[Sca-cooks] Re:OOP help - recipe for Gentleman's Relish

[Susan Fox-Davis]

Devra at aol.com wrote:

>        I recently had some lovely anchovy-butter sandwiches at an '18th 
>Century' reception....but there was something else in there besides the above 
>ingredients.... pickle relish? chopped scallions?  I have had no luck searching my 
>books or Epicurious. Don't know if Gentleman's Relish is the correct name, 
>either.  *sigh*
>     Anchovy-loving Devra
>

Love them little fishies!

Gentlemen's Relish seems to be a closely held secret recipe, created in 
1828 by John Osborn, a blend of anchovies, butter, exotic herbs and 
spices.  It is sold in fine British food stores like Fortnum & Mason and 
by mail.  Here is the manufacturer's web page: 
 http://www.elsenham.com/patum.htm

Other snippets of information:

http://www.hmssurprise.org/Related/recipes/accomp.html
Adam Quinan's Note on Gentleman's Relish

Gentlemen's Relish or Patum Peperium is basically anchovies in butter 
and seasonings. Its a brownish colour, not nearly as dark as Marmite but 
quite as tasty spread thinly on hot buttered toast. 

http://216.239.63.104/search?q=cache:m85cAsnQ5zoJ:staging.foodtv.com/foodtv/print/recipe/0,6255,4759,00.html+Gentleman%27s+Relish+anchovy+recipe&hl=en&lr=lang_en
The Two Fat Ladies [longtime anchovy advocates!] say that anchovy paste 
is an acceptable substitute in the text of their recipe for Savory 
Shortcrust.  I'm almost tempted to try to reach Clarissa Dixon-Wright 
and see if she's got the secret recipe kicking around.

Maybe we should order a couple jars and try to reverse-engineer the 
recipe?  

Selene