In the last post I tried to explore how curry powder came into being. Well today it is time to use our freshly prepared curry powder in a recipe. So the next recipe in my little Dining with Jane Austen and Martha Lloyd series is “a receipt to curry after the India manner”. However before I dive into the recipe itself, I think it would be interesting to look at different curry recipes in the 18th and 19th centuries and see what we can discover.

Like I mentioned before the first known curry recipe was published in the bestselling Hannah Glasse cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy (1747). However from my research the curry recipes really start to appear in cookbooks in the 1780’s. While fairly similar, most recipes fall under two different cooking methods. In the first, poultry, often precooked, is fried in browned onions and spices and then poaching liquid of the chicken added to form a gravy. Cream and lemon or orange is often suggested as a finishing touch to the curry. The other method is were you would put the chicken with onions, sometimes spices and water and boil it until done, then add butter that had been rolled in flour and curry powder to thicken the gravy.

Since essentially you cook the chicken first, any leftover meats could have been used to make curry. Poultry and rabbits being the most popular choice. Curry for all it’s intent and purpose was a spiced stew and frequently viewed as a lower cast dish. Only when the middle classes started to serve it on their dinner tables, the curry became more popular. While over the time curry has gone in and out of fashion, partly to one or another political nonsense, it has never really left the British table.

Chicken curry recipe from Charlotte Mason cookbook Mrs Mason’s Cookery or the Ladies Assistant from 1787 — Chicken curry recipe from Charlotte Mason cookbook *Mrs Mason’s Cookery or the Ladies Assistant* from 1787

Curry recipe from Colin Mackenzie cookbook Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts from 1830 — Curry recipe from Colin Mackenzie cookbook *Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts* from 1830

In the later recipes substitutions for various hard to get ingredients started to appear. For example, tart apples started to appear in curry recipes and lemon or orange juice was added in place of tamarind for a bit of tanginess. As for coconut milk, that was and still is popular in the Southern Indian and Sri Lankan cuisine, milk, cream or as Eliza Acton suggested ,,sweet sound cocoa-nut lightly grated and stewed [..] in the gravy of the currie, is a great improvement to its flavour” could have been used.

Apples become popular in curries in second half of the Victorian age. Curry recipe from Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery (1892). — Apples become popular in curries in second half of the Victorian age. Curry recipe from *Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery* (1892).

Important to note that as the British love for curry grew so did the cookbooks on the subject. There were many Anglo-Indian cookbooks in the Victorian Britain that instruct the reader how to make “authentic“ or anglofied curries and how to run a household in the colonies. Some of the dishes that are a staple of British curry house can trace from this time (for example, Madras curry). You can also find in these cookbooks indianized European dishes that are still popular in India and Sri Lanka today, for example, cutlets or omelettes.

Madras curry recipe from Daniel Santiagoe cookbook The Curry Cook's Assistant from 1889 — Madras curry recipe from Daniel Santiagoe cookbook *The Curry Cook's Assistant* from 1889

Vindaloo curry recipe from W. H. Dawe cookbook The Wife's Help to Indian Cookery from 1888 — Vindaloo curry recipe from W. H. Dawe cookbook *The Wife's Help to Indian Cookery* from 1888

So what about Miss Lloyd’s receipt for a curry? Well it is not the kind of curry that we are used to eat today. It is very light and subtle, however having often cooked Sri Lankan curries, it does feel a bit underwhelming. If I where to make it again I would brown the chicken in the pan, take it out and cook the onions in the same pan until they start to get some colour. Then I would cook off the spices and garlic for a little bit and return the chicken back to the pan. For liquid you could use either just water or chicken stock and stew it until the chicken is done. I did like the orange in the curry. It gave a unexpected yet pleasing freshness and flavour to the curry. Something to keep in mind for future kitchen shenanigans. I would also look into other curry powders, Mr. Kitchiner’s spice mix was far too heavy on turmeric for my taste. One thing that I decided to ignore completely from the get-go is the amount of butter. I am rather found of my heartbeat so I took the executive order to quarter the amount, which in all fairness still seems excessive.

Martha Lloyd's A Receipt to Curry after the India Manner.jpg

Martha Lloyds Chicken Curry

4 chicken thighs (~650 grams), cut into smaller pieces
50 grams butter
2 cloves of garlic
1 small onion
3 tsp curry powder
juice of half or one whole orange (or lemon)
rice for serving

Add the chicken in a saucepan to water (enough to cover it) and salt and bring gently to a simmer. Cook until done. Reserve the poaching liquid.

In a pan melt the butter and let it brown a little, add the garlic and onion and cook till golden brown. Add the chicken and curry powder and cook for a minute, then add a little bit of the poaching liquid (I added about 100 ml) and cook for further few minutes. Lastly add orange juice. Stir in and check for seasoning. Serve with rice.

Disclaimer! I live in a small city apartment and cook on an electric stove-top and oven. The recipes have been recreated with modern appliances and ingredients from my local grocery shop as that is what was available to me at the time of writing. I only recently have started to cook from old cookbooks and still have much to learn so it is very much possible that I have misinterpreted a recipe and the fault is mine and not the recipes.

Sources

Acton, Eliza, Modern Cookery, 1845
Cassell's Dictionary of Cookery, 1892
Collinghan, Lizzie, Curry. A Tale of Cooks and Conquerors (Oxford University Press, 2006)
Dawe, W. H., The Wife's Help to Indian Cookery, 1888
Glasse, Hannah The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, 1747
Hickman, Peggy, A Jane Austen Household Book with Martha Lloyd’s Recipes, Readers Union, Group of Book Clubs, 1978
Mackenzie, Colin, Five Thousand Receipts in All the Useful and Domestic Arts, 1830
Mason, Charlotte, Mrs Mason’s Cookery or the Ladies Assistant, 1787
Santiagoe, Daniel, The Curry Cook's Assistant, 1889
Sen, Colleen Taylor, Curry. A Global History (Reaktion Books, 2009)