The Old Foodie

Turmeric.

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000+10:00

I cannot imagine what the food world would smell likewithout the ginger family. We have mettwo members of the Zingiberaceaethis week on the blog – galangal and cardamom. Today it is the turn ofturmeric, and maybe in the future we will consider Grains of Paradise (meleguetapepper). There may be others too, that will have their brief blog-moment afterI have indulged myself in a crash course in gingerology.

We must first consider the name. Let us justsay that ‘the origin is obscure’, and the OxfordEnglish Dictionary devotes a large paragraph to theorising about it. The OED seems to favour the idea that itcomes from ‘modern Latin terra merita ‘deserving or deservedearth’, a name which the powder is said by Littré to have borne in commerce.’

Turmeric (Curcumalonga) is ‘the aromatic andpungent root-stock of an East Indian plant’ and the powdered spice made fromthis root. In the way of all spices it has various medicinal qualitiesattributed to it. In particular it is of potential use in cancer and Alzheimer’sdisease, and you can be sure I will be watching the research in those areasvery intently.

The plant is put toseveral more uses. Should you need a litmus test but find yourself without anyof the standard paper strips, you can improvise with turmeric in water. Paperdipped in this mixture will turn from yellow to reddish brown in the presenceof alkali. On a related note, turmeric is used as a dye (bright yellow,naturally). Experts say the dye is not particularly stable, and fades with timeand sunlight. This is not my experience. I have several articles of clothing withreminders of curries past in the form of yellow blotches which have resistedall my laundering efforts – and I am a good laundress.

Finally we come to its culinary use. It is most familiar tomost of us as an ingredient in curry powder. I give you a nice example from theexciting early days of the British Empire.

To Make a Currey the Indian Way.

Take twosmall chickens, skin them and cut them as for a fricasey, wash them clean, andstew them in about a quart of water for about five minutes; then strain off theliquor and put the chickens in a clean dish; take three large onions, chop themsmall, and fry them in about two ounces of butter, then put in the chickens,and fry them together until they are brown, take a quarter of an ounce ofturmerick, a large spoonful of ginger and beaten pepper together, and a littlesalt to your palate; strew all these ingredients over the chicken whilstfrying, then pour in the liquor, and let it stew about half an hour, then putin a quarter of a pint of cream, and the juice of two lemons, and serve it up.The ginger, pepper, and turmerick must be beat very fine.

The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy(1784), by Hannah Glasse,

Quotation for the Day.

Eating highlyseasoned food is unhealthful, because it stimulates too much, provokes theappetite too much, and often is indigestible.
Catharine E. Beecher, Miss Beecher’sDomestic Receipt-Book (1846)

Fenugreek

2012-01-26T05:00:00.000+10:00

I was fascinated to find out that our English word‘fenugreek’ is a legacy of the Romans. The word comes from the Latin fænumGræcum meaning ‘Greek hay’-because it was used extensively as fodder for animals.

Fenugreek is aleguminous plant with the botanical name is Trigonella fœnum græcum.It has been used by humans for at least six thousand years, and all parts ofthe plant have something to offer - it is both a herb and a spice. It is mostfamiliar to us in the West as an ingredient in curry powders. You may be morefamiliar with it in Indian grocery shops as methi.

As we would expect, various medicinal properties are associated with fenugreek.If you need scientific proof for many of the claims, you will have to wait awhile, for there is as yet no high-level evidence for its benefits. It isclaimed to be good for arthritis and diabetes and poor libido, so if the proofcomes in, and if drug companies manage to locate and extract its activemolecules, they will be sure to have a steady and increasing market for theirproduct.

Unlike many other ‘Indian’ spices, fenugreek never becameindispensible in Western cuisine. It was difficult to find any examples of itsuse, other than in curry powder, except for a single recipe in one of thecookery books of the famous Victorian chef, Alexis Soyer. The book is Pantropheon: or, a history of food and its preparation(1853),and the recipe is for Noix de Veauà la Tarentaise. I give you the recipe with a ‘please explain’ plea, as Iam quite puzzled by it. The dish appears to be Soyer’s interpretation of anancient Roman dish, but the appellation ‘àla Tarentaise’ indicates it is in the style suggestive of food from the Vallée de laTarentaise, a valley of the Isère River in the Savoy regionof the French Alps.

Noixde Veau à a Tarentaise.

Take a noix de veau [nut of veal], cook it in asaucepan with pepper, alisander*, and fenugreek seed; add, later, some wildmarjoram, pine nuts, and dates; then moisten with a mixture of honey, vinegar,garum**, mustard, and oil. When the cookery of these various substances shallhave made an homogeneous whole, serve.

*alisander:‘herb Alexander’, also known as Horse-parsley, Smyrnium, Black pot-herb;somewhat like celery; native to the Mediterranean, but widely naturalized inBritish coastal regions. Smyrniumolusatrum, Fam. Umbellliferae

*garum: auniversal condiment made from fermented fish used by the Romans.

Quotation for the Day

The winterhours were long to him who had no spice-warmed cup.

Eliza Cook, Sunshine(1846)

Cardamom.

2012-01-25T05:00:00.000+10:00

The thing Ilike about cardamom - apart from its delicious flavour and fragrance, - is thataccording to a thirteenth century medical manuscript, it helps with ‘wamblyngand indygnacyon of the stomak.’ Herbs and spices were, of course, commonly usedas medicines in the past, and over recent times there has been a resurgence ofinterest in their potential medical applications. I don’t know if there is any goodscientific evidence for the use of cardamom in cases of wambly or indignantstomachs, but I will watch out for it eagerly.

The Oxford English Dictionary acknowledgesthe medicinal applications of cardamom:

A spice consisting of theseed-capsules of various species of Amomumand Elettaria (familyZingiberaceæ), natives of the East Indies and China; used in medicine as astomachic, and also for flavouring sauces and curries. (Rarely applied to theplant from which the spice is obtained.) The only kind included in the Britishpharmacopœia is the Malabar cardamom, obtained from E. cardamomum.

One thing is for sure, if cardamom once again becomes aprescription item, it will not need a spoonful of sugar to make the medicine godown. But the admixture of a little turmeric, cloves, mace and black pepperwill surely always be a welcome idea, as in the following fine recipe for‘kedgeree’ from the Practice of Cookery, by Mrs Dalgairns, 1830.

Cutcharee.

Boil aquarter of a pound of split peas till they be tender; drain them in a cullender.Wash very clean a pound of rice; chop the peas finely, mix them with the rice,and season with a little turmeric. Fry in an ounce and a half of butter, aminced onion, and of cloves, mace, cardamom, and black pepper, when pounded,half a tea- spoonful each; stir them constantly, to prevent their burning.Season a quart of veal stock with salt and pepper; put in the rice and thefried onion and spices; cover the stew-pan closely, and let it simmer till therice becomes tender and dry. Serve it with a cup of oiled butter.

Quotation for the Day.

Once you geta spice in your home, you haveit forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with theirspices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go.

Erma Bombeck.

Galangal.

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000+10:00

Galangal belongs to the ginger family, and is sometimesconfused with it although the flavour is quite different. There are severalplants called galangal, which is a nuisance, I think, but something over whichI have no control, so I refuse to fuss about it. ‘Real’ galangal – the mostcommon culinary form that is - is the root of Alpinia galangal. Because of its familiarity, popularity, andsuperiority, it is known as greater galangal. Alpinia officinarumis known as lesser galangal, and there is a third type called Kaempferiagalangal about which I know nothing except that it does not appearto be called least galangal.

The root was well known for both its flavour and medicinaluses in the time of Chaucer (see the quote of the day), but it had virtuallydisappeared from the culinary scene in Britain a couple of hundred years later,as far as I can tell from some pretty hurried research. Odd, that at a timewhen travel and trade were exotic and hazardous occupations galangal was wellknown, but after these pursuits became every-day and large-scale activities itwas essentially lost to the British culinary armamentarium, isn’t it?

I give you a recipe from a late fifteenth century manuscript(Harleain MS. 5401), in which galangal is used to flavour fritters.

Fruturs.

[Take] cromysof whyte brede, & swete apyls, & ȝokkis of eggis, & bray þam wele,& temper it with wyne, & make it to sethe; & when it is thyk, doþer-to gode spyces, gynger & galingay & canyll & clows, & serveit forthe.

Which means,more or less:

Take crumbsof white bread, and sweet apples, and yolkd of eggs, and beat them well, andmix with wine, and simmer it, and when it is thick, add good spices, ginger andgalingal and cinnamon and cloves, and serve it forth.

The recipe appears to omit the frying of the batter. Cookerybooks at this time, and for centuries later, were aides-memoire for cooks, whowould have understood what needed to be done with the batter. A number of youwere frustrated with the absence of method instructions for the Spice Pierecipe from 1915 yesterday. In 1915, ‘everyone’ would have known how to makepastry and form a pie shell, so it was not thought necessary to includeinstructions for this – it was understood that the recipe was simply for thefilling.

Quotation for the Day.

A Cook theyhadde with hem for the nones

To boillethe chiknes with the Marybones

And poudre-marchaunttart and Galyngale.

Wel koude heknowe a draughte of londoun ale.
He koude rooste, and sethe, and broille, and frye,
Maken mortreux, and wel bake a pye.
But greet harm was it, as it thoughte me,
That on his shyne a mormal hadde he.
For blankmanger, that made he with the beste.

Chaucer, Canterbury Tales: Prologue (late 14thC)

The Spice of Life.

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000+10:00

I would not enjoy cooking half as much, without spices. Howabout you? It occurred to me that there are many spices that have not had theirday on this blog, so this week I have selected a few for our joint consumption.

Firstly, what is a spice? According to the Oxford English Dictionary it is ‘one orother of various strongly flavoured or aromatic substances of vegetable origin,obtained from tropical plants, commonly used as condiments or employment forother purposes on account of their fragrance and preservative qualities.’

Interesting, that the OED includes the supposed preservativequalities of spices. Has this ever been borne out by science? I don’t think so.The definition no doubt derives from the belief that ‘curry’ is a way ofpreserving meat in hot climates – and/or disguising the taste if it has alreadyspoiled. I don’t know how this idea ever got established. If it were true,there would be no rationale for the adoption of heavily spiced dishes in coldclimates. There would be no need for spicy hot ale posset or gingerbread inmid-winter Europe. There would have been no impetus for the hazardous andexpensive voyages of exploration and other imperial thrusts towards the spicelands of the mysterious East. ‘Curry’ would not be almost the nationalfavourite dish in England.

There is no nutritional drive for added flavour. Aside fromthe possible medical benefits of some spices (a ‘watch this space’ region ifever there was one), spices add flavour, not nutritional value. A piece ofcinnamon toast has barely any more calories, fat, protein, carbohydrates orvitamins than plain toast (with a sprinkle of sugar on it) but my goodness, itssmell is more likely to lure you back into the kitchen, isn’t it?

Humans like warm,sweet, aromatic, peppery, gingery, hot, complex spicy flavours. That is the sum of it. Humans have been so fond offragrant, spicy dishes that they havebeen prepared to risk life, limb, and the national economy to ensure their fix.Historically, humans have been willing to spend years crossing treacherousoceans aboard fragile ships, and dangerous deserts aboard ill-tempered camels,in the hope of making vast amounts of money by finding spices to sell tohome-bodies hungry for tasty, spicy,fragrant, stews, soups, cakes, pies, sauces, beverages and whatever else youcan think of.

To start our week I give you a couple of nice,non-threatening spicy dishes from TheSuffrage Cook Book (Pittsburgh, 1915), by Mrs. L.O.Kleber.

Spice Pie

The yolks ofthree eggs, one and one-half cupfuls of sugar, one cupful of cream, twotablespoons of flour, two-thirds of a cupful of butter, one teaspoon of spice,cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Mix theflour and sugar together, then cream with the butter. Add the yolks of the eggs,beating thoroughly. Next add cream and spices. Use the whites for the frosting.

Inexpensive Spice Cake

½ cup shortening

2 cups brownsugar

grated rindof lemon

2 eggs

3 cups flour

1 lb. seededraisins

½ teaspooncinnamon

dash ofcloves and nutmeg

Boil raisinsin 1 ½ cups water twenty minutes.

Mixshortening, sugar, lemon rind, eggs and spices, add one cup flour then raisinsdrained but still hot. Then the other two cups flour and ½ cup of the water inwhich the raisins were boiled to which add 1 teaspoon bi-carbonate soda.

