Cover
List of Recipes
About the Book
About the Author
Title Page
Preface
Introduction
Ingredients
1—Sauces
Sauce for Poached or Fried Meat
Savoury Sauce for Any Meat
Green Sauce
Egg Sauce
Gooseberry & Parsley Sauce
Onion Gravy
Spiced Apple Sauce
Carrot & Spinach Sauce
Mint Sauce
English Butter Sauce
Bread Sauce
Traditional White Sauce
Rich White Sauce
Parsley Sauce
Egg Sauce
Cheese Sauce
Onion Sauce
Traditional Bread Sauce
Mustard
Horseradish Mustard
Madeira Mustard
Ginger Mustard
Mustard Sauce
Salad Cream
Salad Dressing
Gravy
2—Beef
Roast Beef
Beef & Cabbage Pie
Skink
Veal Ragoo
Beef Cakes
Beef Collops with Sippets & Forcemeat Balls
Cold Beef & Pickles
George’s Pie or Pies
Mulberry Garden Beef
Pontack’s Collops
3—Birds
Roast Chicken & Gravy
Poached Chicken with Bacon & Celery
Buttered Chickens
Chicken with Oranges
Durryde Pasties
Lumber Pie
Modish Turkey
Thatched House Pie
Turkey in Beef Broth
Sauce for Turkey in Beef Broth
Chook Weed
Boiled Goose
Braised Duck with Turnips
Duck with Lentils & Chestnuts
Duck Salmi
4—Mutton & Lamb
Braised Neck of Mutton
Collared Breast of Lamb with Pickled Walnuts
China Chilo
Mutton Pies
Sanders
Spring Lamb Pie
Stuffed Leg of Lamb
Mutton Squab Pie
5—Pork
Elizabeth Raffald’s Roast Pork
Adobado Pork
Medley Pie
Pork Fricassee
Herb Sausages
Mrs Luke’s Beer Sausages
Braised Red Cabbage with Sausages
Mrs Ball’s Turkey Pork
6—Gammon, Ham & Bacon
Bacon & Herb Pasties
Bacon & Pork Squares
Bacon Froise with Apple Sauce
Gammon & Pease Pudding
Gammon Pie
Gammon Ragoo with Sweet Sauce
Ham Toast for One
7—Offal
Black Pudding Toasts
Brawn
Miss Milne’s Herb Brawn
Abbey Farm Brawn
Dark Haslet
Light Haslet
Border Liver & Bacon
Chicken Liver Ragoo
Minced Pies
Liver & Bacon Salad
Hotchpotch of Oxtail
Oxtail Pies
8—Cheese
Honeysome
Cheese Stewed with Ale
Cheese & Pea Pasties
Potted Cheese
Ramkins
Ramakins
Cheese Patties
Whitley Goose
Mrs Raffald’s Macaroni with Parmesan
Mrs Frazer’s Dish of Macaroni
Tart for Ember Days
9—Eggs
Eggs & lettuce—aka Farced Eggs
Egg Pie
Broccoli & Eggs
Kitcherie
Kedgree
Greens, Eggs & Ham
Tripe of Eggs
10—Vegetables
Summer Cawl
Celery in a Cream Sauce
Celery & Barley Bake
Mandrang Salad
Regalia of Cucumbers
Stewed Lettuce & Peas
Herb Pie for Lent
Herb Soup
Salmagundy
Diy ‘3P’ Salmagundy
Patrick Lamb’s Sallad Magundy
Dressed Mushrooms
Mushrooms in a Cream Sauce
Supple Onions
Baked Onions
Many Ways with Parsnips
Parsnip Soup with Apple
How to Boil Potatoes
Jacket Potatoes & Potato Snow
Roast Potatoes
Boxty
Bubble & Squeak
Sweet & Sour Spinach
Tarts of Spinach & Cheese
John Evelyn’s Mixed Salad
Clapshot
Swede & Bacon Bake
Turnips Roasted in Paper
Haricot of Root Vegetables
11—Tracklements
Horseradish Butter
Light Baked Puddings
Stuffing
Season Pudding
Savoury Pudding
Pea Powder
Cornflour Shortcrust Pastry
Beef Dripping Pastry
Hot Water Crust
Spice Mixes
Savoury Spice Mix 1
Savoury Spice Mix 2
Charlotte Mason’s Spice Mixes
Veal Forcemeat
Sippets
To Clarify Fat
To Clarify Butter
To Make Stock
Notes
Sources
Acknowledgements
Copyright
We all need to be able to provide food for ourselves and also, at some point, for others, too. It is a life skill that, personally, I value as much as being able to swim, but one which seems to have slipped from importance in the age of convenience foods. Whatever advantages such foods may possess in terms of speed and simplicity of preparation are, for me, far outweighed by their disadvantages: namely their cost, the quality of their ingredients and the additives used to prolong their shelf lives.
