HFF 6.22: Remember, Remember

The Challenge: Remember, Remember. It may not be November 5, but try cooking a dish from minimal instructions. Or try a dish that would be easy to memorize. 

The Recipe: Cucumbers "en salade" from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families.

TOMATAS EN SALADE
These are now often served in England in the American fashion merely sliced and dressed like cucumbers with salt pepper oil and vinegar.

The Date/Year and Region: 1845 (4th edition), London

 

How Did You Make It: I peeled and sliced two cucumbers, added a small splash of vinegar, drizzle of olive oil (aka "salad oil"), and a dash each of salt and pepper.

 

Time to Complete: Not more than five minutes.

 

Total Cost: Home-grown cucumbers, and only a token amount of pantry staples, so I don't have a cost estimate.

 

How Successful Was It?: Tasted like fresh cucumber with a hint of vinegar. I think a little more olive oil and salt wouldn't go amiss, since I didn't really notice them changing the flavor, but overall this was a refreshing dish, and simple to make. I will definitely use it again, especially in late summer when I have a surplus of cucumbers and tomatoes.

How Accurate Is It? I used a modern variety of cucumber, since I couldn't find heirloom cucumber starts for my garden, but otherwise I think I followed the recipe. Or description.

Cucumbers left center, in front of Quin's standing pie.

[I technically made it ahead of the challenge window, because I had a event for which I needed an easy-to-transport savory dish in early November and also needed to use the last two cucumbers from my summer garden while they were still fresh. I nearly made this with the last of my tomatoes as well, but they were just a little too soft when I went to prepare them. By coincidence, this was actually on November 5.]

Typical Tudor Smock

At long last, the seam finishes are done on my new 16th century smock. It's based on the smock variations in The Typical Tudor; this time I opted for a low square neckline and sleeves gathered into cuffs. The whole smock is made of the same mid-weight linen with (bleached) linen tape to fasten the wrists.

Smock.

The garment is mostly hand-sewn, though I did cheat with some machine sewing on the long gusset seam because I was rushing to have another wearable smock for Faire. It did debut on the final day, but with only half a hem and many raw seam allowances; most of the delay in photographing the smock centered on removing the Faire stains so I could finish all the felling. Two soaks with borax and wash soda got most of the dirt out, while spot-cleaning with bleach was needed for the sunscreen/sweat discoloration.

HFF 6.20: Fear Factor

The Challenge: Fear Factor. Try making a dish with an ingredient, technique, or other element goes a little outside your comfort zone (including an era or cuisine you're less familiar with). Or make a recipe with a spooky name.

The Recipe: Deviled Biscuits from Maria Rundell's A New System of Domestic Cookery

Devilled Biscuits--Butter captain's biscuits on both sides, and pepper them well; make a slice of cheese into a paste with made mustard, and lay it on upon one side; sprinkle cayenne pepper on the top, and send them to be grilled. This may be varied by the addition of chopped anchovies, or the essence diavolo paste, or Chetney.

The Date/Year and Region: 1844, Philadelphia

 

How Did You Make It: I started with the Captain's Biscuit, which posed a problem in that there appear to be at least two different versions of this item: one thin and hard (possibly like a cracker or hardtack) and the other a bit thicker and able to be split for serving. The Complete Biscuit and Gingerbread Baker's Assistant (1854) was particularly useful for spelling this out, though as its instructions are given for professional kitchens, I decided to instead follow the recipe in Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery (1896), which is better suited for me to make at home on a small scale:

Captain's Biscuits.--Put a pinch of salt with as much flour as may be required, and make it into a paste with a little new milk. Knead it thoroughly till it is firm and stiff, then divide it into balls, and form into cakes about a quarter of an inch in thickness. Prick them with a fork, and bake for about fifteen minutes.

For this, I used 1 cup of all-purpose flour, added a sprinkle of salt (<1/8 tsp), and then just enough milk to make the dough (1/3 cup). I kneaded this by hand, divided it into six pieces, rolled each into a ball, and then flattened them; despite aiming for 1/4", the biscuits ended up in the 1/4"-1/2" range. I baked these the suggested 15 minutes 350F, and let biscuits cool.

