Old Hertfordshire Recipes: To make Brawn

Take a Pig's face, feet and ears &c rub them with Salt-petre, let them be salted, in common Salt, three days; then boil them very tender; Have ready a wooden Mould proper for Brawn {an old Seive will do} let it stand in a Pewter plate, and put a Cloth in the Mould, or you will find it difficult to get the Brawn out. When it is boiled and quite hot, take out all the Bones, and then take the different pieces as you judge best, and place them in the Mould alternately fat and lean; take care to put pieces of skin outside. Press it down afterward as close as possible, and let it remain under the weights for one Night. Take it out of the Mould and keep it in a pickle made of Salt and Water, and a handful of Bran and a little Vinegar. This Pickle should be boiled, and the Brawn should not be put in until it is cold again. The Pickle should be made fresh every 3 or 4 days.

       A couple of ox feet are good ingredients.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Old Hertfordshire Recipes: Fricassee of Tripe

An excellent Fricassee of Tripe

Cut the Tripe in pieces, and stew it down very tender with a quart of good strong Broth. If for a large Dish, Your Broth made with Beef and Mutton well seasoned with Pepper, Salt, a Faggot of sweet Herbs, and parsley and two Onions. After your Tripe is stewed down, take out of that liquor and put it into a Tasser [vessel] that you design to shake it up in. Take the fat off from your Broth, and then put about a Pint or rather less of it into the Tasser with the Yolk of Eggs beat well; better than half a pint of Cream, a little Nutmeg grated; half a Dozen Cloves, 2 Blades of Mace; a little Butter dipt in Flower, and shake it up together over a clear Fire. Put in the juice of half a Lemon, and two Spoonsful of White Wine if you like it. Take care it does not turn. When thick and well relished to your Taste, dish it. There should also be put in about a Gill of Mushroom Buttons.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Old Hertfordshire Recipes - Mock Turtle

Take a Calfs Head, scall [sic] off the hair; When cleaned, cut the horny part into thin slices with as little of the lean as possible; put a few chopped Oysters to the Brains; Then have ready between a quart and three pints of strong Veal gravy or Mutton with a quart of Madeira Wine, a large teaspoonful of Chian Pepper. Batter a large Onion, and the peel of half a Lemon chopped very fine, a little Sauce and the juice of two large Lemons and some sweet herbs sliced very fine. Stew all these together until the Meat is tender, which will be in about one hour and a half. Then have ready a Turtles Back Shell lined with a paste of flour and Water, which must be set in the Oven to harden. Then put the ingredients into the shell, and put it into the Oven to brown. Garnish with Yolks of Eggs, boiled hard and some forced Meat Balls.

      Two Cows heels and a Calfs foot dressed the same way, make a good Dish.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Old Hertfordshire Recipes - A Ragout of Oysters

Open 20 large Oysters, take them out of their liquor. Save the Liquor and dip the oysters in a Batter made as follows: Two Eggs; beat well, a little Lemon Peel grated, a little Nutmeg grated, a very little Parsley chopped fine; beat all together with a little Flower. Have ready some butter or dripping in a Stew-Pan. When it boils dip in your Oysters one by one into the Batter and fry them of a fine brown. Then take them out, and put them in a dish before the fire.11 Then take a clean pan and have half a pint of good gravy ready, add three spoonsful of oyster Liquor, one spoonful of White Wine; a little bit of butter rolled in Flower. Stir all together, let it boil up. Then put in the oysters & when the Sauce is of a good thickness, dish them up.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Old Hertfordshire Recipes - Brown Pea Soup

Brown Pea Soup

About 3 pounds of Beef, and half a pound of pickled Pork {Bacon makes it taste of smoke} a handful of white Pepper, 2 Onions, a pint and a half of split pease; six quarts of Water. Let them stew down 3 hours; put not any salt in until the last, and very little is wanted. Fry some Bread in Butter, then cut dices. Put it in your Tureen with a very little dried Mint. Some spinage boiled in Water by itself, put in the Tureen. You should put in two hearts of Celery at first with the Meat whole; and when it has boiled one hour & a half, or until it is tender, take it out and put it in the Tureen, after it is cut in thin slices. When the Soup is ready to serve up; strain it into the Tureen, and take particular care when it is strained, that there is not any Fat in it.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Report on July activities -and some quickie reports

The original plan was that I took the month quietly but there were 29 posts and over 5900 visitor views on this newsletter, and over 22,000 to the main web site. The real problem was that I spent too much time on the site, and with holiday breaks, etc., other matters got neglected. In the next few days I will posting provisional plans for the future of the site.

Quickie Reports of  Recent Correspondence and Updates.

Thomas MARRYAT, Barnet, 1760 & "A Happy Child"

Last year I was asked about the origins of an 18th century song which turned up in America and which had a specific reference to Barnet. Paul has written to say that when Thomas Marryat was in America between 1760 and 1766 he could not have met the Geyer family in Boston. I have contacted the original enquirer, Caroline, and reviewed what we know and where further evidence might turn up.

