Google Books is one place you might check out, they publish a lot of older cookbooks and might have just the thing. I did a quick search and found a book called Seven Centuries of English Cooking which offers a limited preview (link below). The info about the 17th century starts on page 1 and on 4 there is a menu of typical 1st course, 2nd, 3rd etc offerings.

Typical 1st Courses: Oysters, Stewed broth of mutton, a potage of capons (castrated roosters), mince pies, etc

2nd courses: a dish made with puff pastry, oranges and lemons, pheasants, etc

Recipes start on page 68 with soups and there is a Pease Porridge recipe on pg 70.

Here is a link that might be useful: Seven Centuries of English Cooking

The 5 and 6 keys stuck when I typed the page numbers. I meant to write that the 17c chapter starts on p 61 and on 64 the menus list typical courses for that century.

Sounds like fun; bear in mind, though, that cooking enough goose for everyone to have a decent serving will entail cooking more than one goose. Geese are a lot like duck in that there's a lot of bone and fat but not so much meat.

You may wish to have a goose or two for 'show' so everyone can have a sample taste, but also having lots of other stuff. (One recipe I saw said that a 14 pound goose would feed 6 people.)

Whatever you do, though, don't get rid of the fat that accumulates in the pan!! It's wonderfully rich and buttery and unctuous. At the very least, about 45 minutes before the goose is done, throw some potatoes into the pan to soak up the fat. The potatoes will be ridiculously rich and scrumptious. Almost worth the hassle of cooking a goose just to get those potatoes...I did that a few years ago and the potatoes were more popular than the goose :)

As far as authentic recipes go, I have a book based on Patrick O'Brian's Aubrey-Maturin novels, entitled 'Lobscouse and Spotted Dog.' I've never fixed any of the recipes so I can't say how accurate they are, but it's a great read. Now the setting of the novels is England at the time of the Napoleonic wars, but there may be some good stuff in there for you. Check out the index on this entry.

I just want to know if you can, with a straight face, ask all of your guests: "Would anyone care for some Spotted Dick?"

Here is a link that might be useful: lobscouse and spotted dog

Here's a recipe for that above mentioned dish. Very old and traditional.

Here is a link that might be useful: spotted pudding recipe

Kandm, thanks for link to "Seven Centuries of English Cooking." Sounds like a great resource and fascinating to read through.

Thanks for the reminder, Arley, about how bony goose carcasses are. We are planning on just having a taste for the symbolism value more that trying to fill people up. We have way too much (really good) food every year, so I am not worried about that.

And I'll remember the tip about potatoes, too. I don't think I could pull off spotted dick or spotted dog, lol.

Thanks again.

Sounds like a great party! A nearby college does a biannual Madrigal dinner with all sorts of Old English food....but only those items suited for serving to 300 people...
I haven't been an a few years but I remember wassail, and orange scones, plum pudding...
The boar's head was presented but not served ( thank Heaven!!) and a baron of beef was only served once that I remember.
Have fun! Remember that a turkey can become "A Hearth roasted barnyard cock" and an apple pie can be "A pastry with sweetened cider and fruit, liberally spiced with exotic flavor"....or something like that!!

I have nothing to offer except encouragement and a request that you let us know how it goes.

Last year, step-daughter and I cooked our first Christmas goose. We didn't use a recipe - stuffed it with a quartered apple, orange, onion, celery and parsley and basted it with a mixture of dry white wine and chicken broth. My only advice would be to use a deep pan because the quantity of fat we poured off from it multiple times during the roasting was huge.

Since we had more guests rhan goose meat, we paired it with a fresh (uncured) ham with a fresh herb crust. We loosely followed the recipe linked below.

We had the mold for the plum pudding but received a gift of key limes so decided to make key lime pies instead and save the plum pudding for another year.

Have fun!

Here is a link that might be useful: Fresh ham with green herb paste

I have a very good plum pudding recipe, somewhat modernized, that was given to me by a lady in Canada. I made it for a number of years, but haven't the last couple of years.

It's a lot of work, approximately 6 hours (4 hours of steam time) working flat out, and lots of dirty dishes, but the end result is very much worth it.

