The “Purviance Family Papers” at Duke University’s David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library contain a near syllabus of early U.S. History: “Revolutionary War activities”, “Civil War veterans’ activities”, “U.S. relations with Napoleon.” They also contain some of the oldest Maryland cooking manuscripts – two small books filled with handwritten recipes, remedies (my favorite is the “Cure For Weak And Weeping Eyes”), and some agricultural ‘lifehacks’ pasted into the covers.
E. [Elizabeth Isabella] Purviance recipe book, Purviance Family Papers, 1757-1932, David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Duke University
Though I’ve referenced her book a few times, I have been a bit neglectful in discussing Elizabeth Ellicott Lea, author of one of the oldest Maryland cookbooks.
In addition to famously providing us the first printed recipe for scrapple, Lea offers her take on some Maryland classics such as terrapin soup, oyster pie and fried chicken.
Elizabeth Ellicott Lea was born in Ellicott City in 1793 into a notable and wealthy Quaker family. Her father, George Ellicott, owned mills on the Patapsco which processed wheat and corn. The historic home she was born in remains intact in Ellicott City.
As an adult, she lived a rural life in Delaware and Maryland, finally settling into a home called Walnut Hill where she wrote the book – often by dictating it to friends while she was bedridden with an unknown illness.
Historian William Woys Weaver has presented his research on Lea in a reprinted edition of “Domestic Cookery” that was published in 1983. Those familiar with Weaver’s work will know that this left me no stones to turn. I can only quote and paraphrase his own words.
“Though her recipes may seem overly plain by today’s standards, rural eating habits before the Civil War were generally simple. Practicality, economy, and simplicity at the table were not new themes in American culinary literature during this period. But in Quaker terms, nothing is as complex as simplicity.” – William Woys Weaver, “A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook”
Weaver points out that Lea, through her family connections, had a wide social network at her disposal. The recipes and ingredients in her book, intended as a useful guide to her daughter Mary Lea Stabler, and to other newly wedded women, reflects a larger range of influence than the cookery books of other Quaker women. According to Weaver, correspondence between Lea and her daughter “give glimpses into the role food played in the complex world of cousins and other relatives, who thought nothing of sending each other large quantities of produce, meats, or even live lemon trees.”
“The most obvious foods of native origin in ‘Domestic Cookery’ are beans and poke; green corn soup; several squash dishes; terrapin (without the wine and seasonings); all of the pumpkin recipes with the exception of pumpkin preserve; and a number of cornmeal dishes, including some breads and puddings.” – William Woys Weaver, “A Quaker Woman’s Cookbook”
In addition to the recipes, the book contains a percentage of helpful household hints (lifehacks?) that is higher than in my other 19th century cook books. Lea shares folk remedies for ailments ranging from coughs and headaches to a “remarkable” cure for deafness. (There is no miracle lost to time – the patient simply had a massive wax buildup which was loosened with a warm compress). Also included in the book are dyes, polishes, cleaning solutions, instructions for crafting beds and candles, as well as advice on managing servants, raising compassionate children, and more. Also stressed is the importance of charity, with practical suggestions about saving food for the poor, served with a watchword:
One eminent for his charities, near the close of his life, made this remark: ‘What I spent I lost, but what I gave away remains with me.’
With a spirit of thriftiness that a modern-day Lea might appreciate, I used her recipe for “Corn Fricassee” to make the most of some leftover frozen corn that was nearing the end of its useful life.
I did my best to stay restrained in keeping with the spirit of Lea. When I tasted the soup I lost control of my hand and it threw in a dash of Maggi. That’s always happening to me.
Leftovers were served up with a dash of Old Bay, and enjoyed immensely.
Recipe:
“Cut green corn off the cob; put it in a pot, and just cover it with water; let it boil half an hour; mix a spoonful of flour with half a pint of rich milk, pepper,salt, parsley, thyme and a piece of butter; let it boil a few minutes, and take it up in a deep dish. Corn will do to cook in this way when too old to boil on the cob.”
4 cups corn off the cob (or canned/frozen, etc.)
2 cups stock
1 tb flour
.5 pint milk or ½ & ½
1 tb butter
.5 tsp salt (or to taste)
pepper, parsley, thyme to taste
Cover cooked corn with stock and boil for 5 minutes. Stir in flour & milk plus salt and pepper and herbs to taste with a lump of butter. Simmer for a few minutes and serve.
In the recipe for Pizza Chicken I introduced burgersub’s chicken allergy. This allergy also includes turkey and other fowl. As a result of it, rabbit has become the other white meat of our household.
If, like us, you insist upon eating meat, rabbit is a somewhat more sustainable option than the alternatives. And if, unlike us, you care about fats or health or whatever, rabbit is so low in fat that one could die from eating it.
I wouldn’t say I’m an expert exactly. Lexington Market has several stands that sell rabbit but they all peddle the same frozen rabbits, probably from the same source, all at the same cost.
They get the job done.
By far, my preferred treatment of rabbit is to put it in the slow-cooker, whole, with some oil, seasonings and liquid and let it go for several hours.
The result is that the meat comes right off the bone. When dealing with rabbit, this advantage can not be overstated.
In fact, if I were to make this fricassee again, I would probably complete the whole first step in the slow cooker. Perhaps use stock instead of dealing with the onion and parsley. Also I would not cut the bacon into tiny bits that are impossible to deal with.
This popular classic Maryland cookbook was printed and reprinted over the years, with a revised “for modern times” edition coming out some time in the 1940s. THAT version was reprinted by Dover in the 1980s. However, I hardly need editor Florence Brobeck telling ME to cut back on butter. Plus that edition leaves out crucial recipes such as instructions to heal a “drooping canary” and “how to clean polished Mahogany”. Mrs. Howard was a regular Heloise.
Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen is sure to make regular appearances on this website. Call me up if you need help with a drooping canary.
Recipe:
1 young rabbit
1 onion cut in two slices
2 cloves
a little mace
parsley
.25 Lb streaked bacon, cut into dice
water
20 button onions
2 oz butter
1 Tablespoon flour
Cut a young rabbit into neat joints and lay it in lukewarm water to draw put the blood then drain it and put it into a stew pan with a large onion cut into slices two cloves a little mace parsley and a quarter of a pound of streaked bacon cut into dice. Cover all with water and let it simmer twenty minutes keeping it well skimmed. Then pass the stock through a sieve into a dish and take out the pieces of rabbit and bacon. In another stew pan have ready two ounces of butter mixed with a good table spoonful of flour moisten with the stock and stir over the fire until boiling. Then trim the rabbit nicely and put it with the bacon and twenty button onions into the sauce and let it simmer until the onions are tender. Skim off all the fat. Then pour in a gill of cream into which the yolks of two eggs have been mixed. Leave it on the fire until it thickens but do not let it boil Take out the rabbit arrange it nicely on a dish pour the sauce over it and serve
This step may have been unnecessary with my thawed rabbit of unknown age.
Fun fact: briefly soaking garlic or small onions like these makes quick work of removing their skins
When in doubt use a thermometer to keep from scrambling those eggs
Hassle aside, this was a tasty dinner. Went great with some not-period-appropriate garlic naan.
