Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

The Car of Destiny

by C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson

THE CAR OF DESTINYC. N. (CHARLES NORRIS) WILLIAMSON
Our binding, not the publisher's

“There was a snow-cured ham from Trevelez, the most famed in AndalucĂ­a. There was delicious home-made bread, _cuernos_, _molletes_, and _panecillos_; and olives large as grapes. There was white, curded cheese; quince jam or _carne de membrillo_; angels’ hair, made of shredded melons with honey; _mazapan_, smelling of almonds, and shaped like figures of saints, serpents, and horses; oranges from Seville and Tarifa; fat figs dried on sticks; and, most wonderful of all, a wineskin of the country, so old that the taste of the skin was gone a generation ago, and plump with as much good red wine as would have filled six bottles.”

From a cookbook of 1861

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1861  ·  Beeton
ROLY-POLY JAM PUDDING

1291. INGREDIENTS.--3/4 lb of suet-crust No. 1215, 3/4 lb. of any kind of jam. _Mode_.--Make a nice light suet-crust by recipe No. 1215, and roll it out to the thickness of about 1/2 inch. Spread the jam equally over it, leaving a small margin of paste without any, where the pudding joins. Roll it up, fasten the ends securely, and tie it in a floured cloth; put the pudding into boiling water, and boil for 2 hours. Mincemeat or marmalade may be substituted for the jam, and makes excellent puddings. _Time_.--2 hours. _Average cost_, 9d. _Sufficient_ for 5 or 6 persons. _Seasonable_.--Suitable for winter puddings, when fresh fruit is not obtainable.

Sources: The passage is from C. N. (Charles Norris) Williamson, The Car of Destiny, 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 — forest cloth, beehive stamp.

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