To make vermicella is a traditional British recipe, based on Hannah Glasse's recipe of 1747, for a classic method of making fine vermicelli-style pasta from a flour and egg dough that's rolled thin and cut into strips. The full recipe is presented here and I hope you enjoy this classic British version of: To make vermicella.
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This is a traditional British recipe redacted from Hannah Glasse's 1747 volume The Aft of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, the classic Georgian cookbook.
To make vermicella.
MIX yolks of eggs and flour together in a pretty ſtiff paſte, ſo as you can work it up cleverly, and roll it as thin as it is poſſible to roll a paſte. LEt it dry in the ſun ; when it is quite dry, with a very ſharp knife cut it as thin as poſſible, and keep it in a dry place. It will run up like little worms, as vermicella does ; though the beſt way is to run it through a coarſe ſieve, whilſt the paſte is ſoft. If you want ſome to be made in haſte, dry it by the fire, and cut it ſmall. It will dry by the fire in a quarter of an hour. This far exceeds what comes from abroaf, being freſher.
Modern Redaction
Ingredients:
300g plain flour
8 egg yolks
Method:
Sift the flour into a bowl, form a well in the centre, add the egg yolks and mix into the flour until you have a stiff dough (add a little cold water if necessary). Knead into a dough, then turn out onto a floured work surface and roll with a rolling pin as thin as you can.
Take a sharp knife and cut the dough into as thin strips as possible (otherwise you can pass the dough through a coarse metal sieve. You can dry these in a low oven, or use them fresh.
Fresh, they will cook in salted water in about 4 minutes.
