Work Cited

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1t_C8SyKzZmea6J7JgaSOfTrAqbXLZGsYZ_kONS4CTjs/edit

Post-War Make It Do Or Do Without

"Eat It Up, Wear It Out, Make It Do Or Do Without"

It is common knowledge that food during the war was often scarce and unpredictable, especially during times of rationing. But what I was surprised to realise was that I know very little about after the war. Food did not immediately return to its original availability, rationing continued (and is often claimed to have gotten worse.) I had never considered the aftermath of war on food supplies. With troops returning, the population of Britain increased; while food supplies were split between Britain and the British occupied Germany, food was scarcer than ever. In a way, the food situation was worse directly after the war than it would have been during it. In tribute of this overlooked time I have made my Make It Do Or Do Without Cake.

          The recipe is a vintage one sourced from the internet. The concept behind it is simple; carrying on as normal without the usual food supplies. An attitude I deem as completely British in itself. Here is the recipe-

Make It Do Or Do Without Cake.
1 cup water
2 cups raisins
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp cloves
1 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup lard
¼ tsp nutmeg
¼ tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder

Place water, raisins, cinnamon, cloves, brown sugar, lard, nutmeg, and salt in a saucepan and mix. Place on heat and bring to a boil. Cook 3 minutes. Allow to cool, then sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Stir into cooked mixture. Place in a greased loaf pan and bake at 350F for one hour.

      I can’t deny aesthetically it is no masterpiece, not that I expected one. One thing I have learnt through my experiments in food from Victorian era onward currants were available in mass and were included in everything. I dislike currants. This recipe was just the last in a long list of currant packed foods. I was surprised when, unlike other cake recipes (which I am sure could have knocked someone out), this cake turned out light and spongy.

      As I have mentioned before my gran never believed in salmonella poisoning from raw egg and happily let me lick the bowl when we made cakes. This is a habit, so full of nostalgia, I cannot let it go. Now 21 I still find myself sneaking my finger into whatever I am baking to taste it. In fact, in times of distress I find myself compelled to cravings of raw cake mixture (a calling I am ashamed to say I have answered more than once.) As such it was natural for me to have a taste of the cake mix, as I have with all my other baked experiments in this blog. Usually this has not ended well for me, the unusual combination of ingredients (Mrs Beeton and her obsession with eggs) does not taste good raw. However with this cake mix, I could not stop until I had licked the bowl clean. It tasted like a sloppy gingerbread mix. Once cooked the taste, combined with the warm aroma, was even better.

      My tasters all agreed, and the cake was eagerly demolished within a day or so. “It looks similar to a fruit cake but has a gingery undertone to the taste”. I had to agree with my mums analysis. Though there was no ginger in the cake, which I am still perplexed by. I cannot think what it could be that gives off such a familiar taste.

      I had expected this recipe to be a failure. An illusion of a time when real cake ingredients were readily available. However, the recipe is not just a pretence of having something which was unavailable; the cake is good, really good. Therefore this recipe had, justly, earned its way into my permanent collection. I suggest, if you are also a lover of gingerbread, you give this recipe a go as well.

War-Torn Britain

The message is clear- food will win the war. Back in Blighty the main way the nation was united was through food. Growing gardens, preserving food, feeding our troops are all propaganda used to restore morale. If you can’t physically go to fight for your country, you can help the war effort through food. Through this war effort there is a distinct sense of patriotism, a link the propaganda office promoted. In fact throughout both world wars the link between food and patriotism was evident. So in the spirit of war time Britain I have made two patriotic favourites- Blighty Salad and ‘Over the Top’ Muffins.
         

During WW2 my Gran was only 9 years old. You would imagine that at such a young age the war would be a scary time. However, my gran remembers it being filled with the sentiment of ‘everyone pulling together’. In this spirit the whole of their street was given up to the war effort; the park became allotments and front gardens hosted potato patches. The people who lived next to my gran used to swap their tea rations for my families sugar ones. Clearly none of my family has a sweet tooth and yet all of us ‘gasp’ for a cup of tea, as my mum says. When my gran told me this I couldn’t help but think this is where the ‘cup of tea time’ tradition came from (see Victorian post), my great gran clearly had the same need for tea my gran does. She also told me that their house was always packed with people, and the teapot was never left cold for long. At times they would have family, neighbours and even passing refugees over to share in this tradition. This does not strike me as a time of anguish and disappear (though I don’t doubt it was at times), from the memories of a child this is a time of coming together, supporting people you’ve never met and making do.

