Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

Society as I Have Found It

by Ward McAllister

SOCIETY AS I HAVE FOUND ITWARD MCALLISTER
Our binding, not the publisher's

“Shad Stuffed and Baked (We Broil It). Boiled Turkey, Oyster Sauce. a Roast Peahen. Boiled Southern Ham. Escalloped Oysters. Maccaroni With Cheese. Prawn Pie. Crabs Stuffed in Shell. Roast Ducks. a Haunch of Venison.”

From a cookbook of 1845

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1845  ·  Acton
MEAT JELLIES FOR PIES AND SAUCES

A very firm meat jelly is easily made by stewing slowly down equal parts of shin of beef, and knuckle or neck of veal, with a pint of cold water to each pound of meat; but to give it flavour, some thick slices of lean unboiled ham should be added to it, two or three carrots, some spice, a bunch of parsley, one mild onion, or more, and a moderate quantity of salt; or part of the meat may be omitted, and a calf’s head, or the scalp of one, very advantageously substituted for it, though the flavouring must then be heightened, because, though very gelatinous, these are in themselves exceedingly insipid to the taste. If rapidly boiled, the jelly will not be clear, and it will be difficult to render it so without clarifying it with the whites of eggs, which it ought never to require; if very gently stewed, on the contrary, it will only need to be passed through a fine sieve, or cloth.

Sources: The passage is from Ward McAllister, Society as I Have Found It, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Acton, Modern cookery for private families of 1845, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — ochre cloth, oyster stamp.

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