A SUMMER BANQUET: A Regency Picnic
During the summer months, we tend to go for lighter fare, and (whenever possible) to eat outdoors. The picnic was just as popular in England during the Georgian and Regency periods, as illustrated by the picnic at Box HIll in Jane Austen’s EMMA. Using Eliza Smith’s The Compleat HOUSEWIFE cookbook, we can pull together a delightful summer banquet for outdoors. The bills of fare for May, june, July and August provide plenty of ideas.
For the first course, along with a “Grand Sallad”, some “Roasted Losbsters”, “Fruit of all Sorts,” “Gooseberry Tarts”, and “Fish in Jelly” sounds delicious. The second course should include some cold ham and chicken, a dish of “Fish in jelly” and a “Pigeon Pie”. For both courses pickled asparagus and pickled slice cucumbers make tasty garnishes. Removes could include a “Potatoe Pie”, some strawberries or raspberries, and “Morello Cherry Tarts.”
To make a “Pigeon Pie”, you start with a two-crust pastry. After that, Mrs. Smith says “Truss and season your pigeons with savory spice, lard them with bacon, stuff them with forc’d mean, and lay them in the pye with the ingredients for savory pyes, with butter, and close the pie.” (Savory spices include salt and pepper, nutmeg, and mace. Herbs such as thyme, marjoram, parsley, or savory could also be added, with a shallot or onion.) When the pie is done, pour a Lear into the pie. A Lear is a sauce or gravy. Mrs. Smith instructs “Take claret, gravy, oyster-liquor, two or three anchovies, a faggot of sweet-herbs and an onion; boil it up and thicken it with brown butter, then pour it into your savory pyes when called for.” Savory pies such as pigeon pie can be eaten hot or room temperature or cold.
SUMMER BANQUET BLOG HOP GIVEAWAY
Summer is the perfect time to sit outside with a book. I am giving away a signed paperback copy of my book HEYERWOOD: A Novel to a winner in the U.S. or Canada. Just leave a comment for a chance to win (be sure to leave a contact e-mail)! This drawing will close at midnight on Friday, June 7, 2013, and a winner will be announced as quickly as possible. Good luck!
This blog hop will appear from June 3-June 7, 2013. Please visit all of the participating authors for more summer fun!
Hop Participants:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
Great post, Lauren. Thank you for the chance to win your book. jman1985@yahoo.com
Thanks for commenting! I’m glad you liked it.
I would LOVE to have a copy of Heyerwood, and some of your pigeon pie. Please? 🙂 kescah at comcast dot net
😉 Thanks for your comment!
What a good idea, to concentrate on picnic food. Really interesting! Quite a lot of it sounds really tasty, too.
So glad you enjoyed it! The pie made me think of an episode of Two Fat Ladies, so I had to go with it!
Not sure if I’d like to eat Pigeon Pie, but it sounds interesting! Thanks so much for the great information and the giveaway!
Susan Heim
smhparent [at] hotmail [dot] com
🙂
That BBC2 documentary on Pride and Prejudice–Having a Ball was very helpful on the subject of cooking as well.
I will watch it if it ever gets across the pond… Thanks, Angelyn!
Pigeon pie. Hmmm. I do like them on my city streets. Wonder how tasty in a pie. Where have they been would be my first question. :>
Dovecotes were pretty common on farms and country estates. (I don’t know if I’d want to try one hopping around in the city streets!)
Lobster, with savoury pigeon pie, cherry and gooseberry tarts is my kind of picnic. Thank you for the giveaway! denannduvall@gmail.com
It does have possibilities, doesn’t it? Thanks for commenting!
That sounds like quite a bit of food for a picnic! I’m not sure if I’d go for pigeon pie, though the other dishes sound delightful.
I appreciate your comment, Mer. After observing modern pigeons in the city, I too would hesitate today-similar pies for chicken, and other meats were shown. I do believe that pigeon at that time would be a different proposition-either shot as game, or raised as a food product-either way, probably much tastier than we might think.
I’m a bit late getting here but enjoyed this post enormously. I recall my mother (not the Mrs Smith in your post) making gooseberry pies 60-70 years ago! (how I hated them:) they were so tart, never enough sugar in them.
And faggots. I can smell the aroma still, I first experienced faggots in 1941/2 whilst evacuated to Mere via Glastonbury Somerset. One of the most mouth watering smells ever. I’ve never come across them since 🙁
Thank you for the memories
Thanks, Brian! I’m so glad you enjoyed it.