Duties of the Cook

In some kinds of houses there is sometimes a cook, & often there is only one cook which must know all about meat, because it is she which goes to the valley, with butchery & for the grill room, and the market for fast days, it is also necessary that she knows how to make a good soup, to disguise all kinds of viands, to make of them ragouts, in the same way fish & eggs; & all kinds of vegetables for the other days; as also not to be unaware of the manner of making some compotes & some other trifles for the dessert. She must hold well always her crockery proper & quite clean, as well as the kitchen, & unnecessarily not lavish wood & coal, and the other things she handles. She must be quite wise & of clear conscience in the accounts which she returns of her expenditure, to be neither quarrelsome nor a flatterer, to apply only to the wishes of her master & mistress, & serve always thus & at the hours that they prescribe. It is still her duty to clean [the stairs &] dining room for eating, to hold the whole well proper, & to try to make a profit of the house. ***** De la Cuisiniere. Dans ces sortes de maisons il y a quelquefois un cuisiniere, & souvent il n’y a qu’une cuisiniere qui doit sçavoir se connoître en viande, parce que c’est elle qui va à la vallée, à la boucherie & à la rotisserie, ainsi qu’au marché pour les jours maigres, il faut aussi qu’elle sçache faire une bonne soupe, déguiser toutes sortes de viands, en faire des ragouts, ainsi que du poisson & des œufs; & toutes sortes de legumes pour les autres jours; comme aussi ne pas ignorer la maniére de faire quelques compotes & quelques autres bagatelles pour le dessert. Elle doit tenir toûjours sa vaisselle bien proper & bien nette, ainsi que la cuisine, & ne point prodiguer inutilement le bois & le charbon, non plus que les autres choses dont elle a le maniment. Elle doit être encore bien sage & de bonne conscience dans les comptes qu’ele rend de sa dépense, n’être ni querelleuse ni flteuse, s’appliquer uniquement à consenter son maistre & sa maistresse, & les server toûjours ainsi & aux heures qu’ils luy prescivent. Il est encore de son devoir de bilayer la montée & la sale à manger, de tenir le tout bien proper, & de tâcher sur tout à faire le profit de la maison. *** La Maison Reglee et l'Art de Diriger la Maison d'un Grand Seigneur et Autres, etc. Avec la veritable methode de faire toutes sortes d'essences d'eaux et de liqueurs fortes et rafraichissements a la mode d'ltalie, Audiger. Paris, 1692, pp. 133-134.

Stag in a Ragoo

When I cleaned out my freezer today, I found one last package of venison--freezer-burned, and before my husband could find out, I also withdrew a package of fat, frozen from when we last made pickle [corned] beef. I chopped the fat into cubes, added a splash of oil to the marmite and began rendering the fat for flavor and moisture. After browning the venison very well, I deglazed the pan with vermouth, covered the meat with broth, added three bay-leaves off my laurel tree, 2 zests of lemon, several sprigs of fresh thyme, one small nutmeg grated, salt and pepper. When it had simmered for three hours, I added 2 cups of grated carrot and 1 large onion chopped. At the end of 30 minutes, I added 2 tablespoons of flour to the ragoo to thicken it and served it up on a bed of sainserelle from Le Cuisinier Gason [noodles similar to bigoli, passatelli or spätzle] made of parmesan and breadcrumbs bound with an egg cooked in boiling, salted water. He never knew.

Having larded a piece of Stags-flesh with thick slips of Bacon, season’d with Pepper and Salt, let it be fried in Lard: Then let it boil for the space of three or four Hours in an earthen Pan, with Broth or Water, and two Glasses of white Wine, season’d with Salt, Nutmeg, a Bunch of Herbs, three or four Bay-leaves, and a piece of green lemmon. When it is ready, let the Sauce be thicken’d with fried Flower, and add Capers and Lemmon-juice as it is serving up to Table.

The Court & Country Cook, François Massialot, 1702, p. 248.

Omelets of green Beans and other Things, with Cream

Let your Beans be shell'd, slipt out of their Skins, and fried in good Butter, with a little Parsley and Chibbol: Then, having pour'd in a little Milk-cream, let them be well seasoned, and soaked over a gentle Fire. Let an Omelet be made with new laid Eggs and Cream, and let some Salt be put into it according to discretion. When it is ready, dress it on a Dish, bind the Beans with one or two Yolks of Eggs, turn them upon the Omelet; so as they may stick to the side of it, and bring it hot to Table.

