Lobscouse and Loblolly.

My story today combines all my favourite topics: food, food words, and travel. My source is Travels in Mexico and California: comprising a journal of a tour from Brazos Santiago, through central Mexico, by way of Monterey, Chihuahua, the country of the Apaches, and the river Gila, to the mining districts of California (1852) by Asa Bement Clarke.

Our travelers set off on their journey on January 29, 1849. By February 4 they were becalmed off the coast of Florida - which may have seemed a relief after some stormy weather.  Even without the unco-operative weather, the gloss had already worn off for the author  of today’s source, who was bored and unhappy with the food before this date. On January 31 he wrote:

“Rainy, rough and boisterous. We are kept on what is called seamen’s fare. No bread but hard navy bread. The water positively horrible. Salt beef and pork every day, and for a change, a kind of thick soup they call lob skous.”

Lobscouse is defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as “a sailor's dish consisting of meat stewed with vegetables and ship's biscuit, or the like,” and gives the first written use as in 1708 – and the sense is hardly complimentary:

1707   E. Ward Wooden World Dissected (1708) 83   He has sent the Fellow.. to the Devil, that first invented Lobscouse.

The OED says that the etymology of the word lobscouse is obscure, but compares it to loblolly, which is defined as:

“Thick gruel or spoon-meat, freq. referred to as a rustic or nautical dish or simple medicinal remedy; burgoo.”

Loblolly is the earlier word. The OED gives a reference from Gerard’s Herball, in 1597:

“The lowe countrey men..vse it for their meate called Wermose, and with vs Loblollie”

According to the OED, the etymology of loblolly is “perhaps onomatopoeic: compare the dialectal lob ‘to bubble while in process of boiling, said esp. of porridge’, also ‘to eat or drink up noisily’ ( Eng. Dial. Dict.), lolly (obsolete Devon), ‘broth, soup, or other food boiled in a pot’ ( Eng. Dial. Dict.)”

Clearly, the etymology of both words is most unclear.

One theory that makes sense is that lobscouse derives from labskause, a Northern European dish of great variety, but in most incarnations is some sort of meaty broth. It is said that sailors from the area around Liverpool adopted the dish, and in time, the shorter form of scouse came to be applied to locals from this region.

Strangely, for a dish which is one of convenience made with whatever is available, and is associated with mariners and country folk, a recipe appears in a cookery book written with the epicure in mind.

Lobscouse.

Soak four thick slices of corned beef in fresh water for two hours.

Fry four slices of salt pork or bacon. In the fat fry four sliced onions a light brown. Place in a stewpan the beef, onions and pork or bacon. Add a dozen sliced potatoes, cover with water and season highly with pepper. Cover and stew gently until the meat is tender. Then break into the stewpan four sea biscuits, cook for five minutes longer. The liquor may be thickened a little more with a tablespoonful of flour mixed with a little cold water.

Joe Tilden’s Recipes for Epicures (San Francisco, 1907)

Wartime Champ.

“Champ” is an Irish variation on a theme of mashed potatoes.  Simply put – spring onions are added to the mash, which ideally also contains butter and milk. If cabbage or kale is added instead, it is called Colcannon. Small variations being given different names leads, I suppose, to the illusion of variety and perhaps choice.

The Food Facts leaflets put out by the British Ministry of Food in WW II gave a couple more variations – although technically the first one is a variation on a theme of colcannon.

Wartime “Champ”

Here is a wartime version of the old Irish dish, Champ. Scrub and slice 1 lb. potatoes and 1 lb. carrots. Put in a saucepan with a teacupful of hot salted water and add a small cabbage finely shredded. Cover with the lid, cook steadily, giving an occasional shake until tender (about 15 minutes). The water should have just boiled away by then. Add a small teacupful of hot milk and mash well with a dash of pepper and more salt if necessary. Serve at once with a pat of margarine to each helping.

The Times of February 10, 1941

Egg Champ.

Cooking Time: 20 minutes.

Ingredients: 1 lb. of potatoes, 1 breakfastcup of runner beans or any green vegetable, 4 eggs (4 level tablespoonfuls of dried egg mixed with 8 tablespoonsfuls of water), 1 oz. of margarine, salt, pepper, ¼ pinto f milk.

