Washington’s Birthday, 1910.

This day, as my American friends are aware, is celebrated as the birthday of George Washington, first President of the United States. Washington himself celebrated his birthday on February 11, but this date became the 22nd when the Gregorian calendar was finally accepted in Britain and all her Dominions in 1752. I briefly explained this re-jigging of the calendar in a story several years ago, and made mention of it again in one about Frances Trollope (mother of the novelist Anthony Trollope ), who attended a ball in honour of the great man on this day in 1829.

Today I give you the menu from U.S.S Wilmington on Washington’s birthday in 1910. The ship was in Canton, China at the time, but there is nothing even vaguely oriental on the menu – nor should there be, for such an important national day. I am not sure then, why ‘English’ ham is there – perhaps it was symbolically routed in recognition of the Washington’s success in leading the American army to victory over her colonial masters. The other puzzle, which perhaps a military historian can answer, is why the menu styles the U.S.S Wilmington as ‘the trophy ship.’

Queen Olives      Celery

Oyster Soup

Roast Goose      Roast Chicken

Chestnut Dressing

Giblet Gravy     Cranberry Sauce

English Ham

Mashed Potatoes      Sweet Potatoes

Cream Peas

Pumpkin Pie

Lemon Custard Pie

Chocolate Layer Cake

Jelly Roll Slices

Oranges     Bananas      Apples

Cigars    Cigarettes    Mixed Nuts

Coffee

Chestnut Dressing – Mrs. L.A.Lancel
1 lb. chestnuts boiled, 1 lb. beer, ½ lb. fresh pork, chopped all together. Season with salt and pepper; add ¼ loaf of baker’s bread soaked in water and drained, and 2 beaten eggs.
San Rafael Cook Book, 1906.


Quotation for the Day.
Birthdays are nature’s way of telling us to eat more cake.
Anon.

In Advance of Valentine’s Day.

It will be here on Monday, folks – that day of romance, sweethearts, kisses and gifts, or, if you are not a true believer, of crass commercialism, cheap chocolate, cheaper bubbles, and cheesy cards.
My gift to you for the day, given in advance to give you chance to use it for inspiration, is a wonderfully kitchy menu from the Café Bova, Boston, on Valentine’s Day 1912. The image of the menu I cannot give - it is too fuzzy, and if the resolution were any lower it would slide off the bottom of the page - so you will have to imagine the decoration of red hearts.

CUPID’S MENU.

SOUP

Consommé De L’Amour

FISH

A Plaice in your Heart

JOINT

My Own Sweet Lamb

POULTRY

A Little Duck

SWEETS

You for my Sweetheart

ICES

Ice-simply adore You

I’m hungry for your sweet affection

So don’t leave me starving I pray

For the menu I’ve made a selection

Let me dine on the same every day.

The love-struck beau wishing to impress his sweetheart with this romantic meal had to dig relatively deep, for the time. The meal cost $2.00.

From Household Cookery Recipes (London, 1901), I give you a recipe for the fish course.

Fillets of Plaice with White Sauce.
1 medium-sized plaice.
1 teaspoon lemon juice.
¾ pint fish sauce.
Salt and pepper.
Wash and dry the plaice on a cloth, and remove the fillets carefully thus: Take a sharp knife and cut a clean cut right down the middle of the fish from head to tail; then raise the fillets from the bones, keeping the knife flat on the bone and taking long clean cuts (not jagging,
or the fish will be wasted) ; season the fillets and fold them into three, skin side inside, or they will unroll in the cooking ; place them on a buttered baking- tin, sprinkle the lemon over them, and cover closely with buttered paper. They should be kept quite white in the cooking.
Bake in a slow oven for from 7 to 15 minutes, according to the size; dish up nicely and coat over with the sauce. Decorate with red crumbs or chopped parsley.

Fish Sauce.
The bones of a plaice, sole or whiting.
1 oz. butter.
1 oz. flour.
1 small onion.
1 small bay leaf.
1 sprig parsley.
1 sprig thyme.
½ pint milk.
½ pint water.
1 small piece carrot.
1 small piece turnip.
1 small piece celery.
6 peppercorns.
Seasoning.
Cut the head off the bones, wash and break them up, put them into a saucepan with the vegetables left in blocks, the herbs and spice ; season and pour over them the milk and water; simmer the stock slowly for 10 minutes ; strain ; dissolve the butter and cook the flour in it slowly for 3 or 4 minutes to make the sauce shiny, then off the fire, mix in the stock, stir to the boil and cook for 5 minutes ; strain the sauce.


Quotation for the Day.
I don't understand why Cupid was chosen to represent Valentine's Day. When I think about romance, the last thing on my mind is a short, chubby toddler coming at me with a weapon.
Author Unknown

All Aboard for New Year’s Eve.

It is a while since I gave you a cruise ship menu, so here is one from New Year’s Eve, 1941. It is from a ship of the Aberdeen and Commonwealth Line, and appears to have been on a voyage to or from Canada.

Crème de Tomato
Sole Blanchaille
Vol au Vente Toulouse
Supreme of Chicken, Stanley
Roast Sirloin of Beef
Carrots Flamande
Puree & Browned Potatoes
Savoury Rice

Cold Buffet;
Roast Pork, Apple Sauce
Salad
Americano Pudding
Scotch Shortbread
Mince Pies

Coffee Cheese Biscuits Tea.


I am greatly intrigued by the Americano Pudding, but have not been able to find a recipe, so it must remain a mystery for the time being. Perhaps it was a special invention of the chef aboard the vessel?

Instead, here is a recipe for Savoury Rice, courtesy of Mrs Harriet Anne de Salis, from her book Savouries à la Mode (1887)

Savoury Rice.
Put into a saucepan six cupfuls of stock or broth into which has been previously dissolved a good allowance of either tomato paste or tomato sauce, add pepper and salt to taste; when it boils, throw in for every cupful of stock half a cupful of rice, well-washed and dried before the fire. Let the whole remain on the fire until the rice has absorbed all the stock, then melt a large piece of butter, and pour it over the rice.

The Savoy, Christmas Eve 1899.

Herewith the menu, prepared by Escoffier himself, for Christmas Eve, 1899 at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Caviar frais      Bouquet de crevettes     Royal natives

Tortue claire       Bortsch à la russe

Suprêmes de soles à l'aurore

Filets de rougets aux laituces

Poulardes royales

Timbales de truffes au champagne

Selle de chevreuil grand veneur

Mousseline d'écrevisses

Délices de bécasses

Sorbets dame blanche

Ortolans cocotte

Cailles à l'orange

Salade des capucins

Asperges nouvelles

Foies gras pochés au Clicquot

Soufflé Chantilly

Ananas glacé

Mandarines à l'orientale

Biscuits aux avelines         Mignardises

Galettes écossaises

Fruits

Vins

Johannisberger cabinet, 1874

Pommery, extra sec, 1884

Château Coutet, marquis de Lur-Saluces Mise du Château Etampé, 1861

Grande Champagne, 1830

Grandes liqueurs

Café turc

As the Recipe for the Day, I give you Escoffier’s blushing pink (like the goddess Aurora’s dawn light) sauce for your sole.

