This can be made in a saucepan to cook on top of the stove, or in a casserole for the oven. It consists, quite simply, of a good rich stew with a suet pastry crust, so make your stew, and when it is almost cooked, make some suet pastry (ie basic duff mix) and roll it out to fit the inside of the saucepan/casserole. It should be about ½ inch (1 cm) thick. Fit it in on top of the stew, cover tightly and put it back on the heat for twenty to thirty minutes.
For a multi-decked sea pie, layer the stew and suet pastry as many times as you have room for, alternate the stew with fried onions, vegetables, or whatever you happen to have handy. The more layers, the longer the lower layers of pastry will take to cook, so check at intervals to make sure all is going well.
LOBSCOUSE
Lobscouse is an ancient dish known under various similar names throughout the northern world. In Lapland it is called lapskuis and the recipe includes walrus, in Germany it includes both meat and herrings, in Sweden it is called lapskijs and is still made with salt meat, in the USA it appears as ‘corned beef hash’, using the type of salt meat which they call ‘corned beef’ (as opposed to the tins of pink boiled beef which is known in Britain as corned beef). So lobscouse is simply a dish made by mixing small pieces of meat or fish with broken-up ships biscuit, onions or leeks and/or potatoes.
1 lb (450 g) salt beef or pork or fish or walrus (or a mixture of all or any of these), cut into similar sized pieces, say about ½ inch (1 cm) cubes, raw or pre-cooked. (Or a large tin of corned beef.)
2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces the same size as the meat
1 large onion or 2 large leeks, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons slush, or beef dripping, or lard, or even olive oil 3–4 ships biscuits, crushed in a bag with a belaying pin (optional) salt and freshly ground black pepper
your choice of spices – cloves, nutmeg, mace, ginger (optional)
If using raw ingredients, start by boiling the meat or fish and the potatoes until almost done, then strain them. Slice the onions and fry them until golden brown. Put everything except the onions into a large frying pan (or casserole if you have an oven handy), pour the onions and their fat over the top and stir well. If frying, do so for 10–15 minutes, stirring regularly. If baking, add some hot water or some of the original cooking water, or beer, put a lid on the casserole and put in a hot oven for 30–45 minutes, or a medium cool oven for anything up to two hours. In either case, a fried egg is a good addition when serving.
Another variation on lobscouse is ‘crackerhash’, made by layering salt beef, cooked pease and crushed biscuit in a casserole, dotting the top with plenty of beef dripping or slush and baking it in the oven.
BURGOO
Burgoo is nothing other than oatmeal porridge. As with suet pastry, the mixture is two to one: two cupfuls of water to one cupful of porridge oats. This amount will serve four people. Start with the cold water in a saucepan and stir the oats into this gradually. Bring the mixture slowly to the boil, then turn it down to simmer for about fifteen minutes, stirring all the time. When the oats have changed into a smooth mass, serve it with sugar and cream, or butter and salt.
PORTABLE SOUP
The Original Recipe1
The original recipe is long, repetitive and rather cumbersome, so here it is paraphrased to give the essence (if readers will forgive the pun). Unfortunately it does not state quantities of meat nor the size of the boilers.
Fill eight boilers with flesh – three parts shanks and shins of beef, one part mutton, cover them with water and bring to the boil, then simmer for thirteen hours, skimming the fat as it rises and putting this into a barrel. As it settles, pour off the fat into another barrel and return the watery liquid to the meat boilers.
When the flesh is sufficiently cooked, remove it from the boilers, remove the bones, extract the marrow and return this to the boilers. Tear the flesh apart with forks, lay it on a sieve to drain, then put it into a press to extract the last of the broth. Prepare some tin buckets with hair sieves on top and pour the broth from the boilers through these into the buckets. Press the solid residue as above. Pour the liquid into evaporators and simmer, skimming as necessary, for about eight hours, until the soup becomes ‘like a thick syrup and when cool is as stiff as tripe’. Add the seasoning, leave it until the next day to cool, then cut it out of the evaporators, take it to the drying room, melt it into flat tin frames about ¼ inch thick. Leave to cool, cut it out of the frames and cut it into pieces just a little larger than the broad arrow and dry these on canvas frames at 70 – 80 degrees ‘of the thermometer’ [one assumes this means Fahrenheit].
