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I've seen some good recipes float around on Social Media from Colonial Williamsburg, too, and thought I'd share this one first as this really sounds good I might try it on the grill. Chicken Pudding Recipe and looks easy as well as delicious. Feel free to post more Colonial Williamsburg recipes you found or liked.

I am currently working on a variety of articles on food during the golden age of piracy. It was originally going to be one article, then three, then five and now it's completely spiraled out of control and will probably end up being 25 articles. I have been working on it for over two years now. It will probably take another two to finish it at this rate. Most of the articles look at the five basic types of long-haul sailor types I have identified - navy, merchant, privateer, buccaneer and pirate. Some of them add sixth category - explorer. Nearly all of them are data-driven, presenting all sorts of statistics on what I have discovered. (I have this unbelievably complex assortment of Excel spreadsheets.... but enough of that.) Anyhow, there are still going to be 5 basic articles. Think of them as the overarching articles. Three are finished, one is partially finished (actually, it has been split into about 20 articles, but there is a top page for them). The last one hasn't been started. The underlined words are hotlinked to articles. (Because they are complete. Sort of. I keep finding new material as I research new articles and will eventually go back and add the new material to the old articles. I digress...) The five overarching articles include: 1. Food and Health - Food was intimately tied into health and humor theory, with each food having humoral properties. This article will eventually be tied into the series of articles I am currently working on which is about the individual food found in sailors' account during the the GAoP. These are organized by food type, including: Fruits - Vegetables - Grains - Non-Meat Proteins - Meat Proteins - Fish. (I am presently working on Non-Meat Proteins.) 2. Food Procurement - Looks at how each of the five types of sailors got food, some of it legitimate, some of it not, including - gifts (of food), sharing, purchasing, taking, hunting, fishing, catching turtle and live animals (animal pens). Each section provides statistics on the percentage of sailors I've found who used each method. 3. Food Organization - The first third of this article is primarily about the complex structure of navy food procurement and dissemination. Since nearly all sailors were in the navy at one time or another, parts of this structure were disseminated to the other types. These are treated separately and include the East India Company (which was a thing unto itself), non-EIC merchant ships, privateers, buccaneers and pirates. It talks about food-related officers including pursers, masters/supercargos, stewards, quartermasters on legal and illegal voyages (their roles were different) and cooks. You get a generous dollop of info on the cookroom at then end of the article. 4. Provisioning Locations - I decided to talk about two categories: English navy provisioning stations and the pirate locations. To be fair, any port city could be a provisioning location, so I focused on those places frequented by pirates mentioned in accounts from around the golden age of piracy. This includes three areas - the Western Hemisphere (Bahamas, Jamaica, Barbados and Juan Fernandez Islands), the Eastern Coast of Africa (Azores, Madeira, Canary Islands, Cape Verde Islands, Sao Tome, Principe & Annabon, St. Helena and the Cape of Good Hope) and the Western Coast of Africa (Comoros, Mauritius & Reunion and Madagascar. ) You will notice only a handful of them are hotlinked and that is because only the navy and Western Hemisphere locations are complete. These will probably be the last articles I write. 5. Sailors and Food - This is the article the average person wants to read. What did each type of sailor eat? How and where did they eat it? I quit the Provisioning Locations article to write this and as I got into it, realized it would be much easier to finish if I wrote a complete account of the individual foods found in the sailors accounts. (Remember, back at #1?) I was NOT going to write those article because I knew they would be a giant PITA, but... here I am writing it now. Been writing just these for over a year. At least I've learned a lot. (I mean A LOT.) So you must wait for this one until I finish that one.

Here's links to a couple videos I enjoyed. Townsends Tasting History with Max Miller

I've written another article for my site, this time on period correct food for Anglo-American sailors and pirates from 1680-1740. This is only the first part, there will be a second since the subject is way too big for one article. Hope you all enjoy: http://csphistorical.com/2016/01/24/salt-pork-ships-biscuit-and-burgoo-sea-provisions-for-common-sailors-and-pirates-part-1/

I've written a new post for my blog about what life was like in New Providence. It's called "The Strongest Man Carries the Day," Life in New Providence, 1716-1717. http://csphistorical.com/2015/07/26/the-strongest-man-carries-the-day-life-in-new-providence-1716-1717/ Find out all kinds of interesting information about life in this pirate stronghold during it's peak years. Learn about the geography of the port, where the pirates came from, what structures they lived in, what women did in the settlement, and more. The beginning of the article includes a convenient click-to-jump-to table of contents.

