Historical Food Fortnightly 2016 #14 and #16

Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge #14 and #16

Waste Not, Want Not 

and 

Foods Named After People

I've been too busy with real life to keep up with HFF. I'm using the same recipe for two different challenges. I hope I can catch up and fill in the others later.

The Challenge: Waste Not, Want Not/Foods Named After People
14. Waste Not, Want Not (July 1 - July 14) Good housekeeping in any historic era included making the most of your food items. Pick a recipe that involves avoiding waste (maybe reusing leftovers, or utilizing things commonly thrown out) and show us how historically-green you can be!

16. Foods Named After People (July 29 - August 11) Beef Wellington? Charlotte Russe? Choose a dish named after a person (either fictional or real) to create. Bonus points if you tell us about the link between the person and the dish!

The Recipe: 

Blueberry Charlotte

found on forgottencookbooks.com and of course I have forgotten which cookbook!

This recipe fulfils both challenges because it uses up stale bread and leftover fruit from the summer harvest. It is also named after a person. According to foodtimeline.org, cooked Charlottes are related to bread pudding. Charlotte is said to be named after Queen Charlotte of Great Britain, wife of King George III, at the end of the 18thc entury. I'm not sure what the connection is or whether it was named to honor the Queen. This baked pudding usually contains apple baked surrounded by bread inside a round, deep mold. It can be made with any fresh fruit and variations appear in many cookbooks of the 18th and 19th centuries.

How did you make it?

I hate hate hate crusts of bread. I always cut them off and throw them out. The same with heels of bread. I used up my last remaining slices of white bread WITH the crusts still on and the two ends of the loaf for this recipe.

Stale bread

I substituted blueberries for raspberries. Raspberry season has just ended and raspberries are very expensive for only a tiny little container. Blueberries are fresh and plentiful still. I won a raffle for a gift certificate to the local farmer's market and promptly spent it on blueberries. 

I followed the recipe which is pretty vague. I don't have pudding molds so I greased two ramekins with butter. Then I broke up my stale bread into crumbs and sprinkled a layer on the bottom of each ramekin. 

Bread crumbs

Breadcumbs and butter

Then I added a bit of butter, some blueberries and a few teaspoons of sugar. 

Blueberry layer

I baked in the oven covered with foil for about 20 minutes and then uncovered for 10. 

The Charlottes were not quite sweet enough for my taste so I drizzled with some cinnamon honey I picked up at the farmer's market. I didn't have any cream but a smidge of leftover ice cream both moistened and sweetened this dessert. 

Time to Complete:  About 40 minutes plus cooling time.

Total Cost:  I had everything on hand. The most expensive part was blueberries $5.00 for two small containers at the farmer's market. Cinnamon honey was also expensive -$8 for a pound at the farmer's market.

How Successful Was It?: I burned the bread crumbs on the top and the berries were not sweet enough for me. Once I drizzled with cinnamon honey, however, the taste was much improved. This was an easy recipe and a good way to use up old bread.

How Accurate Is It?: The bread I used was not accurate for the period and I substituted blueberries and added honey. Blueberries and honey were of course available at the time. I believe my recipe is close to 100% accurate.