The other night I made lobster fricassee – a recipe straight out of Eliza Leslie’ 1844 cookbook Directions for Cookery and it was simply delicious. A fricassee is a kind of ragout usually made from white meat or poultry. The meat is browned lightly and then treated as in a white stew. The term migrated into English from the French, and originally meant any meat fried in a pan (including chicken, veal, lamb, or fish), and then smothered in a thickened white or brown stock.

Today’s version usually calls for sautéing the meat (particularly poultry or veal), coating it with flour and then cooking it in a white stock, typically cream-based and sometimes garnished with glazed pearl onions and/or lightly cooked mushrooms. When made with fish, the fish is usually first fried and then cooked in a white sauce.

Fish and shellfish have always been a popular and essential food source for communities located within the vicinity of the ocean and other sources of water. In the 19th century, the advent of the railroad and faster ships allowed folks in more distant locations to enjoy these delicacies of the sea, including lobster. The canning industry also began to take off at this time, allowing shellfish to be more widely available. In addition, Victorian Americans began placing a much higher social value on shellfish, especially oysters and lobster, which had been considered low-grade food by Europeans during the colonial era.

By the 1850s, lobster dishes were a popular dinner-party fixture on the tables of the uber-wealthy and influential. In Directions for Cookery, Miss Leslie gives instructions for how “to boil a lobster” and how “to dress lobster cold,” as well as recipes for stewed lobster, fricasseed lobster, potted lobster (“used to lay between thin slices of bread as sandwiches”), and lobster pie. Lobster salad was another common presentation, made using fresh or canned lobster.

But it was the fricasseed lobster that piqued my interest. I had purchased some lovely lobster tails at Whole Foods and was debating on how to prepare them. I thought about grilling or broiling, or maybe making a creamy sauce to serve over pasta, and just thought I would check to see how Miss Leslie suggested preparing them. I had heard of fricasseed chicken – after all this was one of Mrs. Goodfellow’s specialties – but never fricasseed lobster. I read the recipe and it was really so simple and sounded exactly like what I was looking for. In the 19th century, this dish would have been served more like a stew, but I thought serving over spaghetti would showcase the dish beautifully.

I was not at all disappointed, nor was my taste-tester husband. This dish was honestly restaurant quality. I followed Miss Leslie’s instructions almost exactly - the only difference is that I didn't boil the lobster for as long as her recipe suggests since I was using just lobster tails. 

The result was a dish that was quick and simple, yet rich and elegant.  Of course, it doesn’t take much for the delectable taste of lobster to shine – after all, the crustacean is considered one of the most luxurious of all seafood. 

As a side I sautéed some fresh beet greens with a little red onion, garlic and golden raisins, finished with seasoned salt and a touch of lemon. This all paired perfectly with a nice bottle of Ticker Tape Chardonnay.

FRICASSEED LOBSTER 
From Directions for Cookery by Eliza Leslie, 1844

Put the lobster into boiling salt and water, and let it boil according to its size from a quarter of an hour to half an hour.

The intention is to have it parboiled only, as it is afterwards to be fricasseed. Extract the meat from the shell, and cut it into small pieces. Season it With red pepper, salt, and nutmeg; and put it into a stew-pan with as much cream as will cover it. Keep the lid close; set the pan on hot coals, and stew it slowly for about as long a time as it was previously boiled. Just before you take it from the fire, stir in the beaten yolk of an egg. Send it to table in a small dish placed on a larger one, and arrange the small claws nicely round it on the large dish.


Sources: Dictionary of Gastronomy by Andre L. Simon and Robin Howe; Larousse Gastronomique by Joël Robuchon; The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davisdson; and Food in the United States, 1820s-1890 by Susan Williams

Walk into any American bakery today and you are sure to see rich chocolate cake among the popular offerings. Chocolate cake is now such a staple in our culture that it is hard to imagine a time when this birthday party favorite wasn’t available. But, it wasn’t until the latter part of the 19th century when chocolate as a cake flavoring really started appearing in cookbooks. 

