Historic Deerfield Workshop

Posted on April 15, 2016 by Sandie

HISTORIC DEERFIELD COOKS

After a year of going back and forth with venues and dates and who was available, Claire Carlson the Education Program Coordinator of Historic Deerfield set the day. On Monday 28 of March, Claire and the Deerfield hearth cooks arrived at my door. It was rainy cool and perfect for a day of hearth cooking

Claire had asked specificity for several things. To make Lumber Pie and show everyone how to make a receipt that had many parts to it. They wanted to stretch their creative minds. So out came the coffin forms and all the stations were set up and ready for them when they arrived.

First to arrive were Cynitha, Richard and Beth. They started right in. I needed the marrow bones to be taking care of and the lumber pie and we will be needing to start on the Naples Biscuits for our orange fool.

Shortly after the rest of the group came in and we went right to work dividing tasks.

Laura started in on the Forme of Crury reciept for Flampoyntes. She browned the pork added sweet spices and graded a soft cheeses . This would be put into Traps, know as open coffins.

Ellen made Robert Smiths, Paste -Royal, this pastry would go with the Flampoynets. Laura was done with the meat filling and made a pie crust that we used later for the coffin tops. Claire and Melinda made the filling for a fish coffin.

The shrimp was boiled and the only fish that was cooked was the cod. The cod needed to be beaten in the mortar and pestle and mixed with the stuffing mix Melinda had made.

Richard liked the nutmeg grater and added the ground nutmeg into the forced meat. Cynitha took the force meat and made meat balls with a small nugget of marrow in the center. Then that was wrapped in caul and fried in sweet oil.

Beth put the Naples Biscuits in the bake kettle and when they were done they sat on the edge of the bake oven to dry out for her orange fool. I took them off when they were ready.

While Claire cut the salmon Melinda peels the shrimp. Claire is not fond of shell fish and Melinda has no problem, so they were a great team.

With the Paste Royal made Cynitha rolled the paste and cuts it in to long diamonds.

Many helped fry the small points and drain them for use later.

With all the fillings made and all the ingredients ready I talked the group thru the process of making the coffin dough.

Everyone measured out their flour then one by one poured in the melted lard and butter. This was stirred with a spoon and then when cool enough, made into a ball and placed on the work surface.

We made three dough’s and Beth prepared the egg wash for the coffins, then the kneading began.

Ten minutes not a second less.

Then the dough gets wrapped in linen and sits for ten minutes.

Now the fun starts. The dough is flattened, both the form and dough get’s lots of flour. Then the shaping begins.

Clair and Melinda’s fish form is quite large so paper was use around the edges to hold it up before it was filled with many layers of salmon, oysters, shrimp, and a force meat of cod.

Then it was dotted with butter and slices of lemons put over it all. Using the Laura’s pie dough a top was cut out and pinched on with the egg wash.

Forced meat balls, grapes, eggs, figs , dates, leeks, mushrooms, shallots and spices all layered in the Lumber Pie. A lid of pie crust and it was ready for the bake oven.

The third coffin dough was divided in five pieces and Beth, Cynitha and Laura each worked to make the shallow Traps.

Melinda smiles at the well decorated fish. Many hands helped putting scales on the top and an eye to. She waits to put it in the bake oven right in front of the Lumber Pie, The traps went into the bake kettle.

Beth and Clair read the receipt from Hannah Glass, Orange Pudding, Another Way. Orange pudding was so popular that she has four receipts for it. The centers needed to be taken out of the oranges and Melinda starts on it.

They need to be boiled to remove some of the bitterness from the peel.

Beth made a filling and remarked that it is just like a bread pudding. And yes that is what it is, only you use Naples biscuits instead of bread. Then you stuff the hollow oranges and replace the top. They go into a linen sack and get tied very tightly.

They were boiled in a large cauldron and when cooled taken out for the table. Sadly I did not get a picture of one on the plate ready to eat. But I can tell you they were delicious.

Time to take out the coffins, the fish looks ready to swim away with its scales, and the Lumber pie stood tall still.

The Flampoyntes were taken out of the bake kettle and the points put in by Cynthia. The center trap one was made up of left over lumber pie filling.

Half way through the day Richard mentions he’s a vegetarian —- most of the time. So I had him make the compound salad. He used dandelion greens and field greed, daicon radish, carrots, a golden beet, that someone cooked, hard boiled eggs and made a dressing with the left over oranges juice and sweet oil. On the side was a bowl of anchovies left over from the fish coffin. You don’t get better than this at a restaurant. He did a lovely presentation.

Claire and Cynthia made leers for their coffins and some were poured in and the coffin shaken. The rest was served on the side.

Time to open the tops of the coffins and dig into them with their layers of distinct flavors.

The traps were cut in half and served.

What a wonderful group of hearth cooks I had a great time working with them. Cynthia said she was going home with three new ideas and Richard was very interested in the way Allan did the wood. I do hope the others took something home also.

