A classic Hallowe'en recipe, reinterpreted

October 31, 12:23 PMFood ExaminerEric Burkett

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William Shakespeare: a great playwright
but not much of a recipe writer.

Bringing old recipes to life can be a lot of fun, but often ingredients that were popular 100 years or more ago can be difficult to find or simply unappealing to modern tastes. Here, I've reinterpreted a traditional Elizabethan-era harvest-time recipe for the modern cook. My changes are in red. Enjoy!

Round about the cauldron go;
In the poison'd entrails throw.
You’ll need a large stock pot or similarly large pot.
Toad, that under cold stone
Days and nights has thirty-one
Swelter'd venom sleeping got,
Boil thou first i' the charmed pot.
4 quarts chicken stock.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn, and cauldron bubble.
Bring stock to a boil, and reduce to simmer. Then add:

Fillet of a fenny snake,
In the cauldron boil and bake;
2 cups diced ham, browned, oil drained off.
Eye of newt and toe of frog,
1 cup onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
Wool of bat and tongue of dog,
Bay leaf,
Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg and owlet's wing,
Bouquet garnis,
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.
Careful! Don’t let the stock boil again!

Scale of dragon, tooth of wolf,
1 cup each diced carrot and parsnip,
Witches' mummy, maw and gulf
Of the ravin'd salt-sea shark,
1 to 2 anchovy filets, mashed
Root of hemlock digg'd i' the dark,
1 cup potato (Yukons are nice), diced
Liver of blaspheming Jew,
1 cup lentils
Gall of goat, and slips of yew
Silver'd in the moon's eclipse,
½ cup goat, or Andouille, sausage, diced
1 leek, sliced fine
Nose of Turk and Tartar's lips,
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 tbsp tomato paste
Finger of birth-strangled babe
Ditch-deliver'd by a drab,
¼ cup parsley, chopped fine
Make the gruel thick and slab:
Add thereto a tiger's chaudron,
For the ingredients of our cauldron.
If the pototoes and lentils haven't thickened the soup enough for your tastes, add 1/4 cup mixture equal parts cornstarch and water.
After simmering ingredients for 30 minutes, transfer to a large, warmed soup tureen.

Double, double toil and trouble;
Fire burn and cauldron bubble.

Cool it with a baboon's blood,
Add a dollop of sour cream to each serving.
Then the charm is firm and good.
Serves up to 12 people.