Scones and Chocolate – A Taste for the Past

As writers, we often weave tales to bring our readers into the world we depict in words. As historian, it is a great delight to open the past, to walk through it, down the streets of old. To feel the turn of the carriage wheels, the touch of saddle leather, the scent of the air – both perfumed and tainted, and what past through their lips.

Food. An enticing subject. More years ago than I’d care to admit, back when romance novels were referred to as “bodice-rippers” & Fabian donned many covers, the favored Regency breakfast for the heroine was a drink called chocolate and scones – always served in bed by her maid. Far removed from true meals. Upon research, the chocolate wasn’t hot chocolate like we know it today but a mixture of true chocolate and hot water, similar to tea. Scones are more of a teatime offering, not breakfast fare.

I write of various periods so finding out groceries, mentioning correctly what was devoured, adds more depth to the story when appropriate. Many times, what you find is fascinating and educational. Remember, the past, the periods I write about, have no refrigerators, no microwaves, no pasteurized milk, and no frozen pizza – no pizza period! And that’s just the beginning of elimination of our eating today…

From Isabella Beeton’s Book of Household Management, 1861 a picnic for forty people:

A joint of cold roast beef, a joint of cold boiled beef, two ribs of lamb, two shoulders of lamb, four roast fowls, two roast ducks, one ham, one tongue, two veal-and-ham pies, two pigeon pies, six medium-size lobsters, one piece of collared calf’s head, eighteen lettuces, six baskets of salad, six cucumbers. Stewed fruit well sweetened, three or four dozen plain pastry biscuits to eat with the stewed fruit, two dozen fruit turnovers, four dozen cheesecakes, two cold puddings in moulds, two blanc-manges in moulds, a few jam puffs, one large cold plum pudding, a few baskets of fresh fruit, three dozen plain biscuits, a piece of cheese, six pounds of butter, assorted breads, rolls and cakes, on half pound of tea. Coffee is not suitable for a picnic, being difficult to make.

As to beverages – three dozen quart bottled of ale, packed in hampers; ginger-beer, soda-water and lemonade, of each two dozen bottles; six bottles of sherry, six bottles of claret, champagne a discretion and any other light wine that may be preferred and two bottles of brandy.

Water, of course, was available wherever you set up your picnic.

I’m not sure where you’d find a collard calf’s head – nor do I think I’d want one. Also think I’d pass on the tongue but otherwise, most of the menu we have available today. Go back further in time and find limitations. I write stories in Ancient Rome. Wine is available and grape juice (before fermentation), cider, barley water but no coffee.

Some of the recipes I’ve seen have been modernized to try today, such as Boiled Ostrich with Date Sauce, Stuffed Thrushes or Pigeons, Stuffed Hare, Squid Patties, Peas or Fava Beans a la Vitellius, Beets with Mustard, Carrots with Cumin Sauce, Artichokes with Egg. Desserts included Egg Pudding, Honey Custard, Peach Patina and Melca (curdled milk) – and the majority of all their dishes, including some desserts like Melca, called for garum – inherited from the Greeks and its use spread over the Mediterranean region. Garum is a fish sauce. Gargilius Martialis, De medicina et de virtutue herbarum, 62 (3^rd Century AD) –

Use fatty fish, for example sardines, and a well-sealed (pitched) container with a 26-35 quart/liter capacity. Add dried aromatic herbs, possessing a strong flavor, such as dill, coriander, fennel, celery, mint, oregano, etc, making a layer on the bottom of the container; then put down a layer of fish (if small leave them whole, if large use pieces); and over this add a layer of salt two fingers high. Repeat these three layers until the container is filled. Let it rest for seven days in the sun. Then mix the sauce daily for twenty days. After that time it becomes a liquid (garum).

From what I’ve investigated, garum is very strong fishy sauce. It isn’t sold in the US but even if it was, not sure I’d want to try it.

So how far do you go in portraying menus of the time you write?