Sandie

“Secrets, especially with cooking, are best shared so that the cuisine lives on.”

Bo Songvisava

Dear Sandie:

We had a fabulous time at the coffin workshop. You are a skilled teacher, gracious host, and diligent task master! Some of our hearth cooks still see themselves as novices, even with almost five years hearth cooking experience. This workshop was JUST what they needed — to experience the multi-step process of preparing a receipt with a lot of steps, ingredients, and techniques to think about. I think their minds were blown (in a good way!)

Clair

HANNAH GLASSE

Posted on March 16, 2015 by Sandie

In the 18th century, English life started to breed the frantic, money-fueled materialism that we are familiar with today. As the middle classes grew, there was an increasing demand for books to save the lady of the house from the task of teaching her kitchen maids. Many households cooked for themselves. Books such as Hannah Glasse’s, The Art of Cookery, were directed at the servants, and were written in plain and accessible language.

The first edition of Hannah Glasse’s book, The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, was published in London in 1747. It became a bestseller for over a hundred years, both in England and the colonies, and a second edition was published within a year of the first.

George Washington and Thomas Jefferson owned a copy and Benjamin Franklin translated it into French. Over the many years that I’ve been hearth cooking, I’ve used many of her receipts so I thought receipts combined for a meal would make a wonderful workshop. What you might not know about Hannah is that she was a housewife and this was a way for her to make some badly-needed money. Even though this seems bit altruistic, the book was written for the common good, and like so many other cookbook authors of the times, she too copied directly from other books. However, she added a few new receipts and including ingredients like Indian Curry and Asian food.

Unfortunately, Hannah Glasse was not successful making money with the book, and she went into bankruptcy by 1754. She needed to sell her copyright to stay afloat and therefore relinquished all control of further publications of her first book. She wrote again, her second book , The Servants Directory in 1755, was on the management of a household. But still debt plagued her and she ended in debtor prison for a while. Free by 1757 she wrote her third and last work, The Complete Confectioner. This was reprinted several times, but did not match the past success. So the newer editions of The Art of Cookery, with Modern Improvements, was mostly copied from the original , but not written by Hannah Glasse, who by that time had long since departed this world, passing away in 1770.

OUR WORKSHOP BEGINS:
The anchor of the meal is a roast leg of lamb:

The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy – Hannah Glasse, 1747

To collar a breaſt of veal.
To Collar a breast of mutton, do the same way and it eats very well

TAKE a very fharp knife, and nicely take out all the bones, but take great care you do not cut the meat through ; pick all the fat and meat off the bones, then grate fome nutmeg all over the inſide of the veal, a very little beaten mace, a little pepper and falt, a few feweet-herbs fhred fmall, fome parfley, a little lemon-peel fhred fmall, a few crumbs of bread and the bits of fat picked off the bones; roll it up tight, ftick one fkewer in to hold it together, but do it clever, that it ftands upright in the diſh : tie a packthread acroſs it to hold it together, fpit it, then roll the caul all round it, and roaſt it. An hour and a quarter will do it. When it has been about an hour at the fire take off the caul, drudge it with four, baſte it well with freſh butter, and let it be of a fine brown.

Bob prepares the butterflied lamb and spreads it with the herbs mixture. Leslie helped by toasting the bread to be made into crumbs for the filling.

Then it was rolled up with bacon and tied, placed on the spit, and put before the fire with a pudding pan underneath to catch the drippings

For a dessert I chose “To make White Pot” with “Clear Lemon Cream.” Hannah has two receipts for white pot, one plain and one with rice and sweet meat. We used the addition of the sweet meat for the first White Pot. I have a fondness for this and don’t make it for myself, as I would eat the whole thing.

First the cream and egg mixture, with all the spices, needs to be heated and then cooled. The bread is sliced and buttered on one side. This was all assembled, and it sat a while for the bread to soak up all the liquid.
It was time to put the Yorkshire pudding together.
Before Hannah’s first edition of the The Art Of Cooking was published, Yorkshire Pudding, was called Dripping Pudding. So the receipt has nothing to do with Yorkshire Scotland or England. A baked pudding under the roast before a fire was called a dripping pudding way before the War of the Roses.

A Yorkshire Pudding
Take a quart of milk, four eggs, and a little salt, make it up into a thick batter with flour, like pancake batter. You must have a good piece of meat at the fire; take a stew-pan and put some dripping in, set it on the fire ; when it boils, pour in your pudding ; let it bake on the fire till you think it is nigh enough, then turn a plate upside down in the dripping-pan, that the dripping may not be blacked; set your stew-pan on it under your meat, and let the dripping drop on the pudding, and the heat of the fire come to it, to make it a fine brown. When your meat is done sent to table, drain all the fat from your pudding, and set it on the fire again to dry a little; then slide it as dry as you can into a dish; melt some butter, and pour it into a cup, and set it in the middle of the pudding. It is an excellent good pudding; the gravy of the meat eats well with it.