The Thrift Cook Book- Marion H.
Blighty Salad
3 raw carrots
1 cup peanuts
¼ stale cheese
2 hard cooked eggs
Crisp lettuce leaves
French dressing

Put carrots, peanuts, cheese and eggs through food chopper. Chill and serve on lettece leaves with French dressing.

The Thrift Cook Book- Marion H.
‘Over the Top’ Muffins.
2 tablespoons butter substitute
3 tablespoons sugar or honey
1 large egg, beaten
¾ cup milk
1 cup soy bean flour
1 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt

Beat butter substitute with sugar or honey cream, add egg and milk. Sift flours, baking powder and salt and mix thoroughly with egg mixture. Divide into twelve greased and floured pans and bake in hot oven fifteen minutes. They are delicious when served hot with maple sirup honey.
Sufficient for twelve muffins.

For a recipe that was designed specifically for the war I was very impressed with the ‘over the top’ muffin recipe. I really enjoyed it, and actually went on to eat most of them throughout the next few days toasted with butter. My testers were less impress they branded my muffins ‘bland’; which meant one thing more for me! As for the name, I thought it was a tiny bit morose. We now know that going over the top was equivalent of a death sentence that not many men survived. However, during the war it could have been perceived as an honour to directly fight against the enemy? I’m not too sure on that one; I imagine they are named patriotically. Despite this, the name does not take away from the taste.

          The salad also looked nice. Though I was hoping (perhaps rather foolishly) that the ‘Blighty’ salad would incorporate red white and blue! It didn’t. But it was rather nice despite the fact I only soft boiled the eggs. Opps! My dad hated it but my mum loved it and ended up taking most of it to work for lunch. It looks vibrant which makes it more appealing, it is by far the best looking dish I have created so far. However, next time I make this salad I am going to do a twist on the original recipe. This summer my mum is having a ‘jubalympic’ party in our garden, for which I think my salad would be perfect as it pays homage to war time England. I would like it to be a salad which is red white and blue however. I have already decided on peppers for the red, and maybe dying the eggs blue (food colouring). I think it would be interesting to see what it ends up like, maybe my original hopes of a red, white and blue ‘Blighty salad’ will come true. I will post photos of my revamped Blighty salad later.

          I really enjoyed the muffins and will be keeping the recipe for my own collection. They make a delicious breakfast dish. Next time I make them I may try them with jam. I will also be keeping the salad recipe for summer. A great success for a time that was generally supposed to be a time of rationing and food shortages.

The Edwardian Paper Bag Craze

Edwardian England. The height of elegance, and a way to demonstrate your class, was the dinner party. It was a time when the food you served said a lot about your wealth and status. These recipes were often coveted by their owners (such as in Mapp and Lucia the coveted Lobster à la Riseholme). It was during this time that cooking in a paper bag became fashionable. It was clean, easy, economical and it quickly became the fashionable way to dine. Which is why for my elegant Edwardian evening I am making White Plum Pudding cooked in a paper bag.

       I should first point out that I didn't atually use a paper bag. My fear of blowing up my house made me skeptical so I used baking parchment as I will demonstrate below. Here is the recipe;

A White Plum Pudding.

Beat to a cream a half cup of sugar and three-quarters cup of butter. Add four eggs well beaten, a spoonful of salt, two cups milk, a quart of flour mixed with one-half cup shredded citron, one-half cup currants, a teaspoonful grated nutmeg and a teaspoonful vanilla. Just before turning into the mould stir in two even tablespoonfuls pure baking powder. Put in bag, surround with water, steam two hours and serve with any good sauce.

My Makeshift Paper Bag;
I followed the recipe as it was written. I then poured it into my dish (or ‘mould’). Placing the dish onto a large sheet of baking parchment I then gathered the parchment at the top and tied it with string. I then continued with the recipe and cooked it in a steamer for two hours.

When I actually came to making the recipe I realised it gave no mention of plums. I wondered if perhaps it had been left out of the recipe as it was assumed the reader would know that a plum pudding would include plums. After all what kind of plum pudding has no plum? I eventually decided that by this era it would have been mentioned rather than assumed, so I made my plum pudding without them. As you can see in the picture above it looks highly unappetising, like something you might find in a wooded area rather than in your kitchen. It also looks a bit anaemic, as though it could do with a bit longer in the oven. Determined to stick to my Edwardian recipe I resisted the temptation to put it in for longer. I was not a particular fan of my makeshift paper bag; it was messy and got the mixture all over it- so whoever said it was ‘clean and economical’ lied.

