Kleppmelk – A Viking Recipe

Thor News

Traditional dinner: Kleppmelk served with sugar and cinnamon. (Photo: renmat.no)

Kleppmelk (klepp milk) is a soup commonly used in the Trøndelag region and in Northern Norway. It consists of thick pancake batter formed into bowls simmered in milk.

It is reasonable to believe that the dish is very old since the word klepp stems from Old Norse kleppr meaning pile, a naked rock or a large stone.

However, Klepp has many definitions, including a hand tool shaped like a fishhook on a shaft (fishing gaff), a municipality in Rogaland County, and Kleppr is a Norse boy´s name.

Kleppmelk is also known as bollemelk (bun milk) and kleppsuppe (klepp soup).

 Ingredients (Serves 4)
 2 eggs
10 cups (2.5 l) milk
1.6 – 2.5 cups (4-6 dl) flour, wheat and barley
4 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt

Method
Dough
Mix eggs and sugar with 2.1 cups (5 deciliters) milk. Blend in the flour until it becomes a firm dough. You can use only wheat flour, but it is recommended to replace 1/4 of the flour with barley.

Soup
Mix salt and the rest of the milk. Bring to boiling point. (Pay close attention when you heat the milk – it may bubble over)

Using a tablespoon, make small bowls out of the dough, and place them in the hot milk. Let them simmer for about 10 minutes.

Serve with sugar and cinnamon and a glass of cold (!) milk.

Text by: Anette Broteng Christiansen, ThorNews

Viking Crisp Bread / Viking Knekkebrød

Thor News

Tasty crackers, crisp bread, flatbread, wheat loaf and rye loaf baked over the fire or in the oven were served with homemade butter, cheese, honey and ham. It smells fantastic and tastes even better.

Here is a Vikings recipe for crisp bread which are easily altered if you prefer baking your bread in a modern oven. Still, why not try bread making over a fire in the garden or on the grill on the terrace.

0.5 jug lukewarm water
6 cups rye flour
6 cups wheat flour
 1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground cumin
3 cups rye flour for rolling out the dough

1 jug = approximately 2 pt. / 1 litre
1 cup = approximately 0,3 pt. / 1,5 dl

Mix all the ingredients and knead well. Divide the dough in 20 pieces and form into balls. Roll out each ball in plenty of rye flour until thin and round. Cut out a hole in the middle of each crisp bread and prick them with a fork. Or if you prefer, cut the dough into strips instead of rounds.

The fireplace must be warmed up well ahead. Before placing the crisp breads on the bottom of the fireplace, sweep it to remove ashes. Turn the crisp breads when slightly browned.

Put a stick through the hole and store the crisp breads hanging from the roof as seen on the picture or store the crisp bread in a closed bread box of birch bark or wood.

Wartime Christmas: 5 First World War recipes

History Extra

Christmas was a challenge for the wartime chef on the home front, with food shortages and high prices, even for basic ingredients. So how did Britain feast during the First World War? Hannah Scally, senior historian at illustratedfirstworldwar.com, presents five recipes from the wartime Christmas kitchen

Christmas is today the biggest food event of the year, and things were little different in the 1910s, when abundant courses and elaborate French cuisine were de rigeur. But wartime from 1914 made things tricky, and put a new moral emphasis on economy.

Imports were restricted by naval warfare, and food producers were fighting at the front. Shortages soon appeared, and the Ministry of Food Control was set up in 1916. Initially advocating voluntary rationing, it was forced to introduce compulsory rationing in the last year of the war.

From popular magazine The Bystander, here are some of the Christmas recipes Britain enjoyed during the First World War.

Oyster soufflé
Oysters were eaten in astounding quantities during the 19th century: supplies were bountiful, and they were known as a cheap meat alternative for the poor. They were so popular in fact, that by the end of the 19th century oyster stocks had collapsed, and native oyster beds became exhausted.

 By the 20th century oysters had become an expensive delicacy, as this wartime recipe from December 1914 shows. This festive starter, a delicate ‘oyster soufflé’ calls for six oysters:

Put 4 oz. of whiting or sole through a sieve. Make a panada of 1 oz. of butter, 1 oz. of flour, and a quarter of a pint of milk. Stir into this two yolks of eggs and the fish. Beat the whites very lightly, and stir well. Add half a pint of fish stock (made from the bones), one tablespoonful of cream, and six oysters cut up, steam slowly for one and a half hours. Turn over very carefully, pour a rich white sauce round, and decorate the top with a sprinkling of red pepper.

'Panada' was a paste made of flour, breadcrumbs or another starchy ingredient, mixed with liquid.

'White sauce' was defined as a plain sauce based on melted butter, whisked with flour. Milk is slowly added over a low heat until the sauce becomes thick and creamy.

Celery a la Parmesan
This would be a side dish on modern tables, but during the First World War it formed its own course, emulating the French style of table service. Creamy baked celery with a cheesy crust was a rich platter, worthy of the Christmas occasion, and the ingredients were still relatively affordable. This recipe from December 1914 reads:

Stew some celery in milk till tender, then make a white sauce, into which grated Parmesan should be stirred, and then place the celery in the dish it is to be served in. Pour the white sauce over then a layer of grated Parmesan, then a thin layer of breadcrumbs, and over all put pieces of butter, brown in the oven, and serve very hot.

A boned Turkey
This December 1914 recipe is from a special feature in The Bystander, ‘Four methods of cooking a turkey’. Turkey was emerging as a popular Christmas dish, but it did not dominate the Christmas table as it does today. Other fowl – particularly goose – were also popular.

The following recipe is for what was a particularly elaborate dish, recommended for a special public occasion like ‘a ball supper’. While many of The Bystander’s recipes were intended to be practical guides, it seems unlikely that the magazine’s readers would have followed this recipe in large numbers. We can think of this as early food entertainment; the equivalent of watching modern cookery shows. In this case, variety and interesting ideas were just as important as practicality.

Bone a turkey and lay it with the inside uppermost, cut the meat from the thick parts, and distribute it equally all over the inside, season with salt and pepper. Make some forcemeat with veal, ham, and truffles, put a layer of this over the meat of the bird, then a layer of sliced tongue, then another layer of turkey, then forcemeat, then tongue and truffles.

 Roll it up, and tie it with tape, and put it in a well-buttered cloth into a stew pan, with two carrots, two onions, a stick of celery, some parsley and peppercorns, and sufficient white stock to cover it. Let it simmer gently for three hours, strain, and let it get cold; remove the cloth, and glaze it all over; if any glaze is left, cut it into various strips and lozenge shapes and garnish the dish with it. This dish is excellent for a ball supper.

 'Forcemeat' was a mixture of uncooked ground or pureéd meat, similar to paté, while 'white stock' was a clear meat stock (as opposed to brown stock). The glaze in this instance would be a sweet jelly, brushed over the meat while warm and liquid. When cooled, the jelly would be firm enough to ‘cut into various strips’.

Novel dessert dish
Chestnuts were a traditional Christmas ingredient by December 1915, being grown in abundance on home soil – particularly handy for the wartime cook. But this recipe's dependence on sugar makes it an extravagant dish all the same.

 Roast three dozen large chestnuts, peel them, and put them into a stewpan; add 4 oz. of castor sugar and half a gill of water; cook slowly till the nuts absorb the sugar; then pile them up on a glass dish, squeeze over with the juice of a lemon, and dust rather thickly with castor sugar.

A 'gill' was an old unit of measure, equivalent to about 120ml.

Another inexpensive pudding
This recipe, which dates from November 1915, is a classic response to wartime shortages and economy. Unlike some of the exciting recipes above, this is a cheap, practical method for cooking Christmas pudding.

Sugar and eggs were both in increasingly short supply, and this recipe uses only one large spoon of sugar, and no eggs. Instead, the inclusion of a mashed carrot brings some essential sweetness and moisture to the recipe – just like in modern carrot cake.