I firmly believe that traditional British food, refined over centuries from local and seasonal produce, can be tastier, healthier, more exciting and easier to prepare than anything mass produced. Moreover, by following this cumulative culinary wisdom we can both save money and drastically reduce the food wastage that has become such a problem in the twenty-first century. It’s a concept that I like to think of as ‘Deja Food’, and it encompasses tradition, recipes, ingredients and a whole philosophy of cooking and eating.
Simply put, Deja Food is the return to our tables of food we have served before, whether it be the remains of the Sunday roast, our grandmother’s favourite pie or some toothsome recipe from further back in time. It’s how we used to eat, making use of the whole animal and not just the prime cuts, being creative with the less expensive pieces of meat, making the most of fresh, local, seasonal ingredients served simply in ways we used to enjoy but have forgotten over the passage of time. It’s frugal, but full of flavour, deliciously different, yet proudly traditional.
In the latter half of the twentieth century the reputation of British food suffered greatly; years of rationing after the war saw both quality and quantity diminish. I have the dubious honour of having grown up just 15 miles from the restaurant in which Elizabeth David was famously served the dreary post-war fare that would ultimately inspire her to write her iconic book, Mediterranean Food.
It wasn’t always thus. The recipes of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, for example, reveal a delightful complexity, juxtaposing sweet and savoury elements and surprisingly sophisticated sauces. Long before Moroccan tagines were fashionable in the UK, our ancestors were enjoying a whole range of spiced meat-and-fruit dishes such as plum pottage and mince pies with a sprinkling of actual meat, which were so beloved that they became feast-day treats. We still enjoy their greatly redacted descendants today, but how much more enjoyable would it be to savour the originals?
The iconic image of a sumptuous British Sunday lunch invariably includes a joint or poultry, resplendent amid a veritable cornucopia of vegetables and accompaniments. Enticing as this image is, it comes at a price which can, for prime roasting joints, be budget-bustingly expensive. However, a grand Sunday lunch is still affordable if we only take a little more care selecting the meat, choosing from the cheaper cuts, which can be both better value and just as enjoyable, and treating them with care and attention. As a general rule, the best cuts come from the upper hindquarters of an animal. The forequarters (lamb/pork shoulder, beef brisket, beef flank) are usually cheaper because they are either not as tender or fattier, or both. However, this makes them ideal for long, slow roasting and braising, the fat slowly melting and basting the meat so that they become incredibly flavourful and tender.
It isn’t just the meat dishes of yesteryear that can offer tasty and economical recipes to delight our tables. A whole host of vegetables were enjoyed in different ways, and much use was made of items that we no longer regard as deserving a special place on the dinner table. Onions, celery, mushrooms and lettuces are nowadays seen mainly as accompaniments or garnishes, whereas in times gone by they were greatly relished and recognised as part of the regular vegetable course in their own right. Stewed Lettuce and Peas (here) is quite delightful and much more popular in our house than ordinary steamed cabbage, while a dish of Dressed Mushrooms (here) is a meal in itself when paired with some fresh, crusty bread.
And so to those leftovers, which can also be Deja Food. Centuries ago, many classic dishes utilised not only our British forte of ‘big lumps of meat in the oven’ (which, incidentally, earned us the grudging admiration of many other countries, including France), but any surplus was also used to create the now long-forgotten fricassees, hashes, ragoos and ‘à la mode’ delights that once populated our culinary repertoire. The cooks of previous centuries saw no lessening in the quality of food just because it had been previously cooked; old recipe books are full of dishes that begin with instructions to ‘Take a fillet of beef half roasted…’, ‘Take some under-dressed [rare] mutton…’, ‘Take some cold, boiled potatoes…’, and so on.
This thrifty and practical approach has resulted in some of the tastiest and most iconic British dishes, such as cottage pie (made with beef) and shepherd’s pie (lamb), both of which emerged as recognisable recipes in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Properly made, from the surplus Sunday roast trimmed of all fat, skin and sinew, generously moistened with gravy and meat juices and topped with feathery mashed potato, they are dishes sublime.
