Spring Onions

I have harvested a nice bunch of spring onions and now am in need of something to do with them.

Spring Onions

The Kitchen & Flower Garden 1856
"Spring onions being in great request to be eaten raw in salads, as well as for other culinary purposes, the superabundant plants may be drawn from the rows as wanted. But great care should be taken, in so doing not to disturb the rest, nor should the completion of the thinning be too long delayed."

The Young Housewife's Daily Assistant 1864
"SALADS GENERALLY USED - Cos lettuces, cabbage lettuces, endive, beetroot (boiled), celery, cucumber, spring onions, shalots, watercresses, radishes, tarragon, chervil, chives, mustard and cress, &c. Every kind of salad must be quite fresh cut; it must be trimmed, and carefully washed in two or three waters; then put into a coarse cloth and dried, by shaking it up and down; cut or break the salad into pieces half an inch broad; then add the dressing as directed in the following receipt; or it may be served with oil and vinegar, two table-spoonfils of oil to one of vinegar, a saltspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of white pepper."

 "SALAD DRESSING - Boil three fresh eggs for ten minutes; when cold, rub the yolks to powder; season with half a saltspoonful of white pepper, a saltspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of flour of mustard, a saltspoonful of sifted loaf sugar; mix in the beaten yolk of one egg; add by degrees four tablespoonfuls of salad (Lucca) oil, and drop by drop two teaspoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, and one tablespoonful and a half of vinegar. Be careful to stir the same way all the time. The dressing should look like rich cream. Pour it on to the salad; stir lightly with a fork and spoon, and serve immediately. This quantity will be sufficient for four persons."

The Gastronomic Regenerator 1852
"Oignons Printaniers au Sirop doree - Peel about forty spring onions, each about the size of a walnut, put them into a stewpan, with one ounce of butter and one of powdered sugar, toss them occasionally over the fire, (but be careful not to break the outer skin,) until covered with a light glaze; cover with a white stock and stew very gently till quite done, drain them upon a cloth, dress neatly upon a border of mashed potatoes, reduce and skim the stock till nearly a glaze, add two pats of butter, sauce over and serve."

Lip-Salve

"Rose Lip-Salve - Eight ounces of sweet almond oil, four ounces of prepared mutton suet, one ounce and a hair of white wax, two ounces of spermaceti, twenty drops of otto; steep a small quantity of alkanet root in the oil, and strain before using. Melt the suet, wax, and spermaceti together, then add the almond oil and otto." From Godey's Magazine 1859

Milk Griddle Cakes & Delicate Omelettes For Breakfast

Both of these recipes came from Peterson's 1862, February issue.

Milk Griddle Cake for Breakfast - Take a pound and a half of flour, and about three ounces  of butter, and a little salt; rub the butter into the flour well, and wet it with milk enough to make it a stiff paste. Knead and work it well, roll it out very thin, cut the cakes out with either a tin cutter or a tumbler, prick them all over with a fork, and bake them on a griddle. A little additional butter will make them richer, but that is according to taste; cream may be used in place of milk.

A Delicate Omelette - Break eight eggs in a stewpan, to which add a teaspoonful of very finely-chopped parsley, half ditto of salt, a pinch of pepper, and three good tablespoonfuls of cream; beat them well together; then put two ounces of butter in an omelette-pan, stand it over a sharp fire, and, as soon s the butter is hot, pour in the eggs, stir them round quickly with a spoon until delicately set; then shake the pan round, leave it a moment to color the omelette, hold the pan in a slanting position, just tap it upon the stove to bring the omelette to a proper shape, and roll the flap over the spoon; turn it upon your dish, and serve as soon as done. Take care not to do it too much.

Research: What is a ditto measure? It just means to repeat the last measure.

Conclusion: The griddle cakes reminded us of modern day English Muffins. I was surprised how well they turned out without any sweetener. The children loved them. Jam was also provided on the table but the young children ate the cakes without. The eggs were very similar to the egg puffs that I have grown up with. They were also very good. I used fresh parsley from a plant that I over-wintered in a sunny window.

Modern translation:
Griddle Cakes
4 1/2 cups flour plus some to flour your table
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature
salt
1 - 1.5 cups of milk or cream

Mix all together, adding enough milk to make a stiff dough. Kneed it on a floured surface until smooth. Roll it out and cut with biscuit cutters or a large mouthed glass or jar. Prick the tops all over and "bake" them on a buttered griddle. They should turn out like short biscuits, not crackers.

A Delicate Omelet
8 eggs
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
half teaspoon salt
a pinch of pepper
3 Tablespoons of milk or cream
4 Tablespoons of butter

In a bowl combine the eggs, parsley, salt, pepper and milk or cream. Beat them until well mixed. Melt the butter in a pan, preferably an omelet pan. Once it is melted, add the egg mixture. Cover the pan for a moment until the egg has set. Shake the pan or loosen the egg from the sides with a spatula, being careful not to break it. Once it is done, fold the omelet onto your dish and serve hot.

Rice Custard

This was listed as a desert in Peterson's Magazine, January 1863

Rice Custard - Sweeten a pint of milk with loaf sugar, boil it with a stick of cinnamon, stir in sifted ground rice till quite thick. Take it off the fire; add the whites of 3 eggs well beaten; stir it again over the fire for 2 or 3 minutes, then put it into cups that have lain in cold water; do not wipe them. When cold, turn them out, and put them into the dish in which they are to be served; pour round them a custard made of the yolks of the eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk. Put on the top a little red currant jelly or raspberry jam. A pretty supper dish.