Although fruit, like everything else during the war, has gone up in price, every English household must have a Christmas Pudding, but today, when eggs are so very expensive, it is necessary to be as careful as possible to try and obtain good results with fewer in the pudding. The secret of success is in the boiling, and the longer a Christmas pudding is allowed to boil the richer it will be.

Six spoonfuls of flour, ½ lb. of beef suet, ½ lb. of currants, one large spoonful of sugar, one large carrot to be boiled and mashed finely and mixed with the above ingredients, and the pudding to be boiled five hours. No milk or eggs are to be used in mixing the pudding. Serve with sweet sauce [almond or brandy sauce – popular accompaniments to Christmas pudding].

A 1915 Yuletide menu
The addition of olives with anchovies, and two extra dessert courses, promised to satisfy the most eager Christmas diner. Here is a typical 1915 festive menu:

 Hors-d’oeuvres
Clear Ox-tail Soup
Oyster Souffle
Roast Turkey, Chestnut Stuffing
Boiled Ham
Plum Pudding, Mince Pies
Orange Jelly
Olives with Anchovies
Dessert
Coffee, Liqueurs

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Brown Windsor soup

History Extra

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates a hearty meat soup that was popular in the 19th century.

 The origins of Brown Windsor soup are unclear. No one is quite sure where the recipe originates, but it is said to be have been one of Queen Victoria’s favourite soups, and was often served at palace banquets.

 The soup seems to have been viewed in a comedic light in the second half of the 20th century, and was featured in television and radio comedy shows such as Fawlty Towers and The Goon Show. But despite this (or maybe because of it) and because I am a big fan of robust, meaty soups and stews, I was intrigued to see what Brown Windsor soup would taste like.

 I have to admit, sadly, I was a bit underwhelmed by the result. Perhaps with some tweaks to the recipe (less butter – lamb is quite fatty as it is – more seasoning and lots more fresh herbs, like thyme) the dish would be a bit more exciting. As it is, it seemed like a lot of effort for something that tasted rather plain and a bit fatty – and that looked very brown!

 Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
 • ¼ lb stewing beef
 • ¼ lb lamb steak or mutton
 • 4 cups of beef stock
 • 1 onion, sliced
 • 1 carrot, sliced
 • 1 parsnip, sliced
 • 2 tbsp flour
 • 1 bouquet garni (bunch of herbs)
 • Salt and pepper to taste
 • ¼ tsp chilli powder
 • ½ cup cooked rice (optional)
 • ¼ cup Madeira wine (optional)

 Method
Cut the lamb
 and beef into 1-inch cubes and roll in the flour.

 Place the butter in a large saucepan over a low- medium heat. Fry the meat off for three minutes and then add the rest of the flour. Fry for a minute longer until the butter and flour mix is a golden brown colour.

 Add the sliced vegetables and stir in the stock. Add the bouquet garni, partially cover the saucepan and simmer for two hours.

 Add the rice (if using). Stir in the Madeira wine (if using). Serve piping hot.

 Difficulty: 2/10

 Time: 2 hours, 15 mins

 Recipe based on Food.com This article was first published in the May 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Fake fish

History Extra

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates fake fish - a medieval apple pie for Lent.

 In the Middle Ages, people were instructed not to eat meat during Lent. Yet the ban didn’t apply to fish – in fact, Dutch gourmets enjoyed serving up ‘fish’ dishes so much that they devised this fish-shaped apple pie. With no animal products, it’s every bit as virtuous as it is delicious.

 Ingredients For the dough:
 500g flour 125g oil (I used olive oil)
40g ground almonds
300ml water
1tsp salt
Saffron (optional)
Whole/sliced almonds to make scales

 For the filling:
 3 apples, chopped
 90g cane sugar
1tsp ginger
 ½tsp cinnamon
½tsp saffron
 2 slices gingerbread, lightly toasted and crumbled, or 40 ground almonds

Method For the dough:
Mix all the ingredients together, adding more liquid/flour if required, and knead it all until it’s reasonably smooth. Put the dough in the fridge for an hour before you need to use it.

 For the filling: Add the ingredients into a blender or mash by hand using a potato masher.

 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Divide the pastry in two. Roll out the first part and cut out an oval shape. Place the fish on a baking tray with toasted breadcrumbs sprinkled on the dough. Put the apple filling on to the oval, roll and cut out a second oval and place over the filling, pressing the top layer to the bottom. Cut out an eye hole and a hole near where the tail will go. Add fins, gills, scales. Bake for 45mins.

 Difficulty: 3/10

 Time: 90 mins

 Recipe courtesy of Coquinaria

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Tiger nut balls

History Extra

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates a healthy snack thought to have been enjoyed in Egypt around 3,500 years ago.

 If you, like me, have a sweet tooth but are trying to be healthier then try tiger nut balls.

 I found lots of references to this being one of the first Egyptian recipes that we know of, found written on an ancient ostraca (inscribed broken pottery) dating back to 1600 BC. Although I haven’t found a definitive source for this (or why tiger nut balls don’t contain tiger nuts!) they sounded too delicious to pass over. As your average ancient Egyptian seems to have had a very sweet tooth and often added dates and honey to desserts, I like to think that this is a sweet that would have been made thousands of years ago.

 This recipe is very straightforward, requires no cooking and is a lot fun to make (ideal for younger members of the household who might want to help).

 Ingredients
• 200g fresh dates (I used dried, which worked really well)
 • 1 tsp cold water
 • 10–15 walnut halves
 • ¼ tsp of cinnamon
 • small jar of runny honey
 • 75g ground almonds

 Method
Chop the dates finely (use seedless, or make sure to remove the stones first) and put them into a bowl. Add the water and stir. Then mix in the chopped walnuts and the cinnamon.

 Shape the mixture into small balls with your hands. Dip the balls in honey (I warmed it first so the honey coating wouldn’t be quite so thick) then roll the balls in the ground almonds.

 Chill them in the fridge for half an hour before serving.

 BBC history Magazine team verdict:
 “Like historic energy balls.”
 “I think Tiger nut balls roar with flavour.”
 “They’re as indulgent as a chocolate truffle!”

 Difficulty: 1/10

 Time: 45 mins

 Recipe courtesy of Cook it!

Top 5 Jane Austen recipes

History Extra

Written by Pen Vogler, the editor of Penguin’s Great Food series, the book also features dishes Jane and her family were known to have enjoyed.

 Here, we've selected our top five Jane Austen recipes.

 Dinner with Mr Darcy by Pen Vogler is published by CICO Books

 Flummery
 Flummery is a white jelly, which was set in elegant molds or as shapes in clear jelly. Its delicate, creamy taste goes particularly well with rhubarb, strawberries, and raspberries. A modern version would be to add the puréed fruit to the ingredients, taking away the same volume of water.

