RECIPES FROM OUR INVENTORY

Take one pound of Suet, shred very small and sifted, one pound of Raisons ston'd, four spoonfuls of Flower, and four spoonfuls of Sugar, five Eggs, but three Whites; beat the Eggs with a little Salt: Tie it up close, and boil it four Hours at least.

Kettilby, A Collection of above three hundred receipts in cookery, 1714.

Put into the pitcher one bottle of sound cyder, a pint and a half of lemonade, two glasses of sherry, one teaspoonful of orange flower water, two or three sprigs of mint, lumps of sugar to taste, and about a pound of Wenham Lake Ice.

Manuscript: English receipts. Rick Pettit, c. 1890.

To one pound of flour well dry’ed put one egg, one spoonfull of good barm & one ounce of Butter, the Butter must be put’d in a sufficient quantity of milk and set on the fire till melted, when the milk is a little better than milk warm make it up in a light paste and kneed it will set it rise half an hour before the fire then make them into Rolls with as little kneeding as possible a pound of lour makes 6 rolls, bake them 20 Minutes in a quick oven.

Manuscript: English cookbook. Jane Edwards, late 18th century.

Sauté celeriac and flour in oil while adding fish broth and then add the liquid of 100 oysters and thicken with 4 to 6 egg yolks. Take the oysters themselves and sprinkled them with half a bottle of Rhein wine, coat them in bread crumbs, and fry them in oil. [This could also translate to “dust them in flour and fry.”] Be sure to remove their beards and then simmer these fried oysters in the soup.

Translated from Schreiber. Kochbuch für ältliche, appetitlose und zahnlose Personen, 1849.

Take a large eel, and scour it well with salt to clean off all the slime; then slit it down the back, take out the bone, and cut it into three or four pieces. Take the yolk of an egg, and put it over the inside, sprinkle on crumbs of bread, with some sweet herbs and parsley chopped very fine, a little nutmeg grated, and some pepper and salt mixed together. Then but it on a gridiron over a clear fire, broil it of a fine light brown, and when enough, serve it up with anchovy sauce, and parsley and butter. Garnish with raw parsley and horse radish.

The Young woman’s companion, 1811.

Take a gill of good gravey; put it in a small sauce-pan, with a very little lemon-peel, two anchovies washed, boned, and chopped small, and half a bay-leaf; let these boil slowly (covered) for ten minutes, and then put in a glass of red wine; thicken the sauce with a piece of fresh butter (the biggness of a small egg) rolled in flour.

Rosea, The Compleat cook, 1756.

2 1/4 cups of milk; 1 cup of cream; three lemons; 1 ½ cups of sugar. You grate the lemons into a pot, add milk, cream and sugar and place on a fire. While stirring the mixture, it will begin to boil and thicken; then pass the contents through a clean sieve and into another pot. When it is cooled, put it into an ice-cream freezer to make ices of it. You can place the composition into a cheese [fromage glacé] or fruit form by using the molds described earlier. To give the ice cream the color of the fruit, apply a strong saffron concoction to the mold using a small brush.

Translated from Machet, Le confiseur moderne, 1803.

Take one fatty and white turkey [actually translated as “India hen”]; pluck it, flame it, gut it, being careful not to taint the bird’s flavor by damaging the intestines: if arrives to you tainted, wash it while passing water on the body; take three or four pounds of truffles; peel them carefully; remove those which are musky, and chop up the most defective of them; crush a fatty pound of bacon and put it in a pan with your chopped truffles, and those which are whole, season them with salt, large pepper, fine spices and a bay leaf; pass the whole over a soft fire; leave it (bubbling) half or three quarters an hour; after withdraw your truffles off the fire; stir up them well; almost let cool them, and fill the body of your turkey to the neck; stuff truffles under the skin; truss it, bard it with pork fat, and let it scent three or four days, if the season allows: at the end of this time skewer the bird, wrap it in some strong paper, and cook for approximately two hours: when it’s done, remove the paper and give it a beautiful color and then serve .

Translated from Beauvilliers. L’Art du cuisinier, 1814.

