Hearth Cooking Event Recipes
Mince Pies Original Recipe – from The American Frugal Housewife by Lydia Maria Child (1832)
Boil a tender, nice piece of beef — any piece that is clear from sinew and gristle; boil it till it is perfectly tender. When it is cold, chop it very fine, and be very careful to get out every particle of bone and gristle. The suet is sweeter and better to boil half an hour or more in the liquor the beef has been boiled in; but few people do this. Pare, core, and chop the apples fine. If you use raisins, stone them. If you use currants, wash and dry them at the fire. Two pounds of beef, after it is chopped; three quarters of a pound of suet; one pound and a quarter of sugar; three pounds of apples; two pounds of currants, or raisins. Put in a gill of brandy; lemon-brandy is better, if you have any prepared. Make it quite moist with new cider. I should not think a quart would be too much; the more moist the better, if it does not spill out into the oven. A very little pepper. If you use corn meat, or tongue, for pies, it should be well soaked, and boiled very tender. If you use fresh beef, salt is necessary in the seasoning. One ounce of cinnamon, one ounce of cloves. Two nutmegs add to the pleasantness of the flavor; and a bit of sweet butter put upon the top of each pie, makes them rich; but these are not necessary. Baked three quarters of an hour. If your apples are rather sweet, grate in a whole lemon.
Modern Adaptation
1¼ pounds of beef round or leftover roast
¼ pound of frozen shortening (grated)
1½ pounds apples
1 cup raisins or currants
½ cup white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
1/8 teaspoon pepper
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon clove
2 teaspoons nutmeg
2 cups cider or apple juice
1 tablespoon butter
Shortcrust Pastry (make 2 in separate bowls)
4 cups of all purpose flour , 1.5 cups butter (3 sticks)
Cut the butter into small pieces and then work into flour with fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add cold water a tablespoon at a time until it is a dough consistency.
Mince Meat Pie Filling
Add chopped beef and grated shortening to the bowl. Pare, core, and chop apples to make 3 cups. Mix beef, shortening, apples, raisins, white and brown sugars, spices, and cider. Prepare pie crust. Line pie plates with pastry, fill each with half of the meat mixture. Cover with top crusts, seal edges, slit holes on top for steam to escape. If desired, spread a thick layer of butter on pastry for a flaky upper crust. Bake ¾ hour in a hot Dutch oven.
Soop Meagre Original Recipe – from The Art of Cookery: Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1769)
Take half a pound of butter, put it into a deep stew-pan, shake it bout, and let is stand till it has done making a noise; then have ready fix middling onions peeled and cut small, throw them in, and shake them about. Take a bunch of celery clean washed and icked, cut it in pieces half as long as your finger, a large handful of spinach clean washed and picked, a good lettuce clean washed, if you have I, and cut small, a little bundle of parsley chopped fine; shake all this well together in the pan for a quarter of an hour, then shake in a little flour, stir all together, and our into the stew-pan two quarts of boiling water; take a handful of dry hard crust, throw in a tea-spoonful of beaten pepper, three blades of mace beaten fine, stir all together and let it boil softly half an hour ; then take it off the fire , and beat up the yolks of two eggs and stir in, and one spoonful of vinegar; pour it into the soop-dish, and send it to table. If you have any green peas, boil half a pint in the soop for change.
Modernized Recipe (Doubled for our purposes):
1 lb butter
12 medium onions (cut small)
2 bunches celery (cut into 1/2″ pieces)
2 large handfuls spinach
2 large handfuls lettuce
1 bundle parsley (chopped fine)
2 tbsp flour
16 c boiling water
2 handfuls dry hard crust
2 tsp pepper
2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp vinegar
2 c peas (optional)
Chop all veggies and combine with spices keeping onions separate. Add butter (1 lb) to a deep stew pan and allow to melt. Add the onions (12 medium) to the pan and allow to soften. When soft add the remaining vegetables and spices. Cook for 15 minutes. Shake in flour (2 tbsp) , stir together and add water (16 cups or 1 gallon). Add torn crusty bread (2 handfuls). Boil for 30 minutes. Take off fire. Stir in egg yolks (4) and vinegar (2 tbsp) and send to the table.
