A Kitchen In The West
I am sorting out previously written drabbles and I thought this set would fit well here - they feature Sam when he finally left his Shire Kitchen for the last time... There are notes and links to recipes under the cuts as well.
Sam had known his master would be awaiting him, for who would ask a hobbit to leave his family unless to give succour to another?
But he had thought no further about what he would find on his arrival; where he might live, nor even how and what he might eat.
His first meal on land was taken in Master Elrond’s home, served by elves, and seemed almost dreamlike.
This new life only began to feel real when Master Frodo led him to the proper hobbit hole (had he expected one or not? He wasn’t sure), and into the kitchen.
T’was wonderful, Sam thought, that all the old, familiar, foods from home were here, some even out of season. Yet more wonderful for a hobbit, even of advancing years, were new foods he had not met before - like sea fish.
In The Shire fish came from the rivers, one at a time, with hook or fly on line.
Here the fisher-elves drew herring from the sea in nets, shimmering like captive stars.
And oh how good they tasted when eaten in a way to gladden hobbits’ hearts - simply fried and served with newly dug, tiny, potatoes crowned with golden butter.
..............
Notes;
Silver darlings is the name the Scottish and Manx Fishermen, and probably those all around the British Isles, gave to the herring. For centuries "spuds and herrin' " was the staple diet of my forefathers - eaten as Sam has them during the summer, and as salt herring and old potatoes in the winter.
Days passed differently in Elven lands, Sam thought. Trees were never totally bare; grass kept growing, strewn with vetch, clover and crocuses all together; fruits, and even mushrooms, were always in season.
He had no idea of the date in good old Shire reckoning but he was pretty sure he had missed his birthday.
It seemed that the problem of dates without seasons had occurred to Master Bilbo though, for he had left behind a way to keep track.
“I have missed sharing our birthday celebration since he died,” said Frodo, “So this year I insist that you share mine!”
Oh the pleasure of planning a birthday feast! Even if it was really more Frodo’s than his. T’would be odd, though, without any family there; but the preparations fair gladdened Sam’s heart.
He found an Elf lass in the market whose cheese was like a good Bywater, and there were chutneys galore in Frodo’s pantry. A whole salmon was promised, to poach and finish with thinly sliced cucumber.
Then, just long enough before the day, there appeared on the doorstep a rabbit, a pheasant and a brace of grouse; the centre-piece of this feast would be a raised game pie!
............
Here is a recipe, with a picture for a whole poached salmon with cucumber - although my mother usually covered all but the head and tail with the cucumber slices so that they formed 'scales'.
And here is a recipe, and picture, for a raised game pie.
Sam remembered the preparation that went into making a fruit jelly. The smell of boiling hooves filled the place for hours, as did the steam; you could really only do it in summer when the door could be left open.
Then came the juicing of berries - blackberries and blackcurrants would stain your fingers for days. A jelly was for special occasions.
But here they boiled fish-bones, or a plant from the sea, to set their jellies; and fruit that was rare in the Shire could be plucked straight off a tree. Oh how Rosie would have loved this orange delight!
............
Notes - until gelatine became commercially available in the 1750s or so jelly was indeed made starting with cows feet. Americans call jelly Jell-O after the first commercially available gelatine there.
Jellies can also be set with isinglass (made from fish bones) or agar-agar made from algae.
And finally
When he was a lad Sam had always been very taken with the crockery at Bagend. Even for every day Master Bilbo had everything to match, whilst at home there was a mixture of plain white, patterned, and even some with chips.
When Frodo left Bagend, and everything became Sam’s, he had worried that the little ones would break some things and, sometimes, they did; but Rosie said everyday china was for every day, and not to worry.
How wonderful, and homely, it was to find the elves had copied that everyday china perfectly for this kitchen in the west.
Sam had known his master would be awaiting him, for who would ask a hobbit to leave his family unless to give succour to another?
But he had thought no further about what he would find on his arrival; where he might live, nor even how and what he might eat.
His first meal on land was taken in Master Elrond’s home, served by elves, and seemed almost dreamlike.
This new life only began to feel real when Master Frodo led him to the proper hobbit hole (had he expected one or not? He wasn’t sure), and into the kitchen.
T’was wonderful, Sam thought, that all the old, familiar, foods from home were here, some even out of season. Yet more wonderful for a hobbit, even of advancing years, were new foods he had not met before - like sea fish.
In The Shire fish came from the rivers, one at a time, with hook or fly on line.
Here the fisher-elves drew herring from the sea in nets, shimmering like captive stars.
And oh how good they tasted when eaten in a way to gladden hobbits’ hearts - simply fried and served with newly dug, tiny, potatoes crowned with golden butter.
..............
Notes;
Silver darlings is the name the Scottish and Manx Fishermen, and probably those all around the British Isles, gave to the herring. For centuries "spuds and herrin' " was the staple diet of my forefathers - eaten as Sam has them during the summer, and as salt herring and old potatoes in the winter.
Days passed differently in Elven lands, Sam thought. Trees were never totally bare; grass kept growing, strewn with vetch, clover and crocuses all together; fruits, and even mushrooms, were always in season.
He had no idea of the date in good old Shire reckoning but he was pretty sure he had missed his birthday.
It seemed that the problem of dates without seasons had occurred to Master Bilbo though, for he had left behind a way to keep track.
“I have missed sharing our birthday celebration since he died,” said Frodo, “So this year I insist that you share mine!”
Oh the pleasure of planning a birthday feast! Even if it was really more Frodo’s than his. T’would be odd, though, without any family there; but the preparations fair gladdened Sam’s heart.
He found an Elf lass in the market whose cheese was like a good Bywater, and there were chutneys galore in Frodo’s pantry. A whole salmon was promised, to poach and finish with thinly sliced cucumber.
Then, just long enough before the day, there appeared on the doorstep a rabbit, a pheasant and a brace of grouse; the centre-piece of this feast would be a raised game pie!
............
Here is a recipe, with a picture for a whole poached salmon with cucumber - although my mother usually covered all but the head and tail with the cucumber slices so that they formed 'scales'.
And here is a recipe, and picture, for a raised game pie.
Sam remembered the preparation that went into making a fruit jelly. The smell of boiling hooves filled the place for hours, as did the steam; you could really only do it in summer when the door could be left open.
Then came the juicing of berries - blackberries and blackcurrants would stain your fingers for days. A jelly was for special occasions.
But here they boiled fish-bones, or a plant from the sea, to set their jellies; and fruit that was rare in the Shire could be plucked straight off a tree. Oh how Rosie would have loved this orange delight!
............
Notes - until gelatine became commercially available in the 1750s or so jelly was indeed made starting with cows feet. Americans call jelly Jell-O after the first commercially available gelatine there.
Jellies can also be set with isinglass (made from fish bones) or agar-agar made from algae.
And finally
When he was a lad Sam had always been very taken with the crockery at Bagend. Even for every day Master Bilbo had everything to match, whilst at home there was a mixture of plain white, patterned, and even some with chips.
When Frodo left Bagend, and everything became Sam’s, he had worried that the little ones would break some things and, sometimes, they did; but Rosie said everyday china was for every day, and not to worry.
How wonderful, and homely, it was to find the elves had copied that everyday china perfectly for this kitchen in the west.