Gentlemen's Dinner - with ladies

At times, a Gentleman’s Dinner would be just that... only men such as a Social Club [as seen in painting The Dinner Party, Henry Sargent, c1821 in the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston] or many dining establishments. Other times in private homes, the female family members might attend.

If it is to be a gentlemen’s party, there should be no lady present except the lady of the house.
Etiquette for Ladies… Philadelphia: 1838

It is generally the case, that, at dinner-parties for gentlemen, no ladies are present but those who are members of the family.
Beecher, Catherine. Domestic Receipt Book. Phila: 1846

Several travellors noticed the difference between the European style of having ladies at the dinner parties and those in America.

The formalities of a New York dinner do not differ much from those of an English one. Unfortunately, it is not here the fashion to invite the fairer part of creation to entertainments so gross and substantial; and it rarely happens that any ladies are present on such occasions, except those belonging to the family of the host.
Hamilton, Thomas. Men and Manners in America. London: 1833

Mixed dinner parties of ladies and gentlemen are very rare, and unless several foreigners are present, but little conversation passes at table. It certainly does not, in my opinion, add to the well ordering a dinner-table, to set the gentlemen at one end of it, and the ladies at the other; but it is very rarely that you find it otherwise.
Trollope, Frances. Domestic manners of the Americans. 1832

At the table, [in France c1780] the ladies and gentlemen were mingled together, and joined in cheerful conversation, each selecting the delicacies of various courses, and drinking of delicious light wines, but with neither toasts nor healths. The lady of the house, instead of bearing the burden and inconvenience of superintending the duties of the table, here participates alike with others in its enjoyment.
Men and times of the Revolution, or, Memoirs of Elkanah Watson. NY: 1856

©2009 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

Domestic Beings - PA

Now to Feb 2010, an exhibit "Domestic Beings: Keeping a House, Making a Home" may be viewed at Pottsgrove Manor in Pottstown PA. Various events including "Getting Ready for Winter," September 26th, will be posted on the website.

Rose Geraniums

Rose Geranium leaves can be used to flavor jelly, cakes, sugar and other recipes. So too with other scented geraniums.... Nutmeg geranium makes a very nice jelly, as does Ginger. Thus far, I have made twenty jars of jelly from the geranium plant. My Rose Geranium plant surrounds the Cinderella and Sugar pumpkins I bought. After enjoying the pumpkins as decoration, I will cut up the Sugar to make preserves.

In 1803, Thorburn encountered Rose Geraniums, as he recalled in his biography, Forty years' residence in America... the Life of Grant Thorburn, Seedsman, New York, by Himself. Boston: 1834. Also of interest is how his plant seed business started from painting clay pots to sell.

" About this time the ladies of New York were beginning to show their taste for flowers; and it was customary to sell the empty flower-pots in the grocery-stores; these articles also comprised part of my stock. In the fall of the year, when the plants wanted shifting, preparatory to their being placed in the parlour, I was often asked for pots of a handsomer quality, or better make. As above stated, I was looking round for some other means to support my family. All at once it came into my mind to take and paint some of my common flower-pots with green varnish paint, thinking it would better suit the taste of the ladies than the common brickbat coloured ones. I painted two pair, and exposed them in front of my window. I painted six pair; they soon went the same way. Being thus encouraged, I continued painting and selling to good advantage: this was in the fall of 1802.

One day, in the month of April following, I observed a man for the first time selling flower-plants in the Fly Market, which then stood in the foot of Maiden Lane. As I carelessly passed along, I took a leaf, and, rubbing it between my fingers and thumb, asked him what was the name of it. He answered, a rose-geranium. This, as far as I can recollect, was the first time that I ever heard that there was a geranium in the world ; as, before this, I had no taste for, nor paid any attention to plants. I looked a few minutes at the plant, thought it had a pleasant smell, and thought it would look well if removed into one of my green flowerpots, to stand on my counter to draw attention. ... Thinks I, it is strange that a green leaf, plucked from a plant no way similar, should possess all the flavor of the flower plucked from another.

Observe, I did not purchase this plant with the intention of selling it again, but merely to draw attention to my green pots, and let the people see how well the pots looked when the plant was in them. Next day, some one fancied and purchased plant and pot. Next day I went, when the market was nearly over, judging the man would sell cheaper, rather than have the trouble of carrying them over the river, as he lived at Brooklyn, and in those days there were neither steam nor horse-boats. ... thus, from having one plant, in a short time I had fifty. The thing being a novelty, began to draw attention; people carrying their country friends to see the curiosities of the city, would step in to see my plants.

