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Fans of Patrick O'Brian's Aubry/Maturin stories know that food plays an important role in the stories, and meals; on shore, in the wardroom, or at the captain's table are commonly discussed in detail enough to give one the sense that, were a meal of like sort to be served, it would be familiar.
A mother and daughter team decided to go this one better, and spent a couple of years going through the books, researching the food and trying to make/reconstruct the foods described. I have this cookbook (Lobscouse and Spotted Dog).
For the Autumn Ball I made lobscouse.
It's a type of hash. If I were to make a stab at describing the recipe, as given, it's scouse, for the captain's table. I made it for the wardroom.
It takes time, and some effort, in way of ongoing prep-work, but the dish is dead simple.
Equal parts, by volume corned beef and ham/corned, or pickled pork
Potatoes.
1/2 part(by weight)pounded biscuit (or powdered saltines, unsalted. Bread crumbs in a pinch)
Juniper berries (fresh is best... I got mine from a local bush, but dried can be purchased)
Stick cinnamon
Ground clove
Nutmeg
I used 4 lbs beef, and about 2-1/2 lbs ham.
Slowly cook the beef, just covered in water. I cooked it for about six hours in a crock-pot, on low. Remove the meat, strain the corning spices, and set the brine aside, cool in the refridgerator, and skimt any fat. Reserve the fat.
Slice the beef, across the grain, into 1-2 inch slices. Place in a large pot, and add the ham, chopped small, but not fine(1/3, to 3/4 inch pieces, they ought to small enough that they easily fit in the mouth). Add to the corned beef, Add the, strained brine, and enough water to cover.
Pound the juniper berries (for this batch I used about 15) until they are clearly deformed, but not mashed. Add two sticks cinammon, and about 1/2 Tbls. clove powder.
Dice potatoes. This is the part which takes the time. As you dice them, toss them in the pot. When it looks about right (which will be a couple of pounds), let it simmer. Stir every 10-15 minutes. The beef will start to shred, don't rush it. Grind a mid-sized nutmeg into the pot.
If you try to taste as it goes, it will seem terribly salty. Don't worry, this will not be the case when you serve it.
Chop some more potatoes (it will look as if you have enough, then you'll stir, and it won't. This is fine, it helps the beef shred).
When you've used 5-7 pounds of potatoes (this will vary based on the potato. I used a waxy variety) add the ship's biscuit, and stir.
When the biscuit disappears, you can serve it up.
To make it rich (which is how the Captain is likely to have wanted it, and the Wardroom might ask for it), take some salt pork (or bacon) and fry it up. You want the grease, to use in lieu of the slush which would collect in the cook-pots.
Put a small layer (more than just enough to grease the pan, but not really deep enough to be "fried", maybe a 1/4" of the bacon/salt pork grease, and get it hot. Ladle a serving of the scouse into it. When it smells toasty, turn (this works better if the scouse is cooled, it will hold together better). Use a large skillet, and a spatula large enough to get under the entire serving, or it will fall apart when you try to turn it.
After a like amount of time, serve, with the pepper grinder close to hand.
A mother and daughter team decided to go this one better, and spent a couple of years going through the books, researching the food and trying to make/reconstruct the foods described. I have this cookbook (Lobscouse and Spotted Dog).
For the Autumn Ball I made lobscouse.
It's a type of hash. If I were to make a stab at describing the recipe, as given, it's scouse, for the captain's table. I made it for the wardroom.
It takes time, and some effort, in way of ongoing prep-work, but the dish is dead simple.
Equal parts, by volume corned beef and ham/corned, or pickled pork
Potatoes.
1/2 part(by weight)pounded biscuit (or powdered saltines, unsalted. Bread crumbs in a pinch)
Juniper berries (fresh is best... I got mine from a local bush, but dried can be purchased)
Stick cinnamon
Ground clove
Nutmeg
I used 4 lbs beef, and about 2-1/2 lbs ham.
Slowly cook the beef, just covered in water. I cooked it for about six hours in a crock-pot, on low. Remove the meat, strain the corning spices, and set the brine aside, cool in the refridgerator, and skimt any fat. Reserve the fat.
Slice the beef, across the grain, into 1-2 inch slices. Place in a large pot, and add the ham, chopped small, but not fine(1/3, to 3/4 inch pieces, they ought to small enough that they easily fit in the mouth). Add to the corned beef, Add the, strained brine, and enough water to cover.
Pound the juniper berries (for this batch I used about 15) until they are clearly deformed, but not mashed. Add two sticks cinammon, and about 1/2 Tbls. clove powder.
Dice potatoes. This is the part which takes the time. As you dice them, toss them in the pot. When it looks about right (which will be a couple of pounds), let it simmer. Stir every 10-15 minutes. The beef will start to shred, don't rush it. Grind a mid-sized nutmeg into the pot.
If you try to taste as it goes, it will seem terribly salty. Don't worry, this will not be the case when you serve it.
Chop some more potatoes (it will look as if you have enough, then you'll stir, and it won't. This is fine, it helps the beef shred).
When you've used 5-7 pounds of potatoes (this will vary based on the potato. I used a waxy variety) add the ship's biscuit, and stir.
When the biscuit disappears, you can serve it up.
To make it rich (which is how the Captain is likely to have wanted it, and the Wardroom might ask for it), take some salt pork (or bacon) and fry it up. You want the grease, to use in lieu of the slush which would collect in the cook-pots.
Put a small layer (more than just enough to grease the pan, but not really deep enough to be "fried", maybe a 1/4" of the bacon/salt pork grease, and get it hot. Ladle a serving of the scouse into it. When it smells toasty, turn (this works better if the scouse is cooled, it will hold together better). Use a large skillet, and a spatula large enough to get under the entire serving, or it will fall apart when you try to turn it.
After a like amount of time, serve, with the pepper grinder close to hand.
