Untested - Apple Butter

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 418

Apples (as many as you have on hand)
1lb sugar x pint of pulp
1 clove x 4 pints of pulp

1. Wash apples and cut through the middle by laying it on its side to reveal the star inside.
2. Pop the cut apples in a large pot (stock pot or preserving pan) and add a little water or apple cider. Cook over low heat until the apples are a soft mush.
3. Press the mush through a coarse sieve or food mill until all that's left are the skins, the tough bits of the core and pips (it's good if some pips burst and the white insides go into the pulp - it shows that the mush has been cooked enough).
4. Measure the pulp and add the correct amount of sugar and cloves, as indicated in the ingredients list.
5. Stir in the sugar until it dissolves and boil until the mixture stiffens and coats the back of a spoon. It should reach the temperature of 240F.
6. Pack into sterilized jars and process in a water bath for 20 minutes. The flavour will improve with age.
7. Serving suggestions in the original text, below.

"In its stiffest form this was sometimes called apple cheese. Then it was almost candied, and turned out as a dessert dish, at Christmas, apple cheese was set at one end of the table, amber golden, and garnished with hazel nuts and whipped cream, and Damson cheese, ruby dark, garnished with white almonds, and with port wine poured over, at the other end of the table. It was made in all country houses at windfall apple time. The best was made of all one type of apple, but mixed apples, of all sorts, with a quince or two, made a delectable apple butter.
"Take all the windfall apples, wash them, but do not peel or core, and cut them across the core so as to cut through the pips - this is important for the flavour. Put into a deep preserving pan, start with a cup of cider or water, and cook slowly, covered closely, till all are a soft mush. Now press it through a coarse sieve; if sufficiently cooked, you will see the small white kernels of the pips going through the sieve with the apple pulp; nothing should be left in the sieve but the peels, and empty cores, and pips. Measure the pulp and add 1lb of sugar for each pint of pulp, and 1 clove to each 4 pints. Stir sugar into the pulp till dissolved, and cook slowly till clear, then boil till the stiff mixture coats the back of the spoon with golden gum.
"Pot into wide-mouthed jars and tie down. It improves with keeping up to a year. It should turn out firmly, with a very slight crystallising on the crust, but mellow, soft amber juice within."

Untested - Apple Pie (1767)

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 418

1. I'm fascinated by the instruction to boil the peel and cores.

"Make a good Puff paste crust and lay some round the sides of the dish, quarter the apples thick, throw in some sugar with a little lemon peel minced fine, and a clove here and there, and then the rest of the apples. Boil the cores and peel, with a blade of mace, and some more sugar till it be very good [i.e., a thick syrup], pour over so that the dish is full, put on your upper crust and bake. Serve it smoking hot, with sugar dredged upon it and cream with it."

2 recipes of pie crust
2 1⁄2 lbs apples
1⁄3 + 1⁄4 cup sugar
2 tsp lemon peel, finely minced (or try 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar)
6 whole cloves
A fragment of mace

1. Roll out half the pie dough and line the pie plate with it. Evenly sprinkle in 1⁄3 cup of sugar and the lemon peel, and distribute the cloves.
2. In a saucepan mix in 1⁄4 cup of the sugar and all of the mace.
3. Peel and core the apples. As you're going along, mix the peelings and cores in the saucepan blend, and slice the apple flesh into 1⁄4" thick wedges. 
4. Arrange the apple flesh in the lined pie plate.
5. Bring the apple peel and core and sugar to a boil and cook until it turns into a thick syrup (like, soft candy stage or just thick?).
6. Pour over the apples.
7. Roll out the top crust and lay it over the pie, dampening the edges and pinching either with your fingers or with a fork.
8. Bake at 375F for 40-60 minutes, rotating front-to-back halfway through. (May need to protect the edges of the crust for 20 minutes if it tends to burn?)

Untested - 18th Century Apple Soup

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

(Titled MS. of 1800)

"Five pints of mutton broth, three or four pounds of windfall apples, cut up but not peeled or cored. Simmer the apples in the broth till soft, and press all through a strainer; season with a very small pinch of ginger [better in this than pepper], salt and reheat with a handful of pearl barley and cook gently till the barley is soft.
"This is an excellent winter night soup."