The richness of flavour from meat that has previously been baked for hours in its own juices cannot be replicated in any other way.
In this book I apply the lessons from the past to the needs of the present. The reader will find that some great British dishes, such as the traditional Sunday roast, are not only the perfect way to make the most of fresh ingredients, but can also provide the basis for a range of fabulous family meals for later in the week. Also included are some long-forgotten recipes for the cheaper cuts of meat and less popular vegetables that are not only packed with flavour, but economical, too.
I hope that enjoying the delightful old recipes in this book will prove the inspiration to return to this way of cooking and eating, thereby helping to preserve the culinary wisdom of centuries past through simple enjoyment of all that this land has to offer.
‘In all ranks, and at every table, one important art in housekeeping is to make what remains over from one day’s entertainment contribute to the elegance or plenty of the next day’s repasts. This is a principle understood by persons in the very highest ranks of society, and who maintain the most splendid and expensive establishments. Their great town-dinners usually follow in rapid succession, one banquet forming, if not the basis, a useful auxiliary to the next entertainment. But as this has been elsewhere recommended to the attention of the reader, it is almost unnecessary to repeat here, that vegetables, ragouts, and soups, may be rewarmed; and jellies and blancmanges remoulded, with no deterioration of their qualities. Savoury or sweet patties, potted meats, croquets, rissoles, vol-au-vents, fritters, tartlets, &c., may be served almost without cost, where cookery is going forward on a large scale.’
Christian Isobel Johnstone, Scottish journalist, editor and author, 1828
The motivation for this book came from my dual interests of cooking and history. In the UK we have only been recording the food that we enjoy preparing and eating for just over 600 years, beginning with The Forme of Cury, a parchment scroll of dishes compiled by the Master Cooks of Richard II around the year 1400.
The history of the British Isles can be written in food. Over the last 2,000 years, immigrants and invaders have brought with them not only their recipes, but also the ingredients with which to make them, and all have been absorbed into the food canon of these isles with open arms. Without the constant stream of visitors to these shores, we’d be stuck munching on indigenous onions and a few berries. A surprising number of domesticated livestock, fruits and vegetables now so familiar to us as to be thought of as British were brought, in the first instance, by the occupying armies of Rome. Invading Saxons and Vikings brought their methods of fish preservation, the echoes of which are still with us a thousand years later in the smokehouses and fisheries of the east coast of Scotland. The Normans brought spices and wine while the bounty of conquered and plundered countries during the age of exploration reached these shores in the form of exotic spices, fruits and nuts.
In the twenty-first century, with the rise in popularity of the traditional foods of many ethnic communities, British food is hardly ever written about, which is a shame because there is also a richly spiced food heritage in this country that is being overlooked. We love to discover ‘new’ and exciting foods that are a little out of the ordinary and also, in these straitened times, easy on the pocket. How gratifying would it be to be able to do so with traditional British dishes? Many of the recipes in this book were enjoyed for decades, if not hundreds of years, before they fell by the wayside. Just as the culinary adventurer can be transported to foreign climes by exotic cookbooks, so can they explore mystical places by using recipes recorded in that far off and intriguing place: the past.
‘The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there.’
L.P. Hartley, The Go-Between
The recipes in this book are arranged by key ingredient, for example meat, cheese, vegetables, etc. The different meat chapters usually begin with a recipe for a roast dinner, followed by suggestions for how you might use any leftovers and then a selection of separate recipes. You will find a chapter on simple sauces to accompany your main meals, plus a chapter on what I have called tracklements. These are the elements, such as pastries, chutneys, accompaniments and others, that complete a meal, but don’t necessarily fit naturally elsewhere.
SUNDAY BEST
Sunday lunch used to be a British institution, but its status slipped with the rise of convenience foods and a lack of skills as cookery lessons disappeared from the school curriculum. In an attempt to redress this decline, I have included a suggestion for a dish that is suitable to serve up to the family as a Sunday lunch in appropriate chapters, together with recommendations for accompanying dishes.
As a child, I was in awe of the cooking and serving of a full Sunday lunch, believing it to be a monumental feat of coordination requiring the dexterity of a card sharp. Now I know better. Rather than juggling ten different items at once, it can be so much more relaxed if the vegetables are cooked and the gravy finished while the meat rests.
