Time Travel Cooking: 1796 Minced Pie of Beef

As a food historian I’ve often contemplated cooking up historical recipes but haven’t ever done much to fulfill that desire. So one of my intentions for this summer is to try a new (really old?) recipe at least once a week.

I decided to start off with a recipe from what is regarded as America’s first cookbook. I’ve used Amelia Simmon’s American Cookery (1796) as a historical source before, but I’ve never actually worked with any of the recipes. I’ve also never made a meat pie before, so it seemed like the perfect one to start with.

 

Here’s the original recipe:

Four pounds of beef? Six pounds of apples? Are you kidding me, early America?

Obviously I converted the recipe. I also omitted the two pounds of sugar. And suet (beef fat)? Nope--subbed that out with bacon. I also added onions, just because it seemed like a reasonable thing to do.

Here’s the ingredient list I ended up with:

1 lb. ground beef
2 apples, chopped
¼ lb. bacon
1 cup red wine
½ cup raisins
½ yellow onion, chopped
cinnamon to taste
salt to taste

I would have kept in the mace and nutmeg but unfortunately didn’t have those spices on hand.

First I set the oven to 350º while I prepared the dough and filling.

I cut the bacon into small pieces and cooked it up on the stovetop with the onions. Next I added the ground beef. After the beef was mostly browned, I tossed in the apples, raisins, cinnamon, salt, and wine.

 

I didn’t cook it on the stovetop for too long since it would keep cooking in the oven. Once I finished the filling I added it to the piecrust WHICH I MADE MYSELF. 

For the piecrust, I used this simple recipe from Crazy for Crust. Now, I generally avoid baking but it didn’t seem right to purchase a pre-made crust when using a 1796 recipe. I did, however, use a food processor to make the dough. We all have our limits.

It was actually incredibly easy to make the dough—just flour, butter, and water. And there’s something very satisfying about working with dough. It also tasted so much better than any store-bought crust I’ve used. It seems I may slowly be converted to the baking realm.

After glazing the top crust with an egg wash of yolk and water, I popped it in the oven and let it cook for about 45 minutes until it was a beautiful golden brown.

This pie. Guys. Seriously. It’s so amazing and satisfying. It’s not entirely “historical” since I altered the recipe. But hey, I like to play fast and loose with the past, especially if it means getting to eat something as delicious as this updated version of a 1796 meat pie. 

Savage Barbecue

"...from the era of conquest onward, barbecue arose less from native cooking practices than from a European gaze that wanted to associate those practices with preexisting ideas of savagery and innocence... barbacoa or barbicu or barbikew or barbeque, however it has been spelled, not only referred to the smoked foods of American Indians, it also enacted Europeans' deep desire to see those foods as barbarous--as the result of a primitive kind of cookery, savage and base, akin to that which their own distant ancestors long ago performed."

--Andrew Warnes, Savage Barbecue: Race, Culture, and the Invention of America's First Food

The Breslin

A couple weeks ago I had a great outing with my sisters (and one of our honorary sisters) to The Breslin at the Ace Hotel, located at 16 West 29 Street in New York. Dinner was amazing and the company excellent.

Our meat-laden meal began with a terrine board: guinea hen with morels, rabbit and prune, rustic pork with pistachios, head cheese, liverwurst. All served with pickles, piccalilli and mustard. This platter was decadent enough in itself, but it was only the beginning.

 Terrine Board

We also split a scotch egg and scrumpets with mint vinegar. Having no idea what a scrumpet is, I was pleased to discover it is lamb breaded and fried. Kind of a like a lamb fishstick. It's a bit heavy, but sharing is a nice way to get a taste without going overboard.

Scrumpet with a vegetable thing in the background

Extreme Close Up Scrumpet & Scotch Egg

We also shared a lamb burger, which was awesome. I had it once before at The Breslin and it's definitely a good deal. As you can see, the meat is cooked very rare, allowing the taste of the lamb to really come through. The feta cheese makes it a little too salty for me, so this time around I tried some bites without the feta and found it more pleasing.

Lammmb Burger

Razor clams also appeared during the meal (and disappeared, quickly). I'd never tried razor clams before and I really enjoyed them. They are a bit heartier than regular clams, and the good chefs at The Breslin cooked them perfectly.

 Razor Clams, with a Scotch Egg peeking out in the distance

To round out the meal we got a roasted beet salad and broccoli. Because, vegetables are a thing that people should eat. But also there was meat in the vegetable dishes as well. You can never escape the meat.

 Tasty Vegetables

If you get a chance, treat yourself to some awesome food at The Breslin! I also recommend retiring to the lobby of the Ace Hotel for a drink to end your delicious meal.

