Dinner began at five and went on until seven forty. It was a meal worthy of the age, the house, and the season. Pea soup to begin, followed by a roast swan with sweet sauce, giblets, mutton steaks, a partridge pie, and four snipe. The second course was a plum pudding with brandy sauce, tarts, mince pies, custards, and cakes, all washed down with port wine and claret and Madeira and home-brewed ale.
Winter Pea Soup
1 8 oz package of dried split peas
(soaked overnight in cold water, then drain)
Add to pot: 8 c. water or ham stock
1 onion diced
3 ribs celery, diced
Simmer until the peas fall apart & soft
Add 1 c. diced ham
salt & pepper to taste
To thicken: make a beurre manie - equal parts flour & butter (kneaded)
such as 1/4 c. flour & 1/2 stick butter
Stir in the beurre manie as much as needed to get the consistency needed
This can be left slightly chunky (as long as the peas are thoroughly cooked) or pureed. Keeps in the refrigerator for several days.
In Demelza we learn that the Sawle Church choir had been there singing carols. One of the songs they sang, "Remember, O Thou Man." This carol dates to the early 1600s and is quite lovely. I found someone on Youtube singing:
https://video.search.yahoo.com/yhs/search?fr=yhs-adk-adk_sbnt&hsimp=yhs-adk_sbnt&hspart=adk&p=remember+o+thou+man#id=2&vid=86f55761db307cc241ebed668250c5d6&action=click
But even her enjoyment of the two carols was a little spoiled by anxiety as to how she had best behave when they knocked on the door. She sent Jane Gimlett for the cakes she had made that afternoon and took down a couple of bottles of canary wine from Ross's cupboard..... Demelza nervously gave them all a drink and took one herself.....She pressed cakes on them and refilled their glasses, and when they rose to go, she gave them a handful of silver - about nine shillings in all - and they crowded out into the misty moonlit night, flushed and merry and opulent. There they gathered around the lantern and gave her one more carol for luck before filing off up the valley toward Grambler.
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| Mini-gingerbread cakes and the mini-bundt type pan I baked them in. Gingerbread is popular at Christmas and in England and Cornwall, dried fruits were added to many desserts. These cakes have raisins and chopped candied orange peel. She (Demelza) pressed cakes on them... a small cake like this is hand sized and easily carried away and probably eaten before arriving home. |
Gingerbread Cake
4 c. flour
2 tsp. ginger
2 tsp. allspice
(mix together in medium size bowl)
In a sauce pan, over low heat until butter melts:
8 oz (2 sticks) butter
1/2 c. molasses
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 cup milk with 1 egg beaten in, and 2 tsp. soda
1 c. raisins soaked in 1/4 c. brandy
1/2 c. chopped candied orange peel
Add hot liquid to flour. Mix well, then add milk with egg, beat well, stir in raisins & brandy & candied peel. Bake in individual bundt pans or 10 x 12 pan. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes and then at 300 for approximately 30 minutes.
In Jeremy, the year is 1790, and Ross and Demelza are back at Trenwith. This time though they both feel reluctant to go, because of Julia's death and how Francis betrayed Ross. Demelza is surprised to see Elizabeth dressed in a frock of startling crimson velvet with cascades of fine lace. "So she's still interested in Ross, thought Demelza with a sharp twinge, and any gratefulness to me won't make the least difference. I might have known. Nevertheless she went forward with a smile on her face and was graciously welcomed.
It wasn't the sort of meal they'd had before, either, though it was the best put on for two years. They had ham and fowls and a leg of mutton, boiled, with caper sauce, and afterwards batter pudding and currant jelly and damson tarts, and black caps in custard, and blancmange.
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| Blancmange - means white dish. A lovely sweet almond cream dessert |
Blancmange
5 oz (1/2 cup rounded) almond paste or filling (the filling still has bits of the brown nut covering)*
2 c. heavy cream
Almond extract
1/2 c. cold water
2 envelopes of unflavored gelatin
1 1/2 c. boiling water
4 oz or 1/2 c. sugar
Raspberry Cream
Put the almost paste in a bowl and mix into the cream with a whisk, making sure it is well blended and creamy. Add several drops of almond extract to taste. Stir the gelatin into the cold water and let it soften for several minutes, then whisk in the boiling water. Add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Slowly stir the gelatin into the almond cream. Lightly oil individual or one large mold (I used a canola oil spray). Cover and chill in the refrigerator at least four hours. To unmold, place the bottom in warm water for a minute or two (not hot!) and loosen the top edges of the blancmange and it should come right out.
To serve with the Raspberry Cream Sauce. Purchase a good quality raspberry preserve. Stir in 1/2 cup to 2 cups cream and mix thoroughly (you can strain seeds if you wish) and pour around the base of the blancmange. Do not omit this sauce as it is amazingly good! Thanks to the Dining at Monticello cookbook for this recipe).