1 cup grated raw carrot
1 cup grated raw potato
1 cup melted butter
1 cup
raisins
1 cup currants
1/4 cup mixed peel
1 and 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon each cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
1 cup brown
sugar rind and juice of 1 lemon
1 beaten egg
2 tablespoons milk

Mix all dry ingredients, add all wet ingredients, spoon into a 1 and 1/2
quart mold, cover watertight with foil, steam for 4 hours. I don't know if
you're in the habit of making steamed pudding; if you want instructions for
that, I'll be happy to provide them. This will keep for ages at room
temperature so you can store it in a cool place. My mother makes hers 2
months early. I'm not that organized. Don't unwrap it from the foil,
though. Flame and serve with not-too-sweet custard sauce of pouring
consistency, flavored w/ a little brandy. Will serve 10. In terms of
presentation, I steam it in a pyrex mixing bowl so it is a half sphere when
turned out. A narrower, deeper bowl would be even more attractive. I cast
an eye at the dog's dish last year (straight sides, tapered, flat bottom)
but decided I hadn't better. Before serving, steam again for at least an
hour or heat in the microwave til very hot. The latter is a whole lot
quicker but you can't use a metal mold in that case, of course. Turn out
(I use a glass pedestal dish). Place a spring of holly on the summit of
the pudding. Heat plenty of brandy in a little jug, bring pudding to
table, pour boiling brandy over very hot pudding and light with a match.
It's a nice touch to ignite the flaming stream as you pour in which case
use a long handled saucepan or ladle.

One of the modifications that I made to it over the years is to GREATLY increase (double to triple) the spices. My family has always liked highly spiced foods.

Now that Dad is gone I've not made this for the past couple of years. He really loved it.

Ruthanna, (My cousins daughter is named Annaruth) the last time I cooked a goose, I was about 20 yo. The recipe called for covering the goose with orange halves. My father would still talk about the mounds of oranges and that goose years later. It was fun.

The fresh ham recipe sounds great. I put it on my to-try list.

Kframe19, thanks so much for the plum pudding recipe. It sounds perfect. I especially like it because there is no mention made of suet! I believe I have everything on hand and will make it this weekend. You may have started a new tradition.

A few questions:
Unsalted or salted butter?
I have two silicone brioche pans which are the perfect shape. They each hold about 2 quarts max. Do you know the capacity of your pyrex dish? LOL about the dog's dish.
And do you think I could steam them in a crock pot? I checked and one brioche pan just fits.

Lindac and beanthere, thanks for the encouragement, and I will report back afterwards.

Hound,

Doesn't matter regarding the butter. If you use salted butter, cut back on the salt you add to the recipe a bit. I have NEVER used unsalted butter for my cooking or baking.

I think my pyrex dish is about 2 or 2.5 quarts, not sure.

As for the crock pot, no, I don't think I'd try using that. It would take a LONG time to get the head of steam up and I'm afraid it would be difficult to keep it.

Also, I suggest NOT using the silicon pans. All of them I've seen are very flexible, and you do NOT want flexible, you need to seal the pan very thoroughly with aluminum foil so that you don't waterlog your pudding during the baking process.

If you don't get a good seal, you end up having to skim the top off the pudding because it's a mucky mess.

A couple of years ago I went out and bough a large stock pot suitable for the steaming/boiling process.

Finally, as for the fruit...

One thing I have done over the years is varied the fruit I've mixed in a LOT.

I normally put raisins in, but the currants and candied peel are variable.

In years past I've used dried peaches and roasted almonds, dried cranberries (particularly good), dates (not my favorite), dried blue berries (no point, taste was overwhelmed), and dried apples. I've also alternated between nuts (almonds as mentioned above) and also pecans. No walnuts, can't eat them.

I've never tried pineapple, I'm not a huge fan, but it would probably go well.

Also, mariscino (sp?) cherries and/or dried cherries.

The great thing about this plum pudding is that it's very versatile as to what you can do with it.

Adoptedbygreyhounds, would you mind sharing your syllabub recipe? I love it, but have never made it myself!!