Quote of the Week: Kindred Flesh

“All day Mrs. [Sarah] Foster held her brother's head in her lap and by every means in her power sought to soothe his death agonies. The sunlight faded from the surrounding summits. Darkness slowly emerged from the canyons and enfolded forest and hill slope in her silent embrace. The glittering stars appeared in the heavens and the bright full moon rose over the eastern mountain crests. The silence, the profound solitude, the ever present wastes of snow, the weird moonlight, and above all the hollow moans of the dying boy in her lap rendered this night the most impressive in the life of Mrs. Foster. She says she never beholds a bright moonlight without recurring with a shudder to this night on the Sierra. At two o clock in the morning Lemuel Murphy ceased to breathe. The warm tears and kisses of the afflicted sisters were showered upon lips that would never more quiver with pain.

…

Days and perhaps weeks of starvation were awaiting them in the future and they dare not neglect to provide as best they might. Each of the four bodies was divested of its flesh and the flesh was dried. Although no person partook of kindred flesh sights were often witnessed that were blood curdling. Mrs. Foster as we have seen fairly worshiped her brother Lemuel. Has human pen power to express the shock of horror this sister received when she saw her brother's heart thrust through with a stick and broiling upon the coals? No man can record or read such an occurrence without a cry of agony! What then did she endure who saw this cruel sight?”

--C. F. McGlashan, History of the Donner Party: A Tragedy in the Sierras, 1879

Rekindling

Dear Readers,

In the words of the narrator of Ken Kesey’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, “I been away a long time.” It’s true. I’m sorry for my prolonged absence. It seems, however, that the time has arrived to rekindle this food blog.

So. LIFE UPDATE. A couple years ago I started meditating and practicing Buddhism again. In August I moved to Brooklyn, which I do believe was a very wise decision. I also got an iPhone over the summer. What? Hello, twenty-first century.

Seriously though, life has been good to me over the last year and a half of my food blogging hiatus.

I’m now four years into my doctoral program for American cultural history. After wavering in the should-I-stay-or-should-I-go dance of graduate school, I recently decided (i.e., six days ago) that perhaps I’ve been pursuing the wrong course of study. Then it clicked. It's not that academia isn’t for me. It's that I've been struggling to study topics not appropriate for me at this point in my life. A moment of clarity dawned upon me and I realized—I’m a historian of cannibalism. How could I have ever thought I was anything else? It all made sense. My dissertation? The Donner Party.

Of course.

Which brings me to the next and, quite honestly, most important aspect of my life right now. THE TOWER. For just under the past year I’ve been serving as a dramaturg for an incredible play called The Tower (as in the tarot card representing chaos, collapse, sudden change, downfall, revelation…) about the Donner Party, a topic I’ve always found fascinating. For months I’ve been researching the history that surrounds these ill-fated emigrants who notoriously resorted to cannibalism to survive a brutal winter in the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1846-47. Most amazingly, I’ve been able to fulfill a passion I didn’t quite know how to best manifest on my own—turning the past into art.

Now that I’ve become intimately involved with the members of the Donner Party it seems I have no option but to stay with them. I’m just riding the energy I’ve tapped into through this process, and I’m ready to see where it takes me. So, dissertating? It’s a thing, apparently. I think I’m finally ready for it.

What does this all mean for A Slice of Earthly Delight? Well, I’m about to be immersed in food history. Which means I’m going to need an outlet to write about food thingz. Which means you all get to hear my ramblings once again! Everybody wins.

It also means that I’m going to be writing a lot about cannibalism. Be prepared.

Love,
Maya

A Rooklicious Thanksgiving Feast

This year's Thanksgiving was one of the best. It's truly one of my favorite holidays--good food, warm fires, conversation and laughter, and eating, eating, eating. I'm still full from Thursday.

Seriously.

This year we started off in the afternoon with bowls of mulligatawny soup, meat, cheese, crackers, shrimp, and veggies as the fragrance of roast turkey and mulled wine filled the air.

When dinner was served we indulged in fennel salad, cranberry sauce with pears and oranges, ambrosia, rosemary and garlic smanging mashed potatoes, brussels sprouts with walnuts and garlic, and stuffing muffins.  

The turkey was one of my best yet--I think I've really perfected my technique. The skin of the turkey was golden and crispy after being coated in butter, sage, rosemary, and thyme (cue singing now), and the flavors of apples, onions, garlic, celery, and carrots flavored the turkey from the inside out. I also made a killer gravy from the buttery drippings to accompany the turkey.

And of course no meal is complete without a nice glass of wine. Hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving this year. Cheers!

There's Nothing Quite Like a Good Piece of Meat

Meat. You know you love it. You know you want it inside of you...(er, I mean, inside of your belly, of course). But seriously, fellow foodies (minus those of the vegetarian persuasion)--a gathering of friends and family for a holiday like Thanksgiving is simply not complete without some delicious, delightful slices of meat.

Look at this meat. Look at it. I mean, come on, it's just a thing of beauty waiting to be devoured! Which is exactly what we did as the turkey and side dishes cooked away in the afternoon of Thanksgiving. We had prosciutto, soppressata, capicola, and pepperoni from Micucci Grocery in Portland, Maine, and some ultra-decadent, home-made pork terrine wrapped in smoked bacon. Amazing.

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We also indulged in some tasty cheeses and olives. Featured here are drunken goat cheese, stilton blue cheese, and a nice wedge of creamy brie.