 1⁄2 cup/50g ground almonds
1 tsp natural rosewater (with no added alcohol)
A drop of natural almond extract
 11⁄4 cups/300ml milk
 1 1⁄4 cups heavy (double) cream
 1–2 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar
 5 gelatin leaves

 1) Put the gelatin in a bowl and cover with cold water; leave for 4–5 minutes
 2) Pour the milk, almonds, and sugar into a saucepan and heat slowly until just below boiling.
 3) Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatin leaves and add them to the almond milk. Simmer for a few minutes, keeping it below boiling point. Let it cool a little and strain it through cheesecloth, or a very fine sieve
 4) Whip the cream until thick, and then fold it into the tepid mixture. Wet your molds (essential, to make it turn out), put the flummery in (keeping some back for the hen’s nest recipe below if you’d like) and leave to stand in the fridge overnight
 5) To serve: If you don’t have a jelly mold with a removable lid, dip the mold briefly into boiling water before turning out the flummery

 "To make Flummery Put one ounce of bitter and one of sweet almonds into a basin, pour over them some boiling water to make the skins come off, which is called blanching. Strip off the skins and throw the kernels into cold water. Then take them out and beat them in a marble mortar with a little rosewater to keep them from oiling. When they are beat, put them into a pint of calf’s foot stock, set it over the fire and sweeten it to your taste with loaf sugar. As soon as it boils strain it through a piece of muslin or gauze. When a little cold put it into a pint of thick cream and keep stirring it often till it grows thick and cold. Wet your moulds in cold water and pour in the flummery, let it stand five or six hours at least before you turn them out. If you make the flummery stiff and wet the moulds, it will turn out without putting it into warm water, for water takes off the figures of the mould and makes the flummery look dull." ELIZABETH RAFFALD,THE EXPERIENCED ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER, 1769

 Pigeon Pie
 It was the custom to put ‘nicely cleaned’ pigeon feet in the crust to label the contents (although sensible Margaret Dods says ‘we confess we see little use and no beauty in the practice’). Georgian recipes for pigeon pie called for whole birds, but I’ve suggested stewing the birds first, so your guests don’t have to pick out the bones.

Serves 6–8 as part of a picnic spread

 4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
Slice of lean ham, chopped
 4 pigeons with their livers tucked inside (the livers are hard to come by, but worth hunting out)
 Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
 9 oz/250 g steak, diced (original cooks would have used rump steak, but you could use something cheaper like topside, diced across the grain of the meat)
Butter
Olive oil
 Finely chopped parsley
 2 white onions, roughly chopped
A bouquet garni of any of the following, tied together: thyme, parsley, marjoram, winter savory, a bay leaf
Beurre manie made with about 2 tsp butter and 2 tsp flour
 1lb/500g rough puff pastry, chilled
Optional additions: 1 onion, peeled and quartered; 2 carrots, roughly chopped; 1 celery stick, roughly chopped

 1) Brown the bacon and then the ham in a frying pan, then add the onions, if using, and cook until they are translucent. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan
 2) Flour the pigeons well and brown them all over in butter and olive oil in a frying pan, transferring them to the same large saucepan. Flour and brown the steak in the same way
 3) Put the pigeons in a saucepan, and push the steak, bacon, and onions down all around them (choose a saucepan in which they will be quite tightly packed). Although the original recipe doesn’t include them, you may want to add the carrots and celery stick to improve the stock.

 Add approximately 11⁄4 cups/300ml water, or enough to just cover the contents. Cover the pan, and simmer slowly until the meat comes off the pigeon bones — at least an hour.

 Do not allow the pan to come to a boil or the beef will toughen. Remove from the heat.

 4) When it is cool enough to handle, remove the steak and pigeons with a slotted spoon, and carefully pull the pigeon meat off the bones, keeping it as chunky as possible, and put it, with the livers from the cavity, with the steak. You should have a good thick sauce; if it is too thin, stir in the beurre manie a little at a time.

 Wait for it to cook the flour, and thicken before adding any more, until you have the right consistency.

 5) Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas Mark 5. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line a pie dish about 3 inches/8cm deep, keeping a good 1⁄4 inch/5mm of pastry above the lip of the dish to allow for shrinkage

 6) Prick the bottom of the pastry and bake blind for 12 minutes. Add the meat mixture and pour in enough gravy to come to within an inch of the top.

 Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the top, crimping the edges together. Make a vent in the center, and use the trimmings to decorate.

 You may like to use the point of the knife to make small slash marks in the shape of pigeon footprints — a nod to the “nicely cleaned feet” of the original recipe. Bake for 25– 30 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden, and cooked through

 7) To serve, this is a juicier pie than we are used to for picnics, so you will need plates, and knives and forks, in the Georgian manner

 Clean and season the pigeons well in the inside with pepper and salt. Put into each bird a little chopped parsley mixed with the livers parboiled and minced, and some bits of butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with a beef-steak, a few cutlets of veal, or slices of bacon, which is more suitable. Lay in the birds; put the seasoned gizzards, and, if approved, a few hard-boiled yolks of egg into the dish. A thin slice of lean ham laid on the breast of each bird is an improvement to the flavour. Cover the pie with puff paste. A half-hour will bake it.

Observation — It is common to stick two or three feet of pigeons or moorfowl into the centre of the cover of pies as a label to the contents, though we confess we see little use and no beauty in the practice. Forcemeat-balls may be added to enrich the pie. Some cooks lay the steaks above the birds, which is sensible, if not seemly. MARGARET DODS, THE COOK AND HOUSEWIFE’S MANUAL, 1826

 Bath Olivers
 These savory crackers (biscuits) were devised by William Oliver, an 18th-century physician in Bath after he realised the Bath Buns he had also invented were making his fashionable patients even fatter. They are perfect served with the English cheeses that the Georgian “higher sort” were beginning to enjoy. Makes 30–40 crackers

 Pinch of salt
3 3⁄4 cups/500g all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons/30g butter
1⁄4 oz/7g sachet active dried yeast
2⁄3 cup/150ml milk

 1) Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C/Gas Mark 3
 2) Sift the flour into a bowl and add the dried yeast and salt.Warm the butter and milk together, make a well in the flour and slowly add the liquid, stirring the flour into the center until you have a dough. Add some warm water if necessary
 3) Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth; put it back in the bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes
 4) Roll out well on a floured surface several times, folding the dough on itself, until it is very thin
 5) Cut out with a circular biscuit cutter and prick the surface with a fork
 6) Bake for 20–30 minutes until they are hard and bone-colored; if they are turning color, turn the oven down to 300°F/150°C/Gas Mark 2
 7) To serve: With a rich local dairy industry, Jane’s circle and characters were likely to have often served local cheeses, including the famous Somerset Cheddar.

 Mr Elton gives a clue to what a cheese course might consist of when he unromantically describes his whole dinner of the previous night to Harriet, when Emma overtakes them “and that she was herself come in for the Stilton cheese, the north Wiltshire, the butter, the celery, the beet-root and all the dessert”.

 Mrs Norris happily gets both a receipt for and a sample of “a famous cream cheese” from the housekeeper at Sotherton. Mrs Austen describes “good Warwickshire cheese” made in the “delightful dairy” at Stoneleigh Abbey.

 To Make Ollivers Biscuits Take 3llb of flour, 1⁄2 a pint of small beer barm. Take some milk and warm it a little put it to your barm and lay a spunge, let it lay for one hour. Then take a quarter of a pound of butter and warm up with some milk and mix your spunge and lay it to rise before the fire. Roll it out in thin cakes, bake it in a slow oven. (You must put a little salt in your flour, but not much, use them before the fire before you put them in the oven).

MARTHA LLOYD’S HOUSEHOLD BOOK
 Negus

This mulled wine, created by Colonel Francis Negus (d.1732), was served at the balls in Mansfield Park and The Watsons, and was often offered to guests before their chilly journey home. By Victorian times it was thought to be the thing for children’s birthday parties! This version is safer served to adults.

 Serves 16-20

 1 x 25 fl oz/75cl bottle of port
25 fl oz/750 ml water
1–2 tbsp brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
About 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg  Optional extra spices: 1 cinnamon stick and/or 8 whole cloves
Segments of orange and lemon, to serve
 1) Put the water in a saucepan and add the lemon zest, a tablespoon of sugar and the spices. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer very gently for 10–15 minutes. Add the lemon juice
 2) Strain, return to the saucepan and reheat. Add the port; taste it, and add a little more sugar if you like. Pour in the port and heat very gently to serving temperature. Put slices of lemon and/or orange into glasses before pouring in the Negus — or serve it from a pitcher (jug) 

Miss Debary's Marmalade
 Miss Debary was one of the “endless Debarys”; four sisters unloved by Jane who said they were “odious’” (letter to Cassandra 8 September 1816), and had bad breath! (letter to Cassandra, 20 November 1800). Marmalade was made from all kinds of fruit and eaten for dessert until the Scots made it from bitter Seville oranges and started serving it for breakfast at the end of the 18th century. 

