August 22, 2009

Tipsy Parson is an English dessert that was a staple in the Nineteenth Century South.  It is made by soaking sponge or pound cake in brandy or wine and topping it with a custard pudding.

“Soak a whole sponge-cake (or any pieces of dry cake will answer) in some sherry; when saturated with the wine, pour over it a rich boiled custard flavored with what you like and stick blanched almonds thick all over the top.”
—Mrs. Clement Carrington McPhail, F. F. V. Receipt Book. Richmond, Va.: West, Johnston & Co., 1894.
(FFV is the First Families of Virginia, a genealogical and historical group made up of descendants of Virginia’s original colonists).

January 21, 2009

Henry “Harry” Heth was a Confederate Major General in Robert E. Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia, commanding a division in General A.P. Hill’s Third Corps.

Heth’s war record was solid but not outstanding, so  he’s not as well known as Lee, Jackson, Pickett and other Confederate icons. Heth’s main claim to fame was that he accidentally started the battle of Gettysburg when he sent some of his men into that sleepy Pennsylvania town to look for shoes.

According to the story that accompanies the recipe, General Heth made this drink in honor of president Grover Cleveland’s election in 1884, then bottled the remainder and served it again when Cleveland (who was the only president ever elected to two non-consecutive terms) returned to the presidency in 1892.

“For 1 gallon, bake well and crisp 8 well flavored apples of medium size. When cool, place in a bowl. Mix 1 qt. of brandy, 1 pt. of arrack, 1 pt. of maraschino; pour the mixture over the apples and add 2 qts. water. Sweeten to taste, grating a little nutmeg. Stir well, but try not to break the apples.”
—Jacquieine Harrison Smith and Sue Mason Maury Halsey, Famous Old Receipts Used A Hundred Years and More in the Kitchens of the North and the South, Contributed by Descendants. Philadelphia: John C. Winston and Co., 1906.

January 9, 2009

Scripture cake was also known as “Bible Cake,” “Scriptural Cake” and “Old Testament Cake,” and was extremely popular in the latter part of the nineteenth century, especially in the southern Appalachians. The cake was meant as a way to teach young girls baking and Bible verses; the original recipes didn’t include the ingredients out to the side as provided on this one. The earliest recipe for this cake I have been able to find was published in the Atlanta Constitution on June 27, 1897. Some researchers believe the cake dates to the late 1700s in England or Ireland, while others claim the cake a favorite of Dolly Madison, wife of U.S. president James Madison.

Recipes differ on amounts of ingredients and occasionally the Bible verses used to find them; this recipe is based on one found in Key to the Pantry, published by the ladies of the Church of the Epiphany in Danville, Virginia in 1897. This cake may also be baked in two 9-by 5-inch loaf pans, with a reduction in cooking time of about 15 minutes.

For the cake:

3/4 cup Judges 5:25 (butter)
1 1/2 cup Jeremiah 6:20 (sugar)
5 Isaiah 10:14 (eggs, separated)
3 cups sifted Leviticus 24:5 (flour)
3 teaspoons 2 Kings 2:20 (salt)
3 teaspoons Amos 4:5 (baking powder)
1 teaspoon Exodus 30:23 (cinnamon)
1/4 teaspoon each 2 Chronicles 9:9 (spices-nutmeg, ginger, allspice)
1/2 cup Judges 4:19 (milk)
3/4 chopped Genesis 43:11 (nuts)
3/4 cup finely chopped Jeremiah 24:5 (figs
3/4 cup 2 Samuel 16:1 (raisins)
Whole Genesis 43:11 for garnish (almonds)

In a 4-quart mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in egg yolks, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, cinnamon and spices.

Beat flour mixture into butter and egg mixture, alternating with milk, until flour is just blended in.  Beat egg whites untill stiff; fold into batter. Fold in chopped nuts, figs and raisins. Turn into 10-inch tube pan that has been greased and dusted with flour.

Bake at 325 degrees F until a cake tester inserted into cake comes out clean, about an hour and ten minutes.
Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. After fifteen minutes, turn cake out from pan onto wire rack to cool completely. Drizzle with Burnt Jeremiah Syrup.

Burnt Jeremiah Syrup:

1 1/2 cups Jeremiah 6:20 (sugar)
1/2 cup Genesis 24:45 (water)
1/4 cup Genesis 18:8 (butter)

in a 2-quart saucepan over low heat, melt sugar, stirring ocasionally to prevent sticking. After sugar melts, continue cooking, stirring continuously, until it is a deep golden brown. Add water and cook, stirring frequently, until smooth. Remove from the heat, add butter and stir till until it melts; allow to cool.

Drizzle over cooled scripture cake and garnish with whole almonds.

December 2, 2008

In the nineteenth century, wealthy Southern plantation owners were quite fond of entertaining. When travel often took days, guests frequently stayed for several days at a time, if not weeks.

Lavish dinners were served, designed to show off the hosts’ hospitality as well as the abundance of the plantation.

Margaret Devereux was mistress of many large plantations owned by the Devereux family on the Roanoke River in eastern North Carolina.

In  Plantation Sketches (1906), she detailed the elegance and opulence of a typical meal.

“For a dinner of ten or twelve persons, including ourselves, there would be a ham at the head, a large roast turkey at the foot, a quarter of boiled mutton, a round of beef a la mode, and a boiled turkey stuffed with oysters,” she wrote. “In the middle of the table would be celery in tall cut-glass stands, on the sides cranberries in moulds and various kinds of pickles. With these would be served either four or six dishes of vegetables and scalloped oysters, handed hot from the plate-warmer. The dessert would be a plum pudding, clear stewed apples with cream, with a waiter in the centre filled with calf’s-foot jelly, syllabub in glasses, and cocoanut or cheese-cake puddings at the corners. The first cloth was removed with the meats. For a larger entertainment, a roast pig would be added; ice-cream would take the place of stewed apples. The dessert cloth would be removed with the dessert, and the decanters and fruit set upon the bare mahogany, with the decanters in coasters; cigars would follow, after the ladies had left, of course.”

November 23, 2008

Stew your cranberries in a covered saucepan till soft, then pulp them through a hair sieve, return them to the saucepan, with equal weight of good brown sugar, and a spoonful of butter. A little water should be added, or the sauce will be too thick. To be served hot.
—Mary Ann Bryan Mason, The Young Housewife’s Counsellor (sic) and Friend: Containing Directions in Every Department of Housekeeping, 1875.