Another of the pressures, as I saw it, was trying to find recipes for the various accompaniments served alongside the main course, which could result in as many as half a dozen recipe books, pieces of paper and web pages being consulted at any one time. To combat this, I have tried to make this book very much a one-stop resource for all trimmings for all occasions, be they sauces, gravies, stuffings or extras. You might be surprised at how a few simple recipes can be cunningly deployed to suit a range of meals: crunchy herb Stuffing (here) can be enjoyed with pork as well as chicken, for example; Spiced Apple Sauce (here) can be served with pork, bacon and goose and Veal Forcemeat balls (here) can accompany practically anything.
REUSING COLD MEAT
There are a couple of rules that should be observed when you’re preparing meals with cold meat. Whether it is to be eaten hot or cold, you should take the time to ensure the meat is presented in the best possible condition. This means trimming it of all skin, excess fat, connective tissue and any odd gristly bits, which tend to be forgiven at a joint’s initial outing to the table.
If you are eating the meat cold, whether in sandwiches or on a platter alongside baked potatoes and a massed rank of pickles and chutneys, then cutting it into wafer-thin slices will both display it to its best advantage and maximise its flavour.
If the meat is intended for a hot dish, understand that extreme heat will render previously cooked meat tough. You do not have to boil cooked meat for it to be safe to consume. Red meat must reach a temperature of 70°C, white meat and poultry 80°C. Slowly warming the meat in a sauce or gravy to these temperatures will make it perfectly safe to eat as well as a palatable temperature.
VEGETABLE SIDE DISHES
In the vegetable chapter I highlight some of the less well-known vegetables that used to be served regularly on our dining tables, and include recipes for cooking lettuces, celery, cucumbers and onions to serve alongside your main meal.
SERVING SIZES
Most of the recipes in this book will serve four adults generously. They can easily be halved to make two meals, or multiplied to make larger quantities.
DEJA FOOD
Wherever possible, chapters include recipes for how to use cooked food as a basis for completely new dishes.
It was my aim, in the writing of this book, that the ingredients for the recipes contained within should be accessible on the ordinary British high street. This is certainly true if you have the luxury of being able to shop at your local family butcher, fishmonger, greengrocer and bakery. For many, however, the delights of an unhurried meander through traditional, specialist shops is no longer a possibility and the store cupboard is more often restocked following a single shopping expedition to a supermarket. My aim, nevertheless, holds true for the most part, and readers can be reassured that the majority of the ingredients in this book are easy to get hold of and the recipes do not require unusual, outlandish or expensive items.
Below is a comprehensive listing of the ingredients used in this book. In short, if you have everything on the list, you can make everything in this book. Alongside each ingredient is the number of recipes in which it is used, giving an indication of its importance (thus salt and pepper are key ingredients, pig’s head not so much). The items in italics are suggested flavourings to tweak and enhance your dishes. It is down to your own personal taste whether you choose to use them. Hopefully, the list gives an idea of the reassuring familiarity of the foods we’ll be working with on this culinary adventure.
STORE CUPBOARD
Salt (96)
Pepper (51)
Cornflour (33)
Vinegar (25)
Sugar (16)
Flour (13)
Anchovy fillets (12)
Puff pastry (7)
Mushroom ketchup (6)
Capers (5)
Oyster sauce (5)
Mustard (4)
Verjuice (4)
