“On the very first evening after our arrival, Mr. Barkis appeared in an exceedingly vacant and awkward condition, and with a bundle of oranges tied up in a handkerchief. As he made no allusion of any kind to this property, he was supposed to have left it behind him by accident when he went away; until Ham, running after him to restore it, came back with the information that it was intended for Peggotty. After that occasion he appeared every evening at exactly the same hour, and always with a little bundle, to which he never alluded, and which he regularly put behind the door and left there. These offerings of affection were of a most various and eccentric description. Among them I remember a double set of pigs’ trotters, a huge pin-cushion, half a bushel or so of apples, a pair of jet earrings, some Spanish onions, a box of dominoes, a canary bird and cage, and a leg of pickled pork.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
weighing about six pounds; put it into a dripping pan on three bay leaves, quarter of an ounce of parsley, one ounce of onion, and the same quantity of carrot sliced, and roast it about twenty minutes to each pound; when half done, season it with salt and pepper; when brown, serve it with a border of Parisian potatoes, prepared according to receipt No. 2, and send it to the table with a bowl of apple sauce. 98. =Apple Sauce.=--Pare and slice one quart of good tart apples; put them into a sauce-pan with half a pint of cold water; stir them often enough to prevent burning, and simmer them until tender, about twenty minutes will be long enough; then rub them through a sieve with a wooden spoon, add a saltspoonful of powdered cloves, and four ounces of sugar, or less according to the taste; serve in a bowl, with the roast pork. 99.
Sources: The passage is from Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Corson, The Cooking Manual of Practical Directions for Economical of 1877, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — navy cloth, pudding stamp.