The batter for the Yorkshire Pudding was made early by Kate and kept cool, away from the fire. This gave the flour time to absorb the wet ingredients.

Once the lamb had been dripping for half an hour, the dripping pan was removed and the batter carefully placed back under the roast. You could hear the sizzle the batter made as it was poured into a smoking hot dripping pan.

As I mentioned we would be making a lemon sauce for the white pot. Kate peeled the lemons, simmered them in water on the hearth. This lemon juice was then strained through a cloth and poured into a bowl that had sugar and egg white beaten. Leslie watched as Kate stirred the pot to thicken the sauce.

Hannah’s receipt to “To Dress Potatoes” and “To Dress Asparagus” were next on the lineup.

Very few cooks had Hannah’ s love of al dente vegetables. In her book she suggest the following:

“Directions concerning Garden Things
MOST people spoil garden things by over-boiling them. All things that are green should have a little crispness, for if they are over-boiled, they neither have any sweetness or beauty”

Leslie boiled the potatoes whole in a kettle over the fire when they were done she and Deana peeled them. Leslie chopped chives, parsley, thyme and rosemary very fine and sprinkled them over the potatoes after they were cut and buttered. These would go into the bake oven to brown.

TO DRESS ASPARAGUS.
SCRAPE all the stalks very carefully till they look white, then cut all the stalks even alike, throw them into water, and have ready a stew-pan boiling;. Put in some salt, and tie the asparagus in little bundles. Let the water keep boiling, and when they are a little tender take them up. If you boil them too much you lost- both colour and taste. Cut the round of a small loaf, about half an inch thick, toast it brown on both sides, dip it in the asparagus liquor, and lay it in your dish: pour a little butter over the toast, then lay your asparagus on the toast all round the dish, with the white tops outward. Do not pour butter over the asparagus, for that makes them greasy to the fingers, but have your butter in a basin, and send it to table.

Leslie was in charge of the asparagus. We discussed Hannah’s use of the bread. It seemed to us that the toast should have been left dry to soak up the liquid from the asparagus and not have more poured on it. However, Leslie did follow the directions and with the added butter on the side the crisp asparagus turned out just as Hannah would have made it.

Mrs. Glass had many excellent cooking techniques, she also expected a roast of meat to be well-browned, and not soggy, as if it were baked.

Our lamb was just that, brown and crisp on the outside and just enough pink inside to suit us all. The Yorkshire pudding is nothing like the modern version, it is dense and has a subtle flavor of lamb and bacon, a combination that can’t go wrong.

Hannah would be proud of these vegetables, the asparagus was al dente, and the potatoes soft outside and crisp on the outside, with a great flavor of herbs and butter.

The white pot came out and was moist and had perfect layers of sweet meets in-between the bread. The lemon sauce, made with egg whites to thicken it, added just the right amount of tang to counterbalance the sweet dessert.

Hannah’s cookery book was not written for the kings and gentry’s chefs. It was written for the common women. However, our meal was fit for a king.

Each dish was made with many helping hands and as Hannah writes, “who can but read, will know how to do Cookery well.” And we did well.

Sandie
Hannah Glasse: The original domestic goddess
“Centuries before Elizabeth David put garlic on our menus, in the days when Mrs. Beeton was still a Miss, one book transformed the eating habits of the nation.” The first domestic goddess, the queen of the dinner party, and the most important cookery writer, Hannah Glasse.”
Rose Prince

OLD FORT WESTERN WORKSHOP

Posted on November 8, 2014 by Sandie

DAY TWO

Col. Rueben Colburn House Museum

This is a lovely museum and a great place to visit in the summer. The history of the expedition and the building of the Bateaux are well described and showcased in the house and barn. Visit someday; you’ll enjoy it.

The fish monger gave us two wonderful fresh salmon for our workshop. Zack gutted them and took the scales off outdoors in the camp. As you can see the fish are real beauties.
Zack and I stuffed each fish with thyme, dill, parsley and sliced lemons. We took twine and made sure to secure all the herbs and lemons so they would stay inside the fish. For a board we used a long split log we found outside in the pile of fire wood. Zack placed the fish on the side of the fire to roast as we made other dishes.

Roger, the regiment’s parson, was in charge of deflowering the cabbage so it could be stuffed with a forced meat. We needed a very big pot to dip it in. It was a hot job and he was able to get down to the center section and cut it out for the forcing. The ladies pitched in and made the forced meat for him. He then wrapped the cabbage into a pudding cloth and boiled it for an hour. He was very diligent and kept the water boiling at all times.

