Feb 18-19. The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) conference. New York City. Talks will be offered in the following four areas/topics/ tracks: Food Writing in an Electronic and Digital Age; The Foods of New York; School Food; and Farm to Table: Urban and Rural Foodways.
www.rsvpbook.com/event.php?430348
Monday, January 31, 2011
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Mustard Flour, Mustard Pots, Mustard Casters
In a previous post on Mustard Balls and Cannon Balls, HERE I wrote about mustard balls, sold commerically or homemade from period recipes, which kept better than mustard seeds or powder. It was time consuming to crush the mustard seeds at home in a mortar and pestle or with a cannon ball in a wooden bowl or on a quern.
After 1720, the processing of the mustard seeds in a mill resulted in a fine flour - the flower of mustard - known commercially as Durham Mustard. Later, when the processing moved to Leeds, the name Durham was retained. The mustard was sold as dry powder or as a "paste."
During the 18th century, china and silver casters were produced, often labeled for sugar, pepper, and mustard. As seen in the photo above, taken at Colonial Williamsburg, the front three casters with holes in the top are labeled Mustard (on left side) Sugar (center) and Pepper. I assume that powdered mustard was in the caster with holes on the top and boxes, rather than the prepared (liquid) version, since liquids like oil and vinegar were in taller bottles with stoppers. However, thus far I have been unable to find any references from the 18th century describing using the powder at the table. The popular writer but not a food historian, Bill Bryson, wrongly states that there is no proof mustard was in the third caster in his newest book, At Home.
[see below]Mustard pots with little spoons contained dry or prepared mustard [liquid], as did the mustard bottles in the 19th century cruet sets. The cruet stand c1770, at right [Leeds Museums, Bridgeman Art Library website] contains a creamware mustard pot with a lid, between the sugar and pepper. "The patent mustard [prepared/paste] is by many preferred, and it is perhaps as cheap, being always ready; and if the pots are returned, three-pence is allowed for each." [Rundell, Maria Eliza Ketelby. A New System of Domestic Cookery. 1814]
Blind Casters for mustard had a flap over the bottom portion and the outside top could be pierced or not. The dry mustard was spooned out and mixed with vinegar. The mustard castor was from c1670s a "...receptacle for serving dry unprepared mustard... the domed cover is either unpierced ('blind') or is blocked with an interior sleeve (now often missing)..." [Newman, Harold. An Illustrated Dictionary of Silverware. London: 1987] The flap under the piereced or unpierced covers would lift up as in one caster which had "...a removable sleeve that effectively blocked the pierced holes. The cover is held in place by a bayonet joint formed of two lugs soldered to its rim and a notched rib on the upper body of the caster....Before the eighteenth century mustard was served as a dry powder, spooned from the caster and mixed with vinegar." [English, Irish, & Scottish Silver at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute]
Manufacture of Durham mustard. "Prior to 1720 there was no such luxury as mustard, in its present form, at our tables. At that time the seed was only coarsely pounded in a mortar, as coarsely separated from the integument, and in that rough state prepared for use. In the year I have mentioned, it occurred to an old woman of the name of Clements, resident at Durham, to grind the seed in a mill, and to pass the meal through the several processes which are resorted to in making flour from wheat. The secret she kept for many years to herself, and, in the period of her exclusive possession of it, supplied the principal parts of the kingdom, and in particular the metropolis,with this article; and George the First stamped it with fashion by his approval. Mrs. Clements as regularly twice a year travelled to London, and to the principal towns throughout England, for orders, as any tradesman's rider, of the present day; and the old lady contrived to pick up not only a decent pittance, but what was then thought a tolerable competence.— From this woman's residing at Durham, it acquired the name of Durham mustard." [Mechanics' Magazine and Journal. 1825]
York. "A Considerable quantity of mustard is sown in the neighbourhood of York, and fields of it may be met with in other parts of the Riding. It is prepared for use in the city of York, where there are mills and machinery for the purpose; and it is afterwards sold under the name of Durham mustard; being prepared after the manner there practised, or as was there first done."
