Revolutionary Recipes from martha
The original recipes are taken from “Mother’s Cook Book,” which Martha Washington used in her own kitchen.
Martha Washington’s Great Cake Recipe
Original Recipe
“Take 40 eggs and divide the whites from the yolks and beat them to a froth; start to work four pounds of butter to cream and put the whites of eggs to it a spoon full at a time till it is well worked. Then put four pounds of sugar finely powdered to it in the same way, then put in the yolks of eggs, and five pounds of flower, and five pounds of fruit. Two hours will bake it. Add to it half an ounce of mace, one nutmeg, half a pint of wine, and some French brandy.”
This recipe takes 40 eggs and clearly meant for a large party! For a more manageable (and realistic) recipe, there’s an excellent adaptation from Mount Vernon, the Washington estate, which has provided a modern adaptation.
Modern Recipe
“Take 40 eggs and divide the whites from the yolks and beat them to a froth; start to work four pounds of butter to cream and put the whites of eggs to it a spoon full at a time till it is well worked. Then put four pounds of sugar finely powdered to it in the same way, then put in the yolks of eggs, and five pounds of flower, and five pounds of fruit. Two hours will bake it. Add to it half an ounce of mace, one nutmeg, half a pint of wine, and some French brandy.”
Cake Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups currants
- 2/3 cup chopped candied orange and lemon peel
- 1/3 cup chopped candied citron
- 1/4 cup French brandy
- 3/4 cup Madeira, divided
- 3 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1/2 teaspoons ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoons ground mace
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3 large eggs, separated
Instructions
- Combine the currants, orange and lemon peels, and citron in a large bowl. Add 1/2 cup of the Madeira, and stir to combine. Cover with plastic wrap, and set aside for at least 3 hours, or as long as overnight. Stir the remainder of the Madeira together with the brandy, cover, and set aside.
- When ready to bake the cake, preheat the oven to 325°F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
- Drain the fruits in a large strainer set over a bowl, stirring occasionally to extract as much of the Madeira as possible. Add the strained Madeira to the set-aside Madeira and brandy.
- Combine 1/4 cup of the flour with the fruit, and mix well. Add the almonds, and set aside. Sift the remaining flour with the nutmeg and mace.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter until it is light. Add the sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, beating for several minutes after adding each ingredient. Whisk the egg yolks until they are light and smooth, and add them to the butter and sugar. Continue to beat for several minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Alternately add the spiced flour, 1/2 cup at a time, and the Madeira and brandy, beating until smooth.
- In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites to form stiff peaks. By hand, gently fold them into the batter, combining lightly until well blended. By hand, fold in the fruit in thirds, mixing until well combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with an offset spatula or the back of a spoon.
- Bake for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a wooden skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Set the cake on a wire rack to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. If serving the cake plain, turn it out of the pan to cool completely. If finishing it with icing, turn the warm cake out of the pan onto a baking sheet, and proceed with the icing.
Optional: Use the Sugar Icing recipe below. Ice generously onto the surface, piling it high and swirling it around the top and sides. Set in the turned-off warm oven and let sit for at least 3 hours, or until the cake is cool and the icing has hardened. The icing will crumble when the cake is sliced.
Icing Ingredients
- 3 large egg whites at room temperature
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 2 tablespoons rose water or orange-flower water
Instructions
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, start beating the egg whites on low speed, gradually adding 2 tablespoons of the sugar. After about 3 minutes, or when they just begin to form soft peaks, increase the speed to high and continue adding the sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until all the sugar is incorporated and the egg whites form soft peaks.
- Add the rose water, and continue beating to form stiff peaks. Use immediately to ice the cake.
Boston Brown Bread
Original Recipe
“One heaping coffee-cup each of corn, rye and Graham meal. The rye meal should be as fine as the Graham, or rye flour may be used. Sift the three kinds together as closely as possible, and beat together thoroughly with two cups New Orleans or Porto Rico molasses, two cups sweet milk, one cup sour milk, one dessert spoon soda, one teaspoon salt; pour into a tin form, place in a kettle of cold water, put on and boil four hours. Put on to cook as soon as mixed. It may appear to be too thin, but it is not, as this receipt has never been known to fail. Serve warm, with baked beans or Thanksgiving turkey. The bread should not quite fill the form (or a tin pail with a cover will answer), as it must have room to swell. See that the water does not boil up to the top of the form; also take care it does not boil entirely away or stop boiling. To serve it, remove the lid and set it a few moments into the open oven to dry the top, and it will then turn out in perfect shape. This bread can be used as a pudding, and setved with a sauce made of thick sour cream, well sweetened and seasoned with nutmeg, or it is good toasted the next day.”
Fricasseed Rabbits
Original Recipe
“The best was of cooking rabbits is to fricassee them. Cut them up, or disjoint them. Put them into a stewpan; season them with Cayenne pepper, salt and some chopped parsley. Pour in a pint of warm water (or of veal broth if you have it) and stew it over a slow fire till the rabbits are quite tender; adding (when they are about half done) some bits of butter rolled in flour. Just before you take it from the fire, enrich the gravy with a gill or more of thick cream with some nutmeg grated into it. Stir the gravy well, but take care not to let it boil after the cream is in, lest it curdle. Put the pieces of rabbit on a hot dish, and pour the gravy over them.”
Christmas Plum Pudding
General Remarks
“All boiled pudding should be put in boiling water, which must not be allowed to stop simmering, and the pudding must always be covered with the water; if requisite the sauce pan should be filled up. To prevent a pudding boiled in a cloth from sticking to the bottom of the saucepan, place a small plate or saucer undderneath it, if a mold is used, this precaution is not necessary; but care must be taken to keep the pudding well covered with water. For dishing a boiuled pudding as soon as it comes out of the pot, dip it into a basin of cold water, and the cloth will then not adhere to it. Great expedition is necessary in sending puddings to table, as, by standing, they quickly become heavy, batter puddings particularly. For baked or boiled puddings, the molds, cups, or basins should be always buttered before the mixture is put into them, and they should be put into the saucepan directly they are filled.”
Original Recipe
“One pound butter, one pound suet, freed from strings and chopped fine, one pound sugar, two and a half pounds flour, two pounds raisins, seeded, chopped and dredged with flour, two pounds currants, picked over carefully after they are washed, one-quarter pound citron, shred fine, twelve eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately, one pint milk, one cup brandy, one-half ounce cloves, one-half ounce mace, two grated nutmegs. Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the yolks when you have whipped. the, smooth and light; next out in the milk, then the flour, alternately with the beaten whites, then the brandy and spice, lastly the fruit, well dredged in flour. Mix all thoroughly wring out your pudding-cloth in hot water, flour well inside, pour in the mixture and boil five hours.”