Take the Flesh of a Pheasant and the Flesh of a fat Pullet, and a tender Piece of a Leg of Veal, mince all together with Mushrooms, Veal Sweet-breads, boil’d Gammon, raw Bacon, Cives and Parsley: Season them with Salt, Spice and Sweet-herbs, and make a Godivoe of them, and also make a pretty strong Paste, raise your Pye either with Double or Single Crusts, as you please, fill it with the before mentioned ingredients, bake it and when it comes out of the Oven pour into it a Cullis of Mushrooms, and serve it up to Table hot.

Nott. The Cook’s and confectioner’s dictionary, 1723.

Peel the kidneys and chop them quite fine; sauté them in a pan with a little butter or bacon fat; season with salt, pepper, a shallot, parsley and truffles, all well minced; when the kidneys are cooked, remove them and lay them out on a plate; pour half-glass of white wine into the pan and make reduce to half; add a little coulis and just bring to boil for an instant. You will then throw then the kidneys into the sauce; you will see it bubbling a little; and then pour back into the dish and mingle with it a little lemon juice.

Translated from Durand, Le Cuisinier Durand, 1830.

Clean the asparagus, pour over them boiling salt water, melt butter in a pan, add some flour, and let it take a bit of color, add some broth [probably beef or veal], saffron, salt, and little spice [probably nutmeg], and then let the asparagus come to a boil.

Translated from Lindau, Die Steyermärkische Köchin, 1797.

Take the yolks of three hard eggs, four ounces of loaf-sugar, six ounces of fresh butter, as new from the churn as you can, and two spoonfuls of orange flower or rose water; beat them all very well until they are like paste; then put it into a squirt, and squirt it on an asset in little heaps.

Mrs. Frazer. The Practice of cookery, 1791.

Take a quarter of a pound of Almonds, blanch and beat them very fine, and then put them into a pint of cream, with two spoonsful of rose water. Sweeten it to your palate; beat up the yolks of four egges very fine, and put them in. Stir all together one way over the fire till it is thick and then pour it into cups.

Stavely. The New whole art of confectionary, 1823.

Take ye juce of a civill orreng, & a cheyny dish of white wine, sweeten itt to your tast, & just boyle itt with a small bitt of ye orreng peel, put ye into your sullibub glasses, or cheny dish, ye have a pint of good cream ready boyld & sweetend, put itt into a tea pott, lett your cheny bason with ye wine & orrenge, stand on ye grownd ye you may pore your cream high, & leasurely so make it bubble a top; if its for dinner doe itt over night for supper in ye morning ye will bee thro cold & cutt like custard.

Manuscript: English receipts. 1702-1729.

The Macaroons are composed of sweet almonds, sugar, & egg whites. Take, for example, a pound of almonds, which you will peel after having scalded them, and will throw into fresh water. Then, strain them, wipe them dry, and crush them in a mortar, sprinkling them with a little orange water, or some egg whites, otherwise they will turn into oil. Being well crushed, take an equal amount of powdered sugar, with three or four egg whites, & beat the whole well together; then you will draw up your macaroons on paper with a small spoon, and will cook them on a small fire. If you want, you can freeze them with ice (like the Marzipan cakes) when they are half cooked; or not if you do not freeze them, they will then be very much like Biscuits de Savoie or d’Amandes améres.

Massialot. Nouvelle instruction, 1698.

When fruit is plentiful, take a stoneware jug which will hold ten or twelve pints and has a lid. Place into the pitcher: two or three pints of good eau-de-vie; currant remains (left over from making jelly); sugar; the remains of various fruit used to make a compote from strawberries, raspberries, and cherries, and some of their juices; apricots, peaches, red and yellow plums which have become over-ripe; and make sure to add more brandy as you add more fruit as the portion of brandy must be half of the whole; you can add a handful of carnation flowers or some cinnamon, or clove; at the end of Autumn, one then passes this through a straining bag and has an excellent ratafia, soft, salutary and very economic.

Bibliothèque des propriétaires ruraux, 1804.

