Topic: Is this Britain's oldest curry

[pap rika]

Is this Britain's earliest curry, found in an old cookbook from 1793 at a monastery in Somerset.

THE CHICKEN CURRY RECIPE (AS IT WAS WRITTEN)
Three spoonfuls of curry powder
Two spoonfuls of rice
A tea-spoonful of salt
 Two large onions
A chicken Lemon rind
Veal gravy Butter
[Original recipe word for word]
Take an ounce of butter and make it hot in your stew pan, put to it about two spoonfuls of rice pounded fine, a teaspoonful of salt and three of curry powder.
With a little veal gravy, boil it up and cut them fricasee fashion and fry them in butter with two large onions thin.
Put them to the other ingredients and let it all stew to tender before you take it off put in the rind of a lemon rubbed in salt and the juice of a large one. A small bit of Indian pickle will improve it.
Do Lobster, Veal or Rabbit the same


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-4353808/Is-Britain-s-earliest-curry.html#ixzz4cYWfE6cD
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[Peripatetic Phil]

[Original recipe word for word]Take an ounce of butter and make it hot in your stew pan, put to it about two spoonfuls of rice pounded fine, a teaspoonful of salt and three of curry powder.  With a little veal gravy, boil it up and cut them fricasee fashion and fry them in butter with two large onions thin.  Put them to the other ingredients and let it all stew to tender before you take it off put in the rind of a lemon rubbed in salt and the juice of a large one. A small bit of Indian pickle will improve it.  Do Lobster, Veal or Rabbit the same

Although that is what the Daily Mail reported, the manuscript reads a little differently :

Take an ounce of Butter and make it hot in your stew pan, put to it about two spoonfuls of rice pounded fine a Tea spoonful of salt and 3 of Curry powder.  with a little Veal gravy boil it up then take your chickens and cut them fricasee fashion and fry them in Butter with two large Onions then put them to the other ingredients and let it all stew Together till tender before you take it off put  in the rind of a lemon rubbed in Salt and the Juice of a large one a small bit of Indian Pickle will improve it ...

The key omission is the mention of the chickens, but in their modernised version they get it even more wrong by failing to mention the need to pulverise the rice ...

** Phil.