Bake in gempans in moderate oven. This makes 30 cakes which can be iced with white orchocolate icing.

Quotation for the Day.

A man allVertue, like a Pye all Spice, will not please.

J. Crowne, Regulus: atragedy (1694)

A Nice Bit of Powsoddy.

2012-01-20T06:49:00.003+10:00

There is an old dish from the north of England and Scotlandcalled powsoddy (spelled in variousways.) I loved the name when I first came across it, so naturally wanted tofind out exactly what it was. It turns out that the name is applied to severalquite different things.

Powsoddy number one is a type of ‘ale posset with rum,sugar, nutmeg, and toasted bread; usually introduced during Christmas inCumberland.’

Powsoddy number two is perhaps a variation of the above, asit can mean ‘a poisonous draught.’

Powsoddy number three is ‘any of various cooked dishescontaining a mixture of various ingredients; a stew, a hotchpotch’, but theterm is especially applied to a broth made of a sheep's head – from ‘pow’apparentlymeaning ‘head’, and sodden being an old word for boiling.

Powsoddy number four is ‘a suet pudding placed under aroast’ – otherwise known as ‘Aud-wife’s Sod’ or ‘Cinder-catcher.’ Somedescriptions call it ‘Yorkshire Pudding’ too, because the original way ofcooking this was by placing the mixture under the roast – although this mixtureis a batter, not a suet pudding mixture.

The Oxford EnglishDictionary admits that the etymology of the word is problematic, but I ammore puzzled by how such different dishes came to be described by the same word– albeit a word with a large number of different spellings. Any ideas?

Recipe for the Day.

I am most intrigued by the first part of this reciperelating to the use of the sheep’s brain when it is removed from the head.

Sheep’s-Head Broth.

Have asheep’s head and feet singed, split up, take out the brains and rub the headand feet with them; let it lie all night, and in the morning put it on the fire,in a pot with cold water. Le tit get hot, but not to boil; take it from thefire and let it stand one hour, then wash it well, brush it with a brush untilyou are ready to put them to the boil. Have a pot ready, put in one tea-cupfulof barley, two ounces of whole rice, two pounds of the neck of mutton; put inthe head and feet, and plenty of cold water and a little salt.Skim it well, andwhen it comes to the boil, draw it to the side of the fire, and let it boilslowly but constantly for another two hours; then add carrots, turnips, onions,cut neatly, and let it boil for another two hours, salting to taste. If yourhead is tender, take the broth off the fire, dish the head with the feel roundit, and pour a little melted butter and minced parsley.

Practice of Cookery and Pastry (Edinburgh,1854), I. Williamson.

Quotation for the Day.

I know it's not cat food, but what exactly is it that they putinside of tinned ravioli?
Doug Coupland

Honey, to Find.

2012-01-19T06:27:00.000+10:00

I cannot resist sharing with you another piece of advicefrom Sir Frederick Galton’s The Art ofTravel: or Shifts and Contrivances available in Wild Countries (1872.) Thisgem gives a whole new meaning to the idea of cooking (provisioning) fromscratch. If you want honey - first catch your bee.

Honey, to find,when Bees are seen.

Dredge as manybees as you can, with flour from a pepper-box; or else catch one of them, tie afeather or a straw to his leg, which can easily be done (natives thrust it upinto his body), throw him into the air, and follow him as he flies slowly tohis hive; or catch two bees, and turning them loose at some distance apart, searchthe place towards which their flights converge. But if bees are too scarce foreither of these methods, choose an open place, and lay in it a plate of syrupas a bait for the bees; after one has fed and flown away again, remove theplate 200 yards in the direction in which he flew; and proceed in the same sortof way, until the nest is found.

I amdelighted to have found this little story, as I do not think I have given honeysufficient space in this blog to date. Today’s recipe source is a twenty page pamphletfrom the Canada Department of Agriculture, Honeyand Some of the Ways in Which it May be Used, (Ottowa, 1936.) The pamphlet waswritten for ‘the country housewife, especially those who produce their ownhoney’, and who pose the question ‘Can we use the honey we produce, but cannotsell, in place of sugar, which we have to buy?’

The pamphletgives some general rules by which any recipe may be adapted to the use ofhoney.

1. Measurehoney always in the liquid form. If it is granulated, heat over warm wateruntil liquid.

2. Forevery cup of honey used, reduce the liquid called for in the recipe byone-fifth.

3. Onecup of honey is as great in sweetening power as one cup of sugar.

4. Use¼ to ½ teaspoon of soda to each cup of honey.

5. Increasethe amount of salt by ⅛ to ¼ teaspoon.

6. Whensubstituting honey for sugar in cake, reduce the liquid of the recipe byone-fifth and use half honey and half sugar. Fruit cake is an exception to therule and all honey may be used.

7. Inmilk puddings, pie fillings, etc., add the honey with the thickening agent – egflour, cornstarch etc.

SirFrederick does not provide recipes as such, in his book, so I have no idea howhe would have used the honey – probably to sweeten tea, or perhaps to spread onbread, but almost certainly not in recipes like the following, taken from theCanadian pamphlet.

Honey Snaps.

½ cup honey

1 cup siftedpastry flour

1 teaspoonvanilla

½ cup butter

⅔ cup granulatedsugar

¼ teaspoonsalt.

Heat thehoney to boiling point, add the butter and let it melt. Carefully add the mixedand sifted dry ingredients, combining so that there are no lumps, addflavouring and drop from a teaspoon onto a well-buttered baking sheet. Bake ina slow oven, 300 degrees Fahrenheit, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until thin andbubbly and nicely browned.

Remove fromthe oven, allow to cool a little, just enough that the wafers may be pulledfrom the baking sheet, and roll with the top side out. If the wafers become toohard to roll, place the baking sheet in the oven for a few minutes.

Quotation for the Day.

Bees siphoney from flowers and hum their thanks when they leave.

Rabindrath Tagore.

To Keep Milk and Butter.

2012-01-18T05:00:00.000+10:00

When I travel, I like to travel light - but I also don’t liketo do without the comforts of home and the good things of life. Tea bags solve theproblem for me. Usually, at home, I have milk in tea, but in extremesituations, or just for a change, I drink it without. I never feel the need togo to extreme lengths to find milk in low-milk environments.

Real explorers and adventurers seem to take a perverse pridein doing it all tough and manly, so I was surprised to find that the intrepidauthor of yesterday’s source, The Art ofTravel: or Shifts and Contrivances available in Wild Countries (1872) gavespace to methods of preservation of milk and butter. Bit sissy, that, isnt it? Carryingglass bottles of preserved milk would make the choice of beasts of burden moredifficult too, I would think.

Anyway, who am I to judge? I have never done anything moreadventurous than a hot-air balloon ride – although that did turn out to beexciting, as we crash landed. No glass bottles aboard, thankfully.

Should milk and butter be essential to your trip, andportability and lack of refrigeration not be issues for you, here is how Sir Frederick suggests you prepare them:

Milk, to keep.-Put it in a bottle, andplace it in a pot of water, over a slow fire, till the water boils; let thebottle remain half an hour in the boiling water, and then cork it tightly. Milkwith one's tea is a

great luxury;it is worth taking some pains to keep it fresh. A traveller is generallyglutted with milk when near native encampments, and at other times has none atall. Milk dried into cakes, intended to be grated into boiling water for use,was formerly procurable: it was very good; but I cannot hear of it now in theshops. Milk preserved in tins is excellent, but it is too bulky for theconvenience of most travellers. Dried bread-crumb, mixed with fresh cream, is saidto make a cake that will keep

for somedays. I have not succeeded, to my satisfaction with this recipe.

Butter, to preserve. -Boil it in alarge vessel till the scum rises. Skim this off as fast as it appears on thesurface, until the butter remains quite clear, like oil. It should then becarefully poured off, that the

impuritieswhich settle at the bottom of the vessel may be separated. The clarified butteris to be put aside to be kept, the settlings must be used for common andimmediate purposes. Butter is churned, in many countries, by twirling a forkedstick, held between the two hands, in a vessel full of cream; or even byshaking the cream in a bottle. It is said that the temperature of the milk,while it is being churned, should be between 50 degrees and 60 degrees Fahr.,and that this is all-important to success.

Quotation for the Day.

Think what abetter world it would be if we all, the whole world, had cookies and milk about three o'clock everyafternoon and then lay down on our blankets for a nap.

Robert Fulghum.

Salt from Ashes.

2012-01-17T05:35:00.002+10:00

Today I want to bring to you some useful insights from amarvellous book called The Art of Travel:or Shifts and Contrivances available in Wild Countries (London, 1872), bySir Frederick Galton. Should you ever need to know how to take a strong man prisonersinglehanded, how to make your own lint (for wound dressings), or how to dealwith the continual braying of one of your asses, then this is the book for you.

Naturally,we are going to focus on the suggestions given about the provision of food for travellersin such wild places (which, I am delighted to advise, include Australia.) Therelevant chapter begins:

Food Suitable for the Stores of Travellers.- The most portable kind of food is, unquestionably, the flesh of cattle; forthe beasts carry themselves. The draught oxen used in African and Australianexplorations serve as a last resource, when all other food is wanting.

It has beentruly remarked with reference to Australian exploring expeditions, that if anexploring party would make up their minds to eat horseflesh, stores ofprovisions might be largely dispensed with. A few extra horses could be taken;and one shot occasionally, and its flesh dried and slightly salted,sufficiently to preserve it from becoming tainted before the men could consumeit.

Portable Food. - The kinds of food thatare the most portable in the ordinary sense of the term are:-Pemmican;meat-biscuit; fried meat; dried fish; wheat flour; biscuit; oatmeal; barley;peas; cheese; sugar; preserved potatoes; and Chollet's compressed vegetables.Extract of meat, as I am assured by the highest physiological authors, is not aportable food but a portable savour. It is quite impossible that life should bemaintained on any minute amount of material, because so many grains of carbon andso many of nitrogen are daily consumed, and an equivalent weight of thoseelements must, of course, be replaced. Salt meat is not to be depended upon,for it is liable to become hard and worthless, by long keeping.

The authorgoes on to note that, if one is living off the land, then the flesh of nobeasts (and few fish) is poisonous, but many plant foods are. He has someinteresting comments on the importance of salt, and gives a method of making itwhich will serve as our recipe for the day.

Salt.-The craving for salt (chloride ofsodium) is somewhat satisfied by the potash salts, and, perhaps, by otherminerals: thus we often hear of people reduced to the mixing of gun-powder withtheir food, on account of the saltpetre that it contains. An impure salt ismade widely in North Africa, fromwood-ashes. They are put into a pot, hot water is poured over them and allowedto stand and dissolve out the salts they contain; the ley is then decanted intoanother pot, where it is evaporated. The plants in use are those of which thewetted ashes have a saline and not an alkaline taste, nor a soapy feel.

I plan to give you more insights from this author tomorrow, forhe has much to share, and there are still wild places to travel in the world.

Quotation for the Day.

Don’tslaughter more pigs than you can salt.

FrenchProverb

Puddings by the Wholesale.

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000+10:00

One of the ideas I like to come across in old cookery booksis the ‘make x-number of things from one mix’ sort of recipe. They are not veryoften relevant to modern family size, meal preferences, and time constraints,but I like to think of them as aids to creativity. Today I give you, in itsentirety, a short article from the American Farmers' Magazine of 1857which shows just how much you can do with a basic custard as your startingpoint.

Puddings by the Wholesale.

Here is a rule for building a dozen puddings or more on onefoundation. What an idea! It may be a good, one, however. Let the ladies lookat it and see:
Baked Puddings.—Take about three eggs for each quart of milk, beat themthoroughly and stir with the milk, adding salt and sugar or molasses to thetaste, and a little nutmeg, or other spice if desired. It is now ready to pourinto the pudding dish and set in the oven as a custard pudding, or with appleor other sauce stirred in, as a fruit pudding; or it can be used as a basis foralmost any other pudding. Take the custard as prepared, and thicken it somewhatwith cold corn cake or pone crumbled fine, and you will have a light andexcellent Indian pudding, or thicken with dry bread well crumbled, for a goodbread pudding, that will please all. Or the pieces of stale bread may be slicedthin, and slowly dried and browned in the oven, then pounded fine or ground inthe coffee-mill, and a little of this powdered rusk—about one tablespoonful toa quart—used to thicken it, with ground clove for spice, and you have a ruskpudding.
Add rice which has been previously boiled in milk, to the custard, for a ricepudding, or a little sago or tapioca, well soaked and boiled, for a stillfurther variety. Hominy well boiled, or grated sweet corn, too, make puddingswhich some are fond of. A pudding which we particularly like, is made by takingvery thin slices of bread buttered thinly, putting a layer of this at thebottom of the dish, then a layer of apple sliced thin, another layer of bread,and so on till you have enough, then pour a custard made as first directed overthe whole, and put it into the oven. Or for the bird's nest pudding, take smalltart apples, pare and core, put them in the pudding-dish and pour the custardover.
The proportion of eggs may be increased or diminished in any of these puddings,according to the supply, and raisins or West India currants can be added or notat the pleasure of the cook. All of these puddings should be baked very slowly,and not suffered to boil in the oven. Sweet cream, with sugar, and if wished, alittle nutmeg added, makes the best sauce for any of those. Or thicken boilingwater with a little flour, add a small lump of butter, sugar, salt and spice,and either lemon juice, or lemon essence and vinegar, and you have a good,plain sauce.—Ohio Cultivator.