          To taste the pudding wasn’t bad, its stodgy texture was familiar and comforting the kind of thing you might want if you’ve had a bad day. The texture was very familiar to me, and reminded me of some dish from my childhood that I can’t put my finger on. Perhaps a cross between dumplings or jam roly poly (oddly there is no suet in this pudding). My mum says it’s reminiscent of bread pudding but I have no recollection of trying that either. It was a really stodgy dish that reminded me of something that might have been popular in war time Britain rather than at a dinner party. The rest of my testers just laughed when I produced it, unwilling to try it. My brother wanted to poke it, and oddly so did I, it looked like the kind of food that would wobble happily if you gave it a good poke. But maybe that’s just my childish side trying to break free.

          Overall, I would say that this reminds me of another era different to the Edwardian one. Worth a try if you like puddings not too sweet, probably not one you would make on a regular basis. I would be very interested to see what it would be like with a base of sliced plums, perhaps one day I will try that. It would certainly add a new dimension to the pudding.

          ONE LAST THING- After making this pudding I have discovered what I made could have been like a Christmas pudding. So there we go- I accidently made a festive pudding in spring which I’m sure is bad luck. On a Christmas pudding scale I defiantly prefer this one to the normal kind we get, but then I’m not a big fan of currents.
Slightly Different Era but Dickens gives such a good spin on plum pudding that I had to add it as a footnote.

"In half a minute Mrs. Cratchit entered — flushed, but smiling proudly — with the pudding, like a speckled cannon-ball, so hard and firm, blazing in half of half-a-quartern of ignited brandy, and bedight with Christmas holly stuck into the top." – Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

Gruel- A Tribute To Oliver Twist

Is it worth the waiting for? If we live 'til eighty four All we ever get is gru...el! Ev'ry day we say our prayer -- Will they change the bill of fare? Still we get the same old gru...el!

My dad’s favourite musical is Oliver Twist; it is partially because of this that it is now rightly my second favourite Dickens novel(just beaten by David Copperfield). I can hardly finish the Victorian period without paying tribute to the many people who were on the streets during the time. Tea parties are all well and good but with so many children on the street, what did the people in poverty eat? Anyone who is familiar with Oliver or even Dickens himself would know that in the workhouse they were fed primarily on a diet of gruel. I can only assume that this must have been the least nutritious food I have come across throughout my journey.

         So I was faced with the question of how best to pay homage to these starving children? I decided that for a day I would eat gruel for my breakfast, lunch and dinner. I can’t imagine it provides too much energy as it is mostly water. I picked a day when I was busy, it would be a pointless endeavour if I were to do nothing strenuous all day as the children were forced to work all day. On this day I had to work myself, not quite workhouse standards but I find a full day of work exhausting as it is. I used oatmeal boiled in water to create my ‘gruel’, it looked unappetising but that I expected.

         During breakfast I found the taste so offensive that I ended up leaving half the bowl. This was a dire mistake as after a full morning of running around at work I was starved. At 1p.m I had my lunch and eagerly ate the whole thing despite its lack of taste. By the time I came home I was shattered and could have easily eaten twice the portion I had for my dinner- I found myself echoing Oliver ‘please can I have some more.’ By late in the evening I was already hungry again but I slept through the night and when I woke up the following morning I was still tired and my body felt run down.

         I had always been aware that the workhouse conditions were dire. But only one day of eating like a workhouse child has taught me so much more about what their life was like. It would be interesting to see the effects after a week of eating gruel, though I can’t imagine it would be too healthy for the body. I could barely survive after one day. One thing I have learnt is this; if I had been alive in Victorian England there is absolutely no way I would have survived on that kind of diet.

A Victorian Tea Party, Mrs Beeton Style.

When I was a child both my parents were employed full time. My mum terrified that I might become a ‘latch key kid'; refused to let me have a key to the house until I was almost 16. Therefore, I spent almost every day after nursery and eventually after school at my grans house. Some of my most vivid memories come from the food my gran used to cook when I was small. Stew with diddy dumplings, syrup sponge with custard, chicken soup and sausages (obviously not all in one sitting.) I can still remember the smell wafting from the kitchen as my gran cooked and baked. However, if I had to choose the most prominent memory from my childhood (and a tradition she still carries on today) it would be the 3pm ‘cup of tea time’.

