The Goose and Bull Tavern

The Chesapeake Bay Oyster

2011-04-06T15:52:00.003-04:00

Oyster shell found in a exposed breakwater on Chic's Beach, Virginia after a hurricane

     While this may seem like a departure from the food history format of this blog, it is a backwards look at the history of one of our signature Tidewater foods – the oyster. After all, every good pirate and tavern owner should know their local waters. And I recently learned lot about oysters.
     Those of us who live in the Tidewater area tend to think of oysters as one of our signature seafoods, so it surprised me to learn that oysters were cultivated in Italy during the first century B.C. Sergius Orata, a Roman engineer, grew his oysters on a rock piles surrounded by twigs in the lakes of Southern Italy. Somehow he knew what we now know - that oysters preferred to live in colonies, like a solid surface to grow on, and once the larval oysters roost they do not move but expend their energy growing larger. With his manmade oyster reef Orata could easily monitor his crops, and when his oysters reached a marketable size he could remove them and sell them.
So where do oysters live and how do they grow?
     Oysters tend to congregate in colonies and form oyster reefs which create habitats similar to coral reefs. Oysters are only mobile for the first two weeks of their life. Then they prefer to have a hard surface upon which to attach, and will happily just continue to grow larger and larger while piled on top of each other in the same location. Since the average depth here in the Chesapeake Bay is only 21 feet these intertidal animals may be exposed for 5-6 hours per day between the high and low tides marks and still survive. Oyster reefs are the largest source of hard surface on the Bay’s bottom and provide food and shelter for other species like mussels, barnacles, red beard sponge, rockfish, eels, pig fish, sheep’s head, drum, spadefish, pipefish, croaker, spot, pinfish, blue crabs, and several invertebrates.
     Oysters are filter feeders meaning they pump large volumes of water through their gills. As they filter the water to obtain food, they also filter out plankton and sediment which helps to clear the water and preserve the quality of the Bay’s habitat. A single adult oyster can filter about 50 gallons of water a day. The oyster population a few decades ago was able to filter the entire Bay every week. With the decline is the number of oysters and the modern day pressure on the Chesapeake Bay it would take the current oyster population a year to accomplish the same job.
     Captain John Smith was introduced to oysters by the Native Americans in the 1600's and wrote that the oyster beds were so prolific they created an impediment to navigation. I’ve been told by interpreters at Jamestown Colony in Jamestown, Virginia that the oysters at that time measure 13” across. We're not sure of the age of the oyster shell in the photo above, but it was discovered wedged down deep in a previously unseen rock breakwater uncovered by a hurricane. Locally harvested oysters from a nerby area recently reopened for shellfishing only measure 4.5".
What happened to our local oysters?
     The American east coast native oyster, Crassostrea virginica, formed the backbone of a thriving Chesapeake Bay oyster industry from the Civil War time period until the mid 1980’s. At present the population of Chesapeake Bay oysters is just 2% of what it was prior to 1850. How did that happen? A combination of loving oysters and a booming population loving bayfront living contributed to overharvesting, a decline in oyster habitat, and a decline in the water quality of the Bay. At present the Chesapeake Bay watershed encompasses 64,000, square miles in six contiguous states. Of that total mileage 11,600 is tidal shoreline, and at present approximately 17,000 million people live in the watershed with about 10 million living along its shores or near them. The combination of working, living, recreating and all the inherent pollutants that come along with profiting from and just enjoying the Bay (we won't even talk about dog and goose poop pollution here!) have compromised the water quality of our beautiful National Treasure the Chesapeake Bay.
     Interestingly the name “Chesapeake” comes from the Native American word
"Tschiswapeki," meaning "great shellfish bay." So please do what you can to protect our beautiful Chesapeake Bay and keep the oysters growing for our generation and those to come.
For more information visit:
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation http://www.cbf.org/
Lynnhaven River Now http://www.LRNow.org/

Foods and Feasts of Colonial Virginia

2010-11-26T17:15:00.011-05:00

Today we made our annual research trip to jamestown Settlement for their Foods and Feasts living history program. Everytime we learn something new about the old foodways (English and Powhatan)of the 17th century. Here are some of the highlights: the groaning board, corn cakes, rockfish wrapped in clay to bake in hot coals, the fort bread oven, envious of the clothes, a VERY large barrel and a handsome man, neat little storage chest.

