– Victoria Rumble – © All Rights Reserved.
As I sat here eating my salad for lunch and perusing the recipes found in a magazine published in 1771, I decided they were worthy of sharing. I left out any that contained cuts of meat that might turn the stomach of the faint of heart. They are simple fare, but when coaxed lovingly along will be a very welcome addition to the dinner table, and especially for a historic setting.
I have not changed the spelling from the way it was originally published. I have, however, made a few notes to aid those inexperienced in using old recipes.
The first are from July, 1771.
French Beans.
Be sure to split your beans, and to put them in when the water gallops; throw in a little salt of wormwood, it keeps them green.
Colliflower.
Take a large wide-mouthed pot, or sauce pan, with a good deal of water and some milk, wrap it in a fine cloth, and let it boil till pretty tender; serve it up whole, with melted butter in a sauce-boat.
Currant Pudding.
Take some beef suet, shred it very fine, rub it in flour, as you make pye-crust; then strip some red currants, mix them with a few raspberries, and put them in the crust, as you do apple pudding; butter and sugar them, as you do apple-dumplins; serve them in a dish.
Giblet Pye.
Take two pair of goose giblets, scald and clean them, cut them in pieces, put them in a quart of water, with some whole pepper and salt, flour them well; let them stew till they are quite tender, then put them in a pye-dish; you may put artichoke-bottoms, mushrooms, or what you please with them; make a puff-paste over them, bake the crust very nicely, and serve it up.
Royal Dish of Tongues.
Take three or four calves tongues, lard them with bacon, stew them till tender in a little broth, with some cloves, garlick, onions, and roots; then peel them and split them in two, serve them in a ragout of what you like. Garnish with lemon.
Chicken Paoli.
Take two chickens, truss them for boiling, put them in a stew-pan, with melted butter, lard or oil, chopped parsley, shallots, and mushrooms; let it stew a quarter of an hour; then take a fresh stew-pan, slice some veal and ham, pepper it, cover the chickens with slices of lard and white pepper, pour in all the former sauce, put in a little white wine, let it stew on a slow fire, squeeze a little lemon, skim all the fat off, and serve the sauce on the chickens.
Buttered crabs.
Break the claws, take out all the inside, leave the shell whole; then pick all the meat out of the body, pepper and salt it well, add some crumbs of bread, and a little melted butter, stir it all together, then stuff it into the shells; just brown them in the oven, or with a salamander, and serve them in the shells in a plate. [A salamander was a tool heated and passed over the top of a dish to brown it in the days before there were broilers and butane torches]
Stuffed Cucumbers.
Take large cucumbers, pare them, cut the tops off, scoop out the inside, then take some crumbs of bread, well seasoned with pepper and salt. Fill them with this, and fasten on the top with two splinters, then stew them till tender in this sauce; take and chop six or seven shallots, two or three spoonfuls of vinegar, some salt, pepper, and a little water; then take the cucumbers out, and thicken the sauce with a piece of butter rolled in flour. [Cucumbers were once cooked like most other vegetables]
Ducks Disguised.
Cut in quarters two ducks, just fry them up in butter, then wrap them up in paper, and roast them a little, serve them with juice of Seville orange. [Wrapping meat in greased paper kept it from browning too much before the inside was cooked].
From August, 1771.
Anchovy Sauce.
Take two or three anchovies, boil them in a little of their liquor and water till they are dissolved; have ready some thick melted butter, put the anchovy liquor in it, and serve it up.
Soop.
Take two or three quarts of weak broth, have ready herbs and roots of all sorts, such as onions, turnips, carrots, cabbage, sorrel, lettuces, and cut a pair of goose-giblets in pieces, and stew all till tender; put in some pepper and salt, serve in a deep dish altogether, with some toasted roll or bread.
Gasser Anything.
Take a little pepper, salt, ginger-powder, some parsley, and shallots shred fine, with a little broth or water, a bit of butter rolled in flour, a little wine; boil this a little while, then add the juice of a Seville-orange; pour this sauce over some poached eggs. [Seville oranges are not as sweet as modern varieties, lemon juice might be substituted if desired]
Carrots.
Take care to boil them very tender, and cut them in slices, pour melted butter over them.
Boiled leg of lamb.
Wrap it in a clean cloth, put it in when the water boils; one hour and half will do it; serve it up with some capers chopped and put into melted butter, with some of the pickle; pour it in the dish.
Cabbage.
Boil it very tender, as all greens are unwholesome that are not boiled tender; serve the four quarters in a dish, with a boat of melted butter in the middle.
Wild Pigeons.