The seasoning. take 6 lbs celery seed, 3 lbs black pepper, beaten fine, leave these to stand for two days in three gallons of spirits of wine with a very gentle heat in a tin balneum (bain marie) then sieve and press this through a hair bag. Wash out the press, retain the liquid, add 20 lbs well bruised garlic to the pressed celery and pepper and put it all back in the bain marie for three to four hours then let the fire go out. Press out the solids and add the liquid to the first lot of celery water. To this, add up to 6 teaspoonfuls of tincture of thyme, made by adding 2 oz fresh oil of thyme to 1½ pts spirit of wine.
NB. The original recipe does not state what happened to the pressed meat – perhaps it went to a pie-maker?
Portable Soup, a modern version.
This is the author’s version of the original recipe, tested and approved by her official taster (ie husband). The quantities given will produce sufficient to reconstitute into four generous bowls of soup. Note that you should not add any salt during the preparation stage, as this will make it difficult to dry the concentrate properly and thus invite deterioration. Salt should not be added until the soup has been reconstituted for immediate eating. Do not be tempted to use a different cut of beef, as shin has generous quantities of the connective tissue which breaks down into jelly.
3 lbs (1.5 kg) of beef shin meat, cut into chunks about 1 inch (2–3 cm) square
1 lb (500 g) stewing lamb, say neck, chopped into chunks 8–10 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1 tablespoon of dried)
8 garlic cloves, crushed (or a generous squirt of garlic paste)
16–20 black peppercorns, crushed (or several good grindings from a peppermill)
1 teaspoon celery seed (or 6–8 stalks of fresh celery, chopped)
At the beginning, you will need two separate saucepans, as cooking the lamb separately will allow easier removal of the fat and also give you the two meats separately to do something else with after straining. The beef will produce virtually no fat.
Put the meat into the saucepans, add cold water until the meat is well covered and bring it to the boil, skimming off the scum as it rises. Then turn the heat down, cover the pans and simmer the meat for twelve hours. Check it at intervals to make sure the meat is still covered with liquid, adding more if necessary. When the meat is done, strain it, keeping the two types of broth separate. You can use this meat to make pies or whatever. Leave the liquid to cool completely, when you can remove the fat, which will now have set.
Put the two liquids together in a large saucepan and bring back to the boil. Add the seasonings and simmer for an hour, take the soup off the heat and let it cool a little before putting it through a fine sieve or jelly bag. Press well to get all the juice out and discard the solids. Now put the soup back into the cooking pot, having first wiped out any solid residue, and bring it back to simmering temperature, stirring to prevent it sticking, then leave it to simmer, uncovered, for as long as it takes to reduce by three-quarters, checking it at intervals to make sure it has not gone too far. Take it off the heat, let it cool for about half an hour before pouring it into a square or rectangular cake tin lined with baking parchment (fold this at the corners rather than cut it, so there are no holes). Leave it to cool completely, cut it into squares, and put these in a very cool oven for several hours to finish drying out. Once dry, wrap each square in parchment and store in a tin until needed. Alternatively, freeze it.
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When you need soup, put one or more squares into half a pint of hot water, melt over gentle heat, and add more boiling water to adjust the thickness. Now you can add salt.
PUNCHES
Many punch recipes call for the juice and zest of a lemon. Always use unwaxed and preferably organically-grown (ie unsprayed) lemons. Do not be tempted to squeeze the lemon and drop the remains in the punch if intending to leave it for any length of time, as the lemon rind will impart a bitter taste. If adding lemon slices, do so at the last minute for the same reason. An easy way to get the zest from a lemon when making punch is to use lump sugar and rub the lumps over the fruit hard enough to break the zest capsules on the skin. Calculate 5–6 lumps to a tablespoonful of sugar.