Makes 6 x 1 lb (450g) jars

 1.5kg (3 1⁄4 lb) Seville oranges
 2 sweet oranges
1 scant gallon/3.5 litres water
Juice of 2 lemons
About 6 lb/2.75 kg preserving sugar

 1) Weigh the fruit and to each 18 oz/500g of fruit weigh out 26 oz/750g sugar. Quarter the fruit and cut off the rind, taking off a little of the pith if you want a sweeter marmalade
 2) Boil the rind in water for 11⁄2 –2 hours; there should be a third of the water left. When it is cool, cut the rind into thin slices about 3⁄8 –3⁄4 inch/1–2cm long; Georgian cooks called these “chips”.

 Chop the pulp and pick out the seeds (pips) and pith, or push it through a sieve. Put the chips, pulp and lemon juice into the water used to boil the rinds, and bring to a boil.

 Add the sugar and boil vigorously for twenty minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom. When you have put the marmalade on to boil, leave a saucer in the fridge and put your jars on baking sheets into the oven at 350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4 and leave them to sterilize for 20 minutes

 3) After 20 minutes, put a little of the marmalade onto the cold plate. If it sets, it is ready; if not, test every five minutes until you get a set
 4) Let the marmalade cool a little before decanting it into the hot jars. When it is cold, put wax paper on the surface, before adding the lids

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Sloe gin

History Extra

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates sloe gin – a fruit-flavoured drink made with the bounty of wild blackthorns.

 With the enclosure of the countryside in the 16th and 17th centuries came a huge increase in blackthorn bushes, used to divide up fields, and therefore lots of sloes. The popularity of gin at the time meant that there was an ideal way of making otherwise quite unpalatable sloes a bit more exciting.

 Sloe gin is a great drink to prepare in time for Christmas and the long winter months that follow. I love the whole process, from picking the sloes to hiding the bottles in a dark corner to mature.

 I’ve never made sloe gin the same way twice – it’s always a bit haphazard – but for me the two most important things are not to use too much sugar, and to wait three months before you drink it (always hard!).

 Quantities depend on how many sloes you pick, and are very rough – but, broadly speaking, use enough sloes to half-fill your bottle, and about 50g of sugar per litre.

 Ingredients
 500g ripe sloes
 50g sugar
 1 litre gin

 Method
Wash the sloes and pick off any stems, then pat them dry with a tea towel or paper towel. Prick the sloes, or freeze them overnight so that their skins split. Add the sloes to a sterilised bottle or jar till it’s just under half full.

 Top up the bottle or jar with gin and add the sugar. Seal the jar or bottle and leave for three months or longer, shaking the jar periodically to ensure that the sugar dissolves.

 Before drinking, strain the gin from the sloes through a sieve or muslin and re-bottle.

 Note: this recipe uses a bit less sugar than most. More sugar can always be added to taste before drinking.

 Verdict: Country Christmas in a glass!

 Difficulty: 2/10

 Time: 20 minutes preparation, 3 months maturation

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Beef olives

History Extra

Beef olives. © Sam Nott

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates beef olives – a deliciously traditional dish enjoyed across Europe.

 I’ve often heard about beef olives but in never sounded that appetising. I didn’t realise though that I’ve been eating if for years. My German grandmother would often cook rouladen, which is the same as beef olives, and it’s delicious!

 I have early memories of my mum pounding meat with a rolling pin, which I’m sure was for roulade. Most parts of Europe have their equivalent recipes and one of the earliest I found was in Hannah Glasse’s 1747 book, The Art of Cookery. I based my dish on a modern version from bbcgoodfood.com.

 Ingredients
 400g of beef thinly sliced (any cut)
1 tbsp of dijon mustard
1 medium onion
220g celery
 150g carrot
250ml red wine
600ml beef stock
2 tbsp of passata 

For the stuffing:
 1 small onion
 3 rashers of smoked bacon
4 mushrooms
1 tsp of thyme leaves
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp of olive oil

 Method
Preheat the oven to 175˚C. Fry the onions, garlic and mushrooms until soft. Add to the raw bacon and set aside: this is your stuffing.

 Place the beef on a flat surface and beat with a rolling pin or food hammer until very thin – this part is very satisfying!

 Spread each beef slice with the mustard, add the stuffing and then roll the beef slice (with the stuffing inside). Secure with a cocktail stick or string. Fry on all sides until brown and place in an oven-proof dish.

 Fry the remaining onion, carrot and celery in a pan for five minutes. Add passata, red wine and beef stock and stir. Pour over the beef olives and cook in the oven, with a lid on, for three hours.

 Remove the beef olives from the dish and keep warm. Blend the remaining sauce until no lumps remain.

 My verdict
This was really delicious, despite the fact I let it cook too long so the gravy vanished (as you can see from the photo). But with mashed potatoes and gravy, it’s a very hearty dinner.

 Difficulty: 5/10

 Time: 210 mins

 This article was first published in the October 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Anzac biscuits

History Extra

These nutritious and long-lasting biscuits are often associated with the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps. (Credit: Sam Nott)

Tasty, nutritious and easy to make, it’s not surprising that Anzac biscuits are still a popular snack in Australia and New Zealand, particularly on Anzac Day (25 April), which marks the anniversary of the first major military action fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War.

 Ingredients
85g porridge oats
 85g desiccated coconut
 100g plain flour
 100g caster sugar
 100g butter, plus extra for greasing
 1 tbsp golden syrup
 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

 Method
Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Put the oats, coconut, flour and sugar in a bowl. Melt the butter in a small pan and stir in the golden syrup. Add the bicarbonate of soda to 2 tbsp boiling water, then stir into the golden syrup and butter mixture.

 Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the butter and golden syrup mixture. Stir gently to incorporate the dry ingredients.

 Put dessertspoonfuls of the mixture on to buttered baking sheets – about 2.5cm/1in apart to allow room for spreading. Bake in batches for 8-10 mins until golden. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

 My verdict
I’ve often read that Anzac biscuits were sent out to New Zealand and Australian troops serving in Gallipoli during the First World War. According to the National Army Museum, though, this is a myth and most of these deliciously chewy biscuits were in fact sold at fetes and galas at home, often as part of fundraising efforts. You can imagine, though, that they would have been an ideal biscuit for soldiers: hearty, nutritious and long-lasting.

 On a Monday morning, the BBC History Magazine team tucked into a few that had been left in the office all weekend: they still tasted just as good!

 Difficulty: 2/10
 Time: 20 minutes

 Recipe courtesy of BBC Good Food.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Torta Margherita

History Extra

A delicious gluten and dairy-free cake with only three ingredients. (Credit: Sam Nott)

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates Torta Margherita, a 19th-century cake from Italy that is both gluten and dairy-free.

 This recipe comes from Pellegrino Artusi’s 1891 cookbook La Scienza in Cucina e l’Arte di Mangiare Bene (The Science of Cooking and the Art of Fine Dining), and is a cake that has been enjoyed in many Italian households.

 Artusi’s introduction to his cookbook gives an insight into the origins of the cake. He originally made it for a friend of his, Antonio Mattei, who took the recipe and, after making a few changes, sold it in his restaurant.

 The cake was such a success that it soon became the norm to finish a meal with Torta Margherita. The moral of the story, according to Artusi, is that if you grab opportunities when they arise (as Mattei did) fortune will favour you above someone who merely sits back and waits. 

Ingredients
120g of potato starch,
 sifted 120g of fine white sugar (caster sugar)
 4 eggs
 Juice or zest of a lemon (optional)
 Butter and baking paper (to line the baking tin)

 Method
Separate the yolks from the whites and beat the yolks together with the sugar until pale and creamy. Add the lemon (optional) and the potato starch and beat.