Basmati rice (3)
Barley (2)
Bicarbonate of soda (2)
Cornichons (2)
Flaked almonds (2)
Gherkins (2)
Macaroni (2)
Oatcakes (2)
Oatmeal (2)
Oil (2)
Pickled artichokes (2)
Pickled onions (2)
Pickled red cabbage (2)
Pickled walnuts (2)
Saltpetre/preserving salt (2)
Stock cube (2)
Worcestershire sauce (2)
Anchovy essence (1)
Angelhair pasta (1)
Chestnuts (1)
Chutney (1)
Cooked macaroni (1)
Cream of tartar (1)
Evaporated milk (1)
Filo pastry (1)
Honey (1)
Lotus biscuits (1)
Oat flour (1)
Olive oil (1)
Olives (1)
Pickled beetroot (1)
Pickled jalapeños (1)
Pickles (1)
Rosewater (1)
Sea salt (1)
Spice mix (1)
Spice paste (1)
Walnut ketchup (1)
Yeast (1)
Apple jelly
Blackberry jelly
Bovril™
Dark soy sauce
Henderson’s Relish™
Light soy sauce
Marmite™
Redcurrant jelly
BREAD
Breadcrumbs (16)
Bread (9)
Toast (8)
Sippets (2)
DAIRY
Unsalted butter (64)
Egg (48)
Double cream (15)
Milk (13)
Fresh suet (9)
Strong cheese (8)
Parmesan (4)
Beef dripping (4)
Salted butter (4)
Cream cheese (2)
Crème fraîche (2)
Goats’ cheese (1)
Plain yogurt (1)
Single cream (1)
FRUIT
Lemons (26)
Apples (10)
Currants (9)
Candied peel (6)
Orange (5)
Grapes (4)
Gooseberries (2)
Cranberries (1)
Elderflowers (1)
Limes (1)
Prunes (1)
Sultanas (1)
VEGETABLES
Onion (41)
Lettuce (23)
Celery (14)
Baby spinach (13)
Carrots (12)
Mushrooms (9)
Shallot (8)
Spring onion (8)
Cucumber (6)
Peas (6)
Potatoes (6)
Radish (6)
Turnips (6)
Garlic (4)
Swede (4)
Cooked potatoes (3)
Parsnips (3)
Samphire (3)
Asparagus (2)
Boiled rice (2)
Chard (2)
French beans (2)
Fresh ginger (2)
Lentils (2)
Savoy cabbage (2)
Beet greens (1)
Beetroot (1)
Broad beans (1)
Broccoli (1)
Celery leaves (1)
Chillies (1)
Coleslaw (1)
Cooked cabbage (1)
Curly kale (1)
Fresh beetroot (1)
Green split peas (1)
Pea shoots (1)
Red cabbage (1)
Rocket (1)
Salad burnet (1)
Sorrel (1)
Tomatoes (1)
Watercress (1)
Yellow split peas (1)
HERBS
Parsley (50)
Thyme (24)
Sage (18)
Bay leaves (13)
Marjoram (12)
Mixed herbs (10)
Rosemary (8)
Mint (4)
Chervil (3)
Chives (3)
Savory (3)
Celery seed (2)
Dill (2)
Oregano (1)
Pennyroyal (1)
SPICES
Nutmeg (33)
Ground black pepper (31)
Cloves (19)
Ground mace (13)
Black peppercorns (12)
Ground white pepper (12)
Blade mace (11)
Ground cloves (9)
Mustard powder (8)
Ground ginger (6)
Cayenne pepper 4
Cinnamon sticks (3)
Ground cinnamon (3)
Horseradish (3)
Allspice (1)
Green cardamom (1)
Paprika (1)
Saffron (1)
STOCK
Beef stock (14)
Lamb stock (12)
Chicken stock (8)
General stock (6)
ALCOHOL
White wine (13)
Red wine (10)
Ale (2)
Cream sherry (2)
Madeira (2)
Port (1)
Cider (optional in several recipes)
VEAL
Lean veal (1)
Sliced veal (1)
Veal (1)
Veal joint (1)
Veal mince (1)
BEEF
Cooked beef (2)
Sliced beef (2)
Beef brisket (1)
Beef flank (1)
Beef joint (1)
Beef marrow (1)
Beef mince (1)
Beef shin (1)
BIRDS
Chicken (6)
Turkey (5)
Cooked chicken (4)
Duck joints (2)
Cooked duck (1)
Cooked turkey (1)
Goose (1)
FISH
Brown shrimp (1)
Crayfish tails (1)
Marinated anchovies (1)
Pickled herring (1)
Prawns (1)
Rollmop herring (1)
Smoked mackerel (1)
Smoked salmon (1)
Smoked trout (1)
LAMB
Lean lamb (2)
Breast of lamb (1)
Cold lamb (1)
Lamb (1)
Lamb neck (1)
Lamb’s liver (1)
Lean mutton (1)
Leg of lamb/mutton (1)
Minced lamb/mutton (1)
Mutton fat (1)
OFFAL
Pig’s liver (3)
Caul (2)
Chicken livers (2)
Oxtail (2)
Black pudding (1)
Calves’ liver (1)
Pig’s head (1)
Pig’s heart (1)
Pig’s kidney (1)
Pig’s lights (1)
Pig’s trotters (1)
PORK
Pork belly (3)
Lean pork (2)
Pork joint (2)
Pork tenderloin (2)
Cooked pork (1)
Pork cheek (1)
Pork fat (1)
Pork leg shank (1)
Pork sausages (1)
CURED MEAT
Bacon (21)
Gammon (5)
Ham (5)
MEAT & BIRDS
Where it is relevant, I have suggested specific cuts of meat or type of bird necessary for the recipe. Beyond that, I don’t wish to be too dictatorial. I am well aware of the irony of this statement, coming at the start of several pages of instruction on ingredients.
