New Year's Eve/Day in Germany 1840s-1860s

Gifts were exchanged on New Year's, and foods included German gingerbread made with honey, aniseeds, almonds in the shape of hearts that could be as large as half a yard and a foot wide. Herrings, lentils, wassail-bowls, and Glee wine.

Baker's peels and huge hoop skirts - George Cruikshank sketch 1850

In 1850 the dresses had become so large that the gentlemen had to serve the wine or jelly on a baker's peel... according to satirist George Cruikshank.

Frederick MD working hearths ... Museums by Candlelight

On Saturday, December 9, there will be 26 sites open for free with music, activities, and crafts in Frederick and the County. Several homes have squirrel tail ovens (in small section in photo) and other interesting features. Always fun. If you are nearby, go visit.

WWI and WWII bakers and cookery schools

A World War I recruiting poster. Enlist as a group and serve with your "pals" in a Company of Bakers. For experienced or trainees up to 45 years old.

A World War II school in the desert in Egypt used ovens out of petrol tins and oil drums. Both images from Library of Congress.

Charleston SC iron top stew stove

Aiken-Rhett House's original stew stove, left. Gov. William Aiken added the stewstove with cast iron top to the kitchen in the outbuilding in 1858. I've seen cast iron tops on stew stoves, and each is wonderfully different. Charleston and tea are the focus of three upcoming talks.

Sweet potato storage in 1843 Virginia

Special sweet potato houses or cellars were constructed to be ventilated, heated or smoked to dry out the potatoes. On loft over fire. Cooked on coals. Upcoming zoom talks, CHAA's Gilded Age dining is today.

Cider press - wood or stone

William Sidney Mount's 1840 painting of cider making in Setauket, Long Island, NY. Lancaster, Pa. cider presses 1778 and 1800.
Upcoming virtual talks.

Working stew stoves in museums

Stew stoves (US), Stewing stoves (UK), Stew-hole stoves, Brick stove, Masonry stoves and Portagers are some of the modern terms. They are different shapes and height, and generally made from brick and clay. The following is a sampling of museums doing demos on their stew stoves.

Culinary Historians of Boston

In 1980, Barbara Ketcham Wheaton, Joyce Toomre and Ann Robert started what would become the Culinary Historians of Boston. The first in the US. But they "have decided to suspend activities as of the end of 2022."

Civil War mess kettles

The versatile mess kettle - to cook, for coffee, to carry water, to wash clothes.

"Food and Agriculture during the Civil War" talk is this Friday, TAPE HERE. Just learned about it today so putting out a quick post.

Scherbet - Turkish and Greek, 1838

Several types of Scherbet were described by Friedrich Unger, the German confectioner to King Otto of Greece, in his 1838 book. The Scherbet street vendor used snow to chill the water dripping onto the moving fan, then added the water to a glass with flavored syrup from the bottles.

Fire in flour mills - Sanborn fire insurance maps, 6 fire dangers 1795

Fire was one threat to flour mills, flooding was another. The Sanborn maps of all buildings in a town (earliest 1868) contained information to help insurance agents... and firemen - building material (stone - blue, wood - yellow, brick - red), fire equipment in the complex, what was on each floor, fuel and more. This is an Ellicott City MD mill. Check to see if your local mill, home or other building is on a Sanborn map.
Oliver Evans wrote about six flour mill fire hazards in 1795.

Candling, Egg testing

Holding an egg up to the light was one way to determine if it was newly laid as described by Hieronymus Fabricius of Aquapendente (died 1619). Candling could also show if the egg was fertilized; or black spots ment the egg was bad. New eggs floated. Glass eggs and rounded egg baskets.

Silk bolting for flour mills 1790s

By 1794 a "manufactory for making bolting silk" was started in Wilmington, Delaware by Robert Dawson. He applied for a patent (got it), and petitioned the US House of Rep to not pay duty on imported raw silk (denied).

Rumford Baking Powder recipe slide, Count Rumford taped talks and Hot Milk Cake

This recipe pull out card (recipe slide) of 1926, included 25 recipes for cakes and cookies, one being Hot Milk Cake, by Mrs. Lily H Wallace for Rumford Baking Powder. Two early Hot Milk Cake recipes are from church cookbooks c1900.

Click to enlarge and see how the ingredients are listed.
Several taped talks on Count Rumford

Army bake oven with a barrel

Memorial Day - To remember all who sacrificed their lives to preserve our democracy.

The Manual for Army Cooks 1896 image of an above ground dirt oven and an iron dutch oven.

Steam kitchen in "Hannah Glasse"

Ofcourse not in the original Glasse (1708-1770) cookbook, but years after her death, her name was used for an 1843 book, which was copied by M.A. Reynolds in her/his 1850 book The Complete Art of Cookery. The small book (a little over three by five inches, 256 pages) has delightful sketches.

Salt Mines

Marvelous sketches of huge salt mines, the Salt Desert and a chapel of salt are in Aunt Martha's Corner Cupboard: or, Stories about Tea, Coffee, Sugar, Rice, etc, editions from 1895-1928. Other sources of salt which are pictured, range from salt licks to boiled down seawater.
More pictures added from various editions, 11 total. Click images to enlarge.