Quantity: For 4 people.

Method: Scrub and scrape the potatoes and place in a small quantity of boiling salted water. Cook for 10 minutes then add the sliced beans. When tender, drain dry and mash the potatoes with sufficient milk to make them smooth and creamy. Add the beans, season well, pile scrambled egg on top of the potato mixture and serve at once. To make the scrambled egg heat 4 tablespoonsfuls of milk and the margarine in a pan, add the egg mixture, season, and cook over a gentle heat until thickened.

The Times of Thursday, August 27, 1942

American Food in London, 1939.

The London department store called Selfridges opened in 1909. The store has an American heritage, so it is not surprising that a decision was made to feature American foodstuffs. In June 1939, Selfridges ran the following advertisement in The Times.

AMERICAN FOODS

-

By Calisthenes

Many a time, having looked over the list of our American Groceries, we have felt for these departments a kinship with Brillat Savarin. Whether one considers the list carefully, or turns over its pages in desultory fashion, there is always something unusual, quite different in these biscuits and beans, fruits and preserves, syrups and vegetables from across the Atlantic. The very names are appetizing, openingup to the uninitiated a vista of future gastronomic delights. Corn Popper and Candied Yams, Blueberries in Syrup and Hominy, Melon Mangoes and Succotash  – they seem to stir the imagination and titillate the least susceptible of salivary glands! And what of Brandied Peaches, or those tins of biscuits known as Koeppens Snappies, or Duff’s Devil’s Food Mixture, a packet flour famed in American kitchens? To run through the list is an appetizing adventure.

Visits to the States have familiarised great numbers of our people with many of these American and Canadian food specialties. American families either resident or visitors in London have brought with them their national tastes. So, our Food Department in Orchard Street has been built into and become the recognised centre for everything that can possibly be grouped under the heading of “American Foods.” Although the section allocated to these specialties is particularly large, we are always prepared to add to it such items as may be suggested and which are not included in the list today.

It is clearly impossible within the limits of our space to extract from our list, which we believe to be the most complete in Europe, more than these few items. We stock all of the usual articles and here are some that are unusual.

CEREALS

Fig and Bran                                       Hominy Grits

Corn Kix

BISCUITS

Maple Pecan                                        Prezelettes

Macaroon Snow                                  Slim Jane

Creams                                   

Saltines                                                Fig Newtons

                                                            Dutchess Partisnax

FRUIT AND VEGETABLE JUICE

Apricado                                             Papaya

Carrot Juice                                         Guava Nectar

Banana Nectar

FRUITS

Brandied Peaches                               Spiced Watermelon

Stuffed Oranges                                                         Rind   

in Grenadine                           Skinless Figs

Mangoes in Rum

FISH

Shad Roe                                                        Tuna Fish

And preserved meats, sauces, canned and bottled vegetables and sundries in most tempting variety. Our complete list will be sent, with pleasure, to any reader.

I would be interested to know if this list brings back any food memories for you.

As for the recipe for the day, I give you an idea for using Stuffed Oranges in Grenadine, should you be able to source them. The recipe appears in the Eugene Register-Guard of December 22, immediately following a recipe for “Christmas Candle Salad” – a rather alarming-sounding concoction consisting of banana “candles” standing upright in pineapple rings, which was sure to “delight small folks and at least interest the grown-ups.” The text went on to say:

“Another attractive salad, which is more expensive uses stuffed oranges preserved in grenadine syrup. Since it is very easy to make it may appeal to the busy woman who cooks in a kitchenette."

Christmas Salad.

Four slices stuffed orange, eight heart leaves of head lettuce, whipped cream salad dressing, 4 green cherries.

Arrange two leaves of lettuce for each salad and put a slice of orange in the center. Drop one tablespoon salad dressing on each slice of fruit and top with a cherry. Green grapes can be used in place of the cherries if more convenient. You can buy the preserved oranges at any fancy grocery.

