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.
