A Curry from London "Punch"

Three pounds of veal my darling girl prepares
And chops it nicely into little squares.
Five onions next prepared the little minx,
The biggest are the best her Samviel thinks,
And Epping butter nearly half a pound
And stews them in a pan until they're browned.
What next my dexterous little girl will do?
She pops the meat into the savory stew
With curry powder tablespoonfuls three
And milk a pint, the richest that may be.
And when the dish has stewed for half an hour
A lemon's ready juice she'll o'er it pour.
Then, bless her - then she gives the luscious pot
A very gentle boil, and serve it quite hot.


(1810) From "What Salem Dames Cooked", compiled and published by the Board of Managers of the School, 1933, Salem, MA (p. 17)

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