Alaskan Whale Stew & Other Delights

Alaska Whale Stew     (Serves 347,161)

1 x 52 ton blue whale
948 lbs tinned tomatoes
7326 lbs potatoes
2276 lbs carrots
104 lbs sat
52 gallons tabasco hot sauce
1896 lbs onions
927 lbs celery
76 lbs black pepper

Place whale in pot with tomatoes.   Cook at 300 degrees (gas mark 2) for four hours.

Add potatoes, carrots, salt, hot sauce, onions, celery and black pepper and simmer for 36 hours.

If you care for hare in your stew add a 2 pound rabbit.

Anonymous     Recipe taken from "Recipes from the Rectory & The Rest"   -  circa 1970's/80's sold in aid of a church roof restoration project.    Apparently every couple getting married in the parish was presented with a copy of the book (the rest of the recipes are all very standard).



Perhaps slightly more palatable:


Paradise Pudding (1830)

If you'd have a good pudding
Pray mind what your're taught
Take two pennyworth of eggs
When they are twelve for a groat.

Take of that summer fruit
Which Eve once did cozen
Well pared and well grated
At least half a dozen.

Six ounces of bread
Let your maids eat the crust
The crumbs must be grated
As fine as small dust.

Six ounces of currants
But pray pick them clean
Lest they grate in your teeth
You know what I mean.

And if you've a mind
To be clever and handy
Put in good lemon rind
And a large glass of brandy.

Six ounces of sugar
Won't make it too sweet
With some salt and some nutmeg
To make it complete.

Three hours let it boil
Without peeps or flutter
And then serve it up
With some good melted butter.

Adam tasted the pudding
T'was wondrous nice
So Eve cut her husband another large slice.

Taken from Recipes from Wrawby, a Lindsey (Lincs) Federation of WI's book, 1937.



Batchelor's Nightcap

Take one bottle of whisky.  Remove cork.   Pour contents into cut glass tumbler.  Half fill.   Add water to taste and consume immediately!

This one was taken from 'Hunting Cook' compiled by Rosemary Eustace.

Spice up your Cos Lettuce

Are your Cos lettuce running to seed?  

Fear not, I have an old recipe which can help you transform them into Jamaican Ginger, or so it says.  

I have not tried it myself, we are growing  only weeds this year - an exaggeration, but not by much!

Image borrowed from newlifeonahomestead

"When Cos lettuce is beginning to go to seed - cut off the stalks and pull off the string then cut into pieces the size of West India ginger.    

Put it into water as fast as you can and wash.

Sugar and water in the proportion of 1lb of sugar to 9 pints of water, two large spoonfulls of powdered ginger laid in a piece of muslin, then boil it and let it stand 2 days then boil it again for half an hour.

Repeat this four or five times in the same syrup then put it in a sieve to drain and then wipe the pieces dry, then put it into a strong syrup with a great deal of ginger.  boil it in this syrup 2 or 3 times till it looks quite clear and tastes like Jamaica Ginger.

Some lemon peel cut very thin and boiled in the syrup improves the colour of the ginger mock."

This recipe is attributed to a Mrs P Atkinson.

This particular recipe comes from the large black handwritten book on top of the pile.

I am particularly fond of this one - but to tell the truth I love each one of them, for the story of each one unfolds as I hold them in my hand and read the recipes.

Only one of my small collection has the name of the woman who gathered and cooked the recipes, the rest are unknown, which is a shame. 

These old books with their well-worn covers and much thumbed pages, splashes of grease or splodges of gravy are a constant source of pleasure.  The handwriting is not always easy to decipher but they speak to me in ways beautiful, modern, pristine recipe books cannot.
felicity
x

ps I think Romaine lettuce gone to seed would work just as well.

The Wonderful Thing about Books

..is that they can set you off on a journey of exploration and adventure.

My old kitchen journals have done just that.

Max and I are still busy working on trying to get Miles  and Poppy's cottage fit for habitation (they return from China in just six weeks) and spend the rest of our time wandering around wild-eyed,  clutching lists entitled  'Jobs To Do' and 'If We Have Time'.    They are constantly being amended and adjusted according to whether we feel energetic and optimistic, or the more usual state which is too tired to sleep, brain on overload.  

I have still found time to fit in some reading - of course!

I read one excellent detective story by James Oswald, but apart from that I have enjoyed exploring the theme of food in history.

My recent birthday meant that I have had a clutch of gift cards and book tokens burning a hole in my pocket..... of course they almost all went on books,  which are allowing me to explore historical recipes and social history.

You just wouldn't believe the time-travel I am able to indulge in from the comfort of my desk in the conservatory.   I haven't made these journeys by myself for I have been in the company of some wonderful writers.

It will take me years to work my way through all the books, so far I have merely dipped in and out of them, snippets of information being about as much as my brain can cope with as we race towards the finish line with the cottage.

Of course I have also fitted in some cooking and baking, people still have to be fed, no matter how tired the cook.    No 'new' recipes tried out for a while, but I have found myself baking the Victorian Chocolate Cake, the Rhubarb and Custard Cake and the Ginger Cake (with Cayenne pepper!) for these have become firm favourites and are easy to make as well as being delicious.

I shall be spending this morning painting the final coat on the kitchen walls and ceiling (at the cottage) but after a snack lunch, and a snooze, I must do some baking for we have a glut of eggs.  

Besides which the cake tin is empty and I feel in the mood to explore another old cake recipe.

Wish me luck.