Stewed Pippins Whole Original Recipe – from The Art of Cookery: Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1769)
Take twelve golden pippins, pare them, put the parings into a sauce-pan with water enough to cover them, a blade of mace, two or three cloves, a piece of lemon-peel, let them simmer till there is just enough to stew the pippins in, then strain it, and put it into the sauce-pan again, with sugar enough to make it like a syrup; then put them in a preserving -pan, or clean stewpan, or large sauce-pan, and pour the syrup over them. Let there be enough to stew them in; when they are enough, which you will know by the pippins being soft, take them up, lay them in a little dish with the syrup; when cold, serve them up; or hot, if you chuse it.
Modernized Recipe
12 small apples
1 cup White sugar
Pinch of nutmeg
Lemon peel (1 piece)
3 cloves
Water
Peel apples and put in a pot with just enough water to cover them, cloves (3), lemon peel (1 piece), and a pinch of nutmeg. When they have softened remove the apple to another pan and drain most of the water until just about 1 cup is left. Add 1 cup of white sugar and allow to turn to syrup – about 15 min. Pour the syrup over the apples and serve hot or cold.
Three-Grain Bread
“It is more difficult to give rules for making bread than for anything else; …. Some like to have it half Indian meal and half rye meal; others prefer it one third Indian, and two thirds rye…. Put the Indian in your bread-pan, sprinkle a little salt among it, and wet it thoroughly with scalding water. …. When it is cool, pour in your rye; add two gills of lively yeast … About an hour before your oven is ready, stir in flour into your sponge till it is stiff enough to lay on a well floured board or table. Knead it up pretty stiff, and put it into well greased pans, and let it stand … Some people like on third Indian in their flour. Others like one third rye; and some think the nicest of all bread is one third Indian, one third rye, and one third flour …”.
From Lydia Maria Child, The American Frugal Housewife. Dedicated to those who are not ashamed of Economy Twelfth Edition (Boston: Carter, Hendee, and Co. 1833) pp 75 – 78. An adaptation of Child’s approach to bread-baking is included in Caroline Sloat, ed., Old Sturbridge Cookbook, 2nd edition (Guilford, Conn.: The Globe Pequot Press, 1995) p. 204. I used both sources to arrive at the following recipe used at our hearth-cooking evening.
2 cups cornmeal (“Indian meal”)
2 tsp. salt
4 cups boiling water
2 Tblspns dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
½ cup luke-warm water
2 ¼ cups rye flour, divided use
1 cup white flour
3 -4 cups whole wheat flour
Combine cornmeal and salt in a large bowl. Add the hot water and mix well. Let stand until luke-warm. Mix yeast and sugar in half a cup of luke-warm water and wait for it to become foamy. Add the yeast mixture and one cup of rye flour to the cooled cornmeal. Let it stand at room temperature for 2 -3 hours while the yeast is working. Stir in the remaining rye flour, the white flour, and some of the whole wheat flour. When the dough is stiff enough, turn it out onto a floured board and knead it for at least ten minutes, adding more flour as necessary until it feels elastic and ready to rise. Divide the dough into three greased pans, cover with a cloth, and let rise in a warmish place for about two hours. Bake 45 – 66 minutes in a preheated brick oven or at 350⁰ – 375⁰. Placing a small dish of hot water in the oven during baking gives a nice crust.
At Home Student Activities
Students can learn about local history and geography at home with these simple and fun activities. All you need is a printer, a writing utensil, and some colored pencils or crayons.
Each activity is labelled for its appropriate age group.
Rehoboth Old Town Borders (3rd/4th grade)
Did you know that Rehoboth was once larger than it is today?
When it was first settled in 1643, it included the same area as 14 towns that exist today.
Rehoboth claimed land as far north as a portion of Woonsocket to as far south as Bristol and from the Seekonk River in East Providence to Somerset, MA.
Let’s look at a map of old Rehoboth and identify the towns which were created after its settlement.
Number your page 1-14 and list the towns (14) that were all at one time a part of Rehoboth or under its protection.
Print this map to complete the activity
Rehoboth Village Pond (2nd-4th grade)
The Rehoboth Village looked a little different in 1776 than it does today. Print this drawing of the Village and follow the directions to color local landmarks that existed more than 240 years ago.
1776 Rehoboth Village Worksheet
Plymouth Colony Settlement (4th/5th grade)
Rehoboth is part of Plymouth colony. While Plymouth celebrates its 400th anniversary this year parts of the colony were settled at different times. Use the below map and worksheet to discover settlement years.
Print the Activity Worksheet Here
Print the Plymouth Colony Map Here