"It's a very good English custom
Though the weather be cold or hot
When you need a little pick-up, you'll find a little tea cup
Will always hit the spot

You remember Cleopatra
Had a date to meet Mark Anthony at three
When he came an hour late she said "You'll have to wait"
For everything stops for tea"
Everything Stops For Tea- Jack Buchanan

      This tradition is something I do not believe she could go without, like a ritual it happened every day and in the same manner. But I always wondered why. It became something I hoped was the remains of a forgotten tradition. The remains of the day when women would unite to have elegant tea parties and gossip about their neighbours, filtered down through generations to my gran who simply cannot go past 3 o’clock without drinking tea. Occasionally this ritual would involve cakes, which my gran would make in the morning while I pestered her to let me lick the bowl, and then enjoy with tea (juice in my case) at 3 o’clock. All of this has inspired me to create my own proper Victorian Tea Party.

      When considering creating a Victorian themed tea party, who else would I turn to other than Mrs Beeton. I picked three recipes from her book which I thought would be appropriate for a tea party;

Mrs Beetons Book of Household Management.
Beeton Victorian Sandwiches.

The Victoria sponge is something that has not exactly been ‘lost’ in time. It is still a nation favourite which is available in almost any store. I chose this cake for two reasons; firstly, what would a Victorian tea party be without the staple cake and secondly Mrs Beeton has a rather interesting love for eggs which intrigues me. She uses, for me, an obscene amount of eggs. What interested me most was the interesting directions for weighing the ingredients “4 eggs; their weight in pounded sugar, butter and flour”. It sounds more like a riddle than a recipe to me and I’ve never seen anything similar. My best guess would be that it is to do with the different weights of eggs in the time. However, it was still a relatively simple recipe to make.

Rock Biscuits.

When I think of a ‘Rock’ biscuit it conjures up images of my teeth breaking when I bite into this grey little hard thing. This is probably very naive of me as ‘rock cake’ is still available today. I personally have never had it but I assume this recipe is an ancestor of that favourite. In the recipe she specifies to make the mixture look “as rough as possible” with a fork once it has been put on a tray. Now, other than the fact this makes no sense to me my mixture came out so runny that any attempt at roughing it up was instantly absorbed and replaced with the sleek surface of the mixture. I’m sure Mrs Beeton will excuse the smooth exterior of my rock biscuits.

Everton Toffee.

I chose this recipe purely for my own gluttony. I adore toffee, though my teeth do not. This recipe which only needs a couple of ingredients excited me; if it was a success I would be able to easily make my own batch of toffee whenever I fancied it. Firstly if you are planning on cooking this you should heed my warning first. DO NOT leave the pan unattended to pick up the phone. DO NOT use your parents kitchen; especially if you are messy like me (toffee is really hard to get off the cooker), And most importantly DO NOT stick your finger in it to taste, it will burn you. These are all valuable lessons I learnt while cooking this toffee. Anyhow, I was slightly disappointed with the final result. Once it had cooled it was like crystallised buttery sugar cubes rather than the thick chewy toffee I love.

The Victoria sponge was cut into ‘fingers’ under Mrs Beetons direction, unfortunately when I tried to stack them they kept toppling over so they look slightly less impressive. I served these three dishes with sliced bread and butter and sugar cubes. This was an attempt to practice the “elegant economy” of Cranford. We sat and waited until 3pm exactly to serve the tea, at which point my gran would normally say ‘right I think its cup of tea time’, so we commenced.

         The rock cakes were stickier than I anticipated; they left their mark of currents and crumbs stuck to the plate. But otherwise they were quite enjoyable. The sponge, which I thought was unusually heavy for a cake, was too sweet for my gran. The toffee (or crystallised sugar) was a flop both for my gran and my mum, but I didn’t mind it. Clearly it was incredibly sweet and pretty much like eating a sugar cube; I’m fairly sure I could of put it in my tea if I wanted. Overall the recipes weren’t bad and for people with a sweet tooth it would be a nice addition to a recipe book. However, if like my family you aren’t keen on sweet things I would suggest these recipes aren’t for you.

