The Mansion House still retains the an-
cient usage of distributing the relics of a
great feast afterwards among the poor, as
Cromwell is said just above to have made a
rule of his household. It was a practice
highly essential in the absence of any or-
ganised system of relief.
The reign of Charles II., which witnessed
a relationship with France of a very different
character from that which the English main-
tained during the Plantagenet and earlier
Tudor rule, was favourable to the naturalisa-
tion of the Parisian school of cookery, and nu-
merous works were published at and about
that time, in which the development of know-
ledge in this direction is shown to have taken
\Azct pari passu with the advance in garden-
ing and arboriculture under the auspices of
Evelyn.
In 1683 we come to a little volume entitled
“The Young Cook’s Monitor,” by M. H.,
76
Cookery Books.
who made it public for the benefit of his (or
her) scholars ; a really valuable and compre-
hensive manual, wherein, without any attempt
at arrangement, there is an ample assemblage
of directions for preparing for the table all
kinds of joints, made dishes, soups and
broths, frigacies, puddings, pies, tarts, tansies,
and jellies. Receipts for pickling are included,
and two ways are shown how we should treat-
turnips after this wise. Some of the ingre-
dients proposed for sauces seem to our
ears rather prodigious. In one place a con-
temporary peruser has inserted an ironical
calculation in MS. to the effect that, whereas
a cod’s head could be bought for fourpence,
the condiments recommended for it were not
to be had for less than nine shillings. The
book teaches us to make Scotch collops, to
pickle lemons and quinces, to make French
bread, to collar beef, pork, or eels, to make
gooseberry fool, to dry beef after the Dutch
fashion, to make sack posset two ways, to
candy flowers (violets, roses, etc.) for salads,
to pickle walnuts like mangoes, to make flum-
mery, to make a carp pie, to pickle French
Cookery Books.
77
beans and cucumbers, to make damson and
quince wines, to make a French pudding
(called a Pomeroy pudding), to make a leg of
pork like a Westphalia ham, to make mutton
as beef, and to pot beef to eat like venison.
These and many other precepts has M. H.
left behind him; and a sort of companion
volume, printed a little before, goes mainly
over the same ground, to wit, “Rare and
Excellent Receipts Experienced and Taught
by Mrs. Mary Tillinghast, and now printed
for the use of her scholars only,” 1678. The
lady appealed to a limited constituency, like
M. H. ; but her pages, such as they are (for
there are but thirty), are now publici juris.
The lesson to be drawn from Mistress Tilling-
hast’s printed labours is that, among our
ancestors in 1678, pies and pasties of all sorts,
and sweet pastry, were in increased vogue.
Her slender volume is filled with elucidations
on the proper manufacture of paste of vari-
ous sorts ; and in addition to the pies
designated by M. H. we encounter a Lom-
bard pie, a Battalia pie, an artichoke pie, a
78
Cookery Books.
potato (or secret) pie, a chadron* pie, and
a herring pie. The fair author takes care
to instruct us as to the sauces or dress-
ings which are to accompany certain of her
dishes.
Page 24
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
The Mansion House still retains the ancient usage of distributing the relics of a great feast afterwards among the poor, as Cromwell is said just above to have made a rule of his household. It was a practice highly essential in the absence of any organised system of relief.
The reign of Charles II., which witnessed a relationship with France of a very different character from that which the English maintained during the Plantagenet and earlier Tudor rule, was favourable to the naturalisation of the Parisian school of cookery, and numerous works were published at and about that time, in which the development of knowledge in this direction is shown to have taken place pari passu with the advance in gardening and arboriculture under the auspices of Evelyn.
In 1683 we come to a little volume entitled “The Young Cook’s Monitor,” by M. H.,
Cookery Books.
who made it public for the benefit of his (or her) scholars ; a really valuable and comprehensive manual, wherein, without any attempt at arrangement, there is an ample assemblage of directions for preparing for the table all kinds of joints, made dishes, soups and broths, frigacies, puddings, pies, tarts, tansies, and jellies. Receipts for pickling are included, and two ways are shown how we should treatturnips after this wise. Some of the ingredients proposed for sauces seem to our ears rather prodigious. In one place a contemporary peruser has inserted an ironical calculation in MS. to the effect that, whereas a cod’s head could be bought for fourpence, the condiments recommended for it were not to be had for less than nine shillings. The book teaches us to make Scotch collops, to pickle lemons and quinces, to make French bread, to collar beef, pork, or eels, to make gooseberry fool, to dry beef after the Dutch fashion, to make sack posset two ways, to candy flowers (violets, roses, etc.) for salads, to pickle walnuts like mangoes, to make flummery, to make a carp pie, to pickle French
Cookery Books.
beans and cucumbers, to make damson and quince wines, to make a French pudding (called a Pomeroy pudding), to make a leg of pork like a Westphalia ham, to make mutton as beef, and to pot beef to eat like venison.
These and many other precepts has M. H. left behind him; and a sort of companion volume, printed a little before, goes mainly over the same ground, to wit, “Rare and Excellent Receipts Experienced and Taught by Mrs. Mary Tillinghast, and now printed for the use of her scholars only,” 1678. The lady appealed to a limited constituency, like M. H. ; but her pages, such as they are (for there are but thirty), are now publici juris. The lesson to be drawn from Mistress Tillinghast’s printed labours is that, among our ancestors in 1678, pies and pasties of all sorts, and sweet pastry, were in increased vogue. Her slender volume is filled with elucidations on the proper manufacture of paste of various sorts ; and in addition to the pies designated by M. H. we encounter a Lombard pie, a Battalia pie, an artichoke pie, a
Cookery Books.
potato (or secret) pie, a chadron* pie, and a herring pie. The fair author takes care to instruct us as to the sauces or dressings which are to accompany certain of her dishes.