Aurore Sauce.
Into ½ pint boiling veloute put the same quantity of very red tomato purée and mix the two. Let the sauce boil a little, pass it through a tammy, and finish, away from the fire, with 3 oz butter.

Quotation for the Day.

The merry Christmas, with its generous boards,
Its fire-lit hearths, and gifts and blazing trees,
Its pleasant voices uttering gentle words,
Its genial mirth, attuned to sweet accords,
Its holiest memories!
The fairest season of the passing year –
The merry, merry Christmas time is here.
George Arnold.

Emergency Food, Part 2.

Food emergencies, which we considered yesterday, are not always due to large-scale meteorological, geological, or military events. A less newsworthy but far more common - and possibly even greater panic-inducing set of circumstances - is caused by unexpected visitors.


Unexpected visitors always arrive around mealtime, with the clear and present expectation of being fed pretty soon. The timing is always at the end of the shopping week, when supplies are low - and it has usually been a particularly bad week for a multitude of reasons. Maybe the kids all had the flu, or the man of the house got fired, or the dog ate the laundry? The fridge (well-overdue for a clean-out) is spectacularly empty of anything edible-looking, never mind appetizing.


What is the housewife to do? (it is always the ‘housewife’ in these stories.) A good and clever housewife would be prepared better than the best boy scout. She would have a secret stash of canned food and a canny knowledge of how to disguise their origins and dress them up in a style fit for company, that’s what. She would have learned how from her good and clever mother, or from a book such as the Arizona Cook Book, by the Williams Public Library Association (1911.)


This nice book contains many meal ideas, including several ‘emergency menus’ prepared from canned food. Here is my pick of the menus, followed by a recipe for an ‘economical and good emergency soup’, also from the book. The Arizona ladies who contributed the ideas are credited in each instance. Perhaps readers in Arizona might know some of the families? Wouldn’t that be fun?

Emergency Menu of Canned Foods.

Puree of Peas.

Creamed Lobster in Patty Cases.

Lamb’s Tongue stewed with

Boiled Rice and Pimentos.

Buttered Mushrooms.

Vienna Rolls.

Asparagus Salad.

Melted Cheese on Wafers.

Pineapple or Canned Peach Whips.

Coffee.

Mrs. T.S. Maddock,

Williams, Ariz.

Italian Tomato Soup.
This is one of the most delicious soups I have ever eaten, and I have never seen this recipe in print. It is a very economical and good emergency soup, as it can be prepared in half an hour. One onion fried in butter (do not let it brown), two cans of tomatoes and one quart of water. Add the onion to the tomatoes and let it boil twenty minutes. Strain through a colander, set back on stove, and add one heaping tablespoon of cornstarch dissolved in hot water, one dozen cloves, salt and sugar to taste. Let boil five minutes, then add one tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce.
Mrs. McLarty, Manistee, Mich.


Quotation for the Day.

"'Canned food is a perversion,' Ignatius said. 'I suspect that it is ultimately very damaging to the soul.'"
John Kennedy Toole (‘A Confederacy of Dunces’)

The Mayor and Mayoress at Dinner.

Mr. J. Skeat, the eighteenth century author of our inspiration for the week appears to have been an important member of the catering community in Norwich, England. He details the bills of fare and the table settings for two important civic events – not dated but presumably not too distant from the time of publication of his book (The Art of Cookery and Pastery … ) in 1769. One of these bills of fare – that for the “Mayor’s Feast at Lynn”, is our topic for the day.

In previous times, the bill of fare served to you at an important dinner depended on your rank. Greater choice and finer food went to the most important folk, with fewer dishes and sometimes fewer courses going to those lower down in the pecking order (those “below the salt”, so to speak.) At the Mayor’s Feast at Lynn, all guests received two course, but different choices were offered to the Mayor’s table, the Mayoress’s Table, the Common-Council Table, the Middle Table, the Large Table in the Assembly Room, and the Short Table in the Assembly Room.

Interestingly, there was a greater variety of dishes at the Mayoress’s table than at the Mayor’s table at this feast. Here is the first course for both those tables (the lists also indicate the position of the dishes on the table).

The Mayor’s Table.

Carp &c.

Pigeons Fricandoe. M. Pudding [ Marrow]

Bombard Veal

Haunch of Venison.

Partridge Pye.

Chickens.

*

Callipee.

Roast Turkey.

Ham.

Venison Pasty.

Roast Pig.

Greens.

Tench.

The Mayoress’s Table.

Pike, &c.

Veal Sweetbreads. Italienne.

Haunch of Venison.

Chickens.

Greens.

Ham.

Partridge Pye.

Ducks A-la-Brazed.

*

M.Pye.

Callipee.

Roast Pig.

M.Pudding.

Veal Olives.

Roast Goose.

*

M.Pyes.

Tench.

Roast Turkey.

Tongue. Udder.

Greens.

Fowls.

*

Pidgeons Fricandoe.

Venison Pasty.

White Collops.

M.Pudding.

Bombard Veal.

Hash.

Tench.

White Collops.
Take a clean stewpan with a piece of butter, when melted have some small cutlets of veal, and just warm them through in the butter; dredge in a little flour, and keep shaking it about; season them to your liking; then add a little cream, a little white gravy, and the juice of a lemon; shake them all together, and serve them up with egg balls.


Quotation for the Day.

Banquet: a plate of cold, hairy chicken and artificially coloured green peas completely surrounded by dreary speeches and appeals for donations.
Bennett A. Cerf, Laughing Stock (1945)

Keeping the Toaster Shiny.

When did being “time-poor” in the kitchen become an issue (or an explanation, or an excuse, or a justification ….) ? We are used to exhortations to domestic economy. Cookbooks from every era and every culture have preached the doctrine of saving expense – or at the very least, the avoidance of waste. Waste, even in good times in wealthy households, has generally been viewed – at least in theory – as a sinful thing. Somehow in very modern times we have moved well away from this idea: there is plenty of evidence that in developed countries, up to a fifth of purchased food is thrown away – a situation that would have been unthinkeable until …. when?

But to return to my first question – when did saving time in the kitchen become an issue, and why? We feel - and are regularly told - that we have hectic lives and too much to do, and are too busy and too stressed. But we have – at least in theory – a legislated 8 hour working day only five days a week (an unbelievably lazy working life, historically); we have labour-saving devices in our homes; we can get to work in a blink of an eye, relatively speaking. Most of us would certainly feel that we did not have time for the following little domestic chore, described in a 1930’s American newspaper.

“Every toaster should have its little long-handled brush with which to sweep out the crumbs that accumulate after each use. It is a sign of good housekeeping to find the toaster always as shiny as a new dime, with no burnt-on crumbs, butter stains or finger marks.”

Oddly, this same newspaper page also had a column of ideas and recipes for “Half Hour Meals”. Perhaps the time saved was intended to be used to polish the toaster in time for breakfast. The newspaper was the Middletown Times Herald (of Middletown, NY) of May 28, 1936, and the helpful section called Modern Home News was “Conducted for this newspaper in the interest of its women readers by recognized authorities on all phases of home making.”