[Agricultural Surveys: Yorkshire, North-Riding, 1800] Adulteration of Mustard. "Genuine mustard, either in powder, or in the state of a paste ready for use, is perhaps rarely to be met with in the shops. The article sold under the name of genuine Durham mustard, is usually a mixture of mustard and common wheaten flour, with a portion of Cayenne pepper, and a large quantity of bay salt, made with water into a paste, ready for use. Some manufacturers adulterate their mustard with radish seed and pease flour. The salt and Cayenne pepper contribute materially to the keeping of ready-made mustard, sold in pots." [Accum, Friedrich. A Treatise on Adulterations of Food. London: 1820]
Prepared Mustard "...is best when nearly fresh made. It is prepared in a variety of ways;—plain with boiling water;—mild with milk or cream, or with the addition of a little sugar;—pungent with water in which garlic, horse-radish, &c. is boiled; it is also prepared with the flavoured vinegars, with Cayenne, with catsup, and even with spirits. The less made at a time the better; but it will keep for some days in a small jar closely stopt." [Johnstone, Christian. The Cook and Housewife's Manual, by Margaret Dods. Edinburgh: 1826]
Mustard casters do exist. ©2011 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com
hearthcook.com
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Mustard Balls and Cannon Balls
Mustard Balls were made from pounded mustard seeds, spices, and a binder such as wine, vinegar, honey or raisins. The balls were then dried in the sun or warm oven, and thus would "...keep better than mustard-seed or flour [ground mustard] at sea, and are easily dissolved." [Domestic, 1827] To use, thin pieces were sliced and soaked in vinegar, wine or verjuice. Tewkesbury was so famous for its mustard balls that Shakespeare mentioned it in a play. For more information on dry mustard powder, mustard flour, mustard casters and pots see my posting here.
Ingredients. An Italian medieval recipe by Platina, 1465, combined pounded raisins with the mustard, cinnamon and cloves to form small balls, which were dried on a board. A century later, a Dutch cookbook author, Vorselman, mixed the mustard powder with vinegar and a little flour, but no raisins. By the 18th century, the mustard was mixed with canary wine and honey. [Salmon, 1711; Nott, 1723] Nott had a second recipe - for Mustard Cakes with cinnamon, canary and honey. An 1827 recipe had the widest range of ingredients: spices, turmeric, fenugreek, cummin, or rice flour, and vinegar & sugar or wine & honey. [Domestic, 1827]
Size. A 17th century travellor wrote: "Mustard off this place [Tewkesbury] is much spoken off, Made upp in balles as bigge as henns eggs, att 3d and 4d each, allthough a Farthing worth off the ordinary sort will give better content in my opinon, this beeing in sight and tast Much like the old dried thicke scurffe thatt sticks by the sides off a Mustard pott..." [The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667]
Mustard balls may have been the size of canon balls (about 3 inches). A quote from a gardening book in the 18th century stated "...make it up in large Balls about as big as Cannon or Mustard Balls." [Switzer, 1731] The calibers of cannon shot of that period were "3; 3.5; 4; 4.5; 5; 5.5; 6 inches ; which answer nearly to a 4, 6, 9, 13, 18, 24, and 31 pounders." [Muller, 1768] The caliber was fixed in 1726 for iron, brass canon differed, and shot, such as grape shot or case-shot were smaller, ranging from 26 oz to 1 oz.
