Hedgehog Pie—or What's Cooking for the Holidays!

Cara/Andrea here, The holiday season always get me in the mood for firing up the oven. I especially enjoy baking at this time of year, but am always on the lookout for new recipes to share with family and friends. You know—cookies, chocolate confections, fruit studded cakes, or . . . um . . . hedgehog pudding.

Yes, hedgehog pudding. (from a c. 1750 English cookbook)

Before you start turning green around the gills, allow me to elaborate. (I assure you it’s NOT what you think!) I happened to see a special blog on historical holiday cooking on the Yale Library website and I just had to delve in for a bite. (Clearly, they know how to get a reader’s attention with their headlines—and though the ingredients aren't listed, the blurb promises that it does not contain hedgehog.) So, as we head into the season where we all tend to eat and drink to excess, let’s whet the appetite with a few of their wonderfully arcane cookbooks.

Yale’s Babylonian Collection owns three of the world’s oldest known cookbooks. The Akkadian clay tablets, which feature recipes for meat, vegetables and stews, date back to 1750 B.C. No translation is provided for the cuneiform text, so we’ll move on to a manuscript 18th century English cookbook (you can download a PDF of the original here) which features not only the aforesaid hedgehog pudding, but calves’ foot pudding, wet sweet meats and possetts and sillibubs.

Another 18th century offering is The Family Magazine—In Two Parts, which apparently was the Georgian equivalent of Martha Stewart’s Living. If you are looking for an alternative to the Christmas goose or turkey, perhaps you would like to consider its recipe for Pigeon Pears:

Take your pigeons, bone them all but one leg, and put into through the side out at the vent; cut off the toes, and fill them with forced meat, made of the heart and liver; cover them with a tender forced meat: First, wash them with the batter of eggs, and shape them like pears; then wash them over, and roll them in scalded chopped spinach; cover them with thin slices of bacon, and put them in bladders; boil them an hour and a half, then take them out of the bladders, and lay them before the fire to crisp; then make for them a ragout.

The second half of the cookbook is filled with recipes for non-alcoholic beverages, like walnut water and cinnamon water, because, as the authors warn, “Tis certain that all spirituous liquers do great mischief to the human body." Also in abundance at the back of the book are cures for indigestion—not surprising after one reads through the first half meals.

Jumping to the early 20th century, I’ll end this little peek at food history on a literary note. I'm including a copy of Edith Wharton's favorite Christmas pudding. All of authors might want to make it, hoping to ingest a little artistic inspiration along with the sultanas and almonds!

Speaking of cookbooks, I grew up with a battered copy of Irma Rombauer's  The Joy of Cooking, which my mother received from her mother as a wedding gift! The pages for chocolate brownies, egg nog and pumpkin pie are well-spattered from years of use. I have still have it, though a more modern version is now used in the kitchen while the original one is lovingly preserved on my keeper bookshelf.  

Do you have a favorite go-to cookbook to use during the holidays? A favorite type of food to prepare? A favorite recipe or traditional family treat? Mine is hasselnuss stengeli, a cookie recipe from my Swiss grandmother that is basically a hazelnut shortbread, glazed with lemon and confectioner’s sugar. Please share! (In the meantime I’m sneaking off to the kitchen.)

Comments

[Mary Jo Putney]

Urk on the Hedgehog Pudding. Though at least no actual hedgehogs are damaged to make it. The Pigeon Pears are more alarmingly carnivorous and would incline me toward vegetarianism. *G* I have no one recipe book for holiday cooking--just battered index cards with favorite recipes. Pumpkin pie with fresh ginger, for example.....

[Andrea Penrose]

For those inclined to share (for both FB and Twitter).

Hedgehog Pie was apparently a great favorite in 1750—what are you cooking for the holidays? http://wordwenches.typepad.com/word_wenches/2015/12/what-cooking-for-the-holidays.html

Andrea

[Andrea Penrose]

Arrgh. Not thinking and sent the lopp message here. Ah, well. In any case, I too have a recipe box crammed with favorites—the more stains and dried goop on the paper, the more it means that I love the the recipe! A number of the cards are from my mother, and are her transcription of my grandmother's cookies. They come out a lot this time of year!

