Wicked Wayback Boston….

In which I travel from the Old Colony to The City (on a Hill implied) and now SHOUT OUT Thanks to Kristen for Driving and Kathy for Support (technical, and all sorts of otherways) and talk about bread and pompions and beer and water and Indian Pudding and other Good Eats from the 17th century Massachusetts Bay/Plimoth Colony experience.

And then there were questions from the floor,so as a follow up to

Friday night’s Repasts of the Past 

with the Partnership of The Historic Bostons  

To answer some questions I couldn’t then off the top of my head……

How to Make Indian Pudding in a Slow Cooker

and then there was a posset question, which I rather fudged/danced around and finally admitted I was not prepare for heavy dairy….so here’s some guilt/make up posset now.

Possets

Posset pot, Netherlands, Late 17th or early 18th century, Tin-glazed earthenware painted in blue V&A Museum no. 3841-1901[1] Victoria and Albert Museum, London

Silver, 17th century English posset cup

Shakespeare’s World in 100 Objects

from 1675 Robert May The Accomplist Cook

 

To make a Compound Posset of Sack, Claret, White-Wine, Ale, Beer, or Juyce of Oranges, &c.

Take twenty yolks of eggs with a little cream, strain them, and set them by; then have a clean scowred skillet, and put into it a pottle of good sweet cream, and a good quantity of whole cinamon, set it a boiling on a soft charcoal fire, and stir it continually; the cream having a good taste of the cinamon, put in the strained eggs and cream into your skillet, stir them together, and give them a warm, then have some sack in a deep bason or posset-pot, good store of fine sugar, and some sliced 425 nutmeg; the sack and sugar being warm, take out the cinamon, and pour your eggs and cream very high in to the bason, that it may spatter in it, then strow on loaf sugar.

To make a Posset simple.

Boil your milk in a clean scowred skillet, and when it boils take it off, and warm in the pot, bowl, or bason some sack, claret, beer, ale, or juyce of orange; pour it into the drink, but let not your milk be too hot, for it will make the curd hard, then sugar it.

Otherways.

Beat a good quantity of sorrel, and strain it with any of the foresaid liquors, or simply of it self, then boil some milk in a clean scowred skillet, being boil’d, take it off and let it cool, then put it to your drink, but not too hot, for it will make the curd tuff.

Possets of Herbs otherways.

Take a fair scowred skillet, put in some milk into it, and some rosemary, the rosemary being well boil’d in it, take it out and have some ale or beer in a pot, put to it the milk and sugar, (or none.)

Silver feeding cup or small posset pot, by William Andrews, 1698.
Feeding cup or small posset pot in silver.
Wellcome Images

And here’s a modern version from The Guardian – A Lemon Posset 

There are quite a few recent (21st century) versions of possets out there. It seems to be trending……#posset

There were other things, like acorns in bread and chestnuts  and hogs and lobsters and squirrels and making beer from bread and enourmous turnips and grist mills and …you know, the usual Friday night chatter.

But it’s already mizzled in my brain, because Saturday was the Hard Core Hearth Cooking Workshop back at Plimoth, which is Wicked Wayback for another day. .