LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS-L Archives

From: <>
Subject: Re: Need Colonial Recipes
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 21:12:46 -0500 (EST)

Am not sure exactly what you're looking for but...from The Williamsburg
Cookbook, Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, 1971, is a little info.
"Building a Tradition" page 1, "For well over three centuries Virginia ha
been famed for its good food and hospitality. By 1699, when Williamsburg
was founded, Virginians were enjoying a bill of fare that was probably
unrivaled. The Tidewater, with its forests and its waterways, was a primeval
paradise for fish and game, just as Enland, an island surrounded by fish, was
once a vast game preserve. Domestic animals, brought over from England,
thrived in the new climate, and so did English vegetables and fruits. Then
there were the Indians' crops, above all their corn. The first settlers had
brought wheat with them, but soon they were growing more corn than wheat.
Engaged one way or another in tobacco growing, almost all Virginians lived
on the land. Williamsburg was small but beautiful, as befitted the seat of
government. With no more that two thousand residents, for most of the year
it enjoyed quiet and ease. But during Publick Times, when the courts
convened in the spring and fall, when the Assembly met, on royal birthdays,
and on other special occassions, the town grew almost overnight.
Williamsburg became the setting for carnival and for affairs of law and
state. It was vibrant withcolor, dust, noise, agog with all the robustness
and all the elegance of Virginia's Golden Age.
To cope with such regular invasions, an extraordinary number of
'convenient ordinaries or inns for accommodations of strangers' offered
meals, drinks, and lodging. The taverns of Williamsburg, like the taverns of
London in those days, played an integral part in town life. Their patrons
were councilors and burgesses, ships captains and lawyers, merchants and
planters, who met within their doors to transact business, talk politics,
plat cards, and gossip over a bottle of wine, a bowl of punch, or a tankard
of ale.
The tavern keeper was a man of consequence. He received his guests in the
true manner of a host, discussed with them matters of moment, and judged when
to keep his counsel and when to disclose it. Above all, each tavern keeper
was expected to provide his patrons with a bill of fare (a choice of fish,
meat, fruits, and vegetables in season) and a choice of wines comparable to
those served by planters at home. Only those taverns with good kitchens
survived.
Virginians, being mostly English and Scottish stock, ate the same kind of
food as did Britons. English cookbooks were the Virginia housewife's
standby. Two of the most popular eighteenth century cookbooks used in
Virginia were The Art of Cookery Made Palin and Easy by Mrs. Hannah Glasse
and The Compleat Housewife; or, Accomplish'd Gentlewoman's Companion by Mrs.
E. Smith. First published in London in 1727, The Compleat Housewife was
reprinted by William Parks of Williamsburg in 1742 at the Virginia Gazette
printing office. It was the first cookbook published in British America.
Menus, printed in old style Caslon, a type face much used in America in
colonial times, lists favorites-chowders, fried chicken, spoon bread and corn
sticks, pecan pie, and the Tidewater's specialities of Virginia ham and Sally
Lunn. Josiah Chowning opened his tavern in 1766 for humbler folk or (as he
put it) ordinary people.
He prided himself on his good bread. On his bill of fare the word 'sippets'
describes strips of dry toast, and cider, served cool in the summer, and
mulled and spiced in winter.
Page 130, "Pastries, some liked bread of wheat flour and others preferred
it of corn meal, but there was one reason why early Virginia housewives had
to have wheat flour on hand. Corn meal is no good for pastry-making; the
dough does not "spread." After all early Virginians were almost all of
English stock, and what Englishman would be without his pie--a dish of meat,
fowl, fish, fruit, or vegetables enclosed or covered with a layer of paste
and baked.
Properly a pie, like the English garden, is enclosed. A tart is open and
smaller, brought into England no doubt from the Continent. The American pie,
a we know it, is a compromise between the pie and the tart; it is not baked
as it so often was in England--or in Mrs. Campbell's tavern--in a deep pie
dish, but when it contains the Old World fruits of apple (Rome Beauty is
Colonial Williamsburg's favorite culinary apple), cherry, peach, or apricot,
it is enclosed with crust in a pie pan. Pies made of New World pumpkin and
pecan are open like tarts."
Page 137: "The pecan tree, native to the banks of the Illinois and
Mississippi rivers, fascinated Thomas Jefferson. Many times he wrote to his
friends requesting some nuts: 'I shall set great value on the chance of
havign a grove of them.' In time, he planted hundreds of pecan trees and
was generous in giving nuts to his friends. On March 25, 1775, George
Washington planted at Mount Vernon pecans that Jefferson had sent him. Three
of these trees are still growing on the banks of the Potomac. According to
tradition, some of the pecan trees at the St. George Tucker House in
Williamsburg grew from pecans Jefferson gave Tucker."
In Favorite Meals from Williamsburg-A Menu Cookbook, Colonial Williamsburg
Foundation, 1982, page 3, "Mealtimes had become fairly standard by the
eighteenth centruy. Breakfast was served at 8 or 9 o'clock. It consisted of
cold sliced meats or a hash, beverages--coffee, tea, chocolate, or milk, and
hot breads such as buns, muffins, and corn pone. Many Virginians
preferredbreads made from cornmeal to those of wheat flour. "Indian cakes
for breakfast after the Virginia fashion" were the rule at Mount Vernon.
Dinner was the main meal of the day. Family, friends, and acwuaintances
gathered at 2 or 3 in the afternoon. They enjoyed a sumptuous meal of at
least two courses that adhered to the well established conventions.
Elaborate diagrams in teh cookbooks of the day showed the style conscious
hostess how to arrange the dishes on her table in order to show them off to
best advantage. A proper table was expected to be balanced from top to
bottom, side to side, and at the corners as well. As Mrs. Bradley asmonished
in her cookbook of circa 1770, 'Thebest Dinner in the World will have as ill
Aspect if the Dishes are not properly disposed on the Table.'
The first course featured a lavish presentation of meats and garnishes.
Instead of today;s floral bouquet, the centerpiece was likely to be a huge
meat pie in a pastry "coffin" or a calf's head. A Virginia ham was
considered ideal for the top of the table, perhaps balanced at the bottom by
a joint of beef or venison, a leg of lamb or veal, or by a roast turkey
(roasted on a spit). Soup was served by the mistress, 'removed,' and
replaced with another dish. Other meats--a fricssee of rabbits or marinated
pigeons for example--were held to be suitable 'side'dishes, while stewed crab
or lobster pie might have appeared at the corners. Vegetables garnished the
meat platters or were served separately. Elaborate salads and 'made dishes'
somewhat akin to modern casseroles also graced the dinner table.
British practice combined additional meat and fish dishes with fruits,
sweetmeatss, custards, and tarts for the second course, but Virginia
housewives seem to have favored a true dessert course. A pyramid of glass
salvers piled with containers of jellies, ice creams, syllabubs , and candied
fruits centered the table; other desserts were arranged around it. Various
beverages, alcoholic or not, were served with both courses.
The day's culinary activities concluded about 8pm with supper, a light
repast of seafood or cold meat and buttered breads, followed by fruit or a
sweet dish. Occasionally the tidewater gentry enjoyed an elaborate late
night ball supper. At a ball attended by William Byrd II, master of Westover
plantation on the James River, the royal governor danced 'a French dance with
my wife.' Later the guests 'danced country dances..and the company was
carried into another room where was a very fine collation of sweetmeats.'
In 1746, the Governor's Council and Burgesses gave a victory ball at the
Capitol to celebrate the battle of Culloden and served 'a very handsome
Collation spread on three Tables, in three different rooms, consisting of
near 100 Dishes, after the most delicate Taste.'