Quotation for the Day.

Chopsticks are one of the reasons the Chinese never invented custard.
Spike Milligan

Why not ‘Bean Day’?

2012-01-13T05:40:00.004+10:00

I lovebeans. Aside from their gustatory pleasure, they are a never-ending source ofstories. Some time ago we had an American story from World War II on Soy Beans for Freedom. Today I give youan article from World War I, from the WashingtonPost of January 13, 1918. It is an appeal from a Mrs. Christine Frederick -clearly a bean-lover herself - which is still entirely relevant almost ahundred years later. I love the sweet dessert idea for lima beans.

We have had wheatless days and meatless days urged uponus, but why not consider the merits of one “bean day” every week? Beans, as weknow, are meat equivalents; and even though the price has trebled in the lastyear, they are still cheaper and give more nourishment of the same kind thananimal protein. Now, with the gathering of the crops, dried beans should behanging a-plenty in cellar or attic, and the creative housewife will find stillmore ways to use them than before.

There are black, red, white, and all manner of mottledbeans. Their value is about the same; all are high in protein and starch, sothat really the bean is meat and potato combined. The whole family has alsosulphur compounds of great value. The one disadvantage they possess is thethick leathery skin, which sometimes irritates the stomach and makes peoplethink that “beans don’t agree with them.” It is better to keep back the skinswhen cooking for children and persons of weak digestion.

Mashed Beans.

Until recently few housekeepers were familiar with themethod of using bean pulp instead of the whole bean in the familiar “pork andbeans.” To make this pulp, boil any lima, pea, or red bean in very little wateruntil tender. Press through a fine puree strainer and season. This pulp canthen be used hot instead of mashed potato, or it can be made into croquettes orpatties or as a stuffing for meat and vegetables. The pulp of lima beans isparticularly sweet and delicious. If combined with beaten egg yolks and stifflybeaten egg whites it makes a soufflé or baked custard which is most deliciousand nourishing, especially for children.

This pulp is really a 100 per cent no-waste food, foreven though the price of beans is abnormal, it must be remembered that there isnot an ounce of loss through bone, gristle, or trimming: they are the mostconcentrated food. The one ingredient that they lack is fat, so it shouldalways be combined in their cooking: high contrasting flavours, like tomato,pepper, thyme, etc should also be used.

Much is being made of the new emigrant from Japan, thesoy bean. It is the most nutritious of the entire family, is as easy to cookand tastes just as well as our own navy bean. It can be boiled, baked or madeinto soup, and the flour makes delicious muffins and pancakes. Ask your dealerabout the soy bean and try some of your favourite recipes with it.

Another bean that could be used more is the large redkidney bean, whose pulp is particularly mealy. This is the kind used byMexicans and Asiatics and which is so tasty in hot pungent dishes. The pulpmashes well, makes excellent croquettes and stew. The small red and whitemottled Italian bean has very good flavour, especially excellent for baking.The lima has the sweetest flavor of all and makes the best mealy pulp.

It is now possible to secure in package form flour madefrom various beans. These make excellent soups very quickly or can be used as athick cereal or made into puddings in which children delight.

Making UpLeft-Overs.

Beans are also a food which use up scraps and left-oversto the best possible advantage. Any small trimming of meat, ham, celery tops,or the water in which vegetables were cooked can be used as the water in whichto boil the beans and increase their nourishment. There is not a ham shank toosmall or a bacon rind too old to be used for flavouring. Carrots, cabbage, andcelery too wilted to appear as vegetables, can be cut into fine bits andcombined in the various bean dishes. Beans should always be cooked with the potlid off in order to let the sulphur compounds escape. The water in which theywere soaked should not be used, but do not throw away the water in which theywere parboiled, as this holds some of the valuable elements. It seems naturalfor beans to cook best in earthenware, and many of us should try the plan ofcooking soup in crockery like our frugal cousins, the French. The flavour isbetter and the service made easier by cooking and serving in the same dish.

Quotation for the Day.

Preach notto others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you, and be silent.

Epicetus (55 AD – 135 AD)

DIY Condensed Milk.

2012-01-12T06:48:00.001+10:00

Have you ever had the urge to make your own condensed milk? I thought not. Perhaps you are curious however, as to how it could be made at home on your own stove, should the desire or need arise? The Genesee Farmer in 1864, tells how:

“A correspondent of the Germantown Telegraph says: "To one quart of new milk, take one pound of the best crushed sugar; let the milk boil, then stir in the sugar until all is dissolved; continue to stir until it has commenced again to boil, which must be on a gentle, heat to keep from burning. When it becomes the consistency of molasses it is done for use. Put in cans or close jars and cork them tightly. This is of much value where fresh milk cannot be had, either in preparing food for the sick, or to use in tea and coffee. In hospitals this is a valuable article."

The timing of the article in the newspaper is relevant to the story of condensed milk, as there was a great deal of interest in it at the time. Although Gail Borden, the inventor of the product had finally succeeded in patenting it in 1856, as so often has happened in respect of food preservation methods in the past, it was the requirements of wartime – in this case, the American Civil War – which gave impetus to its commercial development.

A number of stories on this blog have contained condensed milk as an ingredient, including the infamous mock mayonnaise salad dressing, so it was quite a challenge to find something interesting. I hope you like my choice, from an article in the Washington Post of July 1937. “Absolutely failure proof” candy firecrackers seem like a great idea for the kids-at-heart in your family, and would make fun gifts for any holiday season.

Safe and Sane Firecrackers.
1 ¾ cups confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ teaspoon peppermint extract
Blend sifted confectioners’ sugar gradually with sweetened condensed milk, using fork. Add peppermint extract and continue mixing until smooth and creamy. Use just enough sugar so that the fondant will hold its shape when formed into rolls. Roll out on a board or waxed paper dusted lightly with confectioners’ sugar, making long rolls about ½ to ¾-inch thick. Cut rolls into about 3 ½-inch lengths. Cover with melted dipping chocolate which has been cooled. Chill. Make fuse of bits of string held in place with pins, or lengths of coloured toothpicks or strips of candied fruit. Makes about ten.

Happy Holiday Pinwheels.
½ cup cocoa
1 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar
½ cup sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla
¼ cup sweetened condensed milk
¼ cup confectioners’ sugar
Sift together cocoa and 1 ½ cups condensed milk and vanilla. Blend thoroughly. Pat out on board or waxed paper which has been dusted with confectioners’ sugar, into oblong layer ¼-inch thick. Blend remaining confectioners’ sugar and sweetened condensed milk. Tint with vegetable coloring if desired. Spread with spatula on top of dark layer. Roll as in making jelly roll, folding edges to conceal fondant. Allow to stand in cool place until firm. Cut into diagonal slices 1/2 –inch thick.Wipe knife after each slice, to keep the colors clear. Makes 15 to 20 pinwheels.

Quotation for the Day.

(With no apologies for repeating this quotation – it was impossible to resist.)
Condensed milk is wonderful. I don't see how they can get a cow to sit down on those little cans.
Fred Allen.

A Jug of Hare

2012-01-11T05:00:00.000+10:00

In therecipe for Beef Tea Ice-cream which I posted the other day, the beef tea itselfwas made in a stone jar set in a pot of boiling water. Before electricslow-cookers, this was also a great way to cook things like chutneys, saucesand conserves which need to slowly thicken by evaporation, but are in danger ofburning if put directly on a low flame (see links below for examples.)

This methodof cooking is called ‘jugging.’ The OxfordEnglish Dictionary definition is interesting as it is more specific. Itsays that ‘to jug’ is ‘to stew or boil in a jug or jar (esp. a hare or rabbit)’.In yet another common interpretation, ‘jugging’ refers specifically to cookingthe hare or rabbit in its own blood – resulting in a dish which in the classicFrench tradition is called a civet.

I give youthe earliest recipe I know for ‘Jugged Hare’. It is from Hannah Glasse’s Art of Cookery (1747)

A Jugged Hare.

Cut it toPieces, lard them here and there and with little slips of bacon, season themwith a very little pepper and salt, put them into a earthen jugg, with a bladeor two of mace, an onion stuck with cloves, and a bundle of sweet-herbs; coverthe jar you do it in so close, that nothing can get in, then set it in a pot ofboiling water, keep the water boiling, and three hours will do it; then turn itout into the dish, and take out the onion and sweet herbs, and send it to thetable hot. If you don’t like it larded, leave it out.

As aninteresting aside, the OED also givesone definition of ‘jug’ as: “the sleeping place of partridges, where they ‘jug’or nest together’”. I guess this would give an added poignancy to using a braceof the birds to make Jugged Partridges. The dictionary also defines ‘a jug’ ‘a savoury Barbadian dish served esp. atChristmas.’ I am profoundly ignorant of this dish, and sincerely hope one ofyou can enlighten me.

‘Jugged’ Recipes.

MushroomCatsup

Damson Cheese

YellowPickle

Quotation for the Day.

Happy is said to be the family which can eat onionstogether. They are, for the time being, separate, from the world, and have aharmony of aspiration.

Charles DudleyWarner

Being a Phagist.

2012-01-10T05:23:00.001+10:00

As you willbe aware, if you are a regular reader, I am a word-lover. I just looked up thedictionary to see if there was a word to describe people like myself. I shouldhave thought about it for a moment. It is, of course - logophile. Believe it or not, there is also such a thing as a logophobe, if the presence of a dictionarydefinition indicates the physical reality rather than just word theory. Alogophobe is someone with a fear ofwords or of talking, not a person who simply dislikes words however, so it is not a true antonym of logophile. Idon’t know if there is a word for word-haters,is there?

I have neveractually met a logophobe, and I don’t know what I would do with one if I did,but I have long been puzzled by the antipathy that some people have about theword ‘foodie.’ It is silly to ‘hate’ words. Hate guns, or your job, or leftoverstew, if you are so inclined, for these things may do you harm. If you areaverse to the word ‘foodie’, then simply don’t use it – or better still –invent another word to describe whatever image the word conjures up. I wouldlove someone to do this.

Wouldn’t itbe a buzz to invent a new word and eventually find it entered in the Oxford English Dictionary? Especially ifit eventally entered the common language. One writerwho got to the first post was responsible for the article from the Englishnewspaper, the Daily News, in 1881,which I quoted from in last week’s post on fake cheese. He (for at that time itwas most surely a ‘he’) noted in the story that ‘Ryophagy is not, on the whole,a healthy practice.’ Never having come across the word before, Ilooked it up. The OED says:

Rypophagy: the eating of filth, esp.Excrement. From the Greek word for dirt, filth.

The sole,single, and only reference to the use of this word in the OED is from the Daily News story of June 17, 1881, so the authordid not manage to grab the attention of others who write on filth-eating. Ofcourse, the OED, bless its wonderful pages, is not infallible, so perhaps thereare in fact other examples of ‘rypophaghy’ in the literature. If you know ofany, please let us know.

There aremany other words with the suffixes ‘phagous’, -phagist, and ‘-phagy’in thedictionary, and I thought we might have a little fun with them today. Thesuffix ‘-phagous’ when added to a noun indicates ‘feeds on (the firstelement)’. Presumably then, one who eats filth can be described as‘rypophagous.’

Many,perhaps most, of the examples of words ending in –phagous are used exclusivelyby zoologists to describe the eating habits of various animals, but it strikesme that we have an opportunity to use them to describe our own food preferencesin exquisitely efficient detail.

