The Housekeeper's Instructor

[Ann]

My latest acquisition courtesy of Ebay is a cookery book, published in 1805 called "The Housekeeper's Instructor". They certainly ate well in those days. There are plates showing suggested menus.

"A Table of One Course for a Family Entertainment" is as follows:

Fish
Tarts
Boild Fowl
Custards
Broccoli
Ham
Greens
Mince Pies
Roast Fowl
Apple Puffs
Hare

"A Table of Two Courses for a Small Company" has, for the First Course:

Mock Turtle
Lamb Cutlets
Sweetbreads a la dauphine
Mutton Rump
Rabbits
Rump of Beef
Fricands of Veal
Larks
Fricasee of Pigs Ears
Rice Soup

and for the Second Course

Ducklings
Stew'd Eggs and Spinage
Ragoo of Lamb's Tails
Tartlets
Almond Cakes
Ribs of Lamb
Prawns
Macaroni
Roasted Capon
Asparagus

(Does anyone want the recipe for "Fricasee of Pig's Ears"?!)

[Catnip]

Sounds like a banquet, Ann!

The Delinquents would probably like me to have the recipe for the 'Fricasee of Pig's Ears' but personally I think I could live without that! Yuk! I now have visions of little pigs running around ear-less!

[Edda]

I couldn't bring myself to eat lamb or veal. The pigs' ears don't sound too appetizing, either. Most of the rest of it sounds good, though. Partner would love the roast or boiled fowl. He loves chicken in all forms. The feral cats love to eat the chicken jelly. It promotes nice, healthy, sleek coats.

[Ann]

I'm busy going through the book repairing the torn pages; it's completely in pieces at the moment. I can't resist reading the odd recipe as I'm working and this one sounds really tasty. I'm very tempted to give it a try sometime, although I don't think I'll be using multiple chickens as the recipe suggests!

Skin your chickens and then cut them into small pieces, after which wash them with warm water, and thoroughly dry them with a cloth. Season them with salt and pepper, and put them into a stew-pan with a little water, a large piece of butter, a bunch of thyme and sweet marjoram, an onion stuck with cloves, a little lemon pickle, a glass of wine, an anchovy, a little maze and nutmeg. When the chickens have stewed till they are tender, take them up and lay them in your dish. Thicken your gravy with butter rolled in flour, and then strain it. Beat up the yolks of three eggs, and mix them with a gill of rich cream; put this into your gravy and shake it over the fire till it is quite hot, but do not suffer it to boil. Pour this over your chickens, and serve them up. Garnish with sliced lemon.

[Lesley]

ann, the menu's are quite interesting - i don't suppose they were meant for over-tired moms with three wee ones. i'm lucky they will eat a bowl of noodles.

and no way on the pigs ears.

its funny how desserts have remained quite similar (okay except for the pudding that comes in the little plastic cups)

lesley

p.s. it is disapointing that people don't enjoy food as much as they once did

[Ann]

hellokitty said:

i don't suppose they were meant for over-tired moms with three wee ones. lesley

Only if the tired Mom had a houseful of servants!

[Lesley]

but ann i have a servant! only he doesn't arrive home until after i've prepared the meal!

lesley

[Xinzerella]

I like the term "do not suffer it to boil" - wish I could see that book myself! I'll be going around for a while now, saying "suffer it not..." I went to a normally quiet supermarket next door to me this morning and there were a lot of people there, long queues - I bet it was because it was raining!! Rrr. I can't stand queues so I kept skipping off to get eggs, look dubiously at the hay fever remedies and peer at the different types of juice; occasionally checking the queue status in passing. Finally they opened another till. Suffer not the queues...

[Ann]

I'm trying the chicken recipe out later today. There'll be 3 of us running down to the chip shop if it turns out to be inedible! I've got all the ingredients bar the lemon pickle. When I looked up the recipe it included standing it by the side of the fire for 3 months, so I'm giving it a miss. I found a bottle of lemon dressing in Sainsbury's, which had a lot of similar ingredients, so I'll put a spoonful of that in instead and hope it does the trick.

[Lesley]

ann, good luck! what is for dessert?
one of the few times i've really killed a meal - it was chicken. i looked in the oven, saw the fire; but it just didn't 'click'. i thought 'ooh what a pretty fire'. no, i wasn't into the wine either. i think it was after baby number 2.
it did look like a lovely fire though. we have a fireplace now. never get a chance to light it.
i should today, it is chilly and pouring rain.

lesley

[Ann]

The 1805 recipe was delicious! You can see it on the right of the pic garnished with the lemon. We tried it with noodles and rice and the general concensus was that rice was the better accompaniment.



We had lemon meringue pie for pudding, as it used up the spare egg white from the main course.

[gill]

WOW!!! Ann...that looks JUST like a photo out of a book! ;D Really professional!
Looks absolutely yummy too!

Somehow don't think it would look THAT good if I did it LOL Can just about manage a few basics...though I DID manage to burn the toast twice this morning!!!! Well, I didn't - the toaster machine did!

Gill

[Lesley]

ann, looks wonderful. very thrifty use of the egg white. and garnish! we seem to be using a lot of ketchup for that in our house (or peanut butter). canada seems to have a lot of peanut butter use. i don't think it is used as much in england is it? well, not in 1805 anyway!

lesley

p.s. i hope you had a night off from cooking the next night

[Xinzerella]

gill said:

WOW!!! Ann...that looks JUST like a photo out of a book! ;D Really professional!

What is the china? (Nose, nose...) I ask because Mum seems to have been collecting china recently.

[Ann]

It's called Westbury and is made by Denby. I collected it in the 1970s, and still have most of it intact. Unfortunately it went out of production many years ago.