On a recent episode of Jas. Townsend and sons, they show a recipe for Onion Rings in an 1801 cook book If you search the web, most of the pages place Onion Rings no earlier than the early 20th century and not really popular until the 20's or 30's. I think Jas. Townsend speaks of it as 'late 1700's' I wonder if there are any other possible earlier references for other fried foods (other than the dutch donuts) and how long would fried onion rings have to be around for them to be listed in a published cook book? I want some onion rings with my fried oysters ;-)

just been reading about oysters and came across this.... on this site: http://www.colonialtable.com/recipes-3/sea-food/sea-food/17th-century-oysters/ ""TO FRY OYSTERS The Accomplisht Cook, Robert May 1685 Take two quarts of great Oysters being parboil’d in their own liquor, and washed in warm water, bread them, dry them, and flour them, fry them in clarified butter crisp and white, then have butter’d prawns or shrimps, butter’d with cream and sweet butter, lay them in the bottom of a clean dish, and lay the fryed oysters round about them, run them over with beaten butter, juyce of oranges, bay-leaves stuck round the Oysters, and slices of oranges or lemons."" So is this from a cookbook of our period? It seems to say the receipt is from 1685. anyway, I am all for a period oyster fry. :-) sounds yummy

Someone suggested I start a thread talking about English Katchup and as I was digging through my period cookery books trying to find the earliest possible receipt (that's a recipe to modern cooks) I realized we could play with this a bit more. There are a number of options a Pirate might have. So this should be the first in a series on period condiments & sauces. However, none of them would be the tomato based ketchup we know today. Tomatoes are pretty much absent from period cookery books. But you might be surprised what does show up. Early ketchup was a fish & vinegar based sauce imported from somewhere around Indonesia (exact place of origin seems to be a bit fuzzy). It was an import showing up in newspaper ads well into the 18C. It is often found alongside soy sauce (see the trend here?). At some point we start seeing English Ketchup in these ads. And it shows up in recipe books. It's still a vinegar and fish based sauce, throw in some spices, shallots and wine, and after a week or two it's ready for consumption. Anyone who has searched online for a home made version of a Starbucks coffee can relate to the desire to make your own. Period cooks were no different in this respect. Then there is walnut ketchup and mushroom ketchup. One thing that tends to tie the original ketchup, English ketchup, and mushroom ketchup (as well as soy sauce) together is that they all have that umami taste to them. Mushroom ketchup is a great way to add mushroom flavor to things when you may not have them around, and it would last through the season when they weren't available. I will try to find my notes so I can provide better details on things like dates. We're in the middle of selling our house so some things are hiding at the moment. I can tell you from personal experience that both the English Ketchup and Mushroom Ketchup are quite tasty. They are also quite different from one another.

To make a good Spanish Olio PERIOD: England, 17th century SOURCE: The Accomplish'd Lady's Delight In Preserving, Physick, Beautifying, and Cookery, 1675 DESCRIPTION: A stew of beef, lamb, veal, & poultry with vegetables & herbs Take a Rump of Beef, or some of a Brisket or Buttock, cut it to pieces; a Loyn of Mutton with the Fat taken off, and a fleshy piece of a Leg of Veal, or a Knuckle, a piece of inter-larded Bacon, three or four Onions, or some Garlick, and if you will, a Capon or two, or else three great Tame-Pigeons. First, put into the water the Beef and Bacon, after a while the Mutton, Veal, and Onions, but not the Capon or Pigeons, only so long till they are boyled enough; if you have Garavanza's, put them in at the first, after they have been soaked with Ashes all night in heat, wash them well in warm water; or if you have Cabbage, Roots, Leeks, or whole Onions, put them in time enough to be sufficiently boyled. You may at first put in some Crusts of Bread, or Venison Pye-Crust; it must boyl in all five or six hours gently, like stewing; after it is well boyled, a quarter, or half an hour before you intend to take it, take out a porringer full of Broath, and put to it some Pepper, and five or six Cloves, and a Nutmeg, and some Saffron, and mingle them well in it, then put that into the Pot, and let it boyl, or stew wuth the rest a while, put in a bundle of sweet Herbs, salt must be put in when it is scumm'd. ...bacon.

