A Taste of History - Season 6

Chef Walter Staib bakes some of America's favorites, inspired by the Baker General, Christopher Ludwig. A native German, he brought the art of gingerbread making to Philadelphia. Chef Staib roasts a turkey to demonstrate how to make a classic turkey pot pie from scratch, then finishes the meal with gingerbread and poached pears.

Boston bookshop owner, Henry Knox, used his literary interest in military manuals to become the chief artillery officer for General Washington. Chef Staib visits Fort Mercer to learn how Knox and a militia helped win America's independence. He cooks pea soup with pork and Sally Lunn toast, Hunter's stew with rabbit, beef, turkey and pork, skillet potatoes and lights cannonball punch on fire.

After the British invaded Philadelphia, Washington sent soldiers to Fort Mifflin to delay supply ships and give the Continental Army time to escape to Valley Forge. Chef Staib makes shrimp and rutabaga fricassee, corn fritters, okra fish stew and baked fennel.

Born in Ireland, General Hand came to America with the British army, but changed his allegiance in favor of his newly adopted country. Chef Staib cooks cabbage soup with meat dumplings, roasted stuffed pork stomach with pan gravy, steamed leeks with Irish bacon and Irish soda bread.

As new settlement pushed native Americans further west, many aristocrats found respite at the Jefferson Pools in Warm Springs Virginia. Chef Staib bathes in the Hot Springs and retraces the path of 22 presidents at the historic Omni Homestead Hotel. He cooks mountain trout, honey stung Brussels sprouts, hausenpfeffer braised marinated rabbit and roasted, stuffed tenderloin of venison.