Next unto sallat she shall deliver forth all her fricassees…
December 9, 2004
This leafy green quote comes from Gervase Markham’s The English Housewife written in 1615 in a treatise about salads. These words are instructions describing the placement of dishes and the order of courses, starting with light leafy green salads and moving through salads with boiled and pickled vegetables. I have gleaned this tidbit from Cathy K. Kaufman’s article on 17th century salads on the Culinary Historians of New York website.
Take the buds of al kind of good Hearbes and a hanfull of French capers, seven or eight Dates cut in long slices, a hanfull of Raisins of the Sun,…
Take the buds of al kind of good Hearbes and a hanfull of French capers, seven or eight Dates cut in long slices, a hanfull of Raisins of the Sun, the stones being pickt out, a handfull of Almonds blancht, a handfull of Curans, five or six Figs sliced, a preserved orenge cut in slices; mingle al these together with a handful of Sugar, then take a faire Dish fit for a shoulder of Mutton, set a standard of paste in the midst of it, put your aforesaid sallet about this standard, set upon your sallet foure half Lemmons, with the flat ends downward, right over against one another, halfs way betwixt your standard and the dishes side, pricke in every one of these Lemmons a branch of Rosemary and hang upon the Rosemary preserued cherries, or cherries fresh from the tree; set foure halfe Egges, being roasted hart, betwaene your Lemons, the flat ends downward, prick upon your Egges sliced Dates and Almonds: then you may lay another garnish up the brim of the Dish with a preseued Orenge, in long slices and betwixt every slice of orenge, a little heap of French Capers. If you have not a standard to serue it in, then take halfe a Lemmon, and a faire branch of Rosemary.
Ok, so if you don’t have the mutton plate you take the lemon and the pretty sprig of rosemary and you do what with it? Hilarious spelling, it’s like typos! Cathy K. Kaufman mentions that it is entirely possible that some of the salads were just meant to be placed on the table as decorative garnish, not so much to eat, but as a glorified flower arrangement in a salad bowl. I mean on a mutton plate.
Seeds from Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello in case you were looking for a good source for cardoons.
debra at 19:11 | | post to del.icio.us
