"Friendsgiving" 2017

On Saturday, Nov. 18 I ventured to a program that used to be a regular on my yearly schedule. The CSS Neuse Civil War Days program had not occurred in 5 years, but was brought back this year! I was excited to hear that the event had been brought back to the site that used to house the remains of the CSS Neuse ironclad. This year I was asked to cook lunch for the staff and volunteers, and of course I said yes!

The menu was ample in order to feed 50 people- selections included Chicken & Rice, Carrots Stewed in Cream, Macaroni & Cheese, Sweet Potato pudding, pound cake and Queen Cake.

The Carolina Housewife, Sarah Rutledge, 1851

The day started with a 10-gallon pot full of water, salt, and five whole chickens- and a lot of friends! My favorite cook (and friend) joined me for the day,-we cooked and laughed, and sieved sweet potatoes, and laughed, and peeled carrots, and laughed, and burnt noodles, and laughed some more- something we had not done in a while.

A busy table- chickens cooling before getting de-boned. 

In a surprising turn of events, we actually had lunch ready on time! Which almost never happens, I guess I was very focused this year. We laid the table with food and called for lunch to be served- this is may favorite part of the day.

Serving table Left to Right - Cake, sweet potato pudding, stewed carrots, macaroni & cheese, chicken & rice in large pot over the fire. 

Enjoying some great food with friends! 

Two cooks enjoying their bounty.

After a filling lunch of food and friendship, and a brief rest from the morning's rush, we decided to make pie! With the leftover sweet potatoes we added eggs and spices (ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg) to create a wonderful pie filling, that will probably never be replicated.

Working sweet potato magic!

We placed two pies in two different ovens and waited.

Pie ready to bake in the oven. 

. Learning to control your oven heat and monitor your food while it is cooking is  a skill that is learned- and something that cannot really be taught. We had two different sized pies in two different sized oven- in two different types of pie plates (one tin, one stoneware). It was monitoring game on these pies, the smaller one in the tin pan was done in about 20 minutes, the larger one took about 10 minutes more.

Beautiful Pie! 

We did have a TON of food left over, mostly chicken and rice- there were 9 plastic containers sent home with people full of leftovers. 

It was an incredible one-day event, which I feel like I am still recovering from (in good ways). I can't wait to do it again! 

New Years Goodies!

Looking for the perfect thing to celebrate New Years with? Look no further than our knowledgeable ancestors for traditional fare for the inspiring holiday!

Miss Beecher's Domestic Receipt Book, 1850

Domestic Cookery, 1869

Pound Cake

Pound cake. Pound Cake. Pound cake. A staple for family reunions, holidays, and church dinners.  I think everyone's family has a recipe handed down from grandma that is a go-to. Our family variety includes raisins and nuts and dumping your flour into your sugar box to measure it - yes that's how my great-grandmother wrote it- and that's how we make it.
This round of pound cake is a little more traditional than my great-grandma made it (shhh... don't tell my family) and it is as easy as it sounds. Let's look at some receipts.

American Cookery, Amelia Simmons, 1789

The Virginia Housewife, Mary Randolph, 1838

Practical Cook Book, Mrs. Bliss, 1850

So while I did not use an exact recipe- I guess you can say I followed Amelia Simmons the closest. One Pound Flour, One Pound Sugar, One Pound Butter, One Pound eggs, and some Vanilla. 

Start by getting your eggs and butter at room temperature- most bakers will tell you this- it allows your ingredients to incorporate better. Also, if you can find good butter, buy good butter! The best butter you can get! I prefer Kerrygold, Irish butter- yes it is a bit pricey- but it makes all the difference. 

My favorite butter to bake with

Now, cream that butter!!! With your sugar- one pound of sugar- yes one pound- weigh it. Really cream the butter and sugar together- they will be almost white and very, very fluffy. I run mine for 6 to 7 to 8 minutes on medium- just watch it. 

Fluffy butter and sugar! 

Now, that that is combined add  one pound of eggs-lightly beaten and one pound of flour- yes one pound of each. If you do not already have one-invest in a kitchen scale for serious baking- and other things. One pound! This is a pound cake after all!

Weight=1 pound!

Now, this make take a little while. Add your eggs and flour alternately in thirds, mixing well. This is where I add my flavor as well- Amelia  Simmons suggests Rose Water, and while it is in my pantry, these cakes are for a big group of people, so I stuck with vanilla- but I sometimes I wish I had put in the Rose Water for that "true" flavor. By now you should have a pretty thick, fluffy batter-isn't it lovely?!? I  used two loaf pans for mine, but a regular pound cake pan will work just fine. 

Start with a cold oven turned to 275*, bake for 15-20 mins, turn cakes and crank oven to 350* for about 30 more minutes! This will make a lovely crust (which is my favorite part!) 

Ta-da! Lovely Cake!

I know this is not the "period way" to do it with a stand mixer, but I was pushed for time ( and had to crank out 10 of these babies!)- but you can follow all of the steps with a period tools and techniques. The recipe has been unchanged for years- but as I said earlier- every family has its various flavors, as is also evident with the historic recipes. 

