A long while ago I wrote a series on Victorian cooking (here, here, here, and here). Many people asked about specific Victorian recipes or dishes, either for a Victorian dinner-party or to bring a fun snack to school for presentations and such.
In the nineteenth century, cooking wasn’t really a hobby, it was either a necessity or just something you hired a cook for. Furthermore, there were no real recipe books, though at the end of the century some books with suggestions came into fashion, mostly in America. It wasn’t very commom for novels to explain what food was eaten, and food wasn’t really a topic of discussion as it is now. Therefore, it’s pretty hard to find actual recipes or dishes from the nineteenth century. I finally found a very good resource in the Annotated Emma by David M. Shapard ( who got them from E. Raffald, The Experienced English Housekeeper). I will repost them here.
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This dish consists of: Transparent soup (some sort of broth?), Fricas’d chicken, Harrico (green beans), Pigeons Comport, Codsounds like little Turkies, Lambs Ears Forc’d, Fricando Veal, Pork Griskins, French Pye, Brocoli &c., Kidney Beans, Small Ham, Mock Turtle, Boil’d Turkey, Sallad, Bottl’d Peas, Sweet Breads Ala Royal, House Lamb, Sheep Rumps & Kidneys in Rice, Ox Pallets, Larded Oysters, Ducks Alamode, Beef Olives, Florendine of Rabbits, Hare Soup.
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This second course consists of: Pheasant, Moonshine, Crawfish in Savoryjelly (sic), Snow balls, Globes of Gold Web with Mottoes in Them, Marbl’d Veal, Mince Pies, Pickled Smelts, Fish Pond, Pompadore Cream, Stew’d Cardoons, Pea Chick with Asparagus, Transparent pudding cover’d with a Silver Web, Roast Woodcocks, Stew’d Mushroomd, Macaroni, Floating Island, Potted Lampreys, Crocrant with Hot Peppers, Collar’d Pig, Pistacha Cream (pistachio something?), Burnt Cream (maybe a creme brulée?), Snipes in Savory Jelly, Rocky Island, Roasted Hare.
Wel… are you hungry? They definitely knew how to eat, then! Some of these dishes are fairly straightforward but some of them are very puzzling. If you know what they mean or feel like googling for them, please let us know what you found in the comments! I’m especially curious about “Globes of Gold Web with Mottoes in Them”.
I always wondered what blanc mange was (custard) and why they insisted sick people eat it. Probably read Little Women a few too many times. Hhehe
Maybe the Globes of Gold Web are something like this?
http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5094/5568854689_02ba6a0f77.jpg
Ludivine: that does look really amazing! Who knows, it might be. But the mottoes in them…?
Anastasia: it is ompossible to read Little Women too many times ;)
An interesting article. I am a volunteer Room Steward for English Heritage at Brodsworth Hall and Gardens, South Yorkshire, England, and the Thellusson family was absolutely fascinated by desserts as seen by the collection of moulds, which helped to make dinners more exciting and served as a talking-point when they had guests to dinner.
Reblogged this on Shelly Miller Diary.
First Course
Transparent soup—presumably a clear soup, broth or consommé.
Harrico—presumably haricots verts, i.e. green beans.
Pigeons comport—could refer to pigeon in port wine sauce.
Codsounds—Cod’s sounds, the air sac or swim bladder of the fish; can be prepared in many ways.
Fricado Veal—veal stewed with mushrooms and flavored with almond, garlic and saffron.
Pork Griskins—sliced pork loin.
French Pie—this could be anything, perhaps a tourtiere.
Sweetbreads a la royale—In case you don’t know, “sweetbreads” is the generic term for various glands left over after butchering the animal, such as the thymus, pancreas, parotid gland, sublingual gland, etc. In other words, awful offal. “A la royal” means to stew with a LOT of shallots and garlic.
Florentine of Rabbit—Take a whole (head and ears intact) skinned and boned rabbit, stuff the body cavity with a forcemeat made of bread, rabbit liver, bacon, anchovy, wine and herbs, then stew it. When done, cover the rabbit with a veal stock white sauce, thickened, flavored with anchovy, lemon, eggs, cream and nutmeg.
Second Course
Snowballs—probably the same as today; sugar coated nut and butter cookies.
Fish pond—unclear; perhaps some form of tidbits in aspic.
Marble veal—prepare pureed seasoned veal and pureed mix of tongue and lard; pack into a mold in alternating layers, douse with clarified butter, press until compacted, then unmold and slice.
Stewed cardoons—cardoon is a thistle, closely related to the artichoke.
Pompadore cream—crème pompadour; flavored whipped cream colored with three or more contrasting colors, then layered color by color in a bowl.
Transparent pudding, etc.—basically, a custard pie.
Pea chick with asparagus—I doubt if this means chickpeas. A pea chick is a young pea fowl and pea fowl were considered a delicacy as early as the 16th. Century.
Pistacha cream—pistachio cream?
Floating island—meringues floating in crème anglaise , or vanilla custard.
Burnt cream—could be crème brulee.
James E. Frutchey, thank you for your input! That’s very interesting, where did you find all this info? Some things on this list seem more appetizing than others…
Hiya by the middle of the century there were very good cook and household management books available . The “Martha Stewart of the time was Mrs Beeton. I have an original coIpy of her book. It is filled with recipes for everything you can imagine.
Margaret Cook
http://www.victorianyear1865.blogspot.com
i like u