A Recipe To Stew Ducks - From the Meat Section -

The following is a recipe for stewed duck. Half roast a duck, put it in a stew pan with a pint of beef gravy, a few leaves of sage and mint cut small and a small bit of onion. Shred as finely as possible. Simmer a quarter of an hour and skim clean; then add near a quart of green peas, cover close, and simmer near half an hour longer. Put in a piece of butter and a little flour and give it one boil, then serve in one dish.

This is a very old recipe, from Mrs Bradshaw, Moorcroft, Macclesfield Road, Buxton.

‘Moorcroft,’ a large stone house in Macclesfield Road, just round the corner from Burlington Road was occupied for many years by Mr and Mrs Salt. Kath Salt was an indefatigable early fund raiser for the Buxton Civic Association for very many years including throughout the 1970s.

Summer 2016 Edition

The latest edition of BCA Newsletter is now out. There is a review of Olive Middleton and Trevor Donald's book 'Remember the Past Shape the Future' and a report on the Butterfly survey of 2015. We are also interested in hearing from members who want to get involved in writing, producing etc the newsletter.

BCA Newsletter Summer 2016

From the Fish Section - Cod Au Gratin

The second in our series of recipes from the past taken from 'The Buxton Recipe Book' published in 1912.

Take a piece of the middle of a cod, boil it (not too much) in salted water and divide into flakes. With ½ pint of the water in which the fish was boiled, make rather a thick white sauce, using 2oz of butter to 1oz of flour with a grate of nutmeg and salt and pepper to taste. Butter and rub with a shallot a dish which will stand the heat of the oven; arrange on it a foundation of mashed potatoes. Make a layer of flakes of cod, mask with the sauce and add a grating of parmesan cheese. Make another layer of fish etc and strew lightly over the whole some w ell-dried bread crumbs. Put the dish in a brisk oven and serve directly the dish is a golden brown.

This reipe was contributed by Mrs Brittain, Melrose, Park Road, Buxton. Make a note in your diary to have a look at the display of snowdrops in the front garden in February.

This contributor must be Vera Brittain’s mother, close to the time her daughter was working at The Dome, formerly the Devonshire Royal Hospital – see Vera’s book, “Testament of Youth”.