Planked Fish

"Roasting and Barbacueing" in Robert Beverly's History and Present State of Virginia... 1705

There were several methods, in addition to roasting on a plank or encasing in clay, to prepare fish by a fire. The Lewis and Clarke expedition of 1804-6 found that the Clatsops of the Pacific Northwest used a spike. "Meat is roasted on one end of a sharp skewer, placed erect before the fire, with the other fixed in the ground. The spit for fish is split at the top into two parts, between which the fish is placed, cut open, and its sides extended by means of small splinters." [History]

The image "Plantation Cooks, Surinam, 1839" shows fish being suspended above the cooking pot and fire.

In the 1769 book "The Lady's, Housewife's, and Cookmaid's Assistant by E. Taylor, a Fish Spit was used for Haddocks, a lark spit for Carp, and "To roast a Pike. Scale and gut it through the gills... When you have put this force-meat into the belly, spit it, tie it on with two splinters, and a piece of tape, dredge and baste it."

Laths of Willow were used to roast Jack or Pike by Richard Bradley in 1732. Clean and stuff the fish, "...cut two small Laths of Willow, or any other Wood, except Deal, or such as has a Turpentine Juice in it, of the length of the Fish, and lay the Fish upon the Spit, with the two Laths upon the Fish, and bind them together with a Fillet of Linnen, about an Inch wide, which must be wrapp'd round them in a Screw-like manner, and then laid down to the Fire..."

Planked Fish

Wood to be used as a plank included "a suitable board, (not Pine;)" [Webster], "clean oak board about three inches thick" [Peterson]. "oaken board or barrel top" [Mason].

To Roast A Shad
"Fill the cavity with good forcemeat, sew it up and tie it on a board of proper size, cover it with bread crumbs, with some salt and pepper, set it before the fire to roast it; when done on one side, turn it, tie it again, and when sufficiently done, pull out the thread and serve it up with butter and parsley poured over it." [Randolph]

American Shad timeline along the Delaware River
Valley Forge and Shad
Hudson River Shad

Complete recipes at: Planked fish
Plantation cooks image from The Atlantic Slave Trade and Slave Life in the Americas: A Visual Record

Works cited
Bradley, Richard. The Country Housewife and Lady's Director. 1732
History of the expedition under the command of Captains Lewis and Clarke. NY: 1861
Mason, Mary. The Young Housewife's Counsellor. Phila: 1871
Peterson, Hannah. The National Cook Book. Phila: 1866
Randolph, Mary. The Virginia Housewife. 1824
Taylor, E. The Lady's, Housewife's, and Cookmaid's Assistant. Berwick Upon Tweed: 1769
Webster, A.L. The Improved Housewife. 1855

©2010 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

Food and Shakespeare Monday April 26

Apr 26 Epicurean references in Shakespeare. 8pm Folger Shakespeare Library. DC

Jonathan Bate, professor of English at Warwick, will speak on "The Good Life in Shakespeare" and about the Epicurean tradition, with an emphasis on the plays As You Like It, The Winter's Tale, and Measure for Measure. He is the author of The Genius of Shakespeare and a Governor and Board member of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Asparagus Loaves or Sparrow Grass Rolls

The term Sparrow Grass, referring to Asparagus, was used in Britain in the 18th and 19th centuries. An 1816 work presented various Northern dialects words, such as the German spargel, and the author stated that "an intelligent English lexicographer says—' I rather think sparrowgrass to be the proper English name of the plant, than a corruption of the Latin asparagus; and in this I am supported by Miller in his Gardener's Dictionary.' "
A vocabulary; or, Collection of words and phrases... by John Pickering. Boston: 1816

Sparrow-Grass. A vulgar pronunciation of asparagus both in England and America, sometimes in the New York market contracted to "grass."
Dictionary of Americanisms by John Bartlett. 1877

ASPARAGUS LOAVES.
Having scraped the stalks of three bundles of fine, large asparagus, (laying it, as you proceed, in a pan of cold water,) tie it up again in bunches, put them into a pot with a great deal of boiling water, and a little salt, and boil them about twenty minutes, or till quite tender. Then take out the asparagus, and drain it. Cut off the green tops of two-thirds of the asparagus, and on the remainder leave about two inches of the white stalk; this remaining asparagus must be kept warm. Put the tops into a stew-pan with a pint of cream, or rich milk, sufficient to cover them well; adding three table-spoonfuls of fresh butter, rolled in flour, half a grated nutmeg, and the well-beaten yolks of three eggs. Set the stew-pan over hot coals, and stir the mixture till it comes to a boil. Then immediately remove it. Have ready some tall fresh rolls or penny loaves; cut the tops carefully off, in a nice circular or oval piece, and then scoop out the inside of the rolls, and fill them with the stewed asparagus while it is hot. Make small holes very nicely in the tops or lids. Fit the lids again on the rolls, and stick in the holes (of which you must make as many as you can) the remaining asparagus, that has had the bit of stalk left on for this purpose. Send them to table warm, as side-dishes.
Leslie, Eliza. The Lady's Receipt-Book; a Useful Companion for Large or Small Families... Philadelphia: 1847
NOTE: I have often made this dish, and it is delicious each time.

Asparagus forced in French Rolls.
Take three French rolls, take out all the crumb, by first cutting a piece of the top-crust off; but be careful that the crust fits again in the same place; fry the rolls brown in fresh butter; then take a pound of cream, the yolks of six eggs beat fine, a little salt and nutmeg, stir them well together over a slow fire till it begins to be thick; have a hundred of small grass boiled; then save tops enough to stick the rolls with, the rest cut small and put into the cream, fill the loaves with them: before you fry the rolls make holes thick in the top crust and stick the grass in; then lay on the piece of crust and stick the grass in, that it may look as if it were growing. It makes a pretty side-dish for a second course.
Hannah Glasse. The Art of Cookery 1796

Historic House Kitchens Symposium - Mass.

Historic New England hosted many programs throughout New England as part of their Year of the Kitchen Program, 2009. The Kitchens symposium has been rescheduled for May 15, 2010 at Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm in Newbury, Mass.

http://www.historicnewengland.org/things/calendar/Events.asp?State=MA