Here is one of the suggested menus for “a substantial though quick dinner”:

… starting off with a tomato juice cocktail; then broiled beef patties, fried potatoes (which have been cooked in the morning); asparagus, butter sauce, fruited gelatin (also prepared in the morning). Asparagus should be cleaned in the morning, folded in a wet cloth, and put into the ice-box. When preparing the dinner, start the water for boiliing asparagus first; then slice or dice the potatoes and broil the patties.

This is a bit of a cheat, I think, as the half-hour does not include the morning preparation.

I must return to this time-poor in the kitchen approach sometime soon. In the meanwhile, from the same page of the newspaper, from an article headed Vegetables In Spring Attire, we have the following recipe to encourage Dad and Junior to enjoy their vegetables.


Scalloped Cabbage.
Wash and cut into sections a young cabbage. Boil in salted water until tender. Chop very fine (leftover cabbage may be used to advantage.) Add one egg, well beaten; three fourth cup milk; one tablespoon finely chopped broiled bacon. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Put a layer of cabbage in the baking dish; sprinkle grated sharp cheese over the mixture, then another layer of cabbage. Continue until baking dish is filled. Cover top with buttered bread crumbs, sprinkle with cheese and bake for thirty minutes in a moderate oven of 350 degrees F.


Quotation for the Day.
Cabbage as a food has problems. It is easy to grow, a useful source of greenery for much of the year. Yet as a vegetable it has original sin, and needs improvement. It can smell foul in the pot, linger through the house with pertinacity, and ruin a meal with its wet flab. Cabbage also has a nasty history of being good for you.”
Jane Grigson (1928-1990)

A White Dinner.

Most of us don’t do formal dinner parties anymore, do we? A shortage of time, money, and domestic help, I suppose. It used to be the way to socialise with friends - no movies, one couldn’t do take-out, and it was not seemly for ladies to dine in public. But one can easily have too much of a good thing, and in the late nineteenth century there appeared to develop a sort of dining ennui amongst those with what my mother would have called more money than sense. So, what could one do when when one wanted dining variety? One could hold a dinner with a colour theme, of course!

Out of necessity, the idea was interpreted quite broadly in respect of the food (there are not too many yellow meats or pink salad vegetables), but hostesses could go all out with the flowers, napery and decorations – and anyway, it was the idea that counted. According to the Jessup Whitehead, the author of The Steward’s Handbook and Guide to Party Catering (c1889), ‘White Dinners’ were fashionable during Lent, and he gives a menu for one such dinner.

I have looked long and hard at this menu, and - maybe I am particularly dim this evening - but I missed the sense of abstinence that I understand is a feature of Lent.
And surely the pursuit of fashion in respect of dinners is inheritently un-Lenten in itself?

A WHITE DINNER IN LONDON.

During lent dinners au blanc, or white dinners, are fashionable. In many housesthe fair, white damask tablecloths replace the covers of colored velvet, satin, plush,or sateens with their exquisite surcloths of laces, or, if colors are used, it is the soft violet shade, so beloved by the adherents to the third empire in France and the highchurch party in England. This is the menu of a white dinner recently given.

MENU BLANC.

Hors d’Œuvre.

Huitres en Coquille.

Soups.

Potage au riz. Purée de Morue.

Poisson.

Brochet au Citron. Alose à la Marrons.

Releves.

Poulette au blanc. Filet de Veau à la Pere François,

Entrees.

Œufs Farcies. Rissoles de Bœuf. Filets de

Canards aux Navets.

Roti.

Agneau. Carré de Porc Roti.

Entremets.

Crème de Noyau. Pannier de Roseblanc.

Frangepane de Moëlle.

Canapees de Fromage à la Diable.

Glaces.

Citron. Cerises Blanc.

Dessert.

At least desserts are never a problem at colour-themed dinners.  There is a Bavaroise (Bavarian Cream) to suit every colour theme:

NOYAU CREAM: Whipped cream flavored with noyau and set with gelatine.
NOYAU: A liqueur or cordial flavored vith nectarine, bitter almond and peach kernels.

CREMES (Fr.) Creams. Bavarian creams. A class of gelatinized cream compounds; a more elaborate sort of blanc-mange, whipped while setting on ice to make it spongy and delicate. CREME A LA BAVAROISE Whipped cream with gelatine dissolved in syrup mixed in; about ½ oz. gelatine to 1 qt. BAVAROISE AU GINGEMBRE Ginger cream. Preserved ginger pounded, mixed with syrup and gelatine, mixed with whipped cream; set in moulds on ice; served with cake. CREME BAVAROISE A LA PRASLIN Almond nougat-candy pounded and dissolved with boiling milk, gelatine and whipped cream added; moulded on ice. CREME AU CHOCOLAT Chocolate cream ; some chocolate dissolved in hot milk, mixed with whipped cream, sugar and vanilla.


Quotation for the Day.

I prefer to regard a dessert as I would imagine the perfect woman: subtle, a little bittersweet, not blowsy and extrovert. Delicately made up, not highly rouged. Holding back, not exposing everything and, of course, with a flavor that lasts.
Graham Kerr

Wordy Menus,

Summer is well under way here in Queensland, in all its hot and humid glory. Not a time of year to use the oven any more than is necessary – although the Christmas turkey usually gets an exemption. Summer in Olde England not being as hot as here in the Antipodes, the recommended menus in old cookery books are still not quite suitable. Nevertheless, I went to Ms. Elizabeth Moxon’s English housewifery, exemplified in above four hundred and fifty receipts, giving directions in most parts of cookery (13^th Ed. 1790) for inspiration.

The usual method of dinner service of the time was to put all the dishes on the table at once, according to strict rules of symmetry and hierarchy. This is one of her suggestions for a Dinner in Summer.

1. Craw Fish Soop.
2. Moor Game.
3. A Granade.
4.. Apples stew’d green.
5. Boil’d Partridges.
6. Cherries.
7. Stew’d Sweetbreads and Pallets.
8. Jellies or Pine-apples
9. Roast Teal.
10. Apricocks.
11. Artichokes.
12. Sweet-meat Tarts.
13. Fry’d Soals.
14. Turkey Pout roasted and larded.
15. A Haunch of Venison.

Not exactly a light dinner appropriate for the sub-tropics, but lets see what it entails. The Granade is interesting. To explain a granade requires me to begin with the word. A granade originally referrred to a pomegranate (also granate, granate-apple, or pome-granade) – possibly from pome (meaning apple) and garnet (because the pulpy seeds resemble red gems). The old name hangs on in the syrup called grenadine (which we use in cocktails etc) which is made from pomegranates.

Then in the sixteenth century, gunpowder was being exploited with great enthusiasm by the military. Small round bombs filled with it were invented to be thrown or otherwise propelled into the enemy ranks – and they were called, because of their shape and the ‘seeds’ (of gunpowder) inside them, granades (or grenades). Eventually the soldiers specifically trained in their use became grenadiers. I wonder if present-day Grenadier Guards know that their name comes from an exotic fruit?

This habit of using the language economically led to a round-ish culinary invention also being called a granade. Here is Elizabeth Moxon’s recipe.

A Granade.