Melissa took all the marrow out of the bones. Some was used for the marrow pasties and some went into a sauce that Roger made for the forced cabbage. Stephanie looks on from as far away as she can get. Marrow and cocks’ combs were not her favorite things on the menu.
Perry shared with me her copy of a rare book called Mrs Gardner’s Receipt Book 1763. Mrs. Gardiner husband, Doc Gardner, traveled to Old Fort Western as he was one of the large landholders in Maine. So we thought it would be fitting to use her receipt for Marrow Pasties. Pasties were easy to carry with you and could be eaten anytime you were hungry. She also had a receipt for portable soup which I’m sure she sent along with her husband when he left for the Fort. So it only seemed fitting that we should use a few of her receipts. Susan and Perry made the puff paste for the marrow pasties and everyone pitched in to make them. The beets that are on the table were baked, peeled and cut by Stephanie to be fried later in a batter.
The last thing that was done on Saturday before we cleaned up was to make the starter for the French bread the next day. Stan took care of this. On Sunday, the dough had risen and smelled of wonderful yeast and beer. Desiree came to join us on Sunday and took over the bread making. As you can see her efforts paid off with a great rise on the dough.

Linda’s task was to make the winter squash pudding. Paring and grating the large squash took a good part of the morning. When done, she poured it into a pudding cloth and tied it up ready to be boiled.
The cabbage was boiled on the hearth right next to our vermicelli soup. The soup was made with the leftover chicken bones from the day before and some chicken meat. Stan made super vermicelli noodles but we never got a picture of them, darn. Linda’s pudding came out great. It is so important to prep the pudding cloth and keep the water boiling at all times.
Stan is an expert with flour and water. He made the vermicelli for the soup, He also made the crust for the lemon pudding Stephanie made. Both receipts are from Mr. Gardner’s receipt book.
So we made Vermicelli soup, planked fish, forced cabbage, marrow pasties, fried beets, winter squash pudding, cranberry sauce, gravy, French bread, and lemon pudding all from scratch. Plus we put figs on the lemon pie and had a bowl of preserved walnuts, and cider to drink. It was a busy day and all the time we had visitors asking questions and wanting to taste the food. This is not the best picture; however, you can see that all day we were having visitors in and out of the kitchen.
The last 15 minutes was hectic with everyone scurrying around with their last minute touches. I sat down and reviewed the receipt to make sure we had not forgotten anything.

All looked well and the weather was lovely out of doors. There were so many of us we decided to move the feast out to the encampment. The men put up tables and brought chairs out and we all had our plates, cups and utensils ready. Everything was placed on the table, given a spoon or fork, and was ready to serve.
Peter Morrissey, the regiment captain, took a moment to read a bit about the important contributions that Benedict Arnold had made in the beginning of his career, then Pastor Dough said a prayer for health, and happiness. We all dug into a tasty Sunday repast that was done to perfection.
We were busy each day and, because of that, we didn’t get as many pictures as I would have liked. Missing in the round of day two is Tess, she ran back and forth from camp to kitchen keeping things clean and helping everyone chop or mix when needed. However, with the pictures we do have, I think you’ll get the gist of what was accomplished over the weekend.

Now, if you remember I had said that the day before, we ran the well dry. Thanks to everyone bringing water we made it through the day. Also Tessa and Melissa washed everything out doors in camp and we could not have gone home without their help. We all took what was ours and packed it into our cars and said our goodbyes. So the workshops came to a close.

Our goal was to use the hearth as an educational tool and cook with seasonally available foods from the months of May to October in Maine to interpret the Floodways of the Fort. However it is not the food alone that will leave a lasting impression on the visitor, it is the performance at the earth. Our task was to find things to cook that would engage the visitor in a sensory experience and share the simple technology of a chicken cooked on a string, puddings boiled in a bag, the smell the yeasty bread fresh from the bake kettle. This did indeed keep our visitors asking questions and wanting to learn more. I think we accomplished our goal.

The camaraderie and joy shared by everyone at the workshop and encampment was phenomenal, I had such a great time and made lifelong friends along the way.

Sandie,
“We had grown into one another somewhere along the way. We were officially a team.”
― Shannon A. Thompson, Take Me Tomorrow

EXCEPTIONAL SIDES

Posted on April 13, 2014 by Sandie

Charles Carter’s, Sattoot of Duck that we cooked at the workshop, called for mushroom and artichoke in a cream sauce with a garnish of fried artichokes. I found two receipts that I thought would be interesting to try. Robert Smith’s cookery book, County Cookery – 1725, has a receipt called Morels a la cream and in Mary Smith’s, The Complete House-keeper, 1772; she has a receipt, To Fry Artichokes. I’m thinking that these receipts will add a multitude of flavor to our colonial table lunch.

Cathy read the receipt over and found the ingredients she needs to make the morels in cream with artichokes. Natalie took half of the artichokes for Mary Smith’s receipt.

Natalie made sure the artichokes she had were dry, then made a batter of flour, eggs and beer with a pinch of salt. Oil was poured into a deep pan and when ready the artichokes carefully dropped in. The batter clung nicely to the artichokes and, as they went in, a nice sizzle was heard. Natalie watched over them as the batter created an instant brown puff.

