Music Welcome to Snewscast, the podcast designed to help you fall asleep. Find us at snoozecast.com and if you enjoy our show, please share us with a friend. This episode is brought to you by Pleasant Drams. Tonight, we'll read a selection of recipes from the book English House Whiffry by Elizabeth Moxon, published in 1764, starting with a recipe for whipped syllabubs. Moxon's book was one of the earliest English cookery books written specifically for middle-class women managing their own households rather than for professional cooks or the aristocracy. Our recipes are practical, but far from plain, offering glimpses into both the culinary expectations and the social rituals of Georgian era domestic life. The title page promises recipes that are useful, substantial, and splendid.

And the tone throughout is no nonsense with an emphasis on health and frugality. Though it's clear, Moxin didn't shy away from a bit of show-iness in presentation. A whipsilabub, for example, was a frothy dessert drink made of sweetened wine or cider and thickened cream, often served in decorative glasses and topped with foam. It's a kind of indulgence that would have delighted guests at a gentile supper table, bridging the gap between refreshment and dessert. Let's get cozy. Close your eyes. Relax your body into the softness of your bed. Now take a few deep breaths. to make whipped syllabubs, take two porringers of cream and one of white wine. Great in the skin of a lemon. Take the whites of three eggs. sweeten it to your taste,

then whip it with a whisk, take off the froth as it rises, and put it into your syllabub glasses or pots, whether you have, then they are fit to use. An orange pudding.

Take two civille oranges.

The largest and cleanest you can get.

Great off the outer skin with a clean grater.

Take eight eggs.

Leave out two of the whites. Half a pound of loaf sugar, beat it very fine, put it to your eggs, and beat them for an hour. Put to them half a pound of clarified butter, and four ounces of almonds blanched and heat them with a little rose water. Put in the juice of the oranges, but mind you don't put in the the pipins and mix together. Bake it with a thin paste over the bottom of the dish. It must be baked in a slow oven. To make an herb pudding, take a good quantity of spinach and parsley, a little sorrel and mild time. Put to them a handful of great oatmeal creed. Shred them together till they be very small. Put to them a pound of of currents washed and cleaned, four eggs well beaten in a gill of good cream. If you would have it sweet, put in a quarter of a pound of sugar, a little nutmeg, a little salt, and a handful of grated bread. Then, meal your cloth and tie it closed before you put it in to boil. To make a bread pudding, take three jills of milk. When boiled, take a penny loaf sliced thin. Cut off the outer crust. Put on the boiling milk. Let it stand close-covered till it be cold. And beat it very well till all the lumps be broke. Take five eggs, beat very well, grate in a little nutmeg, shred some lemon peel, and a quarter of a pound of butter, with as much sugar as we'll sweeten it and And currents as much as you please.

Let them be well cleaned.

So put them into your dish

and bake or boil it.

To make herb dumplings.

Take a penny loaf, cut off the outer crust, and the rest in slices.

Put to it as much hot milk as we'll just wet it.

Take the yolks and whites of six eggs. Beat them with two spoonfuls of powdered sugar, half a nutmeg and a little salt. So put it to your bread. Take half a pound of currents, well cleaned. Put them to your eggs. Then take a handful of the mildest herbs you can get. Gather them so equal that the taste of one be not above the other. Wash and chop them very small. Put as many of them in as will make a deep green. Don't put any parsley among them, nor any other stronger. So mix them all together and boil them in a cloth. Make them about the bigness of middling apples. About half an hour will boil them. Put them into your dish and have a little candid orange, white wine, butter and sugar for sauce, so serve them up. To make lemon cheesecake's, blanch half a pound of almonds and beat them in a stone mortar a very fine with a little rose water. Put in 8 eggs, leaving out 5 of the whites. Take 3 quarters of a pound of sugar and 3 quarters of a pound of melted butter. Beat all together, then take 3 lemon skins, oil tender, the rind and all. Beat them very well and mix them with the rest. Then put them into your paste. You may make a lemon pudding the same way, only add the juice of half a lemon before Before you set them in the oven, great over them a little fine loaf sugar. To make white gingerbread, take a little gum dragon, lay it in rose water all night, Then take a pound of Jordan almen's blanched with a little of the gum water, a pound of double refined sugar, beat and sift it, and ounce of cinnamon, beat with a little rose water, work it into a paste and print it, then set it in a stove to dry. To make red gingerbread, take a quart and a jill of red wine, a jill and a half of brandy. seven or eight manchants according to the size of the Brad is.

