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HISTORIC
FORT YORK
RECIPE FROM THE MESS ESTABLISHMENT
OFFICERS' BRICK BARRACKS
MULAGA-TAWNY SOUP
ORIGINAL RECEIPT
Dr. William Kitchiner, The Cook's Oracle, (London: John
Hatchard, Picadilly, 2nd edition, 1818), page 335, number 249.
"Take two quarts of water, and boil a nice fowl or chicken,
then put in the following ingredients, a large white onion, a
large chilly*, two teaspoonsful of ginger pounded, the same of
currystuff, one teaspoonful of turmeric, and half a teaspoonful
of black pepper: boil all these for half an hour, and then fry
some small onions, and put them in. Season it with salt, and
serve it up in a tureen. Obs. - It will be a great improvement,
when the fowl is about half boiled, to take it up and cut it into
pieces, and fry them and put them into the soup the last
thing.”
"* The pod of which
Cayenne pepper is made.”
HISTORIC BACKGROUND
This receipt (recipe) reflects the influence of Indian cookery on
British cookery of the 18th and 19th century.
"Currystuff" was a mixture of spices, of which there
are many receipts in the old British cookery books. The word
curry is derived from the Tamil word kari. Mulaga means pepper
and tawny (tanni) means water or broth, hence "peppery
broth" is a good translation. To get the freshest taste,
prepare the spices only when you need them. To powder the ginger
and turmeric, use a fine grater; pound the other spices in a
heavy mortar and pestle. This is what we do at Historic Fort York
because these are the methods the cooks would have used. You can
also use a coffee grinder specially kept for spices.
Dr. Kitchiner (c1775 - 1827) was a physician and a gourmet who,
in his preface, claimed to "endeavour to hold the balance
even, between the agreeable and the wholesome, and the Epicure
and the Economist" throughout his career, including in this
cookery book.
OUR MODERN EQUIVALENT
For your currystuff, we suggest cumin, coriander and mustard to
accompany the cayenne, ginger, tumeric and black pepper that
Kitchiner specifies, but do whatever appeals to your taste. Our
choices are based on one of Dr. Kitchiner's own currystuff
receipts. We have increased the amount of water in which the
chicken boils.
| 2-2.5 kg | chicken, whole or jointed | 4-5 lbs |
| 6 - 8 L | water | 6-8 qts. |
| 2 | large cooking onions, chopped | 2 |
| 1 mL | cayenne pepper | 1/4 tsp. |
| 10 mL | ginger | 2 tsps. |
| 5 mL | cumin | 1 tsp. |
| 5 mL | coriander | 1 tsp. |
| 5 mL | mustard seeds, crushed | 1 tsp. |
| 10 mL | turmeric | 2 tsps. |
| 2 mL | black pepper | 1/2 tsp. |
| 50 mL | butter | 1/4 cup |
| 10 mL | salt | 2 tsps. |
Boil: chicken in water, about half an hour if
jointed or more if still whole
Add: one chopped onion and spices
Simmer: for about half an hour
Fry: other chopped onion in butter until
transparent, 5 to 10 minutes
Remove: chicken from broth; let cool for 10 to
15 minutes
Cut: meat from bones into bite-sized pieces,
discarding bones and skin
Fry: chopped chicken with fried onion for 5 to
10 minutes
Return: chicken and onion to broth
Add: salt
Simmer: for 10 minutes more
Yield: about 15 large 375 mL (1 1/2 cup)
servings
revised March 1993
Published with the permission of Heritage Toronto. Jessup Food & Heritage acknowledges the excellent research and experimentation performed in the historic kitchens of Heritage Toronto at Fort York, Spadina House, MacKenzie House and Colborne Lodge under the leadership of Curator Fiona Lucas. Our thanks go to Fiona and her expert staff in allowing us to share with you their work.
Jessup Food & Heritage, Limited
P.O. Box 446, 356 East Street
Prescott, Ontario K0E 1T0
telephone: 1-800-882-6704
fax: 613-536-0456
This page was last updated: Sunday, December 01, 2002