Tobacco Drinking

2010-07-13T19:59:00.003-04:00

The Indian habit of pipe smoking was very fashionable in England by the 1570's, and it was not just a men's habit. Women, and even children, enjoyed the pleasures of the imported "Indian Weed" and women even smoked in public. English women were not the only ones enjoying the pleasures of pipe smoking, Dutch and French women also took up "tobacco drinking" - as in drinking in the smoke.

William Harrison's "Great Chronologie" from 1588 describes the early clay pipe as a "little ladell" or spoon shape. Late sixteenth century pipes were short stemmed, no longer than 1 3/4 inches and made of very delicate white clay. It may have been more appropriately named tobacco sipping since tobacco was very much a luxury item and the pipe bowl was only 1/4 inch in diameter. The Dutch were able to create a stronger clay body and by the seventeenth-century Holland was the major manufacturer of clay pipes and pipe stems had lengthened to 4 -6 inches long. Towards the end of the seventeenth century the pipe bowl was enlarged and the pipe stem lengthened to 11-12 inces. In the second half of the eighteenth-century the stems increased to two feet or more in length and earned the nineteenth-century nickname "churchwardens."

The discovery of so many pipe fragments at historic sites led people to believe that tavern pipe smokers shared a pipe in the Indian fashion by breaking off the end of the stem before passing it to the next person. Mr. Ivor Noel Hume, Colonial Williamsburg archeologist and social historian, believes there is no evidence to support this idea; the real reason is simply clay pipes were fragile and easily broken - making them the first disposable commodity. The end of the stem was tapered to fit the mouth, so if the end were broken off it would not be as comfortable to smoke. However, there is evidence that the pipes were placed in iron cradles and heated in bake ovens to cleanse them for the next round of smokers and also clear out the tar and resins. Fortunately clay pipes were inexpensive to replace. In 1709 a gross of pipes (that is 144 pipes) could be purchased for 2 shillings or $16 in today's currency.

The top tavern pipe in the photo was purchased from Colonial Williamsburg. It was made by the Williamsburg Pottery in Lightfoot, Virginia and is typical of a mid eighteenth-century tavern pipe. The stem is 16 inches long (with a broken tip already) and the bowl is 1 3/4 inches high and 3/4 inches in diameter. The heel on the bottom of the bowl assists the pipe maker in fashioning the bowl. The bottom pipe was found a couple of years ago along the shores of the Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia State archeologist suspects a long forgotten barrel broke open somewhere because he had numerous calls aabout finding the same pipe on bay beaches araound the same time. The bowl is the same size and the Colonial Williamsburg pipe, but the stem in only 4 inches long, either by design or from rolling around in the waves.

When temperately used, there is not in all the world a medicine comparable to tobacco. All of tobacco is wholesome. William Barclay: Nepenthes; or, The Virtues of Tobacco, 1614.