Take a bass weighing four pounds, boil half an hour; take six slices raw salt pork, fry them till the lard is nearly extracted, one dozen crackers soaked in cold water five minutes; put the bass into the lard, also the pieces of pork and crackers, cover close and fry for twenty minutes; serve with potatoes, pickles, apple sauce or mangoes; garnish with green parsley.

Simmons. American cookery, 1815.

Take some good anchovies, wash them several times in water or wine, until the water or wine remains clear. Place them on a towel and let them thoroughly dry. Remove the heads, the tails, and the fins, split them in half and then again half each piece. Arrange them properly on a plate and garnish them with parsley, chives, or slices of lemon or beets. Put then in a dish some unrefined olive oil, a little white pepper, the juice of one or two lemons, mix them well together with a spoon or knife, and then pour it onto your anchovies.

Translated from Le Maistre d’hostel, 1659.

The fresher they are they more delicate they will be. If you cannot cook them immediately upon taking them from the water, it is necessary to clean them, rinse them off, and wipe them down without salt. Put them into a pan along with a pinch of shallots, salt, pepper, mace, clove, and a parsley bouquet. For two-pound fish, take a bottle of red wine, boil it for a quarter of an hour over a large fire, remove the fish from the pan, add a piece of fresh butter to the pan with a small spoonful of flour until the butter is melted. Then pour a little of this wine sauce onto the fish and add some of the finely chopped parsley.

Translated from Le Trésor des villes et des campagnes, 1862.

Roast a breadfruit in an open fire. You can tell when it is done by prodding it with a splinter as you would a potato. Peel, cut out the heart and fill the centre with meat that has been prepared in the following manner. Chip some bacon very finely and add some chopped pieces of ham, simmer for a few minutes with some butter and add some minced meat. To do this add chopped onion, chives, garlic thyme, parsley and sweet peppers. Simmer until soft and well mixed. Put the soft breadfruit in oven for a few minutes before serving.

Boissiere. Cooking Creole, c. 1945.

Take two pounds of rice of a good odor and, if possible, clean it diligently and wash it in tepid water. Then place it in a pot to boil with the broth of a fat capon (a castrated rooster), but have caution that you don’t let it get too dry nor to “brothy.” When it is ready, pass it through a cloth and then return it to the pot again, add six ounces of pounded pinenuts and two ounces of mostacciolo di Napoli (a spiced cake or cookie made with grape must, pine nuts, and anise), dissolve in some bread which has been soaked in milk, and then add upon this hot mixture the “slime” of two eggs freshly beaten, with a little rosewater musk, turning it with a spoon, and then serve hot with much sugar on top.

Translated from Vasselli. L’Apicio overo il maestro de’ conviti, 1647.

On the manner of adapting and serving the dish below. You should garnish your plate with flowers, according to season and convenience. To dress the ortolan, truss up and bardez the bird [stud it with strips of bacon fat], stuff it with grape leaves when in season and for spring leave the bird empty, then roast over a fire and serve.

La Varenne. Le Vrai cuisinier françois, 1712.

If cooking venison, whether it be a fallow deer or a doe, be sure that the meat is not too fresh nor too old. Once it is skinned and cleaned, lard it with strips of good bacon and roast it on a spit over a bright fire, basting it with butter and sprinkling it with salt. If it is a fawn, it will be juicy in one hour, if it is a loin then somewhere between one half an hour and three quarters of an hour, the loin of a stag, in one and a half to two hours, and the loin from a doe, in an hour and fifteen minutes. For a change, all of these kinds of game can also be basted with cream instead of butter.

Translated from Hauptner. Kochbuch, 1838.