Omelets of the like nature may be made with Mousserons, Morelles, common Mushrooms, green Pease, Asparagus-tops and Artichoke-bottoms, white and black Truffles, Spinage, Sorrel, & all with Cream; but ‘tis requisite that they be cut into small pieces. A very great quantity of Omelets may be thus disguised, and these little Cream-sauces may serve to fill up your Plates or Dishes, garnishing them with small Garnitures such as fried Artichokes, Bread-toasts, Puffs, Fleurons [flower-shaped piece of pastry], Feuillantines [wraps or bowls of puff paste], Artichoke bottoms fried in Paste, and others of the like nature that shall be judg'd requisite; and taking care that all be serv'd up hot to Table.

The Court & Country Cook, François Massialot. 1702, p. 169.

Cases of puff paste may be baked and filled with cream sauce and vegetables or left-overs--garnish with the tops of the cases. Two make a satisfying light lunch. From the scraps you can fashion fleurons or flowers or just bake the bits themselves for a garnish over the cream sauces. It's amazing what flavor and texture those little bits of paste provide.

Winter - de l'Hiver

December, January & February, Winter months, can only be enjoyed with stockpiles from the Fall, by the provisions & the abundance of all that it provided us for the necessities of life; like Bread, Wine, Vegetables, & all kinds of Fruits; Meat, Poultry, Game & Fish, all are the same. These two last seasons, which can be good times, should not be separated by change, because we have in the Winter almost all that we have in the Fall.

As we finish up those last tidbits from our larder, let's look forward to the delights of Spring--putting in our potagers and throwing wide the windows and doors for a good cleaning!
*****

De L'Hiver

Les mois de Décembre, Janvier & Février, qui comprennent l'hiver, ont entierement rapport à l'Automne, par les provisions & l'abondance de tout ce qu'elle nous a fourni pour la nécessité de la vie; comme Pain, Vin, Légumes, & toutes sortes de Fruits; Viande, Volaille, Gibier & Poissons, tout est de même. Ces deux dernieres saisons, qui sont dans le tems de la bonne chere, ne doivent point être séparées par des changemens, parce que nous avons dans l'Hiver presque de tout ce que nous avons dans l'Automne.

La Cuisiniere Bourgeoise, Suivie de l'Office. 1771, P. 8.

Bread With Chocolate - BBD#47

Limonade de Vin

I managed to grow just two lemons on my Meyer Lemon tree this year. And here is the perfect recipe for this bounty--I shall have a taste of summer in this very cold month.

Wine lemonade

Put in a pot two pints of wine, a wine bottle of water, Zests of two Lemons, & also the juice which you express: Then put in nine or ten ounces of Sugar, more or less according to whether you like it sweetened, or according to the quality of the wine. Let it infuse approximately half an hour; then strain, & put it in bottles. When you want to drink some, chill it.

Limonade de Vin

Mettez dans une terrine deux pintes de vin, une chopine d'eau, les Zests de deux Citrons, & aussi le jus que vous exprimez: Ensuite mettez-y neuf ou dix onces de Sucre, plus ou moins selon que vous l'aimez sucré, ou selon la bonté du vin. Laissez-la infuser environ une demi-heure; ensuite passez la à la chausse, & la mettez dans des bouteilles. Quand vous voulez en boire, faites-la rafraîchir.
*****
Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, François Massialot. Chez Claude Prudhomme, Paris, 1716, p. 305.

10 Years - 10 Days

Image Source

Total immersion, ten days of living history to mark the tenth anniversary of a dedicated band of reenactors in a truly magical place, Louisbourg. Cooking, dancing, fishing, praying - you name it - they did it. Enjoy the photos and relive with them an 18thC colonial seaport.

Assembling Pastry-making Tools

My order is in--I'm just waiting for the boat to arrive with provisions. I will be perfecting my technique by comparing modern instructions with 18thC recipes using the following books: Mastering the Art of French Pastry, by Healy and Bugat and Nouvelle Instruction pour Les Confitures by Massialot.

Swiss or Dry Meringues

«For Swiss Meringue, egg whites and sugar are combined at the outset and whipped over low heat. … Swiss merignue is much heavier than French and Italian merignues. At one time it was considered quite versatile, and some chefs preferred it over French and Italian meringues for many purposes because it is very stable.» The Art of the Cake, Bruce Healy and Paul Bugat. William-Morrow, NYC, NY, 1999, p. 173.

The beginnings of Swiss meringue can be found in François Massialot's Le Cuisinier Roïal et Bourgeois, 1691, translated in The Court and Country Cook in 1702, p. 103.