Research/questions for this project:

1) What is "loaf-sugar"?
According to Lessons on Common Thing, published in 1857, the qualities of loaf-sugar are: "it is soluble, or dissolvable in water. fusible, or may be melted by heat. brittle. hard. sweet. white. solid. opaque." and is used "To sweeten our food".
Here is a wonderful resource on sugar Essay On Sugar and Treatise on Sugar Refining, 1864

2) Was there white rice or rice flour?
Searching on Google Books from 1860-1865 there are many references to white rice as well as red rice and rice flour.

3) Needed recipe for Raspberry Jam - From The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner, 1862
Raspberry Jam without seeds
Ingredients: 12lbs of raspberries, 12lbs of sugar, 2 lbs of red currants.
Time: twenty minutes
Bruise the currants in the preserving pan, with a pint of water, then add the picked raspberries; stir the whole on the fire for a few minutes, and then rub the pulp through a cane sieve into a large pan. Boil the sugar with just water enough to dissolve it, to the pear, add the pulp, boil sharply for twenty minutes, stirring the jam the whole time, and as soon as it drapes on the edge of the spoon, pour it into the pots.

Raspberry Jam with seeds.
Ingredients: 12lbs raspberries, 12lbs of sugar.
Time: twenty minutes
Boil the sugar to the ball degree, add the fruit, stir over a brisk fire for twenty minutes, when the jam will be ready to pour into the pots; finish in the usual manner.

4) Need recipe for "a custard made of the yolks of the (3) eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk" -  Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cooking 1865
Custard Sauce, for Sweet Puddings or Tarts
Ingredients - 1/2 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, I tablespoonful of brandy.
Mode - Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good enough for ordinary purposes.

Conclusion: The custard is quite good and creamy. Most people will probably want to add more sugar but it was sweet enough for my household. It was relatively quick to make, with the exception of beating the eggs by hand. According to the last statement in the recipe, "A pretty supper dish", this would be served at the evening meal.

Modern translation: Chill custard cups in the refrigerator. Beat the whites of 3 eggs until stiff peaks form. In a double boiler, heat 2 cups of milk with 1/4 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add a cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Remove the cinnamon and stir in sifted rice flour until it becomes thick. Take this off your heat and fold in the egg whites. Return to the stove and heat, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Spoon the custard into the chilled cups and set aside to cool. When completely cool, turn out onto serving dishes and top with currant jelly or raspberry jam.

Milk Paint

From The Family Cyclopaedia 1859

"MILK PAINT. A paint has been used on the continent with success made from milk and lime, that dries quicker than oil paint, and has no smell. It is made in the following manner - Take fresh curds and bruise the lumps on a grinding stone, or in an earthen pan, or mortar, with a spatula or strong spoon. Then put them into a pot with an equal quantity of lime, well slaked with water, to make it just thick enough to be kneaded. Stir this mixture without adding more water, and a white coloured fluid will soon be obtained, which will serve as a paint. It may be laid on with a brush with as much ease as varnish and it dries very speedily. It must however be used the same day it is made for if kept till next day it will be too thick consequently no more must be mixed up at one time than can be laid on in a day. If any colour be required any of the ochres as yellow ochre or red ochre or umber may be mixed with it in any proportion. Prussian blue would be changed by the lime. Two coats of this paint will be sufficient and when quite dry it may be polished with a piece of woollen cloth or similar substance and it will become as bright as varnish. It will only do for inside work but it will last longer if varnished over with white of egg after it has been polished."

Onions

"The white silver-skins are the best species. To boil them:- Peel off the outside, cut off the ends, put them into cold water and into a stew-pan, and let them scald two minutes; then turn off that water, pour on cold water, and boil slowly till tender, which will be in thirty or forty minutes, - according to their size; when done, drain them quite dry, pour a little melted butter over them, sprinkle them with pepper and salt, and serve hot.

"Onions are very nice fried in butter. Many people like them roasted, by burying them in ashes without removing the outer skin: when roasted, pull off the skin and season them with salt and butter."                      The Practical Cook Book   pg 94

I especially like the roasted onions. They can be served with just about any meat dish. It does however take some practice to know when they are done.

For more cooking inspirations visit my Mid-Century Food Blog: http://1860sfood.blogspot.com/

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

I am so excited..... we can have grilled cheese sandwiches..... as long as we just call them cheese sandwiches and toast them in the oven.
From Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-day Cookery

"CHEESE SANDWICHES
Ingredients - Slices of brown bread and butter, thin slices of cheese.
Mode - Cut from a nice fat Cheshire or any good rich cheese some slices about inch thick and place them between some slices of brown bread and butter like sandwiches. Place them on a plate in the oven and when the bread is toasted serve on a napkin very hot and very quickly.
Time - 10 minutes in a brisk oven.
Average cost l d each sandwich Sufficient Allow a sandwich for each person.
Seasonable at any time."

For more cooking inspirations visit my Mid-Century Food Blog: http://1860sfood.blogspot.com/

Winter Squash

"The best kind of winter squash is the small narrow squash. Pare them, cut them in pieces of convenient size for the stew-pan, and stew them over a slow fire with just water enough to cover them when done, - mash the squash in the stew-pan very smooth, add butter and salt to it, and set it over the fire to heat; when ready to dish, turn the stew-pan bottom upwards, and pour the squash upon the dish." The Practical Cook Book pg 97-98