reference: acton-1845

Apricot jam spread over pastry, topped with a mix of butter, sugar, and egg. Baked (Acton 1845)

Cake, or almond fondant, formed into a rounded shape with currants for eyes, orange peel for a tongue and stuck all over with split almond spines (Moxon 1764, G...

Buttered-bread lined individual mould filled with spiced apple puree, baked until the bread lining is crisp, turned out and served hot.

Dish of cooked apples mounded up and 'spiked' with split almonds (Acton 1845)

White bread dough with butter worked-in. Rolled ¼ins thick, medium bake (Acton 1845)

Mixture of breadcrumbs with butter, milk, sugar, egg, spice and peel, topped with stiff egg-white, baked (Acton 1845). For other types, see: Bread Pudding.

A speciality of the Derbyshire town of Bakewell, generally taken to be the origin of the now better-known Bakewell Tart. Puff pastry base, coated with jam and a...

Dish part-filled with flour-egg-sugar-milk batter, fruit added, baked (Francatelli 1852, Acton 1845, etc).

Left-over cooked beef minced with bacon or ham, herbs and egg. Formed into small square cakes c½ins thick and fried in dripping (Acton 1845, Mrs.B)

Very thin slices of sponge cake sandwiched with jam strewn with grated coconut, "garnish or intersperse them with small sprigs of myrtle" (Acton 1845)

Any of several steamed puddings made so as to have a 'cap' of dark fruit, or similar, when turned-out. Known by this name at least since a receipt in 'The Engli...

Opaque, sweet, white set-jelly desert, most traditionally flavoured with almonds but now often prepared with other fruit flavourings and coloured pale pink.

Chopped veal and bacon with lemon and spice, pressed into a dish and baked, or formed into patties and fried (Acton 1845)

Medium-light soda-raised white wheatflour breadcake with brown sugar, egg and ample dried fruit (raisins, sultanas) soaked in tea. Cooked in a loaf tin, served ...

Boiled brains, pureed with herbs, formed, with egg or flour if needed, into patties and fried (Rundell 1807, Acton 1845, etc)

A baked meat loaf of shredded roast beef with breadcrumbs, herbs, butter, cream and eggs (Acton 1845, etc)

Small partridge, dressed, grilled rubbed with butter, salt and cayenne (Acton 1845)

Unlike brown breads elsewhere in Europe, English Brown Bread has a much softer texture, from mixing a proportion of white flour with wholemeal, from removing br...

Stale brown bread crumb, currants, suet, sugar, eggs, nutmeg, brandy and cream. Boiled (Eaton 1822, Acton 1845, etc). A form of Bread Pudding.

Rabbit pieces fried with onions and carrot (Acton 1845, etc)

The Brussels sprout is a cultivar of wild cabbage, first found, not in Belgium, but in the Netherlands in the 16th Century. In its first appearance by name in a...

The jelly and minced meat from a boiled calf's head set in a mould with spices (Acton 1845)

Sliced apple, rolled in sugar and fried in butter. Sometimes accompanied by fried bread cubes. (Acton 1845, J.Salmon, etc).

A sweet pudding made by embedding broken pieces of cake, pudding or bread in custard (or an ice confection for a less-common chilled version), usually in a moul...

Left-over cake or pudding pieces, fried.

Strips of meat from a boiled calf's head, breaded and spiced, fried (Acton 1845)

Calves' head meat in broth with herbs, spices and vegetables. Mrs.B, following Acton 1845, thickens the broth with rice flour.

Warm milk with lemon, sugar, whole egg, rum and brandy. "At the University the lemon-rind is usually omitted" (Acton 1845)

Very thin, very dry, wheatflour and milk biscuits (Acton 1845, etc).

Carrots pureed in stock. Described by Eliza Acton as "this favourite English soup" there are dozens of receipts for it throughout the 19th Century and variants ...

Cauliflower florets in white cheese sauce, now commonly grilled slightly to brown.

