So it's true, I am spending my Saturday evening drinking whiskey and water on the rocks while being totally engrossed in, "Pies A-Plenty" by Florence La Ganke Harris, copyright 1940 (there's a moving note to Dan's mom written on the first page). I'm in heaven. I love old cookbooks, I love reading the introduction sections and noting the old school generational nuances in them (mostly women in the kitchen, I know). But there's often a certain poetry to them that current cookbooks tend to lack.
i.e., "Busybodies have a reputation for sticking "a finger in every pie." Fingers are best left out of other people's affairs and out of pie crust, as well".
Ha, I love it!
Okay, this one's a bit long, but worth recording because of the ingredients listed in this old London pie, how amazing would it be to duplicate old old old recipes.... food for thought. I hope to try!
"Early pies- and their history and recipes go back to Roman days- were not dainty affairs of pastry, cherries, sugar, and spice. They were heavy and hearty with all the earmarks of having been made by a man. (ugh, man, keep reading though...)
Chauncer bears us out in that deduction-
"A coke they hadeen with hom for the nones
He could roste, and sethe, and broile, and frie,
Maken mortrewes and wel bake a pie."
That "coke" may have put together one of the first of the famous "London pies" which contains- but wait, read on and see for yourself-
"Take 8 marrow bones, 18 sparrows, 1 pound potatoes, 1/4 pound eringoes, 2 ounces lettuce stalks, 40 chestnuts, 1/2 pound dates, 1 peck oysters, 1/4 pound preserved citron, 3 artichokes, 12 eggs, 2 sliced lemons, a handful picked barberries, 1/4 ounce pepper, 1/2 ounce nutmeg, 1/2 ounce cinnamon, 1/4 ounce cloves, 1/2 ounce mace, 1/4 pound currants. Liquor it when baked with white wine, butter and sugar"
What is an eringo, you say? I was quite curious myself. From chowhound.chow.com:
"I am told that "eringoes" (mentioned by Falstaff in the Merry Wives) were once a favorite candy. Also called "comfits," they were made from the roots of the sea holly, which have a gummy quality, by rolling them in sugar and orange water. They were made in Colchester up until the 1860's."
How amazing would it be to duplicate this pie???? I think this one's going on the bucket list.
So the main impetus for picking up this book was to find a good ol' classic strawberry rhubarb pie recipe, strawberries have just come into season. Sooooo sweet, juicy, freshy, yum! And I still have some rhubarb in the garden. I'm not a big pastry baker, but am very excited about making this first of the season combination tomorrow on my day off (although I'm already slated to go check out a friend's bee hives in the a.m., attend a gardening medicinal herb class at noon, and work a few hours at SEEDS Farm in the afternoon.... day off, geez!:) I'll let ya'll know how it comes out!
i.e., "Busybodies have a reputation for sticking "a finger in every pie." Fingers are best left out of other people's affairs and out of pie crust, as well".
Ha, I love it!
Okay, this one's a bit long, but worth recording because of the ingredients listed in this old London pie, how amazing would it be to duplicate old old old recipes.... food for thought. I hope to try!
"Early pies- and their history and recipes go back to Roman days- were not dainty affairs of pastry, cherries, sugar, and spice. They were heavy and hearty with all the earmarks of having been made by a man. (ugh, man, keep reading though...)
Chauncer bears us out in that deduction-
"A coke they hadeen with hom for the nones
He could roste, and sethe, and broile, and frie,
Maken mortrewes and wel bake a pie."
That "coke" may have put together one of the first of the famous "London pies" which contains- but wait, read on and see for yourself-
"Take 8 marrow bones, 18 sparrows, 1 pound potatoes, 1/4 pound eringoes, 2 ounces lettuce stalks, 40 chestnuts, 1/2 pound dates, 1 peck oysters, 1/4 pound preserved citron, 3 artichokes, 12 eggs, 2 sliced lemons, a handful picked barberries, 1/4 ounce pepper, 1/2 ounce nutmeg, 1/2 ounce cinnamon, 1/4 ounce cloves, 1/2 ounce mace, 1/4 pound currants. Liquor it when baked with white wine, butter and sugar"
What is an eringo, you say? I was quite curious myself. From chowhound.chow.com:
"I am told that "eringoes" (mentioned by Falstaff in the Merry Wives) were once a favorite candy. Also called "comfits," they were made from the roots of the sea holly, which have a gummy quality, by rolling them in sugar and orange water. They were made in Colchester up until the 1860's."
How amazing would it be to duplicate this pie???? I think this one's going on the bucket list.
So the main impetus for picking up this book was to find a good ol' classic strawberry rhubarb pie recipe, strawberries have just come into season. Sooooo sweet, juicy, freshy, yum! And I still have some rhubarb in the garden. I'm not a big pastry baker, but am very excited about making this first of the season combination tomorrow on my day off (although I'm already slated to go check out a friend's bee hives in the a.m., attend a gardening medicinal herb class at noon, and work a few hours at SEEDS Farm in the afternoon.... day off, geez!:) I'll let ya'll know how it comes out!