I then buttered and sprinkled pepper on both sides of each biscuit. I cut one piece of cheese per biscuit and crushed/mixed each with some mustard. I applied the cheese to the biscuits, sprinkled cayenne over the whole, and put them back in the over for another 5 minutes at 400F.

The type of cheese wasn't specified, so I ended up grabbing all the left-overs from craft night, and make one biscuit with each of: white cheddar, brie, tuscano with black pepper, rosemary asiago, smoked gouda, and double gloucester with chives. I also used some leftover modern (from a can) basic biscuits to test whether this recipe works better with a thick biscuit than a thinner one. It's not a true thick captain's biscuit, but I thought it would be a useful point of comparison in case I decide to make these again. Also, melted cheese on bread is delicious in general.

Time to Complete: A couple hours, since I was waiting for the biscuits I baked to cool. If one had left-over biscuits and an already-hot oven, I'd put it at closer to 5 minutes prep and 5-10 cooking time.

 

Total Cost: About $2, though it's hard to say at this small of scale.

 

How Successful Was It? The homemade biscuits were edible, just a bit bland, and also not quite crisp. I think I need to get them much thinner (truly 1/4" or less) and also probably cook them at a higher temperature. A touch more salt might be nice, too. I erred low on the temperature since I knew they'd  be getting cooked twice, but I wouldn't go that route again. The ready-mades had a lot more flavor (butter and salt), but also felt like they needed to be crispier, so I think the second bake-standing-in-for-grilling should also be done at more of a broil. I went 400F this time because I was leaning that way, but I think it needs either to go up to 425F and/or to go more than 5 minutes. Maybe I'll try 10 at 400F next time.

 

All of the cheeses ended up edible, despite my misgivings. Not all of them mashed well or melted nicely, and some imparted more of their own flavor than others. I also ended up using more mustard in some, which meant some tasted like mustard other more like the cheese, and a combination of the two. The gloucester mashed easiest of all and also melted nicely; perhaps because of this, I used a little less mustard and the biscuit tasted mostly of the cheese. The brie also mashed and melted fairly well, and had a mellower taste, which made the mustard more prominent. The smoked gouda was hard to work with, but some of the smokey flavor came through, which was very tasty. Both the tuscano and asiago cheeses were pretty low-key, and blended well into the overall biscuit, even with their extra flavoring agents. The cheddar was perfectly serviceable and melted ok; it was the one I had assumed would work best, but compared to the others it didn't stand out taste-wise. Overall, I'd rate this as another yummy Welsh-rarebit-type recipe, but something about the cracker base makes it seem like a fancy finger food, which could be useful.

How Accurate Is It? The grilling step in the major change: I had to switch to broiling, which honestly ended up more like baking. The ship's biscuits were not the hardtack disaster I expected, and with some practice I think they could get quite serviceable for when I want to make a more accurate deviled biscuit. I've already explained the cheese and biscuits, which were more experiments than not. For the made mustard, I used a plain yellow prepared mustard.

Not all the cheeses mashed easily.

Devilled Biscuits.

HFF 6.19: Soups and Stews

The Challenge: Soups & Stews. Make a soup, stew, broth, or anything served in a bowl.

The Recipe: Escalloped Parsnips from Dr. Chase's Third, Last, and Complete Receipt Book and Home Physician (I'm counting it, since it was in the middle of a bunch of stew recipes, and I also served it in a bowl.)

The Date/Year and Region: 1890, Detroit, Michigan/Windsor, Ontario

 

How Did You Make It: Half scale. I started by peeling, and boiling 10 or so small parnsips until they were tender; mashed, they yielded a generous cup. To this I added 1 Tbsp of unsalted butter, 1 Tbsp 2% milk, 1/2 tsp salt, and a dash of pepper, and mixed it all well with a wooden spoon. I tried putting the mixture back on the stovetop to bubble, but it was already so thick that I gave that up in short order--the texture and consistency was comparable to nice mashed potatoes. I buttered a glass oven-safe bowl, put in the mashed parsnip, sprinkled it with plain breadcrumbs, and dotted small pieces of butter over the top. I baked it at 325F for about 13 minutes.