 In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then delicately fold the whites through the batter. Place the mixture into a round cake tin (buttered and lined with baking paper). Bake at a moderate heat for about an hour or until golden on top and firm to the touch.

 Difficulty: 2/10

 Time: 60 minutes

 Verdict: When I found this recipe I was intrigued: a gluten and dairy-free cake that tastes nice? And with only three ingredients? But the picture in the recipe book looked very enticing so I gave it a try. 

And I’m glad I did! I ended up making several of these as they were so delicious; friends and family devoured them all. The cake is incredibly light, goes well with tea or coffee, and takes just an hour to make.

 Recipe courtesy of Emiko Davies.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Buttered beere

History Extra

Buttered beere: a sweet drink enjoyed in the Tudor period. (Credit: Sam Nott)

 In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates buttered beere - a sweet, slightly alcoholic drink that warmed the cockles in Tudor times.

 This is an authentic Tudor recipe from 1588, taken from The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin. It’s similar to a caudle, a drink of warm wine or ale with sugar, eggs and spices, renowned for its medicinal properties and popular at the same period.

 I love mulled wines and ciders, so the idea of this drink really appealed to me. The smells wafting through my kitchen while I was making it were delicious, though the drink itself was a bit, well, ‘robust’ – great when you’ve just come inside on a cold winter’s day, but for ordinary drinking a bit too heavy for me. My partner loved it, though – he drank the lot!

 Ingredients
1,500ml (3 bottles) of good-quality ale
¼ tsp ground ginger
 ½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground nutmeg
200g demerara or other natural brown sugar
 5 egg yolks
 100g unsalted butter, chopped into small lumps

 Method
Pour the ale gently into a large saucepan and stir in the ginger, cloves and nutmeg. Bring slowly to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes until the ale clears.

 While the ale is simmering, whisk the egg yolks and sugar in a bowl until the mixture is light and creamy. Remove the spiced ale from the hob, add the egg yolk and sugar mixture, and stir until all ingredients are well blended.

 Return to a low heat until the liquid starts to thicken, taking care not to overheat.

 Simmer for five minutes, add the chopped butter and heat until it has melted. Hand-whisk the liquid until it becomes frothy.

 Continue to heat for 10 minutes, then allow to cool to a drinkable temperature. Give the mixture another whisk, serve into a jug or small glasses (or tankards!) and drink while still warm.

 Difficulty: 2/10
 Time: 25 mins

 Recipe from recipewise.co.uk This article was first published in the May 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Semla buns

History Extra

Not doughnuts, not profiteroles but semlor - creamy treats to beat pancakes. (Credit: Sam Nott)

 In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam creates an indulgent treat cooked up in Scandinavia as a last hurrah before the start of Lent.

 In Sweden, a semla is a cardamom-spiced sweet bread roll filled with almond paste and cream. Semlor have been eaten since the 18th century, and enjoyed on Shrove Tuesday. Swedish king Aldolph Frederick died in 1771 apparently after eating 14 semlor (he had just eaten a huge dinner so maybe we can’t blame it all on the buns).

 Ingredients
BUNS (makes 15–25)
 • 75g butter
 • 300ml milk
 • 10g yeast
 • 1 tsp crushed cardamom
 • ½ tsp salt
 • 55g sugar
 • 500g plain white flour
 • 1 egg

 FILLING
 • 200g almond paste
 • 120ml milk
 • 240ml whipping cream
 • Icing sugar for dusting

 Method
Melt butter in a pan, add milk and heat until lukewarm. Mix cardamom, sugar, salt, yeast and most of flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the milk mixture and egg.

Knead dough for five minutes till sticky. Cover and leave to rise for 30–40 mins. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Make into balls. Place on two trays lined with baking paper; leave to rise for 30–40 mins.

 Preheat oven to 200–225°C/gas mark 5–7. Bake buns in lower part of the oven for 20–25 mins till browned.

 Once cool, slice off the top of each bun and set aside. Using a fork, tease out a layer of crumbs and reserve them in a bowl. Grate the almond paste and combine with the crumbs and milk. Blend into a thick paste and fill each bun. Whip cream till stiff and place onto the almond paste. Replace bun tops and dust with icing sugar. Eat within a couple of hours.

 Difficulty:
4/10

 Time: 2 hours

 BBC History Magazine team verdict: "Light and tasty" Recipe courtesy of swedishfood.com. This article was first published in the February 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Wassail punch

History Extra

Add some history to your festivities with a glass of wassail punch. © Sam Nott

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates wassail punch – a deliciously warming drink that dates back to the Middle Ages.

 The smell of roasting apples and cinnamon that fills the house during preparation is reason enough to make this drink, but it’s also a wonderfully warming tipple, perfect for the festive period. Wassail punch is a medieval drink and, in the south-west and south-east of England at least, was drunk as part of a ceremony or ritual that took place to ensure a good cider-apple harvest the following year. I’ll drink to that!

 Ingredients
• 6 small apples, washed and cored
 • 1 litre cider (I used dry)
 • 2 cinnamon sticks, crushed
 • 2 pinches ground cloves
 • Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
 • 1 lemon, sliced
 • Sugar, to taste

 Method
Preheat oven to 190˚C/gas mark 5. Score the apples and place in an ovenproof tray and roast for 45–50 minutes, or until skin is soft and starting to split.

 Heat the cider in a saucepan over a low heat and add cloves, cinnamon and nutmeg.

 Stir well and heat through until the liquid starts to foam.

 Add the lemon slices and roasted apples, and give the liquid a good stir – if there is any apple juice left in your ovenproof dish, add this, too. If you want to add sugar (I added about 4 tablespoons), now is a good time to do so – add it gradually and taste as you go along. Serve hot.

 BBC history Magazine team verdict:
 “A lovely punch that was very easy to make.”
 “Tastes a bit like apple crumble in a glass.”
 “I’d drink this to knock out a cold!”

 Difficulty:
 2/10 Time (including roasting apples): 1hr

 Recipe courtesy of the BBC's 'Make Your Own Victorian Christmas' This article was first published in the December 2014 issue of BBC History Magazine.

Sam’s historical recipe corner: Marlborough pie

History Extra

(© Jessica Hope) 

In every issue of BBC History Magazine, picture editor Sam Nott brings you a recipe from the past. In this article, Sam recreates marlborough pie – a tasty pie that travelled to America in the 17th century.

 English chef Robert May created this apple custard pie when compiling dishes for his 1660 recipe book The Accomplisht Cook.

 As the English established colonies in the New World during the 17th century, settlers took the pie recipe with them. Since the 19th century it has become a favourite dessert in the US during holidays such as Thanksgiving.

 The original recipe includes equal quantities of egg, apple and dry sherry. I used a modified recipe to ensure the right taste and cooking time.

 Ingredients

For the pastry:
 • 180g strong bread flour
 • 1 tbsp granulated sugar
 • ½ tsp table salt
 • 125g chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
 • 3 tbsp ice cold water

 For the filling:
 • 1½ bramley cooking apples (peeled and grated)
 • 3 tbsp lemon juice
 • 3 tbsp dry sherry
 • 30g salted butter
 • 140g granulated sugar
 • 3 large eggs
 • 240ml single cream
 • ¼ tsp ground cinnamon
 • ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
 • ¼ tsp table salt

 Method
Put the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Work the butter cubes into the flour with fingers until the mixture looks crumbly. Add water to make dough. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Roll into a ball and cover in cling film. Refrigerate for 30 mins.

 Pie filling: Place the grated apple in a bowl and stir in lemon juice and sherry. Melt the butter in a pan and add apple mixture and sugar. Allow the liquid to boil. Reduce heat and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. Cool for 10 mins.

