To make Meagre Broth for Soups with Herbs.
SET on the Fire a Kettle of Water, put in it +some
Cru+sts of Bread, and all Sorts of Herbs, green Beets,
Sellery, Endive, Lettice, Sorrel, green Onions, Par+sley,
Chervil, with a good Piece of Butter, and a Bunch of
+sweet Herbs ; boil it for an Hour and a Half, then +strain
it off; this will +serve to make Artichoke or A+sparagus,
or Soup de +santé with Herbs; +sea+son it with Salt, Pepper,
Cloves, Jamaica Pepper ; cut the Herbs gro+sly, and it
will be a very good Soup, boiling a good Lump of
Butter with the Herbs, putting toa+sted Bread in the
Di+sh ; but take out the Bulk of the +sweet Herbs.
To make Scots Barley Broth.
BOIL a Hough of Beef in eight Pints of Water,
and a Pound of Barley on a +slow Fire; let it boil to four
Pints ; then put in Onions, Pepper, Salt and Rai+sins
if you like them, or you may put in Greens and Leeks.
A Calf's Head Soup.
TAKE a Calf's Head, +stew it tender; then +strain
off the Liquor, and put in a Bunch of +sweet Herbs,
Onions, Salt, Pepper, Mace, and +some fine Barley,
boil it till the Barley and Head is done; then +serve
it with the Head in the Middle.
To make Mutton Broth.
TAKE about +six Pounds of Mutton, boil it in
three Scots Pints of Water, with +sweet Herbs, Onions,
two or three Turnips, a Quarter of a Pound of fine
Barley or Rice, Salt and Pepper; a little before you
take it up, put in it a Handful of chopped Par+sley.
To make another Barley Broth.
TAKE a Neck and Brea+st of Mutton, cut it to
Pieces, put as much Water as will cover it; when
it boils +skim it; put in Barley, diced Carots, Tur-
nips, Onions, a Faggot of Thyme and Par+sley,
Pepper and Salt, +stove all well together; you may
put in a Sheep's Head, but fir+st +singe and +scrape it,
and +soak it well in Water; to make this green, put
Beet Leaves, Brocoli, and green Onions, all +shred
+small.
An Eel Soup.
TAKE Eels according to the Quantity of Soup you
would have ; a Pound of Eels will make a Mutchkin of
Soup ; to every Pound of Eels add a Chopin of Water,
a Crust of Bread, two or three Blades of Mace, whole
Pepper, an Onion, and a Faggot of sweet Herbs; co-
ver them clo+ss [sic], and let them boil till Half the Liquor is
wa+sted ; then strain it, and put Toasts of Bread cut in
Dice in the Dish, then pour on your Soup ; you may
put Forc'd meat Balls made of Fish, or Bread, in it.
To make E+scarlot Beef.
TAKE a Bri+sket of Beef, half a Pound of coar+se
Sugar, two Ounces of Bay Salt, one Ounce of Salt-
petre, a Pound of common Salt: mix all together, and
rub the Beef, put it in an Earthen Pan, and turn it e-
very Day: Let it lie a Fortnight in the Pickle, then
boil it with Savoys, or a Pea+se Pudding. It eats very
well cold.
Ox Tongues à la mode.
BOIL and blanch and lard it, then brown it off,
and +stove it one Hour in good Gravy and Broth ; +sea-
+son it with Pepper, Salt, Cloves, and a Faggot of +sweet
Herbs ; put in Morels, Truffles, Mu+shrooms, Sweet-
breads, and Artichoke Bottoms ; +skim off the Fat, and
+serve them either hot or cold.
To +stew a Rump of Beef.
CUT off the large Bone, that it may lye flat in the
Stew-pan, +score the In+side, and +sea+son it with Pepper,
Salt, Cloves and Mace; +shred a little Thyme, Par+sley,
Winter Savoury, and +sweet Marjoram; put Sea+soning
between every Score if you like it; lard it with Ba-
con, and a Slice of Bacon laid in every Score: Put it
in your Stew-pot with a Pint of Water, a little Rockam-
bole or Shalots; let it +stew on a gentle Fire for two
Hours, then turn it, and make a Ragoo of Palates and
Eyes, Forc'd - meat Balls and Kernels, with +some of the
Liquor it is +stewed in ; thicken it with brown'd Butter
and Flour : Put in your Ragoo a half Mutchkin of
white Wine and the Juice of a Lemon, the Grate of a
Nutmeg, and Mu+shrooms if you have them. You may
make a Ragoo for it if you plea+se the +same Way, of
Carots, Turnips, Artichoke Bottoms, Truffles, Morels,
Mu+shrooms and Oi+sters : You may +stew any Piece of
Beef the +same Way. Boil your Roots before you put
them in your Ragoo.
he beginning of the Introduction, by Peter Brears
Published in Edinburgh in 1755, Elizabeth Cleland’s New & Easy Method of Cookery is one of our most important sources regarding the culinary history of mid eighteenth century Scotland. Her’s was not the first recipe book to be published here, that honour going to Mrs McLintock’s Receipts for Cooking and Pastry-work, Glasgow, 1736, but it is by far the most extensive. Within over two hundred pages, it includes almost seven hundred recipes covering every aspect of food preparation, from traditional broths to the most fashionable of desserts. This made it one of the most successful Scottish cookery books of its period, second extended editions being separately printed by C.Wright & Co, by W.Gordon and Wright in Edinburgh, and by a London printer in 1759, a third edition by R.Fleming and W.Gray appearing in 1770. As its title states, it was chiefly ‘intended for the benefit of the young ladies who attend [Elizabeth Cleland’s] school’ which she presumably held at her house in the Luckenbooths adjacent to St.Giles at the head of Edinburgh’s High Street.