In some of these visits, the strangers would express a wish to have some of these plants, but having so far to go, could not carry them. Then they would ask if I had no seed of such plants ; then, again, others would ask for cabbage, turnip, or radish.seed, &c.These frequent inquiries at length set me to thinking, that if I could get seeds, I would be able to sell them ; but here lay the difficulty, as no one sold seed in New York, no one of the farmers or gardeners saved more than what they wanted for their own use ; there being no market for an overplus. In this dilemma, I told my situation to George Inglis, the man from whom I had always bought the plants in the Fly Market. He said he was now raising seeds, with the intention of selling them next spring along with his plants in the market; but if I would take his seeds, he would quit the market, and stay at home and raise plants and seeds fur me to sell. A bargain was immediately struck; I purchased his stock of seeds, amounting to fifteen dollars; and thus commenced a business on the 17th of September 1805, that already is the most extensive of the sort in the United States."

©2009 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

Harmonist Harvest Festival

Sept 26 Erntefest: Harmonist Harvest Festival, Old Economy Village. Ambridge PA

Erntefest: Harmonist Harvest Festival. Old Economy Village. Ambridge PA :

Research at Historical Societies and Manuscript cookbooks in print

There is a wealth of information in historical societies, from large old state collections, such as Maryland’s, started in 1844, to a one room local county. The oldest, founded in 1791, is the Massachusetts Historical Society. The Pennsylvania Historical Society has been collecting items since 1824, (conveniently located next to the Library Company of Philadelphia) and possesses the original Custis cookery book owned by Martha Washington, which was transcribed into Martha Washington Book of Cookery.

Handwritten manuscripts, letters, store records, newspapers, city directories, pictures, genealogy and more sources of information are found at large and small historical societies. Many of the larger historical societies have started putting their catalogs online, so you can do some of your prep work ahead of time. The Historical Society of Delaware Library has evening hours. Although the days and hours of the smaller ones may be listed, call ahead to make sure a volunteer will be there and it will be open. Whether you travel across country or just two hours away, be sure to ask if they have published any of their works, to save you time in typing/writing.

Manuscript cookbooks - in print

MA Mrs. Gardiner's Receipts from 1763 [Anne Gibbons Gardiner d.1771] Hallowell, ME: White & Horne, 1938
MA Mrs. Gardiner's Family Receipts from 1763, Boston. [Anne Gibbons Gardiner] edited by Gail Weesner. Rowan Tree Press,1989
NJ Pleasures of Colonial Cooking [Isabella Morris Ashfield 1720] prepared by the Miller-Cory House Museum and the New Jersey Historical Society. Newark, NJ: The Society, 1982
NJ Colonial Burlington Cookery [Polly Burling 1770] Sue Huesken & Mercy Ingraham. Riverside NJ: Good Impressions, Inc. 2008. original in Burlington County New Jersey Historical Society
NY Selected Receipts of a Van Rensselaer Family 1785-1835. Albany, NY: Historic Cherry Hill, 1976
NY On the Score of Hospitality: Selected Receipts of a Van Rensselaer Family, Albany, New York, 1785-1835. edited by Jane Carpenter Kellar, Ellen Miller and Paul Stambach. Albany NY: Historic Cherry Hill, 1986.
PA A Quaker Lady's Cookbook [Parry family of New Hope 1787-1900] PA: New Hope Historical Society, 2000
SC A Colonial Plantation Cookbook [Harriott Pinckney Horry 1770] Richard Hooker. Columbia: U of SC Press, 1984. original in South Carolina Historical Society
VA Martha Washington’s Booke of Cookery [Custis family - mid to late 1600s] Karen Hess. NY: Columbia University Press, c1981. original in Historical Society of Pennsylvania
VA Colonial Virginia’s Cooking Dynasty [Jane Randolph 1743 & Anon c1700] Katharine Harbury. Columbia: U of SC Press, 2004. original in Va Historical Society
VA Robert E. Lee Family Cooking and Housekeeping Book [Mary Custis Lee 1807-1873] Anne Carter Zimmer. Chapel Hill: U of NC Press, 1997. original in Va Historical Society