Take three pound of gravy-beef, four ounces of lean bacon, a small piece of lemmon-peel, one middle-siz’d onion, a bit of thyme and carrot, a few cloves, a bit of mace, a few whole black pepper, put them in a stew-pan with about three pints of cold water, let them stew till they are into a jelly, wich will take about three hours, then strain it through a sive, and let it standd till next day when you are to use it, at which time you are to take off all the fat on the top, then take out the clear gravy, and put it in with your veal, which is to be prepared as follows: Take a large breast of veal, roast it half done very borwon, then take it from the fire, cut off the two ends and brisket, cut them in handsome pieces, put them amongst your gravy and in a stew-pan, then put in two anchovies, two cloves, a bit of lemmon-peel, six black pepper corns, all tied in a bit of rag, stew them amongst your gravy and veal, to which you are to add two spoonfuls if Ingie Siy, which being covered very close, let them stey one hour over a slow fire, then put in the mid-piece of veal, an ounce of truffles and also of morels, a dozen of cox-combs, an ox’s palate (inside of the mouth) boiled tender, skinned and cut in pieces, and one sweet-bread boiled, then cut in pieces a fe mushrooms, put them in the stew pan, and let them stew half an hour, then put them in the dish, the brisket and end-pieces first, the mid-pieces above them in the middle, and all the rest laid around.

The Laird and farmer, 1740.

Cut the quince into quarters, place them in a pan with equal parts of water and grape syrup, and place over a small fire. Add orange peel, lemon peel, and angelica; the quince will be penetrated by the sugar as well as release its own liquid. Once the syrup thickens, the fruit is removed and placed into the vase in which you intend to preserve it. The remaining syrup is then thickened and while still boiling, poured over the fruit in the vase.

Translated from Cadet de Vaux. Le Ménage ou l’emploi des fruits, 1810.

Make an omelette with clarified butter, then add some orange juice and sprinkle with sugar and serve.

De Lune. Le Novveav cusinier, 1659.

Take the weight of three or four eggs in sifted fine flour, butter and powdered loaf sugar, melt or beat the butter, and mix with the sugar and flour then add the egg yolks and whites beaten separately, take out the white of one egg if you like, beat them whole well together and pour into a tin, which should be round and that with a rim about four inches high hooked together, for the purpose, when baked take it out the oven, and split it open with a sharp knife, then spread it with raspberry preserve, and return it to the oven for a minute or two, when cold cut it into corner pieces, and it will prove very delicious.

English manuscript. Sarah Ellen Knight, 1865.

There are several species of truffles, white, gray, and black; those from Piedmont have a garlic taste. One needs a quarter of a pound of truffles per pint of cream. Cook them in water with a little salt, then remove the truffles, crush them, and sprinkle them with a bit of cream. When this mixture is well crushed, add the rest of the cream* and place it over a soft fire; when it has thickened a little, remove it and pass it through a sieve. Use a wooden spoon and force as much as possible through, let the mixture cool, and use this mixture to make the ice cream from. If you want it to mold it into tablettes, biscuits, cannelons or fromages, then it will be called fromages glacés.

*The cream is made from egg yolks, cream, and sugar. For each pint of cream you add four egg yolks and a quarter pound of sugar. This is heated up and carefully stirred at a very low heat and is not allowed to boil or get hot enough to cook the egg yolks.

Translated from Emy. L’Art de bien faire les glaces d’office, 1768.

Three pounds of violets removed from their stems. Four pounds of sugar. You bruise the violets in a marble mortar; when the sugar is cooked and boiling hard, you dilute it, and add a pound or two of renette apple marmalade to cause the jelly to set. You then bring it to two or three boils, and then pour the marmalade into pots. It is excellent for people with chest problems.

Translated from Machet. Le Confiseur moderne, 1803.

Take six pints of eau-de-vie (the alcohol at 22 degrees), one pint of river water, two pounds of black currants, three pounds of crushed sugar, one pound of wild cherries, six ounces of black currant leaves, and a considerable amount of cinnamon or cloves. First crush the fruits and leaves, and pound the cinnamon, then infuse the eau-de-vie with all of this for one month, melt the sugar in the water, decant it into the liqueur, and then when the mixture is made, pass it through a filter and then bottle it.

Translated from Viard. Le Cuisinier royal, 1817.

Pound-up a foie gras / some bits of smoked ham / some mushrooms, blanched udder / some sweetbreads, lard / season with spices well chosen / and all done artfully.

Take each liver / the forcemeat all about / envelope in the caul as a though a net / coat with bread crumbs, cook in the oven / and then serve with a sauce well made / underneath and all around.

Translated from Lebas. Festin joyeux, 1738.