Par-cooked mutton joint, scored deeply, rubbed with salt and cayenne, roasted. Served with pickled mushrooms (Acton 1845)

Vinegar stewed with sliced celery stalks and spices (Acton 1845) See also: Celery Seed Vinegar

Creamed soup, with meat stock and cream.

Chopped, peeled, chestnuts with breadcrumbs and herbs. Known at least since Acton 1845.

Chopped marrow, melted, strained and stored. Among other uses, suggested by Acton 1845 as a Kosher alternative to butter.

General term for any completely clear meat soup (Acton 1845, etc)

Pork rubbed with salt and smoked continuously until, "The flitch ought not to be dried up to the hardness of a board, and yet it ought to be perfectly dry." Mr ...

The Sound is the swim bladder of a fish. Formerly a highly-prized delicacy.

Pouring batter fried in lard, "when lightly coloured on one side, turn the fritters, drain them well from the lard as they are lifted out, and serve them very q...

Skinned and gutted eel, cut in short lengths and served in a parsley and cream sauce (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc)

Creamed cucumber in white sauce, for fish and white meats, or in stock for dark meats (Soyer 1845, Acton 1845, etc)

Creamed soup of cucumber, usually with herbs such as chervil, sorrel or dill, served chilled (Eaton 1822, Acton 1845, etc)

Sliced cucumber with shallots, steeped in vinegar. "a very nice Addition to Salads" (Rundell 1807, Acton 1845, Mrs.B)

Almonds boiled in sugar, rolled in coloured comfits. "They are pretty to put in glasses, or to set in a desert." (Moxon 1764)

Any of several forms of easily-made pudding, most notably a baked sweetened potato confection, presumably named as being suitable for impoverished and inexperie...

Milk 'turned' into a solid (curds) and liquid (whey) by the action of rennet (Acton 1845, etc).

Boiled suet pudding with currants mixed-in (Acton 1845, Walsh 1859, MrsB, etc)

Hard-boiled eggs, sliced, with curry sauce poured over (Acton 1845)

In English practice, re-cooked chopped meat fried with minced onion, curry powder, often with fruit pieces (apples, apricots), moistened to form a sauce. Most t...

Most self-respecting Indian cooks will prepare their own curry spices. But English colonists returning from the sub-continent in the 1800's didn't know how to, ...

Strained damson juice boiled with sugar to set.

The leaves of the common dandelion are used raw in salads. Acton 1845 says that "The slight bitterness of its flavour is to many persons very agreeable; and it ...

A form of trifle. Brandied cherries in custard, garnished with macaroons or biscuit. Whipped cream with brandy on top (Acton 1845)

Bowl lined with strips of left-over boiled pudding, filled up with custard and re-heated (Acton 1845, Walsh 1859, etc). Compare with: Summer Pudding

Sole (or other white fish) cooked in water, then in a sauce of double cream with mace, cayenne and lemon. (Acton 1845, Grigson 1974)

Small mashed potato balls coated in crumb and fried (Acton 1845)

Walnut and mushroom ketchup, soy, port wine, white pepper, shallots, cayenne and cloves in vinegar. A sauce for steaks etc (Acton 1845, Mrs.B)

Butter, flour and sugar with whipped egg poured over fruit preserve and baked (Acton 1845, Walsh 1859)

Chopped fennel in thickened butter, a sauce for oily fish such as mackerel (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, Walsh 1859)

Now almost always fish pieces in a creamed stock, often with potato chunks.

Flead is the inner fatty membrane of a pig, also called flear or leaf. It is shredded and mixed with flour and water, rolled c1in thick, cut into shapes and bak...