I would betempted to describe myself as pantophagous(eating all kinds or a great variety of food), but if this were literally true,it would mean I would also be anthropophagus(human-eating), myrmegophagous (feedingon ants), and phthirophagous(louse-eating.) I guess, in view of the stance I took in my story on cheesemites I may well have eaten ants and lice in my life, but I protest that I havenot done it in knowingly. I am as sure as it is possible to be that I havenever eaten human flesh.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2012/01/dust-that-moves.html

I confessthat at various times I am artophagous(bread), ichthyophagous (fish),phyllophagous (leaves), meliphagous(honey) , galactophagous (milk), and ostreophagous (oysters.) I am also sarcophagous. Yes, sarcophagous is alsoan adjective. It means ‘flesh-eating’, and it references the noun which we areall familiar with as meaning a stone coffin. The word (I love this) comes from‘a kind of stone reputed among theGreeks to have the property of consuming the flesh of dead bodies deposited init, and consequently used for coffins.’

I have, on rare occasions, eaten raw meat(steak tartare anyone?), which makes me omophagous(raw flesh), but I regret to have to say that I have never had the opportunityto be opiophagous (snake-eating), or saurophagous(reptiles.) It is good to know that there are still many new food experiencesahead of me.

What sort ofphagist are you?

Recipe for the Day.

Today’srecipe is for those of us who are mycophageous(eat fungi) and have a large grocery budget.

Truffles Ragout.

For a ragoutthe tubers should be well washed, and afterwards soaked in oil, then cut inslices a quarter of an inch thick; place in stew-pan, with oil or butter, saltand pepper, and a little white wine. When cooked bind the whole together withthe yolk of an egg.

One Hundred Mushroom Receipts,(Cleveland, 1899), by Kate Sergeant.

Quotation for the Day.

There arepeople who strictly deprive themselves of each and every eatable, drinkable,and smokable which has in any way acquired a shady reputation. They pay thisprice for health. And health is all they get for it. How strange it is. It islike paying out your whole fortune for a cow that has gone dry.. Mark Twain.

Plough Monday Lunch.

2012-01-09T05:00:00.000+10:00

Today is Plough Monday, which is to say it is the firstMonday after Twelfth Day (Epiphany) and the traditional first day of theBritish agricultural calendar, when farm-workers return to their jobs. I bet farmworkers of the past were overjoyed when Epiphany fell on a Tuesday.

A ‘traditional’ dish on this day was said to be ‘PloughPudding,’ which I do not fully understand as heavy, plain suet puddings were aneveryday starchy filler for the British populace throughout the year. In otherparts of the world, it is said that sausages are ‘traditional,’ but this alsoseems difficult to verify. Surely, theobvious dish of the day is a traditional‘Ploughman’s Lunch’?

The OxfordEnglish Dictionary tells mehowever that ‘although often assumed to be a traditional rural meal, theploughman's lunch (now freq. abbreviated to ploughman's) first appearedin British pubs in the late 1960s.’

This is not true in the strictest sense, ofcourse. The pub version – one or twosubstantial wedges of good cheese (sometimes a wedge of pork pie) with goodbread, pickled onions, and some sort of ‘chutney’ (especially Branston Pickle!) – is a rather moreelegant offering than our olden-day farm worker would have carried in hispocket out into the fields, but there is no doubt that the basic bread andcheese was a staple lunch for the workers probably for centuries. As The Cultivator & Country Gentleman(1866) explains:

‘The cheeseof the English working man being a necessary, must be of such a texture that itwill bear handling and carriage and sub-dividing to any extent, similar to hisfirst great necessary, bread itself, which he consumes together with it as his “bread and cheese.”Indeed, nearly all classes in England take a daily “lunch of bread and cheese.”The landowner takes his luncheons in the field, carried by his servant, whoalso takes his – when out shooting or in a tenant’s house – both my lord andhis servant eating cheese. Ploughmen and driving boys in the field eat cheeseas part of their daily “lunch” or “bait.” Harvester, hop-pickers, every onetakes a “bait” of bread and cheese.’

So, thereyou have it. Dry hard bread and dry hard cheese were the ‘real’ tradition, thetwentieth century pub meal is the glammed-up modern tradition.

A ploughmanwas not at the bottom of the farm-workers’ pecking order. The job was skilled,and good ploughmen were always in demand. According to The Topographical, statistical,and historical gazetteer of Scotland (1853) (and I hardly suppose it was much different in England), the ploughmanwas paid very little cash – not more than a few pounds a year – but receivedsubstantial allowances including a house, garden, a cow, ‘the produce of 1,000yards of potatoes’, ‘... 60 bushels of oats, 18 bushels of barley, 6 bushels ofpeas ...’ To say that he worked hard for these allowances - the value of which‘may be estimated as not exceeding £26 a year’ - would be anunderstatement of monumental proportions. The same journal informs us:

‘For all these considerations ... he is obliged to takecharge of, and work one pair of horses, in every requisite operation connectedwith the farm; - he must attend the stable every morning, noon, and night, togive food to the horses; - he must take his turn with the ploughmen to remainat home on Sunday to give food to the horses; - he must work in winter as longas there is daylight, and in summer ten hours a day in the fields, and inseed-time and harvest his hours of labour are unlimited; - he must supply afemale labourer to work at farm labour in all seasons, and for the same time ashimself, when required; and for whose labours he receives eightpence ortenpence a day, when she is employed, according to the rate of wages; thisfemale must reap corn during harvest, as rent for the house and garden, forwhich she receives the ordinary victuals allowed in harvest; - his own familymust feed his cow in winter; - and he must work his garden only at leisurehours.’

Makes a dayin front of a computer screen seem like a bit of a doddle, doesn’t it? You don’thave to ‘supply a female labourer’ in most modern jobs either. At least, not inthe jobs you would tell your mum about.

Recipe for the Day.

Here is anice pineapple chutney for you. It is not a ‘traditional’ side to the cheese ata ploughman’s lunch, but it sounds interesting, I think. If quince paste is OKwith cheese, why not pineapple chutney? Serve it at your next two wine andcheese parties, and it will be your own new tradition.

Pineapple Chutney.

Take foursmall ripe pineapples, cut in. halves lengthwise and remove the cores, and scrapethe pulp into a pan; then add half pint vinegar and half pint lime juice, onelarge onion (minced), one clove of garlic (minced), six chillies, ½ lb. choppedraisins, ½ lb. sugar, two oz. salt, half oz. ground ginger, and a pinch eachcayenne and spice. Boil slowly for two hours until it thickens.

WestGippsland Gazette (Warragul,Victoria), Oct 19, 1926

Quotation for theDay.

Age doesn't matter,unless you're cheese.
Billie Burke.

Twelfth Day Cake.

2012-01-06T05:00:00.000+10:00

January 6 is the Twelfth Day of Christmas,and according to the calendar of the Christian Church it is the Feast of theEpiphany (or Three Kings Day, or the Day of the Magi) – the day whichcommemorates the visit of the Three Kings to the infant Jesus. On a secularnote it is the traditional end of the Christmas season – the day to putunwanted gifts into the furthest reaches of the highest cupboard and the hambone in the freezer ready for winter soup, and to take down the tree and the decorations.

There are of course a number of eatingtraditions for the day. The tradition of a special cake on this day (the KingCake) has been maintained in Europe, but seemsto have fizzled in England,where it used to be called Twelfth Cake. As with so many celebrations, thetraditions of Twelfth Dayare the result of the grafting of the rules and requirements of the Church ontothe ancient pagan rituals that the newly-converted were reluctant to abandon,precisely because they wereassociated with so much fun and feasting.

It is traditional for a small item suchas a bean or coin to be hidden in the King Cake – a tradition that has itsroots in ancient fertility rites. The influence of the Church caused the beanto be substituted with a small doll to represent the baby Jesus, but theoutcome was the same – whoever found the object in their slice of cake becameKing or Queen for the day, and was entitled to lord it over everyone else. BecomingKing or Queen for the day in some places was an expensive honour, as it meantbeing responsible for paying for the drinks, or for hosting the festivities ofCandlemas on February 2.

A variation of the tradition in the English county ofGloucestershire was that the cake was made in the shape of a ring which wasplaced over the horn of the best ox in the herd. The ox was then teased orprovoked until it tossed its head and threw off the ring of bread. Whoever wasnearest to the tossed bread was the ‘winner’ for the day.

A tradition associated with thereligious aspect of the day is that the cake is cut into one more piece thanthere are guests, the extra piece being ‘for God’, and is given to the firstpoor person to come to the house.

There are many variations of TwelfthDay cakes. In France the galettesdes rois are flattish discs made from puff pastry or brioche dough, usuallywith a frangipane or a fruit conserve. In Mexico the Rosca de Reyes iswreath-like and decorated with colourful dried fruit. In some parts of Greece the Vasilopitais associated not just with New Year but also with Epiphany. An English Victorian speciality at this time ofyear was not a cake, but an Epiphany Tart.

Until the nineteenth century had beenunderway for a few decades, leavening agents such as baking powder were not available,and ‘cakes’ were sweet bread dough enriched with dried fruit. Fruit cakes –because of their extravagant ingredients and their good keeping qualities -are traditional at most of ourbig celebrations. Itseems that no-one is equivocal about fruit cake – people either love it or hateit. There is a story perpetrated by fruit-cake haters that says there wereoriginally four wise men bearing gifts who visited the infant Jesus – but thefourth one was refused when it was found that his gift was a fruit cake!

The following recipe for Twelfth Cake,from Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery (circa 1870’s) is named for LadyCaroline Lamb (1785-1828), the aristocratic novelist and lover of the poet LordByron who described her as “the cleverest most agreeable, absurd,amiable, perplexing, dangerous fascinating little being that lives now or oughtto have lived 2000 years ago.” Ihave no idea why it is named in her honour, as it is highly unlikely that awoman of her class ever set foot in the kitchen. There is no mention of a bean or trinketbeing included in the cake – perhaps it was ‘understood.’

TwelfthCake, Lady Caroline Lamb’s.

Quarter of a peck of pure flourcarefully dried, three pounds of currants, a quarter of a pound of raisins,half a pound of refined sugar, quarter of a pound of sweet and half and ounceof bitter almonds blanched and sliced, two ounces of candied lemon-peel andspices according to taste. Mix all thoroughly; then take one pint of cream andput to it three-quarters of a pound of fresh butter washed in pure andafterwards in rose-water; place in a gentle heat. Beat up the whites and yolksseparately of six eggs, and the yolks only of six more. Add to them a littlerose-water, two table-spoonfuls of cardamom brandy, half a glassful of oldRhenish, hock, or champagne, quarter of a pint of fresh yeast, and a littlefine salt. Mix the liquids together, strain them, add the dry materials warm,and mix the whole into a light smooth batter. Place it before a fire for twentyminutes to rise, butter your hoop, and use what flour is necessary to make thecake sufficiently stiff. Set it in the oven with some sheets of brown paperwell floured to prevent its burning. In about a couple of hours it will bedone. Ice it in the usual manner, and stick any ornaments you choose upon theicing before it is dry.

There is adescription of an Epiphany Tart, and instructions for another nineteenthcentury Twelfth Cake in a previous post here.

Quotation for the Day.

Preach notto others what they should eat, but eat as becomes you, and be silent.

Epictetus

Beefing up your Ice-Cream.

2012-01-05T05:00:00.000+10:00

A littlebook which has featured here previously - and which I love on principle if notin practice on account of its title - gives us today’s recipe. The book iscalled Quick Cooking: A Book of CulinaryHeresies for the Busy Wives and Mothers of the Land: by one of the heretics,Flora Haines Loughead (New York 1887)

This recipeis a cheat, really, on two counts. Although it is listed in the ‘Quickest Dishes’section (recipes taking five to fifteenminutes), it actually takes double the time as it requires the priorpreparation of the basic beef tea, which is also another Quick Dish. The secondfib is that it is “ic-cream” which it is clearly not, there being nothingcreamy about it at all. It could be more accurately described, perhaps as asavoury granita, or maybe a verychilled soup.

464. Beef-Tea Ice Cream.

Prepare beeftea as directed in No. 574, being careful to put no salt to the meat or juice;then pour into a freezer or a small tin pail packed in ice and salt, turnbriskly, stirring occasionally, and when it is nicely frozen stir in a littlesalt.

This is apeculiarly grateful dish for invalids in hot weather, or for fever patients.

574. Beef Tea.

1 poundjuicy, lean beef, cut into small pieces; put in a stone bottle, cork tightly,and boil an hour. Press out the juice, and salt to taste.

