English farmhouse fare: Gloucester Cheese and Brown Ale

This has been served as a farmhouse supper dish since the Middle Ages, and still makes a nice precursor to a Christmas Eve meal. Here, mild cheddar has been substituted for the Gloucester (pronounced: GLOSS-ter) cheese to accommodate American tastes (and because imported Gloucester is expensive), but if  you wish to be 100% authentic, you can get double Gloucester cheese (which has a very strong, sharp taste) at most grocery stores with an international cheese selection. I have found it difficult to find single Gloucester, which is supposed to be milder.


INGREDIENTS:

- 1/2 lb mild Cheddar, thinly sliced
- 1 teaspoon prepared English Mustard (prepared from dry or potted)
- 1/2 cup brown ale
- 4 thick slices of wholewheat bread (artisan-type bread recommended)

PREPARATION:

Arrange slices of cheese in bottom of a large but shallow ovenproof dish and spread the prepared mustard over the top. Pour in just enough of the ale to cover the cheese. Cover with foil and bake in preheated 375° oven for about ten minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly. Meanwhile, toast the bread.  Top bread with melted cheese and serve immediately, with brown ale as a beverage, if you like. The toast may also be sectioned before the cheese is added, so as to be divided up between more than four persons.

Victorian Appetizer: "Angels on Horseback"

This was a popular appetizer or "savory" in Victorian times when oysters were both inexpensive and abundant.

INGREDIENTS:

- 8 oysters, shucked
- 8 bacon slices
- 4 slices of toast
- Unsalted butter
- Coarsely ground pepper
- Parsley or watercress to garnish

PREPARATION:

Wrap a bacon slice around each oyster and, and sprinkle all with coarse ground pepper.  Place on a broiler rack with the seam side down. Cook under hot broiler until bacon is crisp, then turn over to crisp the underside.

Cut two circles from each slice of toast and butter the circles. Place one roll on each circle of toast. Garnish with parsley or watercress.

This dish can be varied according to your tastes. You may marinate the oysters in any number of different mixtures before preparing, and the finished rolls needn't necessarily be placed atop toast, but can be speared with a toothpick, or served on the half shell. You can also wrap pitted dates in bacon and broil, serving these alongside as "Devils on Horseback."

A very old Christmas Carol: "In Excelsis Gloria"

The following page images are excerpted from : Four Old Christmas Carols Taken from Scarce Reprints of Early Manuscripts, by Ralph Fletcher Seymour, Alderbrink Press, Published by Printed under the supervision of R.F. Seymour for the Bobbs-Merrill company, 1903 (Original from Harvard University; Digitized by Google Books Nov 21, 2005)

The date of the orginal manuscript is not known to me, but it is not nearly so old as the earliest versions of Gloria in Excelsis Deo, which date back as far as the 4th century, A.D.

Click on thumbs for full-size images.

Meatless Mincemeat

Chopped beef and beef suet have been a significant ingredient of mince pies since day one, hence the name mincemeat. A 17th century poem contains a verse which reads:

Drink now the strong beer,
Cut the white loaf here,
The while the meat is a-shredding;
For the rare mince pie
And the plums stand by
To fill the paste that's a-kneading.

Traditional Old English Mincemeat is well and good for some, but for those who don't eat meat, and for those who shudder at the dietary implications of introducing yet more fat into a holiday diet already high in fat and calories, here is a meatless alternative. In addition to being meat-free, the recipe is also much less involved than the traditional alternative.

Note: Not everyone will like mince pie. As a general rule, I would offer that if you don't like marmalade, fruitcake, or raisins, then there's a good chance you won't like mince pie. 

Ingredients:

This recipe is sufficient for 3 to 4 nine-inch pies, using 3-4 cups mincemeat per pie. Halving all ingredients should make enough mincemeat for two pies.

• 1 seeded orange


• 1 seeded lemon


• 1-1/2 cups golden raisins


• 1-1/2 cups dried currants


• 8 tart apples (Granny Smith are good)


• 3/4 cup mixed candied fruit peel, diced


• 1-3/4 cups apple cider


• 3-1/2 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar


• 1 tsp. salt


• 1-1/2 teaspoons each powdered: cinnamon, allspice, mace, nutmeg & cloves


• Optional: Brandy, rum, sherry, or whiskey to taste.

Preparation:

Christmas Day!