An 18th Century Thanksgiving

Let's turn back the clock to simpler times when a Thanksgiving dinner occurred over candlelight, the ovens were wood fired, and probably everyone at the table had not bathed. Consider "The New British Jewel or Complete Housewife’s Best Companion,” a slender volume from 1785 now archived at Yale University's Rare Books and Manuscripts Library.

The book includes a turkey recipe that involves stuffing the bird with shredded sweetbreads (aka: pancreas) of veal and boiling it in milk and water. It also offers tasty dishes such as pickled eels, a “ragoo of oysters” topped with a relish of breadcrumbs, parsley, chives, and oyster liquor, and a "walnut catchup" sauce to put on the turkey made with a complex recipe that begins with mashing green walnuts into a paste and mixing them with vinegar at a ratio of two quarts per every 100 nuts.  Learn more. Bon Appetit.