"Our Lady's Book receipts deal less with grand dishes for high-company occasions, and more with the common dishes of every day . . . The dinner may be of scraps, but those scraps must be savory; and certainly the receipts and directions for turning stale crusts into delicate entrees, leave cooks and wives without excuses for "banyan days" or hungry dinners. No one can read the Lady's Book receipts without being struck by the good sense that pervades them as a general rule."
In the 1790's pearlash (potassium carbonate) had been discovered as a means of making dough rise. After 1840 saleratus or baking soda was introduced which proved effective but required the addition of sour milk or cream of tartar. Then one individual decided to try combining baking soda with cream of tartar and sold it commercially. It was called baking powder and was introduced in 1856 and saved hours of beating eggs or batter. An even better product became available around 1868. Yeast could be made from a number of things, and Godeys often had instructions for peach leaf yeast, potato yeast, and hop beer yeast.
How To Make Yeast
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Boil one pound of good flour, quarted of a pound of brown sugar, and a little sal in two gallons of water, for one hour. When milk-warm, bottle and cork it close. It will be ready for use in twenty-four hours. One pint of this yeast will make eighteen pounds of bread.
For Making Yeast
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Put three quarts of water into a boiler, and one pint of hops tied up in a thin material to let the strength boil out of them; let them boil an hour adding to the water as soon as it boils one tablespoon of ginger, two of salt, and two of molasses. After boiling the hops sufficiently, take them out; stir up a thickening of flour and water sufficient to make your yeast about as thick as paste; stir this into the water, and let it boil up once; take it out and let it stand until lukewarm; then add your old yeast to make it rise. When fermented, put it away in a jug. This yeast will keep two months. When youwish to make bread, take half a teacupful of yeast, put in your mixing-pan, add one pint of warm water, and stir in the flour; set the sponge in a warm place to rise in cold weather; in the morning, add a little salt and half apint of warm milk, and mix the bread; when risen again mould it up, put in pans, and let it stand about one hour, when it is ready to bake. This receipt is all it is recommended to be.
* most recipes today call for a dash of sugar which speeds up the yeast. Too much sugar supresses activity.
Tea Buns
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
One pound and a quarter of flour, one half poundof currants, two ounces of butter rubbed in the flour, about a pint of sweet milk warmed, two spoonsful of yeast, the yold of an egg well beaten, carraway seeds to your taste; mix well these ingredients together and beat them up as for a seed cake; set them before the fire to rise for an hour; make them up in what shaped cakes you please, lay them on tin plates for a time before the fire, an feather them over with white of egg before baking.
(brush with pastry brush)
Sally Lunns*
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
*Sally Lunn was a young lady who cried her wares throug the streets of Bath in England in the 1790's. One of her cakes was a variant of this one. They were so popular her business was bought by a baker and musician named Dalmer. He made u[p a song about her and her famous "bun." It is still a popular cake. The original Sally Lunn was baked in a type of tube or bunt pan.
A pint of the best, new milk lukewarm, add to it one quarter of a pound of butter, a little salt, a teacupful of yeast, one and a half pound of fine flour; mix them together and let it stand three quarters of an hour. Bake them on tins nearly an hour.
Dough Nuts
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Sometimes called "nutcakes" they were very popular for any meal. Note that they were cut into diamonds, not "O"s.
Take a pound of flour, one quarter pound of butter, three quarters pond of brown sugar, one nutmeg grated, and a teaspoon of ground cinnamon; mix these well together; then add a tablespoon of bakers' yeast and sas much warm milk, with a bit of carbonate of potash about the size of a pea disolved in it, as will make the whole into a smooth dough; knead it for a fewminutes, cover it and set it in a warm place to rise until it is light; then roll it out to one quarter inch thickness and cut it intosmall squares or diamonds ready for cooking. Have ready a small iron kettle; put into it one pound of lard, and set it over a gentle fire. When it is boiling hot (exactness is required here) put the dough nuts in quickly, but one at a time; if the fat be of the right heat, the dough nuts will, in abut ten minutes, be of a delicate brown outside, and nicely cooked inside. Keep the kettle in motion all the time the cakes are in, that they may boil evenly. When they are of a fine color, take them out with a skimmer, lay them to drain on a sieve, turned upside down. If the fat be not hot enough the cakes will absorb it, if too hot they will be dark brown outside before the inside is cooked.
Bath Buns
Godey's Lady's Book 1863
Bath buns originated in the fashionable spa of Bath on the southern coast of England.
Take a pound of flour, the rinds of three lemons, grated fie, half a pound of butter melted in a cup of cream, a teaspoon of yeast, and three eggs. Mox; add half a pound of finely powdered white sugar, mix well, let it stand to rise, and it will make thirty-nine buns.