TIA,

Lori

Kframe19, thanks again for the plum pudding recipe. I made it yesterday and it turned out very well. I doubled the recipe and had about two cups left over which I baked in the oven. Flavor was great, like gingerbread. I went ahead and used the silicone pan and it worked just fine; they are pretty sturdy, not flimsy. Even so, I supported it by placing it in a ss bowl placed on a steamer in a large canning pressure cooker. Since I had increased the volume, I steamed it for about 6 hours.

I also added a lot of different fruits in addition to the raisens and currants: craisens, apricots, dates, a few prunes (It is a plum pudding, after all!)and dried cherries.
I also trippled the spices and it was not too much. Thanks very much for your tips and advice.

Lori, I don't have a tried and true recipe, but found this one on-line which I may use.

Syllabub
Authentic New England Recipes from "The Heart of New England"

Makes 10 servings

Syllabub was a popular dessert in with the
colonists and variations on this recipe have been
found as late as the Middle Ages. The following
modern adaptation will make a Syllabub Dessert
Parfait for 10 people. For a punch add more wine
until you have achieved the desired consistency.

2 cups of whipped cream
½ cup of white sugar
1/8 cup of white wine
1/8 cup of freshly-squeezed lemon juice and zest of
lemon
grated nutmeg
sprig of mint
lemon slice

Whip cream until thick in a chilled bowl. When the
cream begins to thicken, add the sugar, white wine,
lemon juice and zest of lemon. Continue to whip
until thick. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to
serve. Spoon the mixture into footed parfait glasses
and garnish with a sprig of mint, a slice of lemon
and a sprinkle of grated nutmeg.

Well, I�m back to give a report. Our party went great, more fun than the usual pot luck. Now I have to think of a theme for next year, lol.

The roasted goose was ... interesting. I'm glad I did it once, but probably won't do it again. Every other bite was delicious and tender like dark meat chicken. The in-between bites were tough and sinewy. All in all, I would rather have roast chicken, lol. Sorry, no photos. They weren�t exactly things of beauty, lol, with dry leg bones poking through the skin, etc.. DH carved them and we served the meat on a bed of wild rice mix and with a dish of cranberry orange relish. The relish was the best part!

Someone also brought a tortierre, traditional meat pie from Quebec, which was delicious, so we had plenty, including Cotswold cheese, Irish cheese, and English huntsman cheese which were all delicious, two layered salads, a potato cass, squash cass, apple strudel, syllabub, and plum pudding and orange spiced honey meade. The person with English grandparents bringing a mince pie from an old recipe unfortunately had car trouble in NC and couldn�t make it.

The plum pudding was a hit. We turned out the lights (except for the candles and tree lights) and poured ignited cognac over it. I will definitely be making this again next year. Thanks to Kframe19 for her family recipe.

DH doesn�t like to post photos of recognizable people, so sorry no photos except of the house before guests arrived. Sorry the photos are so large. I tried to reduce them, but the proportions came out all wrong.

.

Absolutely beautiful, ABG! I'm sure you had a wonderful time. I'm glad to have your comments on goose; I've never made it & surely will not now - I'm not missing anything. :) Congratulations & thank you for sharing.

Thanks, Kathleen
I haven't mentioned the goose broth (which I made with some trepidation). It was wonderful! Three out of three of us agreed we like it better than chicken broth. It had very rich color and flavor, not gamey or goosey at all.

ABG--how lovely! May I ask where you got the snowflakes from?

ABG what a wonderful Christmas wonderland. You have put me in the spirit! Everything looks gorgeous and inviting and so special.

It must have been a very special night for everyone lucky enough to be there.

Chase, how nice! You have made my day. Thank you.

Thank you, Maddie in Ky! (I grew up in Lexington, but have not been back in about 12 years - no family in Lex. anymore.)

The snowflakes are a real mixture. One year in decorating the tree I realized how many snowflakes we had - some were teacher gifts to my preschool children, some my children made from Perler beads, some crocheted, some wire, lots of plastic, two Svorski (sp?) crystal brooches not being worn, etc. I have added to them over the years with after Christmas sales. My favorites were from a Martha Stewart kit a few years back. They are strung on fishing line and attached to a simple stiff wire frame that DH made.