Thursday 28 August 2014

Challenge #6 - Seasonal. Lamb chops with tomato sauce (1835)

For the 6th challenge, I wanted to try a recipe from a new (for me) cookbook, the 1835 "Handbok vid den nu brukliga finare matlagningen[...]" by Margareta Nylander which originally was published in 1828 (i.e. "Handbook for the presently common finer cooking").

As usual, scroll to the bottom of the page for a quick write-up!



In the preface the author claims that all recipes in the book are thoroughly tested to ensure suitability for the Swedish cook, especially the one working in a better kitchen. I thought that was interesting, because I found a recipe that included tomatoes, something I hadn't heard of this early in the 19th century in a Swedish context.

I asked a friend who is more versed in antique cookbooks, and she knew of one even earlier recipe from 1821. That cookbook, however, was obviously directly translated from French and may not have taken into account what was actually used and available in Sweden at the time.

According to the vendor, this variety (Costoluto Genovese) is common in Italy and has been around since the early 19th century. 
I had to try and research the history of the tomato in Sweden, and even to I couldn't reach a conclusive verdict, I found some clues.

First, the tomato wasn't called 'tomat' as we say presently in Sweden when it was first mentioned; it was called 'pomme d'amour' (love apple) - isn't that darling? Carl von Linné naturally knew of the tomato since he was the one that classified the plant, but he believed that the fruit was poisonous when grown in a Scandinavian climate because it couldn't fully ripen (which isn't true, of course) although he acknowledged that the tomato was successfully grown and healthy to eat in countries like Spain.

How long this assumption prolonged, I do not know. In 1811, a book on household matters by Nicolas Appert was translated into Swedish from French and describes when tomatoes should be harvested (I have only read a snippet from the book so there might have been more). Again, since this was a translation from French, the mere mentioning of tomatoes is not definite evidence of them being commonly eaten or available in Sweden at the time.

George William Whitaker, late 19th century?

Then I found a wonderful book on Google Books, a 1815 dictionary of commerce. It lists all sorts of things that could be produced, manufactured, grown, caught and eventually sold, both domestically and internationally, from lace to iron. The entry for 'love apples' is short and doesn't exactly tell us if the tomato was actually imported to Sweden but I still think it is interesting that it's mentioned. The entry describes the tomato as common in Spain and Italy, where it is used for soups as well as pickled with pepper, oil and salt and also eaten as a refreshing and cooling snack.

Then we have the 1821 cookbook I mentioned above, and finally the 1835 recipe I decided to make for the challenge. Up to that point it's still hard to say how common tomatoes were in Swedish kitchens, but thankfully it gets easier after that but I'm going to limit myself to mentioning that tomato jam was offered for sale in Stockholm in 1842 and in 1853 were plain tomatoes (this time called 'tomat') advertised in a Stockholm newspaper. And in Swedish-speaking Finland tomato seeds for gardening were available in 1852, so I think it's fair to say that by the mid-19th century, tomatoes may not have been common but certainly not unheard of.

Onward to the recipe (and i guess it's clear by now that I chose the tomato as my seasonal ingredient!):

Lamb chops with Pomme d'Amour Sauce





 It was a simple recipe: lamb chops with salt and pepper dipped in clarified butter and breadcrumbs...

...then fried.



The tomato sauce was equally non-complicated. Tomatoes were cut into wedges and put into a sauce pan with a piece of butter and some water to simmer until soft (well, the recipe didn't say as much, but it made the most sense to me).


The tomatoes were then strained through a sieve, thus.

Then I melted some butter with flour in a saucepan, added bouillon (the non-period cubed variety...) and lastly the tomato sauce. It simmered on until the thickness seemed acceptable and was served on a dish with the lamb chops as per instructions!

Ta-da!
The colours are a bit off in this picture (even though I tried to correct them in PS) but I can assure you that it looked much better in reality. The sauce wasn't tomato-red, but a softer orange shade, like Campbells tomato soup (I added the chopped parsley just for some additional colour).