N.B. I haven’t included the recipes this time but they can all be found in Mrs Beetons Household Management if you are interested.

Mrs Austen's Bread and Butter Pudding.

A bit of a leap forward this time and onto the romantic period. Some of my favourite novels were written during this period which leads me into my fascination with the concept of ‘society’. This idea usually culminates around food having a place in elegant society. It is often depicted as attending dinner dances and afternoon tea. This is why I was so thrilled to find a hidden gem- Mrs Austen’s Bread and Butter Pudding

      Just the prospect of cooking something Jane Austen herself might have once eaten thrills me. This whole blog was designed not only to look at cookbooks from different eras but also to establish what some of the great writers would have been eating on a day to day basis. It is also in poetry form and I have also included a snippet from a book about the Austen family. .

Martha Lloyd’s collection of recipes, 1808.
Mrs Austen’s Bread and Butter Pudding.

“Contributed by Mrs. Cassandra Austen (Jane’s mother) to Martha Lloyd’s collection of recipes, 1808. As this recipe attests, Jane Austen came by her talent honestly. For amusement, her family wrote riddles, charades, poems, and plays for each other. Mrs. Austen excelled at poetry to the extent that one can easily follow her recipe in rhyme.”

If the vicar you treat,
You must give him to eat,
A pudding to hit his affection;
And to make his repast,
By the canon of taste,
Be the present receipt your direction.

First take two pounds of Bread,
Be the crumb only weigh’d,
For the crust the good house-wife refuses;
The proportion you’ll guess,
May be made more or less,
To the size that each family chuses.

Then its sweetness to make
Some currants you take
And Sugar of each half a pound
Be not butter forgot
And the quantity sought
Must the same with your currants be found

Cloves & mace you will want,
With rose water I grant,
And more savory things if well chosen;
Then to bind each ingredient,
You’ll find it expedient,
Of Eggs to put in half a dozen.

Some milk dont refuse it,
But boiled ere you use it,
A proper hint this for its maker;
And the whole when compleat,
In a pan clean and neat,
With care recommend to the baker.

In praise of this pudding,
I vouch it a good one,
Or should you suspect a fond word;
To every Guest,
Perhaps it is best,
Two puddings should smoke on the board.

Two puddings! – yet – no,
For if one will do,
The other comes in out of season;
And these lines but obey,
Nor can anyone say,
That this pudding’s with-out rhyme or reason

I tried to follow this recipe as close to the poem as I could which meant quite a bit of guessing measurements. It also means I have no ‘modern’ recipe to give you this time, Sorry. However, if you were going to make it I suggest doing it straight from Austen’s poem, it’s much more fun and it would be interesting to see if everyone interprets it like I did!

      I am actually not a huge fan of bread and butter pudding, so I haven’t ever made it before which meant a great deal of guesswork involved in assembling the dish. I was actually very proud of my creation when it was done. As I took it out of the oven all I could think was perhaps once a young Jane smelt this same aroma.

      From an aesthetics view it looked appealing and smelt warm and wholesome. If there ever were to be a connoisseur of bread and butter pudding it would be my mum. Hence I know I’m in safe hands with someone who can tell me if it tastes right or not. Good old Austen came through good as the pudding was apparently very nice. Not soggy underneath as many puddings can be, perhaps even a little on the dry side (which I’m sure is just down to my frugality with the milk). So yet another success!

On a final note it was awarded a rating of 7 out of 10. But as the dryness is easily rectified for the next time it will be cooked I think this is a recipe I will be adding to my own collection. Bravo Mrs Austen.

To Bake A Swan

Now, clearly, I haven't tried this recipe as killing swans is illegal now. It is merely a footnote to my previous post about the Jacobean era. Swan is not something I would ever consider as a food stuff, let alone allow it to be in one of the first recipe books!

Cooking in Europe 1250-1650 Ken Albala.
To bake a Swan.

Scald it, and take out the bones: then parboyle it and season it well with Pepper, Salt, and Ginger. Then Lard it, and put it in a deep Coffin of Rye-paste, with store of Butter. Let it soake well: when you take it out of the Quen, put in more Butter moulten at the vent-hole

Soupes Dorrey

As I progress in my journey through time to the Jacobean era there are a few noticeable changes. Firstly, meat has now become the staple for most classes. It was usually made into a stew as this would last longer. Secondly, Scappi’s (the first ‘celebrity chef’) “Opera dell’arte del cucinare” was written, which was the first modern (huzzah) cookbook. Lastly the fork was, finally, used at the dinner table. So keen to take advantage of the new availability of meat I decided to cook- Soupes Dorrey

      This recipe is actually for a kind of sauce that would go over a meat. I thought it was interesting so decided that I would use this recipe and then cook the meat (I chose chicken) separately.