Another quote referencing the size is from the testimony of Tutus Oates, who fabricated the 'Popish Plot' story to kill King Charles II, whose heir, James II was Catholic. "That the deponent [Oates] did on the 22nd of August, [1678] about nine o'clock, meet with Blundell ; and seeing him have a bag, asked him what he had and he replyed, Tewxbury mustard-balls, a notable biting sauce, and would furnish Westminster when be had enough of them. The deponent saith, that by Tewxbury mustard-balls, we are to understand, fire-balls." [Howell, 1816]
Cannon Ball. The grinding ball itself was also refered to as a Mustard Ball. In Gloucester county "...few farm-houses were without a cannon ball and bowl." [Rudge, 1807] Cookbook authors suggested using a cannon ball or polished cannon ball to grind the mustard seed into powder. The cook could use "...a Bowl with a Cannon-Bullet...or in a Mortar with a Pestle." [Nott, 1723] It could take "...an Hour in the Ceremony of grinding it in a wooden Bowl, and an Iron Cannon-Bullet, according to the old custom..." [Bradley, 1736] In a recipe to make curd pudding "...grind it with a mustard ball in a bowl, or beat it in a marble mortar..." [Moxon, 1790] The seeds could be ground on a "...mustard quern, or a bowl with a cannon-bullet..." [May, 1660] A photo of a cannonball, mustard seeds and a quern, with a talk by Ivan Day, is available here.
Tewkesbury. He looks as if he had lived on Tewksbury mustard, was an old English proverb. "Tewksbury is a fair Market-town in this County, noted for the mustard-balls made there, and sent into other parts. This is spoken partly of such, who always have a sad, severe, and tetrick countenance. ... Partly of such as are snappish, captious, and prone to take exceptions." [Ray, 1737] "...the Mustard Balls made here, so proper for clearing the Head.... 'Tis very biting, and therefore has occasion'd this Proverb for a sharp Fellow..." [Magna, 1720]
Shakespeare wrote another reference to Tewkesbury mustard in his play Henry IV. "Shakespeare speaking of one with a sad, severe countenance, uses the simile, [his wit's] As thick as Tewkesbury Mustard." [Dyde, 1790]
By 1772, a travel book stated "...there is no such [mustard] trade carried on at present." [Spencer, 1772]
Small mustard balls from a period receipt are made by Clarissa Dillon, and may be obtained from Deborah's Pantry.
For more information, see my blog posting: Mustard Flour, Mustard Pots, Mustard Casters here.
*******
To make Mustard Balls 1723
Grind the Seed very fine, then make a Paste with Honey, and a little Canary; make it into Balls, and set them to dry in the Sun, or a gentle Oven, and keep them for use.
When you would use it, shave some of it very thin, put to it Vinegar and a little Salt.
To make Mustard in Cakes
Take four Ounces of Seamy, an Ounce of Cinnamon, beat them with Vinegar and Hony very fine, in a Mortar, make it into a Paste, and then into little Cakes, dry them in an Oven, or in the Sun, when you would use them, dissolve them in Vinegar, Verjuice, or Wine.
Nott, John. The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary. 1723
**********
Mustard Balls 1827.
Clean wash and rub in a cloth the best mustard-seed, and steep it in vinegar, or wine and salt, for a night; pound it in a mortar, and rub it through a sieve ; add any spices well pounded with turmeric, fenugreek, cummin, or fine rice flour, and make it into balls with sugar and vinegar, or wine and honey, and dry them in the sun: when wanted for use, dissolve them in warm wine or vinegar; by this method, the ingredients are completely incorporated. These balls keep better than mustard-seed or flour at sea, and are easily dissolved.
To prepare mustard-seed for sea-store, kiln-dry it, to destroy the germ, steep it in spirits, and dry it again, pack it with pepper, from which it can be easily sifted; or pack raisins or a few currants along with it. So prepared, it will keep any length of time in pure sugar.
