I found this menu for a Halloween High Tea in the October 1931 edition of American Cookery Magazine (formerly The Boston Cooking School Magazine.) Now, you might just be asking yourself, what the heck is a Halloween High Tea? Are we going to use our magic powers to conjure up love potions and magic spells. American Cookery offers this explanation.
A Halloween High Tea is higher than an ordinary high tea, in that it is more abundant, generous, substantial, and unsophisticated. It begins at sundown, the hour the witches come out for the night. It is like a jamboree in being marked by jollification; like a kettledrum in its hospitality to the sterner sex; it is like anything and everything that is joyous and jolly. The hostess is completely liberated from the trammels of convention in compiling her menu, which may include features of breakfast, luncheon, tea, dinner and supper.
Wow! it sure sounds like my cup of tea:) Please don't be intimidated by the notion that a high tea sounds "uppity." It's not like we're creating a Tea at The Ritz. Perhaps, you recognized a favorite word of mine in that 1931 explanation. Kettledrum:) I've discussed kettledrums before here and also at my other blog. Just in case you missed it, this is what I wrote about a kettledrum back in October 2007.
During the 1800's and early 1900's an afternoon tea party was quite popular in England. It was often referred to as a kettledrum. The word, is actually a pun. Kettle, refers to the tea kettle or teapot. Drum was a term used for a party...source
And from The American Heritage Cookbook p.290 and What's Cooking in America:
The progenitor of the cocktail party, a relatively inexpensive method of paying off a great many social debts all at once, was the afternoon tea party, which was called in the 1870's and for several decades after that a kettledrum. All one needed to provide one's guests was sandwiches as thin as tissue paper and as dainty as lace doilie and tea.
During the second half of the Victorian Period, known as the Industrial Revolution, working families would return home tired and exhausted. The table would be set with any manner of meats, bread, butter, pickles, cheese and of course tea. None of the dainty finger sandwiches, scones and pastries of afternoon tea would have been on the menu. Because it was eaten at a high, dining table rather than the low tea tables, it was termed "high" tea... High Tea is often a misnomer. Most people refer to afternoon tea as high tea because they think it sounds regal and lofty, when in all actuality, high tea, or "meat tea" is dinner. High tea, in Britain, at any rate, tends to be on the heavier side. American hotels and tea rooms, on the other hand, continue to misunderstand and offer tidbits of fancy pastries and cakes on delicate china when they offer a "high tea."source
Halloween High Tea Recipes
What would a Halloween High Tea menu be without some recipes? As is the case with most of the menus suggested in the American Cookery magazines, there aren't always recipes to accommodate. So, this is what I did. I first went to another "seasonal" book of recipes I have titled A Witch's Brew by Adelma Grenier Simmons. I could do another whole post on Adelma Simmons. (I probably will in December:) I visited her herb gardens in Caprilands many many times and I have quite a few of her books. She was an amazing lady with phenomenal insight into the value of herbs. If you notice on the menu, the first suggestion under Hors d'Oeuvres is for Broiled Mushrooms Stuffed with Forcemeat. Any flavor of your favorite sausage will make a fine substitute for forcemeat. Below is a recipe from A Witch's Brew for Stuffed Mushrooms.
| 1 lb. Italian Sausage 1 c. chopped onions 1 lb. large stuffing mushrooms 3/4 c. minute rice 3/4 c. water | 1 tbs. chopped parsley 1 tsp. salt, dash pepper 3/4 c. mayonnaise 1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese |
| Remove the sausage from the casings. Brown with the onion. Remove stems from mushrooms, chop very fine, and add to meat mixture. Brown lightly. Stir in rice, water, parsley, salt and pepper. Bring to boil. Remove from the fire. Let stand 5 minutes. Combine mayonnaise and cheese and stir 1/4 cup into above mixture. Place in the hollow mushrooms, top with remaining cheese mixture. Bake on greased tray in 400 degree oven until browned. | |
Someone must be working their magic today because boy oh boy am I in luck. As are you! American Cookery generously includes the recipe for Brown Bread Puree which is also included on the menu. When I saw that, I was just a wee bit skeptical about including this menu. Ya think I would have looked through the issue index to see if there was a recipe. Nope. Not until this very minute. Not even before checking on the web, which did not have one single recipe for Brown Bread Puree. I LOVE when that happens! Here's the recipe. I know on the recipe menu it says to serve in orange colored bowls but, what do you think about using a pumpkin as a soup tureen? I've scanned the directions for using a pumpkin as a serving bowl for soup from indeed another recipe book titled The Pumpkin Eater's Cookbook by Rosemary Smithson. Don't worry, I'll be posting additional recipes from this book on my other blog probably on Halloween:)
Stale Boston brown bread roughly grated, is very good in this puree' but any dark bread may be used. Measure a quart of the crumbs and add to a quart of stock (or water) in a double boiler, with two teaspoonfuls fo salt, one half a teaspoonful of white pepper, and two tablespoonfuls of butter or bacon fat. Cover and cook for two hours. Put mixture through a colander, and add while hot one beaten egg and one more cup of stock, or a cup of milk if water was used instead of stock in the making. The mixture should be thick enough just to find its level when poured into the bowls, and since its thickness depends on the staleness of the bread etc., judgement has to be used in adding extra liquid. If served for Halloween, garnish with steamed, dried black cherries. start staling that bread you all:)
Apple or pear or plum or cherry
Anything good to make us merry.