Murrels Tvvo Books of Cookerie and Carving- John Murrell.
A Noble Boke of Cookry- Soupes Dorrey.
To mak soupes dorrey tak almondes and bray them asid wring them up and boile them with wyn and temper them with wyne and salt then toost whit bred and lay it in a disshe and enbane it with wyne and pour it ouer the met and florisshe it with sugur and guingere and serue it.

This is the first recipe I truly struggled to interpret. Phrases such as ‘bray’, ‘wring them up’ and ‘temper’ I had never come across before. I, luckily, found a website which interpreted some of the language for me. Here is how I cooked it, though I’m still not sure it is completely right.
Ingredients

Almonds/ almondes
Wine/ wyn
Salt
Sugar/ sugur
Ginger/ guingere
Meat to serve on.

1.First blanche the almonds then crush them, in a mortar would be best.
2.Place the almonds in a pan with enough wine to cover them. Bring to the boil.
3.Strain off the remaining wine. Then in a frying pan begin to toast the almonds with a slice of bread and a splash of wine.
4.Take it off the heat. Add a final flourish of wine. Pour it over the meat and then garnish with sugar and ginger.

To the best of my limited knowledge this is correct. The only term I was unable to interpret in any way was ‘wring them up’. This has actually been driving me mad so if you have any idea what it means then let me know. Despite my trouble reading and the fact the way I interpreted it is probably not quite how it was done in the era the recipe actually turned out well. The crunchy almonds contrasted the soft doughy bread. If anything perhaps a little too much wine as I did find myself constantly adding it to the sauce! The almond and bread combination is something I would recommend. Perhaps in modern day it could be turned into a cream sauce instead of just wine.

I found that my frustration with the interpretation made this dish so much more enjoyable when it was done. Unlike the previous eras I really had to work to recreate this dish and it was so much more satisfying. I think this dish could be revamped into a modern interpretation with a creamier sauce. Perhaps one day I will do it myself to save this treasure from extinction.

Fruit Tarte

"eat, drink and be merry"

As a child I formed a love for history, it was by far my favourite lesson in school and I longed for the days when it was on the timetable. My fascination with history largely revolved around time periods like the Tudors so clearly this week, my Tudor week, has been my favourite thus far. Once while I was in primary school we had a ‘Tudor day.’ The whole of my year came in dressed like Tudors and we spent the day doing craft, sport and eating as though we lived in that era. This memory, which is hazy at best, is something I want to recreate here. The Tudor period was a time when food started to become more than just eating to survive. Cookbooks began regulat circulation. The water, still unclean, meant it was still unfit for consumption therefore wine/ale was the most popular tipple. Most importantly more fruit trees were cultivated and more bee hives kept. All this in mind my Tudor dish is-Fruit Tarte.

      Unlike the last two dishes this sounds slightly more appealing. Whereas pottage and hodgepodge were dishes created on the basic food available and also to give more sustenance and energy this is something new. Food has, finally, become more about aesthetics and taste. Fruit is more widely available and late in the era exotic fruits also began to arrive in England. The most interesting thing I discovered is fruit tarte is not actually a tart as we would expect it to be. Anyway here’s the recipe I used to make it;

The Good Huswifes Jewell
To Make All Maner of Fruit Tarte.
ou must boyle your fruite, whether it be apple, cherrie, peach, damson, peare, Mulberie, or codling, in faire water, and when they be boyled inough, put them into a bowle, and bruse them with a Ladle, and when they be colde, straine them, and put in red wine or Claret wine, and so season it with suger, sinamon and ginger.

A relatively simple recipe, here is how I interpreted it;
Ingredients

Fruit (pretty much any type)
Wine
Sugar/ suger
Cinnamon/ sinamon
Ginger


1.Boil the chosen fruit until soft.
2.Then bruise the fruit and leave it to cool.
3.Strain off any excess juices and add the wine, sugar, cinnamon and ginger

I was expecting a pastry dish to be honest, and was a little disappointed when it failed to deliver my expectations. I chose pears as my fruit, partly because another assignment I’m working on revolves around it. Other than the lack of pastry it looked edible and reminded me a lot of my grans stewed pears. It tasted better than I expected as well. For such a simple recipe it was surprisingly tasty. Described as “refreshing” I would definitely confirm this as a hit.

