4 meals in this book
“We have greatly improved in that respect. They say the admiral’s reputation as a British sailor of the old school made him, rather his name, a great favourite at Court; but to Court he could not be got to go, and if the tale be true, their Majesties paid him a visit on board his ship, in harbour one day, and sailors tell you that Old Showery gave his liege lord and lady a common dish of boiled beef with carrots and turnips, and a plain dumpling, for their dinner, with ale and port wine, the merit of which he swore to; and he became so elate, that after the cloth was removed, he danced them a hornpipe on his pair of wooden legs, whistling his tune, and holding his full tumbler of hot grog in his hand all the while, without so much as the spilling of a drop!--so earnest was he in everything he did. They say his limit was two bottles of port wine at a sitting, with his glass of hot grog to follow, and not a soul could induce him to go beyond that. In addition to being a great seaman, he was a very religious man and a stout churchman.”
Aitchbone, weighing 5 lbs. 4 cups potatoes, cut in ¼ inch slices ──────┬────────────────────────────────── Turnip│⅔ cup each, cut in half-inch cubes Carrot│ ──────┴────────────────────────────────── ½ small onion, cut in thin slices ¼ cup flour Salt Pepper Wipe meat, remove from bone, cut in one and one-half inch cubes, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and dredge with flour. Cut some of the fat in small pieces and try out in frying-pan. Add meat and stir constantly, that the surface may be quickly seared; when well browned, put in kettle, and rinse frying-pan with boiling water, that none of the goodness may be lost. Add to meat remaining fat, and bone sawed in pieces; cover with boiling water and boil five minutes, then cook at a lower temperature until meat is tender (time required being about three hours). Add carrot, turnip, and onion, with salt and pepper the last hour of cooking. Pa
Recipe from The Boston cooking-school cook book of 1896.
“Gower Woodseer; the mention of whom is a dejection to the venerable source of our story, was then in the act of emerging from the Eastward into the Southward of the line of Canterbury’s pilgrims when they set forth to worship, on his homeward course, after a walk of two days out of Dover. He descended London’s borough, having exactly twopence halfpenny for refreshment; following a term of prudent starvation, at the end of the walk. It is not a district seductive to the wayfarer’s appetite; as, for example, one may find the Jew’s fry of fish in oil, inspiriting the Shoreditch region, to be. Nourishment is afforded, according to the laws of England’s genius in the arts of refection, at uninviting shops, to the necessitated stomach. A penn’orth of crumb of bread, assisted on its laborious passage by a penn’orth of the rinsings of beer, left the natural philosopher a ha’penny for dessert at the stall of an applewoman, where he withstood an inclination toward the juicy fruit and chose nuts. They extend a meal, as a grimace broadens the countenance, illusorily; but they help to cheat an emptiness in time, where it is nearly as offensive to our sensations as within us; and that prolonged occupation of the jaws goes a length to persuade us we are filling. All the better when the substance is indigestible. Tramps of the philosophical order, who are the practically sagacious, prefer tough grain for the teeth. Woodseer’s munching of his nuts awakened to fond imagination the picture of his father’s dinner, seen one day and little envied: a small slice of cold boiled mutton-flesh in a crescent of white fat, with a lump of dry bread beside the plate.”
424. Cut the bread into thin slices, place them in a cool oven overnight, and when thoroughly dry and crisp, roll them down into fine crumbs. Put some lard, or clarified dripping, into a frying-pan; bring it to the boiling-point, throw in the crumbs, and fry them very quickly. Directly they are done, lift them out with a slice, and drain them before the fire from all greasy moisture. When quite crisp, they are ready for use. The fat they are fried in should be clear, and the crumbs should not have the slightest appearance or taste of having been, in the least degree, burnt.
Recipe from The Book of Household Management of 1861.
“Chillon was engaged in spying for a place where he could spread out the contents of his bag. Sharp hunger beset them both at the mention of eating. A bank of sloping green shaded by a chestnut proposed the seat, and here he relieved the bag of a bottle of wine, slices of, meat, bread, hard eggs, and lettuce, a chipped cup to fling away after drinking the wine, and a supply of small butler-cakes known to be favourites with Carinthia. She reversed the order of the feast by commencing upon one of the cakes, to do honour to Mariandl’s thoughtfulness. As at their breakfast, they shared the last morsel.”
BREAD AND BREAD-MAKING. 1668. AMONG the numerous vegetable products yielding articles of food for man, the Cereals hold the first place. By means of skilful cultivation, mankind have transformed the original forms of these growths, poor and ill-flavoured as they perhaps were, into various fruitful and agreeable species, which yield an abundant and pleasant supply. Classified according to their respective richness in alimentary elements, the Cereals stand thus:--Wheat, and its varieties, Rye, Barley, Oats, Rice, Indian Corn. Everybody knows it is wheat flour which yields the best bread. Rye-bread is viscous, hard, less easily soluble by the gastric juice, and not so rich in nutritive power. Flour produced from barley, Indian corn, or rice, is not so readily made into bread; and the article, when made, is heavy and indigestible. 1669.
Recipe from The Book of Household Management of 1861.
“She hastened forward. ‘We will go down and have our last meal at home,’ she said in the dialect of the country. ‘We have five eggs. No meat for you, dear, but enough bread and butter, some honey left, and plenty of coffee. I should like to have left old Mariandl more, but we are unable to do very much for poor people now. Milk, I cannot say. She is just the kind soul to be up and out to fetch us milk for an early first breakfast; but she may have overslept herself.’”
Butter is an expensive article, and should be selected with care. If one have the proper place for storing it, and can get it direct from some trustworthy dairy, it would be economical to purchase the winter’s supply in October. About fifty pounds will be enough for a family of two for six months. This should be put up in two or three small tubs. It must be kept in a cool, sweet place. Eggs, of course, are best fresh. It is wise economy for the young housekeeper to pay the extra price, and always be sure of the quality of her supply. Pure milk is a most important adjunct to the table. As far as it is in her power to do so, the housekeeper should see that the supply comes from a wholesome source, and then do her part to keep the milk good by having the vessels perfectly clean and the surroundings such that the milk shall not be contaminated.
Recipe from Miss Parloa's Young Housekeeper of 1893.
Sources: Every passage above is quoted verbatim from The Amazing Marriage, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipes come from cookbooks of the period, also free in full. All are in the public domain in the United States. The binding is ours — oxblood cloth, sheaf stamp.