Sunday, August 14, 2022

Articles found in a Kitchen Drawer 1824

Like now, a variety of useful and useless items were tossed into drawers of the kichen table and dresser, making them "untidy hidingplaces." "A grater and nutmeg— the key of the jack" to "a pen without ink" and a "lump of old suet" were items from the 1824 humorous poem. More organized suggestions were listed in a book from 1867. Painting with a drawer, 1738



Articles found in a Kitchen Drawer.
Three aprons, two dusters, the face of a pig,
A dirty jack-towel, a dish-clout and wig;
A foot of a stocking, three caps and a frill
A busk and six buttons, mouse-trap and a quill-
A comb and a thimble, with Madona bands,
A box of specific for chaps in the hands;
Some mace and some gloves tied up in a rag,
An empty thread paper and blue in a bag;
Short pieces of ribbon, both greasy and black,
A grater and nutmeg—the key of the jack;
An inch of wax candle, a steal and a flint,
A bundle of, matches a parcel of mint;
A lump of old suet, a crimp for the paste,
A pait of red garters, a belt for the waist;
A rusty bent skewer, a broken brass cock,
Some onions and tinder, and the draw'r lock;
A bag for the pudding, a whetstone and string,
A penny cross-bun and a new curtain ring;
A print for the butter, a dirty chemise,
Two pieces of soap and a large slice of cheese;
Five tea-spoons of tin, and a large lump of rosin,
The feet of a hare, and corks by the dozen
A card to tell fortunes, a sponge and a can.
A pen without ink, and a small patty pan;
A rolling-pin pasted, and a common prayer book,
Are the things which I found in the draw'r of the Cook.

The Oxford entertaining miscellany, or, weekly ... v. 1 June- Nov. 1824 or
“A Catalogue of Articles found in a Kitchen Drawer” Norfolk Chronicle - Saturday 30 October 1824

"Kitchen Drawers and Cupboards.— These places, when left to the uncontrolled management of servants, are liable to be nothing more nor less than untidy hidingplaces. Odds and ends from all parts of the house get thrust out of sight into dresser and table-drawer...

With regard to kitchen-drawers; in most kitchens there are at least four- two in the table and two in the dresser. These are best employed in the following manner:

kitchen table drawer No. 1, should contain skewers, chopper, meat-hooks, key of bottle-jack, string, coarse linen tape, pudding-cloths, and similar articles required for the cook's use when preparing joints for cooking, puddings, &c.

In table-drawer No. 2 should be kept tin cutters, patty pans (wrapped in paper to preserve them from the dust), rolling-pin, nutmeg-grater, tin funnel, and other things for fine pastry, which would be injured by coming in contact with anything greasy.

Dresser-drawers belong more particularly to the housemaid's use than to the cook's. . In one of these drawers a box should be placed containing plate-powder and leathers, whitening, plate brushes, &c.; also dusters that are in use, dusting brushes, and whatever scissors or utensils for lamp trimming may be required-care being taken to exclude all rags and leathers that have been used with oil or grease of any kind.

In dresser drawer No. 2, the mistress's apron, made wide to cover an ample skirt) should be kept; also table napkins, table cloths, D'Oyleys, table mats, and tradesmen's books. If there should be a linen press for keeping the table linen in fold, of course other articles might be put in the dresserdrawer to the exclusion of table linen."

Pedley, Mrs. Practical housekeeping or The duties of a house-wife. London: 1867
IMAGES
Returning from the Market (La Pourvoyeuse) by Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin. 1738 at Musée du Louvre
Trials and Confessions of a Housekeeper by Timothy Shay Arthur. Phila: 1859

THIS WEEK'S TALKS

Aug 15 Mon 9pm Chocolate Farm: From Cacao Tree to Yummy Treats. Heygo HERE

Aug 16 Tue 7-8:30 "Inn Civility" - Colonial Taverns and 18th Century America. Dr. Vaughn Scribner. Putnam History Museum $10 HERE

Aug 16 Tue 6:30 America’s Soda History. Francine Segan. AARP not have to be member HERE

Aug 18 Thu 7 Feeding Washington’s Army: Surviving the Valley Forge winter of 1778. Dr. Ricardo A. Herrera, author. The National Museum of the United States Army HERE

Au 20 Sat 2 Coffees from Around the World. Part of the Cuisine of Different Cultures collection. Atlantic Institute HERE

Aug 21 Sun 6:30 Spreckels' Sugar Empire “how Spreckels' influenced San Francisco in the early days and for decades later.” Bruce Bennett. SF City Guides. HERE

RECENT TAPED TALKS
All 6 well done and interesting, many other taped talks

Aug 11 Turning Water to Power: How Water Systems Work in Mills. “structures and devices needed to run a water-powered mill and dissect the “machine on the landscape” using examples from different mills.” Tony Shahan. Newlin Grist Mill HERE TAPE HERE

Au 11 Smoked Milk of Kenya. William Rubel. Bay Area Culinary Historians BACH HERE; Website HERE Abridged TAPE may be HERE

Aug 13 Antonin Carême: Mr. Nouvelle Cuisine of 1820. Charles Perry. Culinary Historians of Southern California HERE Eventbrite HERE TAPE may be HERE

Jul 13 How Wheat Made The Modern World (& The Russia/Ukraine War). Scott Reynolds Nelson author Oceans of Grain: How American Wheat Remade the World. Meb Faber Show. Jul 13 2022 TAPE HERE

Jul 20 History of Sourdough. Eric Pallant author of Sourdough Culture: The History of Bread Making from Ancient to Modern Bakers. Culinary Historians of Chicago Jul 20 2022 HERE TAPE HERE

Jul 23 How Coal Changed the Way We Live with author, British food historian and BBC TV presenter Ruth Goodman. HFSDV Jul 23 2022 HERE TAPE HERE


CALENDAR OF VIRTUAL FOOD HISTORY TALKS HERE

©2022 Patricia Bixler Reber
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