OFFAL
Offal is becoming much more readily available, and even supermarkets now have a pleasantly surprising range available. It is also worth checking with your local abattoir, who may be able to supply the more unusual items.
EGGS & CHEESE
Eggs should be large, and cheese should be strong. It is a false economy to buy a lot of mild-flavoured cheese as you have to use a great deal of it in order to imbue any flavour into your dish. A small quantity of strong cheese is altogether more satisfactory.
FLOUR
The range of flours is becoming broader as manufacturers and artisan mills find worth in diversifying away from ordinary wheat. I’ve recommended several different flours in this book, but these should not be treated as hard and fast rules, and experimentation should be freely indulged. For pastry, there is still a need for gluten, to a certain extent, but other flours can be mixed in to provide variety in both taste and texture. As a general rule, to ensure the chemical aerators are fresh and active, rather than keeping a stock of self-raising flour I tend to use plain flour and add in baking powder as and when required.
THICKENINGS
The consistency of sauces, gravies, soups, stews, etc., is very much down to personal preference. I prefer a sauce or gravy that clings so, for my tastes, a little thickening is always going to be needed. In the past, the standard method was either to stir in a paste made of equal parts of flour and butter or to use some of the fat from the dish itself to make a roux. Although this is an easy and straightforward method, it does have some drawbacks. Firstly, if too much heat is used, or cold liquid is added too quickly, the sauce or gravy can be prone to lumpiness. Secondly, it requires the flour to be cooked for long enough so that it doesn’t impact the flavour, and thirdly, it makes the sauce opaque. There’s nothing wrong with opaque, but sometimes what starts out as a rich dark gravy can be rendered a mediocre beige by the time a thickening roux has been added. There’s also an increased prevalence of sensitivity to the gluten found in wheat flour, which then renders your sauce or gravy a no-go for anyone susceptible.
My preferred thickening is a cornflour slurry (cornflour mixed with a little water): it doesn’t add fat to the sauce, there are no lumps or floury taste, there is no need to ‘cook out’ the cornflour and the sauce remains beautifully clear. It also allows whatever liquid you’re thickening to be enjoyed by people with wheat or gluten intolerances.
FATS
All the recipes in this book use unsalted butter. This is purely my personal preference; I like to know how much salt is added to a recipe and, with some flavourings containing significant levels of salt, I find it is easier to control seasoning levels if the amount of processed salt is kept to a minimum.
Fat in pastry can be almost anything. The old-fashioned combination is for equal parts butter and lard. Lard really gives a great crispness (think pork pie crust) but, although not overly strong, it is still a little unrefined for sweet pastry. Tempering the mixture with butter gives the best possible combination for crispness and flavour.
For savoury pies, it adds an extra dimension if you can match the fat in the pastry with the meat of the filling – chicken fat for chicken pies, dripping for beef, and so on. Beef dripping and pork lard are both available in shops, but any additional fats need to be collected from the cooking of other dishes. Once separated from the meat juices, fats should be clarified (here) and stored in the fridge.
Suet is the hard, waxy fat that surrounds the heart and kidneys of beef and mutton. Its high melting and smoking points make it ideal for pastries and frying. Fresh suet can be obtained from your butcher and processed suet is available in supermarkets. Fresh suet requires refrigeration, but processed suet does not. Processed suet is dried and coated with flour to prevent clumping, which should be borne in mind when baking for those with gluten sensitivity. Much of this flour can be removed by rinsing the dried suet in a sieve under cold running water. Since it has been dehydrated, if you’re using processed suet, reduce the quantity used to about 80–85 per cent of the weight of fresh suet. The equivalent fat in a pig carcass is known as leaf lard and can be used in a similar manner.
Marrow is the fatty substance found inside the larger bones of the beef carcass. Much prized as a delicacy by the Georgians and Victorians who ate it roasted and served on toast, it is ideal for making pastry for beef pies or indeed for adding to the filling with especially lean meat such as venison. Add richness to casseroles and stews by frying the meat in marrow fat either before or after cooking.