The Spring Tansy

2010-05-17T18:34:00.004-04:00

Tansy (Tanacetum vulgare), also known as golden buttons or bitter buttons, is a tall perennial native to Europe with a strong scent and a bitter taste. The name comes from the Greek athanatos meaning immortal, and either refers to tansy's long bloom time or its use as a preservative in coffins. Historically tansy was used as an insect repellant for ants and flies, as a strewing herb on floors, as a disinfectant, and as a medicinal herb. Today we know tansy is potentially toxic and should not be taken internally. Tansy oil is highly toxic both internally and externally.
"The Herb fried with Eggs (as is accustomed in the Spring time) which is called a Tansy, helpeth to digest, and carry downward the bad Humours that trouble the Stomach: The Seed is very profitably given to Children for Worms, and the Juice in Drink is effectual. Being boiled in Oil it is good for the sinews shrunk by Cramps, or pained with cold, if thereto applied. Also it consumes the Phlegmatic Humours, the cold and moist condition of Winter most usually infects the Body of Man with, and that was the first reason of eating Tansies in the Spring. At last the world being overrun with Popery, a Monster called Superstition perks up his head...and now forsooth Tansies must be eaten only on Palm and Easter Sundays, and their neighbor days; [the] Superstition of the time was found out, but the Virtue of the herb hidden, and now 'tis almost, if not altogether, left off."
Nicholas Culpepper (1616-1654) The English Physician, 1652

During the sixteenth century, the English served custardy Easter puddings and sweet cakes made with tansy and served with fried eggs to cleanse the blood and undo the ills of the salted fish Lenten diet. Tansy juice was added to egg dishes called "tanseys" making them green, and the cream and sugar helped to offset the bitter taste. Since tansy was considered a "stomachic", this practice may have improved a digestive system gone sluggish from winter. So the name refers not only to the plant, but also to the spring dishes made with it. It is possible that tansy was eaten as a Christian tradition in honor of the bitter herbs of Passover, not solely as a spring tonic.
A Virginia cookbook from "Anonymous", circa 1700, lists this recipe for a Tansey (the writer wasn't much on punctuation, but could read and write which was no small feat for a woman at that time):
"Take 20 Eggs beat them well and a Double handful of Spinage (spinach) Stamp it and Strain it beat a little Tansey with ye Spinage & put it a mong ye Eggs with a pint of Cream & Rowles (rolls) Greated with Salt and Sugar then put it in a Skillet well Buttered with a Lump of Butter in it & keep Sturing till it is as Thick as pudding then Butter a Dish put in & Lay it over Coles (coals) for above an hour & then turn it out & Serve it with Rose watter Butter & Sugar and Eat it."
This recipe is for historic informational purposes only.

Dill

2010-04-12T16:06:00.003-04:00

I have been interested in herbs since I was a child, and what has always fascinated me the most is the magical, mystical, historical side of these plants. Dill's history goes back 5,000 years where it was mentioned on an early Egyptian papyrus. Since then it has been a magical, medicinal and culinary part of many Mediterranean and European cultures. The debate goes on as to whether the name derives from the Norse dilla or the Anglo-Saxon dylle which both mean to "lull or soothe".

Dill is known as an herb of good cheer, good omens, and good for relaxing fear and tension. Bunches of dill or garlands of dill seed heads were hung over windows and doors to undo spells and keep evil out of the home. Even farm animals wore wreaths to protect them from the evil eye, and bags of dill seeds hung over baby's cribs to keep them from being kidnapped by fairies. Considered an herb of the sun, dill symbolizes protection, prosperity, abundance, and fertility. And...dill is an aphrodisiac often included in magic love potions. Bathing in dill was supposed to make you more attractive to the opposite sex. The Englishman's Doctor, in 1608, warned that dill "maketh men chaste and women filled with lust."

Medicinally herbalist Nicholas Culpeper (1616-1654) believed dill "to be sure strengthens the brain" and that a decoction of dill in white wine was a "gallant expeller of wind". It also "stayeth the hiquet (hiccough)", important because hiccups indicated a battle waging between the soul and the physical body. Gripe water, made from dill, was given to babies to relieve colic and induce sleep. Nursing mothers were given dill to increase the flow of milk.

Dill, fennel, and caraway seeds were dubbed the "meetin' seeds" and were chewed to keep children quiet during long sermons or to keep their parents awake.

Today, we mostly think of dill as an ingredient in pickles. Interestingly, there is no mention of dill in any of the recipes for pickling vegetables from a 1700 Virginia cookbook. What a shame, I've heard that dill pickle juice is supposed to cure a hangover.

