In order to get our period food to taste like it would have 100 years ago we need to season it like it was 100 years ago! I have found that I have much more nutmeg in my cabinet than ever before, and I bought mace for the first time in my life- all because of period cookery. This "recipe" is a blend of spices to use in period kitchens. It comes from
The Kentucky Housewife, 1839.
This blend was pretty easy to put together, and I had everything already in the cabinet (except white pepper, which I grabbed from the Food Lion). I threw everything into my mortar & pestle. The good thing about modern spices is that most of them are already ground up, making the work a little easier. The instructions say to use 12 blades of mace; mine was already ground, so I used about a tablespoon.
Mix it together well with the mortar & pestle-it does become a nice fine powder.
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| Kitchen Pepper mixed together. |
This does make quite a lot of seasoning. I had extra that did not fit in by bottle. The extra was put in a modern spice container to use in my kitchen. This is a spice that does have some heat to it. I am not one that likes hot & spicy foods, and this may be used sparingly in my kitchen. However, I do see where it will enhance the flavor of gravy & I can't wait to try it!
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| Bottled & Corked! |
There is a reference to this pepper in another recipe in the Kentucky Housewife. It is one of the spices found in "Bread Sauce for a Pig". It only calls for a teaspoon.
Enjoy!