I really enjoyed this dish. The cooking required little effort and the end result was deliciously refreshing. I think I will make it again. I can just picture eating fruit tarte and drinking wine in the sunshine. A true Tudor tribute.

Hodgepodge served with Ain-I-Akbari Bread

The Renaissance is usually looked upon as the dawning of the new age for science, art and literature- but what of the food? Largely the foods where not as progressive as the rest of the era, mostly they were recipes and ideas left over from the Middle Ages. By the 15th century new foods (finally) began trickling into English cuisine. Like the Medieval era vegetables were still popular. Grains also became more widely available. Which brings me onto the next dish- Hodgepodge and Ain-I-Akbari bread.

      This dish is equally unglamorous as the previous era. I was surprised by this as I expected fine dining which would rival the other movements in the era. However, as the majority of the popularity were still poor a dish like this one would be served almost daily. When I found the recipe I wanted to use it was described as a “simple experiment in aesthetics, [and] a broadening of the palate”, sounds promising right? Here is the recipe I used to make the hodgepodge;

A Book Of Cookrye-Very necessary for all such as delight therin.
Hodgepodge.
Boyle a neck of Mutton or a fat rump of Beef, and when it is well boyled, take the best of the broth and put it into a pipkin and put a good many onyons to it, two handfull of marigold flowers, and a handful of percely fine picked and groce shredde and not too small, and so boyle them in the broth and thicke it with strained bread, putting therin groce beaten pepper, and a spoonfull of Vinagre, and let it boyle somwhat thick and so lay it upon your meat.

Again my lack of knowledge of old English was my Achilles heel. Anyway here’s how I interpreted the recipe;
Ingredients
Beef rump steak/ fat rump of Beef
Onions/ onyons
Marigold flowers
Parsley/ percely
Strained bread
Pepper
Vinegar/ vinagre.

1.Place the beef in a pot of water and heat, when it begins to boil turn the heat down and leave to simmer for 3-5 hours.
2.When the beef is tender, remove it from the water. Then turn the heat up and add the onions, marigold flowers and parsley.
3.Leave it to reduce and then add the strained bread to further reduce the broth.
4.Lay the broth over the meat and serve.

I have never boiled beef before so the timings I used were from another recipe book. As it was going to take so long to cook I made the bread while I waited for it to tenderize.

Ain i Akbari- Original 16th c. Mughal recipe:
There is a large kind, baked in an oven, made of 10 s. flour; 5 s. milk; 1 1/2 s. ghi; 1/4 s. salt. They make also smaller ones. The thin kind is baked on an iron plate. One ser will give fifteen, or even more. There are various ways of making it; one kind is called hapatti, which is sometimes made of khushka; it tastes very well when served hot.”

Modern recipe:
4oz flour
0.6 oz ghee (clarified butter)
200 ml milk
Pinch of salt

1. Melt the ghee, stir it into the flour with a fork until there are only very small lumps.
2. Stir in the milk until thoroughly mixed, knead briefly.
3. Put the ball of dough in a bowl covered by a damp cloth and leave for at least an hour.
4. Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding a little extra flour if necessary.
5. Take a ball of dough about 2" in diameter, roll it out to about a 5" diameter circle.
6. Cook it in a hot frying pan without grease. After about 2 minutes it should start to puff up a little in places. Turn it. Cook another 2 minutes. Turn it. Cook another 2 minutes. It should be done. The recipe should make about 11 of these.

The bread was surprisingly easy to make and was similar to a modern chapatti or pitta bread. It defiantly needs to be dipped in something to make it edible otherwise it would be very dry. I was more than surprised at the way it turned out I anticipated a heavy loaf because of the lack of yeast. However, my pride over my newest culinary conquest was soon shattered when I finished the hodgepodge. It was nothing short of a disaster. I ignored its unappealing exterior (as the equally hideous pottage was actually quite tasty) but was disheartened at the taste. The meat whilst undeniably tender and falling apart, was dull and flavourless. The marigold added nothing to this bland dish which annoyed me because I expected something magic from this unusual ingredient. I tried to get my family to take on true renaissance etiquette by digging in with their hands rather than utensils. This idea was not well received. My mum agreed with me, best this dish stay in the past; and I couldn’t tempt anyone else to even smell it let alone taste the dish.