Yorkshire Pudding
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Mix five spoonfuls of flour with a quart of milk and four eggs well beaten; butter a shallow pan and bake under the meat; when quite brown, turn the other side upwards, and brown that. It should be made in a square pan, and cut into pieces to come to the table. It is a good plan to set over a chafing dish at first and stir it some minutes.
Soda Muffins
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
The following receipt affords a dish of light,spongy, most quickly made muffins: To two pounds of flour add one teaspoonful of soda, ditto cream of tartar, and half a teaspoonful of sugar; mix thoroughly, with salt to taste, and make into a stiff batter with some milk; beat well for a few minutes, Have ready a hot earthenware pan, well buttered, also rings for the purpose. Pour in the btter, nearly half an inch thick; bake a nice brown on each side; either butter them and serve hot, or allow them to cool and toast before the fire.
Apple Fritters
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
Peel and cut the apples into small pieces and stir them in with the batter. Fry all together as pancakes would be fried, about one fourth of an inch thick. Be careful to keep them from burning by having a sufficiency of lard in the pan, and by moving them frequently. Each fritter will take about five minutes to fry, and should look a pale brown when done.
Barley Water
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
One ounce of pearl barley, half an ounce of white sugar, and the rind of a lemon; put it into a ju. Pour upon it one quart of boiling water, and let it stand for eight or ten hours; then strain off the liquor, adding a slide of lemon if desirable. This infusion makes a most delicious and nutritious beverage, and will be grateul to persons who cannot drink the horrid decoction usually given. It is an admiral basis for lemonade, negus or weak punch, a glass of rum being the proportion for a quart.
Carbonated Syrup Water
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Put into a tumbler lemon, raspberry, strawberry, pineapple or any other acid syrup, sufficient in quantity to flavor the beverage very highly. Then pour in very cold ide water till the glass is half full. Add half a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda (to be obtained at the druggist), and stir it up well in with a teaspoon. It will foam up immediately, and must be drank during the effervescence. By keeping the syrup and the carbonate of soda in the house, and mixing them as above with ice water, you can at any time have a glass of this very pleasant drink; precisely similar to that of which you get at the shops. The cost will e infinitely less.
Blackberry Syrup
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Make a symple syrup of a pound of sugar to each pint of water; boil it until it is rich and thick; then add to it as many pints of the expressed juice of ripe blackberries as there are pounds of sugar; put half a nutmeg grated to each quart of the syrup; let it boil fifteen or twenty minutes, then add to it half a gill of fourth proof brandy for each quart of syrup; set it by to become cold; then bottle it for use. A tablespoonful for a child, or a wineglass for an
adult is a dose.
Economy of the Tea Table
Godey's Lady's Book 1863
As a test in general to distinguish genuine tea from the sloe-leaf, let it be infused, and some of the largest leaves spread out to dry; when the real tea-leaf will be found nrrow in porportion to it's length, and deeply notched at the edges with a sharp point, whilst the sloe-leaf is notched very slightly, is darker in color, rounder at the point, and of a coarser texture.
Blackberry and Wine Cordial
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
To half a bushel of blackberries, well mashed, add a quarter of a pound of allspice, two ounces of cinnamon, two ounces of cloves; pulverize well, mix and boil slowly until properly done; then strain or squeeze the juice through homespun or flannel, and add to each pint of the juice one pound of loaf sugar; boil again for some time, ake it off, and while cooling add half a gallon of best Cognac brandy. Bottle and cork well. Dose: for an adult half a gill to a gill, for a child, a teaspoonful or more according to age. This is recommendd as a delightful beverage, and an infallible specific for diarrhoea or
orninary disease of the bowels.
Cheap Small Beer
Godey's Lady's Book 1861
Tw twelve quarts of cold water, add a pint and a half of strong hop tea, and a pint oand a half of molasses. Mix it well together, and bottle it immediately. It will be fit for use the next day, if the weather is warm.
Ginger Beer Quickly Made
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
A gallon of boiling water is poured over three quarters of a pound of loaf sugar, one ounce of ginger, and the peel of one lemon; when milk-warm, the juice of the lemon and a spoonful of yeast are added. It should be made in the evening, and bottled the next morning in stone bottles, and the cok tied down with twine. Good brown sugar will answer, and the leon may be ommited, if cheapness is required.
Spruce Beer
Godey's Lady's Book 1861
Allow an ounce of hops and a spoonful of ginger to a gallon of water. When well boiled, strain it and put in a pint of molasses, and half an ouce or less of the essence of spruce; when cool add a teacup of yeast, and put into a clean tight cask and let it ferment for a day or two, then bottle for use. You can boil the sprigs of spruce-fir in room of the essence.
