Review
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Title: Dining With The Prophets: Historic Recipes From The Lion House
Author: N/A
Publisher: Deseret Book
Genre: Non-Fiction/Historical Recipes
Year Published: 2014
Number of Pages: 118
Binding: Hardback
ISBN10: N/A
ISBN13: 978-1-60907-917-8
Price: $19.99
Reviewed by Trudy Thompson for the Association For Mormon Letters
“Dining With The Prophets” is a well written and visually appealing book, of not only scrumptious sounding recipes, but also of historical vignettes of the 16 prophets of the Church Of Jesus Christ Of Latter-day Saints. A favorite recipe of each of the Prophets, pioneer recipes, and current dishes of the Lion House Restaurant are included, all of which the chefs at the Lion House have recreated for this volume.
The book is divided into five sections: The introduction, Favorite Recipes of the Prophets, Pioneer Recipes, Lion House Signature Recipes, and a handy index, so you can easily find the recipes you want to try.
The introduction to the book is a brief history of the Lion House as it was during the administration of Brigham Young. This section details the various rooms on each floor of the house and what activities took place there. The dining hall, kitchen. vegetable and fruit cellars, the weaving room, a milk room, the huge kitchen and parlor etc. are all described in vivid detail.
Portraits of each one of the prophets, with a replica of their signature at the bottom, accompanies the recipes for their most favorite recipe, or a favorite recipe of that time period.
Under the title of each recipe is a little known fact about either that prophet or the dish he liked so well. Some of my favorites were the following:
In the early days of of the church, finding food could be a challenge, and the Joseph Smith family had cornmeal johnny cakes so often, that when one of his children was asked to bless the food, he said, “something better, please, for the next meal.” Brigham Young only ate two meals a day, but they were described as “substantial.” Harold B. Lee was a cheese lover and ate it with ice cream, at breakfast, and almost everything else. His daughter tells the story of how her mother had prepared a new recipe, of an elegant white cake, smothered with a cream topping and topped with fresh berries. Her mother was anxious to see how her husband liked it. After two bites he jokingly said, “it would be just perfect if I had a little piece of cheese to go along with it.” Howard W. Hunter’s son recalls how his father rarely cooked, except for one summer while his mother was traveling. His son goes on, “every night for supper we had a chopped head of lettuce, mixed with a can of peas and a can of tuna fish. If anyone was still hungry, we would break out another head of lettuce, a can of peas, a can of tuna and make another batch.” This was their meal every night for a month. The son said Betty Crocker wouldn’t have approved, but, it sustained them and stretched their father’s culinary skills.
The Pioneer and Lion House Signature recipe sections include mouth-watering photos of each dish and spread throughout the book are photos of period artifacts displayed at the Lion House. These artifacts include items like dessert molds, soup tureens, crystal goblets, high chairs, plates, cross stitch samplers, various candy and dessert dishes — many of which prominently display lions on them, and furniture. There are fascinating photos of various rooms of the Lion House through the years and pictures of people, like the ten oldest daughters of Brigham Young in one photo, and a 1907 meeting at the Lion House of the surviving members of the Mormon Battalion.
The only changes I would have made to this book, would have been to state the years the prophets were in office, and to have included the number of servings each recipe made.
This book is a literal culinary journey though church history and the Lion House. If you know someone who loves to cook (like me), loves to eat new dishes (like me), or just loves to drool over recipes and photos of new dishes (guilty again), you will want to pick up this entertaining and beautiful book as the perfect gift item for the upcoming holiday season. What a perfect hostess gift this would make!