1 rump roast
Water
1 pint red wine
Carrots
Turnips
1 head celery
garlic
Ground cloves
Salt and pepper
Scraped horseradish
Stuffing (”forcemeat”) to taste
Take out as much of the bone as can be done with a saw, that it may lie flat on the dish, stuff it with forcemeat made as before directed, lay it in a pot with two quarts of water, a pint of red wine, some carrots and turnips cut in small pieces and strewed over it, a head of cellery cut up, a few cloves of garlic, some pounded cloves, pepper and salt, stew it gently till sufficiently done, skim the fat off, thicken the gravy, and serve it up; garnish with little bits of puff paste nicely baked, and scraped horse-radish.
From The Virginia Housewife, or, Methodical Cook, by Mary Randolph, 1860 edition of 1831 book.
Comment: Mrs. Randolph does not tell us how big a rump she wants us to cook, but from the quantity of water we would guess it is a fairly large one. The days of mechanized meat cutting and the packaging of ever-smaller cuts in individualized plastic trays lay far in the future. And that’s not a typo in the recipe; that was how Ms. Randolph spelled “celery.” Standardized spelling lay in the future as well.
1/2 c. chopped corned beef
2 c. chopped boiled potatoes
1 tbs. butter
4 tbs. water
Salt if needed
Pepper to taste
The best hash is made from boiled corned beef. It should be boiled very tender, and chopped fine when entirely cold. The potatoes for hash made of corned beef are the better for being boiled in the pot liquor [liquid the corned beef was boiled in.] When taken from the pot, remove the skins from the potatoes, and when entirely cold chop them fine. To a coffee-cup of chopped meat allow four of chopped potatoes, stir the potatoes gradually into the meat, until the whole is mixed. Do this at evening and, if warm, set the hash in a cool place. In the morning put the spider on the fire with a lump of butter as large as the bowl of a table-spoon, add a dust of pepper, and if not sufficiently salt, add a little; usually none is needed. When the butter has melted, put the hash in the spider, add four table-spoons of water, and stir the whole together. After it has become really hot, stir it from the bottom, cover a plate over it, and set the spider where it will merely stew. This is a moist hash, and preferred by some to a dry or browned hash.
From The Housekeeper’s Encyclopedia by Mrs. E.F. Haskell.
Comment: As is often the case the amounts given in the ingredients list at the top of this recipe–written by us to modern measurements–should be taken only as approximations. Cookbooks of the 19th century described quantities in terms either of weight–no kitchen was without a scale–or measures of volume which lacked the sort of consistency we expect today. Did a teacup hold more or less than a coffee cup? How did either compare to a modern standard eight-ounce measuring cup? How big was Mrs. Haskell’s tablespoon–would it hold “a piece of butter the size of a hen’s egg” or “a walnut”, to use two of her other favorite terms?
We are saved here because corned beef hash is a very forgiving item. Like most dishes which originated as “peasant food” it is expected that one will adapt any given making to what ingredients are on hand and how many people are to be fed.
Oh, and for anyone disconcerted by the direction to “put the spider on the fire” or feel that would be inhumane to arachnids….a spider is a cast-iron large frying pan or Dutch oven with three our four little legs on the bottom to hold it up out of direct contact with the fire. Users of modern cooking stoves are free to use regular frying pans and deal with spiders as your views on the sanctity of all life dictates.