And when all was said and done, the sauce actually did taste like a mild tomato soup. Since the recipe didn't call for any additional seasoning, except for the bouillon, it was not a huge sensational experience, but nice all the same (then again, Swedish commercial tomatoes are a bit bland even when they're at their best).

The lamb chops, well, they were lovely because you can't go wrong with lamb chops, in my opinion. The bread crumbs really added some yummy texture (and extra fat to be sure!).

So, considering how easy and comparatively cheap this recipe was, I'd absolutely say this was a success. My husband liked it as well and he's not always easy to please so that's something!


The Challenge: #6: Seasonal fruits and vegetables


The Recipe: Lamm-Kortletter med Pommes d'Amour-Sås (Lamb chops with tomato sauce) from Margareta Nylander's cookbook (online version courtesy of Umeå University Library).


The Date/Year and Region: Sweden, 1835.


How Did You Make It: I cooked tomatoes with butter and water until soft, then strained them through a sieve and added the juice to melted butter with flour and bouillon and cooked until thick. The lamb chops were seasoned with salt and pepper, then dipped in clarified butter and breadcrumbs and fried in butter.


Time to Complete: Less than 30 minutes.


Total Cost: The biggest cost were the lamb chops, since lamb is often expensive where I live, the rest was cheap or I had it on hand so let's say  about $11/8EURO for two persons (we were very hungry so i planned for 2 small lamb chops per person).


How Successful Was It?: The sauce was nice, if a little bland, probably because Swedish tomatoes tend to be a little bland! Some herbs, like basil, would have been a nice addition. The lamb chops were delicious with a breadcrumb coating.


How Accurate Is It?: Well, firstly, I how no idea how tomatoes tasted in 1835 so I used modern, normal commercial tomatoes. I also used store-bought breadcrumbs and modern store-bought bouillon cubes. So, not quite accurate after all.

Recipe source: 
  • Nylander, M. (1835). Handbok wid den nu brukliga finare matlagningen : innehållande tillika beskrifning på confecturer, sylter och glacer ; samt ett bihang, att göra soja, fransk senap, ättikor, bär-winer, bär-safter, att inlägga anjovis, m.m. ; jemte några underrättelser om slagt, brygd och brödbakning. (6. tillökta och förbättr. uppl.) Stockholm: Online version courtesy of Umeå University Library

Friday 8 August 2014

Challenge #5: Pies! Tart of Strawberries and Ice Cream

Hello! Hope everyone is enjoying Summer. I'm starting to do that just now as I've been working for most of June and July, hence my hiatus form the latest challenges.

So I'm happy that I finally could participate in the pie challenge. Although 'pie' might be a bit of a stretch, as you shall see, I'm still happy that I tried a new recipe the best I could (even though the result was semi-successful at best...). I had fun and learned a few things (but have SO MUCH to learn still!).

(As usual, scroll to the bottom for the short version).

The recipe:


which called for an additional recipe:

Both recipes from The Professed Cook[...] by B Clermont, the 1776 edition. I can't find this edition I have as a pdf online but here's an 1812 edition on Google books.

It all sounded pretty straight-forward, and not too complicated for the novice, right? Well...

It started out with scalding and peeling of 400 grams of sweet almonds:

Those almonds were then turned into a kind of course almond meal with the help of two different kind of blenders/kitchen aids, because this stuff was tough! The recipe called for adding some egg white to prevent oiling, which I vaguely recall from other recipes involving almonds so I did that.

The result above. The meal lumped together but was otherwise quite even (those are lumps you see, not large pieces of almond). According to the recipe, you should beat the almonds in a mortar and the end result may have been very different Had I done that. Unfortunately I must admit that I don't own a mortar (I know, I know. I'm on the look-out for one but I'm too cheap to buy a new one and I've yet to find a suitable one in the thrift stores I trawl) so that option had to be ruled out.

Above is the almond paste after some time on the stove with sugar mixed in.It did indeed get a bit firm and pasty (you can see a little ball I kneaded with my hands to test the texture) but I started to get wary by this point...

