Scratch-Platter, Chouder, Stir-About (1774)

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   The British and Irish Women's Letters and Diaries database has no "corned beef"!  So the hits for "corned beef and cabbage" are ZERO!
   I found this interesting piece.  "Chouder" should be recorded, although it's not the first 1700s citation.  OED has "stir-about" from 1682.  But "scratch-platter"??



Schaw, Janet, 1731(?)-1801(?), Letter from Janet Schaw, October 25, 1774 in Journal of a Lady of Quality: Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal. Andrews, Evangeline Walker. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1922, pp. 341. [Bibliographic Details] [10-25-1774] S698-D001

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We now called a general council on this truly interesting and important question, What shall we eat? By the returns made by Robert and Mary, we found we had still a cag of excellent butter, a barrel of flower, a barrell of onions, and half a Cheese, besides a few eggs. As an addition to this the Captain had the humanity to restore us a parcel of very fine tusk [sic], which he had accidentally stowed away. I wish he had likewise let us have a cask of porter, which had the same fate. Of these materials Mary and Robert make us something wonderfully good every day. For example, Lobscourse is one of the most savoury dishes I ever eat. It is composed of Salt beef hung by a string over the side of the ship, till rendered tolerably fresh, then cut in nice little pieces, and with potatoes, onions and pepper, is stewed for some time, with the addition of a proportion of water. This is my favourite dish; but scratch-platter, chouder, stir-about, and some others have all their own merit.


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Schaw, Janet, 1731(?)-1801(?), Letter from Janet Schaw, October 25, 1774 in Journal of a Lady of Quality: Being the Narrative of a Journey from Scotland to the West Indies, North Carolina, and Portugal. Andrews, Evangeline Walker. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 1922, pp. 341. [Bibliographic Details] [10-25-1774] S698-D001