The Many Variations of Hasty Pudding

Maize was planted early in the colony of Australia. As far as I can gather, it was at first used primarily as animal food, but there was increasing interest in it as human food over the first decades of the nineteenth century. This was not in the form of sweet corn on the cob, but as maize flour. The Sydney Gazette and New South Wales Advertiser, of  March 30, 1830, included a lengthy extract from the work of the famous Count Rumford on this topic. Part of it is included here:

THE USES OF MAIZE AS HUMAN FOOD.

[From Count Rumford's Essays.]

In regard to the most advantageous method of using Indian corn as food, I would strongly recommend, particularly when it is employed for feeding the poor, a dish made of it that is in the

Highest estimation throughout America, and which is really very good, and very nourishing. This is called hasty-pudding; and it is made in the following manner. A quantity of water, prortioned to the quantity of hasty-pudding intended to be made, is put over the fire in an open iron pot, or kettle, and a proper quantity of salt for seasoning the pudding being previously dissolved in the water, Indian meal is stirred into it, by little and little, with a 'wooden spoon with a long handle, while the water goes on to be heated und made to boil; great care being taken to put in the meal by very small quantities, and by sifting it slowly through the fingers of the left hand, and stirring the water about very briskly at the same time with the wooden spoon with the right hand, to mix the meal with the water in such a manner as to prevent the lumps being formed. The meal should be added so slowly that when the water is brought to boil, the mass should not be thicker than water-gruel, and half an hour more, at least, should be employed to add the additional quantity of meal necessary for bringing the pudding to be of the proper consistency, during which time it should be stirred about continually and kept boiling. The method of determining when the pudding has acquired the proper consistency is this; the wooden spoon used for stirring it being placed upright in the middle of the kettle, if it falls down, more meal must be added; but if the pudding is sufficiently thick and adhesive to support it in a vertical position, it is declared to be proof; and no more meal is added.- If the boiling, instead of being continued only half an hour, be prolonged to three quarters of an hour, or an hour, the pudding will be considerably improved by this prolongation.

This hasty-pudding, when done, may be eaten in various ways.-It may be put, while hot, by spoonfuls into a bowl of milk, and eaten with the milk with a spoon, in lieu of bread; and used in this way it is remarkably palatable.-It may likewise be eaten, while hot, with a sauce composed of butter and brown sugar, or butter and molasses, with or without a few drops of vinegar; and however people who have not been accustomed to this American cookery may be prejudiced against it, they will find upon trial that it makes a most excellent dish, and one which never fails to be much liked by those who are accustomed to it.-The universal fondness of Americans for it proves it must have some merit, for in a country which produces all the delicacies of the table in the greatest abundance, it is not to be supposed that a whole nation should have a taste so depraved as to give a decided preference to any particular species of food which has not something to recommend it.

The manner in which hasty pudding is eaten with butter and sugar, or butter and molasses is as follows: The hasty-pudding being spread out equally upon a plate, while hot, an excavation is made in the middle of it, with a spoon, into which excavation a piece of butter, as large as a nutmeg, is put, and upon it, a spoonful of brown sugar, or more commonly of molasses.-The butter being soon melted by the heat of the pudding, mixes with the sugar, or molasses, and forms a sauce, which being confined in the excavation made for it, occupies the middle of the plate.-The pudding is then eaten with a spoon, each spoonful of it being dipt into the sauce before it is carried to the mouth: care being had in taking it up, to begin on the outside, or near the brim of the plate, and to approach the centre by regular advances, in order not to demolish too soon the excavation which forms the reservoir for the sauce.

An edition of the same newspaper on April 10, 1830 continued the article, and embedded in it was yet another variation of the recipe.

A pudding in great repute in all parts of North America, is what is called an apple pudding. This is an Indian pudding, sometimes with, and some-times without suet, with dried cuttings of sweet apples mixed with it; and When eaten with butter, it is most delicious food. Those apples, which are pared as soon as they are gathered from the tree, and being cut into small pieces, are freed from the cores, and thoroughly dried in the sun, may be kept good for several years. The proportions of the ingredients used in making those apple puddings is varied, but in general, about one pound of dried apples is mixed with three pounds of meal – three quarters of a pound of molasses, half an ounce of salt, and five pints of boiling water.

In America, various kinds of berries, found wild in the woods, such as huckle-berries, bel-berries, whortle-berries, &c. are gathered and dried, and afterwards used as ingredients in Indian puddings: and dried cherries and plums may be made use of in the same manner.

