No
224. Crofter’s Kitchen.
Concious
that a lot of what my Crofter’s Barn articles contains tends to be outdoors,
though not all, and equally concious that Christmas is acoming near, I thought
I might borrow for the ladies a few recipes from the ledger of Peter Campbell,
Crofter and Tacksman of Achnacly,
Brubster, b1764, d1840, bd Reay.
These
recipes, though in spare corners of his ancient 70 page ledger, were in a
different hand to Peter’s very neat handwriting, and may well have been written
by his sister Catherine, b April 1766. Their father was Wm Campbell in Inshes
of Brubster, otherwise called Achnacly. He had no daughter called Catharine.
.
Muriel Murray, of Castehill Heritage Society, transcribed the recipes for us
out of the old Ledger. Sufficiently interested in the content, she is planning,
as part of C.H.S.’s 2013 programme of
traditional skills workshops, a participative event for aspiring bakers . These
recipes and home cures will be put to the test by an accomplished home baker,
while the vintage ingredients will be interpreted by a chemist and
pharmacist!! Will the result still be
palatable to 21st century taste buds? Go to the CHS website for further
details.
Ladies,
accompanied of course by their husbands, should not miss this early in the New
Year event. I think it may be Master Chef of the Year at Castlehill.!!
I
have not tried any of the recipes so cannot as yet offer any conclusions, nor
do I accept any responsibilties!!
I do remember most of the kitchen pots and
pans in use, indeed used some of them myself including the Blacksmith Girdle
which we still have.
The
black stove illustrated was a miracle in itself, a place for everything and
everything in its place!!
Recipes from Peter
Campbell’s ledger.
Lemon Biscuits
1 cup lard
3 eggs
3 cups white sugar
1 pint sweet milk
5 ts oil
of lemon [ ts =teaspoons ]
3 ts baking amonia [ ts = teaspoons ]
Put the milk,
eggs, oil lemon, baking amonia together in the milk.
Roll Jelly Cake
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour,
3 eggs
1 teaspoonful baking powder
Tea cakes
Two cups of sugar
1 cup butter
1 cup sour milk
½ teaspoon soda
little nutmeg
roll and cut in Cakes.
Fruit cake
butter, sugar, molasses, sweet milk, each 1 cup.
Currants 4 cups
Raisins 4 cups
4 eggs
2 teaspoonful baking powder
citron ½ lb
two nutmegs
cinnamon to taste. Bake two hours
Chocolate icing
Put into a saucepan half a lb of white sugar, two
ounces of grated chocolate and about a gill of water. Stir until the mixture
assumes of a thick cream.
A Parsian ?? favorite recipe
5 lb raisins
5 lb dried apples and 5 gallons
of water
Put all together in a small cask or large earthen
jar and let stand uncovered for 3 days, stirring occasionally from the bottom.
At the end of that time bottle with half A teaspoonful of sugar and A stick of
cinnamon in each bottle. Cork tightly and store in a cool place.
Cure for dysentery
The
egg is considered one of the best remedies
for Dysentery. Beaten up
slightly
with or without sugar and swallowed at a gulp, it tends by its
emollient
qualities to lessen the inflammation of the stomach and intestines.
Two
or at most three eggs per day would be all that is required in ordinary cases.
Burdock Root
2 ounces (Burdock Root) in three pints of
water, boiled down to a pint.
Let it cool and drink in the course of 2 days.
Of this tea you may drink about a pint in 24
hours.
To cure consumptive cough
Take three pints rain water,
half [ ½ lb ] pound raisins, chopped fine
3 tablespoonful of flax seed
Sweeten to A Syrup with honey and boil down to A
quart.
Add 3 tablespoonsfull of Extract of Anise
Take A tablespoonsfull eight times A day.
Untitled ( No idea what this was for. MP )
½ lb
Mutton Tallow
1 Ounce of Camphor
1 Ounce Borax
1 Bar Toilet Soap
Paper
Onions for croup
Cut them in pieces, stew, fry or boil or bake with
a small piece of pork or lard.
and Place A Bag
at once upon the chest.
Cut a large onion in thick slices with Sugar
Placed Between each slice,
and as
soon as the juices begin to flow…???
To keep eggs
One Bushel quick lime
2 oz salt
½ lb cream of tartar. Mix
Hair Wash
1 ounce Borax
½ ounce of camphor
Dissolve in 1 quart of Boiling rain water.
Damp hair frequently
So
there you have it. Your great great great granny would have done the lot!!
