Who’s Alexander Selkirk, you ask? Well, he’s Robinson Crusoe in real life. Sort of. Born in Scotland in 1676, Selkirk had joined a buccaneering expedition to the South Pacific during the War of the Spanish Succession, in 1703, and he found himself embarked on a ship called Cinque Ports, captained by Thomas Stradling. When the […]
On this day in 1547, and not a moment too soon, Henry VIII dies in the Palace of Whitehall. Having killed two of his wives isn’t his only feat: during his reign, as many as 72,000 people were executed by boiling, burning at the stake, hanging, drawing and quartering, and ultimately beheading. His dissolution of […]
On this day in 1596, after failing to capture the Spanish colony of Panama, Francis Drake died of dysentery. A favourite of Queen Elizabeth and perhaps the most famous British corsair, he was vice-admiral to Lord Howard of Effingham when the Spanish Armada (unwisely called “Invincible”) was crushed in the British Channel. He was also […]
On this day around 1654, William Kidd was said to be born either in Dundee, Scotland, Greenock or Belfast. He said he came from Dundee in a testimony given to the High Court of Admiralty in 1695 but we know better than to trust him. Kidd started his maritime career as a respectable privateer, capturing […]
Another recipe from Thomas Dawson’s The Good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin (1594), gives us a nice easy pie that I’ll never be able to make. Maybe you’ll have better luck. Beware: this recipe takes three days (which is why I cannot do it: I’ll do the first step and then forget all about it). […]
Today I bring you an old recipe reinterpreted through a Victorian’s eyes. If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ve seen this already in one of my long articles on the Ingoldsby Legends, specifically the one on The Lay of St Cuthbert. Ingredients (for around 3 liters of soup): 3 young rabbits (approximately 200 […]
This is a classical recipe for marinated boar baked with scallions. If you want something older, here you can find a Roman recipe (and the picture in the header). Ingredients (serves 6 people): 1 kg of boar meat, chopped and suitable for a stew; 400 grams of scallion; a pinch of fresh marjoram; some sage […]
Allegedly a favourite drink of Henry VIII (a man for which I have zero sympathies, as you might imagine), a recipe of this jelly can be found in A Book of Cookrye Very Necessary for All Such as Delight Therin, compiled around 1591 by one A.W. You can also find a modern version in Peter […]
Ingredients: 2 medium eggs; 220 grams of white flour; two cups of honey (the clearest the better, simple acacia honey will do) 100 grams of caster sugar; clear water; a curl of butter; half a teaspoon of powdered cinnamon; a small cup of seeds (you can choose between sesame, caraway or poppy seeds). Recipe: Beat […]
This is one of my favourite recipes, though I very rarely get to cook it because boiled chestnuts aren’t that easy to find, and I have no patience for boiling chestnuts myself. Ingredients (serves 6 people): For the filling: 500 grams of large chestnuts; 100 grams of ricotta (a soft cottage cheese will do); 100 […]