* I looked for the almond paste in a tube but found an almond paste filling.. the difference is that the paste in the tube is completely creamy colored but the paste filling has bits of the brown coating on the nut....as I was pouring the blancmange into the molds, I could see that there were lots of the brown bits so I strained most of them out... but when I unmolded I was pleasantly surprised to see the bits had fallen to the bottom and accentuated the design of the mold!
My French is bad, here is a help with the proper pronunciation: bluh-MAHNZH
Christmas 1792 find Ross and Demelza with Verity and her husband Andrew in Falmouth. Fifteen miles away his benefactor was eating an even quieter meal of roast beef and plum pudding in company of her uncle...(Killewarren). Elizabeth was to be there too with Geoffrey Charles but begged off at the last minute and spent Christmas with George at Cardew.
Wine Jelly is a popular dessert from the 18th century and was considered a real treat because the process was very laborious. Think about having to boil calves hooves to make your gelatine? Luckily we can just buy plain gelatine at the grocery store. The original recipe I used came from the Monticello cookbook and it turned out somewhat okay, but I tweeked it, make it easier and even tastier. Basically, this is the 18th century version of jello shots!
Port Wine Jelly
3 medium size lemons
1 tsp. cinnamon (1/4 tsp nutmeg optional)
2 cups water
1 cup Port
1 cup cold water
1 cup sugar
2 envelopes granulated gelatin (mixed into the 1 cup cold water)
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| Wine Jelly made with Port - beautiful and tasty! |
Christmas 1793 they were at Nampara (Warleggan). Ross had gone to see Caroline in London to pay her the interest on the loan and to persuade her to see Dwight... Demelza gave a squeak (at the sight of Ross) as she turned. "Why, Ross, I didn't know. I was up at Prudie's. How did you come?" He smiled as he kissed her - it was just a formal salute between them. "On four legs and then two. Should I have brought the carol singers?"......... "Have you three extra bedrooms you could get ready for tonight?" "Three?.....Why, who is coming? What have you arranged?" "I have brought Caroline back with me Caroline and her maid." He tells her that Caroline and Dwight have made up. "Oh, Ross, I'm very glad! More than glad." He tells her how he contrived it. "What can I give them for supper?" "Don't worry, I bought a goose in Truro and some ribs of beef and a fillet of veal."
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| Houses like Trenwith may have had something like this - 18th C Plate warmer.. How inventive? Serving food hot or even warm was probably a huge problem and starting with a warm plate would help immensely. |
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Now that season two has ended in the UK and soon in the US, I will say I wish there had been more of the ending of Warleggan which ended with Christmas. For those who have not read the book, I am going to give it to you now (slightly edited):
"Demelza, I wanted to talk
to you about her." "No, that I would rather not hear." I think
you must. Before I went away I thought not. But there's no other way.
"Ross, I've forgotten it. All that time. It will do harm to bring it back
now. I would much better prefer that nothing should be said of it." I know
but - in fact it can't be forgotten, can it? It is only -overlooked, set aside.
Ross said, "I want to tell you Elizabeth means nothing to me anymore."
Don't say that, Ross. I shouldn't want for you to say more than you feel-"
"But I do feel it-" Yes, at present. But then again sometime, perhaps
in a month, perhaps next year.." He said: "Come here, Demelza. Sit
down, will you? Listen to what I have to say." He said: "You're so
desperately anxious to be fair, not to be self-deceiving, to make the best of
what you have... But what you have is all... Will you try to believe that?
"Have I call to believe that?" Yes, I wish I could explain about
Elizabeth. But in a way I think you must understand. I loved Elizabeth before I
met you. It's been a -a constant attachment throughout my life. D'you know how
it is when a person has wanted something always and never had it? It's true
value to him may be anything or nothing; that doesn't count; what does count is
its apparent value, which is always great. What I felt for you has always been
assessable, comparable, something human and part of an ordinary life. The
other, my feeling for Elizabeth, was not. So what I did-what happened in May,
if it could only have happened in a vacuum, without hurt to anyone, I should
not have regretted at all. "No?" said Demelza. "No. Because from
it I came to recognize things which no doubt I should have had common sense and
insight enough to have known without the experience but did not. One is that if
you bring an idealized relationship down to the level of an ordinary one, it
isn't always the ordinary one that suffers For a time, after that night, things
were upside down-for a time nothing came clear. When it did, when it began to,
the one sure feeling that stood out was that my true and real love was not for
her but for you".
She was very still, eyelids
pale, brows straight with a hint of concentration at their inner ends. He received no hint that she was wrestling
with demons, her mind and emotions split: on the one hand struggles against the
too easy capitulation ready, so ready, within herself; on the other looking at
the love that he now offered with both hands, and finding it, perversely, not
enough- not of itself enough as a single isolated factor….
“May I ask a question?” “Of
course.” “How did you come to feel that,
Ross? What persuaded you of it? I mean,
the experience itself can hardly have been unpleasant.” “What experience?” “Of making love to
Elizabeth.” “no… far from it.” He
hesitated, a little put out. “But I wasn’t seeking just pleasure. I was- I suppose in fundamentals I was
seeking the equal of what I’d found in you, and it was not there. For me it was not there.”