Take the caul of a leg of veal, lie it into a round pot; put a layer of the flitch part of bacon at the bottom, then a layer of forc’d meat, and a layer of the leg part of veal cut as for collops, ‘till the pot is filled up, which done, take the part of the caul that lies over the edge of the pot, close it up, tie a paper over, and send it to the oven; when baked, turn out into your dish.

Sauce: A good light-brown gravy, with a few mushrooms, morels or truffles: serve it up hot.

A granade then is a sort of layered meatball – round, like a pomegranate, from the shape of the ‘round pot’, and filled with good things. The mystery is ‘the caul of a leg of veal’. A caul is a the fatty membrane that the intestines hang on, and it is often used to wrap little meatballs. It can also mean the membrane enclosing the baby in the womb. By extension the word is used to refer to other ‘wrapping’ materials such as the net used to wrap rolls of meat. I do not know which is meant in this recipe!

Quotation for the Day …

I love fruit, when it is expensive. Sir Arthur Wing Pinero (1855-1934

Random Menu Thoughts.

I haven’t given you a menu for some time, so purely at random I have selected this gem – which I am sure will help you all solve the What Shall We Have for Breakfast, Luncheon, and Dinner Today, Not Forgetting the Servants.

The author of Menus for Every Day of the Year, published in 1912, and written by M. Jebb Scott suggests the following for October 28:

BREAKFAST
Grilled Kippered Salmon.
Game Omelet.

LUNCHEON
Stewed Eels.
Fried Calf’s Liver
Batter Pudding.
Fig Roly-Poly

DINNER
Clear Soup.
Filleted Mackerel, Parsley Sauce
Roast Ox Heart
E.M.Pudding
Coffee Moulds
Parmesan Soufflé

SERVANTS’ DINNER
Liver and Bacon
Fig Roly Poly.

A whole lot of random thoughts pop up into my head and compete for attention when I read this. In no particular order I noted that:

- There are two puddings at both luncheon and dinner.
- I have never, in my whole, entire, complete life to date, been offered Game Omelette for breakfast. My life is the poorer for that.
- The dinner ends with a small savoury dish. That is just so British.
- The servants obviously got the leftovers of the Family’s luncheon pudding.
- Didn’t the Family get Bacon with their Liver!? If not, why on earth not?
- We don’t eat Ox Heart much these days. Why?
- Recycling of leftovers was an art form in those days. The breakfast menu for the next morning included “Minced Ox Heart and Tomatoes.”
- Is “kippered” salmon another name for smoked salmon?
- I hope there were vegetables – that they were “assumed” to be present, but not menu-worthy.
- Ditto the custard for the puddings.
- Who (or what) was E.M.?

E.M. Pudding.
Cream together 3 oz. of butter and 4 oz. of sugar, add two or three eggs, and half a gill of warm milk. Then lightly mix in 6 oz. of self-raising flour, 2 oz. each of candied peel, cherries, and sultanas. Grease some fancy tins, dust some caster sugar, and flour over them, half fill with the mixture, and bake in a moderate oven from fifteen to twenty minutes.

What are your thoughts?

Quotation for the Day …

No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers. Laurie Colwyn.

Regency Eating.

We are eating in Enland during the Regency period today, which will be nice for a change. John Simpson gives a suggested menu for each day of the year in his book the Complete System of Cookery, published in 1816. Cook books of the time often showed how to set the dishes out on the table too, because the style of service was quite different to today, and the overall display as the diners approached the table was most important. There were generally two courses, each course containing a number of dishes which were arranged on the table with great symmetry. The guests certainly got to appreciate the spectacle, but the food must often have been cool before they got to it. There was no clear distinction between savoury and sweet dishes, although in the particular example today there is nothing that we would confuse with ‘dessert’. When the two courses were eaten, guests would then enjoy the ‘banquet’ – often in a different location. The banquet consisted of fruit and sweetmeats, and eventually all the sweet dishes moved over to the banquet ‘course’ – which eventually became ‘dessert’, from the French verb meaning to ‘un-serve’ or clear away.

We are eating in Enland during the Regency period today, which will be nice for a change. John Simpson gives a suggested menu for each day of the year in his book the Complete System of Cookery, published in 1816. Cook books of the time often showed how to set the dishes out on the table too, because the style of service was quite different to today, and the overall display as the diners approached the table was most important. There were generally two courses, each course containing a number of dishes which were arranged on the table with great symmetry. The guests certainly got to appreciate the spectacle, but the food must often have been cool before they got to it. There was no clear distinction between savoury and sweet dishes, although in the particular example today there is nothing that we would confuse with ‘dessert’. When the two courses were eaten, guests would then enjoy the ‘banquet’ – often in a different location. The banquet consisted of fruit and sweetmeats, and eventually all the sweet dishes moved over to the banquet ‘course’ – which eventually became ‘dessert’, from the French verb meaning to ‘un-serve’ or clear away.

There were two dishes ‘à la Flamond’ on this day, which seems to be taking balance a little too far, to me.

Soup à la Flamond.
Shred turnips, carrots, green onions, and one Spanish onion; add lettuce, half a pint of asparagus peas; put them into a small soup-pot, a little stock, and about two ounces of butter; put them on a slow stove to sweat down ofr an hour; put in as much flour as will dry up the butter; then fill it up with best stock, and let it boil by the side of the stove for half an hour. Make a laison of the yolks of four eggs (for two quarts of soup) beat the yolks up well with a spoon; put a pint of cream that has been boiled and got cold; strain it through a sieve, and put a large spoonful of beshemell to it: take the soup from the fire and put in the laison, keep stirring while putting it in, then put the soup on the fire; be sure to keep stirring it until it comes to a boil, then take it off: keep it hot by putting the soup-pot into a stew-pan of hot water

Cauliflower à la Flamond
Boil the cauliflower: when done take it up and lay it on the back of a sieve to drain all the water from it, then put it into a stew-pan with a little beshemell; when quite hot, dish it up, put parmasan cheese, then brown it with a salamander.

Quotation for the Day …

In cooking, clear as you go. Isabella Beeton.

Dinner “Out West”

I have something for you just for fun today, while your system recovers from yesterday’s idea of Tomato Marshmallow. It is from a fascinating publication called Yankee Notions in 1854 – a worthy read which appears have modelled itself on the well-known English Punch magazine.

It is for those of you who love pig, or love to hate pig. It is, I am sure, entirely tongue-in-cheek, and there is, I am sure, some intended regional slur, but it is, I am certain, very amusing. And in any case, there are historic precedents for one-meat meals: Horsemeat dinners in London and Paris in the 1860’s, and a famous (if difficult to track down and authenticate) ‘all beef’ dinner said to have been given by Cardinal Richelieu.

The Bill of Fare.

A party of our friends stopped one day, a year or two ago, at ‘Barkis’ Hotel’, somewhere “out west” and asked him to get them some dinner. “Barkis was willing” and spread before them the following bill of fare; various, “that the tastes of desultory man, studious of change, and pleased with novelty, might be indulged.”

BARKIS’ HOTEL – BILL OF FARE
Tuesday, May 15, 1851.