[Sophie Weston]

I used to make hedgehog pudding when I was a student.( Basically the hedgehog was what it looked like.) I think it was an 18th century recipe, though I don't remember the source.

You made a basic sponge pudding, rather stiff (I think you may have to whip the egg whites and fold in flour and ground almonds very fast) then shaped it into a ball, dusted it with sugar and cooked it. When it was cold, you heated jam with a little lemon or orange juice until it was just turning brown and starting to crease if you put a dollop on a cold saucer. And you dribbled that over the round pudding. Blanch and slice almonds, toast them under the grill, stick them into the pudding so they look like spines. Voila hedgehog.

My sponge always fell apart, so I'd add marsala or madeira to mould it back into shape. Think playdoh ... Tasted pretty damn good though.

[Anne Gracie]

We make a slice here called "hedgehog" which is basically cocoa, butter, condensed milk, nuts and broken biscuits -- you can google a recipe. And I once made something that actually resembled a hedgehog -- a round biscuit (cookie) with slivered almonds poked into it before baking, so it resembled a hedgehog.

My favorite thing to make as a Christmas giveaway is something called "Christmas Crack" -- again google it for a recipe. Plain salt crackers, with toffee and nuts and melted chocolate. It's sweet, salty and very yummy.

[Anne Gracie]

Sounds yummy, if a bit fiddly, Sophie. I do like the sound of using madeira or marsala to glue it together. Sort of a trifle-y effect.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, bless you, Sophie for explianing the hedgehog. I did know it was a sweet, but the notes on the book didn't give the recipe. Sounds yummy! (I may rethink not considering a hedgehog for Christmas festivities!)

[Andrea Penrose]

Sounds divine, Anne!

[Andrea Penrose]

A little alcoholic beverage always does wonders in culinary repairs! (Hic!)

[Michele]

We still keep a copy of "Joy of Cooking" from our wedding in 1979! As to our Christmas feast, over the years we evolved into having a Christmas Eve cold buffet of salmon and shrimp, and on the day we've tried out different things. This year, we're going to do Lidia Bastianich's roast duck again. My husband, who is half-Swedish, loves to make Hasselbak potatoes, so that will be our side. It's "just" three of us, my husband, myself and our daughter, but that's no reason not to celebrate with good food and a good movie. This year, it's "Frozen." We're thinking my husband will get a kick out of the Nordic jokes.

[Reina]

My sisters have cornered making our family's traditional holiday sweets (fudge, biscotti, English toffee, Russian Tea Cakes), so I make others that my sons like to help with: gingerbread people and house, sugar cookies, and breads. I collect recipes, so it's also fun to try some things that have been in a folder waiting. Sometimes I make something from the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, which my great-grandma used in the 1950s, though my go-to cookbook is More With Less (from my dad, whose favorite saying is "waste not, want not" :)

[Andrea Penrose]

Reina, I think I'm coming to YOUR house for holiday treats! I love that you use your great grandmother's cookbook. There is something about this season that makes those family connections extra special. Enjoy all your creations!

[Joanna Maitland]

I make a fatless fruit bread, using dried fruit soaked in tea with flour, sugar, eggs. I make industrial quantities which get frozen, ready sliced, so visitors can have them toasted with lashings of butter and buckets of tea!

But it's colder here than for some. If we had Oz weather, we'd be on shrimp and barbies too.

Might be wrong, but I've a feeling my fruit bread recipe was the old Queen Mother's.

[Andrea Penrose]

This sounds lovely, Joanna. And how fun that it may be the Queen Mum's recipe!

[Jobev]

It sounds like Yorkshire Brack, Joanna, though I think other areas have similar. I find it fine just as it is, without added butter, because it's quite moist.

