Tags
food poems, Mother Eve's Pudding, recipe, Recipe for a Salad, rhymed verse, rhyming couplet, Rhyming recipe
Hi everyone! Hope you are in a festive mood for the holiday season and/or end of the year celebrations. What food do you typically prepare and eat during this time? In my own family, the food that we prepare is a mix of family traditions with new recipes from my children. I recall celebrating Christmas lunch and dinner with delicious Spanish inspired dishes like Chicken pastel, Lengua and Callos as my aunt was a superb cook. Nowadays, my adult children are preparing mediterranean salads, ham with pineapple, grilled meats and nut-free desserts. This prompt is making me hungry so let’s get right to it.
Our poetry form for this last prompt for 2023 is rhyming recipe. This is a culinary recipe in a rhymed verse. This verse form was common in the 19th and 20th centuries and used as an easy way to remember recipes. Rhyming recipes used to be common in England, they date back to the days when few cooks could read or write.
A good example of a famous rhyming recipe was written by Shakespeare. It is from his tragedy play Macbeth. Picture the scene, three witches huddle around a cauldron:
Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder’s fork and blind-worm’s sting, Lizard’s leg and owlet’s wing.
Yikes. But not all rhyming recipes are imaginary AND revolting.
There are many real and delicious rhyming recipes. Here is one from Sydney Smith (1771-1845). Source
Recipe for a Salad
by Sydney Smith
To make this condiment your poet begs
The pounded yellow of two hard-boil’d eggs;
Two boiled potatoes, passed through kitchen sieve,
Smoothness and softness to the salad give.
Let onion atoms lurk within the bowl,
And, half-suspected, animate the whole.
Of mordant mustard add a single spoon,
Distrust the condiment that bites so soon;
But deem it not, thou man of herbs, a fault
To add a double quantity of salt;
Four times the spoon with oil of Lucca crown,
And twice with vinegar procur’d from town;
And lastly o’er the flavour’d compound toss
A magic soupçon of anchovy sauce.
Oh, green and glorious! Oh, herbaceous treat!
Twould tempt the dying anchorite to eat;
Back to the world he’d turn his fleeting soul,
And plunge his fingers in the salad-bowl!
Serenely full, the epicure would say,
`Fate cannot harm me, I have dined today.’
Here is another one, from Stephana Malcolm’s recipe book begun in 1790, Mother Eve’s Pudding. source: The Regency Cook
If you have a good pudding pray mind what you’re taught
Take two penny worth of eggs when they’re twelve for a groat,
Then take of the fruit which Eve once did cozen,
Well pared and well chop’d at least half a dozen,
Six ounces of bread, let your maid eat the crust,
The crumb must be grated as small as the dust
Six ounces of currants from the stones you must sort,
Lest they break all your teeth & spoil all your sport,
Six ounces of sugar won’t make it too sweet,
Some salt, and some nutmeg, the whole will complete
Three hours let it boil without hurry or flutter
And by way of improvement add good melted butter
A little brandy in the composition
Will be deemed a great acquisition
Adam tasted the pudding & said ’twas wondrous nice,
Then begged Mother Eve to cut him another slice.
As mentioned above, the rhyming recipe is a way of recalling a recipe that is as poetic as it is beautiful.
The elements of the Rhyming Recipe are:
- written in any verse form at the discretion of the poet.
- rhymed, usually in rhyming couplets but the poet can develop any rhyme scheme.
- describes the steps in preparing a culinary dish. Source
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Just a note: Since this is our last prompt for 2023, we would like to remind all our poet friends and visitors that dVerse will going on a 2 week holiday break, from Dec. 17-31. We will resume with our prompts, starting January 1, 2024! Happy New Year to all of you! Thanks for your support and participation in 2023.
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Now let’s see you writing a rhyming recipe poem. Here is the challenge:
Write a rhyming recipe poem using the elements as decribed above. The recipe can be real like a family’s recipe or your own meal creation. Or it can be imaginary recipe set in the future, or moody, and revolting dish, totally out of this world.
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Hello, with Christmas coming up, I just had to share my secret to the best meatballs ever… I hope you enjoy. I am too full to have anything today.
Grace said:
Hi Bjorn, I am full myself due to Christmas celebrations here in the office but we are always excited to learn more about your food. Looking foward to reading and eating!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
The tradition in Sweden is to have smörgåsbord… which is basically everything you can imagine. Pickled herring, salmon, ham, sausages, potatoes, mustard… and of course meatballs.