Great Britain

Penn Family Recipes [Gulielma Penn d1694] Evelyn Benson. York: George Shumway, 1966. original in Historical Society of Pennsylvania
Acworth. Margaretta Acworth's Georgian Cookery Book. [1727-1794] London: Pavilion Books Limited, 1987. papers in the Public Record Office
Avery. A Plain Plantain [Susanna Avery fl.1688] Ditchling, Sussex: S. Dominic's Press, 1922
Blencowe. The Receipt Book of Mrs. Ann Blencowe 1694. London: Guy Chapman, 1925
Castlehill. Lady Castlehill's receipt book: ...original recipes from a collection made in 1712 by Martha Lockhart. Glasgow: Molendinar Press, 1976
Dinner at Lacock in 1729 [Wiltshire Folklife Society]
Lloyd. The Jane Austen Cookbook [Martha Lloyd 1765-1843] Chicago: Chicago Review Press, 1995
Price, Rebecca. The Compleat Cook, or the Secrets of a Seventeenth-Century Housewife, ed Madeleine Masson. London: Routledge, 1974
The Lucayos cook book... 1660 to 1690... Morrisburg, Ont.: Old Authors Farm, 1959
Egg Pies, Moss Cakes, and Pigeons Like Puffins: Eighteenth-Century British Cookery from Manuscript Sources by Vincent DiMarco, 2007
Ladie Borlase's Receiptes Booke. dates from 1665 to 1822 [England], University of Iowa Press. 1998

©2009 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

National Book Festival on the Mall in DC

Library of Congress National Book Festival with food writers Mark Kurlansky [The Food of a Younger Land; Cod; Salt] and Paula Deen [The Deen Family Cookbook; The Lady & Sons Savannah Country Cooking].

Gardener for the Kitchen Garden of the President's House

"I remember the towering rage displayed by Major Watt [in charge of garden] when Tad [Lincoln] ate up all the strawberries being forced for a state dinner. Willie brought the news. His mother said, "Now what made you do that, Tad? Major Watt hoped to have them for the state dinner." I went out to view the despoiled plants. Watt was fuming, threatening to go to the Madam. "The Madam knows it," I said, "Willie told her," and as he seemed in a great rage, I added, "He is the Madam's son, remember." "The Madam's wildcat," snarled the head gardener.
Bayne, Julia Taft. Tad Lincoln's Father. 1926

John Watt, who also had problems with the Lincoln pet goats eating the flowers, was "appointed Gardener for the Kitchen garden belonging to the Presidents House..." in a Jan 31,1852 letter. [National Archives RG 42].

Two years later, in May 1854, he was given control over all the laborers on the grounds of the Presidential Mansion, causing the Public Gardener to entreat the Commissioner of Public Buildings and Parks to write Congress to fund additional staff.

"... having ascertained that Mr. Watt was the most competent person to take charge of the grounds around the President's Mansion, I appointed him to that duty, he still receiving only the pay of a laborer [$40 month]. This involved the necessity of dividing the force under Mr. Maher [Public Gardener]. Nine of the men were left under him, and the other six were placed under Mr. Watt." [National Archives RG 42]

Watt's office was in the Conservatory on the west side of the White House.

Photograph is c1867 from Library of Congress.

In the very beginning of her book, Julia Taft wrote that "... during the Buchanan administration we had come to know him well. Mr. Watt delighted in showing me over the conservatory and grounds and introducing me to strange plants by their long Latinized names. ... [When told the children were to be playmates] ... he called up the stairs, "Here, Willie, Tad, here is somebody to play with you." There was no answer, but we went up into the conservatory and there stood the boys by the water-lily tank, watching the goldfish."

When the War started in 1861, the Scotsman John Watt was suspected of being a southern sympathizer, but there were more serious charges, according to Sen. Browning's diary entry of March 3, 1862. "[Watt] suggested Mrs. Lincoln the making of false bills so as to get pay for private expenses out of the public treasury and had aided her in doing so, to such an extent that the president had to be informed of it, at which he was very indignant, and refunded what had been thus filched from the government out of his private purse. That Watt's wife was now nominally stewardess at a salary of $100 per month, all of which, by private arrangement, went into Mrs. Lincoln's pocket." Watt was dismissed in February 1862.

For much more information on the White House gardens from George Washington through 1850 with many pictures, go to: White House Gardens & Grounds, the Sept 20 posting in Early American Gardens--a museum in a blog by historian Barbara Wells Sarudy, author of the great book Gardens and Gardening in the Chesapeake, 1700-1805.

©2009 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com

Christmas in Pennsylvania lecture

For the 50th Anniversary Edition of CHRISTMAS IN PENNSYLVANIA, which has been re-edited by Dr. Don Yoder, just republished in full color by Stackpole Books, and now includes historical Pennsylvania Christmas recipes added by William Woys Weaver, there will be a lecture by Dr. Yoder and booksigning, sampling of recipes from the book at Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA on December 1.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Open-Hearth Christmases: Mummers; Barring Out the Schoolmaster; Metzel Soup & Christmas Money; Matzabaum, Moshey, and Belyguts; Christmas Dew

Woodstove Christmases: Christ-Kindel to Kriss Kringle; Trees; Belsnickling; Carnival of Horns; Cookies and cutters; Christmas Day; Second Christmas; Pyramids and Putzes; Firecracker