For a long time now I have been looking for the earliest reference to a "tin kitchen", a kind of half-round reflector oven. To date I have only been able to find references to around the time of the Revolution. That is until tonight. On the 18th Century Material Culture's Facebook page I found two paintings dating to the late 1600's with clear depictions of the "tin kitchen." "The Cook, 1657-1667" and an untitled work dated sometime prior to 1678. So now I will buy a tin kitchen and use it secure in the knowledge that it is at least period. Now, can anyone find a reference to one of these, or something similar, being aboard a ship?

Chris Wills pointed me to this link for Jeff Pavlik, a Boulanger and historian out of Michigan. Jeff's site has some excellent descriptions, images and recipes for baking bread and other food of Colonial North America. http://colonialbaker.net/ The site even contains a write-up about the 'sea biscuit'. http://colonialbaker.net/english_sea_biscuit.html

I was slightly fascinated by a description of a food called Manyoco from the 3rd Edition of the General History of the Pyrates by Charles Johnson. The text was not written by Johnson, rather "they were communicated to me by an ingenious Gentleman, lately arrived from those Parts." This information comes from a section in the Howell Davis account in the General History called "A Description of the Islands of St. Thome, Del Principe, and Annobono" (São Tomé, Príncipe and Annobón are islands in the Gulf of Guinea off the western coast of central Africa.) I was particularly curious about the 'engine' he mentions in this account: It turns out what the writer called 'Manyoco' (Manyoko) is a product of the Yuca Root. I learned this via a forum called Arrowheadology which is devoted to the study of Indians and Indian artifacts. Forum user MidlandMan on that site gives an explanation which agrees with the General History in many ways, although the General History author appears to have used the term 'manyoko' - an element of the processed yuca root - with the yuca itself. I was most interested to learn what the 'engine' referred to. You can read the full thread which includes several photos here on the Arrowheadology site.

I'm in "Hog Heaven" at the moment, my neighbor .... who's a hunter ..... gave me some wild pig ..... I've been smokin' a shoulder all mornin' and it's getting close enough to done that I'm able to start sampling ..... This might be better'n bacon!! Of course I'm not aiming to dry it out, we're having a mini pig roast here at the house, I have to mix up some RUM PUNCH to wash it down. I took the shoulder and covered it with Garlic Powder and Adobo, threw it on the smoker ..... fat side up..... with Mesquite charcoal and tossed on Oak logs cut to fit the fire box and let it go. We're roasting some yams and Acorn Squash to go with it ............ Joyous tidings ........ I found a bottle of Rum Punsh, that wasssss already mixxxed up .... Mistakenly thought it wassss Pussssserrr'sss until I tasted it!!!! Huzzah!!!!

So what is the difference between what is called a jelly, jam, preserves, or something like apple butter? Is it a difference in name, manufacture, or content?

All right, this one has me stumped. From John Woodall's book the surgions mate, we have this quote, a prescription for what to feed a patient following an operation: "...a comfortable Caudle [caudle is a syrupy gruel containing spices and wine or ale] for the first [day], if you see him weak; and afterwards Broths and Pannadons..." (Woodall, p. 175) Anyone have any idea what 'Pannadons' are? You should be aware that Woodall's book contains some of the most horrific spelling I have yet seen in a GAoP-era book, so the spelling of the actual word could be quite different.

Squids ain't my cup of tea, but they get mentioned as food in my stories. Not the big submarine-attacking type, but something more like the Caribbean Reef Squid. I haven't heard much about squid-eating in the Golden Age other than the possible use of squids in a chowder. How were squids used as food back then? How'd they get the squids? What class of people would eat them? Anything else I should know on the subject? If it helps, the ethnic groups involved would be mostly British and French colonials. Thanks!

Found this tidbit on a different site I moderate on, in our new 17th Century Forum: http://www.godecookery.com/engrec/engrec.html

there is a TV show ive seen about cooking in historic places such as Jamestown, williamsburg,old forts and settlements but can't remember the name to lookup its time schedule anyone know of this TV show? History Eats, History cooking?

