To Make a Westminster Fool.

Today’s post is necessarily short, for I am not organized, so I must make it sweet. I take my inspiration from the rulers of all of our nations, who are more similar than we think, for is it not true that whoever you vote for, you get a politician?

I start with a fool, which the Oxford English Dictionary defines as ‘a dish composed of fruit stewed, crushed, and mixed with milk, cream, or custard’, or, in an earlier form, to a simpler dish of “a kind of clouted [clotted] cream.’The first supporting quotation given is from Florio’s Italian/English Dictionary of 1598 which gives ‘Mantiglia, a kinde of clouted creame called a foole or a trifle in English.’

To Make a Westminster Fool.

Cut a penny loaf into thick slice, moisten them with sack, and lay them in the bottom of a dish; then take a quart of cream, six eggs beaten up, two spoonfuls of rose-water, some grated nutmeg, and a blade of mace, with sugar enough to sweeten it; put all these into a sauce-pan, st it over a slow fire, and keep it stirring all the time to prevent a curdling; when it begins to be thick, pour it into the dish over the bread. Let it stand till cold.

Art of Cookery (1774)  by Hannah Glasse.

My next choices are, rather surprisingly, from 365 Orange Recipes: an orange recipe for every day in the year (Philadelphia, 1909)

Parliament Pudding

Cream 1 tablespoonful of butter with ¾ cup of sugar, add the beaten yolks of 6 eggs, I cupful of fine bread crumbs which have been soaked in milk, and the juice and the grated rind of ½  an orange; stir this until very smooth, then add the beaten whites of 2 eggs. Have a pudding mould thickly buttered and dusted with dry crumbs, line with

macaroons wliich have been moistened with orange juice; put in a layer of the batter, then a layer of sponge cake spread with orange marmalade and alternate the layers until the mould is full, having batter at the top. Cover and steam for three-quarters of an hour, unmould carefully and serve with hard sauce.

Orange Torys.

Grate all of 1 thin-skinned orange, rejecting the seeds; seed and chop 1 cupful of raisins, add ½  cupful of sugar, 1 beaten egg and 1 cupful of cracker crumbs. Roll puff-paste very thin, spread with the above mixture, cover with paste, cut in strips and bake in a quick oven.

Until I find more for this amusing theme, there is also Parliament Gingerbread to be enjoyed.