All those Indian puddings have this advantage in common, that they are very good warmed up. They will all keep good several days, and when cut into thin slices and toasted, are an excellent substitute for bread.

Nuts and Pudding.

I owe you an apology, dear readers. I have given you the same menu in two posts. Friday’s story on the daily meals aboard RMS Tantallon Castle had already featured in a post entitled The DailyDilemma.

If a menu or story idea seems to have been languishing in my “potential” file for some time, I usually search my single-document archive to make sure I have not already used it, (and then forgotten to delete it from that file.) I have winged it on a few occasions, as searching over two thousand posts containing over a million words is tedious – and if the key words are common, is not helpful anyway – but until this episode, I am pretty sure I have not given the same menu twice. I guess some might say I owe you another post, to compensate. In my own defense I say that at least the recipes were different.

I did note in both stories that Barcelona Nuts were somewhat of a mystery to me. It turns out that they are a variety of filbert, which is a type of hazelnut. I don’t doubt that you could use any variety of filbert in the recipes I have found for you today,  but there is something special about using the real thing, surely?

It also turns out that The Cook's Dictionary and House-keeper's Directory: A New Family Manual of Cookery and Confectionery, on a Plan of Ready Reference, Never Hitherto Attempted  (1830) by Richard Dolby is a real treasure-trove of ideas for Barcelona Nuts.

Filbert Biscuits.

Take some Barcelona filbert nuts, and put them in a mortar to break their shells; pick all the shells from them clean, pound them in a mortar very fine, and mix whites of eggs with them; take care they do not oil; mix three pounds of powdered sugar, with the nuts and whites of eggs, to a proper thickness; let your oven be of a moderate heat, then with the spaddle and knife, drop small pieces, about half as big as a nutmeg; put two or three sheets of paper under them, let them bake of a fine brown, and all alike; and let them be cold before you take them off the paper.

Filbert Burnt, Ice Cream. 

Roast some Barcelona nuts well in the oven, and pound them a little with some cream; put four eggs into a stewpan, with one pint of cream and two gills of syrup; boil it till it becomes thick, pass it through a sieve, and freeze it; then mix the filberts with it before you put it into your moulds.

Filbert Pralines (burnt) Red.

Take some Barcelona filbert nuts, and crack them, put the kernels into a copper pan or sheet, and put them in the oven to roast, have a pan with syrup boiling, and let it boil till it comes almost to caramel; put a little cochineal into a cup; when the sugar is boiled, add to it the cochineal and the filberts, and stir them with a large wooden spoon, till you find the sugar has got hard round them; put them in a sieve, and separate those which stick together; have another pan with syrup in, and boil it as before and as high; put the same quantity of cochineal in, and mix them as before, as doing them a second time they will become a much finer colour: then put them into a box.

Filberts (burnt) White.

Take some Barcelona filbert nuts, and crack them; put the kernels in a copper pan or sheet, and put them in the oven to roast; then have a pan with syrup boiling and let it boil till it comes almost to caramel; put your filberts in, stir them till they are all covered with sugar, pick them in a sieve, break those which stick together, and then have another pan with syrup boiled the same as the first, and give the filberts a second coat of sugar.

The other slight mystery was the Canton Pudding. Most of the recipes I have found are for a ginger-flavoured pudding, which makes sense. Here is one version:

Canton Pudding

Ingredients: 3oz. each of flour, sugar, margarine, and preserved ginger, ½ pint of milk, 2 eggs, 2 tablespoonsful of ginger syrup.

Method: Put the milk and margarine into a pan, bring to the boil. Blend the flour with a little cold milk; pour on the boiling milk, stirring all the time; return the pan to the fire and stir until the mixture boils; simmer for five minutes, then cool slightly; add the yolks of the eggs one by one, stirring each in well, then add the ginger cut up small, and mix thoroughly. Whip the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth and stir in gently. Put into a greased mould or souffle dish and steam for an hour, or until firm when pressed. Turn out on to a hot dish and pour the syrup round.