 Preheat the oven to 200°C. Line a 9 inch pie tin with baking parchment. Roll the dough into a 10 inch circle, 1/8 inch thick. Place in the pie tin and fold excess onto edge of tin to make a crust. Prick the dough and blind bake for 10 mins. Remove weights and parchment and bake for another 5 mins. 

Reduce oven temperature to 180°C. Whisk together the eggs, cream, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt, and add apple mixture. Pour the filling into the pastry. Bake for 35 mins until the custard is set but not too brown.

 Verdict: The spices really complement the creamy filling.

 Difficulty: 5/10

 Time: 1 hour 40 mins

 Recipe courtesy of KCRW Good Food This article was first published in the October 2015 issue of BBC History Magazine

Sam's historical recipe corner: Tudor vegetable pie

History Extra

The Tudors loved pastry, from the high-status venison pasty to this meat-free pie.

This 1596 recipe for a “pie of bald meats [greens] for fish days” was handy for times such as Lent or Fridays when the church forbade the eating of meat (another similar recipe is called simply Friday Pie). Medieval pastry was a disposable cooking vessel, but in the 1580s there were great advancements in pastry work. Pies became popular, with many pastry types, shapes and patterns filled with everything from lobster to strawberries. This pie’s sweet/savoury combo is typical of Tudor cookery: I enjoyed it, but was glad I’d reduced the sugar content.

 Ingredients
 • Pastry: 1lb plain flour, 5oz butter, 1 egg
• 8oz mixture of spinach, lettuce, cabbage, chard
• 2oz raisins, chopped
 • 1oz grated hard cheese
• 2oz fresh bread crumbs
 • ½ tsp salt
 • ½ tsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp sugar (I used 1 tsp)
• 3 raw egg yolks • 1 hard-boiled egg yolk
• 1oz melted butter

 Method

 To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour, work in egg and water, and knead lightly. Use half to line a dish; I used a 10-inch metal flan dish. Remove the coarse stalks of the greens, shred leaves thinly, mix with other ingredients (I also added black pepper) and pack into the dish. Cover with pastry, keeping some back to make decorations for the top. Bake at 150°C for 50 mins (mine took an hour), brushing the top with a little butter and sprinkling on a little fine sugar before serving. 

Difficulty: 4/10

 Time: 1 hour 30 mins

 Verdict: The pastry handled well and the pie was tasty. It made a good summer lunch, served with pickles. I’ll make it again, but this time minus the sugar sprinkled on top. From a recipe in Cooking and Dining in Tudor & Early Stuart England by Peter Brears (Prospect, 2015).

This recipe was published in the May 2016 issue of BBC History Magazine.

Fit for a queen: 3 medieval recipes enjoyed at English and Scottish royal courts

History Extra

15th-century banquet. © The Art Archive / Alamy

 Rys Lumbard Stondyne

Period: England, 14th century Description: Sweet Rice and Egg Pudding

 Original recipe And for to make rys lumbard stondyne, take raw yolkes of eyren, and bete hom, and put hom to the rys beforesaid, and qwen hit is sothen take hit off the fyre, and make thenne a dragée of the yolkes of harde eyren broken, and sugre and gynger mynced, and clowes, and maces; and qwen hit is put in dyshes, strawe the dragée theron, and serve hit forth.

 Modern recipe • 1 cup rice • 2 cups beef, chicken, or other broth • 4 raw egg yolks • 2 tsp sugar, or to taste • 1/8 tsp saffron • Salt to taste Dragées • 2 hard-boiled egg yolks • 1 tsp sugar, or to taste • 1 tsp grated fresh ginger • 1/8 tsp each cloves and mace
 1) In a heavy saucepan or pot combine rice, broth and salt. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until all liquid has been absorbed.
 2) When rice is done, stir in raw egg yolks, sugar and saffron, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture gets very thick. Dish into a lightly oiled mould or bowl, cool, and turn out for serving.
 3) To make the dragées, in a bowl combine hard-boiled egg yolks, grated fresh ginger, sugar and spices, and blend into a paste. Roll this paste into little balls about half an inch across, and decorate the moulded Rys Lumbard with them.

 Great Pie
Ingredients • 1 kg mixed game (venison, pheasant, rabbit and boar) • 2 large onions, peeled and diced • 1 garlic clove • 120 grams of brown mushrooms, sliced • 120 grams smoked back bacon, diced • 25 grams plain flour • Juice and zest of 1 orange • 300 ml chicken stock • 70 ml of Merlot wine • Salt and pepper

 Modern recipe (serves eight to 12)
 1) Preheat oven to 180°C.
 2) In a frying pan, brown the game.
 3) Soften the onions and then add the garlic, mushrooms and bacon and fry for a few minutes. Add the stock and orange juice and zest. Raise it to a boil then simmer for an hour until the meat is tender. 4) Let the mixture cool and add it to your short crust pastry case. Add a pastry lid and press it onto the lip of the base then trim it. Cut a steam hole or two and brush with a beaten egg all over.
 5) Put the pie in the oven and bake for one hour. Cool before serving.

An early 14th-century royal meal; illustration from Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages from the Seventh to the Seventeenth Centuries by Henry Shaw, (London, 1843). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)

 Malaches of Pork
 Period: England, 14th century
Description: Pork Quiche

Original recipe Hewe pork al to pecys and medle it with ayren & chese igrated. Do therto powdour fort, safroun & pynes with salt. Make a crust in a trap; bake it wel therinne, and serue it forth.

Modern recipe (Serves eight to 12) • Pastry dough for 1 nine-inch pie crust • 1 pound lean pork, cubed • 4 eggs • 1 cup grated, hard cheese • 1/4 cup pine nuts • 1/4 tsp salt • Pinch of each, cloves, mace, black pepper
 1) Preheat oven to 230°C.
 2) Line a nine-inch pie pan with the pastry dough, and bake it for five to 10 minutes to harden it. Remove it, and reduce oven temperature to 175°C.
 3) In a frying pan, over medium heat, brown the cubed pork until it is tender.
 4) In a bowl, beat the eggs and spices together.
 5) Line the bottom of the pie crust with the browned pork, grated cheese, and pine nuts. Pour the egg and spice mixture over them.
 6) Put the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick draws out clean. Cool before serving

7 Victorian recipes

History Extra

Illustrations of decorative pies from Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, 1861. (Credit: Culture Club/Getty Images)

1) Brown bread ice cream

Made from a mixture of vanilla ice cream and caramelised wholemeal breadcrumbs, brown bread ice cream was a popular treat among the upper-class in the late 19^th century.
To read the Cook it! recipe in full, click here.

2) Classic Victoria sandwich

Possibly the most popular teatime treat in Britain, the Victoria sandwich is made of two simple sponges, with lashings of strawberry jam and cream layered in-between.
To read the BBC Good Food recipe in full, click here.

3) Kedgeree

British colonials based in India first created kedgeree during the 19^th century. After they passed on their recipe to their friends back home, kedgeree became the staple of many breakfast tables across Britain. The dish is made of rice, smoked haddock and plenty of spice.
To read the Cook it! recipe in full, click here.

4) Syllabub

Syllabub is a boozy yet creamy dessert, popular among the elite during the 17^th and 18^th centuries. Usually made with fortified wines such as sherry, this sweet treat also featured at high society banquets during the Victorian period.
To read Mrs Beeton's recipe on the BBC, click here.

5) Spotted dick

Made from suet pastry, dried currants and raisins, spotted dick first appeared in The Modern Housewife cookbook by French chef Alexis Soyer in 1849. Serve this pudding with lashings of hot custard.
To read the BBC Good Food recipe in full, click here.

6) Teacakes

The perfect accompaniment to a strong cup of tea, teacakes are sweet buns filled with dried fruit. Usually toasted and smothered in butter, a recipe for teacakes is mentioned in Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management – the bestselling guide to running a home in the 19^th century.
To read Mrs Beeton's recipe on the BBC, click here.