MILK
Unless otherwise stated, milk is whole milk.
SAVOURY FLAVOURINGS
Even the most expensive ingredients need dressing with a little seasoning or sauce here and there to bring out their best. Whether your larder or fridge is stocked with the season’s finest or items at the bottom end of the scale in terms of budget, a little help never goes amiss and judicious use of flavourings can go a long way to embellishing the food you produce.
There are numerous ingredients you can employ to adjust the taste of your sauces, but you will need to check their efficacy yourself. No matter how prescriptive the recipes, there will always be differences between the ingredients I used to create and test them and those that you have sourced. It is imperative that you taste your dishes before serving them. Only then will you be sure to get the absolute best out of your ingredients by seasoning accordingly.
Flavourings for improving sauces:
stock cube
Marmite™/yeast extract
Bovril™
Worcestershire sauce
Henderson’s Relish™
anchovy essence
mushroom ketchup
dark soy sauce
light soy sauce
oyster sauce
redcurrant jelly
apple jelly
blackberry jelly
balsamic vinegar
red wine
white wine
cider
port
HERBS
Herbs were of great importance in the preparation of food in times past, but seem to have fallen by the wayside a little in the twenty-first century. Perhaps this is why British food is sometimes seen as plain, bland and even pedestrian. I generally prefer fresh herbs over dried, simply for their bright flavours, but dried herbs are invaluable in the depths of winter, for last-minute meals and for injecting interest into run of the mill ingredients.
The range of fresh herbs available in supermarkets can be rather limited, with a wider selection available online. The easiest and most cost efficient approach is to grow your own, either in the garden or in a few pots on a windowsill. The range of herbs referenced in the book is probably larger than you will find in other books and includes some less familiar names. If you have limited space for growing your own herbs, I suggest you grow the less familiar ones and buy the more mainstream varieties.
You might be surprised at some of the suggested herb combinations, but if I have learnt anything from working with these old recipes it is that there are no rules. Beef with mint or lamb with sage aren’t the combinations we would normally put together, but they work. Similarly, you might be perplexed by the seemingly vague ‘bunch of mixed herbs’. Which herbs? How many? Fret not. Some supermarkets sell bunches of mixed fresh herbs ready packaged, or you can make your own by tying together whatever fresh herbs you have to hand. A ‘bunch’ is what can be easily held in a circle formed by index finger and thumb, about 25–30g.
A word or two about a couple of unusual herbs that I recommend:
Savory is a perennial plant that comes in both summer and winter varieties. It looks a little like rosemary in that it has thin blade leaves and grows in a bush. Summer savory has a lighter, almost sweet taste that’s similar to marjoram. Winter savory is darker and stronger, an attractive mixture somewhere between thyme and mint.
Pennyroyal is a member of the mint family but with a much more pungent aroma and flavour. It is not to everyone’s tastes. The herb can safely be used in cooking as the quantities are so small. The oil, however, is toxic and should not be used at all. Pregnant women should avoid pennyroyal.
SPICES
Many of the spices used in these old recipes are still available today, although they are usually found in pre-ground form in the supermarket spice aisle. This is convenient but, unless you’re going to use them regularly, they run the risk of their flavours fading over time. Another approach would be to purchase whole spices and grind them, either in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder, as and when you need them. The flavours using this method are astonishingly bright and surprisingly fresh for what are essentially dried goods. Some recipes specify whole spices and some ground, as whole spices tend to impart a much more delicate seasoning than ground spices. If you’re short of suitable storage space for both forms, whole spices might be the sensible choice.
ANCHOVIES
Anchovies have been used to season a whole range of dishes for hundreds of years. They could be said to be the umami of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries; used in small quantities to flavour numerous rich sauces, ragouts, hashes and stews, they imparted a savoury note without a discernibly fishy aftertaste. Nowadays they are filleted and preserved in three main forms: in vinegar, oil or salt.
Anchovies pickled in vinegar retain their pale colour and have the most delicate flavour. They can usually be found at the deli counter and should be kept refrigerated. Anchovies preserved in oil or salt are much darker in colour and stronger than pickled anchovies. They should be thoroughly rinsed before use and are usually found in small jars or tins on the supermarket shelf. They do not require refrigeration unless opened.
Anchovy sauce is made with a mixture of salted anchovies and vinegar. It is possibly the most convenient form, but also the strongest flavoured, so use with restraint.