It was pliable and knead-able, and you could flatten it with a rolling pin, as the recipe suggested, but it was so, so brittle. The smallest flattened pieces could carefully be picked up and put into a tin, but a piece large enough to line a larger pie tin? No way!


I had already decided to bake the crust in smaller, individual tins so that wasn't a biggie, but it was still pretty hard to force the paste into place in a somewhat aesthetically pleasing manner (and I didn't quite succeed with that either to be honest...).

The recipe suggested low heat for a short amount of time so I baked a test run on my oven's lowest setting (165 Celsius).
This is the result after a whopping 20 minutes. I think that was too long. It became hard and dense - too hard and dense, I think. I may have had a too thick layer of paste in the tins but a thinner layer would probably have made it impossible to get the crust out of the tin. I baked the rest of the batch for a shorter amount of time and they became a bit chewier, i.e. less hard, but a few of them broke fatally when I tried to remove them from the tins. Damned if you do...

Anyway, they still tasted nice. I mean, almonds and sugar, how could they not. But the consistency was way off - in no way could this paste of mine been served as a tart and pie where you cut and serve pieces. It was just too hard and dense.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I'm not a great cook! I know when I mess up, but I don't know why and how I did so. Any suggestions? 

Thankfully, the ice cream part of the recipe was a huge success in comparison!

I have never made ice cream the old school-way with ice and salt so it was a very exciting experiment! I don't own a sabotiere (no, really!) so I just used two bowls - one big plastic bowl with ice and salt and a small metal bowl with the ice cream ingredients - cream, sugar, orange flower water and egg yolks. These were mixed and heated onthe stove, then I let them chill over night and made the ice cream the day after.


Here it is when almost done. Like with so many things, at first nothing happened for a looong time, and then everything happened at once! Towards the end you had to stir like a madman to stop the ice cream to set at the edges of the bowl to make it somewhat smooth and even. I'm happy to say that I managed that pretty well. I served the ice cream when it was a bit more firm than soft serve.


Then me, my husband and his daughter devoured these treats in quite a rush, because they melted fast! There was literally no time to arrange the strawberries in a neat manner, as you can see.
Unfortunately, strawberry season is over here in Sweden so I had to use boring, watery imported strawberries, lightly sweetened.
The almond crust served mainly as a bowl at this point. You could take a bite out of it but no spoon or fork could best those things.

But the ice cream was yummy , yummy - how could it not be, it's cream! The orange flower water just gave a hint which was fine with me since I was afraid it would taste too much of perfume but it was fine. Lovely.

So the ice cream really saved this one. I'm a little bummed about the crust still, though, because I really liked the concept. I would like to serve something like this again, but I would use a different recipe for the crust in that case. Again: any pointers very welcome!


The short version

The Challenge: #5: Pies!


The Recipe: Tart of Strawberries and Ice Cream from The Professed Cook by B Clermont.


The Date/Year and Region: England, 1776.


How Did You Make It: For the crust, I mixed ground almonds and sugar in a pan on the stove which I then put into small pastry tins that I baked in the oven. The ice cream was made with the ice and salt method with two bowls.

Time to Complete: The crust: 1+ hour. The ice cream: About one hour.


Total Cost: Almonds, cream, strawberries and salt were ca $12.5/9,2 EURO. Sugar, eggs and orange flower water I already had on hand so a bit more if you have to buy those too.


How Successful Was It?: The crust wasn't too successful. The taste was nice but it was too hard to serve as a crust for a tart. The ice cream, on the other hand, was delicious!

How Accurate Is It?: The ingredients were fine, I think. The heavy cream may have been too fat for the 18th century - I think I've learned that our high-fat cream became possible after the separator was introduced but I may be wrong. The strawberries I used is of course of a modern variety that may have been very different to the types that were cultivated in the 18th century. I use dmodern kitchen appliances for most tasks involved, including a modern gas range, but I'm going to give myself some credit for making ice cream with salt and ice, dammit!


Source: The Professed Cook[...] (1776) by B. Clermont. An online 1812 edition is available courtesy to Google Books.