11 cups mutton broth
3-4 lbs apples
Scant pinch of powdered ginger
Salt
1⁄2 cup pearl barley

1. While broth is coming up to a boil, roughly chop the whole apples.
2. Add the apples to the broth and simmer until the largest pieces of apple are soft.
3. Press through a strainer or food mill to remove the apple pits, cores and skins.
4. Add the ginger, salt and pearl barley.
5. Return to a simmer and cook for 25-35 minutes or until the barley is cooked.

Test 1 - Boiling Fowl - Braised Chicken

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 186

I suppose by 'fowl' it can be any bird: chicken, goose, duck?

"A fowl of uncertain age is better boiled.

"Truss as if roasting, but instead of stuffing, put the liver and gizzard inside with two large onions stuck with a clove. Flour the bird thoroughly and put into a pan full of boiling water, immediately draw from the fire, and never again allow to come above simmering point.

"After the bird has been in a few minutes, skim the pan very carefully, and after it has cooked a little, shred in a really good mixture of nicely prepared vegetables, carrot, turnip, one stick of celery (don't overdo this, as it is very strong flavouring), and a good bunch of herbs.

"Simmer till, when you lift the drumstick, the joint gives way easily.

"If the bird is to be eaten hot, lift out, drain and serve on a hot dish with the vegetables around it. Remove the trussing string and skewers, and sprinkle just enough finely chopped parsley over it to look appetising, or coat with thick sauce (for boiled fowl has a pallid look). Serve with hot onion or parsley sauce made with the broth, plain boiled potatoes, and the mixed vegetables which have been cooked in the broth.

"It will be very tender and juicy. The best gravy is its own clear broth.

"If it is to be eaten cold (and a cold boiled fowl is less dry than a cold roast one), leave it to grow cold in the broth. Then drain and pour a very thick lemon sauce over it. A little green parsley also sprinkled on the bosom makes it decidedly better looking; so do cut vegetable shapes laid on it.

"Garnish around with watercress and the red carrots in alternate piles.

"Cold boiled fowl can be a very decorative dish, as well as a very succulent one.

"Note. The reason people do not like boiled fowl is that it is usually watery when served. This is a pity, for a well-boiled fowl should be juicy and succulent. The secret is to drain it very carefully. When lifted from the pot, let it hang upright in a warm place for several minutes. It is quite a good trick to hang it from the hook in the resting jack or warm oven. When it has ceased to drip and is steaming, put it on to a slice of hot toast. Then you may mask it with sauce, decorate it with vegetables, and serve it upon a triumphantly dry, hot dish."

0 - Originally I decided to try this recipe with a young rooster we dispatched this fall. He was very aggressive with us and with his chickens, so we didn't want his genes to propagate and create an ill-tempered flock of birds. I was looking for a recipe for an old, strong-tasting bird, but now I have my doubts - even though he's a young bird, the testosterone would be very strong-and-foul-tasting in the meat, making an unpleasant dish. But is braising the correct method to make the meat palatable? Well, here's someone who agrees that it's a good way of dealing with a rooster: http://www.theprairiehomestead.com/2014/07/cook-old-chicken.html

And then there's this: https://sunstonefarmandlearn.com/2009/05/26/favorite-rooster-recipes/

It is a stronger-tasting recipe, but also requires a long braising period. Hmmm. This last one isn't historical, but I may put it on the Experimental Mouffette!

Ok, here goes - I will braise Chicklett as a poule-au-pot as described by Dorothy.
1 - It worked! I put in way too much salt, but it worked! I cooked it way too long, but it worked! I'm not sure what the flour is supposed to do, so I'm gonna cross it out.