In 1755, the social; and economic life of this capital city was slowly beginning to revive after a hundred and fifty years of decline. This period had seen the departure of its royal court in 1603 and its parliament in 1707, the massive financial losses of the disastrous Darien expedition to Panama, and the disruption of the 1715 and ’45 Jacobite campaigns. It remained a major centre of social life and culture however, with every modern amenity, including a university, schools, infirmary, library, playhouse, concert and assembly rooms. There too were professionals offering legal, medical, publishing and architectural services, craftsmen offering numerous high quality goods, and shops the widest range of both everyday and luxury goods. This mass of activity was still constrained within the high medieval walls and gates of the Old Town, since the glories of the New Town lay years into the future. To the informed visitor, Edinburgh’s most notable features were the multi-occupancy buildings, often from six to fourteen stories in height, and the volleys from chamber pots which rained down from them, leaving pedestrians no option but to wade through the piles of excrement. The houses of the nobility in the Canongate and Cowgate were considered paltry and mean by London standards, but they provided essential accommodation for the landed families wishing to enjoy the city’s numerous facilities. It would be these families that provided the bulk of Elizabeth Cleland’s pupils, since it would be considered essential that their daughters should have a sound culinary education. If they married well, their knowledge would enable them to order their households’ meals with style and taste, while if they had to earn their own living, it would qualify them to serve as efficient housekeepers in major houses. It is interesting to note that first editions of A New and Easy Method of Cookery have been found in the library at Wedderburn Castle, and also in Sir Walter Scott’s library at Abbotsford, a clear indication of the gentry status of Mrs Cleland’s clients. In 1755, Anne Rutherford, daughter of the Professor of Medicine at the University of Edinburgh, was still living in her parental home in College Wynd, Cowgate, only a short walk from the Luckenbooths where Mrs.Cleland was then operating her school of cookery. We may reasonably assume that she attended Mrs Cleland’s classes here, and bought her recipe book in preparation for her marriage in April 1758 to Walter Scott senior, Writer to the Signet, who lived a short way up Cowgate, in Horse Wynd. Over the following years, she kept his house, and bore him twelve children, the first six of whom died in infancy. Then followed Robert, John, Anne, and, in August 1771, Walter, who was to become one of the greatest Scottish writers and patriots, and the foremost author of his age. It is interesting to realise that the recipes printed here were probably the very ones which nourished Sir Walter Scott in his formative years.
In the eighteenth century, there were three very distinctive culinary traditions operating in Scotland. At the highest level came the cooking of the great noble families, who required the very finest of international cuisine. Their cooks were their best paid and most respected servants, autocrats of extensive kitchen departments, and men of great taste and education. Joseph Florence, French chef to three Dukes of Buccleuch was typical of this elite tradition, his painting by John Ainslie, now at Drumlanrig, being one of the most impressive and memorable of all servant portraits. Through his master, he became a friend of Sir Walter Scott, creating Potage ‡ la Meg Merrilies de Dercleugh for him after the publication of Guy Mannering. J.Rozea, cook to the Earl of Hopetoun at Hopetoun House, demonstrated superb levels of skill and his knowledge of the Classics in his Gift of Comus or, Practical Cookery published in Edinburgh in 1753. Only two of the proposed twelve parts were ever printed, but in their 160 pages they just got as far as preparing the stocks on which the subsequent dishes would depend. Only nobles with bottomless purses could afford such gastronomic excellence, and very few recipes from their cooks ever found their way into lesser kitchens.
Next came the cookery of the gentry and merchant classes, usually supervised by an experienced female cook or cook-housekeeper, or even the mistress of the house. This was the tradition which Mrs Cleland knew best, one which was extremely practical, wholesome and varied, including both everyday dishes and more luxurious ones for special occasions. It’s kitchens, utensils and recipes will be discussed later, based on the information provided in her text.
The remaining type of cookery was that used by the country’s working populations, its agricultural, fishing, weaving and industrial communities. Economically limited, they made the very best use of locally available ingredients, fuels and utensils. These restrictions gave rise to considerable ingenuity, however, thus producing a highly individual tradition of true Scottish cookery, one of the most interesting of all Europe’s national cuisines. Anyone wishing to read more on this theme should refer to F.Marian McNeill’s The Scots Kitchen of 1929, and the numerous works of Professor Alexander Fenton.
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