Parsley, quickly deep-fried. A very commonplace accompaniment in cookbooks of the 18th &19th Centuries. (Eaton 1822, Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc)

Mix of trimmed fresh fruit such as strawberries, red currants, raspberries etc, often with a little sherry or syrup, usually served with cream (Acton 1845, etc)

Gooseberry puree, seeds removed, sweetened. A sauce for fish, especially mackerel, and pale meats (Acton 1845, Walsh 1859, etc)

Soups

A piquant vinegar sauce for sheep meat etc. (Acton 1845, Cassell 1883 etc.)

Mixed fish pieces (rather than the single fish of ordinary souchy) stewed with finely split parsley roots, and parsley leaf. "Much served at the regular fish-di...

Set vanilla custard strewn with mixed stewed fruit

Finely grated horseradish root made into a creamy sauce with, for instance, cream and pounded breadcrumbs. Served with roast beef or smoked fish.

Grated horseradish stewed in vinegar (Acton 1845, Hartley 1954, etc)

Yeast-raised sweet white wheatflour dough formed into small balls, spiced, with dried fruit and/or candied peel in the centre, deep fried. Known at least since ...

Beef chunks, often with oysters, in suet pastry (Acton 1845). A form of Steak Pudding

Cooked shapes such as knots, rings or S-shapes, of rich pastry (eg, flour, butter, sugar and egg) with flavourings such as almonds, lemon, peel or, in the earli...

A dry dish of boiled short-grain rice mixed with flaked fish, typically smoked haddock, and egg, usually as chopped hard-boiled eggs with butter. Coloured yello...

Yeast-raised batter of egg and flour with chopped apples, fried.

Coarse-chopped lean pork and pork fat with salt, black pepper, sage and nutmeg. Forced into skins or prepared as a slab for slicing (Acton 1845)

Dough of flour, suet, egg, with pepper formed "into the shape of a paste-roller", boiled in a cloth. "At very plain family dinners, this pudding is usually sent...

A ball of sweetened butter wrapped and thoroughly sealed inside suet pastry, usually with currants, and boiled. When served and cut the melted butter pours out....

Boiled potatoes shaken in the pan with salt and butter, so that the surface is broken and fluffly. (Acton 1845, etc)

Breadcrumbs with suet, sugar, egg and lemon (rind and juice), boiled (Rundell 1807, Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc).

Now most usually a steamed suet sponge pudding made with citrus zest, but in earlier versions by the definitive Eliza Acton or Isabella Beeton, a form of tart f...

Sausages boiled in the skins, and served upon a toast (Acton 1845)

Vinegar containing hot chillies, a London speciality served with Pie and Mash or Eels, known at least since the late 18Cent.

Veal "covered with a stuffing of sage and onions, then rolled, and roasted or broiled." (Acton 1845)

Broth of pig's feet and ears with herbs, thickened, with sherry (Acton 1845).

Semi-dense plain sponge cake with a small admixture of lemon, usually formed as a slab.

Egg white and sugar only, beaten together at room temperature and then baked quickly until very slightly browned and set only on the surface for use as a toppin...

Small shortcrust case filled with sweet mincemeat and usually dusted with sugar. Open or closed, often decoratd on the top. A winter treat. Now almost always ro...

Tarts of sweet mincemeat with added sugar, citrus, yolks and butter; topped with meringue (Acton 1845)

Any soup made hot with curry spices. (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc.)

Beef tongues, dried and smoked to preserve them. In common usage from about 1550 to 1790. WM 1658 has them salted with ordinary salt and saltpetre (E252), dried...

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Whole apples of the red 'Beefing' variety, very slowly part-dried in the oven under weights to flatten them, on layers of straw to absorb moisture. Served cored...

Plain white wheatflour dumplings, boiled with stew or in gravy (Acton 1845, etc).

Water boiled with butter and shaken until emulsified. A simplified version of English Butter Sauce.

A semi-hard boiled sugar slab mixed with nuts (usually almonds) or fruit pieces and slightly aerated, traditionally by the addition of beaten egg white but, in ...

Egg-yolk custard with lemon and almonds (Acton 1845)

Orange juice and zest in thickened stock with wine.