I have an old pewter spoon, Its got to be a repo, but looks similar to this: I am thinking of making a mold for it and maybe making a set or two of spoons. Question is, does anyone know possible age or period of said spoon styles? Thanks! Wes

I don't know if Shepherds Pie is a period dish but we eat it at least once a month during the cooler weather. How do you make yours?

Found this on a board I moderate on: RECIPES - DEERFIELD MASS 1704 – from various sources Planked & Stuffed Salmon Planking fish involves securing the fish to a board with nails and string and then placing it on the hearth angled toward the fire. A fish might be stuffed before being planked. Below is a stuffing recipe that includes ingredients that would be available to a colonial New England housewife. Use the same amount of the following herbs, Rosemary, Marjoram, Thyme, Savory. Salt and pepper to taste 1 bay leaf A little ground nutmeg Finely chopped onion Cheshire Pork Pie Take a loin of pork, skin it, cut it into steaks. Season it with salt, nutmeg and pepper; make a good crust, lay a layer of pork, then a large layer of pippins pared and cored, a little sugar, enough to sweeten the pie, then another layer of pork: put in half a pint of white wine. Lay some butter on the top, and close your pie and bake it. Modern notes: A pippin is an apple. Use any firm, tart variety. Pickled Beetroot Set pot of spring-water on the fire, when it boils put in your beets, and let them boil, till they are tender: Take them out, and with a knife take off all the outside, cut them in pieces according to your fancy; put them in a jar, and cover them with cold vinegar and tie them down close; when you use the beet take it out of the pickle, and cut it into what shapes you like; put it into a little dish with some of the pickle over it, you may use it for salads or garnish. Modern Notes: The directions “tie them down close” means to put a cloth or oiled clothe of paper over the top of the jar and tie it on. Pickled Cauliflower Take the largest and closets you can get, put them in an earthen dish, and sprinkle salt all over them. Let them stand 24 hours to draw out all the water, then put them in a jar and pour salt and water boiling over them. Cover them close and let them stand till the next day. Then take them out and lay them on a course cloth to drain. Put them in glass jars and put in a nutmeg sliced, two or three blades of mace in a jar. Cover them with distilled vinegar, and tie them down with a bladder, and cover over that a leather. They will be fit for use in a month. Modern Notes: Mace, a rare and precious spice, is the protective cage-like covering of the nutmeg fruit. Today it is available in powdered form. A bladder is, in fact, the bladder of a pig. It provides a breathable, plastic-like covering. Plumb-Pudding Take a pound of suet cut in little pieces, not too fine, a pound of currents, and a pound of raisins stoned, eight eggs. Half the whites, half a nutmeg grated, and a tea-spoon of beaten ginger, a pound of flour, a pint of milk; beat the eggs first, then half the milk, beat them together, and by degrees stir in the flour, then the suet, spice, and fruit, and as much milk as will mix it well together very thick. Boil it five hours. Modern Notes: In the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries raisins were referred to as plums. Savory Chicken Pie Let your chickens be small, season them with mace, pepper and salt,, put a lump of butter into every one of them, lay them in a dish with the breasts up, and lay a thin slice of bacon over them, it will give them a pleasant flavor, then put in a pint of strong gravy, and make a good puff-paste, lid it and bake in a moderate oven: French cooks generally put morels and yolks of eggs chopped small. Modern Note: Turkey will be substituted for chicken. Carrot Pudding You must take a raw carrot, scrape it very clean and grate it. Take half a pound of grated carrot, and a pound of grated bread, beat up eight eggs, leave out half the whites, and mix the eggs with half a pint of cream; then stir in the bread and carrot, half a pound of fresh butter melted. Half a pint of sack, three spoonfuls of orange-flavored water and nutmeg grated. Sweeten to your palette. Mix well together, and if it is not thin enough, stir in a little new milk or cream. Let it be of moderate thickness: Lay a puff pastry all over the dish and pour in the ingredients. Bake it, which will take an hour. It may also be boiled. If so serve it up with melted butter, and put in with white wine and sugar. To Make an 18thc Style Yeast Mixture In the 18thc yeast was used in liquid form. The easiest method for preparing a liquid yeast mixture is to dissolve 2-3 scant teaspoons of dry yeast granules in one pint of lukewarm water. Use the same amount as called for in the original recipe. To Set A Sponge For Bread Start your sponge the day before you intend to bake your bread. Mix together all of your wet ingredients, including the liquid yeast (about ½ cup per loaf of bread) and half of your dry ingredients. The batter should be about as thick as pancake batter. Let the mixture sit overnight, this counts as one rising. On the baking day, add enough flour (try combinations of whole wheat, rye, cornmeal, and/or white flour) to make a stiff, slightly sticky dough, and knead. Let rise for 1-2 hours, until doubled in bulk. For better texture and flavor, punch down, form into loaves or rolls and let rise about 20 minutes, to less than double bulk. Then bake at 350 degrees.