Domestic Economy, and Cookery, for Rich and Poor, by a lady. London: 1827
*******
Works cited
Bradley, Richard. The Country Housewife and Lady's Director. pt 2. London: 1732
Domestic Economy, and Cookery, for rich and poor, by a lady, London: 1827
Dyde, William. The History and Antiquities of Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury: 1790
Howell, T.B. ed. A complete collection of state trials... London: 1816 Vol 6 1661-1678
Magna Britannia et Hibernia... by Thomas Cox, William Camden. Glocestershire: 1720
May, Robert. The Accomplisht Cook. 1660
Moxon, Elizabeth. English Housewifry. Leeds: 1752
Muller, John. A Treatise of Artillery. London: 1768
Mundy, Peter. The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667. Hakluyt Society, 1925
Nott, John. The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary. London: 1723
Platina's De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine. 1465
Ray, John. A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs. London: 1737
Rudge, Thomas. General view of the Agriculture of the county of Gloucester. London: 1807
Salmon, William. The Family Dictionary. London: 1711
Spencer, Nathaniel. The Complete English Traveller. London: 1772
Switzer, Stephen. The Practical Fruit-Gardener. London: 1731
Vorselman, Gheeraert. Eenen Nyeuwen Coock Boeck. 1560
©2011 Patricia Bixler Reber
Hearthcook.com
Ingredients. An Italian medieval recipe by Platina, 1465, combined pounded raisins with the mustard, cinnamon and cloves to form small balls, which were dried on a board. A century later, a Dutch cookbook author, Vorselman, mixed the mustard powder with vinegar and a little flour, but no raisins. By the 18th century, the mustard was mixed with canary wine and honey. [Salmon, 1711; Nott, 1723] Nott had a second recipe - for Mustard Cakes with cinnamon, canary and honey. An 1827 recipe had the widest range of ingredients: spices, turmeric, fenugreek, cummin, or rice flour, and vinegar & sugar or wine & honey. [Domestic, 1827]
Size. A 17th century travellor wrote: "Mustard off this place [Tewkesbury] is much spoken off, Made upp in balles as bigge as henns eggs, att 3d and 4d each, allthough a Farthing worth off the ordinary sort will give better content in my opinon, this beeing in sight and tast Much like the old dried thicke scurffe thatt sticks by the sides off a Mustard pott..." [The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667]
Mustard balls may have been the size of canon balls (about 3 inches). A quote from a gardening book in the 18th century stated "...make it up in large Balls about as big as Cannon or Mustard Balls." [Switzer, 1731] The calibers of cannon shot of that period were "3; 3.5; 4; 4.5; 5; 5.5; 6 inches ; which answer nearly to a 4, 6, 9, 13, 18, 24, and 31 pounders." [Muller, 1768] The caliber was fixed in 1726 for iron, brass canon differed, and shot, such as grape shot or case-shot were smaller, ranging from 26 oz to 1 oz.
Another quote referencing the size is from the testimony of Tutus Oates, who fabricated the 'Popish Plot' story to kill King Charles II, whose heir, James II was Catholic. "That the deponent [Oates] did on the 22nd of August, [1678] about nine o'clock, meet with Blundell ; and seeing him have a bag, asked him what he had and he replyed, Tewxbury mustard-balls, a notable biting sauce, and would furnish Westminster when be had enough of them. The deponent saith, that by Tewxbury mustard-balls, we are to understand, fire-balls." [Howell, 1816]
Cannon Ball. The grinding ball itself was also refered to as a Mustard Ball. In Gloucester county "...few farm-houses were without a cannon ball and bowl." [Rudge, 1807] Cookbook authors suggested using a cannon ball or polished cannon ball to grind the mustard seed into powder. The cook could use "...a Bowl with a Cannon-Bullet...or in a Mortar with a Pestle." [Nott, 1723] It could take "...an Hour in the Ceremony of grinding it in a wooden Bowl, and an Iron Cannon-Bullet, according to the old custom..." [Bradley, 1736] In a recipe to make curd pudding "...grind it with a mustard ball in a bowl, or beat it in a marble mortar..." [Moxon, 1790] The seeds could be ground on a "...mustard quern, or a bowl with a cannon-bullet..." [May, 1660] A photo of a cannonball, mustard seeds and a quern, with a talk by Ivan Day, is available here.
