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

"Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea

by Morgan Robertson

"WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAMORGAN ROBERTSON
Our binding, not the publisher's

“Released from the wind-pressure on her strong side, which had somewhat steadied her, the ship now rolled more than she had done in the trough, and with every starboard roll were ominous creakings and grindings aloft. At last came a heavier lurch, and both crippled topmasts fell, taking with them the mizzentopgallantmast. Luckily, no one was hurt, and they disgustedly cut the wreck adrift, stayed the fore- and mainmasts with the hawser, and resigning themselves to a large subtraction from their salvage, went to a late breakfast--a savory meal of smoking fried ham and potatoes, hot cakes and coffee served to sixteen in the cabin, and an unsavory meal of "hardtack-hash," with an infusion of burnt bread-crust, pease, beans, and leather, handed, but not served, to three in the forecastle.”

From a cookbook of 1896

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

1896  ·  Farmer
Coffee Rolls

2 cups milk 1½ yeast cakes ──────┬────────────── Butter│½ cup each Lard │ Sugar │ ──────┴────────────── Flour 1 egg ½ teaspoon cinnamon 1 teaspoon salt Melted butter Confectioners’ sugar Vanilla Scald milk, when lukewarm add yeast cakes, and as soon as dissolved add three and one-half cups flour. Beat thoroughly, cover, and let rise; then add butter, lard, sugar, egg unbeaten, cinnamon, salt, and flour enough to knead. Knead until well mixed, cover, and let rise. Turn mixture on a floured cloth. Roll into a long, rectangular piece one-fourth inch thick. Brush over with melted butter, fold from ends toward centre to make three layers and cut off pieces three-fourths inch wide. Cover and let rise.

Sources: The passage is from Morgan Robertson, "Where Angels Fear to Tread" and Other Stories of the Sea, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Farmer, The Boston cooking-school cook book of 1896, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — teal cloth, boar stamp.

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