Dinner At The Queen's Table

Well Mr. Grimes came in and he Embry and I sat down to our little meal of fried pork, Irish potatoes, biscuits and butter, and sweet milk, and felt as well as if we had dinner at the queen's table. - Frances, January 1892

While Frances' diary doesn't contain many recipes, any Southerner knows that food is more than just sustenance. Food is how we show our love for others. As soon as I saw this menu, I knew I had to recreate it for someone I love. I've done a little research, and here's my plan so far:

Fried pork - I'm thinking this is most likely bone-in pork chops, lightly breaded in a flour-salt-pepper mixture.

Irish potatoes - Still not sure about this one. I've found a few Irish Potato recipes that make more of a casserole-style dish. Others that are simply steamed or stewed, with some mashed potato recipes thrown in for good measure. There is also a set of recipes for Irish Potato Candy, but I'm pretty sure that's not what Frances made here. I'll keep digging, and see if I can come up with an authentic version. Right now, my plan is to use russet potatoes, and boil them for a bit in salty water.

Biscuits and butter - I have several biscuit recipes in my recipe files, most of which call for self-rising flour. It looks like self-rising flour came about in 1844, and likely made it to America by the mid-1850s. White Lily flour has been around since 1883, so I'm thinking that their self-rising flour is a likely candidate. Butter was probably hand-churned - at least I'll get an arm work out! I'm going to buy some buttermilk, though, just in case my liquid buttermilk isn't enough.

Sweet milk - I think this was just used to distinguish from 'sour' milk (buttermilk), but I've seen a few recipes for sweet milk that call for a glass of whole milk with heavy cream floated on top. I'll try both. I'll see if I can get my hands on unprocessed, unpasteurized milk, too.

Thanks so much to the following websites for their info! Wish me luck!