The Daily News (Perth, WA), August 22, 1925

And a different version from the same newspaper, some years later:

Canton Pudding

Take 1 ½ cups S.R. flour, 2 tablespoonsful each of sugar, butter and treacle, 1 teaspoon of ground ginger, and 1 teaspoon of bicarbonate soda, a pinch of salt, and mixed spice. Rub butter in dry ingredients, make a well in the middle, put in the treacle, and mix well with a little milk,. about ½ cupful. Steam in a buttered mould for 2 to 2 ½ hours. Serve with custard.

The Daily News (Perth, WA), August 26, 1936

I do hope I have redeemed myself somewhat with the extra recipes!

Pulled Bread

It is a little while since I gave you a menu, so I am going to make it up to you by giving you three today – the menus for all of the meals aboard a ship cruising to the Baltic in 1895. The description comes in Diary of a Trip to South Africa on R.M.S. Tantallon Castle (1899) by David S Salmond.

The trip of the "Tantallon Castle" to the Baltic, and its presence during the festivities attendant upon the opening of the new canal in June, 1895, must be fresh in the memory of all.

Menus for a Single Day.

Breakfast, from 8.30 till 10.30.  Porridge, grilled bloaters, grilled bacon and straw potatoes, poached eggs on toast, fried and boiled eggs, plain omelette, minced mutton collops and

poached egg, devilled kidneys, chops and steak from the grill (to order), curried mutton, straw and mashed potatoes, rolls and toast. Cold - Boiled ham, German sausage. Tea, coffee, and cocoa.

Luncheon, at 1. Pea soup, mutton cutlets, French beans sauté, savoury hot pot, boiled calfs head, bath chap and parsley sauce, chops and steaks from the grill (to order), baked and mashed potatoes, stewed apples with rice, shortbread.

Cold - Salmon en Mayonnaise, sardines, roast shoulder of mutton with mint sauce, roast chicken, boiled York ham, game pie, pickled pork ; roast veal and ham, chicken and ham sausage; celery, cucumber ; Stilton, Cheddar, and Gorgonzola cheese; caraway-seed buns, oat-cakes, pulled-bread fruit, coffee.

Dinner, 6.30. Olives farcies, anchovy eggs ; consommé royale; fried cod steaks, Dutch sauce; mutton cutlotes & la reforme, chicken and truffles patties; roast loin of beef with horseradish, leg of mutton boned and stuffed, onion sauce; corned ox tongue with carrots; roast goose, apple sauce, Ptarmigan, curried veal a la Bombay; saute and boiled potatoes, cauliflower, parsley sauce, Canton pudding, lemon jellies, Swiss apple tart, Polish cakes; Stilton, Cheddar, and Gorgonzola cheese, macaroni au gratin; pine-apples, French plums, oranges, Barcelona nuts; coffee.

There are many favourite dishes of the era in these meals, and a substantial number we have considered in previous stories – such as the slightly mysterious Canton Pudding, the now virtually disappeared Bath Chaps, and the well-known Mutton Cutlets à la Reforme. Several others will surely be fodder for future posts, such as Barcelona nuts and Polish cakes, perhaps.

There are a couple of minor mysteries too, although we must attribute the “mutton cutlotes” to a spelling error. The “pulled-bread fruit”, is, I feel certain, missing a comma, and should read “pulled-bread, fruit.” This menu is unflinchingly British, and the chance that there was actual breadfruit on the menu is next to nil – and of “pulled-bread fruit” is definitely nil.

Here is a most interesting recipe for Pulled Bread, which was really the excuse for giving you the menus:

Pulled Bread.

Take from the oven an ordinary loaf when it is about half baked, and with the fingers, while the bread is yet hot, dexterously pull the half-set dough into pieces of irregular shape, about the size of an egg. Don't attempt to smooth or flatten them —the rougher their shapes the better. Set upon tins, place in a very slow oven, and bake to a rich brown. This forms a deliciously crisp crust for cheese. If you do not bake at home, your baker will prepare it for you, if ordered. Pulled Bread may be made in the revolving ovens. It is very nice with wine instead of biscuits.

Enquire Within Upon Everything (1869) by Robert Kemp Philip

Potatoes with the Bone in them.