1 rooster, whole or in pieces

2 onions

21 cloves

1/4 cup flour

Optional - liver and gizzard

A mix of herbs, such as:

1 bay leaf

1 sprig thyme

1 sprig tarragon

Salt (lots)  2-3 Tbsps

11 peppercorns

6 cloves garlic peeled

A mix of vegetables such as: 

2 large leeks or 4 small, cleaned, trimmed and thickly sliced

4 carrots, scraped and cut into chunks

3 celery stalks, cut into finger lengths

1 small turnip, sliced

3 parsnips, scraped and sliced

A few sprigs of parsley

1. Allow the rooster carcass to season in your refrigerator for up to four days, depending on age - this will allow the muscle tissue to start softening.
2. Preheat oven to 425F.
3. Stick the onions with the cloves.
4. If using a whole rooster, stuff the onions inside along with the liver and gizzard, if using.
5. Dredge the bird or pieces in flour.
6. Put bird in large oven-ready pot - cover with water or chicken broth.
7. Bake in the oven for about an hour. 
8. Reduce temperature to 250F(is this right? it should continue to barely simmer) (it could also be brought to a boil and then simmered gently on the stove-top).
9. If there is scum on top, remove this before adding the herbs and veg.
10. Return to the oven and continue cooking until the internal temperature of the thigh near the bone reads 180F, or "till, when you lift the drumstick, the joint gives way easily."
11. IF the chicken is meant to be eaten cold, leave it in the hot broth and take it out of the oven. Allow it to cool in the liquid and it will be succulent and not dry. Dorothy recommends a lemon sauce for cold chicken.
12. For a HOT chicken, Dorothy recommends to "let it hang upright in a warm place for several minutes. It is quite a good trick to hang it from the hook in the resting jack or warm oven. When it has ceased to drip and is steaming, put it on to a slice of hot toast." I'm not sure what the function of the 'hot' toast might be other than as a sponge to soak up any liquid that might continue to escape and keep the serving plate dry!
13. Anyway, arrange vegetables around the bird or pieces, along with some cress to add some vibrant colour.

Untested - Apple Soup

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

"Nym appeles sethe hem frete throue an her [hair] sieve - cast it on a pot and caste thereto good fat broth, and sugar and safron (and on Fisshe days almond mylke and oile of olive), and boile hit mease and caste onto good pouder [seasoning] and gif forth."

0 - I don't know about this one!

3 apples, peeled, cored and chopped fine
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 cups beef? lamb? chicken? (fat broth)
__ sugar
__ saffron
salt and pepper

1. Heat olive oil in a soup pot. Cast in the apples and fry until it turns to sauce and starts to brown(?)
2. Add broth, sugar and saffron. Simmer for 20 minutes.
3. Blend the soup, adjust the seasoning and serve.

Untested - Apple Charlotte

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

"Butter a piedish and cover thickly with crumbs of stale bread, dust with nutmeg or spice. Peel, core, and chop up enough windfall apples to fill the dish to overflowing, and pack them in with a few crumbs, sugar, dots of butter, and, if possible, scraps of candied lemon peel. Cover the top thickly with more crumbs and dot with butter, and bake, covered the first part of the time; when the apples soften, remove the cover and let the crumbs crisp and brown. This dish should turn out a neat spicy brown loaf full of apple pulp. It is impossible to time exactly, as so much depends on the apples' cooking qualities; dried apple pulp takes about 30 minutes. Served with hot chocolate sauce."

NOTE: most recipe sources recommend pre-cooking the apple, melting the butter and dipping the lining bread with it, etc. I will try to follow Dorothy's instructions to see how the apple cooks and the bread browns without pre-cooking, melting and dipping. I suspect it will take much longer than 30 minutes to cook with raw ingredients! Many sources also recommend a higher temperature. I will keep it low so that the apple inside has a chance to cook.
- http://www.chezm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=222:apple-charlotte-a-la-julia-child&catid=47:desserts&Itemid=57
- http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/applecharlotte_81084
- http://chefgeorgehirsch.com/dailyfood/classic-apple-charlotte.html

6 medium apples, peeled and cored and chopped quite small
10-15 slices stale bread, cut quite thin
1⁄8 tsp nutmeg
1⁄2 cup sugar
1⁄2 cup butter
A little candied lemon peel, minced (optional)
Optional - Rum or Calvados

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350F.
2. Butter a baking dish (I use oven-ready soup pots, and decide how much of each ingredient I need to fill it. There are Charlotte molds if you don't already have one).
3. Line the dish with thin slices of stale bread OR, crumble the bread and pack it onto the sides, whichever works best for you. 
4. In a small bowl mix together the sugar, nutmeg and candied lemon peel.
5. In layers, add the apples, remaining bread (crumbled), butter and sugar mixture, until all used up, ending with a bread, butter and sugar layer on top.
6. Cover and bake for about 20 minutes. Uncover and bake an additional 10 minutes, or until the bread crumbs on top start to brown.
7. Serve with chocolate sauce or custard.

