Christmas in Wales in the 18th C.

The Old Foodie Time-Travel Vicarious Dining Machine is taking you to eighteenth century Wales today for Christmas dinner. Our source is A Tour in Wales. MDCCLXX [1770] by Henry Hughes, which was published in 1778. The host for the dinner which we will be attending is Robert Wynne III, MP for Caernarvon, who died childless in 1762, the estate of Bodyscallen (Bodscallan) then passing to his younger brother. Note that the bill of fare for the ‘Second Table” was for the guests of lesser social standing, not a second feast for the whole party!  Also note that the bill of fare was not simply a list, but showed the arrangement of the dishes on the table in the style of the time. Dishes were set on the table in a strictly symmetrical and hierarchical manner (hence the apparent duplications) so as to provide an impressive spectacle as the guests entered the dining hall.

HOSPITALITY AT BODSCALLAN DURING THE TIME OF THE LATE ROBERT WYNN, ESQ.

A Bill of Fare of the Freeholders Christmas Dinner at Bodscallan

Caernarvonshire, Wales

60 or 70 used to dine at the two tables.

No other liquor but black strap, 7 years old, being 24 bushels to a hogshead, permitted to be drunk on St. John's day.

N.B. also some wheat roasted and thrown into this beer, to ripen it.

2 legs of boiled mutton and dressed turneps.	A rump of boiled beef and dressed cabbage Remd by sirloin of roast beef.	Boiled Pork and potatoes
	Roast turkey
Fruit pudding, baked		Mutton pye
	Goose with sweet groat pudding under it.
Saddle of roasted mutton		Custard pudding
	19 minced pies
Boiled suet pudding		Legs of roasted pork
	Goose with sweet groat pudding under it.
Mutton pye		Fruit pudding, baked
Hand of boiled pork and potatoes	A rump of boiled beef and dressed cabbage Remd by sirloin of roast beef.	2 legs of mutton and dressed turneps

SECOND TABLE

	Boiled beef
Boiled leg of mutton		Dressed roots
	Goose and sweet groat pudding
Baked pudding		Mutton pye
	Minced pies, a dozen
Mutton pye		Baked pudding
	Goose and sweet groat pudding
Pease pudding		Leg of mutton
	Leg of boiled pork and potatoes

I am tempted and intrigued by the goose with sweet groat pudding – how about you? Groats are hulled or crushed grain – usually oats - and a pudding at this time generally meant a boiled bag or ‘sausage’of some sort of starchy substance whose purpose was primarily intended to eke out (or completely substitute for) meat, in the manner of Yorkshire Pudding, for example. Some form of plain, starchy grain pudding or gruel was the staple food of the lower classes for centuries, but for the class of folk attending this dinner, it was not of course necessary to be frugal with meat, so the pudding would have served more as an accompaniment – and would likely have been made with a richer, as well as sweeter, batter or mixture.

I have been unable to find a recipe specifically for “Groat Pudding” – indeed, the concept of a written recipe for such an ancient, universal, every-day staple such as a pudding or gruel would have been quite strange to our ancestors.  I will, however, come back to the topic in a post in the New Year. Until then, I give you two versions of Custard Pudding from The English Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice (1788) by Richard Briggs.

Custard Pudding boiled.

TAKE a pint of cream or new milk, boil it with a stick of cinnamon, a little lemon-peel, and let it stand to cool; beat up the yolks of five and the whites of three eggs, mix a spoonful of flour with the cream, then put in the eggs, with a gill of sack [sherry], strain it all through a sieve, grate in a little nutmeg, and sweeten it with fine powder sugar to your palate; wet a cloth, flour it, pour in the pudding, tie it, but not too close, and boil it three quarters of an hour; or butter a mould, bason, or small wooden bowl, put in the pudding, tie a cloth over the top, and boil it one hour; when it is done turn it gently into the dish, and pour melted butter and sugar mixed over it.

Custard Pudding baked.

TAKE a quart of new milk and boil it, with a stick of cinnamon, a little lemon-peel, a laurel leaf, and a few coriander-seeds, sweeten it as it boils with loaf sugar, and then let it stand to cool; beat up eight eggs well with a little of the milk, and pour it backwards and forwards, in two pans, till the milk and eggs are well mixed, put in a spoonful of rose water, and strain it all through a sieve; lay a puff-paste round the edge of your dish, pour in the pudding, bake it, and send it up hot or cold to table.