Keep yourself warm and the kids happy

With the awful weather of the past few days there is no incentive at all to move onto the lighter food of spring and summer. Good old-fashioned fare is needed to keep the cold out.

Here's a recipe for Beef Steak Pudding from an 1847 cookbook.

“Make into a very firm smooth paste, one pound of flour, six ounces of beef-suet finely minced, half a teaspoonful of salt, and half a pint of cold water; line with this a basin which holds a pint and a half; season one pound of tender steak, free from bone and skin, with half an ounce of salt and half a teaspoonful of pepper, well mixed together; lay it in the crust, pour in a quarter of a pint of water, roll out the cover, close the pudding carefully, tie a floured cloth over, and boil it for three hours and a half.”

That should keep the cold out.

If the kids have the trots, you could try Dr Baillie's Mixture for Children, from the same book.

“The following was a favourite remedy of Dr Baillie in protracted case of diarrhoea in children:- diluted nitric acid, six drops; syrup of cloves, four drachms; laudanum, six drops. Mix. One or two teaspoonfuls to be given in barley water.”

Laudanum is opium. So that should keep the little ones happy.

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