Testing - Apple Pudding

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

1 - I am perplexed. This is an odd dessert, and Dorothy's parenthetical comment that this is now called apple amber does not help. All examples of apple amber, English and Irish both, instruct to line the pie dish with the crust, separate the egg to mix the yolk with the apple and make a fluffy meringue to top it. This is not at all how I read Dorothy's recipe, yet it makes more sense. I mashed the cooked apples until they were not quite smooth and no longer chunky, and whisked in the whole eggs, but only used 1 lemon, not 2. It was very odd. While still warm it tasted like scrambled eggs with apple, and the next day, while a bit more custardy, it wasn't great. I'll research a bit more. I like covering it with crust instead of lining it, but from what I understand about making custards, it would mean I'd separate the eggs and only use the yolks for the custard.

"Apple Pudding, 1700 (now called apple amber)
"Peel and quarter eight gold-runnets, or twelve golden-pippins; cast them into water, in which boil them as you do for Apple sauce; sweeten them with loaf sugar, squeeze in them two lemons, and grate in their peels; beat eight eggs, and beat them all together; pour it into a dish, cover with puff-paste, and bake it an hour in a slow oven."

1 recipe of sweet pie crust
2 lbs (6 med.) cooking apples, peeled, cored and grated chopped
1⁄4 cup butter
2 Tbsps - 1⁄4 cup of sugar
2 1 lemons, for the juice AND the grated rind
8 eggs yolks

1. Preheat oven to 325F.
2. In a pot, add a few Tbsps of water and then the apple and butter. Bring to a boil and cook the apple as if you were making apple sauce. Depending on the texture you want, either mash with a potato masher to retain some texture or press through a food mill for a smoother texture. 
3. Add the sugar, lemon juice and rind.
4. Thoroughly whisk the eggs then beat them into the apple mash.
5. WHAT KIND OF BAKING DISH?
6. Cover with the pie crust, and poke a few hole with a knife of fork to allow steam to escape through the crust instead of just around the rim.
7. Bake for about an hour.

Untested - Buttered Apple Dice

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 417

"Buttered Apple Dice
"We know that buttered apples is a dish which dates from 1700, maybe earlier.
"Peel, core, and chop the apples and drop into the sugar bowl as done. Meanwhile cut a slice of stale bread into cubes, the same size as the pieces of apple. Melt just enough butter in the thickest frying pan to fry the sugared apples; keep them well stirred around till they go a golden sticky brown, then toss out, add a little more butter and fry the bread cubes quite crisp, toss both together and serve instandly, with crushed sugar strewn over. This dish should be very crisp and crunchy, with soft pieces of buttered apple in it. It was probably laced with sack or hot cider; but is good with cream."

__ apples, peeled, cored, coarse chop

__ sugar

__ stale bread, diced (same size as apple pieces)

__ butter

Cream and/or cider and/or sack/mead

1. Put the sugar in a large bowl. As you chop the apples, drop them in the sugar and toss as-you-go.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan (preferably cast-iron) on a medium high heat. When the butter has stopped frothing, dump in the apple and sugar mixture and saute for approximately 5 minutes or until tender crisp and beginning to brown. Turn several times to brown evenly. Remove from heat and dump into a bowl.
3. Add more butter to the pan to loosen what sugars are sticking to the bottom, and toss in the bread cubes, stirring and scraping to mop up anything left behind by the sugared apples.
4. When the bread is quite crisp, toss them with the apples until well mixed and serve immediately.
5. (To try - a glug of cream or cider or sack when serving).

