English fare — Time of dining — Pontack's — Other ordinaries — Books on Cookery — Receipts — Pudding — Fish — Oysters — Poultry — Assize of bread — Markets — Vegetables — Lambeth gardeners — Fruit — Dried fruit.
In the matter of food, people were not gourmets as a rule. The living was plentiful, but plain, and a dinner was never more than two courses; as Addison wrote, 'two plain dishes, with two or three good natured, chearful, ingenious friends, would make me more pleased and vain than all that pomp and luxury can bestow;' and this sentiment pervaded the whole of society. Dinner is almost the only meal ever mentioned, and one looks in vain for details of breakfast or supper. They were taken, of course, but men, then, did not sufficiently deify their stomachs, as to be always talking about them: dinner was the meal of the day, and there is no doubt that the most was made of that opportunity. Misson says: 'The English eat a great deal at dinner; they rest a while, and to it again, till they have quite stuff'd their Paunch. Their Supper is moderate: Gluttons at Noon, and abstinent at Night. I always heard they were great Flesh eaters, and I found it true. I have known several people in England that never eat any Bread, and universally they eat very little: they nibble a few crumbs, while they chew the Meat by whole Mouthfuls. Generally speaking, the English Tables are not delicately serv'd. There are some Noblemen that have both French and English Cooks, and these eat much after the French manner; but among the middling Sort of People they have ten or twelve Sorts of common Meats, which infallibly take their Turns at their Tables, and two Dishes are their Dinners: a Pudding, for instance, and a Piece of Roast Beef; another time they will have a piece of Boil'd Beef, and then they salt it some Days before hand, and besiege it with five or six Heaps of Cabbage, Carrots, Turnips, or some other Herbs or Roots, well pepper'd and salted, and swimming in Butter: A Leg of roast or boil'd Mutton, dish'd up with the same dainties, Fowls, Pigs, Ox Tripes, and Tongues, Rabbits, Pidgeons, all well moistened with Butter, without larding: Two of these Dishes, always serv'd up one after the other, make the usual Dinner of a Substantial Gentleman, or wealthy Citizen. When they have boil'd Meat, there is sometimes one of the Company that will have the Broth; this is a kind of Soup, with a little Oatmeal in it, and some Leaves of Thyme or Sage, or other such small Herbs. They bring up this in as many Porringers as there are People that desire it; those that please, crumble a little Bread into it, and this makes a kind of Potage.'
Here, then, we have a very graphic, and evidently unbiassed, account of the cuisine of this reign. Two o'clock seems to have been the middle-class time of dining, but people with any pretension to fashion dined later. 'Why does any Body Dine before Four a Clock in London? For my Part, I think it an ill bred Custom to make my Appetite Pendulum to the Twelfth Hour. Besides, 'tis out of Fashion to Dine by Day light.'[250] And Steele, writing about 'Rakes,' says: 'All the noise towards six in the evening is caused by his mimics and imitators;'[251] thus leading to the inference that, dinner being at four, and wine being plentifully drunk after it, they rose from table half drunk, and went noisily to the coffee-houses.
This, probably, was the case at such a place as Pontack's, which held the first rank among the restaurants of the time. It was situated in Abchurch Lane, and was said to have derived its name from Pontack, a president of the Parliament of Bordeaux, who gave his name to the best French clarets; but this could hardly be the case, as all contemporary writers call the proprietor Pontack. Misson speaks in high terms of the place. Swift writes to Stella: 'I was this day in the City, and dined at Pontack's with Stratford, and two other merchants. Pontack told us, although his wine was so good, he sold it cheaper than others, he took but seven shillings a flask;' and again, 'I dined in the City at Pontack's with Stratford; it Cost me Seven Shillings.' 'Would you think that little lap dog in Scarlet there, has Stomach enough to digest a Guinea's worth of Entertainment at Pontack's every Dinner Time?'[252] 'Mr. Montgomery said you had better go to Pontack's, Gentlemen, I think there is none here but knows Pontack's, it is one of the greatest Ordinaries in England.'[253] 'Your great Supper lies on my Stomach still, I defie Pontack to have prepar'd a better o' th' sudden.'[254]
There were others nearly as good.
At Locket's,[255] Brown's and at Pontack's enquire,
What modish Kick shaws the nice Beaus desire,
What famed Ragoust, what new invented Salate
Has best pretentions to regale the Palate.[256]
Ward describes a tavern ordinary well; he is in his element; but to give his description would take up too much room. On entering the bar, the principal person visible was the dame de comptoir, 'all Ribbons, Lace and Feathers.' Having passed her, and taken a seat at the table, he had 'a Whet of Old Hock' to sharpen his appetite for dinner, which consisted of two calves' heads, a couple of geese, and Cheshire cheese; after which they all fell to a-drinking wine.
There were cheaper places, or ordinaries, than these to dine at. 'I went afterwards to Robin's,[257] and saw People who had dined with me at the Five penny Ordinary just before, give Bills for the Value of large Estates;'[258] and twopenny ordinaries are mentioned, but they must have been for the very poor.
In spite of what Misson says, there was good cookery to be got, only it hardly came into ordinary life; and there are two cookery books[259] which give most excellent receipts, and show that there was plenty of variety, both in the material and cooking of food; nay, even in the elegances of the table, which were well cared for, as the following receipt of Howard's shows: 'How to dish up a Dish of Fruits with preserved Flowers.—Take a large Dish, cover it with another of the same bigness, and place the uppermost over with Paste of Almonds, inlaid with red, white, blue, and green Marmalade in the figure of Flowers and Banks; then take the branches of candied Flowers, and fix them upright in Order, and upon little Bushes erected, and covered with Paste: Fix your preserved and Candied Cherries, Plumbs, Pease, Apples, Goosberries, Currans, and the like, each in their proper place; and for Leaves, you may use Coloured Paste or Wax, Parchment, or Horn; and this, especially in Winter, will be very proper.' Some of the dishes he gives are hardly in vogue now; as for instance: 'Spinage Tarts.—Take Marrow, Spinage, hard Eggs, of each a handful, Cloves, Mace, Nutmeg, Limon-peel shred very fine; then put in as many Currans as you think fit, with Raisins stoned, and shred, candied, Orange and Citron peel; sweeten it to your taste, make Puff Paste, and make them into little square Pasties; bake or fry them.'
Perhaps few people now would care to make Mr. Lamb's 'Patty of Calves' Brains.—The Calves Brains being clean, scald them, then blanch some Asparagus, and put it in a Sauce pan, with a little Butter and Parsley; being Cold, put the Brains in the Patty, with the Asparagus, five or six Yolks of hard Eggs, and Forc'd Meat; season it with Pepper and Salt. When it is bak'd, add the Juce of a Lemon, drawn Butter and Gravy. So serve it.'