7) Gruel

Made out of a thin mixture of oats and water or milk, gruel is famously affiliated with the Victorian workhouse, as seen in Charles Dickens’s Oliver Twist.
To read the Cook it! recipe in full, click here.

Top 5 Jane Austen recipes

History Extra

Written by Pen Vogler, the editor of Penguin’s Great Food series, the book also features dishes Jane and her family were known to have enjoyed.

Here, we've selected our top five Jane Austen recipes.

Dinner with Mr Darcy by Pen Vogler is published by CICO Books

Flummery

Flummery is a white jelly, which was set in elegant molds or as shapes in clear jelly. Its delicate, creamy taste goes particularly well with rhubarb, strawberries, and raspberries. A modern version would be to add the puréed fruit to the ingredients, taking away the same volume of water.
1⁄2 cup/50g ground almonds
1 tsp natural rosewater (with no added alcohol)
A drop of natural almond extract
11⁄4 cups/300ml milk
1 1⁄4 cups heavy (double) cream 1–2 tbsp superfine (caster) sugar 5 gelatin leaves
1) Put the gelatin in a bowl and cover with cold water; leave for 4–5 minutes
2) Pour the milk, almonds, and sugar into a saucepan and heat slowly until just below boiling.
3) Squeeze out the excess water from the gelatin leaves and add them to the almond milk. Simmer for a few minutes, keeping it below boiling point. Let it cool a little and strain it through cheesecloth, or a very fine sieve
4) Whip the cream until thick, and then fold it into the tepid mixture. Wet your molds (essential, to make it turn out), put the flummery in (keeping some back for the hen’s nest recipe below if you’d like) and leave to stand in the fridge overnight
5) To serve: If you don’t have a jelly mold with a removable lid, dip the mold briefly into boiling water before turning out the flummery
"To make Flummery Put one ounce of bitter and one of sweet almonds into a basin, pour over them some boiling water to make the skins come off, which is called blanching. Strip off the skins and throw the kernels into cold water. Then take them out and beat them in a marble mortar with a little rosewater to keep them from oiling. When they are beat, put them into a pint of calf’s foot stock, set it over the fire and sweeten it to your taste with loaf sugar. As soon as it boils strain it through a piece of muslin or gauze. When a little cold put it into a pint of thick cream and keep stirring it often till it grows thick and cold. Wet your moulds in cold water and pour in the flummery, let it stand five or six hours at least before you turn them out. If you make the flummery stiff and wet the moulds, it will turn out without putting it into warm water, for water takes off the figures of the mould and makes the flummery look dull." ELIZABETH RAFFALD,THE EXPERIENCED ENGLISH HOUSEKEEPER, 1769

Pigeon Pie

It was the custom to put ‘nicely cleaned’ pigeon feet in the crust to label the contents (although sensible Margaret Dods says ‘we confess we see little use and no beauty in the practice’). Georgian recipes for pigeon pie called for whole birds, but I’ve suggested stewing the birds first, so your guests don’t have to pick out the bones.

Serves 6–8 as part of a picnic spread
4 rashers of streaky bacon, chopped
Slice of lean ham, chopped
4 pigeons with their livers tucked inside (the livers are hard to come by, but worth hunting out)
Flour, seasoned with salt and pepper
9 oz/250 g steak, diced (original cooks would have used rump steak, but you could use something cheaper like topside, diced across the grain of the meat)
Butter
Olive oil
Finely chopped parsley
2 white onions, roughly chopped
A bouquet garni of any of the following, tied together: thyme, parsley, marjoram, winter savory, a bay leaf
Beurre manie made with about 2 tsp butter and 2 tsp flour
1lb/500g rough puff pastry, chilled
Optional additions: 1 onion, peeled and quartered; 2 carrots, roughly chopped; 1 celery stick, roughly chopped
1) Brown the bacon and then the ham in a frying pan, then add the onions, if using, and cook until they are translucent. Transfer the mixture to a large saucepan
2) Flour the pigeons well and brown them all over in butter and olive oil in a frying pan, transferring them to the same large saucepan. Flour and brown the steak in the same way
3) Put the pigeons in a saucepan, and push the steak, bacon, and onions down all around them (choose a saucepan in which they will be quite tightly packed). Although the original recipe doesn’t include them, you may want to add the carrots and celery stick to improve the stock.
Add approximately 11⁄4 cups/300ml water, or enough to just cover the contents. Cover the pan, and simmer slowly until the meat comes off the pigeon bones — at least an hour.
Do not allow the pan to come to a boil or the beef will toughen. Remove from the heat.
4) When it is cool enough to handle, remove the steak and pigeons with a slotted spoon, and carefully pull the pigeon meat off the bones, keeping it as chunky as possible, and put it, with the livers from the cavity, with the steak. You should have a good thick sauce; if it is too thin, stir in the beurre manie a little at a time.
Wait for it to cook the flour, and thicken before adding any more, until you have the right consistency.
5) Preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C/Gas Mark 5. Roll out two-thirds of the pastry and line a pie dish about 3 inches/8cm deep, keeping a good 1⁄4 inch/5mm of pastry above the lip of the dish to allow for shrinkage
6) Prick the bottom of the pastry and bake blind for 12 minutes. Add the meat mixture and pour in enough gravy to come to within an inch of the top.
Roll out the remaining pastry to cover the top, crimping the edges together. Make a vent in the center, and use the trimmings to decorate.
You may like to use the point of the knife to make small slash marks in the shape of pigeon footprints — a nod to the “nicely cleaned feet” of the original recipe. Bake for 25– 30 minutes until the pastry is lightly golden, and cooked through
7) To serve, this is a juicier pie than we are used to for picnics, so you will need plates, and knives and forks, in the Georgian manner
Clean and season the pigeons well in the inside with pepper and salt. Put into each bird a little chopped parsley mixed with the livers parboiled and minced, and some bits of butter. Cover the bottom of the dish with a beef-steak, a few cutlets of veal, or slices of bacon, which is more suitable. Lay in the birds; put the seasoned gizzards, and, if approved, a few hard-boiled yolks of egg into the dish. A thin slice of lean ham laid on the breast of each bird is an improvement to the flavour. Cover the pie with puff paste. A half-hour will bake it.
Observation — It is common to stick two or three feet of pigeons or moorfowl into the centre of the cover of pies as a label to the contents, though we confess we see little use and no beauty in the practice. Forcemeat-balls may be added to enrich the pie. Some cooks lay the steaks above the birds, which is sensible, if not seemly. MARGARET DODS, THE COOK AND HOUSEWIFE’S MANUAL, 1826

Bath Olivers

These savory crackers (biscuits) were devised by William Oliver, an 18th-century physician in Bath after he realised the Bath Buns he had also invented were making his fashionable patients even fatter. They are perfect served with the English cheeses that the Georgian “higher sort” were beginning to enjoy.
Makes 30–40 crackers
Pinch of salt
3 3⁄4 cups/500g all-purpose (plain) flour
2 tablespoons/30g butter
1⁄4 oz/7g sachet active dried yeast
2⁄3 cup/150ml milk
1) Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C/Gas Mark 3
2) Sift the flour into a bowl and add the dried yeast and salt.Warm the butter and milk together, make a well in the flour and slowly add the liquid, stirring the flour into the center until you have a dough. Add some warm water if necessary
3) Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth; put it back in the bowl, cover and let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes
4) Roll out well on a floured surface several times, folding the dough on itself, until it is very thin
5) Cut out with a circular biscuit cutter and prick the surface with a fork
6) Bake for 20–30 minutes until they are hard and bone-colored; if they are turning color, turn the oven down to 300°F/150°C/Gas Mark 2
7) To serve: With a rich local dairy industry, Jane’s circle and characters were likely to have often served local cheeses, including the famous Somerset Cheddar.
Mr Elton gives a clue to what a cheese course might consist of when he unromantically describes his whole dinner of the previous night to Harriet, when Emma overtakes them “and that she was herself come in for the Stilton cheese, the north Wiltshire, the butter, the celery, the beet-root and all the dessert”.
Mrs Norris happily gets both a receipt for and a sample of “a famous cream cheese” from the housekeeper at Sotherton. Mrs Austen describes “good Warwickshire cheese” made in the “delightful dairy” at Stoneleigh Abbey.
To Make Ollivers Biscuits Take 3llb of flour, 1⁄2 a pint of small beer barm. Take some milk and warm it a little put it to your barm and lay a spunge, let it lay for one hour. Then take a quarter of a pound of butter and warm up with some milk and mix your spunge and lay it to rise before the fire. Roll it out in thin cakes, bake it in a slow oven. (You must put a little salt in your flour, but not much, use them before the fire before you put them in the oven).
MARTHA LLOYD’S HOUSEHOLD BOOK