Well, Im the pickiest eater on the planet BUT i want to try and make different things that sound good. Im not going to eat pig head or anything outrageous. Im just looking for new and good tasting things. My food variety is small i mainly eat chicken,hamburger,pizza, and pasta....seriously. I've tried Shark and other fish loved most of it actually. Just don't have enough money for the stuff like that. I was wondering if you guys have any ideas of what i could try and make or have any recipes for me to try?

Aye, I be Gumbatz, ships cook yada yada, yada. We once owned a restaurant and I be hankirin to open another here in St Augustine. So to that, I want to be sharin some of me favorites, old and new, but all have been simplified so anyone can make em. To whit I be startin with this one: It be about as authentic as ye can get, but still edible: Ifn ye like it, let me know! Caribbean stewedbeef. During long voyages beefwould have been salt cured and dried, it then would have to be soaked in water,wine or rum to be reconstituted to a state that was edible. Needless to say the meat wasusually terrible and didn’t last that long on a voyage, so new ways needed tobe devised to make the food palatable. Following is one of thoseways, the recipe has been changed to suit the tastes of today’s society, whiletrying to maintain a level of authenticity. 1.5 lbs of beef, cubed into 1inch pieces ½ teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon Worcestershiresauce 1 tablespoon ketchup 2 Cloves of Garlic, thinlysliced or crushed 1 teaspoon fresh ginger,crushed—(or use ½ if it is ginger powder) 2 tablespoons vegetable oil,(one that can withstand high heat) 1 Medium Onion, chopped (midchop) 1 Medium tomato, chopped (midchop) 2 Tablespoons cilantro, (or2tbs Trinidad Green meat seasoning) 1 Tablespoon brown sugar ¼ teaspoon ground blackpepper ¼ hot pepper, (you canreplace with Banana pepper) 1 Green onion or chive,chopped (mid chop) 2 sprigs of fresh thyme (or 1tsp of dried) 1 Lime or Lemon 3 Tablespoons of Vinegar 1 Small Shallot Cut beef into 1 inch piecesif you haven’t already done so. Combine the Lemon or Limewith the vinegar and “Wash the meat” with the liquid and drain away excessliquid. Add all the ingredients aboveexcept the oil, water and sugar, to the meat and allow to marinate for at least30 minutes, (2 or more hours is best) in the fridge. In a heavy pot on high heatpour in the oil and allow to get hot. When oil is hot, but notsmoking, add the sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves, browns and starts tobubble. As soon as the sugar, oilmixture starts to bubble add the meat and stir, coating all the meat with themixture. Leave on high for about 3minutes then turn down the heat to a simmer and cover the pot. Allow to cook for another tenminutes, stirring occasionally to brown all the meat evenly. Remove the lid and return toa mid high heat to burn off all remaining liquid. The meat should look a richbrown color. Add the water to the marinademixture and stir to get all the little bits off the side of the bowl. When all the liquid from themeat is gone out of the pot, add this mixture and bring to a boil, then turnthe heat down to a gentle simmer. Keep pot covered and allow tocook for about an hour, or until the beef is really tender. If after an hour there isstill a lot of water left in the pot, turn up the heat to simmer off. You want it to look like arich gravy when done. This makes a great meal onits own or can be served over rice, mashed dikon, boiled yams or any otherstarch you wish.

I have WAY too many zucchini, crookneck squash and mini-pumpkins. I have made zuke pasta sauce, various squash cassaroles, roasted pumpkins, and gnocchi with spinach and yellow squash sauce. I am running out of ideas. HELP!