Negus (punch)
Negus was one of the most popular punches of the Georgian era. It was usually served hot, but can be chilled and served with ice cubes.
juice and grated zest of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pint (600 ml) (2 cups) boiling water
1 pint (600 ml) (2 cups) medium-dry sherry nutmeg
Put the sugar, lemon juice and zest into a large jug and pour in the boiling water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then add the sherry and stir again. Grate some nutmeg on top of the mixture just before serving.
Rum punch
You will need a large saucepan with a tightly-fitting lid and a calm sea for this recipe.
2 tablespoons sugar
1 lemon
½ pint (300 ml) (1 cup) rum
⅛ pint (75ml) (¼ cup) brandy
1 pint (600 ml) (2 cups) boiling water
Put the sugar and lemon zest into the saucepan with the rum and brandy. Warm the mixture over medium heat until the sugar has melted, turn off the heat and set light to the mixture. Let it burn for 2 minutes, then cover the saucepan to extinguish the flame. Squeeze the juice from the lemon and add it to the mixture with the boiling water. Stir well, cover and leave to stand for 5–10 minutes. Taste and add more sugar if deemed necessary before serving.
Lemon or Orange shrub
juice and grated zest of 1 lemon or 1 orange
2 tablespoons sugar
1 pint (600 ml) (2 cups) rum
Mix all together and bottle. Leave it for at least a week before serving with boiling water in the proportion three parts water to one part shrub.
Claret cup
1 unwaxed lemon
6 lumps of sugar
1 × 75 cl bottle of claret
2 fl oz (50 ml) (⅓ cup) brandy
10 fl oz (280 ml) (1¼ cups) soda water
1 orange, sliced
a handful of borage (Borago officinalis) leaves, crushed ice, if available
Rub the sugar lumps over the lemon to extract the oil and drop them into your punch bowl. Halve and squeeze the lemon juice over the sugar. Add the claret, brandy and soda water, stir to dissolve the sugar. Lightly crush the borage leaves and drop them in, float the orange slices on top and add ice if available.
LEMON ‘PEPPER’
Lemon pepper is not pepper at all, but the zest of lemons dried in the oven and ground to powder. Use a sharp knife or sharp vegetable peeler to remove the zest, avoiding the bitter pith underneath. Spread the pieces out on kitchen paper on a baking tray and bake in a very cool oven (ie 100°C/200°F/Mark ¼) until brittle but not discoloured. This could take a couple of hours, but check it at regular intervals so it does not scorch. Let it cool completely, break it into small pieces with your fingers and grind it to coarse powder in a coffee grinder. Transfer it to an airtight container for storage.
Use the ‘pepper’ to sprinkle over cooked chicken or fish, or on top of a syllabub.
SYLLABUB
If, like Admiral de Saumarez, you have a Guernsey cow on board, you can give your guests syllabub for dessert. This is one of the quickest and easiest of all desserts to make. All the classic version requires is good cream – either double (heavy) or the sort labelled ‘whipping’ cream – white wine or cider, sugar and nutmeg, and perhaps crystallised violets or rose petals for decoration. Modern variations include substituting yoghurt for up to half the cream, using orange or lemon juice with orange or lemon liqueur such as Grand Marnier for the wine, or substituting elderflower syrup for the sugar.
The trick, whether making the classic or new versions, is to start by whipping the cream until it starts to thicken, then adding the other ingredients in small increments, whipping in between additions, tasting until it seems right, then continuing to whip it to the ‘soft peaks’ stage. Then pour it into the serving dish, decorate it and serve it with sponge finger biscuits.
For three to four people, you will need:
½ pint (300 ml) (1¼ cups) double or whipping cream
1 wine glass white wine or cider
2–4 tablespoons caster sugar (depending on the sweetness of the wine) a generous grating of nutmeg
some crystallised violets or rose petals for decoration (optional). Place these at the last minute, or they will bleed colour into the syllabub
If using the variation ingredients, halve the quantity of wine for liqueur and use the juice of 1 large lemon or 1 small orange.
The diet-conscious can substitute yoghurt for up to half the cream, but whip the cream first, then add the yoghurt in small increments.
