Adobe ovens photos; Bread, flour, oven talks

Location, location, location. The ovens were on the ground... or on a building... or in a building... or on wheels (apologies to Dr. Seuss). Next week will be a talk baking in an adobe horno! Two talks are by bakers who use clay ovens, one portable on wheels. Below the pictures are talks on breads, flour and a very good talk on the history of making salt in Scotland and England.

Bread for soldiers in 1821 manual

General Regulations for the Army included instructions for quartermasters to inspect the bakery and officers were to read articles on "Baking" in..... encyclopaedias. Printed in Phila.

Thanks to all those in the military and veterans.

To clean hanging paper (wallpaper) with a loaf of bread

If your loaf of bread becomes stale, you can clean “wall-paper that has become darkened by smoke." Following are a sampling of instructions from 1831, 1885 and 1903.

Crimean War steamers Abundance (bakery) and Bruiser (flour mill)

The famed cook Alexis Soyer (1810-1858) wrote Soyer's Culinary Campaign (1857) about his experiences to improve the cooking and baking for the British Soldiers during the Crimean War (1853-56).  Floating bakeries on ships were described at length; from "working of the flour" to 15+ thousand rations baked each day.  More on floating mills HERE

The hard life of bakers in Victorian London

Starting at 11pm to make the dough, nap on flour sack over the kneading board (on the trough). wake at 2am, start kneeding and forming the dough then bake loaves in oven. When all that was done (in extreme heat), the bakers had to change clothes and go out on the street to sell the bread.

Moravian meals... "the piece" in the morning

Moravians started a community in Bethlehem, Pa. in 1741.   The members gathered several times a day to eat: breakfast at 6, "the piece" or mid-morning lunch/snack at 9, dinner at noon, vespers at 2, and supper at 6.  In 1906 Pennsylvania "the piece" was still kept and reluctantly allowed in the coal mines.

Muffin Pudding 1826

English Muffins (in this case from Hannah Glasse, changed slightly by Richard Briggs in 1796, made during William Rubel's weekly bread seminar) can be made into a pudding layered with dried cherries. Rundell's 1826 baked version contained brandy and orange-flower water. 

Roasted Butter. on a spit. before a fire!

Years ago I was intrigued by roasting butter on a spit. An Irish woman in Ellis's 1750 book made it many times over Christmas "to accommodate a Friend with a Slice or two, as we do Cakes or minced Pies here." Hannah Glasse had it roast over oysters, then when done "lay it on your oysters." After some recipes is a descripton of wooden spits, Ivan Day's attempt to roast butter (which convinced me not to try it), and upcoming zoom talks: Fun foods (CHoW), Spam, Expat Cookbooks, Ceramic ice pails and ice cream by Ivan Day, Dinner with Dumas (Three Musketeers), Why bees change their minds, and more.

Cheese Toaster for Welsh Rarebit ... or Rabbit

"Cheese Toaster with double bottom for hot water" image from Bishop, 1852. 

A Toasted Cheese or Scotch sandwich, when mustard was added, became a Welsh-rabbit (described in 1827 book). 

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.

Streaming from the hearth - virtual hearth cooking and baking in ovens

Some cooks and museums have done virtual demos of bake oven and cooking over the fire. But. There should be more! People are curious about the unusual activity, and it's a unique way to get donations. Links to tapes of hearth cooking and bake oven are below, and upcoming virtual demos.

So hearth cooks out there... grab your laptop or smart phone and share the fun you are having at the hearth.

Kentucky Derby Benedictines

The Kentucky Derby is run this Saturday.  Benedictines - green cucumber sandwiches with cream cheese and onions - were created in the 1890s by Jennie C. Benedict, a caterer in Louisville.  Although she wrote two cookbooks, neither contained her famous recipe.

World War I trenches - dining & baking

Memorial Day - never forget.

Soldiers had a rough time in the trenches, and civilians at home were asked to...
"FEED A FIGHTER Eat only what you need – Waste nothing – That he and his family may have enough" 1918.

Click to enlarge images.

Panetieres

The panetiere was/is a wooden French bread box or bread bin; and a gloriously elaborate one at that.  Not your 1960s bread box - causing a rethinking of the querry - "Is it bigger than a bread box?"
More examples follow.

World Heritage Sourdough Library

The remarkable Puratos World Heritage Sourdough Library in Belgium was created by the Puratos company to "safeguard the sourdough biodiversity and preserve the sourdough heritage and baking knowledge."  It opened seven years ago.

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.

Archive listing of past virtual talks during Covid lockdown 2020

The original calendar post will maintain the current and future virtual talks listing and other materials Calendar of virtual talks. This post is to "archive" all (including not taped) virtual talks on the events list from the past months - 684 talks. Many talks are not taped, so only a third of the talks have tapes to view and marked in red as Tape. Those which are taped will be placed in the various categories (ie museums, culinary groups, subjects) on the other post... when I have time. 

Baltimore's Patapsco Baking Powder

William Pitt Clotworthy (1829Ireland-1902) of Baltimore created and patented Patapsco Baking Powder. The following excerpt from Howard's The Monumental City [Baltimore] 1873, is about its contents and unnamed earlier competitors – Bird (1843), Horsford (Rumford 1859) and Royal (1866).

Virtual talks: Anchovies; OPA rationing in WWII USA; Henry Orr, a Black Caterer in Federal DC; Appalachia (NC)...

British foodways virtual talks

There are many upcoming talks on British foodways and tapes of talks: Queen Victoria, Stir-up Sunday Christmas Pudding (Nov 22), Colonial sugar trade, Scottish food and many more. Once I find the tapes of talks after they are given, this post (and other topic posts) will only keep the talks with tapes.

King George III toasting muffins, satire by James Gillray in 1791.

Flour mill and bakery onboard naval ships during Crimean War

To support the British troops with their daily bread ration during the Crimean War in 1855-6, two iron steamers were refitted – one named “Bruiser” as a floating mill and the other “Abundance” as a bakery.