ROASTED.
Pig, Pork, Ham, Hog
BOILED.
Ham, Eggs, Ham and Eggs, Hams,
BAKED.
Beans, Pork and Beans, Bread, Biscuit.
COLD DISHES.
Boiled - Ham, Roast - Swine.
Boiled - Pork, Roast -Pig
Boiled - Pig, Roast - Pork
Boiled - Swine, Roast - Ham
Cooked - Animals, Baked – Pig
Cooked - Injun, Baked - Ham
Cooked - Pies, Baked - Pork
Cooked - Cake, Baked - Swine
Cooked - Biscuit, Baked - Hog
Cooked - Beans, Baked - Beans
PASTRY, ETC.
Pie - Mince, Cake - Fruit
Pie - Berry, Cake - Sponge
Pie - Apple, Cake - Cymbals
Apples and Cheese.
LIQUORS
Jamaica Rum, Pale Brandy
Monongaheel, Dark do.
McGuckin, Gin Whiskey Bill.

One of our friends tells us that he ate so heartily of some of the earlier dishes, that he had little appetite for the cold “courses!”

***

I had to take some liberties with the formatting of the 'original' menu, for those of you who are sticklers for such things - I blame Blogger. Or me.

Now, for our recipe for the day, I give you pork and dessert in one, from The Great Western Cook Book, or Table Receipts, Adapted to Western Housewifery. circa 1851.

Pork Apple Pie.
Make your crust in the usual way; spread it over a large, deep plate; cut some slices of fat pork, very thin, also some slices of apples; place a layer of apples, and then of pork, with a very little allspice, and pepper, and sugar between--three or four layers of each--with crust over the top. Bake one hour.

Quotation for the Day …

Any Part of the Piggy

Any part of the piggy
Is quite all right with me
Ham from Westphalia, ham from Parma
Ham as lean as the Dalai Lama
Ham from Virginia, ham from York,
Trotters Sausages, hot roast pork.
Crackling crisp for my teeth to grind on
Bacon with or without the rind on
Though humanitarian
I'm not a vegetarian.
I'm neither crank nor prude nor prig
And though it may sound infra dig
Any part of the darling pig
Is perfectly fine with me.
Noel Coward.

An All-Australian Meal.

December 10 …

The Melbourne Punch gave a menu for an “All Australian Meal” on this day in 1925, by way of some sort of patriotic statement. Every ingredient was sourced from the country, and each choice was justified by the newspaper. All states except Western Australia and the Northern Territory were represented. We would take some issue now with Hunter Valley (N.S.W) red wines being referred to as “Burgundy”, and I cannot see Bêche de Mer Soup becoming frantically popular in the near future, but otherwise the menu holds up pretty well.

Salted Almonds, Olives
Oysters on the Shell
Bêche de Mer Soup
Fresh water blackfish, Maitre d’Hotel
Fillet of Beef Pique, Sauce Bernaise
Roast Teal, Port wine sauce Orange Salad
Ice Pudding
Devilled Prawns
Dessert Coffee
Sauterne or Chablis Burgundy
Champagne Cognac

There are some quaintly ancient themes in this menu: the ‘devilled’ dish to end the formal part of the meal, and the ‘dessert’ course which used to mean the final dishes of fruit and sweetmeats – apparently in this case a representative selection of the finest fruits.

For recipes for this menu I turned to a little Australian cookbook that I haven’t used before. It is one of Wiggs’ Useful Books (and I do like books that are useful), and is called The Australian Home Cookery (there should surely be ‘Book’ on the end of that title?). The book is not dated, but an inscription on the flyleaf says “Evelyn L. Teagle, Sep 16, 1917”. If she is your relative, let me know!

I particularly wanted to find a recipe for devilled prawns, but we have to make do with curried prawns (or ‘shrimp’ to those of you over the big water). There are a lot of recipes for curried prawns in English and Australian cookbooks of the era – many of them contain chopped apple and/ or dessicated coconut, and are too frightful to consider. This one sounds OK, if you use good curry powder (or better, mix your own) – but cooking the prawns for an hour is, to understate it somewhat, a bit too long for fresh prawns.

Prawns, Curried.
Take about 20 prawns; take off the heads and tails, and put them into a stewpan with a little less than a pint of fish purée, and a small tablespoonful of curry (previously mixed with ½ cupful of water). Let all simmer gently with the lid off for about 1 hour, and then add 2 tablespoonfuls of cream, and pepper and salt to taste. Serve in the middle of a hot dish, with boiled rice as a border.

Tomorrow’s Story …

The invention of “American Cheese”.

Quotation for the Day …

What will be the death of me are bouillabaisses, food spiced with pimiento, shellfish, and a load of exquisite rubbish which I eat in disproportionate quantities. Emile Zola, (1840-1902)

Clotted Cream

Today, July 23^rd

It is some time since we had a historic menu to enjoy, and if 20 years counts as historic, the menu of the wedding breakfast of the royal couple Prince Andrew and Miss Sarah Ferguson in 1986 will do nicely.

The wedding breakfast was held at home (Buckingham Palace) and was quite simple.

Oeufs Drumkilbo
(Stuffed Eggs)
-
Carré d’Agneau Paloise
(Lamb with Mint Sauce)
Couronne d’Epinards aux Champignons
(Spinach with Mushrooms)
Fèves au Beurre
(Buttered Broad Beans)
Pommes Nouvelles
(New Potatoes)
-
Salade
(Salad)
-
Fraises St George.
(Strawberries)

Crème Caillée
(Clotted Cream)
-
Les Vins
Piesporter Goldtröpfchen Austlese 1976
Château Langoa Barton 1976
Bollinger 1966
Graham 1966

The menu being written in French is a persisting British Royal tradition - something which has always struck me as very odd, as the rest of the English have long since abandoned the practice. It seems particularly perverse to have given that delectable and very English dish of Clotted Cream a French name. Does ‘Crème Caillée’ ever appear on a real French menu? But what a simple, perfect dessert for the Family who can afford anything! Washed down with a bottle of Bolly. Paradise on the table.

Clotted cream is obtained by heating the milk and then leaving it in shallow dishes for the cream to rise to the top where it forms thick ‘clots’ or ‘clouts’ with a fat content of around 60% and a slightly caramel-tasting yellow crust. Best made from the milk of Jersey cows. Best served with home-made strawberry jam on fresh home-made scones, in a traditional Devonshire tea. Equal second best way of serving is as above, with strawberries. The amazing thing about real Clotted Cream is its texture. It bears no relation to that of its bastard offspring Whipped Cream, especially the Sweetened version. Accept no substitutes.

The recipe I have chosen for today is for the very English dish of Burnt Cream. You may recognise it as a version of the very French dish Crème Brulée. It is not actually cream, but a version of custard, which is Crème Anglais after all.

Cream, Burnt.
Boil a pint of milk in a saucepan, with a stick of cinnamon and a little candied lemon-peel cut into small pieces. Let it remain by the side of the fire to draw out the flavour, then strain it, and pour it over the yolks of three or four eggs well beaten. Put the mixture on the fire, and simmer the custard gently till it thicken. Pour it into a dish; when cold, cover the surface with powdered loaf sugar, and brown with a salamander.
[From Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery, 1870s]

Tomorrow’s Story …

Table manners for children.