Untested - Chaucer's Roast Apples

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 416

1 cup galangal/galingale root, fresh, diced

1 cup honey

2 cups water

__ apples, peeled

Coarse sugar

1. Start by making a simple syrup with the galangal - put the root in the water and honey, bring the mixture to a boil, remove from heat and let steep for an hour.
2. Heat oven to 325F (bake gently). Arrange apples tightly in a __ x __ glass baking dish - the apples should come level with the top of the dish. Pour the simple syrup over the apples (strain out the galangal or leave it in?).
3. Bake for about an hour (?) or until the apples have become soft. Remove from the oven and let cool completely.
4. Sprinkle with crystallized sugar and serve.
5. "They should look like frosted pink roses, in a syrup the colour of rose quartz."

Untested - Nursery Apples

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 416

"Core the apples and fill with brown sugar. Pack into a platter, just fill with water, and bake till the apples are fluffy and soft and the sugar has boiled to toffee."

__ apples, cored but not peeled
__ cups brown sugar
__ cups butter
Boiling water

1. Bake at 375F.
2. Core the apples and arrange them tightly in a __ x __ baking dish.
3. Set water to boil.
4. Stuff the apples with the sugar and add a piece of butter on top.
5. Before putting in the hot oven, pour enough boiling water to cover the bottom.
6. Bake for 30-45 minutes, or until the water has evaporated, the sugar has turned to toffee at the bottom of the dish, and the apples are baked and soft all the way through.

Untested - Bottled Apples

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 414

"Peel, quarter, core, and drop at once into clear water with a squeeze of lemon juice in it. Pack into jars, fill up with syrup and proceed as usual. A pleasant change is made by cooking blackberries in a jar until the juice runs, and using this to fill up the apple jars. Another is made by adding a quince, or some quince seeds may be put into the jars."

Apples – cleaned and quartered, core removed.  If you’re worried about them browning, toss the cut pieces in a bit of lemon juice (I tend to work fast and skip the lemon).  6 pounds will make about 5 pints.
Light Syrup (dissolve 3/4 cups of sugar in 6 cups of water – or 10% by weight).  This will make enough for approximately 9 pints of pears; I tend to make a bit extra in case I’ve measured my pears wrong.
1 tablespoon of brandy or Calvados per jar (this will be added at the end so none will be wasted)
OPTIONAL - blackberry juice, quince or quince seeds

1. Bring simple syrup to a boil.
2. Carefully place pear slices in the boiling solution.  Wait 5 minutes.
3. While still hot, add pears to clean, sterile pint jars.  Top with syrup and gently move jar to release any air bubbles (I use oven mitts).
4. Add 1 tablespoon of Whisky per jar.
5. Add liquid to leave a 1/2 inch headspace.
6. Process pints for 20 minutes in a hot-water bath.

Testing - Pork and Apple Pie

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 119
Also consulted Food of England Web project

0 - The quantity of pork and apple really does not seem like enough to fill a whole pie shell! How thick, exactly should the potato crust be? It reads as if there is a very thin layer of apple and pork, and a honking huge layer of potato!
1 - Here goes! It's in the oven as I type. I forgot to press it down, in part because there was barely enough to fill a shallow pie plate. Hmmm. It may be that there should be more of a substantial potato crust and a thin layer of meat as I observed in my pre-making comment, above. As a cottage pie, I could imagine that it would be designed to stretch the protein so that it isn't really the main ingredient. The finished product was good and needs work: the potato layer was too thin and while baking, they started to curl up and burn at the apex; the contrast of sweet apple chunks (I used Granny Smith apples) to savory pork and onion was too pronounced. Next time, I will grate to apple, 'press it down firmly', and while creating a thicker layer of potato, also look into how to have them cook to be tender and golden instead of white and burnt.
2 - Parboiling and buttering the potatoes definitely works. I used 1.5 lbs of potatoes and the ones in the thicker portion didn't finish cooking, so I'll reduce it to 1 lb. It's an unexpectedly spicy and sweet dish. This time I made it without the bottom crust and it was good, but I'm curious to see how it'll be with it in. The observation that Ben and I made was the the layering didn't really work - there isn't enough matter for the layers to really show and in terms of flavour, it merely meant there were pockets of more apple, for example, which created an unevenness in the bites.