Grace said:
Yummy delights!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
There are sometimes a few strange dishes around like jellied pig trotters and lutefisk… but they are not mandatory
lillian said:
Have never heard a Swede call lutefisk “strange” — yucky yes. But not strange. Of course, I guess soaking fish in lye (is that what they do?) is a bit strange!
Björn Rudberg (brudberg) said:
Yes, it is more weird than yucky I think
Grace said:
Hi everyone. I hope you have fun with this prompt. We have Christmas goodies and cskes as well as coffee, tea and hot chocolate. I look reading to your poems and getting hungry in the process.
kim881 said:
I can’t believe it’s the last dVerse prompt of the year, which is why I’ve written a festive recipe poem. I’d like to take this opportunity to wish you all the best for the season and for the New Year, when I will be hosting the first prompt of 2024.
Grace said:
Yes, we made it through 2023! Looking forward to reading it Kim. Thank you for being part of our team. Seasons greetings and looking forward to your prompt in Jan. 1, 2024.
kim881 said:
Thank you, Grace, for keeping everything ticking over. Happy Christmas!
dorahak said:
This year has gone by so fast, Grace, and for a closing prompt, this one is just the ticket. I confess I picked the simplest recipe possible but it was still a challenge but a fun one all the same! Hope everyone has a wonderful holiday, and God bless!
Grace said:
Good that it was a fun challenge. Happy holidays to you as well!
lillian said:
Happy holidays, Grace and thank you so much for all you do! You are the “inner tickings” of dVerse – you make it all happen! I confess, I’ve taken a bit of liberty with the recipe idea….but it is a recipe…just not for food. I don’t think anyone would care for Alice’s jello salad (my kids hated it) that was always served on Christmas Eve from the days when I was in 3rd grade. And, you probably guessed it, the recipe was from Alice who lived across the street! So mine is a bit different….looking forward to seeing all the responses here.
Have a wonderful holiday season, everyone. And a happy and healthy New Year!
Grace said:
Hi Lillian! Thank you for being part of our team. Looking forward to reading your poem. Have a wonderful holiday! And a joyful new year!!!
Melissa Lemay said:
Wishing everyone a wonderful holiday season! Blessings to all.❤️🙏🏻
Grace said:
Hi Melissa! Wishing you a wonderful holiday season as well. Cheers to a joyful new year!
Mish said:
Thanks for hosting, Grace. I love that this one is light and fun, a perfect ending to the year. Mine is only three ingredients but I guess more, if you count love, tradition, Christmas spirit…….
Happy Holidays everyone!
~Mish
Grace said:
Light and fun is a perfect ending for the year. Happy Holidays Mish!
Helen said:
Greetings Everyone! Wishing you a dVerse break filled with good food, drink, merriment and love!!! See you in January 2024.
Helen said:
I brought homemade cookies with me to the Bar this evening. Enjoy!!!! Thank you Grace for the delicious challenge.
Grace said:
Thanks for your support Helen. Happy Holidays and Happy New Year!
azurea20 said:
Estupendo. Os deseo que todo sea magnífico. 💐🍒🌞🍒🍒🌞🌞
Grace said:
Thank you for your wishes. Happy Holidays!
kittysverses said:
Hi Grace and all,
Though I’m unable to join in to this fun prompt , wishing everyone, Merry Christmas and a Happy 2024. 🙂
Grace said:
Merry Christmas and Happy New 2024! Have a good one!
pvcann said:
Merries for everyone and blessed 24 too. Many thanks Grace – I went with humour.
Grace said:
Merry Christmas and have a good holiday Paul. Love your wild fruity concoction.
Vidya Tiru said:
Joining in at dverse after way too long.. but glad I did.. for it was a twofer delight – poetry and food!!
Grace said:
So glad to see you again! The doors are always open.
Gillena Cox said:
HAPPY HOLIDAYS
So sorry i missed the linky. It is now ecpired
My post is
HERE
Much♡love
Grace said:
Happy Holidays to you Gillena!
lifelessons said:
Oops.. I missed the cutoff date, but here is my recipe in rhyme: https://judydykstrabrown.com/2023/12/19/judys-addictive-sangria-brew/
Grace said:
Happy Holidays to you!!!