Gravy with orange, a sauce for goose and game (Acton 1845, Kitchiner 1845, Mrs.B).

Usually boiled and sliced (Soyer 1845)

Port with a lemon stuck with cloves and roasted, spices, sugar (Acton 1845) A form of Mulled Wine

Brown sugar with mustard, salt, pepper, oil and vinegar. A sauce for brawn, specifically Oxford Brawn, or game (Acton 1845).

Fried kidneys on fried bread sippets, rich sauce over.

Lemon, sugar, bitter orange, liquid calf's foot jelly, water, white wine, brandy, rum, shrub (qv) (Acton 1845)

Oxtails, boiled until well fallen, skimmed free of fat, with onion and vegetables. Pureed (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc). This is quite unlike the Indonesian or Germa...

Minced oyster meat with breadcrumbs and herbs, widely recommended as a stuffing or fried in balls as an accompaniment to light meats during the 19th Century (Ac...

Minced oyster meat with beef suet, breadcrumb, egg and spices. Formed into sausage shapes or patties. Fried (Acton 1845)

With celery and onion (Eaton 1822, Acton 1845)

Thin puff paste spread with jam and topped with more paste. Edges sealed and baked (Acton 1845)

Whole cherries in vinegar, sometimes with sugar. (Acton 1845)

Usually pigeon joints with sliced beef under a single crust, often with mushrooms and bacon (Acton 1845, Hartley 1954, etc)

Elderberry juice, reduced with sweet spices (mace, ginger, pepper, cloves) and shallot. Stored to mature and used cold, a sauce for fish (Rundell 1807, Acton 18...

Dough of wheatflour and mashed potato. "An ounce or two of butter, an egg and some new milk, will convert this bread into superior rolls." (Acton 1845)

Potatoes cut into very thin, and very long ribbons, fried crisp.

Mashed potato, often with herbs, formed into balls and fried (Acton 1845)

A 19th Century dish of meat cooked below and potato mash above in a distinctive baking and service dish incorporating a trivet to separate the two. Known from s...

Anchovies pounded with strong spices, eg. mace and cayenne, and butter (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc)

Boiled brown shrimps mixed with clarified butter and spices (typically mace, cayenne and nutmeg), potted. Often eaten cold. A particular speciality of the Lanca...

Cake made with one pound weight of each ingredient, typically flour, butter, egg, sugar, dried fruit (Acton 1845, etc)

Whisked-egg cake mixture with raisins, candied peel and mace, steamed (Acton 1845, etc)

Punch (eg, brandy, rum, orange) thickened with butter and flour (Acton 1845, etc)

A herring made red by smoking.

Served with game and roast meat (Soyer 1845, Acton 1845, etc)

"The young stalks look well ... only slightly encrusted with the batter, through which they should be merely drawn." (Acton 1845)

Set-jelly preserve or chopped rhubarb stalks with sugar. (Acton 1845, MrsB, etc.)

A meal necessarily consisting of slices of roast beef, gravy, roast potatoes and at least two other vegetables (commonly carrots, roast parsnips, peas or cut ca...

A pureed soup with vegetables, cream, etc.

Boiled steak pudding in pastry made with egg and butter instead of suet. Devised by Acton 1845 from references in Charles Dickens's 'Martin Chuzzlewit'.

Minced onions, breadcrumbs and sage, made into a dough with boiling water and used as a stuffing for poultry, rolled pork or roasted as an accompaniment. Known ...

A creamy, cold, yellow condiment sauce, based on pureed cooked egg in a cream with vinegar and spices. Similar in appearance to mayonnaise, but with a more pron...

(also Lund, or Lun) Large, round, very soft, yeast-raised white wheatflour bread buns made with added egg and butter. Originally usually served as a breakfast i...

The slim, sweet, root of Tragopogon porrifolius, also known as the oyster plant. It appears, peeled and boiled, as a vegetable in many 18th and 19th Century coo...

