Part II. Part I of this post documented the availability of oranges in Colonial Louisiana.
Hannah Glasse’s The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy contains a receipt on how to preserve oranges whole which will not be given here because it is rather lengthy. The oranges were put into glasses, covered with brandied paper and tied over with a bladder. There were two additional receipts which essentially produce the same preserved oranges.
The receipts Glasse’s book contains are duplicated in a dozen or so books from the same time period.
RECEIPTS:
TO MAKE AN ORANGE FOOL. Take the juice of six oranges, and six eggs well beaten, a pint of cream, a quarter of a pound of sugar, a little cinnamon and nutmeg. Mix all together, and keep stirring over a slow fire till it is thick; then put in a little piece of butter and keep stirring till cold, and dish it up. – Glasse, Hannah. The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy. 1788. London.
TO MAKE ORANGE-CREAM.Take and pare the rind of a Seville orange very fine, and squeeze the juice of four oranges; put them into a stew-pan, with half a pint of water, and half a pound of fine sugar, beat the whites of five eggs, and mix into it, and set them on a slow fire; stir it one way till it grows thick and white, strain it through a gauze, and stir it till cold; then beat the yolks of five eggs very fine, and put into your pan with the cream; stir it over a gentle fire till it is ready to boil; then put it in a bason, and stir it till it is cold, and then put it in your glasses. –Glasse. The Art of Cooking Made Plain and Easy. 1788. London.
ZEST OF CHINA ORANGES. Pare off the outside rind of the oranges very thin, and only strew it with fine powder-sugar as much as their own moisture will take, and dry them in a hot stove. – Charlotte Mason. The Lady’s Assistant. 1787.
TO MAKE ORANGE-POSSET. Squeeze the Juice of two Sevil-oranges, and one Lemon, into a China-Bason that holds about a quart; sweeten this juice like a Syrop with Double-refin’d Sugar, put to it two spoonfuls of Orange-flower-water, and strain it through a fine Sieve; boil a large pint of thick Cream, with some of the Orange-peel in it cut thin: When ‘tis pretty cool, pour it into the Bason of Juice through a Funnel, which must be held as high as you can from the Bason: It must stand a Day before you use it. When it goes to Table, stick Slips of Candy’d Orange, Lemon, and Citron-peel on the top. – A Collection of Above Three Hundred Receipts in Cookery, Physick, and Surgery; for the Use of all Good Wives, Tender Mothers, and Careful Nurses. 1714. London.
TURKEYS WITH OYSTERS. Truss them to boil, lard one, the other plain; half roast them, then stove them in good Gravy and Broth; season with Salt, Nutmeg and Pepper and when tender, make a Ragoo with Sweetbreads, Mushrooms, thick Butter and Gravy with the Juice of Oranges, and lay over. – Carter, Charles. The Complete City and Country Cook. 1732. London.
TO FRY LOBSTERS. Take a boil’d Lobster, take out the Meat, slice it long ways, flour it and fry it in Sweet Butter, white and crisp; or roll it in a batter made of Cream, Eggs, Flour, and Salt, and fry it. Beat some Butter up thick, with grated Nutmeg, Claret, and the Juice of Oranges. For the Sauce, rub the Dish with an onion, or shallot, lay in the lobster, pour on the sauce; garnish the dish with slices of lemon and orange and serve it up. – Nott, John. The Cook and Confectioner’s Dictionary.
TO FRICASSY MUSHROOMS. First stew them then pour away their Liquor, then fry them with Butter, an Onion shred small, some sweet Marjoram and Thyme stript; season with Salt and Pepper; make a Sauce for them with Eggs beaten with the Juice of Oranges and some Claret, the Gravy of a Leg of Mutton and Nutmeg; shake them well, and give them a few Tosses in the Pan, then put them in a Dish, rubb’d with a Shalot, and garnish it with Lemon and Orange. – Nott, John. The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary.
TO BROIL MULLETS. Scale and gut them, and cut gashes in their sides, dip them in melted butter, and broil them at a great distance from the fire. Sauce—anchovy, with capers, and a little Seville-orange or lemon squeezed into it. – Mason, Charlotte. The Lady’s Assistant for Regulating and Supplying the Table.
TO BROIL EGGS. Cut a toast round a quarter loaf, brown it, lay it on your dish, butter it, and very carefully break six or eight eggs on the toast. Hold a red-hot shovel over them, and when they be done, squeeze a Seville orange over them; grate a little nutmeg over them, and serve it up for a side plate. – Mason.
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