Dark cast iron pans of various shapes and sizes surround a jambless fireplace, a Dutch-style hearth in Kinderhook, New York’s Van Alen House. In the restored 18th-century kitchen, bright orange flames blaze behind Lavada Nahon, calm and collected as she slices onions. Two large pots with smoldering embers heaped on top contain beef à la mode, a popular 18th-century dish of chuck roast, stuffed with parsley, bacon, and spices, slowly braised with port wine. Another pot holds chowder fish, an English entrée of layered cod and bread, married with a…