Mayonaise
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
A fine sauce for eating with cold meat, poultry, fish, or for pouring over salad. Two fresh yolds of unboiled eggs, half a salt spoonful, or rather more, of salt and a little Cayenne, a third of a pint of oil, two tablespoonfuls of vinegar, one tablespoonful of cold water, an onion. Put into a large basin the yolks only of two large, fresh eggs; beat them and strain; add a littlesalt and Cayenne; stir these well together then add a teaspoonful of salad oil, and work the mixture around with a wooden spoon until it appears like cream; pour in by slow degrees nearly half a pint of oil, continuing at each interval to work the same as at first, until it assumes the smoothness of custard,
and not a particle of oil remains visable; then add a couple of
tablespoonfuls of plain or tarragon vinegar, and one of cold water
to whiten the sauce; a very tiny onion, shaved, finely chopped,
and bruised with the point of a knife; add all together.
Bread Sauce
Godey's Lady's Book 1862
Boil the crum of bread with a minced onion and some whole white peppercorns; when the onion is cooked, take it out, as also the peppercorns, and put the bread, carefully crushed through a sieve, into a saucepan with cream, a little butter and salt, stirring it carefully till it boils.
Horse-Radish Sauce*
Godey's Lady's Book 1865
This is more of a relish. It is very strong. As cooks did not have pasteurized cream
or refrigeration, it will keep longer now.
This delicious sauce, a great imiprovement upon the plainly scraped horse-radish for eating with either hot or cold roast beef, is made as follows; A dessertspoonful of olive oil or cream the same quantity of powdered mustard, a tablespoonful of vinegar, and two tablespoonfuls of scraped horse-radish, with a little salt to taste,must be stirred and beaten up
together until thoroughly well mixed. Serve the sauce separately in a
sauce tureen. It will keep for two or three days, or even longer if oil
and not cream be used.
Thickening
Godey's Lady's Book 1863
Clarified butter is best for this purpose, but if you have none ready, put some fresh butter into a stewpan over a slow clear fire, when it is melted, add fine flour sufficient to make it the thickness of paste, stir it well
together with a wooden spoon for fifteen or twenty minutes till it is quite smooth; this must be done very gradually and patiently; if you put it over
too fierce a fire to hurry it, it will become bitter and empyreumatic; pour
it into an earthen pan, and keep it for use. It will keep good a
fortnight in summer, and longer in winter.
Green Mint Sauce
Godey's Lady's Book 1864
The mint for this sauce should be fresh and young, for the leaves when old are tough. Strip them from the stems, wash them with great nicety, and drain them on a sieve or dry them in a cloth. Chop them very fine, put them into a sauce-tureen, and to three heaped tablespoonsful of the mint add two of pounded sugar; mix them well, and then add gradually six tablespoonsful of good vinegar. The sauce made thus is excellent but Lisbon sugar* can
be used for it when preferred, and all the porportions can be varied
to the taste. It is commonly served too liquid, and not sufficiently sweetened, and it will be found much more wholesome, and generally
more palatable made by this receipt.
*Use fine fruit sugar. This sauce is used with lamb dishes.
Sauce forGame or Poultry
Godey's Lady's Book 1864
Put into a stewpan and set on a slow fire a quarter of a pint of white wine, a tablespoonful of vinegar, three tablespoonfuls of olive oil, a bunch of sweet herbs*, and spice to taste. Add to the whole some good gravy and serve hot.
*For sweet herbs use equal amounts of fresh parsley, tarragon, chives, and chervil, minced.
Stuffing (For Roast Goose)
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Peel two onions, cut in half, sprinkle with salt, cover with boiling water and leave for a minute or two, drain and chop small. Cook in two tablespoonsful of butter until tender. Add one half teaspoon of salt; four cups of mashd potato; one half cup of bread crumbs; one teaspoon of rubbed sage; one fourth teaspoon pepper and the youl of an egg or two. Should stuff a
ten to twelve pound goose.
Toad-in-a-Hole (Baked Beefsteak Pudding)
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Make a batter of milk, two eggs, and flour; lay a little of it at the bottom
of the dish; then put in the steads, which have been cut in strips and rolled with fat in between, and if shred onion is approved, add a very little,
season well with pepper and salt; pour the remainder of the batter
over them, and bake it.
Mock Turtle Soup
Godey's Lady's Book 1860
Take a knuckle of veal, two cowheels, two large onions stuck with cloves, one bunch of sweeet herbs, spices, two glasses of white wine, and a quart of water; put it into an earthen jar, and stew for five hours; not to be opene until cold; rremove the fat and bones when all is carefully strained; if required for use, place it on the fire with addition of forcemeat* balls and hard eggs; oysters, too, may be added and a very small quantity of anchovy sauce. Cut meat and fat an inch and a half square and serve up in the soup.
*Forcemeat recipe in Meat section.
Continue on to the next page for some Modern Recipies for your
Victorian Tea or Luncheon.
Send us your favorite recipe. It must be either an authentic Victorian recipe, or a modern one suitable for a tea party. We'll put your recipe on along with your name. Let us know if it's a modern recipe.
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