Tag: cooking

Summer Eating

On By kittycalashIn Food, Reenacting2 Comments

What to eat in the field in August? Redcoats & Rebels approaches, and food must be prepared. This time, we are camping over. That means that pretty much everything must be ready by 1:30 on August 3, and there is nothing like a deadline to focus attention.

To start with, I turned to The Compleat Housewife: or Accomplished Gentlewoman’s Companion, published in 1739. The author presents seasonal menus, because one important thing to remember is that historical eating was seasonal and local. (This concept may sound familiar to fans of Alice Waters or Mark Bittman.)

The suggestions are, of course, beyond the realm of soldiers’ rations.

Westphalia Ham & Chicken.
Bisque of Fish.
Haunch of Venison, roasted.
Venison Pasty.
Roasted fowls a la daube.
White fricassee of Chicken.
Roasted Turkeys Larded.
Beef a la Mode.
Roasted Lobsters.
Rock of Snow and Syllabub.

But take a closer look: beef a la mode is a kind of pot roast, so beef in a kettle with water and veg cooked over a fire ought to do. It’s what we call “officer chow,” and what the boys ate at Fort Lee. I was mostly looking for vegetables in season, or fruits, but the farmers’ market will provide that limitation.

So here’s what I think:
Pasties made Thursday night or Friday morning for supper on Friday.
Gingerbread cake for treats.
Oatmeal and fruit for breakfast Saturday morning, or else boiled eggs, bread, and fruit.
Bread, cheese, fruit and sliced ham for lunch on Saturday.
Tea, shrub, and gingerbread cake for Saturday tea.
Beef stew for supper on Saturday.

Breakfast and lunch will be the same for Sunday, and we pack up and leave on Sunday afternoon, so I won’t need to make Sunday supper in camp.

It’s reasonably authentic to the 18th century, though not to common soldiers’ rations. But the guys won’t want to eat firecake and water.

In which we eat things we do not like

On By kittycalashIn Food

I sometimes imagine starting posts with “In which…,” as in “In which we stuff the washer full of clothes and hope for the best,” though I think the format is derived from Winnie the Pooh (ther Pooh, if you are a fan of the original). This was a weekend for “In which we discover nasty things in our mouth.”

Number one: lunch. I shun chain restaurants for many reasons, but here’s a new one: undercooked chicken. Yikes. Exene Cervenka once wrote a poem about a cup of minestrone and a piece of pie being OK to order in any city, and there’s logic in that. Salad with “grilled” chicken should be shunned. The entire meal was taken care of–mine, Mr S’s and young Mr S’s–but it should never come that. Lesson learned? Keep driving, till you find a better place. Or eat a bigger breakfast.

Number two: Whale’s Tale Pale Ale. Tastes like MBTA train car cleaner and salt. Just say no. I tried Grey Lady Ale, and, well, enh. A little too after-tasty for me, but I prefer pale ale, so what the heck? No. Epic beer fail, down the drain, tasted like the T smells.

Number three: best of the bunch, blueberry pie. Recipe courtesy of Cook’s Illustrated. I didn’t have the tapioca to add, so I used cornstarch. Accept no substitutes, use the tapioca (I assume). I did not, but I follow the recipe in every other regard. I ended up with delicious but runny pie. Not excessively runny, but not set up enough that I’m convinced to switch from the easier combine berries with sugar and flour and bake method. Fortunately, it’s blueberry season and birthday season and I can try again.

And blueberry pie led to a stain on my favorite gingham blouse, and the situation in which we stuff the washer and hope for the best. Still, best thing I ate all weekend.

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Pork Pies in Dighton

On By kittycalashIn Events, Food2 Comments

The weekend before Memorial Day, we spent two days in Dighton along the Segregansett River. It was a Continental Line event, and as such it was interesting to see that different organizations host reenactments with subtle differences.

The biggest difference for us was we got to day trip it from home since Dighton is so close, and that meant two different lunches. Day one, a variation on pasties. Day two, bread and cheese and fruit.

For the pasty variation, I cheated with store-brought crust. I figured the week my guy fell in a 12-foot-pit, I could cut a corner or two that did not involve safety, since I was getting home so much later.

Here’s how the filling worked, riffing on a Daily Mail recipe:

  • Some olive oil (a tablespoon, perhaps)
  • Half a medium sized onion, diced fine
  • A teaspoon of sage
  • Half to two-thirds of a pound of pork cutlet or boneless chop, whacked thin
  • One firm apple, sliced thin
  • One carrot, sliced thin, or a parsnip, or both, or neither
  • One medium potato, diced small
  • Tablespoon of flour
  • A tablespoon of lemon juice
  • Salt & pepper to taste
  • Small amount of water, as needed
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten

Heat the oil in a skillet; add the onion and sage, cook until soft.
Add the pork, cook until lightly browned.
Add potato, apple, and lemon juice; this is the time to add carrot/parsnip.
Sprinkle lighly with flour or cornstarch.
Cook until pork is browned and vegetables softening but not soft; add water as needed to create some juices.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

It is best to let the filling cool before spooning it onto the crust.

Cut the circles of crust into halves. Divide the filling into four equal parts, and distribute among the half-circles. Fold the crust over, pinch closed. Brush with beaten egg to glaze, cut small slits for steam holes. Bake at 350 degrees until filling bubbles and crust is brown, about 30 minutes, depending on oven.