Quotation for the Day …

...apple pie with custard all on the top, its the most acceptable entertainment that could be made; they scald their creame and milk in most parts of these countrys and so its a sort of clouted creame as we call it, with a little sugar, and so put on top of the apple pye; I was much pleased with my supper." Celia Fiennes; My Great Journey to Newcastle and Cornwall" 1698

May Harrods Suggest … ?

Today, June 22^nd ...

Once upon a time, Harrods of London ran a series of newspaper advertisements in which they gave suggested menus for the day. Naturally, the ingredients could all be sourced at Harrods. I give you the menu for this day in 1914. Check out those prices, and weep. Don’t weep too hard over the canned peaches. Weep very hard over the champagne.

TO-NIGHT’S DINNER

May Harrod’s Submit This Menu?
-
Hors d’œvres.
Prawn and Olive Salad
(Prawns 1s. and 2s. a doz. in Fish Dept;
Olive, 11d. a bottle, Grocery Dept)
-
Clear Mock Turtle Soup.
-
Grilled Soles with Anchovy Butter.
(Soles, 2s. a lb. in Fish Dept; Anchovy
Paste, 9 ½ d. a pot in Grocery Dept.)
-
Roast Gosling. Apple Sauce.
Green Peas. New Potatoes.
(Gosling, 6s. 6d. each, Poultry Dept; Green Peas,
1s. a peck; New Potatoes, 10lbs a 1s. Veg. Dept)
-
Pêches à la Royale.
(Lemon Cling Peaches, 1s. 3d.
a tin, in Grocery Dept.)
-
Bénédictine
(7s. 7d. in Wine Dept.)
-
And with it
Harrods advise
A glass or so of Champagne
Eugene Laroche
Grand Imperial, extra dry, 5s. 5d.
A bottle, vintage 1906.

The ingredients will cost you more today, but here are a couple of recipes to fit this menu, from Soyer's Standard Cookery, 1912.

Anchovy Butter.
Take the bones from six anchovies, wash the fillets and dry them upon a cloth, pound them well in a mortar; add six ounces of fresh butter, mix well together, and proceed as in the last.

White Mock-Turtle Soup.
Procure half a calf's head, (scalded, not skinned), bone it, then cut up a knuckle of veal, which put into a stewpan, well buttered at the bottom, with half a pound of lean ham, an ounce of salt, a carrot, a turnip, three onions, a head of celery, a leek, a bunch of parsley and a bay-leaf, add half a pint of water; set it upon the fire, moving it round occasionally, until the bottom of the stewpan is covered with a white glaze; then add six quarts of water, and put in the half head, let simmer gently for two hours and a half, or until the head is tender, then take it out, and press it between two dishes, and pass the stock through a hair sieve into a bowl; then in another stew-pan have a quarter of a pound of butter, with a sprig of thyme, basil, marjoram and bay-leaf, let the butter get quite hot, then add six ounces of flour to form a roux, stir over a sharp fire a few minutes, keeping it quite white; stand it off the fire to cool, then add the stock, stir over the fire until boiling, then stand it at the corner, skim off all the fat, and pass it through a hair sieve into another stewpan; cut the head into pieces an inch square, but not too thick, and put them into the soup, which season with a little cayenne pepper; when the pieces are hot, add a gill of cream and pour it into your tureen.
The above quantity would make two tureens of soup, and will keep good several days, but of course half the quantity could be made.

On this Topic ...

A recipe for Mock Turtle Soup, assembled from very convenient canned ingredients, is HERE.

A recipe for Mock Mock Turtle Soup (the name is not a typo!) is HERE.

Monday’s Story …

First Fork.

Quotation for the Day …

If the soup had been as warm as the wine, if the wine had been as old as the turkey, if the Turkey had had a breast like the maid, it would have been a swell dinner. Duncan Hines.

The Death of a Queen.

Today, January 22nd …

Queen Victoria died on this day in 1901, a few months short of her 82nd birthday, after 63 years and 7 months on the throne - the longest reign in British history. She had watched the changes wrought by the Industrial Revolution on the way of life in Britain, had seen to it that the Empire was consolidated, and had strengthened her country’s ties with Europe by marrying her children into its royal families. Most of her subjects had known no other royal ruler.

The culinary fashion of the time was to name dishes after those one wished to honour, and it is probably true to say that there are more dishes named after Victoria than any other single person. Should you wish to commemorate her life on this anniversary of her death, you could simply cook your favourite ‘small cut of meat’, and dress it with the classic garnish ‘à la Victoria’, which according to the Larousse is:

Small tomatoes stuffed with purée of mushrooms; quartered artichokes simmered in butter. Sauce: Meat juices of the main dish blended with Madeira or port and thickened veal stock. Uses: For small cuts of meat.

Alternatively, should you feel so inclined, you could sit down to an entire menu ‘à la Victoria’. Here is one selection.

Soup: Cream of Pearl Barley à la Victoria
Fish: Sole Victoria, OR Salmon à la Victoria.
Chicken: Poularde Victoria
Salad: Salade Victoria
Dessert: Bombe Victoria OR Victoria Pudding (with Victoria Sauce, of course).

Of course, it would be perfectly appropriate to sit down to a simple Afternoon Tea in her honour, and partake of one (or more) of the many varieties of cakes and biscuits named for her. The Larousse describes a Victoira Cake ‘made like plum cake’ leavened with baking powder and containing almonds and crystallised cherries. Her chef Francatelli’s cake also has cherries, but he adds brandy, leavens it with German yeast, and makes it in the manner of ‘a German kouglaüffe’ – perhaps a nod to her very German heritage and completely German husband. Mrs Beeton and several other cookbook writers of the era give recipes much closer to our (now) traditional idea of a Victoria Sponge with its jam filling, although they call it a ‘Victoria sandwich’. Not a Victoria Sandwich Cake. This distinction is made clear in Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery (1870’s) which lists:

Victoria Sandwiches, Savoury.
Victoria Sandwiches, Sweet (which turns out to be a cake recipe.)

Naturally, if you opt for the Afternoon Tea option, you will wish to also have on your table the savoury sandwiches with her name, so here they are:

Victoria Sandwiches, Savoury.
(for breakfast, luncheon, &c.)
Wash six or eight anchovies, cut off their heads and fins, take out the back-bones, and divide each fish in two, from the shoulder to the tail. Cut an equal number of thin slices of brown bread and butter, put between two slices alternate layers of hard-boiled eggs, mustard and cress cut small, and the fillets of the anchovies; press the slices closely together, and with a sharp knife cut them into neat squares. Place them on a dish covered with a napkin, and garnish with parsley. If not wanted immediately, cover them with a napkin wrung out of cold water to keep them moist.

Tomorrow’s Story …

To Dress A Cod’s Head.

On this Topic …

Queen Victoria's Christmas Dinner, 1899.

Queen Victoria's Luncheon on January 17th 1899

Quotation for the Day …

Family dinners are more often than not an ordeal of nervous indigestion, preceded by hidden resentment and ennui and accompanied by psychosomatic jitters. M.F.K Fisher.

An Extraordinary Banquet.