The current trend is that vegetables must be cooked only briefly. They must remain crunchy. A nutritional justification is given for this, but explanations can always be formulated to fit the prevailing belief or fashion. I know that some vitamins and other nutrients are destroyed by boiling, (but how much boiling?) but I understand that others are more easily assimilated when the vegetables are cooked to a greater degree. I must look up the actual, real, scientific evidence for this belief that undercooked is nutritionally better than more cooked. And how much cooking is over-cooking anyway? I routinely overcook vegetables in soup, I think. Does this mean that my vegetable soup is a nutritional wasteland?

Interestingly, even the most fanatical crisp vegetable-lover does not generally want his or her potatoes undercooked. One group in history did choose to have them this way however.

A report in 1809, from King’s County, Ireland, on the potato appeared in An Account of Ireland, Statistical and Political, (1812) by Edward Wakefield.

“Parboiled potatoes are preferable; the laboring poor say they go farthest when the bone is left in them. A man with his wife and four children, from four to fourteen years of age, will eat two stone [28 pounds] of them per day.”

The Irish peasant’s best potatoes went to market, the poor quality ‘lumpers’ were eaten by the family, and they were undercooked because “they stick to our ribs and we can fast longer that way.”

Now I have a burning need to find out about the digestion of cooked versus undercooked potatoes, and the reality of slow digestion versus the perception of slow digestion of the undercooked variety – such is the curse of curiosity.

As always, I value your insights and opinions, so please do comment, and I will endeavor to respond as soon as possible.  In the meanwhile, I give you a most intriguing recipe. Please, someone, explain the name of these delicious-sounding sweet treats.

Lent Potatoes.

Beat three or four ounces of almonds, and three or four bitter, when blanched, putting a little orange-flower water to prevent oiling; add eight ounces of butter, four eggs well beaten and strained, half a glass of raisin wine, and sugar to your taste. Beat all well till quite smooth, and grate in three Savoy biscuits. Make balls of the above with a little flour, the size of a chestnut: throw them into a stew-pan of boiling lard, and boile them of a beautiful yellow brown. Drain them in a sieve.

Serve sweet sauce in a boat, to eat with them.

A New System of Domestic Cookery (1808) by Mrs Rundell.

The Poetical Glutton.

Methinks we need an antidote to yesterday’s post about the shocking and gluttonous secular clergy of the Middle Ages. I have just the thing in a little poem (or perhaps it is a prayer) from Poetry for Children, selected by W. Burdon (1805.)

The Glutton.

THE voice of the glutton I heard with disdain,

I've not eaten this hour, I must eat again;

O! give me a pudding, a pye, or a tart,

A duck, or a fowl, which I love from my heart;

How sweet is the picking

Of capon or chicken,

A turkey and chine

 Is most charming and fine;

To eat and to drink, all my pleasure is still,

I care not what 'tis if I have but my fill.

O! let me not be like the glutton inclin'd,

In feasting my body, and starving my mind;

"With moderate viands be thankful, and pray

That the Lord may supply me with food the next

       day:

But little and sweet,

Be the food that I eat;

To learning and wisdom, O! let me apply,

And leave to the glutton his pudding and pie.

Moderation in all things is the only sensible option, is it not, for those of us who should be grateful that we do have options? I see no harm in a little piece of rich cake now and again.

A Rich Cake.

Prepare and plump before the fire seven pounds of currants, four pounds of dried flour, four pounds of nice fresh butter, two pounds of prepared almond paste, four pounds of eggs, leaving out half the whites ; three pounds of double-refined sugar; mace, cloves, and cinnamon, of each a quarter of an ounce; three large nutmegs, beaten fine, a little ginger; sack and brandy, of each half a pint; orange, citron, lemon-peel, and almonds in fillets, half a pound of each. When the eggs have been well beaten, work in the almond paste; mix the butter, worked to a cream; add them together, and beat till white and thick; add the flour, wine, brandy, and spices, sifting in the sugar by degrees; see that the oven is ready; prepare and butter the hoop, and just as it is to be filled, put in the fruit. It must have a quick oven: it will take four hours. Test it, by running a knife into the centre.

Domestic economy, and cookery, for rich and poor, by a lady (1827)

A Pudding for Gluttonmass?

