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Our aim is to give a flavour of that exciting time and occasionally we 'put to sea' in our frigate's boat which we call
HMS puts on displays at many coastal and inland sites, such as Whitby, Gloucester and Portsmouth We also research and portray food and cooking of the Georgian period and this has become a key focus of many of our events.
There are fact-sheets at the foot of this page for you to view or download
Many ranks and trades are portrayed from officers to landsmen as well as our 'sea-soldiers', the Royal Marines.
HMS does regular filming work for documentary film-makers - the latest being for Museumsecrets.tv.
Members of HMS take great care in researching their uniforms, costume, equipment and their roles and activities
Our gaff-rigged launch is now complete and we use this at many of our events
This is the start of an occasional section of recipes, most of which we have tried out (although I draw the line at killing a sheep to try Sea Venison!)
Mrs Miggins' 'Dishes for Sea Service'
Most Eighteenth Century Cookery Books contained a section on dishes that were suitable for sending off to sea with your loved one, to supplement the rations and provide some variation from the day to day fare.
To Make Ketchup to Keep Twenty Years
(For the Captain of Ships)
Take a gallon of strong stale beer, one pound of anchovies washed from the pickle, a pun dog shallots peeled , half an ounce of mace, half and ounce of cloves, a quarter of an ounce of whole pepper, three or four large races of ginger, two ounces of mushroom flaps rubbed to pieces.
Cover all this close and let is simmer til it is half wasted, then strain it through a flannel bag. Let it stand til it is quite cold then bottle it.
You may carry this to the Indie. A spoonful of this to a pound of fresh butter melted makes a fine fish sauce.
NOTE
I made this a while ago. Mine did not keep a month let alone 20 years! Maybe they did not mind removing the mould from the top before using the ketchup.
Source: The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Simple” Hannah Glasse
Cavitch
Take on quart of vinegar and put to it 10 large cloves of garlic, some seeds of coriander, bruised and some saffron. Let it stand a goodly while until you think it strong enough.
NOTE
This is used to “cook” fish (rather like pickled herrings) Cavitch could be taken on board ship and used to prepare any fish that was caught. I have tried it with salt fish and tuna, both of which are really good prepared this way.
I used cider vinegar, a few strands of saffron, about a tablespoon of coriander seeds and the garlic. I left everything in the vinegar for about 2 weeks then had a look at the colour (which was a nice shade of gold) and tasted it....not too garlicky, and a good flavour of coriander.
Source: Cookery Book of Christina Awdry
Pellow
Take a chicken, pluck and draw it and place in a large pan with an onion, cloved, (studded with cloves) a carrot and some saffron . Season it with salt and pepper. Cover it with water and set to the fire for 2 hours of the clock.
Take some rice and cook it in enough water with saffron until it is done
Peel 4 large onions and slice into rings. Fry them in butter and set aside.
Take the chicken meat from the bones and discard the rest.
Put the rice in a pretty plate. Top with the fried onion then chicken meat. Keep layering until all is used up
Mrs Bradley’s Recipe for Sea Venison
Here are a two examples of items that might be taken on board to liven up the available food.
When a sheep is killed on board, let the blood be carefully saved, and let a person stir it continually from the time it comes from the sheep til it is cold; this will prevent it from congealing.Then cut up the sheep, and cut the leg of one side like a haunch of venison.
Then cut off the shoulder and the loin, and the neck and breast in two.
Put first the leg into a deep pan and pour some of the blood to it; then put in the other pieces, and pour more of the blood as they are put it, and last of all pour the whole over them.
Thus let them stand soaking as long as they will keep good.
Then when the blood begins to turn bad, for that will taint a great while before the meat, take out the several pieces, and hang them up out of the sun; keep them thus as long as they will keep fresh, then roast the haunch of the mutton in all respects as if it were venison; make some gravy sauce of the portable soup, and serve it up.
The other joints might be dressed in the same way at the same time, but as so much venison is not wanted to be dressed at once, the best way of treating them is this: lay them in a large pan, with the fat side downwards, and when they are pressed flat with the hands pour gently over them a bottle of red wine; then when they are well soaked with this pour on a quart of vinegar, and thus let them lie all night.
After this, take the neck, breast, and loin out of the pickle, but leave the shoulder in to stay a week longer; rub it with a handful of common salt, and a large spoonful of coarse sugar mixed with half an ounce of salt petre and the same quantity of bay salt. The breast and loin should be made into a pasty and the best way of doing this is first to bone and season them then make a good crust and make the pasty in the usual way as we have directed in its place.
While the pasty is baking let the bones be boiled to make gravy, with some pepper, salt and dry leaves of sweet herbs and a blade of mace broken.
When the pasty comes home take off the lid and pour in this hot gravy then send it up.
The shoulder will eat extremely well, boiled with a pease pudding in the manner of pork.
What John Farley does not explain is how to prepare the pudding cloth. I have found the best way is to soak a large cloth in hot water. Wring it until nearly dry then sprinkle flour over the cloth. Put the pudding mix in the middle and then bring the edges of the cloth together and tie them tightly with twine. Be sure to leave enough space for the pudding to expand.
This makes a very big pudding, best for serving a small ships company or a hungry launch crew.
The use of ship's biscuits on board during ship during late C18th – and how to make your own.
The biscuits were provided to every person on board as part of the ration. Each person had 1 pound of biscuit per day. The biscuits were prepared and baked at one of the bakeries belonging to the navy (for example at Chatham) then put into canvas bags. Biscuits were made from plain flour (usually a good wheat flour with added "sharps"). The nearest we have to this today is a light brown flour.
Biscuits were essentially bulk. They are too hard to eat without soaking. They could to be placed on the plate before the stew and allowed to soften, or softened in your Beer or Grog. Alternatively they could be ground up and used as a thickener.
The only reason they will become infested is if they get damp. A good purser would make sure this did not happen, by keeping them in a well ventilated, tin lined bread room in the stern of the ship.
To make your own, authentic ‘ship’s biscuit’
Salt and a little oil are added to the flour (see above) then add enough hot water to make a stiff paste. The dough is kneaded and then rolled out into oval shapes. (1 Lb of flour makes 5 Biscuits)
The biscuit is pricked on one side and a large broad arrow placed in the middle. There were variations in thickness , size and shape depending on where the biscuit was made.
They are then placed in a hot oven for about 20 minutes, then the temperature is lowered and they are left for about an hour.
The temperature is turned right down and I leave them overnight. The aim is for them to dry out completely. This is the ‘Chatham recipe’.
Jean Spence
HMS
Note
Cut a pound of suet into little pieces, but not too fine. Mix with a pound of currants washed clean, a pound of raisins stoned, eight yolks of eggs and four whites, half a small nutmeg, a teaspoon of beaten ginger, a pound of flour and a pint of milk. Be sure to beat the eggs first and mix with the milk. It will be very thick.
It will take 5 hours of boiling.
Plumb Pudding
A recipe from The Art of London Cookery by John Farley (1797)
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