Tewkesbury. He looks as if he had lived on Tewksbury mustard, was an old English proverb. "Tewksbury is a fair Market-town in this County, noted for the mustard-balls made there, and sent into other parts. This is spoken partly of such, who always have a sad, severe, and tetrick countenance. ... Partly of such as are snappish, captious, and prone to take exceptions." [Ray, 1737] "...the Mustard Balls made here, so proper for clearing the Head.... 'Tis very biting, and therefore has occasion'd this Proverb for a sharp Fellow..." [Magna, 1720]
Shakespeare wrote another reference to Tewkesbury mustard in his play Henry IV. "Shakespeare speaking of one with a sad, severe countenance, uses the simile, [his wit's] As thick as Tewkesbury Mustard." [Dyde, 1790]
By 1772, a travel book stated "...there is no such [mustard] trade carried on at present." [Spencer, 1772]
Small mustard balls from a period receipt are made by Clarissa Dillon, and may be obtained from Deborah's Pantry.
For more information, see my blog posting: Mustard Flour, Mustard Pots, Mustard Casters here.
*******
To make Mustard Balls 1723
Grind the Seed very fine, then make a Paste with Honey, and a little Canary; make it into Balls, and set them to dry in the Sun, or a gentle Oven, and keep them for use.
When you would use it, shave some of it very thin, put to it Vinegar and a little Salt.
To make Mustard in Cakes
Take four Ounces of Seamy, an Ounce of Cinnamon, beat them with Vinegar and Hony very fine, in a Mortar, make it into a Paste, and then into little Cakes, dry them in an Oven, or in the Sun, when you would use them, dissolve them in Vinegar, Verjuice, or Wine.
Nott, John. The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary. 1723
**********
Mustard Balls 1827.
Clean wash and rub in a cloth the best mustard-seed, and steep it in vinegar, or wine and salt, for a night; pound it in a mortar, and rub it through a sieve ; add any spices well pounded with turmeric, fenugreek, cummin, or fine rice flour, and make it into balls with sugar and vinegar, or wine and honey, and dry them in the sun: when wanted for use, dissolve them in warm wine or vinegar; by this method, the ingredients are completely incorporated. These balls keep better than mustard-seed or flour at sea, and are easily dissolved.
To prepare mustard-seed for sea-store, kiln-dry it, to destroy the germ, steep it in spirits, and dry it again, pack it with pepper, from which it can be easily sifted; or pack raisins or a few currants along with it. So prepared, it will keep any length of time in pure sugar.
Domestic Economy, and Cookery, for Rich and Poor, by a lady. London: 1827
*******
Works cited
Bradley, Richard. The Country Housewife and Lady's Director. pt 2. London: 1732
Domestic Economy, and Cookery, for rich and poor, by a lady, London: 1827
Dyde, William. The History and Antiquities of Tewkesbury. Tewkesbury: 1790
Howell, T.B. ed. A complete collection of state trials... London: 1816 Vol 6 1661-1678
Magna Britannia et Hibernia... by Thomas Cox, William Camden. Glocestershire: 1720
May, Robert. The Accomplisht Cook. 1660
Moxon, Elizabeth. English Housewifry. Leeds: 1752
Muller, John. A Treatise of Artillery. London: 1768
Mundy, Peter. The Travels of Peter Mundy in Europe and Asia, 1608-1667. Hakluyt Society, 1925
Nott, John. The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary. London: 1723
Platina's De Honesta Voluptate et Valetudine. 1465
Ray, John. A Compleat Collection of English Proverbs. London: 1737
Rudge, Thomas. General view of the Agriculture of the county of Gloucester. London: 1807
Salmon, William. The Family Dictionary. London: 1711
Spencer, Nathaniel. The Complete English Traveller. London: 1772
Switzer, Stephen. The Practical Fruit-Gardener. London: 1731
Vorselman, Gheeraert. Eenen Nyeuwen Coock Boeck. 1560
©2011 Patricia Bixler Reber
Hearthcook.com
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Puddin'
In the Frederick, MD and Lancaster, PA areas with a strong German heritage, scrapple and pudding is sold by butchers. While I have eaten scrapple all my life, I never tried pudding, or meat pan pudding.Home cooks in the past put bits and scraps of pork in a container and covered with grease/fat after each addition. It was a means of combining scraps and to preserve until ready to use. Now, butchers put small pieces into an aluminum loaf pan and cover it all at once.
