I quite frequently mention the National Mark Calendar of Cooking, a useful little cookery book published in 1936. The National Mark was part of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries which promoted home-grown and home-produced foods. each month in the little book there are recipes using what is in season.
Here is a recipe for devilled potatoes, I suppose how devilish they are depends on the amount of cayenne pepper you use!
Devilled potatoes
- small waxy potatoes peeled and boiled
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- 2 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- salt
- cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp made mustard
- put tall the ingredients except the eggs and vinegar into a deep frying pan, mix very well then add the vinegar
- cook for three or four minutes then add the whole potatoes
- stir in the egg yolks and stir until the mixture thickens
…and here is another recipe for July:
Stuffed vegetable marrow
- 1 large marrow (peeled if the skin is tough)
- 2 tbsp chopped cooked beef
- 2 tbsp chopped ham
- 2 tbsp chopped parsley
- 4 tbsp breadcrumbs
- 1 beaten egg
- white or cheese sauce
- powdered mace
- pinch of lemon thyme
- 1 tbsp tomato ketchup (catchup in the recipe)
- salt and pepper
- with a small marrow, scoop out the seeds from either end, with a large marrow, cut in half length-ways and scoop out the seeds
- mix all the other ingredients except the white or cheese sauce together with as much of the egg as you need to bind
- with a big marrow, put the two halves together, tie the vegetable in a muslin and steam until it is tender
- place on a serving dish and coat with the sauce
I love the fact that lemon thyme is specified – many people seem to think British kitchens before Elizabeth David were a culinary desert… actually, they weren’t!