Although Idon’t fancy this frozen beef stock myself, (I am a hot-soup kinda girl), therecipe does trigger a medley of random thoughts. Firstly, it immediately mademe think of the very modern concept ofbacon ice-cream which has been popping up here and there recently. The concept of savoury ice-cream is not newat all of course – you will recall that a previous post reminded us of a nineteenth century recipe for cheeseice-cream. Secondly, I wondered if the name was an attempt to tempt theappetite of the invalid, whilst sneaking in something nutritious. In a severe case of man-flu, which do youthink would get a positive response - ‘Would you like some ice-cream, Dear?’ or‘How about a little dish of Beef Granita?’

The methodof cooking the beef tea is interesting too. A stone bottle or jar set in a panof water was a way of cooking something gently for a long time before theadvent of the electric slow-cooker or crockpot. It was called ‘jugging’, and anumber of recipes using this method have appeared in this blog in the past. Itwas often used for making pickles and preserves – and of course, ‘jugged hare’,which sometimes turns out to be the same as a ‘civet.’ There is more to exploreon ‘jugging’ in the future, methinks.

I do alsolove the use of the word ‘grateful’ in respect of inanimate objects such as adish of ice-cream or meaty granita. ‘Grateful’ used to be used in the sense of ‘pleasingto the mind or the senses, agreeable, acceptable, welcome,’ and I think it is apity that we have stopped using it in this way. I cant think of any othersingle word which says so much about a pleasing dish – can you?

Quotation for the Day.

Now, gooddigestion wait on appetite,

And healthon both!

William Shakespeare, Macbeth ActIII, Scene IV

Cheese That’s Not Cheese.

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000+10:00

There aremany wonderful cheeses in the world. Lard cheese is not one of them. I say thisfrom a stance of pure prejudice, as I have never (knowingly) tasted it. Even when it iscalled imitation cheese, fake cheese, substitute cheese or filled cheese, I don’tlike it any better. I bet cheese mites won’t touch it either.

The New York Times of March 26, 1881 ran anarticle under the heading Cheese that’snot Cheese. They began by announcing that "The Assembly Committee on PublicHealth met yesterday to investigate ‘lard cheese’ and oleomargarine, with aview to finding what legislation is necessary to protect the interests of thecheese and butter trades from the injury threatened by the production of thesespurious articles."

The cheeseand butter trade may have been at risk of injury from this new product, but itwas cheese- and butter-men themselves who were responsible for it. The advent of themechanical cream separator meant a much more efficient cream harvest and hence,greater butter production. But what to do with the increased quantity of leftover very skimmedmilk? Put another fat back into it, of course, and make more ‘cheese.’ As anEnglish newspaper (the Daily Mail)put it the following year ‘The essence of modern trade, since the days ofbumper profits have passed, is said to be astuteness in using up waste andsurplus material.’

The Committeelistened to representatives from various stakeholders in the industry, and the New York Times journalist filtered outsome of the more interesting and provocative speech-bites for its readers. Itwas opined by some in the industry that ‘good lard cheese, when purchased bypersons who do not know its character, will bring several cents more per poundthan skim cheese, because it resembles a finer quality of dairy cheese soclosely that none but an expert can detect it.’ A cheese expert from the other sideof the fence sadly agreed that this was the case, and that although he coulddetect the fraud, most ordinary consumers could not.

A Mr. Benham,from one of the companies making this product, stated that he thought that itwas unnecessary to tell his customers the nature of the article they werebuying, as ‘they all knew from the newspapers that a stock of lard cheese wascoming into this City to be sold’ and he added that ‘very many dealers lookupon it as an improvement over the skim cheese, and I should regard anyimprovement in an article of food as a good thing.’ He continued to express hisopinion that lard cheese would not affect America’s export market for cheese,except temporarily ‘until the prejudice against it wore away.’

The debate betweenthe bean-counters and the cheese purists continued on in this vein over anumber of years in various countries, and pieces of legislation were eventuallyenacted around the world to ensure that proper labelling was used on the product. The productionof fake cheese goes on however, and I understand it is popular in the pizza industry - although I guess businesses are not obliged to slip a food label underneath aslice of the pepperoni as they box-up your order.

This is how you can make your own lard cheese, if you havethe equipment and the inclination:

Imitation Cheese.

An imitationcheese is also prepared from a mixture of one part lard and two or three parts milk, mixedor emulsionised at 140 deg F. This emulsion is then added with buttermilk to skimmedmilk, so that the finished product contains about 14 per cent of lard(Caldwell).

Practical Dietetics with Special Referenceto Diet in Disease, (New York, 1905) by William Gilman Thompson.

Quotation for the Day.

There aregood imitations but there are no delicious ones.

A ‘French axiom’ stated in the article inthe Daily Mail of June 17, 1882.

The Dust that Moves.

2012-01-03T05:00:00.000+10:00

I promised you something on cheese mites today. I hope Idon’t put you off cheese. Or honey. Or flour. Or any other staple foodstuffs. Alittle knowledge of mites and other micro-fauna makes you realise that veganismand vegetarianism can only ever be relative.

Like it or not, you must accept it. There is no agriculturalpractice or food technology process that can remove every little beast from the food you eat. Food laws take this into account, and there are allowable levelsof all sorts of insects and animal detritus (‘filth types’, according to theUS Food and Drug Administration) in all sorts of products. Medical knowledge supports this principle too –have you heard of the ‘Hygiene Hypothesis’? Basically it means that exposure toa certain amount of dirt and bugs is good for the development of the immunesystem in a growing child, and suggests that a modern pre-occupation withavoiding germs - to the extent that children are not allowed to get dirty, andthere is a sanitiser for every home surface - has led to disturbed immunity andan escalation in the incidence of allergies and associated diseases.

I will give you one small example of the ubiquity of insectand other inclusions in common foods, in order to help you put your feelingsabout cheese mites into perspective. The US Food and Drug Administration’sDefect Level Handbook states that the defect action level for peanut butter is:

- An average of 30 or more insect fragments per100 grams.

- An average of 1 or more rodent hairs per 100grams.

Now, cheese mites are positively tasty. Sometimes, cheesemakers actually encourage the little critters. Mites belong to the same largezoological family do spiders, and to prove it they have eight hairy legs. Theyare not at all related to maggots. The cheese mite goes by the scientific nameof Tyrophagus casei, and it is cousin to Acarus siro, the flour mite (who alsolikes cheese). You cannot see an individual cheese mite with the naked eye.They were, in fact, one of the first microscopic creatures described in thevery early seventeenth century, when the art and skill of making magnifyinglenses and microscopes was being developed. Although you cannot see them, ifyou brush the dust off the cheese rind (or spread a little flour on the bench),and you go back later, and the dust has moved – it is significantly infestedwith mites. If it doesn’t appear to have moved, it doesn’t mean there are nomites at all.

The provision of a spoon with which to eat the cheese mitesin Defoe’s time is a marvellous example of making a virtue of necessity. Today wewould see heavy infestation with cheese mites as demonstrating that the cheesewas old and had not been stored properly. There are a couple of exceptions tothis however. The German quark cheese, Milbenkäse, is made with thespecific assistance of Tyrophagus casei, and theFrench Mimolette with Acarus siro. There may be others that Iam not aware of. The mites add a crumbly crust and a piquant flavour. Now goeat some.

Recipe for the Day.

This comes to you again today courtesy of the witty Mistress Dodds,and her The Cooks & Housewife'sManual (1826).

Roasted Cheese to serve as aRelish.

Grate three ounces of good mellow cheese, and the same quantity ofbread. Mix these with two ounces of butter, the beat yolks of two eggs, somemade mustard, pepper, and salt. Mash in a mortar, and spread this past on smalltoasts cut as sippets. Toast brown, and trim these, and serve them very hot.

Quotation for the Day.

Don't forgetthat the flavors of wine and cheese depend upon the types of infectingmicroorganisms.
Martin H. Fischer

Certifiably Cheese.

2012-01-02T05:00:00.000+10:00

I have heardStilton cheese referred to as ‘The King of Cheeses’, which is, of course, only someone’sopinion, or perhaps someone’s clever marketing. An Italian may disagree, andsay that Parmigiano-Regiano is the King, a Frenchman may insist it is Brie deMeaux, and a good Fetta will almost certainly get the vote of a Greek. Theappellation is silly. There are only good cheeses and bad cheeses, and amongstthe good cheeses, some are superb.

There aretwo cheeses that I personally associate with the Christmas season. The first isEnglish Wensleydale, because that was the traditional cheese to serve alongsidethe Christmas cake when I was growing up in Yorkshire. The second is Stilton,for reasons which remain completely obscure to myself.

One thingthat can be said with certainty about Stilton cheese is that it is one of theoldest named British cheeses. The first written reference to it appears in1722, in William Stukeley’s ItinerariumCuriosum (Account of the Curiosities and Antiquities in Great Britain), butI have yet to track down a copy of his actual words on the cheese. The secondreference is from the writer Daniel Defoe, in his record if A Tour thro' theWhole Island of Great Britain, in1724. He says "We pass'd Stilton, a town famous for cheese, whichis call'd our English Parmesan, and is brought to table with the mites, ormaggots round it, so thick, that they bring a spoon with them for you to eatthe mites with, as you do the cheese." More on cheese mites tomorrow, Ipromise.

The oddthing about Stilton cheese is that is has never been made in the village ofStilton in Cambridgeshire. It seems that name of the cheese came about becausethe village – on a major coaching route – was the major point of sale, andeventually ‘the cheese bought in Stilton’ became ‘Stilton cheese’.

In 1969, theStilton Cheese Makers Association obtained trade-mark status for their product,and in 1996, the cheese was one of the first to be given ‘Protected Designationof Origin’ (PDO) status by the EU. The rules are that:

- it canonly be produced in the Counties of Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire andLeicestershire.

- it must bemade from locally produced milk.

- the milkmust be pasteurised.

- the curdis not pressed.

- the blueveins must radiate from the centre of the cheese
- the shape of the cheese must be cylindrical.
- it must be allowed to form its own crust

A couplemore factoids are:

-it takes136 pints milk (78 litres) to make one 17 lb (8kg) Stilton cheese.

- it iscurrently made in only six dairies within the three counties.

- it is oneof the few cheeses that freeze well.

One of thegreatest mysteries about Stilton cheese to me is the origin of the often-quotedmethod of scooping out the middle and filling it with port before serving it. Ican understand drinking good port with good Stilton, but sabotaging thecheesemakers’ art in an attempt to gild an already tasty lily seems misguidedat best.

‘Potting’ isa good way to use up odds and ends of cheese – think of it as making your owncheese spread. In previous times of course, it provided a far more importantfunction – preservation before refrigeration.

To Pot Cheese.

Cut downhalf a pound of good sound mellow Stilton, with two ounces of fresh butter; adda little mace and made mustard. Beat this well in a mortar, and pressing itclose in a potting-can, cover with clarified butter if to be long kept.

TheCooks & Housewife's Manual (1826), by Mrs. Margaret Dodds (pseud.)

In other posts:

Ifthe Italian King of Cheeses (‘Parmesan’) is your preference, a previous post(here) gave it some space, and an earlier post (here) included a nineteenthcentury recipe cheese ice-cream made with Parmesan.

Quotation for the Day.

People whoknow nothing about cheeses reel away from Camembert, Roquefort, and Stiltonbecause the plebeian proboscis is not equipped to differentiate between thesordid and the sublime.

Harvey Day.

New Year’s Cookies and Cakes.

2011-12-30T05:00:00.000+10:00

There are just a couple of days left to do some New Yearbaking. You could go the nutritious, historically intriguing, but rather stolidroute and make some Ankerstock, but you probably wont.

You could instead make New Year Cakes from the recipe below,provided of course that you have ‘man,or a very strong woman’ to do the kneading for you. I wont make these, I assureyou. The dough sounds like a rich, sweet scone dough, and as every good bakerknows, the rule for scones is mix as lightly and quickly as possible. Even ifit is intended to be like a rich, sweet bread dough, I don’t understand theinsistence on such serious kneading. Perhaps one of the serious bread-bakersamongst you could make comment?

The New Year Cookiesgiven below also seem like a cheat - they sound more like sweet crackers thansweet biscuits (cookies, if you insist.) Is there no Christmas fruit cake left?

New-Year's Cake.

Three pounds of flour, sifted.

A pound and a half of powdered white sugar.

A pound of fresh butter.

A pint of milk with a small teaspoonful ofpearl-ash melted in it.

