This fine dining establishment can be found in York(town), Virginia
Cecily of York, Proprietress
Note: This was created for roleplaying purposes in Panhistoria. It is set during the Revolutionary War period.
Hominy Porridge, made with cornmeal boiled in milk.
Soups are a proper and economical way to start a good meal.
Fish Chowder with milk and cream
Hodge-Podge, served in a soup bowl. Made with beef, veal, mutton, barley, onions, lettuce, turnips, carrots, and herbs. Carrots include the orange, yellow, and red varieties. The lettuce is the kind with purple spots on the leaves because they are the most tender and the least bitter.
One good thing about occasional humidity, bread rises faster when it is humid so you can eat sooner!
Baking Powder Biscuits made with buttermilk and fireplace ash and cream of tartar (available since the 1770s).
Sally Lunn bread is a firm, white bread that is named after a woman who sold bread in Bath (in the 18th century). Sally Lunn bread is popular in the South.
Tea scones
Salad of lettuce, carrots, sorrel, and dandelion greens. Served with a vinegar dressing.
Salad of lettuce, pepper grass, chervil, and cress. Served with a vinegar dressing.
Salamongundy or salmagundi made with shredded lettuce, chicken, anchovies, eggs, lemon, parsley, and onions that has been formed into a pyramidal shape. It is garnished with nasturtions and served with salad oil made from vinegar, salt, and pepper.
Artichokes, asparagus, beans, beets, broccoli, cabbage, carrots, cauliflower, celery, collards, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, kale, leeks, lettuce, onions, parsnips, peas, pepper, potatoes, and turnips are among the many vegetables that grow in Virginia.
Baked Beans. We use the new Kentucky wonder pole bean.
Baked squash pudding made with squash, eggs, milk, and butter.
Boiled Carrots. We use a mixture of the three kinds of locally grown carrots, orange, yellow, and red. The yellow ones can be up to one foot long.
Boiled Greens. We offer the ever-popular spinach in the spring and autumn and cabbage in the winter.
Boiled Parsnips. These are locally grown.
Creamed Radishes are made with radishes, a white sauce, and dill. During the winter we use black-skinned winter radishes.
As in England, beef is our most popular meat, but we are best known for our locally raised hams. Our hams are highly praised by travelers.
Beef Alamode with pounded beef that has been larded with fat bacon, seasoned with herbs, and stewed in claret and anchovies. Served hot but makes a good cold dish as well. This may be a standard dish in the Colonies but I like to think ours is the finest.
Corned Beef served with cabbage, carrots, and potatoes.
Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding. Yorkshire Pudding is made with flour, milk, eggs, and salt.
Roast Pig with your choice of sage sauce; beef gravy and *mushroom and walnut catsup; butter and cream sauce; or currants and wine sauce. Our Southern hogs have an excellent flavor due to their varied diet, which includes peaches and acorns.
Steak and Kidney Pie.
Baked Turtle. Turtles are common in southern waters. We bake ours with thyme and savory, eggs, Madeira wine, and a little veal.
Chicken Pie. Our chicken pie follows the modern practice of cutting the chicken into pieces rather than baking a whole chicken in a pie.
Corned Venison. Corned venison has been preserved in brine so that it is ready when you want it. Our corned venison is cooked with thyme and bay leaves.
Game Pie with venison, rabbit, duck, mushrooms, and seasonings.
Mincemeat Pie made with meat preserved with sugar and spices. We add a few apples and raisins to the pie.
Oyster Loaf made from oysters stuffed into hollowed out bread - an English and Southern tradition. The Yorktown area is known for its abundant oysters.
Pigeon Pie. Our pigeon pie is made from female pigeons because they are tastier.
Roasted Green (Young) Goose, served in a green sauce made from sorrel, sugar, and gooseberries.
Stewed turkey with herbs.
Toad-in-the-Hole made from sausages baked in Yorkshire pudding batter.
These cakes may not be available in the winter due to a lack of eggs.
Applesauce cake made with spices and dusted with sugar
Dried apple cake with currants and nuts and dusted with sugar
Rosewater-Currant cake dusted with sugar
Spice Cake with nuts and nutmeg. An eggless variety is made in the winter when eggs are scarce.