It is no surprise, but no little sadness to any grown-up, that there are no trees without at least an occasional bad apple, and the clerical trees of all religious persuasions are no exception. I came across a new (to me) example of unholy behavior the other day, which I would like to share with you, as it involves – of course - eating.

The story comes from Bacchus, an essay on intemperance (1839) Ralph Barnes Grindrod. The author says:

The manners of the clergy in the fourteenth and fifteenth century, were extremely gross and discreditable to the cause of religion. The luxury and intemperance of the high dignitaries of the church, afforded a pernicious example to its inferior officers, whose conduct is thus described by a modern historian.

"The secular clergy, were no enemies to the pleasures of the table, and some of them contrived to convert gluttony and drunkenness into religious ceremonies, by the celebration of 'glutton-masses,' as they very properly called them. These glutton-masses were celebrated five times a year, in honour of the Virgin Mary, in this manner: Early in the morning, the people of the parish assembled in the church, loaded with ample stores of meats and drinks of all kinds. As soon as mass ended, the feast began, in which the clergy and laity engaged with equal ardour. The church was turned into a tavern, and became a scene of excessive riot and intemperance. The priests and people of different parishes entered into formal contests, which of them should have the greatest gluttonmass, i.e. which of them should devour the greatest quantities of meat and drink in honour of the Virgin Mary.

A specific example of this behavior is given in Curiosities of Literature (1833) by Isaac Disraeli, under a chapter heading of “Ancient and Modern Saturnalia:”

We had in Leicester, in 1415, what was called a glutton mass; during the five days of the festival of the Virgin Mary. The people rose early to mass, during which they practised eating and drinking with the most zealous velocity, and, as in France, drew from the corners of the altar the rich puddings placed there.

I would be most interested in comments from those of you with expertise in Church history, as to this practice. In the meanwhile, what can I give you but a rich pudding?

A Rich Pudding.

Line your dish with rich puff-paste, cover the bottom with preserved stoned cherries or any kind of dried fruit (or, as a substitute. Sultana raisins), with the grated rind and juice of a lemon; cover it with slices of roll buttered and cut thin, two or three more layers of preserve and roll to nearly the top of the dish, sifting sugar between each layer; just before baking pour over it seven eggs well beaten, a spoonful of cream, and plenty of brandy.

The English cookery book, receipts collected by a committee of ladies, and ed. by J. H. Walsh (1859)

A Bequest of White Peas

Food stories pop up in the most surprising places, and today’s source will, I am sure, yield future delights for us. It is A Collection of Old English Customs: And Curious Bequests and Charities, Extracted from the Reports Made by the Commissioners for Enquiring Into Charities in England and Wales (1842.)

The story today is about a bequest made in 1554 which was still being honoured almost three hundred years later, when the book was published.

Bequest of White Peas.

John Huntingtdon of Sawson, Cambridgeshire, England, by will, dated 4^th August, 1554, devised lands and tenements to Joice his wife, and his heirs, upon condition that his heirs should yearly forever sow two acres of land, lying together in Linton field, with white peas, one coomb to be yearly bestowed upon each acre, for the relief of the people of Sawston.

Two acres, the property of Richard Huddlestone, Esq., the lord of the several manors in the parish, are annually sowed with white peas, as directed by the will, which are gathered green on a day fixed by the occupier of the land, by all the poor indiscriminately, with an complete scene of scramble and confusion ensues, attended with occasional conflicts.

I am not at all certain what ‘white peas’ indicated in 1554, but hope one of you will enlighten me and thereby help me maintain the illusion of control over my list of Things to Investigate.  I presume they were a pulse grown primarily for drying and using in pottages and the like.

Todays’ recipe is for White Peas Soup – made from old green peas plus fresh green peas, which sounds odd until you get to the end of the recipe. It does sound delicious.

White Peas Soup.