Nutmeg

2009-12-28T13:08:00.004-05:00

‘Tis the season for baking and eggnog, and one of the spices frequently used is nutmeg (Myristica fragrans). I remember a trip to the islands and a beachside outdoor “imbibing emporium.” The bartender had a nutmeg grater suspended around her neck and floated freshly ground nutmeg on the top of our drinks. I was surprised to find that the practice dates back to the Middle Ages when proper gentlemen carried a nutmeg grater in their pockets at the ready.

Nutmeg is native to the Banda group of the Molucca Islands, or the Spice Islands of Indonesia, which are between the Philippines and New Guinea. Although it is now cultivated in Indonesia, Malaysia, Sri Lanka, most of us associate nutmeg with Grenada. Nutmeg was a very important commodity in the spice trade, and the English, Spanish, Portuguese and Dutch all vied for control of the Molucca Islands and their precious spices. The Dutch were able to monopolize production of nutmeg until the Second World War.

Nutmeg growers actually produce two spices: nutmeg and mace. The nutmeg is actually a seed inside a fruit that resembles an apricot. Once the ripe fruit is broken open you can see the seed, which is covered with a bright red latticework called an aril. The aril is what gives us the culinary spice mace.

Nutmeg is not only used for cooking sweet and savory dishes, but also as an ingredient in perfume, as a Roman incense, as a love potion, and as protection against bad luck. It has also been recommended as a remedy for bad breath, insomnia, and to prevent dizziness, memory loss and freckles. Supposedly 15th century Londoners would mix nutmeg, saffron and hot pepper into a beverage which could cure death “if administered within the moon.”

Regardless of all its magical powers, processed nutmeg quickly loses its flavor so always tastes best when freshly grated.

Illustration from the Botanical Library, Gothenburg University.

Taino Barabicu

2009-09-08T08:15:00.005-04:00

The above engraving is by De Bry (printed 1590) based on a watercolor by White.
Courtesy of the John Carter Brown Library at Brown University.

You may have celebrated this past Labor Day holiday with a BBQ, but did you know where the name BBQ came from? And, since this is a blog about piratical food, what does it have to do with pirates?

On December 6, 1492 Christopher Columbus arrived in Hispaniola. The island, called La Espanola in Spanish, was far from a deserted wilderness. It was inhabited by seagoing Native Americans called Taino Indians who are believed to be relatives of the Arawak people of South America. Scholars disagree on the exact numbers, but the population could have been as few as 100,000 or as many as 400,000. Today the island Hispaniola is known as Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

Many of the islands in the Caribbean were stocked with cattle and hogs by the Spanish on their routes to Central and South America in case they needed to resupply their ships with food en route. The resident Taino figured out how to dry and smoke the meat on a rack over a smoldering fire. According to H.L. Mencken in “The American Language” from 1919 the word barbeque comes from the Spanish word barbacoa which comes from the Taino words “Ba” from baba (father); “ra” from Yara (fire); “bi” from Bibi (beginning) and “cu” from Guacu (the sacred fire). So, “Taino Barabicu” means sacred fire pit. I know some of you probably consider your state of the art grill the sacred fire pit, but read on…

The Arawak word buccan refers to a wooden frame for smoking meat. Enter the French who also inhabited the island and the word for the wooden frame became boucane. So, the French hunter who smoked feral cow and pig meat on a boucan became a boucanier, perhaps an early term for the grill master. You see where this is going? English colonists further changed the word boucanier to buccaneer. And here the grill master allusion departs and visions of pirates come into view. The first usage of the word buccaneer is recorded in 1661 (with its original meaning). English settlers in Jamaica began to use the term buccaneer as synonymous with pirate, especially after Alexandre Exquemelin’s book The Buccaneers of America was published in English in 1684. This French writer knew his subject through his employment with the French West India Company, and as a confidante of and possibly barber-surgeon for Captain Henry Morgan. Put all that in your grill and smoke it.

