RECIPES FROM THE FAR CONTINENTS

AFRICAN BISCUITS

ALBERT BISCUITS

AMERICAN OR UNION BISCUITS (HARD)

AFRICAN BISCUITS (first made around 1690) 60 lb Flour 20 lb Sugar 10 lb Butter and Lard ½ lb Volatile 40 Eggs 2½ galls Milk Essence of Lemon Mode: Work up the same as the better mixings, beating in about 3 quarts of the milk with the eggs, and adding the remainder into the dough. Sell at 1½ d. per lb.

ALBERT BISCUITS (named after Prince Albert, Consort to Queen Victoria. First appeared mid-19th Century) 16 lb Flour 2½ lb Sugar 1¾ lb Butter 1 oz Cream Tarter ½ oz Carbonate Soda 6 Eggs Essence of Lemon 2 Quarts Milk Mode: Sift the cream of tarter into the flour upon the board; rub in the butter and make a bag, put in the sugar, break in the eggs; dissolve the soda in the milk; put into the bag; rub round with your hands, and mix into dough. Break well and finish in thin sheets; face up with rolling pin, and cut out with a 2" plain round cutter; stamp with Albert stamp, dock, and plate onto wires or tins, and bake in a moderate oven. Sell at 8d. per lb.

AMERICAN OR UNION BISCUITS (HARD) (introduced into London after the 'War Between the States' -1865) 8 lb Flour 1 lb Butter 1 Quart Milk Mode: Rub the butter into the flour on the board; make a bag, pour in the milk and wet the dough; break well; thin out in sheets on the break; face up with your rolling pin. When the dough has lain a short time, cut out in slips with a sharp knife the width of the Union stamp, and when you have cut them all out, take your stamp and stamp each slip with the Union Stamp, and then cut each biscuit off with the knife. Work each biscuit twice with a fork, and plate them close together onto clean tins; wash over with milk and bake in a warm oven. Sell at 8d. per lb.