Today my foray into early 19th century cooking continues! I’m making a recipe for roasted potatoes I found in the 1823 cookbook The Cook’s Oracle by William Kitchiner. Roasted potatoes may sound like a dull choice, but I think this is the perfect recipe to showcase one of the fascinating differences between modern and historical cookbooks: the level of detail in the recipes.
Modern recipes give a detailed description of each step (oven temp, cook time, how much oil to use, etc). Historically however, recipes were more like general guidelines. In fact, sometimes they were little more than a description of the finished dish. This is because they were typically read by either experienced home cooks or professional cooks hired by wealthy families. These readers were looking for general reference or inspiration, whereas modern readers want a touch more guidance when reading a recipe.
The recipe we’re making today fits the standard of the period, in that it gives only the most basic instructions (you can find it here). I’ll break down how I approached each aspect of the recipe here:
- OVEN TEMP & COOK TIME. Cooks didn’t use exact temperatures in the early 1800s because all ovens were wood-burning. However, I’ll admit I expected more temperature info than “take care not to put them too near the fire.” How near is “too near” is anyone’s guess, so I preheated my oven to a standard 350°. This may have been a bit high, since the recipe calls for a 2 hour cook time, and mine were done in a half hour. However, it’s important to keep in mind that people today often like vegetables to have an al dente texture, while people in earlier periods would cook their veg until it was suuuuper soft.
- POTATO VARIETY & PREP. If you check the original recipe, you’ll probably notice some key information is missing, namely the number and variety of potatoes and whether or not to peel, cut, oil, or season them. Could this mean the author intends you to literally just put potatoes in a pan and stick them in the oven? Possibly, but period cookbooks often leave out that kind of information because it was expected that the reader would have enough experience to know what the recipe called for without being told. So I made it my own! I chose red potatoes for a splash of color (they’re referenced in the front of the book, so I know they’re period-accurate). I coarsely chopped the potatoes for a rustic feel and greased them with leftover beef drippings. Beef drippings would have been more readily available than our modern go-to, olive oil.
- SEASONING. Apart from standard salt and pepper, I also used thyme. Why thyme? This cookbook, like most of its period, is full of references to “sweet herbs.” I did a bit of research and found this great description of them in the article “Spices in the 18th Century English Kitchen” by Kevin Carter from Savoring the Past:
[Sweet herbs] remains more of a suggestion than a prescription of specific herbs. In nearly every case, “sweet herbs” referred to a bundle of fresh herbs — typically aromatics. I did find two specific recommendations: one for a combination of thyme, parsley, sweet marjoram, and savory; the other for sage, sweet marjoram, thyme, and mint. Marjoram and thyme, given all the honorable mentions in other recipes, seem to be the most typical components to these “sweet herb” bundles.
- COOKWARE. I was pleasantly surprised to see that the recipe gives multiple options for what to cook the potatoes in: a dutch oven or a cheese toaster, which appears to have been a covered metal dish with a handle. I tried it both ways, macgyvering a cheese toaster out of a metal baking dish and a sheet of tin foil. I got the same results with each, though the dutch oven potatoes came out slightly softer.
- GARNISH. As a finishing touch, I grated on some Parmesan cheese! From what I can tell, they weren’t putting Parm on potatoes in the early 1800s, but it was a popular ingredient in general, even as an ICE CREAM flavor!
I thoroughly enjoyed the learning experience of taking a classic, familiar recipe and preparing it in a new-to-me, old-to-history sort of way. After this, I’ll try my hand at 19th century dessert. Can’t wait! 😀
A
Jane Eyre’s Roasted Potatoes
“That night, on going to bed, I forgot to prepare in imagination the Barmecide supper of hot roast potatoes, or white bread and new milk, with which I was wont to amuse my inward cravings: I feasted instead on the spectacle of ideal drawings, which I saw in the dark; all the work of my own hands: freely pencilled houses and trees, picturesque rocks and ruins, Cuyp-like groups of cattle, sweet paintings of butterflies…”
— Jane Eyre
INGREDIENTS:
- 4 red potatoes
- 1 Tbsp melted animal fat (such as leftover beef/bacon fat), if unavailable you can use olive oil
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp snipped fresh thyme
- Ungrated Parmesan cheese
Makes 4 servings
INSTRUCTIONS:
-
- Preheat oven to 350°. Peel potatoes and chop into 1-inch pieces. Transfer to a dutch oven, or, if you would like to replicate a 19th century cheese toaster, transfer instead to a metal baking sheet. Add animal fat, salt, pepper, and thyme. Stir to combine. If using dutch oven, cover with lid. If using baking dish, cover tightly with tin foil.
- Place in oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through. Transfer to serving plate and grate Parmesan on top.
- Serve with a side of melted butter to the students at Jane Eyre’s school in early 19th century England.
Leave a Reply