Rhyming Recipes for Christmas.

It is time for a little fun. On a few occasions in the past I have given you rhyming recipes for various dishes (see links below), and I have a few more for you today. I found them in The Huddersfield Chronicle and West Yorkshire Advertiser (West Yorkshire, England), of Saturday, December 21, 1867.

MINCE-MEAT.

To half a pound of suet – beef – cut fine,

Of apples pared and shredded add the same;

A pound of currants picked and washed quite clean,

And one of raisins – never mind the name:

Although Malaga is the kind preferred

For such a purpose, stoned and chopped up small.

A pound of sugar, rather coarse, and then

Of beef well roasted, half a pound in all.

Some citron, say two ounces sliced, and four

Of candied lemon-peel and orange too;

Half of a nutmeg ground, a pinch of salt,

A quarter of an ounce of ginger. You

Of coriander seed may add a third

Or quarter of an ounce; of cloves a like

Proportion; and of allspice just as much,

Which in a mortar you should pound or strike

This being done you at once should squeeze

The juice of seven lemons firmly pressed.

The rind of six to powder grated; these

Together mixed will make the very best,

In other words the finest mincemeat out,

A thing in great demand at Christmas time,

When friends require something very nice,

And love to taste the dishes reckoned prime.

CHRISTMAS PUDDING.

To bread-crumbs and flour, three ounces of each,

Add three eggs and six ounces of sueet

Chopped fine, and one-sixth of a nutmeg or more,

So long as you don’t overdo it.

A good pinch of mace, and of cinnamon ground,

Or in other words carefully grated;

Half a pint of new milk, a spoonful of salt

A teaspoon I ought to have stated.

To this add some raisins (Malaga) well stoned

And some currants washed clean and washed nicely,

aOf each half a pound, or as some people say,

Of either eight ounces precisely.

Then of citron and lemon an ounce and a half,

Half the former and one of the latter;

Four ounces of sugar – the moist kind will do –

Which will form an exceedingly rich bater

Or mixture. The eggs to a cream should be beat

With the spices, and then by degrees

The milk may be added according to taste,

And the other ingredients to please.

Now taking for granted the pudding is made,

And the water is boiling like fun;

Tie it up in a cloth, pop it into the pot,

And boil – seven hours – till done.

And here is another that I could not resist because I found it in a newspaper from the area I grew up in: from The North-Eastern Daily Gazette (Middlesbrough, England), of Thursday, December 14, 1893:

RECIPE FOR A CHRISTMAS PUDDING

“First get yourself a wooden spoon and good-sized bowl

So you may thoroughly incorporate the whole.”

Put in the bowl then first, a pound of flour, and to it

Add two pounds (chopped very fine) of prime beef suet,

A pound of bread crumbs next stir in, but please you, halt!

With the flour and suet add a pinch or two of salt;

Then Sultanas, Raisins, Currants, of each two pound

(Choose fine and large new season’d fruit, and clean and sound).

The Currants and Sultanas well pick over, wash, and dry.

Well stone the Raisins, but taste naught on the sly!

Next add a teaspoonful (not more) f good mix’d spice,

And RIZINE, half a pound, will make it light and nice;

Mixed candied-peel too, half a pound, sliced very thin,

Then a pound of good cane sugar well mixed in;

A score of Jordan almonds, bleached, and cut up small,

Will to the compound a nice addition be withal;

Add to the whole then (you’ll sing its praises louder)

A penny packet o RIZINE BAKING POWDER,

Pour o’er the ingredients then (if any handy)

A wineglass full of good old foreign brandy;

Add lastly – Eight fresh eggs, well beaten to a froth,

Then vigorously mix in, and boil it in your cloth.

Should, in the meantime, friends drop in, ask each to stir,

That they a Merry Christmas too may have, and Happy year.

-         Send for “Rizine, and its uses,” post free from Rizine Works, 87, Borough High-street, London, S.E. – ADVT.

Poetical Christmas Recipes, Part 1.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2010/12/poetical-christmas-recipes-part-1.html

Poetical Christmas Recipes, Part 2.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2010/12/poetical-christmas-recipes-part-2.html

The Poetry of Pork Cake.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2014/08/the-poetry-of-pork-cake.html

The Original Chowder.

http://www.theoldfoodie.com/2010/09/original-chowder.html

A Metrical Recipe for Christmas Pudding.

http://tinyurl.com/n6mu25e