Trying Out a Hit Counter

2009-08-28T11:32:00.001-04:00

Free Counter

Serendipity

2009-08-24T14:16:00.003-04:00

Sometimes you find what you are looking for in the most unexpected places.

We happened to be visiting Raphine, Virginia last weekend and Stopped into a small kitchen shop that is part of a working grist mill called Wade’s Mill, (more about their history later).

For such a small space they have a lot of different culinary items, but the most interesting was this pewter spoon. The spoon was cast by Lee Sauder of Germinal Ironworks in Lexington, Virginia.

In Mr. Sauder’s own words the story is… In the 1940’s his grandfather found a bronze spoon mould under the floor of an abandoned building he was demolishing in Accomack County, Virginia. The mould dates from between 1690 and 1710. This spoon was cast directly in the 300-year-old mould. In the finishing process, Mr. Sauder refrained from removing some of the marks and imperfections from that mould, to retain its history and character.

We know from research that spoons were important eating utensils because forks were not yet in vogue, but I never thought I would find an actual replica of a period spoon – never mind one from our limited time period!

And now, as promised, the history of Wade’s Mill:
Historic Wade's Mill
Wade's Mill is a working flour mill, c. 1750, built by Captain Joseph Kennedy. Captain Kennedy was a Scotsman who was one of the earlier settlers in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia. He settled in the area between Staunton and Lexington Virginia. This was the frontier of the United States between 1740 and 1770. The Kennedy family owned the flour mill in the Shenandoah Valley for about 100 years.

In 1882, James F. Wade bought the flour mill and his family operated it for the next four generations. The interior and workings of the flour mill are much like they were when Mr. Wade bought it.

The mill is powered by a 21-foot water wheel that is fed by a nearby stream (known originally as Captain Joseph Kennedy's Mill Creek). Wade's Mill is one of the few remaining flour mills that still produce a wide variety of flours exclusively on mill stones. The Shenandoah Valley flour mill is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Isinglass

2009-08-14T15:14:00.005-04:00

In 1607 Captain Christopher Newport wrote “The main river (James) abounds with sturgeon, very large and excellent good…” Sturgeon regularly reached more than fifteen feet in length and could easily weigh up to 800 pounds. Sadly, today the Atlantic Sturgeon is considered threatened, endangered or extinct in many of its original habitats.

The Atlantic Sturgeon is found along the Atlantic coast from New Brunswick, Canada to the east coast of Florida. This bony, bottom-feeding fish is believed to have originated at least 70 million years ago, making it one of the oldest fish species in the world, and one of the first “cash” crops from Jamestown, Virginia. A 2007 study of the James River, part of the Chesapeake Bay watershed, found only 175 sturgeon living in the entire river and just 15 over five feet in length.

If the life span of these fish can top 30 years for adult males and for 60 years for adult females where did they go? It takes 10 or more years for the fish to mature, and then the females only spawn once every 2 to 6 years. While they mainly live in salt water, they travel to freshwater or brackish rivers to spawn in April and May. Many of their breeding grounds have been destroyed or polluted, but the main reason they disappeared is overfishing. Once the market for sturgeon meat, caviar (sturgeon eggs) and isinglass (finally we get to the topic!) was discovered the fish population was no match for their voracious human predators.

And isinglass is…the inner membrane of the sturgeon’s swim bladder… an almost pure gelatin substance. (Curiously, the name sturgeon comes from Middle Dutch hūsblase : [hūs, sturgeon + blase, bladder.] In the 1700’s, before gelatin from hooves and horns was discovered, isinglass was an important product for making dessert jelly or blancmange and also for clarifying wine and beer. For use in cooking it needed to be softened overnight before it could be added to other ingredients. Today isinglass is manufactured in Russia, the United States, Canada, Brazil, Indonesia, the West Indies, and the Philippines. It is still used in the brewing industry to remove yeast and sediment from cask-conditioned beers and ales. Isinglass is also used to repair parchment and in glues and cements. So, if you are fortunate enough to see a sturgeon swimming by thank it for its contribution to our history and let it be.

