The Kitchen's Book of Larch Hill

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The Kitchen's Book is a printed collection of recipes dating from the Empire's most expansive phase. That it has survived to this day, as an heirloom in Larch Hill House in Downton Tithing in the Moran Duchy is something of a miracle given that many of the ingredients required for the recipes cannot be obtained in the modern Duchy.
It consists of two parts: a commercially printed collection of recipes from the early days of the Empire's continental dominance which though strange to the modern reader are well recorded in surviving archives and literature and bound with this a collection of manuscript recipes or provenance unknown but which may be from the household of the family that now treasures this snapshot of the domestic history of the Marivan Empire.

Historical Details

History

The printed element is known to have been published in (insert appropriate date for empire early maximum) by the printing house of Anon & Sons at Nabra-thip. Written by the leading society chef Arvo Aduki it was widely sold across the empire; the style of the recipes is indicative of The Vale of Arabour but the heavy use of sweetroot products points to either the north western part or an attempt to recreate the food of the Vale in some other part of the empire. That the book found its way to the Moran Duchy suggests the latter with Murragh (or is it Morrin) likely.

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The Kitchen's Book of Larch Hill

Marmalade Pudding

¹/₄ lb Suet
¹/₄ lb Bread crumbs
¹/₄ lb Marmalade
¹/₄ lb Sugar
2 eggs
Mix the suet, sugar, bread crumbs, & marmalade all together. Beat up the eggs & add them. If too dry a very little milk, put into well buttered basin & boil.

Context and Notes

The heavy use of processed Sweetroot (aka sugar) in this recipe, along with many of the others indicates that this is not a recipe originating from the The Vale of Arabour.

Fig Pudding

¹/₄ lb Figs
¹/₄ lb Suet
¹/₄ lb Bread Crumbs
3 oz Sugar
2 eggs
1 wine glass milk
A little mixed spice & peel
Chop up suet & figs finely. Make the bread crumbs add the sugar mix dry. Beat the eggs well, add them & the milk, put into a buttered basin tie up in a cloth & boil for 3 hours.

Context and Notes

Although this recipe also makes use of sugar the quantity here is much less than in the preceding recipe (allowing for the sugar in the marmalade) making it not impossible that this was a recipe originating in the Vale, perhaps for those occasions when entertaining those guests whose pallets had been overly exposed to sweetroot elsewhere.

Orange Marmalade

(60 Oranges supposed to make 88lbs) Divide the oranges into quarters, remove the pips (the latter put to soak in warm water enough to cover them), Lay each quarter on a board, & slice as thin as possible. Put & pulp together - to eachpound of sliced oranges add 3 pints of cold water & let it stand 24 hours then boil all together for ³/₄ of an hour until the slices are tender. Let it stand again until the next day then weigh the boiled pulp, & to every pound allow 1¹/₄ lb of preserving sugar & boil for ³/₄ of an hour removing all the ???? the juice of a lemon for each dozen oranges is an improvement - & 2 sweet oranges.

Context and Notes

Although recipes like the Marmalade Pudding (above) almost certainly originate from outside the Vale, the difficulty of obtaining oranges in quantity outside the Vale or the lands downstream of it makes it possible that this recipe is an original from the Vale and perhaps an attempt to broaden the export potential despite the use of sweetroot products. If nothing else it is clear from the parenthetical note that it was intended for large scale manufacture.

Orange Marmalade

Procure seville oranges, stew them till they become so tender that you can pierce them with a straw changing the water 2 or 3 times. Drain them - take off the rind, weigh the pulps & to six pounds of fruit add seven of sugar; boil it slowly till the syrup be clear then add the peel having cut it into strips as thin as possible. Boil again for ¹/₄ of an hour & it is finished - This is an old fashioned but excellent method.

Context and Notes

This is but the second of four recipes for orange marmalade presented in this extract of the Kitchen's book, which contains several further and leads many to suspect that the recipes were being trialled for commerce for though oranges do travel, they travel better preserved than fresh. The reference to this being an old fashioned method is intriguing for it implies that the export of marmalade was a well established trade at the point this recipe was recorded though there are no known records of the trade in this commodity.

Marmalade

Take 12 seville & 3 o4 4 sweet oranges and divide into quarters, take out pips & put the latter in bowl of hot water & allow to stand all night. Cut the fruit into fine shreds & add 2 pints of water to each pound of fruit and let stand 24 hours. Then simmer or boil very slowly till tender. Let it stand all night. Add water from pips then weigh & allow 1¹/₄ lbs castor sugar to each pound. Boil together for an hour or until the juice is well set and put in jars & cover with parchment. The juice & rind of 2 lemons is (illegible). The pith of sweet oranges should not be put in (rind of lemons & sweet oranges tie in a muslin bag & boil it in marmalade).
The Juice of 12 sweet oranges to 72 bitter oranges.

Context and Notes

An enigmatic recipe compared to some of the others. It has been subject to more fine tuning than almost any other recipe in the Kitchen's Book and the current transcription of the final sentences seems to make little sense though it is difficult to propose a better alternative.

Orange Marmalade

12 Seville Oranges
6 quarts water
8 lbs sugar
2 lemons

Directions

Take 12 Seville oranges, cut them in slices, removing the pips only. Add 6 quarts of water & stand to soak 24 hours. Boil fo 2 hours, then add 8lbs of sugar & boil 2 hours longer, rather faster. Before taking from the fire, add the juice of 2 lemons well strained.

Context and Notes

Much controversy has surrounded this recipe largely as a result of it having been sewn over a previously used page. The controlling archivist has, to date, resisted all attempts to removed the sewn sheet to reveal the underlying recipe, which conspiracy theorists have suggested may be a marmalade other than orange. Debate on this will continue until a sufficiently large bribe can be offered to the archivist.

Griddle Cakes

1 cup of flour
1 teaspoonful of sugar
1 of baking powder
A little salt
Sift the baking powder into the flour & add enough of water to make a thin batter. Beat well together & bake immediately.

Context and Notes

This is one of the more enigmatic recipes in the Kitchen's book - not only does it not contain any fruit but the secret of "baking powder" is one which has yet to be discovered. Most authorities believe it to be an indication for the cook's favoured signature ingredient. Although attempt to recreate this recipe have not proved entirely palatable, it is generally agreed that this must be intended as a carrier for the many variations of orange marmalade previously recounted (and the full text of the addenda includes further similar recipes).

All images photographed by Ed Andrew from the original (anonymous) manuscript

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Public Reaction

As the printed work is known to have run to several editions and was pirated by printers operating in at least three other cities it is clear that this part of the work was well received and despite the elapsed centuries there are several known examples - three others exist as heirlooms in the Moran Duchy , Kingdom of Mor and Little Kingdoms (org) as well as other copies in collections in Marivar. Although several of these have had users annotations and even additional recipes added none are known to have even a half as many as the Kitchen's Book.

Medium

Paper