Passengers who dined on the Baltimore and Ohio during the heyday of American railroading received five-star service: white tablecloths, china, and silver; food cooked from scratch; and the undivided attention of skilled waiters. The B&O's cuisine won wide acclaim as the finest railway food in the country. Passengers enjoyed it as the slightly swaying dining car clicked along over the rails.
Captivated by the romance of the subject, Thomas J. Greco and Karl D. Spence combine many of the B&O's best recipes with historical photos to capture the elegance and charm of the dining car experience.
Greco and Spence made a quest of uncovering the original sources of these recipes, revisiting America’s first institutional cookbook, The Culinary Handbook, by Charles Fellows, and researching the B&O’s own specialty collections of the 1940s and 1950s, the Old Standard B&O Recipes, What’s Cooking on the B&O? and B&O Chef's Notes. Along with the original recipes and modern interpretations, they supply captivating photographs of the dining cars, patrons, and staff; commentary describing the technical aspects of cooking on a moving train; examples of "service notes" used by chefs, stewards, and waiters; and a glossary of cooking terms.
With Dining on the B&O, Greco and Spence preserve for future generations the singular experience of dining in high style on this iconic railway. The recipes collected here invite readers to prepare the dishes enjoyed by thousands of rail passengers in years gone by. Just open the book and start cooking the B&O way!
The Johns Hopkins University Press
— James D. Porterfield
Anyone nostalgic for the classic days of train travel will love this book of memories, photographs, and, above all, recipes from the dining cars of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
— Debra Bruno
A railfan's and epicure's delight... it delivers a first-class look at a first-class operation.
— James D. Porterfield
— Frederick N. Rasmussen
If you really want to understand passion, look to a train enthusiast. If you really want to see passion in action, look to a chef. Combine the two and you end up with ' Dining on the B&O'... This isn't just a spread for the eyes.
— Richard W. Luckin
— James D. Porterfield
A powerful dose of nostalgia for the days when travel involved dressing for dinner, relaxing in a comfortable setting and sitting back while others solved any minor inconveniences that you might anticipate.
Greco and Spence must be praised for the diligence and determination of their research in locating every possible B&O recipe extant from a plethora of sources, or so it seems... The B&O might be no more, but it lives on in fine books like this one.
This is a handsome, well-thought-out book that strikes me as the ideal creation.
An excellent window into the dining habits of Americans before they wised up... Oh yum.
This book is chock full of interesting facts.
If you really want to understand passion, look to a train enthusiast. If you really want to see passion in action, look to a chef. Combine the two and you end up with 'Dining on the B&O'... This isn't just a spread for the eyes.
Greco and Spence must be praised for the diligence and determination of their research in locating every possible B&O recipe extant from a plethora of sources, or so it seems... The B&O might be no more, but it lives on in fine books like this one.
— Frederick N. Rasmussen
A powerful dose of nostalgia for the days when travel involved dressing for dinner, relaxing in a comfortable setting and sitting back while others solved any minor inconveniences that you might anticipate.
— Debra Bruno
Anyone nostalgic for the classic days of train travel will love this book of memories, photographs, and, above all, recipes from the dining cars of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
This is a handsome, well-thought-out book that strikes me as the ideal creation.
— James D. Porterfield
Anonymous
Posted August 29, 2012
My father worked for the B&O starting as a clerk in 1922 and retiring as Executive Vice President in 1963. I rode many times on the railroad as a child and remember the dining cars well. The food was superb as was the service (even a child could tell that). This book has recipes in it for dishes that I can remember having. The notes that accompany the recipes make this book even more enjoyable. Highly recommended for anyone with fond memories of those days or for anyone who would like to know about them.
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Overview
Passengers who dined on the Baltimore and Ohio during the heyday of American railroading received five-star service: white tablecloths, china, and silver; food cooked from scratch; and the undivided attention of skilled waiters. The B&O's cuisine won wide acclaim as the finest railway food in the country. Passengers enjoyed it as the slightly swaying dining car clicked along over the rails.
Captivated by the romance of the subject, Thomas J. Greco and Karl D. Spence combine ...