There's a recipe here that's similar to mine, but I add raisins as well as sultanas, and mixed peel, plus mixed spice.
http://www.nigella.com/recipes/view/tea-brack-4798

[Andrea Penrose]

Thanks for the recipe, Jo! I love fruit studded anything. In fact, I think I.m one of the very few people in the world who actually REALLY likes fruitcake (though it has to be a very good quality fruitcake)

[lor]

The first time I made Nanaimo Bar was when I was 10 years old - in 1961. I had to chop the nuts (actually walnuts way back then) and crush the graham wafers and then cook the custard on the wood cook stove. No wonder my mom didn't want to add all that to her Christmas baking so it became my responsibility. I can't link to the recipe so here it is:

Nanaimo Bar

Base:
½ cup + 1 tbsp. butter, softened
5 tbsp. white sugar
5 tbsp. Fry’s Cocoa
1 tsp. vanilla
1 egg
2 cups graham crumbs (about 26 wafers)
1 cup medium unsweetened coconut
½ cup chopped pecans

Mix together graham crumbs, coconut and nuts in small bowl. Heat softened butter, sugar, cocoa, vanilla and egg over low heat and stir until consistency of custard. Stir crumb mixture into cocoa mixture. Pack into an ungreased 9” x 9” pan.

Icing:
4 tbsp. creamed butter
2 tbsp. milk
2 tbsp. Bird’s Custard Powder
2 cups sifted icing sugar

Mix milk and custard powder, add to butter. Mix in icing sugar until spreading consistency and spread over cocoa/graham base and allow to harden.

Topping:
Melt 5-6 squares semi-sweet chocolate with 2 tbsp. butter and pour over icing.

*NOTE: I put 1 cup pecan halves in my mini-chopper and chop them fairly finely, then use all the chopped nuts.

[Andrea Penrose]

Oh, my! (fluttery sigh)Thank you, Lor! This sounds divine. I can see I'm going to be in big trouble this holiday season sampling all the wonderful recipes mentioned here. But it's research, right?

[Jobev]

Andrea, the aversion to fruit cake is an American peculiarity. Most British people love it!

[Jobev]

Thanks for that recipe. I quite like them and I've never made them, but that sounds easy. I'm not sure how easy Bird's Custard Powder is to get in the States.

They should be a novelty for my English relatives. :)

[Andrea Penrose]

Yet another reason I'm an Anglophile! (LOL)

[Andrea Penrose]

I've never heard of Bird's Custard Powder, but if I can't find it in NYC, I'd be very surprised. So that's going on my shopping list!

[Sonya Heaney]

Skimming because I'm about to get on a plane, but it seems that grammar in the past had key words in a sentence capitalised? Rather than starting a sentence and ONLY proper nouns capitalised?

You know, it sort of makes sense to me!

[Susan/DC]

One of my favorite recipes for the holidays or any day came from Nigella Lawson via the Word Wenches: chocolate Guinness cake. The recipe is easily found online, and whenever I've made it people have asked for more. It's also extremely easy to make, so you win on flavor and on the fact that you're not exhausted by the effort.

And speaking of sweets, does anyone know why sweetbreads means organ meats while sweetmeats refers to baked goods or candy? Shouldn't it be the other way round?

[Sue McCormick]

I don't do Christmas sweets much anymore, but my favorites mostly were the common favorites. There was one recipe found in Good Housekeeping in the 1930's which is anything BUT a depression recipe. Golden Bars use Butter, Eggs, and Walnuts! Very rich and yummy.

As to cookbooks. I started with the original Betty Crocker cookbook, which my sister gave me for my birthday after I got married. I've added Joy of Cooking, Fanny Farmer's Boston Cookbook, and Julia Child's The Way to Cook. I enjoy collecting cookbooks, but all other cookbook are secondary.

I own the first commercial edition of Joy of Cooking which my aunt bought after hearing Irma Rombauer discuss it at a lecture at St. Louis' largest department store.