Pear a bunch of Turnips (save out three or four) put them into a gallon of water, with half an ounce of white pepper, an onion struck with cloves, three blades of mace, half a nutmeg bruised, a good bunch of sweet herbs, and a large crust of bread. Boil them an hour and a half, then pass them thro’ a sieve; clean a bunch of cellery, cut it small, and put it into your turnips and liquor, with two of the turnips you saved, and two young carrots cut in dice; cover it close, and let it stew; then cut two turnips and carrots in dice, flour them, and fry them brown in butter, with two large onions cut thin, and fried likewise, put them all into your soup, with some vermicelli; let it boil softly, till your cellery is tender, and your soup is good. Season it with salt to your palate.

The New-England cookery, 1808.

Take the tails of your Lobsters and split them long-ways in two; then crack your Claws, and put them over the Gridiron with the Barrel whole, salted; baste them with sweet Butter, Thyme, Rosemary, Parsley; being enough, serve it up with Butter and Vinegar.

Hall. The Queen’s royal cookery, 1713.

After having washed the truffles under much water and carefully brushed them clean so that there is no remaining sand or dirt, place on the kitchen table the pieces of white paper to be used to cook the truffles; at the center of each piece of paper spread a bard of lard and place upon it a truffle lightly sprinkled with fine salt. Fold the paper around the truffle and the bard of lard, and then wrap around this three additional layers of very strong paper, taking care that the barded truffle is fully enclosed. The truffles are then set, and cooked under the hot ashes, in the manner of chestnuts. Before serving remove the first two layers of paper which should be more or less burned and soiled by the ashes, and then serve the truffles in the remaining two leaves of paper, which should have remained perfectly clean. This is one of the easiest ways and at the same time best ways to prepare truffles; it is a common way to prepare them for lunch; it is best to cook in the ashes truffles of average size; too small, they are partly calcinated; too big, and they are imperfectly cooked. Truffle lovers prefer this method of cooking to any other, because it retains the natural flavor of the truffle without modification by any seasoning.

Translated from Remy. Champignons et truffes, 1861.

One pound soft wheat bread, three ounces beef suet, three eggs, a little sweet thyme, marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith, and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with butter and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cranberry sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery. 1. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes. 2. Boil and marsh three pints potatoes, moisten them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above.

Simmons. American cookery, 1814.

Take a larded hare and braise or steam it in a torte pan. Then place it in a prepared tureen and cover it with eighteen egg whites, beaten stiff like snow, and put the tureen into an oven to bake without letting the snow turn color. Take the dish out of the oven and make an opening at the top of the pile of snow and pour into it a cherry-sauce. Along the sides of the tureen arrange small torts.

Translated from Braun. Neuestes allgemein verständliches Kochbuch, 1806.

Soak a fresh tongue over night. In the morning take the skin off by boiling water. Mix together 1 large spoon of lard, 1 quart of raw beans, chopped fine, with lard, 2 or 3 onions, chopped not very fine, and a little parsley. Fry all together for a little while; then add to his 1 cup of stock, 1 cup of wine, a head of garlic, pepper, salt, cinnamon, and 3 laurel leaves. Then put a paper over top of saucepan and put on cover very tight. Cook for two or three hours over a slow fire; then strain the same through a colander. Add to the strained sauce 1 or 2 spoonfuls of brown flour to thicken. Put over the fire a little while, and then pour over the tongue.

The Cookery Blue Book, 1891

Take a pint of hot milk and stir in sifted Indian meal till the batter is stiff; add a tea-spoonful of salt and a little molasses; then stir in a pint of whortleberries, or the same quantity of chopped sweet apple. Tie it in a cloth that has been wet, and leave room for it to swell, or put it in a pudding pan, and tie a cloth over – boil it three hours. The water must boil when it is put in. You can use cranberries, and eat it with sweet sauce.

Jackson. Valuable receipts, 1846.

Take a large sheet of puff pastry and cut it into small pieces as you would for small pies; between two pieces you place apricot marmalade, cream cheese, or anything else; press the two firmly together and fry in lard, glaze them, and serve.

Translated from Le Cuisinier Gascon, 1740.