Having sifted the flour, spread the sugar onthe paste-board, a little at a time, and crush it to powder by rolling it withthe rolling-pin. Then mix it with the flour. Cut up in the flour the butter andmix it well by rubbing it in with your bands. Add by degrees the milk. Thenknead the dough very hard, till it no longer sticks to your hands. Cover it,set it away for an hour or two, and then knead it again in the same manner. Youmay repeat the kneading several times. Then cut it into pieces, roll out eachpiece into a sheet half an inch thick. Cut it into large flat cakes with a tincutter. You may stamp each cake with a wooden print, by way of ornamenting thesurface.

Sprinkle with flour some large flat tin oriron pans, lay the cakes in them and bake them of a pale brown, in an oven ofequal heat throughout.

These cakes require more and harder kneadingthan any others, therefore it is best to have them kneaded by a man, or a verystrong woman.

They are greatly improved by the addition ofsome carraway seeds worked into the dough.

Seventy-five receipts for pastry, cakes andsweetmeats, (1830) byEliza Leslie

New Year Cookies.

Rub threefourths of a cup of butter into six cups of flour. Pour half a cup of boilingwater over one cup and a half of sugar, add a scant half teaspoonful of soda,and when the sugar is melted, stir all into the flour. Roll out thin.

Mrs. Lincoln's Boston CookBook: What to Do and what Not to Do in Cooking (1883)

Quotation for the Day.

Every country possesses, it seems, the sort of cuisine itdeserves, which is to say the sort of cuisine it is appreciative enough towant.
Waverley Lewis Root

When an Apple is not an Apple.

2011-12-29T05:00:00.000+10:00

The study ofhistorical books and documents is full of traps for the unwary, and not theleast of these is the language itself. I have always wondered about thebiblical apple. The apple comes from temperate climates, and is an unlikelychoice for the Middle Eastern writers of the Old Testament, who presumably sitedthe Garden of Eden in their own territory.

Over theyears I have read opinions that the fruit of the biblical Tree of Knowledge wasthe quince, the banana, the date, the grape, the fig, the peach, thepomegranate – and even the staple cereal, wheat. Presumably a translation errorof some type or intent is at the root of the conundrum. Let us not also forget that those who originallytranslated the ancient documents which are the basis of the Old Testament intoEuropean languages had their own religious agendas too. Conversion of thepagans may have been assisted in a minor way if the tempting fruit was familiar– if the word or meaning in the ancient language was obscure, why not make it asimple apple?

Those whothink that a real, actual, physical, specific fruit is intended rather than a symbolicone will no doubt continue to debate the topic for a few more millennia yet,but that is not (you will be relieved to know) our topic for today.

It is not just the translation of ancient ‘dead’ languageswhich causes the difficulty. An apple may seem like a simple and obvious thingtoday, but not so long ago an apple was more of a concept than an item. The Oxford English Dictionary explains thatthe word ‘apple’ came into English via the Old Icelandic epli, whichrefers to any fruit from a tree. Put into the evolving linguistic mix the Latinpomum for fruit (which became pomme, meaning apple, in French), andthe English language ended up with some strange blends indeed. Frequently theword ‘apple’ appeared in conjunction with a qualifying word or in a phrase suchas ‘apples call'd pompions’ or ‘the fruit or apples of palm-trees.’ Similarly,in the Latin/French form of the word ‘apple’, the prefix pome- could indicate one of many fruits, such as the pomegranate. Finally,we have arrived at our topic for the day.

The pomegranate is the fruit of the tree Punica granatum. The Oxford English Dictionary describes it thus: ‘ a largemany-celled berry with a leathery yellow, orange, or red rind, a persistentcalyx, and numerous seeds that are each surrounded by an acid-sweet pink or redpulp’. The OED goes on to indicate its figurative use as a symbol ofresurrection, fertility, plenty, unity, and chastity, and its association inclassical mythology with the goddess Persephone who returned to earth everyspring.

The name ‘pomegranate’ is ultimately derived from theconcept of a pomum granatum, that is,a pome (or apple) with many seeds or kernels. It was also called the Punicapple, or apple punicus (hence the first part of its botanical name) from thestory (as explained by Pliny) that it was brought to Rome from the ancientNorth African city of Carthage, who citizens were known as the Punici. The intense colour of the fruitindicates one of its popular uses in ancient times – as a source of deep pink/lightred dye (called puniceous.) As withmany plants in ancient times, the pomegranate was used for medicinal purposestoo: one author recommended the cut-up fruit be steeped in rain water forseveral days, and the resulting infusion be used for those with ‘weak habits.’

The pomegranate had brief mention in aprevious post (here) as the source of inspiration for the word grenade (whichhas a culinary sense too), and the beverage called Grenadine. It may also liebehind the name of the city of Grenada in Spain, which has a pomegranate forits coat of arms. In the seventeenth century French cookery book by La Varenne,pomegranate seeds are suggested as an alternative for raspberries as thegarnish for turkey (the recipe is here) – which you would think was a veryinnovative idea if you saw it on a modern menu. Today I give you a recipe from aFrench cookery book of the mid-nineteenth century which clearly shows an Arabinfluence, if you ignore the added bacon..

Ragout of Mutton, With Pomegranate Juice

Put into astewpan some slices of a tender leg of mutton, upon some chopped fat bacon,small onions, salt, and pepper; add bouillon; when half stewed, add a puree ofnuts grilled in the oven, and any spice you like. When the ragout is finished,squeeze in the juice of two to three pomegranates, and serve.

French Domestic Cookery, Louis Eustache Ude, 1846

Quotation for the Day.

Because normally with Western cuisine, you'll servevegetables separate from the meat, so kids will eat the meat and never touchthe vegetables.
Martin Yan

Observations on Oysters.

2011-12-28T06:18:00.000+10:00

I am by no means an oyster afficionado. I don’t know why Ialways feel slightly defensive about this position, but I do. I don’t refuse toeat them, and occasionally I really enjoy them, (but only if they areaccompanied by a superb champagne), but I almost never order them in arestaurant or suffer menu envy if someone else does (unless I get a whiff ofthe salty sea as they are served.)

I am however, always interestedin oysters – in their place in the hierarchy of food for humans, and in theways that fisherfolk and celebrity chefs actually deal with them.

Cookbooks on specific foods did not really start beingpublished in any significant volume until the second half of the nineteenthcentury. Today I want to give you a few short notes from Oysters à la Mode: The oyster and over 100 ways of cooking it (London,1888), by Harriet De Salis.

Mrs.De Salis(as she is named in the front matter of the book) happens to answer a fewquestions I have had about oysters, but was afraid to ask.

Whatchronological age of oyster is best to eat?

Answer:

“Real loversof oysters maintain that no oyster is worth eating until it is quite two yearsold. Their age is known by the shell, just the same as the age of a tree isknown by its bark, or a fish by its scale, and the smaller the oyster the finerthe flavour.”

What is theideal serving size?

Answer:

“In formerdays a dinner of any pretension always began with oysters, and many of the guests never stopped untilthey had swallowed a gross, i.e 144 oysters. The ‘Almanach de Gourmands’(1803)states that beyond five or six dozen, as a mere indispensable prelude to awinter déjeuner, it is proved that oyster eating most certainly ceases to be anenjoyment.’”

What is thebest way to open and eat an oyster?

Answer:

The authorgives two methods here. The first is the traditional way with a blade, and thetechnique is described in detail. Speed is of the essence, and once opened itis vital to ‘lift quickly to the lips,and eat it before the delicate aroma has dissipated into the atmosphere. Thereis as much difference between an oyster thus opened and eaten, as between champagnefrothing and leaping out of the silver-necked bottle, and the same wine afterit has been allowed to stand six hours with the cork removed.

The second methodis most interesting. I have not heard of it previously, have you?

“There is another method of eating oysters,wherein no knife is required, and not the least skill in opening is needed, theonly requisite being a bright fire. You pick out a glowing spot in the fire,where there are no flames and no black pieces of coal to dart jets of smokeexactly in the place where they are not wanted. You then insert a row ofoysters into the glowing coals, taking care to keep their mouths outward andwithin an easy grasp of the tongs, and their convexity downwards. Presently aspitting and hissing noise is heard, which gradually increases till the shellsbegin to open and the juice is seen boiling merrily within, the mollusk itselfbecoming whiter and more opaque as the operation continues. There is no rulefor ascertaining the precise point at which the cooking is completed, for everyone has his own taste, and must learn by personal experience. A little practicesoon makes perfect, and the expert operator will be able to keep up a continualsupply as fast as he can manage to eat them. When they are thoroughly cookedthey should be taken from the fire, a second batchinserted,and the still hissing and spluttering mollusks be eaten "scorchinghot." No one whohas noteaten oysters dressed in this primitive mode has the least idea of the piquantflavour of which they arecapable. Stewed in their own juice, the action of fire only brings out the fullflavour, and as

the juice isconsumed as well as the oyster, there is no waste and no dissipation of theindescribable

but potentaroma.”

The recipefor the day is, of course, from the book. A nice breakfast dish to break themonotony of bacon and eggs, or bran and low-fat yoghurt, or whatever is yourregular start to the day.

Oysters andBacon (a breakfast dish)

Huitres au Lard.

Fry up somemashed potatoes in bacon fat, and break them in pieces with a fork, and letthem brown a little more ; cut some thin rashers of bacon and arrange round thepotatoes, which should be piled

up in themiddle of the dish. Broil some oysters in their shells with butter and cayenne,turn them

out of theirshells and place on the top of the potatoes; garnish with lemon sippets. Hammay be

used insteadof bacon.

Quotation for the Day.

The mostvirtuous thing in nature, according to this new theory, should be the oyster.He is always at home, and always sober. He is not noisy. He gives no trouble tothe police. I cannot think of a single one of the Ten Commandments that he everbreaks. He never enjoys himself, and he never, so long as he lives, gives amoments pleasure to any living thing.

Jerome K. Jerome, ‘The Second Thoughts of anIdle Fellow’.

Pickle not Pudding.

2011-12-27T05:00:00.000+10:00

It is welland truly time to move away from the Christmas fare which has been mypre-occupation this last few weeks. I am moving as far as I can from both myroots in the north of England, and my home in Australia – to the exotic Eastand the taste of achar.

‘Achar’ is,to quote the Oxford English Dictionary,‘In South Asian cookery: a type of pickle or relish made from fruit orvegetables preserved in spiced oil or vinegar.’ The OED gives the first use ofthe word in English in 1598, in Linschoten’s Discours of Voyages to ye Easteand West Indies, in reference to acharmade from the green fruit of the ‘anacardi’or cashew nut. The origin of the word is, hardly surprisingly, uncertain. Itcomes ‘partly via’ the Persian, Portuguese, Dutch, Malay, or Indian vernaculars,or may ultimately be derived from the Latin acetaria(salad, from acetum, vinegar), whichis pretty well covering all etymological bases.

Thewonderful Hobson-Jobson: the Anglo-IndianDictionary gives a similar definition, saying that achar is:

‘adopted in nearly all the vernaculars ofIndia for acid and salt relishes. By Europeans it is used as the equivalent of ‘pickles’,and is applied to all the stores of Crosse and Blackwell in that kind. We have adoptedthe word through the Portuguese, but it is not impossible that Western Asiaticsgot it originally from the Latin acetaria.’

TheHobson-Jobson gives an earlier usage in English, in 1563, in the context: ‘Andthey prepare a conserve of it (Anarcadium)with salt, and when it is green (and this they call Achar), and this is sold inthe market just as olives are with us. Garciade Orta, f.17.’

The word hasmultiple spellings in English, which makes searching for the earliest recipe abit of a challenge. As a start (I feel sure there must be earlier examples),here are a couple of recipes from the wonderful New System of Domestic Cookery, by Maria Rundell (1833)

Acha.

Half a largeSpanish onion, four capsicums, as much salt and lemon juice as may be agreeableto the palate, all pounded together in a mortar.

Fish Acha.

Boil a pieceof salt fish, cut an onion and some capsicums in pieces, pound them welltogether, and add a little vinegar.

Quotation for the Day.

The art of the cuisine, when fully mastered, is the onehuman capability of which only good things can be said.
Friedrich Durrenmatt

Leftover Plum Pudding?

2011-12-26T05:00:00.000+10:00

The goodthing about leftover Christmas pudding is that it does not have to berefrigerated, which is an enormous relief on this day when there is no shelf spacebetween the turkey carcass, the pork bone, three-quarters of a leg of ham, anda precarious pile of leftover side dishes still on their original platters.