 

Time to Complete: Around 45 minutes, since I started the water boiling while I peeled the parsnips, and cut them small so they'd cook quickly.

 

Total Cost: Parnsips were out of my garden, and the rest of the ingredients are pantry staples or left over from other dishes, so I don't have figures to hand.

 

How Successful Was It?: Tasty. The butter/milk/salt/pepper proportions make a nice, rich mashed parsnip with a good texture. I don't generally care for crust on soft foods, so I was a little scant on the breadcrumbs. If making this for someone else, I'd probably aim for a crisper, more golden crust (not only using more bread crumbs, but also baking at a slightly higher temperature or for a longer time). While it tastes fine as is, I think there's some potential to experiment with different seasonings, particularly in the crust.

How Accurate Is It? Made on an electric stove/oven, and with purchased bread crumbs, so there were a lot of modern short-cuts. I don't think most of these affected the flavor of the final dish, though the choice of baking dish certainly didn't give it's appearance any old-fashioned charm. I did use heirloom parsnips that I grew myself, which is always gratifying.

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HFF 6.18: Cake

 

The Challenge: Cake. Make a cake or cakes!

The Recipe: Very fine cocoa-nut macaroons from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families.

VERY FINE COCOA NUT MACAROONS
Rasp a fresh cocoa nut, spread it on a dish or tin, and let it dry gradually for a couple of days, if it can be done conveniently; add to it double its weight of fine sifted sugar, and the whites of eight eggs beaten to a solid froth (see page 543), to the pound. Roll the mixture into small balls, place them on a buttered tin, and bake them in a very gentle oven about twenty minutes. Move them from the tin while they are warm and store them in a very dry canister as soon as they are cold.
Cocoa nut, 1/2 lb; sugar, 1 lb; whites of eggs, 8; very gentle oven 20 minutes.

This is in the cakes chapter, so I think it counts.

The Date/Year and Region: 1845 (4th edition), London

 

How Did You Make It: 1/4 Scale. This recipe is really nice for that. The ratios work out neatly to 1 oz coconut and 2 oz sugar per egg white. 

 

I beat two egg whites to stiff peaks, and then added the 2oz coconut and 4 oz granulated sugar. I used a pre-heated (but turned off) oven as the "very gentle oven" and baked them 20 minutes, then a further 10 minutes since the were still sticky (though at this point the oven was quite cool so any future cooking times will likely be less than the aggregate 30 minutes here).

 

Time to Complete: Ten minutes prep, plus baking time.

 

Total Cost: About $1 at this scale.

 

How Successful Was It?: Tasted fine, though they were still a little under-cooked in the centers. Will definitely try again (and remember how to persuade my oven into actually holding at 180F, which seems the better way to cook meringues). It's very similar to Beeton's meringue recipe, with the coconut providing a nice flavor variation.

How Accurate Is It? Modern shortcuts (pre-shredded coconut and electric mixer) made this a quick and easy recipe. Without those, it would be much more labor intensive.

Original: Dorothea Sabine's Gown

Gown, 1598, Bayerisches Nationalmuseum.

There are so few surviving garments from the 16th century, that it's a pleasant surprise to find pictures of any of them. This example, from the Bayerisches Nationalmuseum and featured in Patterns of Fashion 3, is Dorothea Sabina von Neuberg's burial gown. The young Pflazgräfin (countess palatinate) died in 1598, and was buried in this elaborate ensemble, which includes a silk velvet gown trimmed in gold with long hanging sleeves, worn over an underdress of plain-woven silk decorated in silver lace. Contrary to the photograph above (which appears to be burgundy and yellow on my screen), the museum describes the velvet gown as olive-green and the plain-woven kirtle as green.