Great them, the crust must be dried, beat and sifted. 3 pounds and a half of sugar, beat and sifted. 2 ounces of cinnamon and 2 ounces of ginger, beat and sifted. A pound of almonds blanched and beet with rose water. Put the bread into the liquor by degrees, stirring it all the time. When the bread is all well mixed, take it off the fire. You must put the sugar, spices, and almonds into it. When it is cold, print it, keep some of the spice to dust the prints with. To make a great cake, take 5 pounds of fine flower, let it be dried very well before the fire, and six pounds of currents well dressed and rubbed in cloths after they are washed. Set them in a sieve before the fire. You must weigh your currents after they are cleaned, then take three quarters of an ounce of mace, two

large nutmegs, beaten and mixed amongst the flour, and pound of powdered sugar, and pound of citron, and a pound of candied orange. Let your citron in orange in pretty large pieces.

And a pound of almonds cut in three... Handed orange. Cut your citron in orange in pretty large pieces.

And a pound of almonds cut in three or four pieces long way. Then take 16 eggs, leaving out half of the whites. Beat your sugar and eggs for half an hour with a little salt. Take three jills of cream and three pounds and a half of butter. Melt your butter with part of the cream for fear it should be too hot. Put it in between a jack and a jill of good brandy. A quart of light east and and the rest of the cream. Mix all your liquors together about blood warm. Make a hole in the middle of your flower and put in the liquids. Cover it half an hour and let it stand to rise. Then put in your currents and mix all together. Butter your hoop, tie a paper three fold and put it at the bottom in your hoop. Just when they are ready to set in the oven, put the cake into your hoop at three times. When you have laid a little paste at the bottom, lay in part of your sweetmates and almonds, then put in a little paste over them again and the rest of your sweetmates and and set it in a quick oven. Two hours will bake it. To make icing for this cake, take two pounds of double refined sugar, beat it and sift it through a fine sieve.

Put to it a spoonful of fine starch, a penny worth of gum arabic. Beat them all well together. Take the whites of four or five eggs. Beat them well and put to them a spoonful of rose water or orange flower water, a spoonful of the juice of lemon, beat them with the whites of your eggs, and put in a little to your sugar till you wet it. Then beat them for two hours whilst your cake is baking. If you make it over thin, it will run. When you lie it on your cake, you must lie it on with a knife. If you would have the icing very thick, you must add a little more sugar. Wipe off the loose currents before you put on the icing and put it into the oven to harden the icing. To make raisin wine, take 10 gallons of water and 50 pounds of raisins. Pick out the large stalks and boil them in your water. When your water is boiled, put it into a tub. Take the raisins and chop them very small. When your water is blood warm, put in your raisins and rub them very well with your hand. When you put them into the water, let them work for 10 days, stirring them twice a day, then strain out the raisins in a sieve and put them into a clean hardened bag and squeeze Place it in the press to take out the liquor. So put it into your barrel. Don't let it be over full. Bung it up close and let it stand whilst it is fine. When you tap your wine, you must not tap it too near the bottom for fear of the grounds. When it is drawn off, take the grounds out of the barrel and wash it out with a little of your wine. Then put your wine into the barrel again, draw your grounds through a flannel bag and put them into the barrel to the rest. Add to it

two pounds of loaf sugar, then bung it up and let it stand a week or ten days. If it Be very sweet to your taste. Let it stand some time longer and bottle it.

To make birch wine, take birch water and boil it. Clear it with whites of eggs. To every gallon of water, take 2 pounds and a half of fine sugar, boil it 3-4-1 hour, and when it is almost cold, put in a little yeast, work it 2 or 3 days, then put it into a barrel, and 2 every five gallons put in a quart of brandy and half a pound of

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