Today, January 18th …

The legendary chef Antonin Carême (1784-1833) is generally acknowledged as the founder of classic French cookery. During his own lifetime, he was styled The Cook of Kings and the King of Cooks, and for about two years one of his royal masters was the future King George IV, the gluttonous, spendthrift Francophile - George, Prince of Wales, acting as Regent on behalf of his father, the poor mad George III.

Carême did not stay long in the Prince’s kitchens, for a variety of reasons, but while he was in the Regent’s employ, he engineered one of the most elaborate and extravagant banquets ever held.

It all happened on this day in 1817, at the ‘Brighton Pavilion’ – the Regent’s new, extravagant and elaborate seaside residence. The occasion was the state visit of Grand Duke Nicholas of Russia.

This dinner was not simply a meal offered to a hungry overseas guest, this was not simply Dinner, this was Theatre (or Propaganda if you will) - Theatre with a cast of 120 dishes. Here is the playbill.

SOUPES.

Les profitralles de volaille à la moderne.

Le potage santè au consommé.

Le potage de mouton à l'anglaise .

Le potage de riz à la Crècy.

Le potage de pigeons à la marinière.

Le potage de karick à l'Indienne.

Le potage à la d'Orléans.

Le potage de celeri, consommé de volaille.

8 RELEVÉS DE POISSON.

Les perches à la Hollandaise.

La truite saumonée à la Génoise .

Le cabillaud à la crème.

Le brocket à l'Espagnol garni de laitances.

Les soles au gratin et aux truffes .

Le turbot, sauce aux crevettes.

Les merlans frits à l'Anglaise.

Le hure d'esturgeon au vin de Champagne.

15 ASSIETTES VOLANTS À SERVIR APRÉS LES POISSONS

De petits vol-au-vents à la Reine .

De petit pâtès de mauviettes.

De croquettes à la royale.

De canetons à la Luxembourg.

De filets de poissons à l'Orly.

8 GROSSES PIÉCES .

Le quartier de sanglier marine .

Les poulardes à l'Anglaise.

Les filets de boeuf à la Napolitaine.

Les faisans truffés à la Perigueux.

La dinde à la Godard moderne.

La longe de veau à la Monglas.

Les perdrix aux choux et racines glacés.

Le rosbif de quartier de mounton.

40 ENTRÉES.

(arranged around the relevés de poissons as indicated).

La sante de poulardes à la d'Artois.

Les ris de veau glacés à la chicorèe .

La croustade de grives au gratin.

Les poulets à la reine, à la Chevry.

Les côtelettes de lapereaux en lorgnette.

(Les perches à la Hollandaise).

Les quenelles de volaille en turban .

Les cailles à la mirepoix, ragout à la fiancière.

La magnonaise de perdreaux à la gelée .

L'emince de langues à la Clermont .

Les poulets dépèces l'Italienne .

(La truite saumonée à la Génoise) .

Les filets de volaille en demi-deuil .

Les aiguillettes de canards à la bigarade .

La darne de saumon au beurre de Montpellier.

Le pain de volaille à la royale.

Les filets d'agneaux à la Toulouse .

(Le cabillaud à la crème).

La caisse de lapereaux au laurier.

La blanquette de poulardes aux champignons .

La casserole au riz à la Monglas .

Les petits canetons à la Nivernoise.

Le sauté de faisans à la Perigord.

Les sautés de perdreaux au suprême.

La chevalier de poulets garni d'Orly .

La timbale de nouilles à la Polonaise .

Les escalopes de chevreuil à l'Espagnole .

Les ballotines de poulardes à la tomate.

(Les soles au gratin) .

Les bécasses, entrée de broche à l'Espagnole .

Les filtes de volaille à la belle vue .

Les hâteletes d'aspic de filets de soles .

Les cervelles de veaux à la Milanaise .

Les escalopes de gelinottes, sauce salmis.

(Le turbot, sauce aux crevettes) .

Les filets de poulardes glacés aux concombres.

Les boudins de faisins à la Richelieu .

La salade de volaille à l'ancienne.

La noix de jambon aux épinards.

Les ailerons de poulardes à la Piémontaise.

(Les merlans frits à l'Anglaise).

Les pigeons au beurre d'écrevisses.

La poularde à la Maquignon.

Le vol-au-vent à la Nesle, Allemande.

Les cotelettes de moutons à la purée de pommes de terres.

Les filets de poulardes à la Pompadour.

8 PIÉCES MONTÉES.

An Italian pavilion.

A Swiss hermitage.

Giant Parisian meringue.

Croque-en-bouche aux pistache.

A Welsh hermitage.

A grand oriental pavilion.
Un gros nougat à la française.

Croque-en-bouche aux anis.

8 ROASTS

Les bécasses bardées.

Le dindonneau.

Les faisans piqués.

Les poulardes au cresson.

Les sarcelles au citron.

Les poulets à la reine.

Les gelinottes.

Les cailles bardées.

32 ENTREMETS.

(of which 16 are desserts, with indication of arrangement around roasts and grosses pièces).

Les concombres farcies au velouté.

La gelée de groseilles (conserve).

(Les bécasses bardées).

Les gaufres aux raisins de Corinthe.

Les épinards à l'Anglaise(Le Pavilion Italian).

Le buisson des homards.

Les tartelettes d'abricots pralineés.

(Les dindonneaux).

La geléé de marasquins fouettée.

Les oeufs brouilles aux truffes.

(La grosse meringue à la Parisienne).

Les navets à la Chartres.

Le pouding de pommes au rhum.

(Les faisans piques).

Les diadémes au gros sucré.

Les choux-fleurs à la magnonaise.

(L'Hermitage Suisse).

Les truffes à la serviette.

Les fanchonettes aux avelines.

(Les poulardes au cressons).

La gelée de citrons renversées.

La croute aux champignons.

Les cardes à l'Espagnol.

La gelée de fraises (conserve).

(Les cailles bardées).

Les gateaux renversés, glacés au gros sucré.

Le buisson de crevettes.

(Le Pavilion Asiatique).

La salade de salsifis à l'Italienne.

Les gateaux à la dauphine.

(Les gelinottes).

Le fromage Bavarois aux abricots.

Les laitues à l'essence de jambon.

(Le gros nougat à la française).

Les champignons grilles demi-glacé.

Les pannequets à la Chantilly.

(Les poulets à la reine).

Les pains à la duchesse.

Les truffes à la serviette.

(L'Hermitage Gaulois).

Les pommes de terre à la Lyonnaise.

Les gateaux d'amandes glaces à la rose.

(Les sarcelles aux citrons).

La gelée de cuirassau de Hollande.

Les céleris à l'Espagnol.

12 ASSIETTES VOLANTES.

4 soufflés de pomme.

4 soufflés à la vanille.

4 fondus.

Sadly, I am unable to give you Carême ‘s recipe for ‘roast beef of a quarter of lamb’, which appeals, nor one for the Giant Parisian Meringue, which does not, but instead opt for the most classical aspect of classical French cuisine – a sauce. Carême said there were four classic sauces: Sauce Béchamel, Sauce Velouté, Sauce Espagnol, and Sauce Allemande. We have featured his recipe for Sauce Espagnol in a previous story, so for today we have:

Sauce Allemande.
1 oz. butter
1 oz. flour
half a pint of boiling water
salt and pepper
1 egg
3 drops of wine vinegar.
Melt the butter, add the flour and then the boiling water and seasoning. Off the heat whisk well the egg and vinegar and add gradually to the sauce whilst whisking. Do not re-boil.