Older folks cook down the puddin' and serve it over hominy, waffles, toast or fried potatoes, or make into a pie. It can be topped with King Syrup or syrup. Although pudding looks like scrapple, it does not fry as a solid piece, but as small pieces in melted fat. Pudding can be cooked in a steamer insert with the fat dripping into the water.
©2011 Patricia Bixler Reber
hearthcook.com
Friday, January 7, 2011
Women and Medicine exhibit at the Folger, DC
Beyond Home Remedy: Women, Medicine, and Science exhibit is at the Folger Shakespeare Library until May 14. As usual the Folger staff has set up a marvelous exhibit. They even borrowed the manuscript book which Karen Hess used to make "Martha Washington's cookbook." For those unable to get to DC some information on each display is given in a phone audio tour at 202-595-1844. Click on the picture above to the right, for larger view of numbers... 43 Hannah Wooley; 46 Countess and Caretaker; 50 Cuting the King, and many more interesting topics.
"Syrup of violets, plague water, a drink made from snails – these are some of the “healthy” recipes concocted by women in Shakespeare’s England that will be featured in this fascinating look at historic medicine. This exhibition highlights women at all levels of society—from the Countess of Kent and Lady Castleton to Hannah Woolley and Mrs. Anne Coates—who were known to practice medicine. Manuscript, text, and image from the Folger’s collection bring the work of these women to life, while natural history specimens and instruments from the Smithsonian help to demonstrate the elaborate nature of the recipes women constructed and shared with one another."
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
Hard Apple Cider
A hard cider workshop will be held at Ciderworks, near Frederick, MD on the first Saturday morning of the month, Jan-July. For more infomation: http://distillerylaneciderworks.com/2010/11/cider-making-class / and see below.
Other places which offered hard apple cider classes using heirlooms in the past:
Spitjack Shrewsbury, MA http://www.spitjack.com
Scott Farm, VT http://www.scottfarmvermont.com/index.html
Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, VA http://heritageharvestfestival.com
Albemarle CiderWorks VA http://www.albemarleciderworks.com
Foggy Ridge Cider VA http://www.foggyridgecider.com/events/special-events.php
"Ciderworks is happy to announce... a 3 hour seminar on the soup to nuts of (legally) preparing hard cider at home.
- Selection of apple cultivar
- Bittersharps, sharps, and bittersweets, and how they are used in cider
- Fermentation processes, yeast selection, measuring acidity, secondary fermentation
- Importance of sanitation
- Tasting, blending the finished product
Participants will receive cider sufficient to make one case of cider, a fermentation container, an airlock and yeast. The twelve participants will also be able to taste test an array of hard ciders. The cost is $100 for the three-hour course. Pre-registration and a $25 non-refundable deposit are required."
*****
Image from National Ag Library USDA collection: http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collectionsguide/mssindex/pomology/apples/apples_list2.shtml
Other places which offered hard apple cider classes using heirlooms in the past:
Spitjack Shrewsbury, MA http://www.spitjack.com
Scott Farm, VT http://www.scottfarmvermont.com/index.html
Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello, VA http://heritageharvestfestival.com
Albemarle CiderWorks VA http://www.albemarleciderworks.com
Foggy Ridge Cider VA http://www.foggyridgecider.com/events/special-events.php
"Ciderworks is happy to announce... a 3 hour seminar on the soup to nuts of (legally) preparing hard cider at home.
- Selection of apple cultivar
- Bittersharps, sharps, and bittersweets, and how they are used in cider
- Fermentation processes, yeast selection, measuring acidity, secondary fermentation
- Importance of sanitation
- Tasting, blending the finished product
Participants will receive cider sufficient to make one case of cider, a fermentation container, an airlock and yeast. The twelve participants will also be able to taste test an array of hard ciders. The cost is $100 for the three-hour course. Pre-registration and a $25 non-refundable deposit are required."
