Bread

Put your flour into
A good deep mug,
Which will bear a weight
And many a tug.

To six pounds of flour
Three spoonfuls of barm*,
Mixed with some water
That must be luke-warm.

Put this in the midst
Of the mug of flour,
Which stir gently in
And leave for an hour.

Then pour on the whole
More clean warm water,
Two spoonfuls of salt,
Knead up like mortar.

Again all must stand
Not far from the fire,
Till it has risen
As you could desire.

When that is all done
You out the dough take,
And shape into loaves,
Which soon you can bake.

“Bread” (#23), Cookery Rhymes. The Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey. Original from The British Library. The original citation is from Cookery Rhymes, Simple Remedies, and Useful Hints, Intended for Girls’ Day Schools by Miss Potter, 7th ed. London: Jarrold and Sons, 1862.

Noun 1.barm - a commercial leavening agent containing yeast cells; used to raise the dough in making bread and for fermenting beer or whiskey
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

Soup Stew

Half a pound of beef cut in small bits,
(Or mutton or pork, if you please,)
Slice in six potatoes, four turnips,
And throw in a pint of dry peas.

Put these in seven pints of water,
And onions or leeks don’t omit;
Four hours and a half gently boil,
With some oatmeal to make it thick.

When you have mixed the oatmeal in,
And added some salt and pepper;
Boil again, stirring all the time,
And you’ll find no soup can be better.

N. B. – This is excellent soup
Without any meat,
If you’ll put in herbs
Which are called sweet.

“Stew Soup” (#4), Cookery Rhymes. The Nineteenth Century. Cambridge: Chadwyck-Healey. Original from The British Library. The original citation is from Cookery Rhymes, Simple Remedies, and Useful Hints, Intended for Girls’ Day Schools by Miss Potter, 7th ed. London: Jarrold and Sons, 1862.

Trifle by Anthony Burgess

Of shining silvery crystal be your bowl,
Big as a priest's paunch or a drunkard's soul.
Take spongecakes then to fill it, very dry,
Divide them lengthwise, lengthwise let them lie,
Inner face upwards. Smear these faces then
With raspberry jam, then jam them shut again_,
Dispose them in the bowl. Take Jerez wine
Or Mavrodaphne; liberally incline
The bottle 'till, like rain on earth sun-baked,
The liquor has not drenched but merely slaked
That spongy thirst. With milk and eggs well-beaten
Seethe up a custard, thick; with honey sweeten_,
Then on your drunken spongecakes swiftly pour
Till they are sunk beneath a golden floor.
Cool until set. Whip cream and spread it deep.
Strew dragees in a silver swoop or sweep.
Cool, and keep cool. A two-hour wait must stifle
Your lust to eat this nothing, this mere TRIFLE.

Printed in Verona, Italy, 1977, by Plain Wrapper Press.(180 copies Retrieved from Darmouth College Library.

Clam Soup

First catch your clams – along the ebbing edges
Of saline coves you’ll find the precious wedges,
With backs up, lurking in the sandy bottom;
Take thirty large ones, put a basin under,
And cleave with knife the stony jaws asunder;
Add water (three quarts) to the native liquor,
Bring to a boil (and, by the way, the quicker
It boils the better, if you’d do it cutely).
Now add the clams, chopped up and minced minutely.
Allow a longer boil of just three minutes,
And while it bubbles quickly stir within its
Tumultuous depths, where still the mollusks mutter,
Four tablespoons of flour and four of butter,
A pint of milk, some pepper to your notion,
And clams need salting, although born of ocean.
Remove from fire (if much boiled they will suffer.
You’ll find that India-rubber isn’t tougher);
After ‘tis off, add three fresh eggs well beaten,
Stir once more, and it’s ready to be eaten.
Fruit of the wave! Oh, dainty and delicious!
Food for the Gods! Ambrosia for Apicius!
Worthy to thrill the soul of sea-born Venus,
Or titillate the palate of Silenus.


By W. A. Croffat, (Croffut?, copy poor) retrieved from Appleton’s Journal, v. 5, no. 2, p. 180, accessed via http://www.hti.umich.edu on 5/3/2005

Receipt for a Winter Salad

Two large potatoes passed through kitchen-sieve
Unwonted softness to the salad give.
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon –
Distrust the condiment which bites too soon,
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt.
Three times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And once with vinegar procured from town.
True flavor needs it, and your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two well-boiled eggs.
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, scarce suspected animate the whole.
And, lastly, on the flavored compound toss
A magic teaspoon of anchovy sauce.
Then though green turtle fail, though venison’s tough,
And ham and turkey are not boiled enough,
Serenely full the epicure may say,
“Fate cannot harm me – I have dined today!”


By Sidney Smith, retrieved from Appleton’s Journal, v. 5, no. 2, p. 180, accessed via http://www.hti.umich.edu on 5/3/2005

Eve’s Pudding

If you want a good pudding, mind what you are taught;

Take eggs six in number, when bought for a groat*;

The fruit with which Eve her husband did cozzen**,

Well pared and well chopped, take at least half a dozen;

Six ounces of bread – let the cook eat the crust –

And crumble the soft as fine as the dust;

Six ounces of currants from the stalks you must sort,

Lest they husk out your teeth, and spoil all the sport;

Six ounces of sugar won't make it too sweet,

And some salt and some nutmeg will make it complete.