These pies are made with fresh fruit in the summer and preserved fruit during the rest of the year. They are deep dish pies with thick top and bottom crusts in the English style. They are unlike the French-style pies with lighter crusts on the bottom and no crust on top. Most of our pies are made with fruit, cinnamon, mace, rose-water, and sugar).
Apple (our most popular pie)
Black berry
Lemon Chess Pie, with lemon, eggs, sugar, flour, and cornmeal. The "chess" refers to the cheese-like consistency of the filling. This pie is a popular winter food.
Pecan (pecans are a new kind of nut that have been grown by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson)
Plum
Raspberry
These are served with a milk sauce, brandy sauce, or cherry brandy sauce:
Bread Pudding
Carrot Pudding, with orange, giant yellow, and red carrots.
Indian Pudding, with Indian meal (corn meal) and raisins
Lemon Pudding
Orange Pudding
Steamed Apple Pudding
Almond macaroons (Recipes for this first appeared in the 17th century. Mrs. Stagg advertised mackaroons and savoy biscakes in the Virginia Gazette in 1738).
Custard, made with cream, almonds, and rose-water.
Gooseberry Fool with sugar and heavy cream
Trifle, made with a biscuit and spiced cake, a layer of custard, and a layer of syllabub (a brandy and cream drink), and topped with jelly and flowers. (One source says this dates to 1798).
Whitepot (sweetened cornmeal pudding)
Chocolate, Coffee, and Cider
Apple cider with cloves and mace
Chocolate, made with chocolate, sugar, scalded milk, and dusted with nutmeg.
Coffee from Jamaica, Haiti, Martinque, or Java.
Teas
Served with your choice of bread and butter or one of our delightful cakes.
Bergamot/Oswego Tea from bee balm, good for settling stomachs and sore thoats
Blackberry Leaf Tea (also helps with diarrhea)
Goldenrod Tea from Goldenrod leaves and flowers
Hyperion Tea from Raspberry Leaves
Liberty Tea from the Loosestrife Plant
Mint Tea from mint leaves
Rose Hip Tea
Sassafras Tea from Sassafras leaves
Wine Drinks
Cherry brandy
Claret, a popular drink in Virginia
Compound Posset made with cream, claret, sack, eggs, sugar, and cinnamon. A posset is a hot milk drink with hot wine or beer and sugar.
Hot Buttered Rum. Rum is the most popular distilled drink in the Colonies.
Madeira Wine, a popular wine in Virginia
Port, a popular drink in Virginia
Sack Posset, made with sack (sweet sherry), cream, eggs, bread, sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg. This is an "eating" posset that is thick enough to slice and is served with a spoon. A posset is a hot milk drink with hot wine or beer and sugar.
Shrub, made from brandy or rum (we make it with rum) and sugar and poured over fruit or mixed with fruit juice. We mix ours with cherry juice.
Syllabub, made with amber Madeira wine, brandy, or cider and heavy cream and seasonings. (Syllabubs were popular in early Virginia and were considered drinks. They lost favor in the 19th century as ice cream became popular).
West Indian Rum, the best kind there is. Ours comes from Jamaica.
Punch
Punch is very popular in Tidwater Virginia. It is a warm drink made from spirits, such as rum or brandy, lemons or limes, water, sugar, and spices.
Lime Punch, made from limes, brandy, water, sugar, and spices.
Milk Punch, made from milk, eggs, cream, brandy, and lemon juice (this is the forerunner of eggnog)
Rum Punch, made from rum, lemons, water, sugar, and spices.
Tea Punch, made with strong tea, sugar, cream, and claret
* Ketchup began at the end of the 17th century as a highly spiced sauce from the East Indies. The sauce kept well and its use soon spread. In the 18th century, ketchup was made from mushrooms and walnuts as tomatoes were thought to be poisonous. Tomatoes were only grown as ornamental garden plants.
The Colonial Williamsburg Tavern Cookbook, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, New York: Clarkson Potter Publishers, 2001
Cooking in America: 1590 - 1840, Trudy Eden, Greenwood Press, 2006.
History from the Hearth: Colonial Michilimackinac Cookbook, Sally Eustice, Mackinac State Historic Parks, 1997, 2010.
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Created October 20, 2012