Susanna MacIver’s 1784 Recipe for ‘An Apple Pie, with Potatoes’

“Boil some potatoes ; pair and cut some apples ; lay a row of apples in the dish, and a row of potatoes above them ; then put some pieces of fresh butter above the potatoes ; put apples, potatoes, and butter alternately, until the pie is filled up ; sweeten it to your taste ; take rather more apples than potatoes ; it is much better of having a little citron and orange peel in it ; put a little water in all apple pies ; cover it with puff’d paste.”

Susanna MacIver – Cookery, and Pastry, As Taught and Practised by Mrs MacIver, Teacher of Those Arts in Edinburgh (1784)

Long-time readers of Orchard Notes may recall that I’ve featured an apple-potato combo before now, in the form of Eliza Acton’s Essex Pudding (Cheap and Good), which is, indeed, surprisingly good, and which I’ve made and enjoyed a few times now.

Susanna MacIver’s version is both earlier than and slightly different to Eliza Acton’s, featuring boiled rather than mashed potato and butter rather than eggs. It also calls for a puff pastry top to the dish, although I’d have to substitute that for something non-gluteny; an oat crumble topping springs to mind.

I like the sound of the (perhaps candied?) fruit peel as well, although of course any sort of dried fruit would probably do quite nicely as a substitute. Maybe it could do with just a pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg though, to spice it up a little?

I think this might be another one that I’ll have a go at making. Although it’ll have to wait until we’re fully clear of the festive season leftovers. There’s still more than enough pudding, cake and pie doing the rounds at the moment.

How about you? Do you like the sound of this apple and potato dish? What else would you add to give it a bit more flavour? Do let me know, via the comments.