Gloucestershire Regional Recipes
Gloucestershire is a county in the Central region of England, and these are a collection of local and regional recipes handed down within families who have lived and worked in the Gloucestershire area. All of the recipes below are regionally authentic, originally coming from recipe books published in the 1800s or 1900s, with the weights and measurements adjusted (alongside the old standards) where appropriate for the modern kitchen.
FOWL PIE
Prepare an old fowl. Cut into neat pieces and put into a saucepan with 2 chopped onions, a stick of celery, 1/2 lb (225g) of ham cut small, a muslin bag containing a blade of mace, a little thyme and a few peppercorns. Cover with cold water, bring to the boil and simmer till tender/ Turn out and leave until cold. /Remove the fat and the seasoning bag. Have ready three hard-boiled eggs and some chopped parsley. Put a layer of fowl in a pie-dish with some of the gravy and a layer of eggs and parsley alternatively with the meat until the dish is filled. Cover with a god pastry crust and bake in a good oven350F (180C) till the pastry is nicely browned.
BADMINTON EGGS
3 new laid eggs, fried breadcrumbs, 6 pickled mushrooms, butter, rolled in flour, 2 good-sized truffles, wineglass full of stock from truffles, ketchup, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoonful port wine.
Boil the eggs quite hard, remove shells and cut in halves lengthways. Take out yolks and chop finely with the mushrooms and truffles. Put in stew-pan with stock, ketchup, pepper, salt and port wine. Simmer for 10 minutes and thicken with a little fresh butter that has been rolled in flour. Lay the whites of eggs on a dish and fill with fried breadcrumbs, dust over with cayenne and pour over them the mixture from the saucepan.
GLOUCESTER CHEESE AND ALE
Cut some Gloucester cheese into thin flakes, without rind. Put in baking dish, spread with mustard and cover with strong ale. Cook til cheese is dissolved and tender. Have ready some thick slices of brown toast, and pour hot ale over to moisten it, and the cheese. The hotter it is served the better.