Now- enjoy your cake! 

Mrs. M. E. Hite's Sally Lunn

Sally Lunn has been around, well, forever? I have always seen this recipe constantly repeated in almost anything referencing period cookery (18th & 19th Century) and yet I have never tried it! It seems Sally Lunn may or may not have been a real person- a few legends of her namesake are around, and you can even visit her Bakery in Bath!
A few months ago I was "gifted" with Hearthside Cooking by Nancy Carter Crump, I have soaked in her knowledge! I highly recommend this book. She gives an overview of tools & techniques, followed by a slew of period recipes & hints! Inlcuded in the book is Mrs. M. E. Hite's Sally Lunn- which is actually Eliza Leslie's recipe from Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches, 1844.

Luckily, Crump already did all of the hard work for me....us..... and 'converted' the recipe to a modern measurement. Crump says to bake the bread/cake in a tube pan, though Leslie says a square tin pan. I went with the tube thinking this would be more of a cake batter....nope. Very much a dough, after rising for 2 hours,  it was hard to form in the tube pan, next time I will use a regular bread pan for it. I completely forgot to get any photos of the mixing process. But did manage to get an after shot out of the oven.

Fresh Sally Lunn

Mine does look a bit uneven- but I did say it was hard to get around in that tube pan!! Maybe next time will result in a prettier bread. This was excellent served fresh out of the oven with some butter- just as Eliza Leslie suggests. DH was even a fan! It was not a "cake" as some recipes suggest- or at least not a cake for our 21st Century tastes. It is not sweet, since there is no sugar, but a savory, buttery bread!
While this will not replace my ever-popular & loved white bread at events, I think it will make an appearance on the menu occasionally.

Indian Pound Cake

So I recently acquired Hearthside Cooking by Nancy Carter Crump. It is a book that I have had my eye on for a while, and would you know that WAHLAH it was on my shelf at work (a perk of the system I must admit).  I perused the pages for days soaking in what Crump has to say; and as one who is constantly trying to find better, more accurate ways to do things, this was a wealthy of knowledge and I highly recommend it to anyone.
Back to the food- where this particular recipe comes from I am not too sure. Crump credits Eliza Leslie with the recipie for Indian Pound Cake on pg. 202. I have found at least two references to such a cake- in Seventy-five receipts for pastry, cakes, and sweetmeats, 1836, under "Indian batter cakes". Also found in Directions for Cookery, in Its Various Branches, 1844. 

Recipe as seen in Directions for Cookery, 1844.

The cake does have a simple list of ingredients; flour, cornmeal, sugar, butter, eggs, etc. This is a great option for making a cake when you don't have a chance to run to the store, most of these items are pantry staples. I warn you, make sure you have enough time to put this cake together (about 30 minutes). I try to do everything manually- not using electric mixers, etc.- so that I can get more accurate time if it is something I want to try in a camp setting. This cake also took about 4 bowls to mix- but I am a messy baker!

Start by combining your dry ingredients. The recipe suggest 2 tsp of grated nutmeg, I tend to think it is a bit overpowering, so I only used about half of a nutmeg.

Beating the eggs "until foamy" will take some time. You can use an electric mixer if making this at home- if not, pull out your trusty whisk and get to it....then when you get tired- make your husband whisk as well! Remember the eggs are the leavening for this recipe so this is a vital step.

Check out his lovely Regency Sideburns! 

When those eggs are nice and foamy- start creaming your butter, adding a little sugar at a time until well incorporated, beat until  nice and fluffy.

Now, there are three different elements to the cake- dry ingredients, eggs, and sugar/butter. Time to combine these.  Add about one third of the dry mix to the butter, incorporate well, then add about one third of the eggs, combine well- continued until well mixed.  This will be a very thick batter, more like a dough, but don't worry!
Put batter into a well buttered tube pan-

Cake batter in my great-grandmothers pan. 

Place in a 325* oven- this cake will take about a hour and half to bake.  During this time, sit, rest your arms, this has been a workout of a cake!
Check your cake- when a knife comes out clean, it is ready. Turn it out of the pan, and TA-DA...CAKE! I am amazed every time my cake falls right out of that pan perfectly.

This cake turns out to have a great flavor! It tastes like very sweet corn-bread. It is a nice cake when it is fresh out of the oven. But, as Eliza Leslie suggests, its does become very dry and hard and almost like sawdust if left sitting out. I made this particular cake for an event I was attending, and forgot it :(, and when we got home it was too dry to eat.

I must say that I think this has been my most successful cake to date, good flavor, not too heavy.


Happy Cooking!!

Strawberry Cakes

This sweet recipe comes from The Ladies Reciept Book, Eliza Leslie, 1847. When searching through various books for a fruit tart, I found this splendid little treat.  I was so excited to make after I found it. I like to think of it as a 19th Century Strawberry Shortcake!

