Page 195 - The Lost Ways
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After about 20 minutes, pour this into a gallon of wine/beer or cider. Add 3 to 4 cups of
sugar, and put in on the fire.
While it is cooking, prepare the wassail bowl by cracking a dozen eggs into it and beating
them well. Add a cup of the warming wine to the eggs, and beat it in. Repeat this step
three more times.
Then, when the wine begins to boil, take it off the heat and pour it gradually into the bowl,
taking care to go slowly and stirring continuously. You need to stir briskly to form the froth
that makes wassail so pretty.
Once you have it poured and frothed, serve it immediately. Roasted apple or a couple
cups of raisins were commonly tossed in the wassail. A pint of brandy was also often used.
Apple Pie
Prepare a stiff paste for the crusts by mashing flour into fat (butter, lard, shortening). Line
your well-oiled Dutch oven with the paste, reserving enough for the top. Make sure the
crust is as even as possible. Roll the rest out to make your top crust. You only want your
pie to be an inch or two thick, three max.
Peel, slice, and core your apples. You can parboil or stew them in a little water, but if they
are very ripe, this is not necessary. Add cinnamon, sugar, and butter to taste.
Dampen the top of the crust in your Dutch oven, lay your top crust on top, and pinch them
together. Cut a slit on top to vent, put the lid on your oven, and place it in the coals with
a quarter of the coals on the bottom and the rest on top. It takes 45 minutes to an hour
to bake a pie this way.
***If you are using dried apples, reconstitute them and stew them for an hour or so
before adding them to the pie. You should stew unripe apples as well.***
Biscuits and Gravy
Start this recipe with a well-oiled Dutch oven. Preheat it, keeping all of the coals on the
bottom to get it nice and hot. While it’s heating up, mix the following together in a bowl:
❖ 2 c. flour
❖ 1 tsp. salt
❖ 1 Tbs. sugar
❖ 4 tsp. baking powder
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