Tomorrow’s Story ...

A Saintly Weed.

A Previous Story for this Day …

The Tin that Takes the Biscuit.

On this Topic ...

Carême’s Sauce Espagnol is HERE.

Charles Ranhofer’s Sauce Espagnol (1894) is HERE

Quotation for the Day …

I want order and taste. A well displayed meal is enhanced one hundred per cent in my eyes. Carême.

A Classic at Christmas.

Today, December 26th …

Yes, I know I promised you a fruitcake story for today, but in retrospect it seemed a heavy topic for the day after a heavy-eating day. And in any case, I have too much post-feasting cleaning up to do myself (but what a good day!) – so when I realised that I had not selected a suitable fruitcake recipe for the day, I made an executive decision to change topic.

I hope you like this 1921 Boxing Day menu from the Hotel Rubens, London S.W 1.

MENU du DINER

Royal Natives
-
Consomme a l’Ancienne
-
Supreme de Salmon Chambort
-
Tournedos Rossini
Haricots Verts
Pommes Chateau
-
Cailles de Vigne au Raisins
Salade de Saison
-
Coupe Mexicaine
Mignardises
-
Café 6d.

Lunedi le 26 Decembre 1921

Here is Escoffier's recipe for the Tournedos Rossini.

Tournedos Rossini.
Seasoning: 4 tournedos, butter, 4 croûtons, fried in butter, meat jelly, 4 slices foie gras, Madeira, 12 slices truffle, dem-glace sauce.
Season and sauté the tournedos in butter. Cover each crouton with a little meat jelly and place the tournedos on top. Arrange on a serving dish. Sauté foie gras in butter and place a slice on each tournedos. Add a little Madeira to the pan in which the tournedos were cooked, boil, add the slice of truffle and the very well reduced demi-glace sauce. Pour over the tournedos.
Serve with a dish of noodles, mixed with butter and Parmesan cheese.

[As for the Royal Natives, you'll have to shoot a few for yourself today .... ]

Tomorrow’s Story...

Papal Pasta.

A Previous Story for this Day...

Last year we had a story set during the Boer War era, called 'Keeping Husbands at Home'.

Quotation for the Day.

From a commercial point of view, if Christmas did not exist it would be necessary to invent it. Katharine Whitehorn, English writer, in 1962.

Queen Victoria's Christmas Dinner.

Today, December 25th …

Queen Victoria’s Christmas Dinner at Windsor in 1899.

Potages.

Consommé à la Monaco. Du Berry

Poissons.

Filet de Sole à la Vassant.
Eperlans frits, sauce Verneuil.

Entreé

Côtelettes de Volaille à la York.

Relevés

Dinde à la Chipolata.
Roast Beef. Chine of Pork.

Entremêts.

Asperges, sauce Hollandaise.
Mince Pies. Plum Pudding.
Gelée d’Orange à l’Anglaise.

Buffet.

Baron of Beef. Boar’s Head. Game Pie.
Woodcock Pie. Brawn.
Roast Fowl. Tongue.

RECIPES:

A collection of Vintage Christmas Recipes is HERE.

'Through the Ages with Gingerbread' is HERE.

Tomorrow’s Story …

Fruit Cake, Large.

Quotation for the Day …

In my experience, clever food is not appreciated at Christmas. It makes the little ones cry and the old ones nervous. Jane Grigson.

Feeding the Sick.

Today, December 14th …

It goes without saying that hospital stays should be avoided at all costs. One especially good reason is that the food is often a more unpleasant experience than the medical condition itself. ‘Invalid food’ always sounds unappetising – which is ironic as one of its main functions is to tempt the appetite - and ‘Institutional food’ is equally unappealing: put both of these together and you get hospital food.

Exceptions do prove the rule however, and if you were lucky enough to be a patient at at St. Luke’s Hospital in Chicago on this day in 1921, you could chose from this daily menu:

BREAKFAST
Fruit
Cream of Wheat Post Toasties
Little Pork Sausages
Apple Pancake
Plain Rolls Jelly
Toast
Tea Coffee Chocolate.

DINNER
Consommé Clear
Roast Domestic Duck – Dressing
Baked Apples
Mashed Potatoes
Wax Beans in Cream
Sliced Tomatoes – Dressing
Vanilla Ice Cream Wafers
Rolls
Tea Coffee Chocolate

SUPPER
Bouillon in Cups
Broiled Lamb Chops
Escalloped Potatoes
Green Peas
Pear Sauce Sugar Cookies
Toast
Tea Coffee Chocolate

There are a couple of brief nods to invalid cuisine – clear consommé and ice-cream would be suitable for delicate digestive systems for example – but the rest of the menu could easily have come from a restaurant kitchen. Roast duck? What sort of medical condition indicates a prescription of roast duck for dinner? How do I catch that disease?

It was probably not the cost or danger of hospital food that the Lydia E. Pinkham persona had in mind in the blurb for 'her' famous Medicinal Compound:

‘Any hospital experience is painful as well as costly and frequently dangerous. Many women have avoided this experience by taking Lydia E. Pinkham's Vegetable Compound in time, thereby relieving the present distress and preventing the development of conditions that might require an operation.’

The success of this particular patent medicine had nothing to do with the fact that it was 40% proof - Prohibition was well underway, and ‘ladies’, would surely not have used it without serious medical need. Its success must have been solely due to the clever marketing, part of which included publishing a promotional cookbook called Food and Health in the same year as our menu. Here is a recipe from the book which is suitable for everyone whatever their state of health, for it contains two essential food groups – bread and chocolate.

CHOCOLATE BREAD PUDDING
Ingredients
2 cups bread crumbs4 cups of milk (or 2 of water and 2 of evaporated milk)2 squares chocolate⅔ cup sugar1 salt spoon salt1 teaspoon vanilla
Method—Soak bread crumbs in milk until soft. Melt the chocolate over hot water and add the sugar to it. Beat eggs well and add with the remaining ingredients to the crumbs and milk. Mix well and bake in a buttered pudding-dish in a moderate oven, until thick and firm. A Meringue of egg white and sugar may be spread over the top about 15 minutes before it is done, or it can be served with cream, hard, or foamy sauce.
Hard Sauce—⅓ cup butter, 1 cup powdered sugar, ⅓ teaspoon lemon extract, ⅔ teaspoon vanilla. Cream the butter, add sugar gradually, and flavoring.

Tomorrow’s Story …

Pioneers and Persimmons.

A Previous Story for this Day …

On this day last year we had a recipe from Nostradamus.

On this Topic …

We considered Cock-Ale, Sack whey and Banana Rissoles for the sick in ‘Alcohol and Other Food for Invalids.’

Quotation for the Day …

If your doctor does not think it good for you to sleep, to drink wine, or to eat of a particular dish, do not worry; I will find you another who will not agree with him. Michel de Montaigne.