonnaise, and served
cold. It was quite tasty, and also had a curious non-culinary use in the
days when railway carriages were divided into separate compartments.

Anyway - I wonder whether your dish might be a russian salad trying to
make itself sound exotic by using a Foreign Name. "A la russe" is simple
enough, and I would guess that Snit-Mitch was an attempt at "schnitt" and
"misch" - something chopped up and mixed together.

Actually, if they included some hard-boiled egg, and had some caviare
close at hand, it was probably delicious.

John Wexler
Edinburgh, Scotland

'snit' is the glowing part of the wick of a candle when blown out. There's
a thing you wouldn't think you'd much need a word for, but it's not much
help dinner-wise, sorry

mitch suggests mix to me, floundering really!


> wrote in message
oups.com...
> In an old (turn-of-the-last-century) book of recipes from Delmonico's
> called "The Epicurean" there is a menu for a dinner in honor of the
> Russian Fleet in 1862, or
> thereabouts. One of the hors d'oevres was something called "Snit-mitch
> a la Russe". There wasn't any explanation, and no recipe for it was
> included. Does anyone have any idea what this could be? Or any tips for
> how one goes about tracking down what appears to be an extremely
> obscure historical recipe? My sister sent me this question, she says
> she's had no luck tracking it down and thinks I might do better. Well,
> posting to this group is the best idea I've had, and I really hope
> someone here can give me an idea of where to go next. Thank you!
>
> Maria
>