Dry Meringues
Having caus'd the Whites of four new-laid Eggs to be whipt, as before, till they rise up to a Snow, let four Spoonfuls of very dry Powder-sugar, be put into it, and well temper'd with a Spoon: Then let all be set over a gentle Fire, to be dried a little at two several times, and add some Pistachoes, that are pounded and dried a lttle in the Stove. Afterwards, they are pounded and dried a little in the Stove. Afterwards, they are to be dress'd as the others, and bak'd in the Oven somewhate leisurely, with a little Fire underneath, and more on the top: When they are sufficiently done, and very dry, let they be taken out, and cut with a Knife: Lastly, as soon as they are somewhat cold, let them be laid upon Paper, and set into the Stove to be kept dry.

Bread Baking Day #40 - Baking with Curds

This month the theme is bread with curd. With curd I mean the dairy product obtained by curdling milk with rennet or an edible acidic substance such as lemon juice or vinegar. You don't need to make curd yourself, but you are invited to do so, if you like. Otherwise just buy it. You can use curd, cottage cheese, quark and paneer and the bread can be sweet or savory.

How to participate: •Bake a yeasted bread with curd.
•Post about it on your blog with a link back to this post.
•Fill in the submission form below and your post will be listed in the roundup.
•Please only one entry per blog.
•Your post can be written in English, German, Spanish, French, Italian. All other languages please translate to one of these languages.
•Last day of submission is June 1st, 2011.

Baby Lemons

It's been a dreary Winter. The calendar says it's now Spring. I've been busy hand-pollinating my lemon tree and it appears I shall be rewarded with some lemons one of these Spring days.

Biscotins

Another manner of Biscotins
Take a half-pound of sugar; cook it to the feather stage. Once cooked, remove it from the fire, & weigh three-quarters [pound] of flour which you will put inside your sugar syrup, reserve some flour that you will keep to handle it on the table. Having put your flour in your syrup, you will stir it well with a spoon: when your paste is well done [all your syrup has been absorbed into the flour], take it from the stove, & put it onto a clean table [marble pastry board], where you will have strewn a little flour before; it is necessary to stir it up; at the same time you will pour out your paste, & make small balls about one inch: you must work quickly; because when the paste is cold, one cannot work with it anymore: when the balls are formed, cook in the oven without paper; on copper sheets. When they are cooked, take out of the oven, & put them in a paper cone at the drying oven.

Another manner.
You will take a pound & half wholewheat flour: cook twenty ounces of sugar to the small feather; you will pour it in a mortar; let it cool & afterwards put in the flour, six fresh eggs & a spoonful of orange flower water; pound the whole together one quarter-of-an-hour, & pour out of the mortar onto a clean table, & roll the aforementioned paste in rolls, as large as a hazel nut, & cook in an oven until hot [cooked through or set] and sweet-smelling. Here is a recipe with proportions of ingredients. These biscotins also enclose a hazelnut, or you could use a whole almond. The orange flower water makes a delightful taste and smell--even better the next day. But be warned! These are very hard on the teeth--dunk them in expresso or mocha to soften them. Enjoy!

Nouvelle Instruction pour les Confitures, les Liqueurs, et les Fruits, François Massialot. Chez Claude Prudhomme, Paris, 1716, pp. 194-196.

Arroche Fraise - Strawberry Spinach

Strawberry Spinach [Chenopodium capitatum, also known as strawberry blite] (available from Heirloom Seeds) turned out to not only be a spectacular plant, but a delightful eat, served here with one of my tiny green climbing melons(vert grimpant seeds available from Baker Creek) after mascerating with a touch of sugar on a bit of yogurt.

Thanksgiving Bounty

May this day of Thanksgiving find you truly blessed.

Pictured are Galeux D'Eysines squash, our own cross of a pumpkin-squash, Marina Di Chioggia squash and Rouge Vif D' Etampes & Musquee De Provence pumpkins. Aah, the pies and confitures that await …

Seeds available from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.

Court & Country Cook

A 1702 translation of François Massialot's Cuisinier royal et bourgeois of 1691, is now available hand bound, 18thC style with marbled boards and 1/4 leather binding, by Paul McClintock, Common Hands Studio, for $100.00. Please contact Paul for shipping details and payment.

Massialot's book was reissued and updated often in French during the 18thC, but only once in English. The book is full of savories and sweets, liqueurs and confitures, instructions for table settings and menues for fat days and lean (fasting meals according to the church's calendar). Reenactors, living historians, museums and lovers of food and great books will find a remarkable treat in this lovely volume. Paul's work is magnificent--you won't be disappointed!

The Court and Country Cook: Giving New and Plain Directions How to Order all manner of ENTERTAINMENTS. A 480 page volume, presented to the BINDERY by Mrs. Carolyn Smith - Kizer. Additional copies will be bound in a 1/4 calf with marbled boards and may be had at the Crown and Book. Please inquire. fromcommonhands@yahoo.com