MACAROONS
These little almond biscuits (cookies) are ideal to nibble with a glass of Madeira or sherry when fellow officers pay a call.
This recipe will make 20–24 macaroons.
the whites of 4 eggs
1lb (450g) (4½ cups) caster sugar
1lb (450g) (4½ cups) of ground almonds
1–2 tablespoons orange flower water
4–5 sheets of ‘rice’ paper (edible paper)
20–24 blanched almonds
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/Mark 4. Beat the egg whites to the ‘stiff peak’ stage, adding the sugar in small increments as you go. Fold this gently into the ground almond, using the orange flower water to moisten the mixture if it becomes too stiff to work. Lay the rice paper in single sheets on baking trays and drop dessertspoons of the mixture onto it, leaving room for the macaroons to expand. Lightly push a whole almond into the centre of each macaroon. Bake for 20–30 minutes, until the macaroons are crisp and light brown. Allow them to cool completely on the baking tray, tear or cut the paper from round their edges, leaving a layer under the macaroon, and store them in an airtight tin until needed.
NOTES
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INTRODUCTION
1
J R Tanner (ed), Catalogue of the Pepysian Manuscripts, Vol I (London 1903), pp167–9.
2
Regulations and Instructions Relating to His Majesty’s Service at Sea (hereafter R&I).
3
R&I, 13th edition, p61.
4
In 1806 the oatmeal ration was halved and six ounces of sugar was substituted.
5
R Arthur Bowler, Logistics and the Failure of the British Army in America, 1775–1783 (New Jersey 1975), p8.
6
D Marshall, English People in the Eighteenth Century (London 1956), p169, quoted in Stephen F Gradish, The Manning of the British Navy during the Seven Years’ War (London 1980), p140.
7
Simon P Ville, English Shipowning in the Industrial Revolution: Michael Henley & Son (London 1987), p97.
8
Conrad Gill, The Naval Mutinies of 1797 (Manchester 1913), p98; C Northcote Parkinson, Edward Pellew – Viscount Exmouth 1757–1833 (London 1934), p189.
9
Norman Baker, Government and Contractors: the British Treasury and War Supplies 1775–1783 (London 1971), p99.
10
Greg Dening, Mr Bligh’s Bad Language: Passion, Power and Theatre on the Bounty (Cambridge 1992), pp74–6, 84.
11
I am indebted to Jennie Wraight and Peter Berry of the Admiralty Library for this story.
Chapter 1: BASIC RATIONS
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1
Public Record Office [hereafter PRO] ADM 52/3616: Master’s log, Gibraltar.
2
National Maritime Museum [hereafter NMM] ADM DP/29a, 27 February 1809; DP29b, 4 September 1809.
3
Despite the meaning of the word ‘biscuit’ (‘bis’ = twice,‘cuit’ = cooked), this biscuit was only cooked once.
4
Louis Pasteur worked on yeasts between 1857 and 1863. Compressed yeast was first manufactured around 1868.
5
Deptford is on the south bank of the Thames, about four miles east of the Tower of London.
6
Basil Hall, Fragments of Voyages and Travels (London 1832–1846).
7
R&I, 13th edition, p61.
8
Rodney M S Pasley (ed), Private Sea Journals 1778–1782 kept by Admiral Sir Thomas Pasley Bt. When in command of His Majesty’s Ships Glasgow (20), Sybil (28) and Jupiter (50) (London 1931), p67.
9
R&I, 14th edition, p288.
10
Norman Baker, Government and Contractors: The British Treasury and War Supplies (London 1971), pp72–3.
11
J C Drummond & Anne Wilbraham, The Englishman’s Food: Five Centuries of English Diet (London 1939, revised 1957), p190.
12
Daniel A Baugh (ed), Naval Administration 1715–1750 (London 1977).
13
R&I, 13th edition, pp62–3. Readers wondering about the arithmetic of this can be assured that the author also wondered and has double-checked. Those totals are as stated, not a typographical error!
Feeding Nelson's Navy Page 24
