This afternoon I had the great opportunity to present several historical apple dishes at the Alden House in Duxbury, MA. I’ve done several presentations there, and I always enjoy meeting people and talking about historic foodways with everyone. And today was no exception!
Though the weather still feels like summer, autumn is surely on its way and with it fall recipes. Apples, pumpkins, cranberries, all the fall flavors. And this theme is apples! Some of my favorite historic receipts have apples in them. Though most apples harvested in the 18th century would have been used for making cider, there were still plenty to use for pies, cakes, pancakes, fritters, puddings, sauces, and to fry up with some homemade sausages. Apples do also store very well in cool storage if they are not bruised. It is very true the saying that one bad apple spoils the bunch. But drying them, making apple butter and other preserves, as well as fermenting them into cider and later vinegar, were also ways to enjoy the apple flavor all year round.
For my display (which is shown above) I made four receipts from various 18th century recipe books. I wanted to show the variety of uses for apples beyond the cider press. And really show how versatile this fruit was. Those who came to see my presentation were able to bring home the receipts on a printout I gave out. But sadly, I couldn’t include the modern recipes I created from making them. So, I decided the best way to share this was to make a blog post, so if you wanted to try any of these delicious receipts you can in the comfort of your own home!
I do hope you enjoy all these recipes and please feel free to let me know how everything tasted!
Apple Sauce.
Pare, core, and slice some apples, and put them with a little water into the saucepan, to keep them from burning, and put in a bit of lemon-peel. When they be enough, take out the peel and bruise the apples, and add a piece of butter, and a little sugar.
Farley, John. The London Art of Cookery. (London, 1787)
Ingredients
- 6 large or 10 small apples of your choice
- ½ cup of water
- 2-3 lemon peels
- 2 Tbl of butter
- 2 Tbl of sugar (more or less depending on how sweet your apples are)
Instructions
- Pare, core and slice apples into 1-inch pieces. Though if you make them bigger no worries. Just make sure they are similar in size.
- Put the apple pieces into a saucepan with the water and the lemon peels.
- Place the pan on the stove and heat on medium heat for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Once the apples become soft take it off the heat and take out the lemon peels.
- With a masher smooth out the consistency of the sauce.
- Add the butter and sugar to the sauce and stir till combined.
- Allow it to cool and store in the fridge. It will make about 2 cups of apple sauce.
An Apple Pudding
Peel and quarter eight golden-runnets, or twelve golden-pippins; cast them into water, in which boil them as you do Apple-sauce; sweeten them with loaf sugar, squeeze in them two lemons, and grate in their peels; beat eight eggs, and beat them well together; pour it into a dish cover’d, and with puff-paste, and bake it an hour in a slow oven.
Smith, Eliza. The Compleat Housewife. (London, 1730)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of the Apple Sauce from the above recipe
- 8 Eggs, beaten
- Juice of 1 Lemon
- ½ cup of Sugar
- Puff Pastry
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- In a large bowl, beat 8 eggs until the well combined and frothy.
- Add the apple sauce and mix till well combined.
- Add the lemon juice and sugar and mix again till well combined.
- In a buttered pie dish, place the puff pastry so the bottom of the pan is lined with it.
- Pour the mixture into the pie dish till ½ from the top.
- Place on a baking sheet to protect the oven from spills. Place the baking sheet and pie into the oven.
- Bake for 1 ½ hours or until the top is firm and golden brown.
- Allow to cool for an hour before cutting into. Store in the fridge once cooled.
Marlborough Pudding
Take 12 spoons of stewed apples, 12 of wine, 12 of sugar, 12 of melted butter, 12 of beaten eggs, a little cream, spice to your taste; lay in paste No. 3, in a deep dish;
bake one hour and a quarter.
Simmons, Amelia. American Cookery. (Hartford, 1796)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup of Stewed Apples (see apple sauce recipe above)
- ¾ cup of Sherry or White Wine
- ¾ cup of Sugar
- 1 stick of Butter, melted
- 8 Eggs, beaten
- ½ cup of Cream
- Spices of your choosing (I used 2 tsp of cinnamon and ginger, 1 tsp of nutmeg)
- Pie Crust (either readymade or homemade)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350℉
- Combine apples, sherry/wine, sugar, melted butter, eggs, cream and spices in a large bowl till mixed together thoroughly.
- In a buttered pie dish place the pie crust so it covers the bottom of the dish. Set it aside.
- Pour the mixture into the pie dish till ½ inch from the top of the crust.
- Place the pie dish on a baking sheet to protect the oven from spills.
- Place in the oven and bake for 1 ½ hours till the filling firms up and the top browns slightly.
- Allow it to sit for 1-2 hours before serving. Store in the fridge once cool.
To make Apple Frazes.
Cut your apples in thick slices, and fry them of a fine light brown; take them up, and lay them to drain, keep them as whole as you can, and either pare them or let it alone, then make a batter as follow s: take five eggs, leaving out two whites, beat them up with cream and flour, and a little sack, make it the thickness of a pancake batter, pour in a little melted butter, nutmeg, and a little sugar. Let your batter be hot, and drop in your fritters, and on every one lay a slice of apple, and then more batter on them. Fry them of a fine light brown, take them up, and strew some double refined sugar all over them.
Primitive Cookery. (London, 1767)
Ingredients
- 2 Apples of your choice
- ½ cup of AP Flour
- ½ cup of Cream
- 1/3 cup of Sugar
- 2 Tbl of Butter, melted
- 5 Eggs (2 whole, 3 yolks)
- 2 tsp of cinnamon
- ¼ tsp of nutmeg
- Extra sugar for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Core, peel and slice the apples into ½” slices.
- Mix up the flour, cream, sugar, butter, eggs, and spices together into a pancake like batter.
- Place a buttered saucepan on medium heat. Place the apple slices in the pan to fry lightly on each side. You want them browned slightly but still firm enough to stay together.
- Place the apple slices on a paper towel to drain.
- Clean out the pan and bring the heat to low. Add 1 Tbl of butter to melt.
- Place a small ladle full of batter into the center of the pan, big enough to place the apple slice in.
- Once it stops spreading place the apple slice in the pancake. Then cover with some batter.
- Once it is cooked on one side flip to cook on the other side. Make sure it cooks slowly enough so the batter in the center of the apple slice cooks through.
- Once done, place on a plate and sprinkle with the extra sugar.
- Repeat making frazes until the batter runs out or the apples run out (hopefully at the same time). If the butter starts to burn, clean out the pan and place back on the heat with another Tbl of butter.
- With this batter there should be enough to make 6 larger or 8 silver dollar sized pancakes.
- Sprinkle each one with sugar and add some whip cream for some real decadence!
If you’d like to see the entire recipe being made step by step, feel free to check out my previous blog post on Apple Frazes here!
With apple season around the corner, I hope these recipes will help you enjoy them in new and creative ways!