Managing the coals and keeping an eye on what you’re cooking is important when dealing with a hot hearth. The girls stand back from the heat for a moment and check things out. With all the components for the meal assembled we sat to enjoy our meal and share conversation. It was fun to listen the four of them talk about their hearth cooking experiences at their own museum and the plans for the summer openings. They had many things in common. It was a grand day and I so enjoyed cooking with them.

I hope to visit both Lynn and Mary at the Benjamin Ney Homestead & Museum in East Sandwich, Massachusetts, and Cathy and Natalie at the Deacon John Graves House in Madison, Connecticut, and I hope you will too. Sandie

The discovery of a new dish confers more happiness on humanity, than the discovery of a new star.

Jean Anthelme Brillan-Savarin

OPEN HEARTH COOKING CLASSES FALL 2013

Posted on September 1, 2013 by Sandie

IT’S FALL AND THE SMELL OF WOOD SMOKE IS IN THE AIR

The cooking fire in the hearth and oven are once more brightly burning. Come and enjoy a day preparing 17^th and 18^th century food and finishing by the warmth of the hearth, where you will enjoy each other’s company and the fruits of your labor. Each class will prepare an assortment of dishes, while cooking on the hearth fire or bake oven, and talking about the principles and techniques of early cooking.

To register please email sandie@colonialtable.com

The registration fee per class is ^$55 per person.*

We are offering the following classes:

OCT 5 – COFFINS Come and make coffins in the bake oven; we will use several different fillings and decorate the tops accordingly. Also we will prepare a variety of fall harvest vegetables and fruit on the hearth. 10 to 3 Minimum 4 – Maximum participants 6

OCT 26 – BREADS AND SAUSAGE Try your skill at making breads. We will be making three different types. And while the dough rises we’ll make various sausages, stuffed into casings and patties. To complete the meal, you will prepare your vegetables and dessert too. 10 to 3 Minimum 4 – Maximum participants 6

NOV 9 – HARVEST DINNER Come and make a delicious harvest feast cooked over the hearth and experience the flavors of the bountiful autumn harvest months here in New Hampshire. 10 -2 Minimum 4 – Maximum participants 8

Workshops include preparing and consuming the meal, all food and supplies are included in the cost of the workshop. East participant will receive copies of the receipts to try at home. Cider will be served with the meal, however, participants are welcome to bring their own beverage.

*Class will be cancelled 7 days prior if minimum number of participants is not met. Enrollment fee will be refunded in this case. If participant cancels more than 14 days before the event, a full refund will be given. Within 14 days there are no refunds.

Sandra Tarbox, Historic Foodways Culinarian, Newmarket, NH

WILD STRAWBERRIES

Posted on July 10, 2013 by Sandie

At the Moffat Ladd House Museum in Portsmouth, where I work, their gardens are surrounded by wild strawberries. I had some free time in the morning to go out and pick some and bring them home. Having the next day off and with the temperature finally getting out of the 90s and the humidity dropping, I thought it was a good time to make a strawberry cheesecake.

Now wild strawberries are tiny, exquisitely sweet and very small, and taste better than what you can find at the store. It takes a long time to pick a bowlful. Here you can see the wild plant, those strawberries that I picked and a modern one sitting next to the wild one. I did mention tiny, right!

My go-to receipt for cheesecake has always been the one from Plimouth Plantation 1627 that came from our receipts folder at Strawberry Banke. However, that is all the receipt says, Plimouth Plantation Cheesecake 1627. So I emailed Kathleen Wall at Plimouth and asked her if she knew the source of the receipt. As it turns out cheesecake was unlikely to be made there. HMMM, so where does this receipt come from. We really don’t know! Kathleen sent me the receipt “To make Cheesecakes other wayes” from Robert May’s The Accomplish’t Cook. This receipt had been put in modern language and has measurements; they use it as a handout.

So I went looking at Robert May’s cookbook and found he has nine receipts for cheesecake. I picked the one closest to the one I have been using, and that includes almond flour.

I mixed my flour, salt and sugar together and added my cold butter and cut it in until it looked like corn meal. Next I whipped up the egg white and water and quickly mixed that until it held together. I placed it on a floured board and made a four-inch round disk. This I wrapped and put in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

In several of May’s paste receipts he calls for the pie shell to dried, which means pre-cooked. This helps to have the pastry crispy all over. I had more dough than I needed, so I made an extra blank shell to use at the end of the week with something wonderful.

While the pie shells baked, I made the filling according to my receipt that is close to May’s, yet in a lesser amount. He was cooking cheesecake for a crowd; I’m cooking for two. I creamed the butter and sugar in the bowl then added the ground almonds, cheese, cream, mace, salt and rose water. I went easy on the rose water as I wanted the flavor of the strawberries to be the highlight. In went the eggs and everything was beaten well. I floured the strawberries before I placed them in the bowl. A light hand was needed to stir them in.