Negus


This mulled wine, created by Colonel Francis Negus (d.1732), was served at the balls in Mansfield Park and The Watsons, and was often offered to guests before their chilly journey home. By Victorian times it was thought to be the thing for children’s birthday parties! This version is safer served to adults.
Serves 16-20
1 x 25 fl oz/75cl bottle of port 25 fl oz/750 ml water
1–2 tbsp brown sugar
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
About 1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg Optional extra spices: 1 cinnamon stick and/or 8 whole cloves
Segments of orange and lemon, to serve
1) Put the water in a saucepan and add the lemon zest, a tablespoon of sugar and the spices. Bring it to a boil and let it simmer very gently for 10–15 minutes. Add the lemon juice
2) Strain, return to the saucepan and reheat. Add the port; taste it, and add a little more sugar if you like. Pour in the port and heat very gently to serving temperature. Put slices of lemon and/or orange into glasses before pouring in the Negus — or serve it from a pitcher (jug)

Miss Debary's Marmalade

Miss Debary was one of the “endless Debarys”; four sisters unloved by Jane who said they were “odious’” (letter to Cassandra 8 September 1816), and had bad breath! (letter to Cassandra, 20 November 1800). Marmalade was made from all kinds of fruit and eaten for dessert until the Scots made it from bitter Seville oranges and started serving it for breakfast at the end of the 18th century.
Makes 6 x 1 lb (450g) jars
1.5kg (3 1⁄4 lb) Seville oranges 2 sweet oranges
1 scant gallon/3.5 litres water
Juice of 2 lemons
About 6 lb/2.75 kg preserving sugar
1) Weigh the fruit and to each 18 oz/500g of fruit weigh out 26 oz/750g sugar. Quarter the fruit and cut off the rind, taking off a little of the pith if you want a sweeter marmalade
2) Boil the rind in water for 11⁄2 –2 hours; there should be a third of the water left. When it is cool, cut the rind into thin slices about 3⁄8 –3⁄4 inch/1–2cm long; Georgian cooks called these “chips”.
Chop the pulp and pick out the seeds (pips) and pith, or push it through a sieve. Put the chips, pulp and lemon juice into the water used to boil the rinds, and bring to a boil.
Add the sugar and boil vigorously for twenty minutes, stirring to make sure it doesn’t catch on the bottom. When you have put the marmalade on to boil, leave a saucer in the fridge and put your jars on baking sheets into the oven at 350°F/180°C/Gas Mark 4 and leave them to sterilize for 20 minutes

3) After 20 minutes, put a little of the marmalade onto the cold plate. If it sets, it is ready; if not, test every five minutes until  you get a set
4) Let the marmalade cool a little before decanting it into the hot jars. When it is cold, put wax paper on the surface, before adding the lids

Fit for a queen: 3 medieval recipes enjoyed at English and Scottish royal courts

History Extra

15th-century banquet. © The Art Archive / Alamy

Exploring the significance of food in the royal court of Mary of Guise – mother of Mary, Queen of Scots – The Queen’s Feast will see dishes such as game pie and a sweet rice pudding known as Rys Lumbard served to visitors on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 May.
Prepared and inspired from real recipes of the time, the dishes offer an insight into medieval court life.
Here, Historic Scotland shares three of the popular recipes…

Rys Lumbard Stondyne

Period: England, 14th century
Description: Sweet Rice and Egg Pudding
Original recipe
And for to make rys lumbard stondyne, take raw yolkes of
eyren, and bete hom, and put hom to the rys beforesaid, and
qwen hit is sothen take hit off the fyre, and make thenne a
dragée of the yolkes of harde eyren broken, and sugre and
gynger mynced, and clowes, and maces; and qwen hit is put
in dyshes, strawe the dragée theron, and serve hit forth.
Modern recipe
• 1 cup rice
• 2 cups beef, chicken,
or other broth
• 4 raw egg yolks
• 2 tsp sugar, or to taste
• 1/8 tsp saffron
• Salt to taste
Dragées
• 2 hard-boiled egg yolks
• 1 tsp sugar, or to taste
• 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/8 tsp each cloves and mace
1) In a heavy saucepan or pot combine rice, broth and salt. Over medium heat, bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until all liquid has been absorbed.
2) When rice is done, stir in raw egg yolks, sugar and saffron, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture gets very thick. Dish into a lightly oiled mould or bowl, cool, and turn out for serving.
3) To make the dragées, in a bowl combine hard-boiled egg yolks, grated fresh ginger, sugar and spices, and blend into a paste. Roll this paste into little balls about half an inch across, and decorate the moulded Rys Lumbard with them.

 

Great Pie

Ingredients
• 1 kg mixed game (venison, pheasant, rabbit and boar)
• 2 large onions, peeled and diced
• 1 garlic clove
• 120 grams of brown mushrooms, sliced
• 120 grams smoked back bacon, diced
• 25 grams plain flour
• Juice and zest of 1 orange
• 300 ml chicken stock
• 70 ml of Merlot wine
• Salt and pepper
Modern recipe (serves eight to 12)
1) Preheat oven to 180°C.
2) In a frying pan, brown the game.
3) Soften the onions and then add the garlic, mushrooms and bacon and fry for a few minutes. Add the stock and orange juice and zest. Raise it to a boil then simmer for an hour until the meat is tender.
4) Let the mixture cool and add it to your short crust pastry case. Add a pastry lid and press it onto the lip of the base then trim it. Cut a steam hole or two and brush with a beaten egg all over.
5) Put the pie in the oven and bake for one hour. Cool before serving.

_{An early 14th-century royal meal; illustration from Dresses and Decorations of the Middle Ages from the Seventh to the Seventeenth Centuries by Henry Shaw, (London, 1843). (Photo by The Print Collector/Print Collector/Getty Images)}

Malaches of Pork

Period: England, 14th century
Description: Pork Quiche
Original recipe
Hewe pork al to pecys and medle it with ayren & chese
igrated. Do therto powdour fort, safroun & pynes with salt.
Make a crust in a trap; bake it wel therinne, and serue it forth.
Modern recipe (Serves eight to 12)
• Pastry dough for 1 nine-inch pie crust
• 1 pound lean pork, cubed
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup grated, hard cheese
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• 1/4 tsp salt
• Pinch of each, cloves, mace, black pepper
1) Preheat oven to 230°C.
2) Line a nine-inch pie pan with the pastry dough, and bake it for five to 10 minutes to harden it. Remove it, and reduce oven temperature to 175°C.
3) In a frying pan, over medium heat, brown the cubed pork until it is tender.
4) In a bowl, beat the eggs and spices together.
5) Line the bottom of the pie crust with the browned pork, grated cheese, and pine nuts. Pour the egg and spice mixture over them.
6) Put the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick draws out clean. Cool before serving.