Recipes with Julie Van Rosendaal: A Christmas Carol

'Tis the season for A Christmas Carol. The classic story, written by Charles Dickens and published in London in 1843, is being performed at Theatre Calgary again this year, and told via many holiday movies.

As it takes place at Christmastime — on Christmas Eve — the tale involves food, from Ebenezer's gruel he eats for dinner before meeting the first spirit, to the celebratory goose, plum pudding, sugar plums and other traditional delights they come across along the way. If you're looking for Victorian-era culinary inspiration to pair with your Christmas Carol experience, here are a few ideas.

Toward the end of the story, Scrooge suggests having a discussion with Bob Cratchit over a bowl of smoking bishop — a kind of wassail that was very popular in Victorian England around Christmastime.

The word wassail originated from an old Norse saying meaning "be in good health" or "be fortunate," and refers to all manner of mulled wine, ale and cider, as well as the tradition of going from house to house singing Christmas carols and making merry.

English food writer and poet Eliza Acton, who authored one of Britain's first home cookery books, published this recipe for smoking bishop in the 1845 edition of Modern Cookery.

She noted that it's often a Seville orange stuck with cloves that's slowly roasted, its flavour "to many tastes is infinitely finer" than that of the lemon:

Make several incisions in the rind of a lemon, stick cloves in these, and roast the lemon by a slow fire.

Put small but equal quantities of cinnamon, cloves, mace and allspice, with a race of ginger, into a saucepan with half a pint of water: let it boil until it is reduced one-half.

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Boil one bottle of port wine, burn a portion of the spirit out of it by applying a lighted paper to the saucepan; put the roasted lemon and spice into the wine; stir it up well, and let it stand near the fire 10 minutes.

Rub a few knobs of sugar on the rind of a lemon, put the sugar into a bowl or jug, with the juice of half a lemon (not roasted), pour the wine into it, grate in some nutmeg, sweeten it to the taste, and serve it up with the lemon and spice floating in it.

Mince tarts are still a quintessential holiday dessert in the U.K. Originally made with actual meat — legs of mutton, suet (beef fat) and root vegetables like carrots along with spices, dried fruit and orange peel, they transitioned toward more sweet in the mid-1700s, as sugar became cheaper and easier to get, thanks to the rise of sugarcane plantations in the West Indies.

In Isabella Beeton's The Book of Household Management (1861) — a popular cookbook of middle-class Victorian-era households — there are five recipes for mincemeat, including this "economical" version:

Mincemeat (economical)

• 1 lb chopped apples
• ¾ lb currants, washed and picked
• ½ lb raisins, stoned and quartered
• ½ lb finely-chopped suet
• ½ lb castor sugar
• 2 oz chopped candied peel, the juice and grated rind of 1 lemon
• 1 saltspoon of grated nutmeg 

To make tarts, use any pastry recipe and roll out about 1/8-inch thick. Cut 3-inch rounds and fit into muffin tins, fill with mincemeat, top with a lid (if it's solid, cut a few holes to allow steam to escape) or a shape, like a star.

Bake at 350 F for 15-20 minutes, or until golden.

Sally Lunn

Sally Lunn is a sort of cakey, yeasted bun similar to a hot cross bun. Though it doesn't make an appearance in A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens mentions them in his novel The Chimes.

The Sally Lunn Eating House in Bath, England — it's Bath's oldest house, circa 1483 — claims the recipe was brought to Bath in the 1680s.

I used a recipe from the Eating House, written in pen and ink, and instructions include "pap the tops over with a feather dipt in the yolk of an egg."

I made about a third of a batch, adding some mixed spice and raisins, which are more common in modern versions, and transcribed what I did (including using a much smaller quantity of packaged yeast) here.

• 2/3 cup milk
• 3-4 tbsp butter
• 2 tsp active dry or instant yeast 
• 1 lb all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
• 2 eggs
• Cinnamon or mixed spice (optional)
• 1 tsp fine salt
• Raisins or currants (optional)
• Beaten egg or milk, for brushing the tops (optional)

Warm the milk with the butter until the milk is warm and the butter melted. Add the yeast (make sure the mixture isn't too hot) and let sit to dissolve. 

Put the flour into a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer) and add the milk mixture, eggs, a spoonful of mixed spice (2-3 tsp) and the salt. Mix until the dough comes together, then continue to knead, by hand or using the dough hook attachment, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Knead in the raisins or currants — about a cup, or as many as you like.

Return the dough to the bowl, cover and let rise for 1-2 hours, or until doubled in bulk. 

Divide the dough into nine pieces, shape each into a ball and flatten slightly, and place in a parchment-lined baking pan (I used a 9x13-inch pan). Let them sit for about 30 minutes while you preheat the oven to 375 F.

Brush the tops, if you like, with a little beaten egg or milk, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until deep golden.

Makes nine buns.