The verysimplest thing to do with leftover plum pudding of course is to put it in the freezerfor another day. The second simplest thing is to slice it, butter it, and eatit as if it were fruit bread or cake. If you are not yet tired of cookinghowever, the following ideas may appeal.

A Monday Pudding.

Butter amould, and put into it, half-an-inch apart, some slices of a plum puddingcooked the previous day: beat four eggs, add a pint of milk, and fill up the mould.Put a paper on the top, and tie a cloth over it. Boil or steam it an hour; thenturn it out, and serve with wine sauce.

It is alsovery good with the addition of a little bread pudding, put between the slicesof plum pudding, and finished as above.

Theyoung cook's assistant, and housekeeper's guide, (1841) by P. Masters.

Pudding,Monday’s.

Ingredients. The remains of coldplum-pudding, brandy, custard made with 5 eggs to every pint of milk.

Mode. Cutthe remains of a good cold plum-pudding intofinger-pieces, soak them in a little brandy, and lay them cross-barred in amould until full. Make a custard with the above proportion of milk and eggs,flavouring it with nutmeg or lemon-rind; fill up the mould with it; tie it downwith a cloth, and boil or steam it for an hour. Serve with a little of thecustard poured over, to which has been added a tablespoonful of brandy.

Mrs.Beeton’s Dictionary of Every-day Cookery (1865)

A NiceWay of Warming and Serving Cold Plum Pudding.

Cut the pudding into thin slices, and frythem in butter. Fry also, some fritters, and pile them in the centre of thedish, placing the slices of pudding around the outside. Powder all with sugar,and serve with pudding sauce in a tureen.

TheYoung Wife’s Cook Book, (Philadelphia,1870) by Hannah Mary Bouvier Peterson

Make-Over Pudding.

Take theremains of the plum pudding and break with a fork into pieces. If they measurehalf a pint, add two tablespoonfuls molasses, one egg, one cupful milk, oneteaspoonful baking powder, and flour to make a drop batter; pour in a butteredbread-pan and bake until firm. Either a hard or egg sauce can be served withthis.

The Christian Advocate, Vol 80 (U.S.A., 1905)

Left-Over Plum Pudding.

Slice some left-overplum pudding about ½ of an inch thick. Carefully roll the slices in a beatenegg and in bread crumbs. Fry in hot deep fat to a delicate golden color. Servewith Brandy or Lemon Sauce.

The French Chef in Private American Families(1922), by Xavier Raskin.

Quotation for the Day.

Leftovers make you feel good twice. First, when you put itaway, you feel thrifty and intelligent: ‘I’m saving food!’ Then a month laterwhen blue hair is growing out of the ham, and you throw it away, you feel really intelligent: ‘I’m saving my life!

George Carlin.

Christmas Dinner at Sandringham.

2011-12-23T05:00:00.000+10:00

I usually try to give you a historical Christmas menu as theday approaches, and this year is no exception. It comes to you courtesy of The New York Times of December 13, 1931,whichgave details of the English royal family’s Christmas Dinner at Sandringham theprevious year.

Last year theChristmas dinner partaken at Sandringham was as follows:

Clear Soup.

Fried Fillets of Sole

Braised York Ham

Roast Norfolk Turkey, stuffed with chestnuts

Lettuce Salad

Cauliflower Souffle

Plum Pudding

Mince Pies.

The Christmaspuddings served at Sandringham are made according to a recipe used in the royalhousehold since the seventeenth century and preserved in an old cookery book atWindsor Castle. Many more Christmas puddings are made in the royal kitchens aremade in the royal kitchens than are required for the King’s table, to be sentto the members of the royal family abroad and to a number of old friends. Therecipe for the pudding follows:

Small raisins, one pound.

Plums (stoned and cut in halves) one pound

Bread crumbs, one pound.

Demarara sugar, one pound,

Eggs weighed in their shells, one pound.

Sifted flour, one-half pound.

Finely grated suet, one pound.

Citron, cut into slices, four ounces.

Candied peel, ditto, four ounces

Grated nutmeg, one half-teaspoon.

Salt, two tablespoons.

Mixed spice, one teaspoon.

Brandy, one wine glass.

You willhave realised (or remembered) by now that Christmas pudding recipes from oldsources commonly do not include details of the method, because ‘everyone’ wouldhave known how to mix them.

Quotation for the Day.

In my experience, clever food is not appreciated atChristmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous.

JaneGrigson

The Ladies Guide to Plum Pudding.

2011-12-22T05:00:00.000+10:00

The final recipe for the year from "The Ladies Guide" in the LondonIllustrated of 1861 was for a plum pudding. I make no apologies for givingyou yet another plum pudding recipe, because this one comes with copious noteson the tradition as seen through mid-Victorian eyes.

Plum Pudding

Ingredients

A pound of finely chopped suet - it must be extremely fresh and carefully picked from all skin
half a pound of flour
half a pound of bread crumbs
half a pound of moist sugar
one ounce of citron
one ounce of candied orange and lemon peel
half a nutmeg grated
a teaspoonful of salt
a pound of best currants carefully washed and dried on a cloth
a pound of raisins well picked and stoned
half an ounce of bitter almonds
one ounce of sweet almonds chopped
six eggs beaten yelks and whites together
a glass of brandy

Mix it up together, with as much milk as will make it too thick to bepoured, but not thick enough to be handled as paste : it only wants mixing welltogether - no kneading, or beating, and must be made six hours before it is putinto its mould; then line the bason or mould with a buttered paper, press inthe pudding, lay a buttered paper on the top, tie a thick pudding - clothclosely over it, and boil for six hours : on Christmas day stick a prettybranch of holly with its red berries on the top, with a little frill of cutwhite paper where the stick goes in. Serve with sauce made of half a pint ofvery nice melted butter, a wineglassful of brandy, and sugar to the taste.

And so our double cycle of ceremonious dinners ends with a plumpudding. Where could we find a more appropriate climax for our English bills offare, or so fit a dainty either to close the culinary year or to begin the next?

Are we not weary, dear reader, of our cookery - weary of contriving thebest, easiest, and least wasteful ways of catering for fastidious appetites -weary, even, of settling how we shall most clearly describe the composition ofour plum-pudding? Let us repose a moment and talk about it.

As to its history I am not very learned; but I know at least that wecannot assign to its existence any very high antiquity. In the compilation ofreceipts made by Richard the Second's “master cooks” we find no trace of it;nor is there any in that other manual of ancient cookery, dated A.D. 1381,which we have already alluded to.

Most of the materials were, however, at the cook's command at thatperiod. They had spices and used them in profusion, also almonds and raysons ofCorance, and they were beginning to use sugar to replace their honey ; therewas almost everything - but the genius to combine them. Regretting, then, thatour antiquarian researches will not help us to the knowledge of whenplum-pudding came first to light, we may at least affirm that at whatever timeit might have appeared in England, it is still virtually non-existent inforeign lands.

I look for it in vain in a German manual of cooking, whilst a Frenchone only gives "plum-pouding " converted by the addition of milk intoa sort of porridge, boiled in a cloth, and accompanied by an inexplicablesauce. The cloth, however, ought not to be quarrelled with, since it is adecided amelioration of the "poudins's" earlier treatment; for thefirst essay our neighbours made upon it was to collect all the materials, andthrow them into a boiling pot without either cloth or mould. It would seemthat, after breakfasting on ragouts and wine, their tastes are too delicate toaccept anything so strong and coarse as an English plum-pudding, and thereforethey disdain to do it justice ; however, we shall not desert it on thataccount, but rather treasure and admire it the more.

And truly a wonderful composition is this same plum-pudding! Let usforget for a moment all that is sentimental about its history - thoseremembrances of childish glee, and later soberer happiness, when at Christmasgatherings we have seen it in its glory - and consider it in itself as amarvellous product of modern civilization.

How few ever think that every quarter of the globe has contributed tothe small conglomeration which they see upon their plates! Horace's supper,even if the wines had really come frorn Chios and all the exotic dainties hadbeen genuine; or Monte Christo's dinner with its fishes from the mouths of theVolga and from the Italian lakes, and his wines from the Archipelago and theCape, must have been commonplace in composition, compared with our chiefChristmas dish.

Think of its materials - spices from India and every island of thePacific, raisins from Asia Minor, currants from Corinth, almonds from Italy,citrons from Spain, oranges from St. Michaels, brandy from France, sugar fromJamaica: there remain only the flour and the eggs that can possibly belong tous; and we are not sure that the last has not travelled from France, and thefirst from America.

Yes, we forget: there is one ingredient, not the most refined, yethonestly home-produced - the suet, a genuine portion of the roast beef of OldEngland; and so, in spite of foreign contributions, we may call it a nationaldish, and a monument of the country's unrivalled commerce.

But national though it be, the plum-pudding may, in one sense, becalled cosmopolitan ; for when Christmas comes round, it will be welcomed inIndia, in Canada, in Africa, and now even in China, as well as by friends (tosome, dearer than any) in that especially English continent on the oppositeface of the earth, who will honour it duly, not on our Christmas day, but onour Christmas night for they are banished, alas! half the clock-round away fromus.

Everywhere the plum-pudding is at home: let us hope, in a parenthesis,that everywhere, it may be produced from a receipt as good as that which wehave been discussing. But we have not traced yet all the haunts of ourplum-pudding at home: it is not for the parlour only, but for all tables; forthe noisy kitchen, and even - in a mitigated form of indigestibility - for thequiet nursery; for the cottage and the Workhouse. Let us delight to think thatit is carried by kind hands also into the wretched tenements in squalid cornersof this great city and all other cities of the Queen's dominions great andsmall. But this reminds us that we have yet work that must be done; so we mustreturn to business.

Quotation for the Day.

Life is sobrief that we should not glance either too far backwards or forwards…thereforestudy how to fix our happiness in our glass and in our plate.
Grimod de la Reynière

Seasonal Beverages.

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000+10:00

By now youhave probably made or sourced your Christmas cake and pudding, your turkey,pork or ham. Have you given any consideration yet to what you going to drinkwith your dinner?

Speakingpersonally, I don’t feel the need to go further than good bubbles - especiallyred bubbles - at Christmas, but there being no accounting for taste, some ofyou may disagree. I therefore give you a selection of beverages of which I hopeone will fit your particular preference, whether you like them hot or cold, alcoholic or not, with floatingfruit or definitely not, with egg or absolutely not.

Firstly, letus deal with the egg-nog issue. Egg-nog is the drink you have when you wouldreally rather be having custard. I gave you several egg-based beverages (bothhot and cold) in a Christmas 2008 post, and refer you to that if you wantdrinkable custard this year.

As acomplete change, and so as to include Southern hemisphere contributions, I giveyou two ideas from a selection offered in TheMail (Adelaide, SA) December 9, 1950. The article notes in the preamblethat ‘wine or spirits may be added to any of them to suit your taste.’ Thefirst recipe is a very basic tea punch suitable, I would think, for sissies, orthose who chose not to take alcohol. The second one sounds quite Christmassywith its sweet spices and ginger base.

Christmas Punch.

3 quarts of strong tea

3 cups castor sugar

¾ pint lemon juice

3 pints soda water

Slices of orange or other fruit

Mint.

When makingthe tea, allow at least four tablespoons of tea to each quart of water. Standfor 10 minutes before straining from leaves. Leave till cold after straining,then pour into a punch bowl or large jug containing a lump of ice.

Mix in sugarand lemon juice, stirring occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. When sugaris dissolved, add soda water, one or two slices of orange or other fruit, a fewgrapes if obtainable, one or two chunks of pineapple, and float a handful ofmint leaves on top.

Serves10-12.

Spiced Fruit Punch.

2 ½ cups orange juice

1 cup pineapple juice

2 cups water

½ cup sugar

Grated rind of one lemon

1 tablespoon clear honey

½ teaspoon grated nutmeg

6 whole cloves

½ teaspoon cinnamon

3 pints ginger ale.

Combineorange juice, pineapple juice, water, and sugar. Add grated rind of lemon,honey, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Mix and let stand for three hours. Strainthrough cheesecloth and add ginger ale. Stir briskly and serve in glassescontaining ice cubes. Serves eight.

And here isanother Aussie Christmas Punch recipe, from the Barrier Miner (Broken Hill, NSW) of December 9, 1939. This is thefruit punch you have when you would really rather be having fruit salad (orvice-versa.)

Christmas Punch.

Ingredients.

