“At last some four or five of us were summoned to our meal in an adjoining room. It was cold as Iceland— no fire at all—the landlord said he couldn't afford it. Nothing but two dismal tallow candles, each in a winding sheet. We were fain to button up our monkey jackets, and hold to our lips cups of scalding tea with our half frozen fingers. But the fare was of the most substantial kind—not only meat and potatoes, but dumplings; good heavens! dumplings for supper! One young fellow in a green box coat, addressed himself to these dumplings in a most direful manner.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
1227. INGREDIENTS.--6 apples, 3/4 lb. of suet-crust No. 1215, sugar to taste. _Mode_.--Pare and take out the cores of the apples without dividing them; sweeten, and roll each apple in a piece of crust, made by recipe No. 1211; be particular that the paste is nicely joined; put the dumplings into floured cloths, tie them securely, and put them into boiling water. Keep them boiling from 1/2 to 3/4 hour; remove the cloths, and send them hot and quickly to table. Dumplings boiled in knitted cloths have a very pretty appearance when they come to table. The cloths should be made square, just large enough to hold one dumpling, and should be knitted in plain knitting, with _very coarse_ cotton. _Time_.--3/4 to 1 hour, or longer should the dumplings be very large. _Average cost_, 11/2d. each. _Sufficient_ for 4 persons. _Seasonable_ from August to March, but flavourless after the end of January.
Sources: The passage is from Herman Melville, Moby Dick, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Beeton, The Book of Household Management of 1861, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — oxblood cloth, whale stamp.