Period Props

2009-08-04T19:03:00.003-04:00

Sometimes the old world and the new world collide when the need to be a museum quality exhibit meets the need to beat the heat. Can you guess what is hiding under the “costume” of a stolen 50 lb. bag of rice from the Portuguese government? I’ll give you a hint… we call him “Iggy” and he keeps the crewe from dehydration during long, hot, humid summer events.

All for Me Grog

2009-07-08T11:12:00.002-04:00

Well its all for me grog, me jolly jolly grog
It’s all for me beer and tobacco
For I spent all me tin with the lassies drinking gin
Far across the western ocean I must wander
“All for Me Grog” – traditional song

If a pirate bangs his fist down on the bar at The Goose & Bull and orders grog…not only is he in the wrong decade, he’s most likely a “faux pirate.” Why? Because the famous, or infamous, grog was created AFTER the Golden Age of Piracy.
Here’s the story, and it starts with the British navy in 1655 off the island of Jamaica. Rum had to taste better than the stale water and beer aboard ship, the lousy food, and it helped to relieve the boredom of long days at sea. Plus rum was plentiful in the West Indies and sugar planters were only to happy to have their product a fixture on British ships.
The only problem with daily fuddling, or drinking of rum, was it tended to make sailors tipsy and unreliable. So to avoid mutiny, and still keep the custom, Admiral Edward Vernon issued an order in 1740 that the rum be “mixed with the proportion of a quart of water to every pint of rum,” and that the daily ration be served twice daily instead of once. The first tot was served between ten and noon, the second between four and six in the afternoon. To avoid dishonest pursers from watering the rum down too much, and pocketing the profit, Admiral Vernon required the Lieutenant of the Watch to supervise the dilution on deck. This daily drink became an official part of the Admiralty’s naval code in 1756.
Admiral Vernon’s nickname was “Old Grogram”, because he wore a coat made from “grogram” fabric. So his new rum drink was named grog. In addition to instituting the new diluted rum ration, Admiral Vernon also added that crewman could exchange their salt and bread allotment for “sugar and limes to make [grog] more palatable to them.” Coincidentally the addition of citrus to the daily rum allotment mollified the effects of scurvy. Later it was discovered that a lack of ascorbic acid (found in citrus fruits) caused scurvy, the idea was proven by Scottish surgeon James Lind in 1753. English sailors were then dubbed “limeys” because the navy required the addition of one half ounce of lemon or lime juice to the daily ration.
So just how much alcohol were the sailors consuming? Although it is difficult to determine the proof of those long ago rums, the ration was approximated to be the same as five cocktails a day. The daily ration was halved in 1823 and again in 1850 and replaced with more tea, cocoa and meat. Sadly, for the sailors, the last official British navy rum ration was dispensed on July 31, 1970 – known as Black Tot Day.

Origins of The Goose and Bull

2009-07-01T11:56:00.001-04:00

Mistress Carolynne's educational persona is a coastal Virginia tavern proprietoress during the Golden Age of Piracy (1680-1730). The Goose and Bull is a historical re-creation and interpretation of Virginia colony food and drink, the role of the tavern, and the relationship with visiting pirates.
Daughter of a sea captain who sailed from Marblehead, Massachusetts, Mistress Carolynne traveled aboard ship to the Virginia colony with her father. Here she met and married the owner of The Goose & Bull Tavern (est. 1684). When her husband was killed in a brawl she took over the ownership and the running of The Goose & Bull, an unusual position for a woman at this time. The pirates who patronize the G & B appreciate her tasty victuals and libations and often seek the relief provided by the herbal remedies she prepares in her stillroom.
Mistress Carolynne enjoys a special relationship with Alpheus, the quartermaster of the Defiance, and a member of Christopher Moody's crewe. He seems to be quite resourceful in finding choice items for the tavern at a more than fair price.

Welcome to The Goose And Bull

2009-07-01T11:50:00.001-04:00