To Cassandra, from Steventon, "Mr. Lyford was here yesterday; he came while we were at dinner, and partook of our elegant entertainment. I was not ashamed at asking him to sit down to table, for we had some pease-soup, a sparerib, and a pudding. He wants my mother to look yellow and to throw out a rash, but she will do neither." - Jane Austen, Saturday 1-Sunday 2 December 1798
Mr. John Lyford (1740-1829) was the surgeon of Basingstoke. He married Mary Windover in 1766. They had three children.
What a different time this was; the doctor made house calls and stayed for dinner; very sweet.
Mr. Lyford wanting Mrs. Austen to look yellow and throw out a rash must have had something to do with her body expelling her illness? I am not sure, I have absolutely no medical experience, but if I start to look yellow and throw out a rash my family might as well start digging a hole for me in the backyard because I doubt I am going to recover. Yikes!
Anyway, on to pease-soup. This is Martha Lloyd Austen's recipe for Pease Soup. Martha Lloyd was a close family friend to the Austen ladies. Her sister, Mary, was James Austen's second wife. In later years she actually married Frank Austen as his second wife.
A Pease Soup
Take two quarts of pease. Boil them to a pulp. Strain them. Put a ½ a lb of butter into a stew pan, Celery, half an onion, and stew them till tender. Then put two anchovies, powdered pepper, salt, mint and parsley, (of each a small handful) and spinach, and heat of each a small quantity. Half a spoonful of sugar. The soup be boiled as thick as you like it and the whole to be ground together, boiled up and dished.
Martha Lloyd, Martha Lloyd's Household Book
Take two quarts of pease. Boil them to a pulp. Strain them. Put a ½ a lb of butter into a stew pan, Celery, half an onion, and stew them till tender. Then put two anchovies, powdered pepper, salt, mint and parsley, (of each a small handful) and spinach, and heat of each a small quantity. Half a spoonful of sugar. The soup be boiled as thick as you like it and the whole to be ground together, boiled up and dished.
Martha Lloyd, Martha Lloyd's Household Book
The Jane Austen House Museum actually, recently, posted about a pudding recipe in verse from the actual Martha Lloyd Household Book which is on display this year at the museum! How cool is that!
Check out this post for a clearer translation and more information. I love it when cool things collide!
If you could work or volunteer anywhere, wouldn't the Jane Austen House Museum be the place!
I don't think I have ever made Pea Soup, but I like it and I think I will give it a try; maybe Paula Deen has a recipe. But, soup is not on the menu for dinner tonight. It is at least 100 degrees outside right now, and, it is the first of October, what is up with that? They say "it never rains in California", well, they would be right about that.
I hope you enjoy your day today!
Terrie
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