“"Oh, there's corned beef and plenty of potatoes; and I shall get some asparagus, and a lobster, 'for a relish,' as Hannah says. We'll have lettuce, and make a salad. I don't know how, but the book tells. I'll have blanc-mange and strawberries for dessert; and coffee, too, if you want to be elegant."”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
Pick the lobster, put the berries into a dish that has a lamp, and rub them down with a bit of butter, two spoonfuls of any sort of gravy, one of soy or walnut catsup, a little salt and Cayenne, and a spoonful of port. Stew the lobster cut in bits with the gravy as above. It must be dressed at table, and eaten immediately.
Sources: The passage is from Louisa May Alcott, Little Women, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Rundell, New system of domestic cookery, formed upon principles of of 1806, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — ochre cloth, teapot stamp.