HFF 4.4: Hearty Fare

The Challenge: Hearty Fare. I opted for "heart"-y rather than "hearty" because puns make me happy.

The Recipe: Heart cakes from The Lady's Assistant for Regulating and Supplying her Table. 

The Date/Year and Region: London, 1777 (3rd ed.)

How Did You Make It: There wasn't much detail for how to mix the ingredients (beyond creaming the butter and beating the eggs), so I decided to just add things in the listed order (instead of say, separating the eggs and beating the whites fluffy, as I might for a cake). So, I beat 1lb butter to a cream, then stirred in beaten eggs (12 yolks 6 whites), and followed that up with 1lb sugar, 1 lb flour, then 1 lb currants, and 4 Tbsp brandy. This made a thick batter, not quite a dough. I spooned it into buttered muffin tins, placing pieces of candied lemon and orange peel in the center (totaling 2oz candied peel). Baked at 350F.  

Time to Complete: The batter mixed up in 10 minutes; each pan baked for ~17 minutes.

Total Cost: Currants were $4 for the pound, butter on sale for $2/pound, all other ingredients on hand.

How Successful Was It?: Tasty. The cakes seemed a little bland at first, but they go very well with tea, and I actually don't want them any sweeter. They aged well over several days without going stale. My mom thought they were muffins, and didn't observe anything unusual about them. I wouldn't call them either dense or dry, but I found the texture slightly more substantial than a modern muffin or cake.  

How Accurate Is It?: Electric oven and mixer, as usual. Likewise, zante currants instead of real ones, because that's what I can get in this area. The original called for candied orange and citron, though I didn't consider until afterward that they might have meant fruit pieces instead of peel (my orange and lemon peel are always mixed, thus my inclusion of lemon). I think the cupcake tins were a good approximation of size, since I know I overfilled the first pan, but still ended up with 31 cakes where the recipe indicated 36.

My best guess for the 'heart' name is that it's the candied fruit at the center.

Heart cakes

HFF 4.3: The Tiffany Problem

The Challenge: Make a dish that's older than you expected. 

After considering several dishes that have surprised me over the years with their antiquity (fondue and macaroni foremost), I decided to try a very familiar dish straight out of 1720s cookbook: French Toast.

[Yes, I know from a friend that this dish goes back at least to the middle ages, but I hadn't seen a recipe for it before the mid-19th century, and wanted to try this one.]

The Recipe: Cream Toast or Pain Perdu from The Cook's and Confectioner's Dictionary: Or, the Accomplish'd Housewife's Companion (for full effect, imagine those s's are long)

The Date/Year and Region: 1723, London

How Did You Make It: I set 2 Tbsp unsalted butter to melt in a frying pan on medium heat, then mixed together 1/2 cup cream and 1/4 cup milk in a deep bowl, beat two eggs together in another bowl, and sliced about 1/3 of a loaf of French bread into 3/8" wide slices. I soaked the bread in the milk, sprinkled it with ground cinnamon and granulated sugar, dipped each slice in the egg, and set them to fry. When browned, I removed the toast from heat and sprinkled with more sugar.     

Time to Complete: 25 minutes (10 to prepare while heating the pan, about 15 to cook 9 slices of bread) 

Total Cost: $4

How Successful Was It?:  This is some very tasty French toast. I wwas wondring if it would be bland without the syrup, etc., used today, but the cinnamon and sugar were just right, and the milk/cream/egg/butter combination was pleasantly rich without being too greasy. I was using fresh bread (quelle horror!) so there was little utility in soaking the bread so long, but I can see where it would be useful if using older bread.

How Accurate Is It?: Cooked on a modern stove, but I didn't effect any intentional changes to the instructions or ingredients. If I found myself hearth-cooking, I would be tempted to use this receipt, as it went together easily and pan-frying is a technique I'd be comfortable attempting in such a set-up.

Yes, this is my Faire kit.
The recipe pre-dates all my transerware!

Original: Purple Silk with Paisley Interludes

Dress, c.1860
LACMA

Have I posted a lot of c.1860s dresses? Yes. Is this one too fabulous to pass-up? Also, yes. I mean, look at that figured silk! I love and loathe it at the same time. Not to mention the dangling pom-pom trim, and lace.  I find the cut intriguing--those flowing sleeves look right around 1860, while the bust trim and waist placement feel closer to '63-'65 to me.