“Perhaps it would have come in
time. Perhaps you did not persevere,
Ross.” He glanced at her dryly. “would
you have had me do so?” “Well, I do not
know the details of your adventure, but it seems to me you are hardly quite
fair on Elizabeth. At least… I do not very
much like her, but she is not a light woman.
You came upon her, I suppose, in surprise. I should not be astonished if at first she
tried to be faithful to her new promise.
I do not know how long you stayed with her or how much you made love to
her, but I should think there could be times when she might show to better advantage.”
“Are you defending Elizabeth
now” “Well, yes… or no, I think I am
defending women, Truly, Ross, are not all women treated by all men like
something inferior, like chattels you take up and put down at will? I – I’m very happy tonight that you prefer me
and I hope you always will. But I think
it is unfair to any woman to judge her, to condemn her, upon a chance
encounter, like. I should not wish to be
so judged. Though indeed I think I have
been so judged, quite recently.”
“What do you mean?” She hesitated, uncertain now of the chasm
that gaped before her, then suddenly certain that – though all unplanned – this
was the testing jump.
“If we have to talk of this,
then there’s something I must tell you.
I have often thought I should, but it did not seem important if you did
not care for me any more. But now if it
is true what you say, if you really mean
this…” “Of course I do.”…..
“And there’s one other thing I
want you to know,” he added. “that is
how deeply sorry I am that I ever hurt you in the first place – in May, I
mean. You were so undeserving of any
harm. All these months… I know how you
will have felt. I want you to know that.
If you had gone off with McNeil, I should have had only myself to blame.”
She dropped the reins and put up
her hands and covered her face with them in a sudden gesture of distress. She wanted to say something but could not
think of nothing at all.
After a minute or two he said:
“Does it upset you now to be told that I love you? D’you still prefer
McNeil? Is he still in the district?
I’ll go and call on him tomorrow.” “No
Ross, he is gone; and I care nothing, nothing.”
“Then why are you leaving. Are you not willing to overlook what I said?” “I can’t” “Why not?”
“Because it is the truth! That is what I had never realized till you
had spoken it. Oh, I don’t know
why. A sort of blindness. ‘Tis quite unbearable to think of… Impossible
to live with! I don’t know what I shall do.”
He came out and stood beside her.
He looped the reins over a peg.
“Should we not go inside and
talk it over?” “No! I can’t” “You cannot forgive me, then.” “I cannot
forgive myself.” “That was a favorite Poldark
complaint at one time, but I judged you too wise to catch it. Look, supposed we go as far as the
kitchen. I don’t see that need
compromise either of us too deeply.”
He took the lantern and waited
for her. She hesitated. He said, “you may leave in five minutes of
you wish.” She followed him into the
kitchen.
…. “What is that?” “Oh… the beer! I casked it this morning.” … . “I should have waited till you came home”
said Demelza. They cleared the mess…
He said: “My dear, I bought you
something in London. I had intended
giving it to you tomorrow; but in case there is no tomorrow for us, it would be
best for you to have it at once.”
She did not turn while he
fumbled in his pocket, but then he came up beside her at the window and put a
box in her hand. She was surprised to see that his fingers were not as sure of
themselves as usual. She opened the box
and saw a gold filigree brooch with a ruby in the centre….. “I bought it in
Chick Lane, near Smithfield Bars. …. She
heard him fumbling again, and after a minute he put some tissue paper in her
hand. She unwrapped a necklace of garnets.
“Oh, Ross, you’ll break my
heart.” “No, I shall not; not this way
surely. If there-“
“Yes, you will. You do not know what is going on inside
me.” “Can’t we agree to forget what has
passed? I assure you I should be well
pleased to do so. Is not our
fermentation over too?”
“Truly, it isn’t that I – “I have nothing at all for you.”…. “I don’t
think I want a mirror just yet. Until I
can see myself in some less – less disagreeable light.” “No such ill light exists. I assure you.”
“Ross, you know that I didn’t
need or expect a present like this – “I
know. But if you suppose or suspect that
in buying these things I was hoping to buy myself back into your favour, then
you’re right. I admit it. It is true, my dear, my very dear, my very
dear Demelza. My fine, my loyal, my very
sweet Demelza.”
“Oh no! she said, the tears
over brimming her eyes again. “You cannot
say that! You cannot say that now!”
………….. She touched his hand as she turned away from the window. “I – I wonder you had money to get home. So
generous. I wish I had something for
you. It is Christmas tomorrow and – “
“It’s nearly twelve,” he said.
“Let us sit up awhile and call it Christmas tonight.” (the end of Warleggan)
The expression "no beer to foment" comes up frequently throughout their long marriage.......
I hope you have enjoyed my latest blog and will try the recipes.
Sincerely,
Bonny Wise, I am
Inspired by Poldark