Put four or five pounds of lean beef into six quarts of water, with a little salt, and as soon as it boils take off the scum. Put in three quarts of old green peas, two heads of celery, a little thyme, three onions and two carrots. Boil them till the meat be quite tender, then strain it through a hair sieve, and rub the pulp of the peas through the sieve. Split the blanched part of three cos-lettuces into four quarters, and cut them about an inch long, with a little mint cut small. Then put half a pound of butter in a stewpan large enough to hold your soup, and put the lettuce and mint into the butter, with a leek sliced very thin, and a pint of green peas. Strew them a quarter of an hour and shake them frequently, Then put in a little of the soup, and stew them a quarter of an hour longer. Then put in your soup, as much thick cream as will make it white, and keep stirring it till it boils. Fry a French roll a little crisp in butter, put it at the bottom of your tureen, and pour over it your soup.

The London Art of Cookery, by John Farley (1783)

The London Bridge Banquet.

Today I am going to share with you one of the menus I featured in my book Menus from History. I have chosen it because yesterday was the anniversary in 1831 of the official opening of the “new” London Bridge. The original medieval bridge had lasted six hundred years, the new bridge - no doubt also expected to last for centuries - was sold and demolished a mere 137 years later, by which time it had become completely inadequate to cope with modern road traffic. the bridge was sold to an American with too much money who had it rebuilt over a man-mad in Nevada, and was said to be profoundly annoyed when he found that he had not, in fact, bought the iconic Tower Bridge.  

The venue for the great opening banquet was the bridge itself. It was canopied with the flags of all nations, and tables set along its length for fifteen hundred people. King William and Queen Adelaide were the guests of honour. The royals sat at the high table which was decorated with a six-foot long centerpiece with 48 candles, of workmanship so magnificent that it could hardly be described adequately.

The catering was done by a Mr. Leech, who ran a famous London Coffee House in Ludgate-hill, and it seems that he did the city proud. Mr. Leech provided:

370 dishes of chickens

150 hams and tongues

75 raised French pies, &c.

75 pigeon pies

40 sirloins of beef

50 quarters of lamb

250 dishes of shellfish, &c.

200 ditto salads, cucumbers &c.

200 fruit tarts

200 jellies, creams, & strawberries

350 lb. weight pine apples

100 dishes hot-house grapes

100 dishes nectarines, peaches, apricots, &c.

100 dishes greengages, Orlean plums, &c.

100 dishes currant, gooseberry, raisin, &c.

150 ornamented Savoy cakes

300 dishes ice-cream &c.

300 turtles, roast chickens, &c.

The caterers also supplied “840 dozen of the choicest wines.” Ten thousand and eighty bottles for fifteen hundred guests works out at nearly 7 bottles per person. Presumably this represents a desire on the part of the caterers to ensure that all the guests got the beverage of their choice, and that there was no risk of the embarrassment of running out of wine altogether.

One of the most interesting challenges, it would seem to me, would have been the preparation of all of this food without the benefits of refrigeration. The pies would have been prepared some time - perhaps days - in advance, the pastry shells made well enough to keep out air. The ice-creams would have been prepared much closer to the event by churning in a salt and ice mixture,  the ice being obtained from insulated stores such as cellars or ice-houses.

Dishes made in moulds were very popular in the nineteenth century, and this menu featured many of them: pies, the jellies and creams, and of course, a favourite of the nineteenth century, the Savoy cakes.

Savoy Cake, or Sponge Cake in a Mould.

Take nine Eggs, their weight of Sugar, and six of Flour, some grated Lemon, or a few drops of Essence of Lemon, and half a gill of Orange-flower Water, work them as in the last receipt [see below]; put in the orange-flower water when you take it from the fire; be very careful the mould is quite dry: rub it all over the inside with Butter, put some pounded Sugar round the mould upon the butter, and shake it well to get it out of the crevices: tie a slip of paper round the mould, fill it three parts full with the mixture, and bake it one hour in a slack oven; when done, let it stand for a few minutes, and take it from the mould, which may be done by shaking it a little.

[‘previous receipt’] Break into a round-bottomed Preserving Pan, nine good sized Eggs, with one pound of sifted Loaf Sugar, and some grated Lemon Peel ; - set the pan over a very slow fire, and whisk it till it is quite warm (but not too hot to set the Eggs,) remove the pan from the fire,and whisk it till cold, which may be a quarter of an hour, then stir in the flour lightly with a spattle.

The Cook’s Oracle, William Kitchiner, 1836.