So as far as I am concerned the renaissance may be the turning point for arts, literature and science but they could have definitely worked more on their food. This dish has clearly been lost in time for a very good reason and I hope I never have to see hodgepodge again.

Caboches In Potage

The Medieval era is not exactly the most glamorous place to start my forage through old recipes and forgotten dishes. Nevertheless, it serves its purpose in our history as it has some of the first recipes to be written down. When I think of this era I think of famine, plague and Black Death not elegant cuisine. But clearly not everyone would have died of these ailments, so what did the dwindling population survive on? The majority of the people were peasants and therefore would not have much available to them. However ingredients such as peas, leeks, onions, cabbage and beans were easy to come by or to grow themselves. Raw vegetables were deemed unhealthy and sometimes poisonous and so (unfortunately for mu tasters) everything was cooked until it was pretty much mush. Which brings me onto the staple (and just about the only dish the majority of the population could make) dish- Pottage.

      Yes it’s unglamorous but its basic ingredients sum up the early era perfectly. The staple ingredients would have been easy to obtain and the dish also has the potential to be modified depending on ingredients. Ham, a more luxurious food, could easily have been added to the dish but was not a necessity. Also, it had the potential to have been served with bread if they could manage to get some grain (which was hard to come by). Their meals were usually served with alcohol, which was believed to have a higher nutritional value than the dirty water that was available. With this in mind, here is the recipe I used to create my first voyage through time.

The Forme Of Cury, A Roll Of Ancient English Cookery. Compiled, About A.D. 1390, by the Master-Cooks fo King Richard II.

Caboches[1] In Potage. IIII.
Take Caboches and quarter hem and seeth hem in gode broth with Oynouns y mynced and the whyte of Lekes y slyt and corue smale [2] and do þer to safroun an salt and force it with powdour douce [3].

[1] Caboches. Probably cabbages. [2] corue smale. Cut small. V. i corue in Gloss. [3] powdour douce. Sweet aromatic powder. V. Pref.

This is an actual recipe from the era, hence the confusing spelling! Here is how I interptreted the recipe;
Ingredients
500ml vegetable stock (I cheated a bit and used a stock cube)
Cabbage Caboches
Ham hem
Onion Oynouns
Leek Lekes
Saffron Safroun
Salt
Cinnamon powdour douce
Sugar

1. Bring stock to boil and let simmer.
2. Chop up the vegetables.
3. Add the vegetables, ham and remaining ingredients to the pot.
4. Leave to simmer for ½ and hour to 1 ½ hours.
N.B 1 ½ hours was suggested by another pottage recipe but it would have turned everything to mush (which I suppose would have been to do with their fear of raw vegetables). I only cooked mine for ½ hour.

       As I have mentioned before cabbage is my least favourite food, scarred by past encounters of being forced to eat it by my parents when I was a little girl, I now still can’t touch the stuff. Needless to say I was not looking forward to eating this dish (neither were my family, least of all my brother who is convinced my cooking will poison him.) So I had no expectations for this dish, other than to get it over with as quickly as possible and move on to something nicer. It was relatively easy to cook; I can see why it was a staple dish, throw everything in and leave it to cook. Simple.

      When I served it I was even less impressed. The one thing worse than cabbage itself, is wet and slimy cabbage. The flourishes of pink ham coming out of the green mass gave it a little potential. But still it looked pretty unappealing. Hence my surprise when my mum gave it her seal of approval calling it “surprisingly edible” if a little salty. My dad, the harshest food critic of them all, also said it was quite nice. I was stunned. Could it really be that this dish is actually a lost treasure? Or was it just my parents not wanting to hurt my feelings? I ended up trying it myself. It was okay for cabbage and a lot like a cabbage soup. I had been a little over zealous with the salt but with some tweaks it would be edible today. However I think it needed the ham to be edible, without it would be tasteless. I feel sorry for all the medieval peasants who often did not have the ham.

Cabbage Pottage my first taste of history. Completely edible, very healthy and dare I say tasty. This dish has the potential to be part of 21st century cuisine though not particularly stylish. One thing I know for sure is my mum would love that I’m finally eating my cabbage.