A general term for several slim eel-like small sea fishes of the Ammodytidae family. Abundant, but rarely caught for food Acton 1845 has them gutted, floured an...

Layer of buttered mashed potato over small-cut or thin-sliced meat. Baked. A precursor of cottage pie. (Acton 1845, etc).

Clear veal stock with spices, set with egg. Baked in pastry, or in cups to be turned out, and served with mushroom sauce. Apparently invented by Louis Ude, cook...

Shrimps, often with other seafood such as haddock and anchovy, cooked, ground to a paste and potted with sweet spices and cayenne, sealed with clarified butter.

Red wine and port with citrus peel, sugar and cloves, served hot. Acton 1845 says that it is usually made with a roasted bitter orange.

Chopped sorrel leaves, wilted in butter, cream added. An accompaniment to fish and lamb (Mollard 1802, Eaton 1822, etc)

Filling of beefsteak chunks stewed with oysters. Said in 'Savoury Pastries' by Frederick T Vine (Vine 1900); "This is really the prince of pies, fit to grace th...

Cucumber slices sprinkled with flour and hot pepper, stewed in stock (Acton 1845, etc)

Vinegar in which strawberry fruits have been infused, usually with sugar added. (Acton 1845, etc)

Tongue rubbed daily for five weeks with saltpetre (E252) and coarse sugar (Acton 1845)

Very dark sweet cured ham for cold eating. Pork legs soaked in salt and saltpetre brine, then pickled in a mixture of sugars with beer or cider for 3 or 4 weeks...

Lettuce, hard-boiled eggs and ham, all shredded, with salad cream. Known at least since (Acton 1845) and frequently repeated in cookbooks of the early 20th Cent...

Mixed mandarin and Seville orange jelly (Acton 1845)

Whisked-egg sponge pudding-cake with flavouring of choice (lemon, mace, orange-flower water, etc), baked in individual moulds, turned out and served with a rich...

Distilled malt vinegar stored with tarragon (Acton 1845, etc)

Mayonnaise with chopped capers, gherkin and vinegar. A sauce for fish.

Mandarin, lemon, Seville orange, sugar, pineapple, green tea, rum, brandy, arrack and champagne, iced (Acton 1845, Mrs.B, etc)

Paste of flour, butter and sugar, 1/3ins thick, cut square and slowly baked until crisp (Acton 1845)

Now usually a cutting cake made with a high proportion of alcohol (Acton 1845, Walsh 1859, etc)

Sponge cake soaked in alcohol, in various forms. (Mrs.B, etc). The same name is used in the Southern USA for a sherry trifle.

Seed-free tomato puree reduced with sugar, salt and a slight admixture of spices such as celery and garlic.

Meat and jelly from a pigs head, ears and feet with cayenne and cloves, herbs and pot vegetables (Acton 1845)

A creamed soup with onion (Acton 1845), or made using veal stock (Mollard 1802, Eaton 1822, etc).

Minced veal with whole oysters (Acton 1845)

Veal knuckle broth with onion, cream, pepper, mace, cayenne, almonds and vermicelli.

The young 'fry' of herrings or sprats, usually collected from March to August. Washed, tossed lightly in flour and lightly deep-fried whole, head-on and un-gutt...

Carrots cut into neat cones, arranged upright and stewed in gravy with parsley or white sauce over (Acton 1845)

This is the 'Pudding Sauce' of 18th and 19th Century cookery.

Known by this name at least since advertisements of the mid 1700's (eg: Sussex Advertiser - Monday 26 July 1762, p4), York Ham is ham made in or near York or Yo...

Treacle and vinegar, with a little black pepper, "eat the sauce with lettuces shred small" (Acton 1845)

Flour, egg and milk batter cooked in a tray of very hot meat fat, so that the edges rise very high and become crisp. Known by this name only since Glasse 1747. ...