1 medium-sized pineapple

2 apples

Rind of 1 and juice of 3 lemons

Juice of 2 oranges

2 to 2 ½ cups sugar

1 cup water

2 cups cider

2 tablespoons cherry brandy

1 pint soda or seltzer water

Crushed ice

Drained or maraschino cherries

2 bananas

Method: Peeland core the pineapple and apples. Cut the flesh into fine dice, and mix withthe strained lemon and orange juice. Simmer the peels and cores with the thinlypeeled yellow lemon rind and the water for ten minutes, add the sugar, simmerfor five minutes, and when cold, strain and add to the diced fruit and juice.Add the peeled, sliced banana, cover and chill for three hours. Just beforeserving add the cider, cherry brandy, and soda water, mix thoroughly, and servein tall glasses with crushed ice. Garnish with drained or maraschino cherries.

There issomething about the following recipe which makes me think it should be servedhot.

Fig and AppleBeverage.

Two quartsof boiling water, six figs, two apples. Open the figs, and cut the apples insix or eight pieces each; boil them twenty minutes, pour them into a basin tocool, then pass the liquid and pulp through a sieve. The figs when drained maybe eaten.

Vegetable Cookery, (1866) by John Smith

And finally,if you want hot and pure alcohol, reinforced with sugar but free from anydiluents save a little terminal lemon juice, this is the drink for you.

Hot Port Wine Punch.

Should a hotdrink be required, one may always depend upon the ‘hot port wine punch’ that‘The Only William’ esteemed as the most appropriate of Christmas tipples. Toprepare it, mix a quart of claret with a quart of Rhine wine, and two quarts ofport wine, and put them over the fire, with two pounds of sugar. Let them heatslowly, for they must not be permitted to boil, and stir them sufficiently toassure the sugar being dissolved. When the mixture has become very hot, pour itinto a tureen in which there shall be the juice of four lemons; add half abottle of the best arrack, stir for a moment, and serve. For a Christmas Eve ora Christmas night party, no hot drink can be better.

The New York Times, December 15, 1907

Quotation for the Day.

There is aremarkable breakdown of taste and intelligence at Christmastime. Mature,responsible grown men wear neckties made of holly leaves and drink alcoholicbeverages with raw egg yolks and cottage cheese in them.

P.J. O'Rourke

Cold Christmas Treats.

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000+10:00

A coldChristmas would indeed be a treat for those of us sweltering in thesub-tropical regions of the Southern hemisphere at this time of year, but thatis not what I meant when I wrote the title for this post.

EarlyBritish settlers to this country stuck firmly to the traditional Christmas farefrom ‘Home’, despite the uncomfortable fact that large roasts and hot puddingswere completely unsuitable to mid-summer in their new country. We have not yetshed our colonial inheritance.

Those of us whose lineage is Australian for severalgenerations back are much more comfortable with a ‘barbie’ (on which we mightthrow prawns – NOT shrimp!) or a cold seafood buffet, but the newer migrantsamongst us, and I include myself in this group, seem unable to completely escapethe family memory of our grandparents Christmas dinner in the old country. Theirony is that to please every generation we often end up with double the work;we add salads as well as roasted vegetables for example, and include some coldseafood too. The place of honour however is still reserved for the turkey and/orthe crackly pork and/or the ham. We might serve the turkey and pork cold, whichsounds sensible on a sweltering day, but it has to be cooked at some time, sowe suffer the kitchen heat on Christmas Eve instead of Christmas Day.

Inevitably, however, there has been a slow but steady move towardsa more authentic Australian Christmas cuisine. This seems to have begun inearnest in the 1950’s, if the recipes offered in newspapers and magazines areany indication of a trend. Ice-cream is an obvious choice for a mid-summerChristmas – but then, ice-cream is always in season, isn’t it?

Christmas Ice-CreamPudding.

One pinthome-made ice-cream, 4 oz. block of dark chocolate, 2 oz. each of sultanas,seeded raisins, chopped dates, crystallised cherries, chopped crystallisedpineapple, ground almonds, 2 tablespoons sweet sherry, ½ cup chopped preservedpeaches and apricots (mixed).

Prepareice-cream, freeze until “mush” consistency. Break chocolate roughly, place insaucepan with sultanas, dates cherries, and pineapple. Stir while melting, mixwell. Remove ice-cream from trays, beat smooth, add chocolate fruit mixture. Stirin almonds, sherry, apricots and peaches. Mix thoroughly, return torefrigerator trays. Freeze until firm. Serve decorated with chopped colouredjellies.

The Australian Women’s Weekly, December12, 1951

Christmas Trees onIce Cream

What could be a prettier sight for a Christmas dessert or party fare during the holidays than a square of ice cream topped with gay little Christmas tree cookies? They're as much fun and as easy as trimming the bigtree, too.

Ingredients:

2 level tblspn. cocoa.

3 level tblspn.sugar.

½ cup powdered milk.

½ pint fresh milk.

1 ½ level tspn. gelatine.

2 tblspn. hotwater.

2 level tblspn. Condensedmilk.

Method: Blend cocoa in saucepan with sugar, and powdered milk. Add a little fresh milk mixing wellto remove any lumps, then add remaining milk. Heat until scalding, stirring all time. Remove from heat, addcondensed milk and gelatine that has been dissolved in hot water. Turn into refrigerator tray. Chill until quite setbut nothard. Turn out and .beat until fluffy and doubled in bulk. Chill until firm.

Sugar Wafer Trees

Ingredients:

1 scant cup butter or margarine.

1 cup sugar.

2 eggs.

1 tspn. vanilla.

3 cups plain flour.

1 level tspn. Baking powder.

1 good pinch salt.

Method: Cream butter. Add sugar gradually and cream thoroughly until light and fluffy. Add eggs oneat a timeand vanilla; blend well. Sift in flour, baking powder and salt; mixwell. Chill about ½ hour. Roll dough to ⅛ inch thickness on a lightly flouredboard. Cut with Christmas tree cookie cutter. Bake on a greased baking sheet ina moderate oven about 12 minutes. Decorate with red (Royal Icing) and silverbeads.

The SydneyMorning Herald, December 11, 1952

Quotation for the Day.

At Christmasplay and make good cheer,
For Christmas comes but once a year
Thomas Tusser

Trek-Ox Stew for Christmas.

2011-12-19T05:00:00.000+10:00

Methinks it is time to take a break from the work ofChristmas preparation, and enjoy a little Christmas humour. There is a special sortof humour that is generated in very un-funny situations. We call it ‘gallowshumour’, and it seems to act as a sort of survival aid, or maybe an aid to acceptance,when the going gets tough. Really tough. Such as in wartime.

I dedicate this post to the men and women of the militarywho will be far from their families this Christmas.

The perpetrator of today’s story is one ‘Tommy Atkins’ whois not, in fact, a real person. ‘Tommy Atkins’ (sometimes known simply as ‘Tommy’)has been a generic name for a common soldier of the British Army since aboutthe middle of the eighteenth century. In the story I give you today, TommyAtkins is a British soldier in South Africa during the Second Boer war(1899-1902), and his story is told in the English (Middlesex) Church Weekly of January 17, 1902.

“The following recipe from the veldt by Tommy Atkins’schef, and suitable for Christmas fare, have been sent to friends in Coventryfrom a Yeoman in South Africa, who takes life very cheerily in very uncheerfulcircumstances.

Trek-ox Stew. – Take an ox about fifty years old, belongingto someone else, kill it if it is not already dead, and cut it into four ormore parts. Boil it in a pot of muddy water over a green wood fire, and whendone, pull it out and wait for a sandstorm, then serve it up. This is thoughtan excellent dish.

Sponge Cake. – Take a few handsful of Indian meal, andsufficient dirty water to make it into a stiff paste. Put it on a piece of tineor shovel over a fire. Ready for use when warmed through.

Porridge. – Take a few handsful of Indian corn and put itin a bully-beef or other old tin. Fill up with water and boil till soft. Put ina little salt if you are lucky enough to be able to steal a bit. One feed ofthis will last all day.

Beverages (Tea or Coffee). – Fill up the dinner pot withwater (no need to wash the pot as the sand in the water cleans that), and putit on the fire for fifteen minutes. Then throw in a handful of tea or coffee,and serve up in mess-tins that you have just used to fry bacon in. This is amost refreshing drink.”

The recipe for theday – for in all fairness I could hardly allow the above, even if you dohave access to trek-oxen (is there such a thing?) or Indian meal – is a realsponge cake from the era.

A Sponge Cake.

Take theweight of five eggs in sugar and half their weight in flour; add the gratedrind and juice of one lemon. Mix the flour with the yolks, lemon, and sugar;add the beaten whites last. Care must be taken not to beat down the whippedwhites as the whole mixture should be very light and spongy. Time for baking,from 40 to 50 minutes, and the cake must not be moved or jarred during theprocess. A moderate oven is required at first, which should be allowed to gethotter gradually.

Western Mail(Cardiff, Wales) February 10, 1900

Quotation for the Day.

Once againwe find ourselves enmeshed in the Holiday Season, that very special time ofyear when we join with our loved ones in sharing centuries-old traditions suchas trying to find a parking space at the mall. We traditionally do this in myfamily by driving around the parking lot until we see a shopper emerge from themall, then we follow her, in very much the same spirit as the Three Wise Men,who 2,000 years ago followed a star, week after week, until it led them to aparking space.

Dave Barry

Christmas Treats for Invalids.

2011-12-16T05:00:00.000+10:00

Heavenforbid that you should have to nurse an invalid over the holiday season,because I don’t know where you wgo for could ulinary inspiration these days - chapters onInvalid Cookery being entirely absent from modern cookery books. Why is that,do you think?

In theevent that you do have to cater forone who is indisposed, poorly, unwell, or under the weather, or thinks theyare, or have simply forgotten to bring their teeth to the Christmas table, thefollowing recipe may help. It is from Food AndCookery For The Sick And Convalescent, (Boston, 1904) by Fannie Merritt Farmer.

Christmas Jelly.

Followrecipe for Sauterne Jelly* and divide in thirds. Put one-third in a smallwhiskey glass, let stand until firm, then pour into the glass the second thirdcolored with Leaf Green and chilled sufficiently so as not to melt the lowerlayer. As soon as the second layer is firm, add the remaining third. Chill,remove from glass, and garnish with small sprigs of holly bearing berries.

*Sauterne Jelly.

3/4 teaspoon granulated gelatin.

½ tablespoon cold water.

1 tablespoon boiling water.

½ cup Sauterne.

1 teaspoon lemon juice.

½ tablespoon sugar.

Make same as Lemon Jelly I.**

*Lemon Jelly I.

90 Calories

3/4 teaspoon granulated gelatin.

1 tablespoon cold water.

3 tablespoons boiling water.

2 tablespoons lemon juice.

1 1/2 tablespoons sugar.

Soak gelatin in cold water, addboiling water, and as soon as gelatin is dissolved add sugar and lemon juice.Strain through cheese cloth, mould, and chill.

Quotation for the Day.

I want tohave a good body, but not as much as I want dessert.

Jason Love

Christmas Cakes for Good Children.

2011-12-15T05:00:00.001+10:00

Are not allchildren good at Christmas? I think so. They deserve their own cake, don’t they?I did give you a recipe for a Christmas cake for children from The Times of1921, but in the interests of variety, I give you another, from JennieJune's American Cookery Book, (NewYork, 1870), by Jane Cunningham Croly. These are actually small individualcakes quite different from the traditional dark fruit cake, and would be lovelyfor afternoon tea at any season.

ChristmasCakes for Good Children

Threeheaping table-spoonsful of sugar, two heaping table-spoonsful of butter, oneegg, two table-spooonsful of corn-starch or maizena, put into three cups offlour, a small cup of sweet miilk, a heaping tea-spoonful of cream of tartar,and half of soda, a pinch of salt, a few Zante currants. Roll out in powderedsugar, cut in strips, and twist them round like champagne cakes. Sprinkle overthem colored caraway comfits. Bake quick, a light brown.

The answerto one good cookery question often leads to another question or three, I havefound. What are the champagne cakes referenced in this recipe? Do they actuallycontain champagne? If so, how likely is it that you will ever have leftover champagne to use in cakes?

Champagne Cakes.

One cup of butter, two of sugar,four eggs, one wine-glass of champagne, half a teaspoon of saleratus, and flourenough to pat out with the hand. Make into two small flat cakes, and bake in aquick oven.

The Appledore Cook Book (1880) by Maria Parloa.

Quotation for the Day.

I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jarsand open a jar of it every month.
Harlan Miller