The Gud Huswive’s Kitchin
I’m always dreaming up new recipes for the Soup Lover’s Mystery series and I love to surf the web for ideas. Recently I really hit the jackpot! I discovered a website devoted to 16th century English cooking, the recipes pieced together from fragments of a 1597 cookbook. These are heavy on mutton and in case you’re not familiar with mutton (I wasn’t), it is sheep’s meat that is older than two or three years, very heavy on fat and definitely an acquired taste. Other recipes give instructions on cooking a deer, a mallard, a crane and even a buzzard! Frankly, I know my stomach couldn’t possibly handle all that strange meat and did I hear my cholesterol climb??? But I thought it might be fun to translate one of them and try it out. Here goes . . .
How to make Farts of Portingale.
Take a peece of a leg of Mutton, mince it smal and season it with cloues, Mace pepper and salt, and Dates minced with currans: then roll it into round rolles, and so into little balles, and so boyle them in a little beefe broth and so serue them foorth.
Don’t laugh -- I have no idea what Farts of Portingale are but we can always invent a different name. Let’s skip the mutton, okay? How about a pound of ground beef or even lamb? Season generously with salt and pepper, add a little ground cloves and mace. Then chop about a cup of dates, mix with a cup of raisins and add that to the seasoned meat. Roll into 1” balls, seal them quickly by frying them in a spritz of oil, then move them to a pot of simmering beef or (better) vegetable broth and cook for about 15 minutes. Who knows? Farts of Portingale may actually taste pretty good. And so serve them forth . . .
What should we call them? Fruit balls? Any ideas? Don’t be shy. Any name’s better than Farts of Portingale.
Connie Archer is the national bestselling author of the Soup Lover’s Mystery series from Berkley Prime Crime: A Spoonful of Murder, A Broth of Betrayal, A Roux of Revenge and Ladle to the Grave are set in the imaginary village of Snowflake, Vermont. The fifth book in the series, A Clue in the Stew (April 2016) is available for pre-order now. You can visit Connie at her website and blog: conniearchermysteries.com, Facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries and Twitter @SnowflakeVT.
Ladle to the Grave When a local woman is poisoned at a pagan ritual in the woods, Lucky Jamieson’s grandfather, Jack, who provided the herbs for the gathering, is suspected of making a terrible mistake. The following day, a dead man is found floating in a creek just outside of town, his face unrecognizable. Is he a stranger or Lucky’s best friend’s estranged brother? Lucky is certain both deaths are murder. Can she find the connection and clear her grandfather’s name before more victims fall prey to a killer?
A Spoonful of Murder
A Broth of Betrayal
A Roux of Revenge
Ladle to the Grave
A Clue in the Stew (March 2016)
www.conniearchermysteries.com
Facebook.com/ConnieArcherMysteries
Twitter: @SnowflakeVT
What a great find! They sound like a version of meatballs, with a very creative name!
ReplyDeleteYou're right! They really are meatballs! I just hope I never have to cook a buzzard though. If I do, I'll know where to go for a recipe!
DeleteWhat an interesting post! Thanks for sharing and showing us that a love of cooking has been around a LONG time. I wonder why they are called "farts". Something must have transitioned over the years... or maybe not.
ReplyDeleteHi Laurie ~ I can't even imagine where the name came from! I just hoped this little post wasn't in bad taste. This was one of the "lighter" recipes on the site. You should see the ones for deer, crane, pig and buzzard!
DeleteAnyone who knows me knows that I can't resist anything with the word "fart" in it!
ReplyDeleteLOL! I did not know that, Ellen ~ I couldn't resist it either! Lots of mileage from that one, right?
DeleteVery interesting! I would not be able to serve something that is called by that name. Funny! Maybe it was supposed to be Fats of Portingale. I like your books. One of these days I will visit Snowflake again.
ReplyDeleteHi Elaine ~ So glad to hear you've enjoyed the series! And you're right about the name of that recipe. As Laurie said (above) a little earlier, maybe that word meant something else in those days!
DeleteOh, Connie, and you seem so quiet LOL! I'm not sure this would be a good menu item for By the Spoonful. When my children were growing up I would try new recipes and tell them we were having guinea pig food. This would have been a good one to serve them. Or maybe the next time I see my dear brother-in-law, who gifted me the roadkill cookbook. ;-)
ReplyDeleteOh, Sally, LOL! Oh how funny -- the roadkill cookbook, I love it! I guess buzzards and cranes would qualify as roadkill too. I used to love to make broccoli quiche when my daughters were little, but then they started calling it "booger pie" and wouldn't eat it any more. I've never forgotten that name! (I still like quiche)
DeleteAnd definitely not recommended by Sage at the Spoonful!
DeleteShelley ~ Thanks so much for hosting me today! I hope you're going to try this recipe soon!
ReplyDeleteConnie, is this one of the recipes from the UK's Two Fat Ladies cooking show? Their dishes were guaranteed to raise cholesterol through the roof.
ReplyDeleteNice post.