Up with your apple and down with your pan,
Give us an answer and we'll be gone."
Soul Cake Chant
I hope these recipes get your Halloween High Tea on its way. I've left a few more links below for you to get some ideas and recipes. I would like to leave you with a traditional All Hallow's Day recipe also discovered in A Witch's Brew. It has to do with the enchantment above A soul cake, a soul cake, pray good missus a soul cake... Soul Cakes.
This is an ancient chant from Shropshire towns and was once sung by bands of young people who made rounds of the village on All Soul's Eve. The soul cakes are spiced buns which in early times were given for prayers said for the dead. This was doublessly done originally on the pagan Feast of the Dead which became in Christian Times the Feast of All Souls. It was once a custom to bake special breads for Saints days...Soul cakes were baked in readiness for many visitors and one was given to each Souler who in return for the gift droned out the following. A Soule cake, a Soule cake, have mercy on all Christian soules for a Soule cake." These ditties were repeated many times as singers went house to house, the whole custom was the ancestor of our Halloween or "Trick or Treat."The religious idea of soul cakes for souling is found through out European traditions. Mash o' Nine Sorts, with a ring hidden inside was often served in England to guests who were unmarried. It was believed the "winner" of the ring would soon be wed. Hmmm...any single friends due to arrive at that high tea of yours? Before I post the recipe for Shropshire Soul Cakes found in A Witch's Brew, you may want to take a look at this idea for a Souling Halloween Party You have to scroll down a little but the idea of making your Halloween High Tea Party a cake exchange is quite intriguing. Don't you think?
Cream together 1/2 cup butter and 1/2 cup of sugar, crumble or place two dry yeast in 1/2 cup of luke warm water to which 2 tsp. of sugar has been added. In another cup with 2 tbs. water (hot) dissolve a pinch of true saffron. Scald 2 cups of milk add to the creamed mixture, when cooled add yeast, and saffron and two beaten eggs. Sift 6-1/2 cups of flour with 2 tsps. salt, 4 tsps. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. allspice. Flour 1/2 cup currants, or raisins with 2 tsps. caraway seeds. Add dry ingredients to make a soft dough. Knead 3 minutes. Set to rise in a warm place in a greased bowl. When the dough is doubled in bulk, shape it into small round or oval buns. Bake in 400 degree oven for 15 minutes, drop temperature to 350 and bake until done. About 24 cakes. Serve with butter, and spread with jam. They are fragrant and very good.
Whoops, I almost forgot. There's another item on that menu suggestion that just may help you ward off those evil spirits. It's called a Shandy Gaff (Shandygaff) on the menu under beverages. It appears that a Shandy Gaff is beer or ale mixed with lemonade. More of a Shandy I suppose. In The History of Mr. Polly by H. G. Wells there is a reference to the obscure recipe. And, How do you make the perfect shandy...?
There would always be weighty enquiries as to what they could have, and it would work out always at cold beef and pickles, or fried ham and eggs and shandygaff, two pints of beer and two bottles of ginger beer foaming in a huge round-bellied jug. sourceElizabeth Knight, author of "Tea With Friends" suggests a Halloween High Tea as a perfect way to entertain in October. You can find a few of her suggestions and additional information about her books at the Fresh Produce & Floral Council.
I also posted a recipe for Pumpkin Rum Souffle and recipe for pumpkin pie as a recipe poem last October if you want to take a peek. You have to scroll down a bit to get to the recipes. I left the link below. I've also scanned a few ideas for Halloween decorations from A Witch's Brew. How To Make a Witch's Broom offers it as a way to prevent the witches' from getting their feet wet...and here are a few more Halloween Food Ideas from Rosa's Yummy Yums.
"God have mercy on your soule, Bones and all"
Resources
1. Albert Einstein & Meandering Rivers "tea leaf paradox"
2. Halloween Cupcakes with Edible Googly Eyes
3. Pumpkin Hummus @ Megan's Muchies
4. Teas and Other Afternoon Parties Emily Post 1922
5. Menu & Buffet ideas
6. The Every-Day Afternoon Tea Table (image)
7. Retching Recipes For Fabulous Halloween Treats (this site is very cool with Halloween foods from different parts of the world:)
8. How To Make A Clothespin Bat
9. Turbo Shandy Recipe
10.Pumpkins: The Standing Dish (last years post)
11. Tea Party Bingo (PDF file from The Tea House Times)
12. The Tea House Times
13. A Mad Magazine Tea Party