Cut off the pinions [wing tips], necks, and claws, roll them in vine-leaves and a slice of bacon; when they are almost done, strew some crumbs of bread over them, give them a good brown colour; serve either with or without sauce; but you may use melted butter and chopped parsley in it; serve up, with garnish of parsley.
Minced Kidneys.
Stew them tender and shred it; you may serve it with stewed cucumbers done this; slice your cucumbers thin, one hour before you dress them put them in a sieve, slice a few onions, pepper and salt them, fry them in a bit of butter browned, then drain them from the fat, wipe the pan, and then put in the onions and cucumbers, with a little good gravy, and a little vinegar, or verjuice [made from unripened fruit, it produced a similar flavor to that of vinegar], let them stew till quite tender, but flour them when you put them in the pan;–serve the minced kidney in it, make it pretty relishing, and tart of vinegar.
Friccasseed Mushrooms.
Take some dunghill mushrooms, called buttons, rub them with a bit of flannel in salt and water till white, then throw them into fresh salt and water; then take and stew them in a little milk and water, take them out, and with a little veal gravy and thick cream stew them, thicken the sauce with flour and butter. Serve up with the sauce and all. [Dunghill refers to the method of growing button mushrooms in a manure-rich compost]
September 1771.
Casserole of Rice.
Wash in hot water half a pound of rice several times, boil it in broth till tender; use for the broth what meat you please; then stew very tender any sort of poultry and a piece of pickled pork; lay some rice thin, then the pork and fowl, then rice, just about an inch thick; pour a little melted butter over the rice, then hold the salamander to brown it; serve it up.
Stewed Celery.
Take ten or twelve heads of celery, washed very clean, put in a little veal broth, stew it till tender; then thicken your sauce with a quarter of a pint of thick cream, a little butter rolled in flour, and serve it together.
A Trifle.
Put in a large deep dish half a dozen Savoy biscuits, six macaroon cakes, and a few matrimony ones; pour to them a pint of good mountain wine, when it is soaked up, put on some boiled custard; then take some cream, grate in the rind of a lemon, sweetening it, and pour in some Rhenish wine, mix it all well together, and whip it up in a froth; take care how you lay it on a sieve; when drained, put it on the custard as light as possible, till the dish is pretty high, then strew on some coloured sweat-meats, or sugar-plumbs. [You may use lady fingers instead of Savoy biscuits]
Roasted Partridges.
Half an hour will do them; let them roast at a good distance from the fire, shake a little flour over them, baste them with fresh butter; observe to draw them, cut off the legs as for chickens, and truss them in the same; pour in some gravy-sauce in the dish, and some bread-sauce in a boat or bason. [To draw birds means to remove the entrails]
Bread Sauce.
Pare three or four onions, small ones; then take some sliced crumb of bread, put them in a little cold water, and some salt; tie up some beaten pepper in a bit of clean musling [muslin]; let it stew all together, till the bread &c. are quite soft; then beat it well, put in a little butter and a little thick cream; serve it in a bason or boat.
October 1771.
Oyster Sauce.
Open the largest and finest you can get, wash them in their own liquor, then let it settle, pour it from the sediment; then take an anchovy, dissolve it in some water, strain it off, stew the oysters in the liquor, and melt some butter very thick, put it all together, and serve it in a bason or boat.
Shrimp sauce.
Take some shrimps, skin them, put them in melted butter, and serve in a boat or bason.
Boiled rabbits.
Take three or four rabbits, let them be wild ones, truss them short, and put them in a fine cloth, throw them into boiling water, let them boil three-quarter of an hour; take them out, and cover them with the onion-sauce, as above.
Apple and Raspberry Puffs.
Make a good puff-paste, cut it in squares, then put in each a spoonful of raspberry-jam, in others apple marmalet [marmalade], lay them over corner-ways, and bake them twelve or fourteen minutes.
Turnips Ragout.
Boil your turnips, then stew them in gravy [broth or stock], thicken the sauce with a little butter and flour; serve all together.
Red Cabbage Stewed.
Scald it, then stew it with butter, pepper, salt, and cloves; add vinegar just before serving.
Spinach and Eggs Flemish Fashion.
Stew some spinach, when tender, squeeze it between two plates; boil some eggs, not quite hard, but the yelks [yolks] as soft as marrow; cut them in halves, lay them on the spinach in the dish; serve them up with melted butter.
Coventry Pyes.
Wash and clean half a pound of currants, chop very fine ten large pippins, or roasting apples, some candid citrons, and Orange-peel; bake it in puff-paste, the size of a minced-pye, and mix a little brandy with it.