*****
Image from National Ag Library USDA collection: http://www.nal.usda.gov/speccoll/collectionsguide/mssindex/pomology/apples/apples_list2.shtml
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Molasses Stew
Marion Harland, the pseudonym of Mary Virginia Hawes Terhune, was born (1830) and raised in Virginia. When married she moved north and continued writing fiction, nonfiction and cookbooks. The following is an excerpt from her book, Marion Harland's autobiography: the story of a long life, 1910. This continues the Candy pulls and Candy stew posting.
On Christmas night we had a "molasses stew." We have learned to say "candy-pull" since then. A huge cauldron of molasses was boiled in the kitchen—a detached building of a story-and-a-half, standing about fifty feet from "the house." Gilbert—the dining-room servant, who would be "a butler" now—brought it into the dining-room when it was done to a turn, and poured it into great buttered platters arranged around the long table. All of us, girls and boys, had pinned aprons or towels over our festive garments, and put back our cuffs from our wrists. My mother set the pace in the pulling. She had a reputation for making the whitest and most spongy candy in the county, and she did it in the daintiest way imaginable. Buttering the tips of her fingers lightly, she drew carefully from the surface of the platter enough of the cooling mixture for a good "pull." In two minutes she had an amber ribbon, glossy and elastic, that bleached fast to cream-color under her rapid, weaving motion, until she coiled or braided completed candy—brittle, dry, and porous—upon a dish lined with paper. She never let anybody take the other end of the rope; she did not butter her fingers a second time, and used the taper tips alone in the work, and she had the candy on the dish before any of the others had the sticky, scalding mass in working order. We dipped our fingers again and again in butter and, when hard bestead, into flour, which last resort my mother scorned as unprofessional, and each girl had a boy at the other end of her rope. It was graceful work when done secundum artem. The fast play of hands; the dexterous toss and exchange of the ends of shining strands that stiffened too soon if not handled aright; the strain upon bared wrists and strong shoulders as the great ropes hardened; the laughing faces bent over the task; the cries of feigned distress as the immature confectionery became sticky, or parted into strings, under careless manipulation; the merry peals of laughter at defeat or success—made the Christmas frolic picturesque and gay. I wondered then, and I have often asked since, why no painter has ever chosen as a subject this one of our national pastimes.
On Christmas night we had a "molasses stew." We have learned to say "candy-pull" since then. A huge cauldron of molasses was boiled in the kitchen—a detached building of a story-and-a-half, standing about fifty feet from "the house." Gilbert—the dining-room servant, who would be "a butler" now—brought it into the dining-room when it was done to a turn, and poured it into great buttered platters arranged around the long table. All of us, girls and boys, had pinned aprons or towels over our festive garments, and put back our cuffs from our wrists. My mother set the pace in the pulling. She had a reputation for making the whitest and most spongy candy in the county, and she did it in the daintiest way imaginable. Buttering the tips of her fingers lightly, she drew carefully from the surface of the platter enough of the cooling mixture for a good "pull." In two minutes she had an amber ribbon, glossy and elastic, that bleached fast to cream-color under her rapid, weaving motion, until she coiled or braided completed candy—brittle, dry, and porous—upon a dish lined with paper. She never let anybody take the other end of the rope; she did not butter her fingers a second time, and used the taper tips alone in the work, and she had the candy on the dish before any of the others had the sticky, scalding mass in working order. We dipped our fingers again and again in butter and, when hard bestead, into flour, which last resort my mother scorned as unprofessional, and each girl had a boy at the other end of her rope. It was graceful work when done secundum artem. The fast play of hands; the dexterous toss and exchange of the ends of shining strands that stiffened too soon if not handled aright; the strain upon bared wrists and strong shoulders as the great ropes hardened; the laughing faces bent over the task; the cries of feigned distress as the immature confectionery became sticky, or parted into strings, under careless manipulation; the merry peals of laughter at defeat or success—made the Christmas frolic picturesque and gay. I wondered then, and I have often asked since, why no painter has ever chosen as a subject this one of our national pastimes.
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