Historic Cooking: Hannah Glasse's Rich Cake from 1774.

Hannah Glasse's Rich Cake from
The Art of Cookery, 1774.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

The Redone Challenge: #21: Party Foods (October 7 - October 20, 2016) If there’s a party, there has to be food! Pick a dish meant to be served to a crowd, or at a festive gathering, and show your work! 

At the school where I work, the 5th-grade classes spend a whole school day studying the Revolutionary War history of the United States, with a day of living history activities called Colonial Day.  The students rotate through a list of different activities ranging from candle dipping and writing with a quill and ink, to learning about the Boston Tea Party and enjoying a “party” at the “Governor’s Palace” in Williamsburg, VA.   The previous librarian used to assist with the Boston Tea Party activity, and I inherited that job when I took her place in the school library. My love for tea and history prepared me to coordinate the “party” part of the activity, as well as make the tea, and teach about tea and etiquette in the 18^th century.

18th century Rich Cake/Great Cake, iced.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

While the students’ parents were supposed to sign up to bring the treats for the “tea party”, only a few promised to bring food (although several things turned up unannounced on the day of the event), so I decided to bake something so that there would be enough for every student to have at least one piece of cake or one cookie.  Although the parents had previously brought 20th-century treats like banana bread and scones with frosting on them, I wanted to increase the historical accuracy of the activity.

Historic Cooking: To make a brown Fricasey from 1777.

Hannah Glasse's Brown Fricasey.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach.

The Redone Challenge: If They’d Had It… (November 2 - November 15, 2014)

Have you ever looked through a cookbook from another era and been surprised at the modern dishes you find? Have you ever been surprised at just how much they differ from their modern counterparts? Recreate a dish which is still around today, even if it may look a little - or a lot - different!

The Recipe: Although we don't generally see fricasees on menus today, in reading the recipes for them, I saw that they are essentially the same (at least, as some traditional recipes have it) as a very common menu item today: Chicken a la Marsala!  Having made Chicken Marsala at least once before, I was surprised to find that it is a fairly simple dish to make; when using this recipe, use flour or very fine breadcrumbs instead of the grated bread, substitute Marsala wine for the red wine, and use fresh mushrooms intead of the pickled mushrooms, and you have an almost identical dish!

To make a brown fricasey. You must take your rabbits or chickens and skin then, then cut them into small pieces, and rub them over with yolks of eggs.  Have ready some grated bread, a little beaten mace, and a little grated nutmeg mixt together, and then roll them in it; put a little butter into your stew-pan, and when it is melted put in your meat.  Fry it of a fine brown, and take care they don't stick to the bottom of the pan, then pour the butter from them, and pour in half a pint of gravy, a glass of red wine, a few mushrooms, or two spoonfuls of the pickle, a little salt (if wanted) and a piece of butter rolled in flour.  When it is of a fine thickness dish it up, and send it to table. -- from The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, Hannah Glasse, 1774.

The Date/Year and Region: Eastern Coast of U.S., 1774. 

A January recipe and a knitting pattern

image from Grandma's Graphics.
It's been alternately cold, windy and foggy, and cool, windy and sunny for the past week or so. The wind has been really strong, and the sun -- when it's out -- doesn't really feel warm at all. Time for a nice dish of something warm and comforting, and something warm to wear.

How about a nice pot of bean soup? This is a compilation of several 19th century recipes, put together by a living history re-enactor of my acquaintance. It sounds like a really simple and tasty recipe!

Bean Soup.
1 lb. white beans
water to cover the beans
1 carrot, peeled and chopped
1 small/medium onion, chopped
1 - 3 cloves of garlic, minced
ham or well-rinsed salt pork, diced

Brown the meat and garlic in the soup pot, then add and brown the onions. Add the rest of the ingredients, and bring to a boil. Let boil until the beans are tender.

But it needs some nice warm bread to go with it, I think. Then again, I would eat warm bread with just about anything! Here are a couple of 18th century recipes from Hannah Glasse:

"To make a Scotch Rabbit. Toast a piece of Bread very nicely on both sides, butter it, cut a slice of Cheese, about as big as the Bread, toast it on both sides, and lay it on the Bread."

"To make a Welch Rabbit. Toast the bread on both Sides, then toast the Cheese on one Side, lay it on the toast, and with a hot Iron brown the other side. You may rub it over with Mustard."

"To make an English Rabbit. Toast a Slice of Bread brown on both sides, then lay it on a plate before the Fire, pour in a Glass of Red Wine over it, and let it soak the Wine up; then cut some Cheese very thin, and lay it thick over the Bread; put it in a Tin Oven before the Fire, and it will be toasted and brown presently. Serve it away hot."

As for something warm to wear, here is a pattern for a knitted Bosom Friend or Sontag, from Godey's Lady's Book, January 1860: http://www.vintagevolumes.com/sontag.html. I actually tried to copy this garment in crochet, since I don't knit, and produced a wearable sontag, but it doesn't look quite as neat as the illustration, or the one the lady at VintageVolumes.com made!

Keep warm and hydrated with lots of tea!