1 pie crust dough recipe
8 oz of cooked leftover pork of any description or fat bacon, or hock, or any spare meat, finely chopped
1 large cooking apples, rough chop grated
1 small onion, grated
2 sage leaves, minced (very little)
1 tsp salt
A couple of pinches of 1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp pepper
1⁄4 1⁄2 to 2⁄3 cup meat stock
3-4 5-6 1 lb potatoes, sliced thin (pref. with a mandolin)
1-2 Tbsps melted butter

1. Line a deep pie dish with pie dough.
2. In a skillet, parboil the sliced potato until just under-done, about 4 minutes. Immediately throw in the butter along with a pinch of salt and pepper, and toss to cover the potatoes.
3. In a bowl, mix together the chopped meat, grated apple and grated onion along with the sage, salt, pepper and sugar. Lay in layers the ingredients in the following order: 1- the finely chopped pork, seasoned with salt; 2- the layer of apples, dusted with sugar; 3- a layer of shredded onion, dusted with pepper. (NOTE: I divided the pork into thirds and the apple and onion into halves which seemed to work fine).
4. Continue to layer, finishing with a layer of pork.
5. Press the filling down firmly, and then fill up with a very little the stock, barely enough to moisten it.
6. Cover with a thick potato crust.: after each layer of potato slices, brush with butter and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Generously brush the top layer so that it browns nicely while baking.
7. Bake slowly at (325 or 350)F, browning nicely for one hour. (I have it in at 350F with an initial 45 minutes, which I'm pretty sure will have to be extended.)

Testing - Potato-Apple Cake

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 370

1 - It turned out well. Ben and I agree that it is likely more of a side dish than a main dish. I did not pinch in the butter at the correct moment for the crust, and I felt it was a bit tough. I will make it again in the correct sequence, and may attempt a future iteration with baking powder in the crust to make it more bread-like.
In fact, I also made it in a pie plate just as a pie, with the bottom a little thinner than the lid. I'd like to make it more like a pithivier and smaller so that it is a bit like a dome - I think it would look better and the sugar and butter would disperse more readily at the final stage.
OH! and the time is incorrect. I will change it as it took much longer to bake than I'd anticipated.

1 lb potatoes
1 oz butter
2 tsps sugar
1⁄2 tsp salt
1⁄4 tsp ginger powder (or 1⁄8 tsp ground cloves or 1 tsp cinnamon or a blend)
4 oz flour (3⁄4 cup?)
2 large apples, sliced
3 Tbsps very soft butter
2 Tbsps sugar

1. (Ms. Hartley's instructions, but see mine, in point 2. : Peel and boil the potatoes until quite soft. Mash with the oz of butter, the sugar and the spice. Add enough of the 4 oz of flour to make a dough that will roll out smoothly onto a floured surface.)
2. "1-Peel and boil the potatoes until quite soft. Drain and allow to cool completely, preferably for several hours in the refrigerator. Mash thoroughly, until almost completely broken down but not so much that it becomes a paste. 2-Combine the sugar, salt, spice and flour. Pinch in the cold butter until it forms pea-sized granules. Mix in the mashed potato and work until it forms a ball."
3. Divide into two balls. Roll out into thickish (?) rounds (she says As if making rather thick pastry), the second larger than the first to fold over the apple filling (rather like the Pithivier).
4. Cover the bottom round with an inch layer of sliced apple.
5. Damp the edges of the bottom round, lay the top round of dough on top and press and pinch the edges together. Mark the top with a broad X.
6. Bake in a hot oven (400-450F?) 425F until brown outside and the apple soft inside, for (30?) 50 minutes.
7. When baked, cut a hole on top to make a lid and lift off carefully, about 2 inches in diameter to avoid spilling any juices. Quickly add the extra butter and sugar, replace the lid and put back in the oven for 5 minutes to give the butter and sugar time to melt.
8. 'It is best to 'carve' the pudding with two forks, pulling the pudding into four farls (where you marked the X on top).' 

