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. 

Historic Cooking: Chicken Saltato con Fungi from 1916

Chicken Saltado con Fungi ingredients.
Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

Since the Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge project officially ended, and no new challenges will be posted, those of us who have completed some of the challenges in the past decided that we would continue the project on an informal basis. We choose a challenge from the whole list of previous themes, and either complete them (if we never got a chance to do so), or re-do them, on our own time, with no requirement (even such an informal one as we had) to complete the recipe and post about it within a certain time period! I've been reading Edwardian Farm by Ruth Goodman, Peter Ginn, and Alex Langlands, so I've been thinking about life in California during the Edwardian period, and the similarities and differences between Edwardian California and Edwardian England. 

Historic Cooking: Capon with Oranges, 1596.

Capon (Chicken) with Oranges.  Photo: Elizabeth Urbach

In the History of Royal Food and Feasting course last week, we took a look at the 16th century, and English aristocratic and royal food of Elizabeth I's court.  I was able to complete one of the suggested recipes: Capon with Oranges.  Here is the original recipe:

Take your capon and set him on the fire as before with marrow bones and mutton, and when you have skimmed the pot well, put thereto the value of a farthing loaf, and let it boil till it be half boiled. Then take two or three ladlesful of the same broth and put it into an earthen pot, with a pint of the same wine aforesaid. Peel six or eight oranges and slice them thin, and put them into the same broth with four pennyworth in sugar or more, and a handful of parsley, thyme and rosemary, together tied. Season it with whole mace, clove, and sticks of cinnamon, with two nutmegs beaten small. And so serve it.
-- Thomas Dawson, Good Housewife’s Jewel (1596).

History for dinner: To Fricassee a Chicken.

Instead of a picture of Chicken
Fricassee, here is a picture of
one of the ingredients, lemon.
Image: www.public-domain-
photos.com

I read a lot of old cookbooks and occasionally a historic recipe sounds great just as it is, and once in a while, there will be one that sounds easy enough that I actually make it (I avoid beating egg whites until they're stiff, for example).  Here is one that is easier in this historic form than it is in it's modern form: Chicken Fricassee.  What is that? It's basically chicken stewed or braised with herbs and vegetables in liquid (water, wine, or broth) and butter, so that it makes its own gravy, which is thickened with dairy and egg at the end.  You can serve it with rice or noodles, or by itself.

To Fricassee a Chicken.--Wash and cut the chicken into joints; scald and take off the skin, put the pieces in a stewpan, with an onion cut small, a bunch of parsley, a little thyme and lemon-peel, salt and pepper--add a pint of water, a bit of butter as large as an egg.  Stew it an hour; a little before serving, add the yolks of two eggs beaten up, with a tea-cup of sweet cream, stirring it in gradually; take care that this gravy does not boil.
-- from Early American Cookery: "The Good Housekeeper" by Sarah Josepha Hale (1841).

Did you know you can barbecue with tea?

image from www.pachd.com
While the local weather is still more spring-like than summer-like, many people in my neighborhood have begun to barbecue every day. My mother is one of those people! Now, my mom makes a mean barbecue, and I'm sure you have friends and relatives who are good barbecue cooks, too, but everyone's best menu can sometimes use a variation! Iced tea and sweet tea are well-known and popular beverages at summer barbecues, but did you know that tea can be used to flavor the sauce, barbecued meat and veggies themselves? There is also a variation of the popular Beer Can Chicken recipe, called Iced Tea BBQ Chicken; it calls for instant iced tea mix in the spice rub and a can of iced tea inside the chicken.

While tea is usually used in sweet recipes, it is a wonderful addition to savory dishes, too. Some teas, like Lapsang Souchong – which is black tea that has been dried over a fire of pine needles – seem to have been made for meat dishes, especially barbecue, but you can add it to baked meat dishes, too, to imitate that flame-broiled flavor. There are several ways of adding tea to your barbecued and grilled meats. You can use brewed tea to make a barbecue sauce. A really simple recipe comes from a company called Two Leaves and a Bud:

Assam Tea Barbecue Sauce
“Brew a really strong pot of Assam Tea - 2 sachets for every 16 oz. of water. Dilute your favorite Barbecue sauce 50 - 50 with your tea. Marinate per your favorite grandma's recipe!”

You can also use dry tea leaves in a spice rub for meat or tofu, add tea to a spicy sauce to serve alongside, or prepare a marinade from tea and spices, to use on meat, tofu or vegetables. The slight acidity of the brewed tea will also help tenderize the meat! Several recipes for barbecued ribs require you to par-boil the meat before finishing it on the grill or in the oven; why not add some tea and spices to the pot with the meat? You can use any unflavored tea, and many flavored teas, as well, especially lemon or orange flavored blends. The tea will add a wonderful savory flavor to your dish, and will complement the flavor of beef, pork, chicken, fish, tofu and vegetables. Tea in your barbecue might become a tradition!

Here are some more tea barbecue recipes:

Green Tea Baked Kobe Beef Ribs with Ginger-Plum Barbecue Sauce
Grilled Green Tea Chicken and Peaches
Lapsang Souchong Baby Back Ribs
Lapsang Souchong Citrus Barbecue Sauce
Orange and Spice Tea BBQ Sauce
Pu-erh Tea Rub for Grilled Chicken
Tea-marinated Grilled Tofu Sandwich
Tea-marinated Grilled Lamb Kabob