Hatfield Local History Society Publications

I have updated the contact information for people wanting to buy any of these publications.

Apsley Football Club

Anthony Taylor has provided some additioina information

AUSTIN, Berkhamsted, mid 19th century

Audrey asked about the shop occupied by Joseph Austin (a butcher) in the 1851 census - and also about records of the location of contemporary graves in Berkhamsted. I am only able to give limited advice - can anyone else help her?

Old Hertfordshire Recipies: Dunstable Larks

Anthony Carter pointed out that my original illustration was the wrong species - and I have replaced it with a more relevant picture.

An Unusual Uniform - So what did this man do for a living?

Jon suggests that the badge could represent the letters SGC and wondered if this could be the uniform of people who worked for the St Albans Gas Company. Can anyone verify this - or come up with an alternative suggestion?

A Wig-making Factory in St Albans in the 1930s

Brenda emailed me with some more information and I have added her note as a comment.

Name Variants in Find My Past

The latest edition of the Lost Cousins newsletter contains an article about the problems of searching for people with multiple given names which you might find interesting. Every online site has its searching idiosyncrasies and it is important to find out what they are.  .

Old Hertfordshire Recipes: Dunstable Larks

8 Larks for our Supper at Dunstable. They were all on one Spit which was small, and designed for that purpose. They were laid very close to a brisk fire and turned very briskly; In about 2 Minuttes they were flowerd, after about as much more time they were basted with a great deal of Butter, so as to keep quite a stream pouring on them at the same time. They were turned as quick as possible, so that they were quite covered with a very thick froth. In this manner they were roasted for about 4 Minuites; and then the Cook with a Dish full of very fine grated Bread strewed them over by handfulls, holding the Dish under to catch what Bread did not stick. Being removed a little way from the fire, they were then laid close, and in about a Minute the same was repeated, so as to get as many Crumbs to stick as possible. They were then laid near the fire again, and turned carefully and slowly, sometimes backwards, sometimes forwards, but very steadily: This took up about 5 Minuites more; So that I judge they were about 10 Minuites a doing by a very brisk fire, and lying almost so close as to touch the Barrs. When the Crums were brown they were taken up and laid in two Rows in the Dish, and the four that were not separated stuck close together by the strength of the Cement of the Crums and Butter. They were done extreemly nice.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800

Please note that this delicacy is no longer considered politically correct.

Old Hertfordshire Recipes - A Duck Pie

As someone who likes eating duck - and likes roasting one for suitable occasions (see It was a real Aylesbury Duck and Enjoy your Christmas Dinner) the following approach to cooking duck interests me but I suspect that a modern farmed duck would have too much fat. Perhaps a wild duck would be more appropriate but have less meat!

A Duck Pye

Take the Liver and all the inside of the Duck which is fit to eat; wash it well; take a slice of the Fat of Bacon, a little Veal and a few Shalots; mince them all very small together; and with a little Thyme and Bay Leaf cut small, and a seasoning of Pepper and Salt, put it in the inside of the Duck. Lard the Duck all over with a little Shred of fat Bacon, rolled in seasoning. Take such a quantity of Flour, as you think will make paste enough to go round a Duck. Lay the flour on a paste Board, put two Yolks and one white of an Egg into the middle of it.

     Break almost a pound of Butter very small into the Flour; put as much Water as is necessary to mix it, and mix it very lightly and touch it as little as possible.

     Roll out a piece of this Paste out very thin, lay it on a Dish; then lay a thin slice or two of Fat Bacon on it, and afterwards the Duck with the Breast downwards, and then another thin slice of Bacon upon the Duck. Lay a thin Crust upon the Top, and then another this Crust upon that.

     Turn up the bottom Crust nearly round the Duck, lay the Top Crust over it, and join them together until it forms an Oval standing Pye to the shape of the Duck; but touch the crust as little as possible. Crimp and ornament the Pye all over with little Irons for that purpose. Make a hole in the Top of  the Pye, roll a thin piece of Paste, and put in like a Chimney and then roll up a piece of Card and put inside of it.

     Have a Cork ready the size of the Chimney and cork it up the moment the Pye is taken out of the Oven, and do not take out the Cork and Card until the Pye is quite cold. About one hour and a half in a quick oven will bake it.

     Make a seasoning of Salt, Pepper and a little Thyme, Bay Leaf and shallot. All the Bacon with which the Duck is larded must be dipped in it, and as the Duck should be covered in every part with sliced Bacon; that side of the Bacon which it is next to it, must also be dipped in it. If the Bacon is much Salted, it must be well washed to get out the Salt.

The Receipt Book of Baroness Elizabeth Dimsdale, c1800