Untested - Onion and Apple Pie

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 364

2 receipts of pie crust
__ apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
__ onions, thinly sliced in rings
__ fresh sage, minced
__ thyme, minced
__ parsley, minced
__ rosemary, minced
__ pepper
__ salt
__ butter (or Clotted/Cornish Cream)

1. Line a shallow pie plate with pie crust.
2. Mix together the herbs
3. Layer 1/3(? or 1/4?) each at-a-time, sprinkling with salt and pepper after each addition, of the apple, onion, and herb mixture until it is well and attractively mounded higher than the lip of the pie plate.
4. Place pinches of butter (or dollops of the cream) over the top, and cover with a thin layer of crust, making sure to moisten the edges for a good seal.
5. Let the pie sit in the refrigerator for a minimum of 15 minutes. This is to ensure that the glutens in the crust seal the seam properly.
6. Bake in a (375F?) oven for 1 to 1.5 hours?

Untested - Jugged Celery or Celery and Windfall Apples

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 385

__lbs apples
__lbs celery (enough to pack a narrow pot)
1 clove
1 Tbsp sugar
3-4 slices bacon

- Select a tall, narrow cooking pot - the quantity of celery is determined by how much can be packed very tightly in an upright position.
- The quantity of apple sauce should be just enough that, when the celery is added to the pot, it is forced up and between the stalks to the very top.
- The vertical position of the celery is essential for the flavour to seep down its fibres.

1. Wash the apples and place them, whole, in a pot with the clove bud, the sugar, and as little water as possible (1/4 cup? A few Tbsps?). The cooked apple should produce a stiff pulp. Run this through a sieve or a food mill and discard the remains.
2. In a narrow cooking pot (or jug) put one slice of bacon at the bottom, topped with the apple sauce. Pack the celery, standing up, until no more will fit. Trim the stalks so that there is about 1.5 inches left at the top of the pot. There should be enough apple sauce that it starts to squidge up between the celery stalks to the very top. 
3. The celery stalk tops that have been cut off should be chopped up into a fine dice, and spread on top of the celery and apple sauce.
4. Chop up the remaining bacon and spread evenly over the celery.
5. Cover, and bake at 350F(?) for (?) or until the celery is fork-tender.

Test 1 - Pork and Apple Stuffing

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, p 120

Good stuffing for roasting dry meat or poultry.

I've crossed out Ms Hartley's version (see bottom) and replaced it with my own recipe. This is definitely a winter farm meal, heavy in fats, starch and protein, and definitely delicious. Attached is also a link to the recipe for how to use it for roast chicken.

2 large apples, peeled, cored and sliced
2 onions, diced
8-10 slices bacon, chopped
6 sage leaves, minced
Sprig of lemon thyme or lemon balm, minced, or a bit of lemon zest
8-10 boiled floury potatoes (4 needed for the stuffing, the rest to bake with the roast)
Salt and pepper

1. In a large pan cook together the bacon, onions and apple over a slow flame.
2. Meanwhile, thoroughly mash 3-5 of the potatoes.
3. When the onion is soft, turn off the heat and add the herbs. Stir in the herbs to let them cook a bit in the residual heat.
4. Add the mashed potato to the bacon mix, stirring and mixing until the potato has absorbed all the bacon fat and the mixture has smoothed.
5. When in the roast, test the stuffing with a meat thermometre for 165F for doneness.

4 large apples, peeled and cored
4 onions
(equivalent in weight of) bacon
6 sage leaves, minced
Sprig of lemon thyme or lemon balm, minced
1 Tbsp of apple cider OR stock
? floury potatoes, mashed
Salt and pepper
(Mix all these together ... beat in the mashed potatoes to make a smooth stuffing. Season well and pack it in very tightly (because both apple and onion, and fat, will melt down and make juice while cooking). If the joint or bird is very small it may be wise to part-cook the apples, onions, etc., before use - but as a rule they will be cooked by the time the meat is done.

Testing - Mutton Hotpot

I'm trying this in the slow cooker, although the original recipe in Dorothy Hartley's book calls for a slow wood stove. Adapted from Food in England, p 156.

http://www.food.com/recipe/leg-of-lamb-in-the-crock-pot-55600

1 - Alright, it worked and was pretty good. I cooked it on 'high' and it seemed perfectly ready 6 hours later. I didn't have kidneys, so that's an experiment to try. I did use vegetable broth instead of just water.

