[Sca-cooks] Lobster in Period

Terry Decker t.d.decker at att.net
Wed Jan 15 15:25:36 PST 2014


I think the question is "what is meant by lobster in period?" and how do I 
document it.  However, here's a little earlier recipe (most likely for H. 
grammarus) than Martha Washington:

"Crabbe or Lopster boiled.   Take a crabbe or a lopster, and stop him in þe 
vente with on hire clees, and seth him in water, and no salt; or elles 
stoppe him in þe same maner, and cast him in an oven, and bake him, and 
serue him forth colde. And his sauce is vinegre. "

    Austin, Thomas. Two Fifteenth-Century Cookery-Books. Harleian MS. 279 & 
Harl. MS. 4016, with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1429, Laud MS. 553, & Douce 
MS 55. London: for The Early English Text Society by N. Trübner & Co., 1888.

You should also realize that lobster was poverty food in the U.S. from the 
early Colonial Period until well into the 20th Century, so Martha 
Washington's sauce would not have been served with lobster.

Bear



> While it is slightly later that period Martha Washington's Book of Cookery 
> has a pepper butter sauce for boiled shrimp that Karen Hess writes is a 
> typical 17th century sauce.
>
> Will check other texts.
>
> Daniel
>
>
> I am currently working on a menu for an A&S entry and am trying to do some 
> research on lobster in period. Does anyone have any sources on which 
> species might be correct? I am finding documentation on Homarus Gammarus 
> (common European lobster) from 1708, but haven't seen anything earlier.
>
> Thanks!
>
> Aline




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