Dutch milk-cellars 1869

“… butter made in a cellar, was far preferable to that made in a spring-house.” More in my Milk Cellars in 1840s Del. and 1870s NC blog post HERE.
Milk exhibit and talks from Wellcome in London.

Coronation Banquets - Many images 1685, 1821

From 1189 (Richard the Lionheart) to 1821 (George IV) large coronation banquets were held in Westminster Hall. The former Prince Regent was such a lavish spender that the elderly William IV in 1831 did not have a large banquet, and neither did Queen Victoria, seven years later. A c1610 banqueting recipe manuscript and a ledger on the 1821 banquet are online.

Mrs. Beeton's Corks with Wooden Tops

Instead of sealing a corked bottle with melted resin or wax, the corks with wooden tops were easier to remove and able to reuse.
There is a newly listed talk this Thursday on "Malinda Russell, the author of the First African American Cookbook" 1866. Also, spaces have been added for the Mrs. Raffold (Before Mrs. Beeton) talk on Wednesday.

Acton & Mrs. Raffald cookbook talks

Eliza Acton and Elizabeth Raffald are two British cookbook authors featured in talks this month, as are two collections - Longone Culinary Archives at U Michigan and the Jewish Food Society’s online archive.

Raffald's Chocolate Puffs and Acton's Clarified Marrow recipes.

Playing in the kitchen - large wooden tubs

Sailing in a tub.
Contrary Winds (1843) by Thomas George Webster (1800–1886) in the Victoria and Albert Museum

Easter Eggs - Paas Dyes, White Rabbit Dye, onion skins, anilin

Paas Egg Dyes were first packaged by a pharmacist named William Townley of Newark, NJ in 1880 and patent 8355, Ap 12, 1881.

Maria Massey Barringer - Dixie Cookery, 1867

Maria Amanda Massey Barringer (1827-1901) was born in Philadelphia to Quaker parents who moved to North Carolina. Her husband fought for the South, President Jefferson Davis stayed at their Concord NC home on April 18, 1865 while evading Gen. Grant's troops. President Grant granted her husband an international position in 1874, so they spent 20 years in Egypt.

Pepper Slaw, Pickled Cabbage

The sugar and vinegar makes this a sweet and sour side dish that was found in Pennsylvania Dutch and German meals. It is different from creamy coleslaw.

A few new talks have been added, including Saturday, so I am putting out a fast post before Sunday.

Hattie Burr and the first Suffrage cookbook 1886

Hattie A. Colby Burr (1841-1935) compiled a fundraising book, The Woman Suffrage Cookbook, in 1886. While it was the first in the United States, it would not be the last suffrage cookbook until women got the right to vote... in 1920! For a short time she and her husband (a musician and composer) lived on the same street (of 6 houses) as the more well known cookbook author Maria Parloa (1843-1909).

Amelia Simmons

The first cookbook written by an American was American Cookery by Amelia Simmons, An American Orphan in 1796. But who was she? Perhaps Pamela Cooley has found her! After extensive research, she presents a convincing case for Amelia Simonds/Simons (1767-1796) of Windham, Connecticut.

Medieval taped talks

There have been many Medieval talks, one this month on the archaelogy of a Jewish German oven.
Image from book: Ein Köstlich new Kochbuch by Anna Wecker, 1598.

Tossing the Pancake on Shrove Tuesday

"Shrovetide, Tossing the Pancake" 1862.
Pancakes and donuts (Fat Tuesday), Washington Cakes (President's Day), and Welsh Cakes (St. David's Day in Wales, March 1) links below.

Salt in the hearth - in Niche or Salt-box

A stoneware container in a niche/hole in the hearth wall, or salt cellars kept salt "from running." Two period images, with one showing something in the niche, the other with a wooden salt cellar. CHNY's talk this Thursday is on... salt. History of salt-making in England taped talk.

Dining in America late 1820s - from the British point of view

Mrs. Frances Trollope (1779-1863), the mother of Anthony Trollope, travelled and lived in the US from 1827-1831. She wrote her observations - "Almost everyone drinks water," Pic-nics were rare, "dessert (invariably pronounced desart)" was common.

Food Diversity Day taped talks and more

Terrific talk on Swiss cows move to alpine meadows (CH of Chicago). 11 panels of speakers promoting diversity of cheese, bread, seeds, oceans, lentils and more, developed by Dan Saladino (Eating to Extinction).

Temperance Drinks ... 1850

It's Dry January, so here are over 25 recipes in Temperance Drinks section in Miss Beecher’s Domestic Receipt Book. NY: 1850. Image (click to enlarge) of coffee urn cart with free bread, from a temperance group. Harper's Weekly. NY: 1880.

Flour mills taped talks - Tidal, Floating, Water, Wind

Tidal mills cleverly run by tides, mills built on boats (famed Alexis Soyer used naval ships as a mill and bakery), windmills, mills in many states and countries are all described in tapes of talks or written excerts, below. Removing mill dams for river restoration.

Twelfth Night Cake period images

Queen Victoria's 30 inch-diameter "Twelfth Cake," 1849, is the first of many images of Twelfth Night cakes, other food/drinks and activities for Twelfth Night (Jan 6). Click images to enlarge.

New Year’s Day in New Amsterdam

This 1870 artwork by George Henry Boughton depicts the visits on New Year's day - with no "wines, brandy wines, or beers" and ... no shooting guns or beating drums.