Start by making the dough for the cakes. 4 cups of flour mixed into 2 sticks of nice sweet butter. Mis until crumbly (think pie crust). In a separate bowl beat 3 eggs light, and add sugar and mix well. Add the egg mixture to the flour until well blended. My dough felt dry, so I added about 1/2 cup of very cold water (again, think pie crust). 

Mix this well together (works best when using hands to mix). I rolled my dough out and cut it with the "tumbler", I actually used a shrub glass.   The cakes get placed in a 400* oven, about 20 minutes, watch them closely. 

The filling is so easy to make! Mush some nice strawberries, I used a fork and squished them nicely in a bowl and added about 1/3 cup of powdered sugar and placed the mix in the fridge until the cakes were done and cool.

Since the recipe states "have ready some icing" I had no idea what to use! I had missed this part in the initial reading. So I whipped up some icing using a cup of powdered sugar and some heavy cream. This makes a very nice sweet icing!! 

After the cakes come out of the oven and cool, slice them in half, to have a top & bottom. Spread the strawberry filling on a bottom, "quite thick". Place the top on like a sandwich.   The recipe suggests icing the tops and sides, but I found this to be really messy, so after one, I just iced the tops of the cakes. Then add a strawberry or slices for decoration. 

They turned out great!!! They tasted wonderful. The filling and icing are sweet, but the cake is more like a cookie, but not too sweet, so it forms a good balance. In the future I will cut the cakes thicker so they are easier to slice, and maybe larger. In the end, this is a great dessert!

Enjoy!!

To Make Rich Cake

I have been on a cake kick lately. Mostly because I love to bake. I was planning on making this cake for Twelfth Night, but the ingredients proved harder to find than I had thought.  The original recipe comes from "The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy", 1774.  While this is an 18th Century Recipe  I can only imagine that these types of cakes were cooked well into the 19th Century. I must admit that I did cheat a bit with this cake, since Williamsburg's History is Served has already transcribed this recipe for the modern cook. You can find their recipe here.  

First, gather all of your ingredients  To me, it seemed like a lot of things for one cake, mostly because of all of the candies fruits that need to go in.  The "new" recipe calls for almond flour, which I could not find locally, and I have not justified ordering any yet. So, I decided to go with the original recipe, and blanch & sack almonds until fine.  While I had never done this before the process was easy, just a little time consuming.  After the skins were removed, I placed the whole almonds in a towel and started to whack them with a meat cleaver. I will warn you, when you start to "sack" the almonds, make sure no one in the house is trying to nap. This is loud, but kinda fun. You do really have to whack them for a while to get them to a flour-like consistency  (You could use a food processor to make this faster, but I was trying to keep things "real".)

Now that all of the ingredients are ready. Start creaming your butter & sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, I used 8 in all. When the eggs are fully  mixed in, sift the flour in a separate bowl. I used about 4 cups of cake flour (Swans Down is a family favorite) 2 cups of granulated sugar, almond flour, and spice go in at this time as well. Mix all of the dry ingredients together, then add gradually to the butter mixture. The batter forms a nice consistency. After the cake batter is well blended, its time for the special ingredients, the sweet-meats! Candied lemon peel, orange peel & citron, as well as currants all go in then the Brandy & Sherry. The alcohol is more for preservation, but also adds a nice rich flavor to the batter.

After everything is added, put in a bunt pan and bake at 350. I actually baked the cake in 2 small pans. Remove from the oven and cool before taking it out of the pan. Then allow to cool completely before slicing. The cake is very good! Essentially it is a pound cake with fruits in it. Yes, it took me a minute to realize that.  I did freeze one of the cakes for a later event.  Overall, a good recipe, not too sweet, but full of flavor!

Cider Cake

The holiday season brings with it a slew of sweet cakes, cookies, and other goodies. In that festive way I decided to try a new cake. This recipe comes from The Frugal Housewife, 1833.  I have seen many other recipes for Cider Cake, but this was the book I had in my kitchen and didn't have to look up another recipe!

Modern measurements for this recipe are 6 cups of flour, 1 cup of sugar, 1 stick of butter, 1 cup of apple cider and 1 tsp of baking soda.

Mixing all the ingredients in a bowl the batter seemed very stiff, almost like a bread, and less like a cake. I did add more cider as I went to moisten the batter and make it more manageable.  "Spice to your taste," well that can mean anything right? Well, almost. Looking at other recipes from the period, most of the Cider Cakes call for raisins, and of coarse some nutmeg. I added about a handful of raisins, and maybe less than a teaspoon of nutmeg ( I did not want to over-power the Cider).
Since I do not have any small loaf pans I decided to bake this cake in a small bunt cake pan that i have that has space for 6 cakes.  I did have enough batter to fill a small 8" round pan as well.  The batter was very thick, think cookie dough almost. In the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes, depending on your cake pan and oven. Start checking your cake about 20 minutes in to see if it is done.   Mine took about 30 minutes to cook, so Mrs. Child was right on with my oven!

The cake had a very good taste, but again, very dense and heavy.  I think next time I will try the Kentucky Housewife version which call for eggs, that may change the consistency a bit and make more of a "cake" that we are used to.