Prior to this, chocolate was consumed mainly as a beverage, and was often served as an alternative to tea or coffee. Hot chocolate was particularly popular during the Victorian era. In fact, Boston Cooking School instructor Fannie Farmer called cocoa a “nutriment as well as a stimulant,” and recommended it especially for children. 

The earliest recipes labeled “chocolate cake” were actually meant to be eaten alongside hot chocolate and contained no chocolate at all. There were chocolate desserts, in the form of blancmanges, mousse, creams, cream pies, custards, puddings, soufflés and syrups, but chocolate cakes containing flour did not appear in the U.S. until the second part of the 19th century, when improvements in cocoa processing created a much smoother, more delicious tasting chocolate, which better translated to cake baking. 

We can credit Eliza Leslie, a well-known 19th century cookbook author and student of Mrs. Goodfellow's Philadelphia cooking school, for publishing the first cake recipe in America truly made with chocolate. It appeared in The Lady’s Receipt Book in 1847. Although European bakers had already been baking with chocolate prior to this time, it took Americans awhile to catch on. Miss Leslie’s recipe uses finely grated chocolate, giving the cake an attractive speckled look. She also includes freshly grated nutmeg and powdered cinnamon, which provide a pleasant spiciness and enhance the chocolate flavor. 

Containing ¾ pound of fresh butter and a whopping 10 eggs that were beaten separately, this would have been a rather expensive and time consuming cake, but well worth the cost and effort. Once the cake was baked and cooled, Miss Leslie instructed topping it with an icing made from powdered sugar and beaten egg white, with the optional addition of rosewater or lemon essence for flavoring. But a dusting of confectioners sugar was also acceptable and just as nice.   

Here's the recipe updated for today's ingredients and measurements. I feel this is one of the best chocolate cake recipes ever - the nutmeg and cinnamon add a very interesting spicy component, meshing perfectly with the chocolate: 

Eliza Leslie’s Chocolate Cake
(Makes one 10-inch Bundt cake, 12 to 16 servings)

• 3 cups sifted cake flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 whole nutmeg, grated (2-2 ½ teaspoons)
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 ounces (3 squares) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 ½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 8 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk

1.     Adjust an oven rack to the lower third position and preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter a 10-inch Bundt pan (or loaf pans), or coat with cooking spray, and dust the inside, including the tube, with fine dry bread crumbs. Knock out the excess crumbs and set aside.
2.     Sift the cake flour with the salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon; set aside.
3.     Process the chocolate for 30 seconds in a food processor. Add ¼ cup of the sugar and process for 30 seconds to 1 minute longer, until the chocolate is chopped into very small granules. Set aside.
4.     Beat the butter in a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. On medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute. Add the ground chocolate mixture and vanilla and beat for 1 minute on medium-high speed. Beat in the remaining 1 ¾ cups sugar about ¼ cup at a time, beating for 20 to 30 seconds after each addition. When all the sugar has been incorporated, beat for 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs two at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition; stop to scrape the bowl and beaters occasionally.
5.     On low speed, gradually add half the flour mixture, beating only until thoroughly incorporated. Beat in the milk, then the remaining flour. Scrape the bowl and beaters with a rubber spatula and stir to make sure the batter is smooth. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
6.     Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the thickest part comes out clean. Any cracks on top of the cake should appear moist, not dry. Cool the cake in its pan for 20 minutes. Use a thin-bladed knife to loosen the cake from the pan, cover the pan with a wire rack, and invert the two. Carefully lift off the pan and let the cake cool completely upside down.
7.     When the cake is completely cook, wrap airtight with plastic wrap and let stand overnight before serving. Cut into thin slices with a serrated knife.
8.     Garnish with a sprinkling of confectioners sugar or an icing made from 4 egg whites beaten with 2 cups confectioners sugar.
Adapted from Baking in America: Traditional and Contemporary Favorites from the Past 200 Years by Greg Patent, 2002

For more information about the evolution of chocolate cake, check out the Ebenezer Maxwell Mansion's blog: Chocolate Cake