ONIONS, LEEKS, GARLIC & CHIVES
The onion family, or alliums, are available in a wide range of sizes and strengths, each of which will be more or less suited to your dish according to personal taste. Unless I feel a specific type of onion is the most suitable for a recipe, I have left the selection open as to what type to use.
I like to think of the onion family as a continuum of flavour strength, so if regular onions themselves are too strong for your tastes you can just select something towards the milder end of the scale. Personally, I love the rich sweetness of caramelised brown onions, but really dislike raw onion, so when a dish calls for just a gentle flavouring I will opt for chives or spring onions, whereas someone else might choose raw red onion.
There are hundreds of alliums, but a rough guide, from mild to strong, is: chives, wild garlic leaves (ramsons), spring onions, shallots, leeks, white onions, Spanish onions, red onions, brown onions, garlic.
You can tone down the strength of the onion in your cooked dishes by peeling off the papery skin and simmering them whole either in boiling water or milk until tender, about 20–30 minutes. You can also slice or dice the onion before simmering for an even milder taste. The onion-infused liquid can then be used for soup.
VINEGAR
Much as there is a sliding scale of intensity for onions, so it is with vinegars. At the mild end of the scale are the lightest vinegars, pale in colour, such as gooseberry, rice wine, white balsamic and white wine. Towards the middle are more robust types such as cider, pomegranate, distilled and sherry. The darkest vinegars include balsamic, malt, date and Chinese black. The type of vinegar you choose should be dictated both by your own personal tastes and by the recipe you intend to use it in, and whether the colour is going to affect the final dish.
VERJUICE
Verjuice is made from pressed sour or unripe grapes, crab apples or other sharp fruit. It is acidic, but not as harsh as vinegar, and is best utilised as a means of brightening rich sauces or fillings for pies. It can also be used in salad dressings. It is available commercially, usually made from grapes, but is also simple to make at home: press crab apples and pour the juice into a demijohn or large glass bottle, cover the neck of the bottle with a double layer of muslin to keep out fruit flies and leave to ferment; when fermentation ceases, what remains is verjuice. Decant carefully to avoid cloudiness from sediment, and use as required.
WINE & BEER
At first reading, cooking with wine in the seventeenth century seemed pretty straightforward: it was either white or claret. But after researching some of the wines mentioned in old recipe books, I found that neither ‘white’ nor ‘claret’ were as straightforward as they sounded. Both types came in such a range of hues and flavour profiles that the labels could almost be swapped and still remain valid, with dark coloured whites and light, pale reds. Some of the recipes in this book may call for a wine you wouldn’t normally associate with a particular ingredient, but that is all part of the surprise and enjoyment. Bottom line: be guided by the recipe, but not constrained by it. Try with the suggested wine but, if it is not to your taste, try it with something else.
Beer was a popular daily drink in the seventeenth century. Small ale was the commonest drink for all and was considered to be more nutritious than plain water. With a low alcohol content and mild taste, golden ale is a good approximation. Again, it can be substituted for something more to your own personal tastes, but bear in mind the type of dish and proceed accordingly.
PICKLES & CHUTNEYS
Pickling was an important part of still-room seasonal activities as it preserved meat, fish, fruit and vegetables for the long, lean, winter months. Thankfully, in the twenty-first century we are able to rely on other sources for vegetables in wintertime, but the British love of pickles has endured, although not to the extent to which it was practised at the height of its popularity. They are a neglected accompaniment to a great number of dishes and can quickly and easily transform a snack into something of much greater complexity. Echoes of this enthusiasm for pickling are still with us in the range of pickles available in the supermarket. They are a great store cupboard standby for snacks and garnishing Deja Food dishes.
Chutneys became popular in the nineteenth century as expats returning from India tried to recreate the spiced condiments they had become accustomed to. Whereas Indian chutneys generally consisted of fresh ingredients, British chutneys are cooked fruits and vegetables preserved with vinegar, sugar and spices. They are fantastic accompaniments to cold meats and cheese, baked potatoes and sandwiches and, like pickles, deserve space in the store cupboard for their ability to transform the ordinary into something special.
SUGAR
Unless otherwise stated, sugar is granulated.
There are a number of old recipes in this book that will be unfamiliar. While there will always be some differences in interpretation, the following is a brief guide to the different styles of dishes as interpreted in this book.
RAGOO
An anglicised spelling of the French ragoût