Frittars Of Eggs And Herbes

This recipe originates from the handwritten cookbook of Lettice Pudsey, compiled around 1675. In this period, households kept detailed records of culinary preparations, merging practical cookery with local herbal knowledge. Dishes like 'frittars' (fritters or omelettes) were popular both for their simplicity and their adaptability, allowing cooks to make the most of seasonal herbs and eggs from the household flock. Seventeenth-century English cuisine celebrated the interplay of sweet and savory, and the inclusion of spices like cloves and mace alongside sugar shows both the increasing availability of exotic ingredients and a taste for aromatic complexity. Recipes were often written as brief reminders for skilled cooks, not as step-by-step guides—reflecting an era in which culinary literacy was assumed among household staff or gentlewomen.

In Lettice Pudsey's time, these frittars would have been mixed in earthenware or wooden bowls, whisked with a forked stick or a wooden spoon. Herbs were chopped using a small, sharp knife—sometimes a two-handled mezzaluna-type chopper. Frying would take place over a wood or coal-fired hearth, in a heavy iron or copper pan, with butter or clarified fat used for cooking. Cooks would judge heat and doneness by sight, sound, and scent, without the convenience of thermometers or timers.