Food History

I feel full of Australian slang today. This means you need biccies and scones. Lots of them. And it means I need to behave and not fill your minds with Strine (Aussie dialect, full of amazingly strange terms and not always terribly respectful). The simplest way to avoid talking about how tired are my plates of meat (feet and summertime, you know, don’t always mix) is to find you US recipes.

These ones are from the charming Miss Leslie (Directions for Cookery, in its various branches, 10th edition) and demonstrate to us that scones were known in the US as ‘tea biscuits’ in 1840. Someone should do a film on the fast-rising, super-wonderful snack called the Tea Biscuit. Then we should all go to back-to-back showings of Tea Biscuit and Sea Biscuit and become entirely confused.

Savoy biscuits

Take four eggs, and separate the whites from the yolks. Beat the whites by themselves, to a stiff froth; then add gradually the yolks, and beat them both together for a long time. Next add by degrees half a pound of the finest loaf-sugar, powdered and sifted, beating it in very hard; and eight drops of strong essence of lemon.

Lastly, stir in a quarter of a pound of sifted flour, a little at a time. Stir the whole very hard, and then with a spoon lay it on sheets of white paper, forming it into thin cakes of an oblong or oval shape. Take care not to place them too close to each other, lest they run. Grate loaf-sugar over the top of each, to assist in keeping them in shape. Have the oven quite ready to put them in immediately. It should be rather brisk. They will bake in a few minutes, and should be but slightly coloured.

New York Cookies

Take a half-pint or a tumbler full of cold water, and mix it with half a pound of powdered white sugar. Sift three pounds of flour into a large pan and cut up in it a pound of butter; rub the butter very fine into the flour. Add a grated nutmeg, and a tea-spoonful of powdered cinnamon, with a wine glass of rose water. Work in the sugar, and make the whole into a stiff dough, adding, if necessary, a little cold water. Dissolve a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash in just enough of warm water to cover it, and mix it in at the last. Take the lump of dough out of the pan, and knead it on the paste-board till it becomes quite light. Then roll it out rather more than half an inch thick, and cut it into square cakes with a jagging iron or with a sharp knife. Stamp the surface of each with a cake print. Lay them in buttered pans, and bake them of a light brown in a brisk oven. They are similar to what are called New Year’s cakes, and will keep two or three weeks. In mixing the dough, you may add three table-spoonfuls of carraway seeds.

Sugar Biscuit.

Wet a pound of sugar with two large tea-cups full of milk; and rub a pound of butter into two pounds of flour; adding a table-spoonful of cinnamon, and a handful of carraway seeds. Mix in the sugar, add a tea-spoonful of pearl-ash dissolved, and make the whole into a stiff dough. Knead it, and then roll it out into a sheet about half an inch thick. Beat it on both sides with the rolling-pin, and then cut it out with the edge of a tumbler into round cakes. Prick them with a fork, lay them in buttered pans, and bake them light brown in a quick oven. You may colour them yellow by mixing in with the other ingredients a little of the infusion of saffron.

Milk Biscuit.

Cut up three quarters of a pound of butter in a quart of milk, and set it near the fire to warm, till the butter becomes soft; then with a knife, mix it thoroughly with the milk, and set it away to cool. Afterwards stir in two wine glasses of strong fresh yeast, and add by degrees as much sifted flour as will make a dough just stiff enough to roll out. As soon as it is mixed, roll it into a thick sheet, and cut it out into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler or a wine glass. Sprinkle a large iron pan with flour; lay the biscuits in it, cover it and set it to rise near the fire. When the biscuits are quite light, knead each one separately; prick them with a fork, and set them again in a warm place for about half an hour. When they are light again, bake them in a moderate oven. They should be eaten fresh, and pulled open with the fingers, as splitting them with a knife will make them heavy.

Soda Biscuits.

Melt half a pound of butter in a pint of warm milk, adding a tea-spoonful of soda; and stir in by degrees half a pound of sugar.
Then sift into a pan two pounds of flour; make a hole in the middle; pour in the milk, &c., and mix it with the flour into a dough. Put it on your paste-board, and knead it long and hard till it becomes very light. Roll it out into a sheet half an inch thick. Cut it into little round cakes with the top of a wine glass, or with a tin cutter of that size; prick the tops; lay them on tins sprinkled with flour, or in shallow iron pans; and bake them of a light brown in a quick oven; they will be done in a few minutes. These biscuits keep very well.

Tea Biscuit.

Melt a quarter of a pound of fresh butter in a quart of warm milk, and add a salt-spoonful of salt. Sift two pounds of flour into a pan, make a hole in the centre, and put in three table-spoonfuls of the best brewer’s yeast. Add the milk and butter and mix it
into a stiff paste. Cover it and set it by the fire to rise. When quite light, knead it well, roll it out an inch thick, and cut it into round cakes with the edge of a tumbler. Prick the top of each with a fork; lay them in buttered pans and bake them light brown. Send them to table warm, and split and butter them.