Flipping Eggs With Martha Washington
Thank you, Lois, for inviting me to join you and your readers. I’m thrilled to be here! For those who don’t know me, I’m the author of the Agatha Award-nominated mystery The Turncoat’s Widow and its soon-to-be-released sequel, The Counterfeit Wife.
I loved writing these stories. They feature George Washington’s two least likely spies, young widow Becca Parcell and former British POW Daniel Alloway, along with real-life heroes and villains of the time.
In The Turncoat’s Widow, Becca and Daniel uncover a plot in British-held New York City that threatens the new nation. In The Counterfeit Wife, this duo masquerade as a married couple to stop a ring of forgers in revolutionary Philadelphia. But the pursuit grows deadly when a woman from Becca’s past becomes the main suspect in the murder of one of the suspected counterfeiters.
I have to stop here for a confession. Bringing the 18th century to life intimidated me. The distant past felt like a foreign country with its own language, expectations, and confusing customs. And those flat, grim 18th century portraits of our founding fathers and mothers didn’t make the task feel any easier. Did those people ever crack a smile? (In my stories, they do.)
I read books, talked to historians and visited museums searching for ways to make readers feel as if they were there in the past with my characters. At the end of the day, though, I relied on two simple facts.
First, human emotions haven’t changed much over time. I’m counting on readers to empathize with Daniel’s grief over the past loss of loved ones, Becca’s anger at unfair accusations leveled against her, and the growing attraction they share. We’ve all been there. We know those emotions. We’ve felt them.
Second, I took advantage of the fact that sensory memories are some of the strongest recollections we have. In my books, I write of the smell of dirt drying in the summer sun after a sudden rainstorm, the meltingly sweet taste of hot chocolate dusted with cinnamon and nutmeg on a cold day, and the way that icicles sound like chimes when they crack and fall from trees on a quiet frigid night. Readers’ lifetime memories of these scents, tastes, and sounds will bring the scene to life, I hope, and make the past feel very present.
Which explains – more or less – how Martha Washington and I began to cook together.
I was searching for recipes from the 1700s to include in my stories, recipes that would make modern readers feel right at home in my historical mystery. That’s when I found Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery(transcribed by Karen Hess). It’s filled with curious recipes like “white maramalet [marmalade] of Quinces,” “green Apricock chips,” and “plague water.”
But it also includes more familiar recipes. And those were the ones I began to tentatively try out to include in future stories. Today I’m sharing my version of Mrs. Washington’s apple tansie, a flat breakfast or dessert egg pancake that falls somewhere between an omelet and a crustless quiche.
My version cuts the number of eggs from 12 to six, since the recipe calls for flipping eggs. I also use less cream than the original, and add vanilla extract instead of rosewater.
I made my version at the end of a stressful day and felt my shoulders relax with each bite. The combination of apples, sugar, cream and eggs makes a great comfort food.
Apple Tansie
(serves two)
3 whole eggs
3 egg yolks
3-4 tablespoons heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 teaspoons sugar
A pinch of nutmeg
A pinch of salt
3 apples peeled & shredded (I used a grater)
2 apples sliced
Powdered sugar
Saute the sliced apples in butter in a flat pan (or omelet pan). I like to sprinkle a pinch of sugar and cinnamon over the apples as they cook, because why not? Remove from the pan when done.
Mix the eggs, heavy cream, vanilla, sugar, nutmeg, salt and shredded apples. Add fresh butter to the same flat pan you used to saute the apple and pour the egg mix into it, cooking gently. When firm, flip the tansie and cook the second side.
“Serve it up hot,” the cookbook directs, and add the sautéed apples and powdered sugar, “on ye side you fryde last.”
I hope you’ll try my version of Martha Washington’s applie tansie, and, if you pick up one of my books, that you’ll enjoy it!
A Revolutionary War Mystery, Book 1
Set during the darkest days of the American Revolution, The Turncoat's Widow tells the story of General Washington’s most reluctant spy, a fiercely independent young woman who races time and traitors to uncover a plot that threatens the new nation.
Recently widowed, Rebecca Parcell is too busy struggling to maintain her farm in Morristown to give a fig who wins the War for Independence. But rumors are spreading that she’s a Loyalist sympathizer who betrayed her husband to the British—quite a tidy way to end her disastrous marriage, the village gossips whisper.
General Washington – who is camped in Morristown for the winter -- swears he’ll safeguard Becca’s farm if she unravels her husband’s secrets. With a mob ready to exile her or worse, it’s an offer she can’t refuse.
Escaped British prisoner Daniel Alloway was the last person to see Becca’s husband alive, and Washington throws him and Becca together on an espionage mission through British-occupied New York City. Moving from glittering balls to an underworld of brothels and prisons, Becca and Daniel uncover more than General Washington anticipated. But will they move quickly enough to warn him of the danger? And can Becca, who’s lost almost everyone she loves, fight her growing attraction to Daniel, a man who always moves on?
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