In Charleston Receipts by the Junior League of Charleston, 1950, it tells
that recipes were not called recipes until lately-they were designated, time
honored dishes called "receipts."

Page 206-"Sweet Potato Pone"-4 cups grated raw yams, 2 cups molasses (or dark
corn syrup), 1 cup brown sugar, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/4 cup seeded raisins,
1 cup warm water, 1 cup chopped citron, grated rind of 1 orange, grated rind
of 1 lemon, 1 teasoon chopped or powdered ginger, optional-2 tablespoons
coconut. Mix all ingredients; pour into greased baking dish. Bake in
moderate oven until nice crust forms on top (about 4 minutes). Serve hot
with unsweetened cream, plain or whipped. Serves 6.

Not for children but in case you were wondering what it was--
Page 209--"Syllabub" From The Carolina Housewife by a Lady of Charleston
(Miss Sara Rutlege, daughter of Edward Rutledge, signer of the Declatation of
Independence). To 1 quart of cream put 1/2 pint of sweet wine and 1/2 pint
of Madeira, the juice of 2 lemons, a little finely powdered spice (?nutmeg),
and sugar to taste. The peel of the lemon must be steeped in the wine until
the flavor is extracted. Whisk all these ingredients together, and as the
froth rises, take off with a spoon, lay it upon a fine sieve. What drains
from it put into you pan and whisk aggain. Put the froth into glasses.
Serves 12.

Page 253--"Mrs. Fairfax Montague's Old Time Sponge Cake"--8 eggs, 2 cups
sugar, 2 cups sifted flour, 1 1/2 teaspoons vinegar (for that time probably
was cidar vinegar), 1 dessert spoon vanilla. Separate eggs and beat in
different bowls, adding 1 cup of sugar to each mixture. Put together and add
the vinegar and sifted flour. Add vanilla and bake in slow oven (?250
degrees) for 30 minutes and in a quicker oven for 30 minutes longer, in an
angel food cake pan.

Page 256--"Scripture Cake"
4 1/2 cups (1st Kings 4-22) Flour
1 cup (Judges 5-25 last clause) Butter
2 cups (Jeremiah 6-20) Sugar
2 cups (1st Samuel 30-12) Raisins
2 cups (Nahum 3-12) Figs
2 cups (Numbers 17-18) Almonds
2 tablespoons (1st Samuel 14-13) Honey
1 pinch (Leviticus 2-13) Salt
6 (Jeremiah 17-11) Eggs
1/2 cup (Judges 4-19 last clause) Milk
2 tablespoons (Amos 4-5) Leaven
Season to taste with (2nd Chronicles 9-9) spices. Mix like a fruit cake and
bake.

Page 284--"Peach or Apricot Leather" 1 pound dried peaches or apricots, 1
cup sugar. Wash the peaches or apricots and soak in water overnight. Cover
with water (allow room, for they will swell) and boil as they are, until
tender. Drain. then run them through meat chopper, add the sugar, mix well
and return to the stove to melt the sugar. Spread the mixture fairly thin on
tin cookie sheets. Next you will substitute, as best you can, the
conveniences--I have a table with a galvanized iron top and screen frame to
cove rit. Place sheets on table in hot sunshine and move with the sun. Tin
attracts is. hen not too dry, sprinkle with granunlated (spelling in
receipt) sugar. Cut in strips, ro;; into lttle rolls. Then roll in sugar and
enjoy.

Just thought you might be interested in how it used to be....

==== LOWER-DELMARVA-ROOTS Mailing List ====
Have you seen Somerset County's USGenWeb site?
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mdsomers/somerset.htm
Preserve Our Heritage - Contribute Data to the USGenWeb Project!

This thread:

• Need Colonial Recipes by Carol Whitehead <>

  • Re: Need Colonial Recipes by <>