Three hours let it boil, without any flutter,

And Adam won't like it without sugar and butter.

I will have more to say about this rhyme a bit later on.

*n.

An English silver coin worth four pence, used from the 14th to the 17th century.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition by Houghton Mifflin Company.

** Variation of v. coz·ened, coz·en·ing, coz·ens v.tr. 1. To mislead by means of a petty trick or fraud; deceive. 2. To persuade or induce to do something by cajoling or wheedling. 3. To obtain by deceit or persuasion. v.intr. To act deceitfully. [Perhaps from Middle English cosin, fraud, trickery.] cozen·er n.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition copyright ©2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company.

This recipe came from the Clements Library at the University of Michigan, Janice Bluestone Longone Collection and was retrieved in 2005. It appears in a number of charity cookbooks from the late nineteenth century.

 

Grandma's Gumbo

Something cold, something hot –
Put it in my big black pot.

In my pot that’s oh so jumbo,
Just the size for Grandma’s gumbo.

Now it’s time to make the roux.
That’s the first thing we must do.

A little oil, some flour too –
Let it simmer; now it’s through.

Two cups of rice will be just fine.
We’ll set it aside until we dine.

Don’t forget the pinch of salt.
The boiling we don’t want to halt.

Sauté’ some celery until it’s tender.
An excellent flavor it’s sure to render.

Add an onion; don’t shed a tear.
It’s just the next ingredient, dear.

Just the thing to make it yumbo,
All a part of Grandma’s gumbo.

A green bell pepper for the reason
Of bringing out the perfect season.

Okra and tomatoes will be just great.
The flavor we want to regulate.

Just the thing to make it yumbo,
All a part of Grandma’s gumbo.

Jumbo shrimp, the seafood creature –
Add some to this Creole feature.

In go oysters by the bunch.
They’ll give the dish an extra punch.

Just the thing to make it yumbo,
All a part of Grandma’s gumbo.

The crab into the pot must go.
Make it fast so he won’t know.

Then come onions, chopped just right.
Add some garlic, a cook’s delight.

Just the thing to make it yumbo,
All a part of Grandma’s gumbo.

Toss some parsley in the mix,
To help make sure the flavor kicks.

Shake in some hot sauce; don’t be shy.
It’ll be so good you’ll want to cry.

Come and get it while it’s hot.
Scoop it right out of the pot.

Top it off with a dash of file’.
“Oooh ya-ya” is what we’ll all say.

Just the thing to make it yumbo,
All a part of Grandma’s gumbo.


From Grandma’s Gumbo, D. O. Kadair
Pelican Publishing Co.: Gretna, LA. 2003.

Chutney

In my grandmother's cookbook

This recipe I found.

In her old-fashioned writing

So neat and so round.

Contents

8 lbs ripe tomatoes, 3 lbs. onions, 1 1/2 qts. cider vinegar, 1 dozen red and 1 dozen green peppers, 1 lb. prunes, 1 lb. seeded raisins, 2 lbs. brown sugar, 2 oz. ginger, 2 oz. allspice, 1 oz. cloves, 1/4 lb. mustard seed, 6 or 7 cinnamon sticks.

Cook tomatoes until soft,

Then through the grinder run

The raisins, prunes and onions

And cook again til done.

In vinegar the spices boil

When in a bag they're tied, 

For this will bring the best results

Though others have been tried.

When all are cooked together

An hour I think is right

Then put this into earthen jars

And seal them good and tight.

"They say" that chutney alone's required

To give cold meats a touch inspired.

This recipe comes from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library, Women's City Club Magazine, December, 1927, p. 50-51.

Steamed Prune Christmas Pudding - Better Late Than Never

I don't expect to post recipes in any particular order, only as they appeal to me and/or become available through my periodic research into this area. In addition, I may comment on the recipes as I have opportunity to try them out which should be fun.

Martha Jane's Rhymed Recipes

Steamed Prune Christmas Pudding

California's prunes, they say, 

Can nowhere else be beaten.

And here's a steamed prune pudding

The best you've ever eaten.

Contents

One cup molasses, one teaspoon soda, one half (1/2) cup suet, one cup water, one teaspoon each of cinnamon and nutmeg, two cups flour

To me a yellow bowl for cake

Is really inspiring.

My efforts of the very best

And thoughtful care requiring.

So put within a yellow bowl

Molasses, water, spice,

Stir until it's very smooth

If you would have this nice.

Sift flour in, add suet,

The cut-up prunes and when

Your soda's mixed with water 

You add the soda then.

Pour into mould and steam,

At least for full three hours.

I'll guarantee this pudding then

Would pacify the powers.

This recipe comes from the collection of the San Francisco Public Library, Women's City Club Magazine, December, 1927, p. 50.