With my shell prebaked, I poured in the batter, and into the bake oven it went. The temperature in the bake oven was about 400 degrees; falling oven, (cooling) and it took just about 40 minutes to cook. I left it in the opening to cool down a bit before I removed it to the pantry to sit.

The smell of the pastry was wonderful, and I wanted to dig right in. However, I waited until it was cold and I could share it with my husband. Now, this is not your everyday cheesecake. Early receipts produce a flavor and texture very different than what we are used to in modern recipes. A small piece goes a long way. I found the strawberries to be excellent in the body of the cheesecake, and, with the faint aroma of the rose water, it really woke up all of your senses, sight, smell, taste, and the feeling on your tongue that dances in delight. An upbeat satisfied sigh in praise of this dessert completes the tour of the senses.

Go out and pick wild strawberries now before they are gone. Even if you don’t cook with them, just eating a handful will wake up your senses.

Did you know that Portsmouth N.H was once called Strawberry Banke because it was covered in this wonderful tiny fruit?

Sandie

Strawberry Quote:
“We are bound by a small, sometimes magical fruit called the strawberry. This fruit has the power to make tears dry up, make friends with enemies, make sick people feel better, make the elderly feel younger by bringing back pleasant memories of days gone by, make acquaintances of strangers, and above all, make little children smile. What other fruit has that power?”
Marvin Brown

Scalloped Potatoes – Raffals

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Sandie

Potatoes arrived in the Colonies in 1621 when the Governor of Bermuda, Nathaniel Butler, sent two large cedar chests containing potatoes and other vegetables to Governor Francis Wyatt of Virginia at Jamestown. It is thought that these potatoes were a form of yams and or sweet potatoes, not the white Irish potatoes we know today. By the 18th century, the white potato was a startling novelty, frightening to some, bewildering to others—part of a global ecological convulsion set off by the Spanish Conquistadors that conquered Peru. In 1718 when the Reverend James MacGregor and his Scotch-Irish immigrants came to New Hampshire and settled, in what was called the Nuttfield colony, they brought with them sacks of seed potatoes. Potatoes were easy to grow, tasty and very nutritious. The also produced more food per acre than other crops. In 1772, the colony of Nuttfield applied to Royal Governor Shute to be incorporated as a town called Londonderry. A token yearly rent was included in the incorporating document this rent was paid to the governor with “one peck of potatoes, on the first day of October, yearly, forever.” The planting of potatoes in Nuttfield is believed, to be the genesis of the massive potato industry in America. Today the potato is the fifth most important crop worldwide, after wheat, corn, rice and sugar cane. So potatoes have been around in one color or another for many years. The Dutch called them earth apples. Being that a picture of a potato is not very interesting I have included this picture that was taken by Bill Gekes of his daughter, reminiscent of a Vermeer.

Searching through early cookery books, I found potatoes done mostly in pyes and or puddings. However, I also found them as cakes, cooked with apples, put in soup, mashed with almonds and butter and Richard Briggs, in “The English Art of Cooking” mentions both a potatoes pudding and a yam pudding. Elizabeth Raffald who wrote “The Experienced English House- keeper,” had a unique way of doing her potatoes. She scalloped them, meaning she put the mashed potatoes in a scallop shell. So I boiled my potatoes in a stew pan with a little salt and floured butter. When done I mashed them with a lump of butter and good cream and put them in my shells. I made a smooth top and put a dent in it for more butter, then my own touch of new spring parsley sprinkled on them. Also, in the receipt, she says to put them in a “Dutch oven,” now there’s a controversy for you. Did she own a bake kettle from Holland or is this Dutch oven a new-fangled tin thing. HMMM– very interesting side note. There has been a lot of banter about the word “Dutch Oven” and nothing conclusive that I have heard either way. Anyone out there have an idea about this? So I stuffed the shells and placed mine in the bake kettle and covered it by placing coals on top and on the bottom. This is not the first time I’ve used this receipt and it is one of my favorites, as I love mashed potatoes. They were a great accompaniment to the fish dinner and look so fancy. The receipt for this potato dish is in the Receipt file along with all the others. Sandie “We’re serious but not solemn about potatoes here. The potato has lots of eyes, but no mouth. That’s where I come in” E. Thomas Hughes, founder, Potato Museum, Washington, DC

Ragout with a Cabbage

Posted on May 30, 2013 by Sandie

Hannah Glass has a receipt called “Or this Way Beans Ragoo’d with a Cabbage. “ If the 17^th and 18^th century mothers were lucky, they might still have a cabbage hanging in the root cellar now and a few carrots and turnips. The cabbages would be hung from their roots with the large leaves left on. The turnips and carrots would be stuck in sand to stay damp (not wet) so they think they are resting in the ground. This was the common practice of looking ahead and providing fresh produce for one’s family throughout the winter months and into early spring. So, hopefully, you still have something left in the root cellar.

