HFF 4.11: Commemorative Dishes

The Challenge: Commemorative Dishes. Try preparing something associated with a famous event or person.

The Recipe: Washington Cake from The Prairie Farmer

The Date/Year and Region: 1843, Chicago [possibly reprinted from a Michigan publication if I'm understanding the abbreviations]

How Did You Make It: On a 1/3 scale, still minding those eggs.

I melted 1/3 oz of butter (~2/3 tsp) in 1/3 quart skim milk (~ 10.5 fl oz), added it to 2/3 lb flour (~5 1/3 cup) with 1/3 tsp salt and 1 tsp yeast, and 1 egg. After kneading the dough, it was allowed to rise overnight* (~10 hours) in the pan and then baked for 25 minutes at 350F, and then kept a further 15 minutes in the cooling oven.

*Not the recommended modern food safety practice, what with the dairy and egg. I tried it as an experiment, since no one but me will be eating this loaf.

Time to Complete: About 11 hours, including rising and baking time.

Total Cost: About $1.50 for 1 loaf.

How Successful Was It?: Though called a cake, this is really a bread, albeit one that's light and has a very nice texture. It tastes like white bread-- rich, but fairly bland. Eaten with butter, I think the bread could use a bit more salt. It's fine with jam or with gravy at dinner.

It's nice enough, but not spectacular. I think I prefer the Sally Lunn recipe for making a rich bread that will be eaten promptly, though this might have a place for a fine, rich bread that keeps longer than a few hours (with modern concessions for food safety).

This 1/3 scale recipe perfectly fit a standard (8-1/2" x 4-1/2" x 2-1/2") loaf pan.

How Accurate Is It?: Without context for "1 pennyworth of yeast", I ended up using 1 tsp of dry active yeast, based on modern proportions of yeast to flour for overnight breads. The milk is skim. I used an available pan, though I'm not sure the loaf pan would be the preferred period shape.

Washington Cake is... a nice but boring white bread.

HFF 4.10: Sing For Your Supper

The Challenge: Sing for your supper! Make a dish associated with a song or with music.

The Recipe: Little Patty's Cakes from Domestic Management; Or, The Healthful Cookery-Book

[A bit of a stretch, since as far as I can tell the name is coincidental and has nothing to do with the rhyme.]

The Date/Year and Region: 1813 (2nd ed), London

How Did You Make It: On a quarter scale, since I have to mind how quickly I use eggs. I rubbed 2 oz of butter into 4 oz flour, added 2 oz sugar, 2 oz currants, 1/4 tsp ("a little") ground mace, then moistened the mixture into a sticky dough with 1 egg. The instructions say to lay small pieces in a buttered tin, which I'm interpreting as baking like a cookie (though whether drop or cut-out, I couldn't say; I went with drop this time). Baked 350F until the cakes just started browning; it was to be "half hour in a quick oven", but I was skeptical of anything so cookie-like taking that long on anything other than a very slow oven--and, more importantly, forgot to set the timer.

Time to Complete: About 10 minutes to mix up, uncertain baking time.

Total Cost: About $1 (everything on hand, estimating from usual butter/egg prices). 

How Successful Was It?: Very tasty. The texture and density is ultimately very similar to every other cookie-like sweet biscuit or small cake I've made from this period, but I think the currants and mace are my favorite flavor combination so far. For a change, I think I guessed right the first time on the spice amount--it's distinct and flavorful, but not at all excessive.

How Accurate Is It?: I mixed these cakes by hand (mostly being too lazy to haul out the mixer for such a small batch); as usual, zante currants substituted for the real currants. As already mentioned, it wasn't clear how the cakes should be shaped, though I think the drop method was perfectly serviceable, I could probably make them neater on a second try.

Not the prettiest, but very tasty.

Original: Gothic Brocade Ballgown

Ballgown, British 1842. The Met.

I'm always a little surprised when I find an 1840s dress that I like (spent too long in the 1850s), but the conrasting front panels with the lattice-work trim is lovely. This one has a whole write-up on the Met's website, and the large-scale image really showcases the 18th century brocade and delicate looped details of the trim.