1 bay leaf
1⁄2 leg of mutton (or lamb), rolled
2 Tbsps Oil or Bacon fat
2 Tbsps flour
1⁄4 tsp pepper
1 Tbsp butter
Kidney
2 onions, chopped
3 carrots, sliced into 1" pieces
1 Tbsp flour
1 1⁄2 lbs potatoes, sliced 1⁄2"
1 Tbsp butter
1 Tbsp flour
1 3⁄4 cups broth 1 3/4 cups water?
Salt
1 tsp sugar
Anchovy sauce

1. Place a bay leaf and the bacon fat in the bottom of the slow cooker.
2. Heat the butter in a skillet. Mix the flour and pepper together, and dust the meat with it. Brown the meat in the hot butter to seal in the juices. Arrange on the bottom of the cooker. (If you have a kidney from the mutton, put this in next) Sprinkle with salt.
3. Dust the carrots with 1 Tbsp flour and in the remains of the oil, fry with the onion in the pan used to brown the mutton, until the carrots brown. Arrange on top of the mutton and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Arrange the potatoes on top like slates on a roof and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5. With the remaining fat in the skillet, add a Tbsp of butter and an equal amount of flour and cook to brown, then add water hot from the kettle and stir to make a gravy. Season with salt and pepper and add the sugar and, if you so choose, a dash or two of anchovy sauce.
6. Pour in the gravy. 
7. Put on the lid and cook on high for 8 5-7 hours.

Test 1 - Neck of Beef

Food in England, Dorothy Hartley, pg 75

I've already started experimenting with this in the Experimental Mouffette page. Please see:

http://experimentalmouffette.blogspot.ca/2016/01/test-1-neck-of-beef.html

Food in England by Dorothy Hartley

I don't have the habit of reading cookery books from cover-to-cover. However, exception to the rule, I've devoured Dorothy Hartley's classic Food in England, and I will be transcribing loads of recipes into this blog so that I can work out how I can make them on the farm, using what equipment we have.

Test 1 - Galettes de Memère

This is a brand new blog, dedicated to heritage recipes and working through how to translate them into modern cookery language. I am pleased and honoured to add my Memère Maurice's molasses cookie recipe as my very first entry. These cookies are an intrinsic part of my childhood, one of the fondest memories I have of coming to my grand-parents' home after school and sitting at the kitchen table to a collation, a snack, of these cookies and a glass of milk as I chatted with my grandmother as she started to make dinner. Her instructions are, like all good heritage recipes (my little joke), a little vague, essentially: refrigerate overnight. Roll into little balls and lightly flatten. Cook in 350F oven for 10-12 minutes. I've tried to flesh that out a bit. Je t'aime, Memère, et tu me manques.
1-First attempt, an unparalleled success!

1 tasse mélasse verte / 1 cup Blackstrap molasses

1 tasse cassonade / 1 cup brown or golden sugar

1 tasse saindoux ou beurre / 1 cup lard or butter

1 c. à thé pleine soda / 1 generous tsp baking soda

1 c. à thé plate gingembre / 1 tsp ginger powder

1 c. à thé sel / 1 tsp salt

une demi tasse eau bouillante / 1⁄2 cup boiling water

3 et trois quarts tasse farine / 3 3⁄4 cups flour

Mettre au réfrigérateur pour la nuit. Rouler en petite boule et aplatir un peu. Cuire à 350F pour 10-12 minutes.

1. In a mixer bowl, whip together the molasses, brown sugar and butter until it turns pale.
2. In a separate bowl, combine the baking soda, the dry ginger, salt and flour.
3. When the butter mixture starts to go pale, slow the speed and add the boiling water. Mix thoroughly, then slowly add the dry mixture until combined.
4. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. Roll into balls (1 oz each), set on cookie sheets and flatten slightly.
6. Cook in 350F oven for 10-12 minutes.
7. NOTE: can divide the dough and freeze a portion for future use.