I talked with Ryan Beckman at Old Sturbridge Village to see what they had in the root cellar there. Unfortunately, no cabbage, as they were hit badly with blight last year and are not growing any this year in an effort to thwart it. Ryan said they had just run out of carrots last week and are focusing on the potatoes and the multitude of eggs they are blessed with at the moment. This is the time of year that they interpret the “six weeks of want.” We have cabbage still at our Farm Markets so, here in New Hampshire, we were lucky. And I found a nice small one. The turnips fared well too and the carrots may be a bit on the wilted side yet usable.

Along with my planked fish I needed a vegetable, so this receipt seemed doable, given the coolness of the season. Having no beans yet, I omitted them and decided on fresh spring asparagus. Now this receipt has a lot of steps to it. First you must clean the cabbage and cut the stem side flat so it sits nice on a plate. Then it needs to be par-boiled so it can be pierced with a fork but not fall apart. Hannah has you put the carrots and turnips in the same pot, I did mine separately.

When the cabbage was soft, I took it out and cut a cavity in the upper part for the ragout and saved the cone to mix with the other vegetables. I mashed all the vegetables together with salt and pepper and added a little of the cabbage liquid I had saved.

The cabbage went back into the pot with a bit of water, wine, vinegar from the pickled mushroom, butter and the mushroom ketchup I had made I made last fall. This was covered and simmered gently. I needed to check on it often to make sure it did not run out of liquid. With the other vegetables mashed, I placed them by the fire to keep warm.

Once the fork slid easily through the cabbage it was removed and put on a plate stem side down. The cavity was filled with the ragout’d vegetables, and the asparagus were placed around the plate. The liquid for the last cooking of the cabbage was poured over it and my side dish was complete. I added a little more vinegar, as I like mine tart, and, as a whole, it was tasty and looked very nice on the plate.

I’m really looking forward to using my new root cellar come fall. It is now clean of construction debris and I can start planning the shelves and boxes I’ll need. It will be a fun project.

Sandie

“The cabbage surpasses all other vegetables. If, at a banquet, you wish to dine a lot and enjoy your dinner, then eat as much cabbage as you wish, seasoned with vinegar, before dinner, and likewise after dinner eat some half-dozen leaves. It will make you feel as if you had not eaten, and you can drink as much as you like.”
Cato (234-149 B.C.)

HERBS AND SPICES AND EVERYTHING NICE

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Sandie

The sky was blue, and with herbs popping up everywhere, it was time to feast on a spring meal. With the fires going, our class began. Reading the instructions through is an extremely important thing to do. I give both the original narrative receipt and the modern scientific one. Getting your entire ingredients list and pans together and having a plan is the next step.

Hannah Glasse’s receipt,” To Stuff a Chine of Pork” was the first charge of the day. Bob and Vicky took sage, parsley, thyme, rosemary, spinach and cloves and chopped it into a forced meat to stuff the pork with. The collops were pounded, larded and stuffed, then tied up to roast on the fire. Dana and Barbara watched as Bob stacked the collops and tied them. There was leftover forced meat and we saved that to add to the drippings at the end. Vicky was in charge of the applesauce. I had given two receipts, Eliza Smith’s and Elizabeth Rafald’s sauce for a goose. The first extant print citation of the word “applesauce” is in Eliza Smith’s, Compleat Housewife, 1739. However, the practice of combining pork and apples dates back to ancient times. Hannah Glasse, in the mid-18th century instructs her readers to serve roast pork with “some good apple-sauce.” The receipt, Sauce for a Goose, by Raffald, is applesauce.

Fiddleheads are just coming in and no spring meal would be complete without them. They have a nutty taste and with bacon and shallots you can’t go wrong.

Asparagus is also on the rise in the fields and gardens. We put a large pot of water on so we could parboil the bundle of asparagus. Vicky was busy making manchets bread, and here we see it having a final rise by the fire.

Dana decided she would try her hand at making crepes for the Banniet Tort which will be our dessert. As always with crepes, the first one went into the fire and the next eight came out wonderful.

Barbara made the puff pastry for the tort, and with the crepes made, she began to assemble it. Dana removed the asparagus from the water and cut the tops off long and the bottoms into little pieces and put them aside.

Candied lemons and oranges, a few dates and currants sprinkled with orange flower water and sack and layered with sugar. YUM! Barbara slides it into the bake oven.

The fireplace became a busy space with Bob and Allan at the reflector oven, Dana and Barbara making a sauce for the asparagus. The applesauce Vicky made keeping warm over the fire. In the bake oven the manchets and a tort cook.

The Chine of stuffed pork was ready and Bob removes the strings and adds the extra stuffing that was fried in the drippings. I had made a Rhubarb Shrub to have with our dinner. We added ice, a luxury in the 18^th century; however we were all on the warm side.

Shrub is the name of two different, but related, acidulated beverages. One type of shrub is a fruit liqueur that was popular in 17th and 18th century England, typically made with rum or brandy mixed with sugar and the juice or rinds of citrus fruit.

A second type of shrub is a cocktail or soft drink that was popular during America’s colonial era, made by mixing drinking vinegar syrup with spirits, water, or carbonated water. The name also is applied to the sweetened vinegar-based syrup, also known as drinking vinegar, from which the latter drink is made. Drinking vinegar is infused with fruit juice (and at times herbs and spices) for use in mixed drinks.

The American version of the shrub has its origins in 17th century England where vinegar was used as an alternative to citrus juices in the preservation of berries and other fruits for the off-season. Fruit preserves made in this fashion were themselves known as shrubs and the practice carried over to colonial America.

The first citation for shrub is 1747, in the OED, however the word was in use before that. In Martha Washington’s, Book of Cookery, written before 1709 there is a shrub receipt. (See Receipt’s- Drinks)

Vicky and Barbara put together Hanna Glasse’s asparagus forced in rolls.

Allan took a picture of our spring feast, chine of stuffed pork, apple sauce, fiddlehead ferns, asparagus forced in rolls and rhubarb shrub.

Vicky gives us a lesson on 18^th century eating habits.

The Banniet Tort came out of the oven and was delightful, with all the fruit and tender crêpes wrapped in a crisp pastry. A fitting ending for a dinner well made.

We had fun and experienced an array of receipts with many spring herbs and greens, and produced a wonderful meal.

HAPPY SPRING

Sandie

“A Receipt is but a Promise of a Dish, but the Dish is the Measure of its Cook.” John Saturnall’s Feast

A Simple Meal

Posted on April 20, 2013 by Sandie

The hearth was christened by a wonderful group of beginning hearth cooks. I was thrilled to have them, as they all have cooking fireplaces at home and hope to start using them as they were meant to be.

We start out with traditional cooking techniques, including fire safety, proper fire maintenance and learning skills in using the bake kettles and other hearthside equipment. Our meal was simple. Chicken on a String with root vegetables, Hannah Glasse’s Onion Pye made with Lydia Maria Child’s common pie crust, John Nott’s fried beets and Elizabeth Raffald’s boiled bread pudding, with a wonderful sauce.

After we read through the receipts, we were off and running, gathering up needed ingredients. Paul started on the pie crust which was really a puff pastry dough with lots of butter rolled into it. Barbara picked the bread pudding, a daring choice for a novice as boiled puddings are notorious for being soggy if not done correctly. While Barbara mixes up the bread with the candies fruit and currants, Paul rolls out the dough a second time, after it had rested for 15 minutes in a cool place. Once the dough was ready, Heather, who had prepared the filling, assembled the pye. Heather toasted some bread on the hearth to dry out and used the mortar and pestle to make the crumbs for the beets. Being a confessed toast burner, I must say that Heather made the best dry toast, golden and light.

With the pudding in the boiling water and the chicken and pye done, it was time to do the beets. Heather had cooked the beets to fork-tender in a bake kettle on the hearth. They were put in a batter then rolled in the bread crumbs she had made from the toast. Into the fry pan they went with butter, and were fried so they had a crunchy exterior and a soft interior. They were so good I ate them like candy. Paul worked on carving the chicken that had a lovely brown and crispy skin. He had put butter, parsley and garlic in the cavity and basted it while it spun. This was one tender and juicy bird.

The pye was retrieved from the bake oven and it was cooked perfectly, and tasted as good as it looked.

We all sat down to a hearty lunch and while we chatted, Barbara discovered that Paul and Heather had purchased their home from a friend of hers. The conversation turned to antiques and all the shows they all went to and the upcoming ones. Conversation did not lag with this group. Then it was Barbara’s time to present her boiled bread pudding and sauce. Taken out of the water, it was put in a strainer and covered with a dish, flipped over and then the pudding cloth slowly removed. Perfection! It was flawless and made a wonderful ending to our meal.

As with every meal there is a time for clean-up and this day was no different. Everyone pitched in and the job was quickly done.

This was a very congenial group. I was able to share my cooking skills and resources with them and I enjoyed meeting Paul and Heather. And it is always nice to have Barbara visiting.

Sandie

Open Hearth Cooking

17th and 18th century open hearth cooking recipes, life around the colonial table and hearth cooking classes.

Tag Archives: The Art of Cookery

Historic Deerfield Workshop

HANNAH GLASSE

OLD FORT WESTERN WORKSHOP

EXCEPTIONAL SIDES

OPEN HEARTH COOKING CLASSES FALL 2013

WILD STRAWBERRIES

Scalloped Potatoes – Raffals

Ragout with a Cabbage

HERBS AND SPICES AND EVERYTHING NICE

A Simple Meal