Cookery Schools

Many well known chefs who taught students in their homes or at cookery schools wrote cookbooks containing their recipes: Hannah Wooley (c1622-1675), Edward Kidder (c1665-1739) and John Thacker (1758 book) to...

Ice house 1854 and a pile of ice kept above ground for a year

Although the ice house image and description are nice, the second paragraph is intriguing. Ice piled on the ground, covered with a layer of firewood, then a layer of straw, then thatch as the outer layer. It should be on "dry ground (the north side of a hill being preferable), in a conical form, of a considerable size, in winter during a hard frost..."

Several interesting virtual talks at the end.

Eliza Leslie's two Jelly Cakes

The first "Jelly Cake" using cake in an English language cookbook was in the third edition, of Philadelphian Eliza Leslie’s Seventy-five Receipts, 1830, in the Appendix. Almost thirty years later, Miss Leslie (1787-1858) updated her Jelly Cake recipe.

Popcorn and New Year's Eve

Described by a ten year old boy in 1895, the practice was called old fashioned in a 1914 magazine article.

Some food history zoom talks for January listed below and in the Calendar.

Bottling and Corking

Wonderful illustrations accompany this 1870 description of corking and tying to a bottle.

Wooden topped corks from Beeton 1863 book. Blog post HERE

December virtual talks below

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.

Stone sink and pump at Sandpit Gate in Windsor Great Park 1750s

Paul Sandby (1731-1809) made several pen and watercolor images of this kitchen which included an indoor water pump onto a stone sink, shaping butter pads, and large tubs to wash dishes. All pictures are held in the Royal Collection Trust.
Click to enlarge pictures.

Charcoal types - different woods

Charcoal made from hard wood was good for fuel, from soft wood good to clarify liquids or make crayons or gunpowder. Blacksmiths used chestnut charcoal, holly with bark charcoal was "believed to render iron brittle." Charcoal powder was used as a poultice for ulcers or tooth-powder. Areca nut charcoal powder was "the most fashionable dentifrice."
Upcoming food history talks, below.

Fried Beets 1723

This early beet recipe with a lovely wine and cloves flavor is a delicious and different way to use beets this fall.  An earlier post details various ways to prepare beets from 1717 to 1916. HERE
Some food history zoom talks for this month.

Piles of Puff Paste cake - 1651, 1772

A ‘Gateau de Mille Feuilles’ recipe was described in La Varenne’s Le Cuisinier Francois, in 1651. It’s name, translated ‘Cake of a thousand leaves,’ described the many layers in each sheet of puff paste, and the number of layers with fillings (jelly, fruit, cream).

Gone fishing

Excerpts about bait, 1594; preserving fish, 1732; To cure tainted Fish, 1819; and cooking.
Over thirty taped talks on fishing, Herring Girls of Scotland, smokehouses, ice factory, shad, oysters, shrimp, river restoration by removing weirs and old mill dams, fish migrations, Garum and more.
Upcoming talks.

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. Upcoming online talks at end.

Mothers and children by the fire

Happy Mother's Day.
This is one of my favorite pictures ... a Russian stove 1803 by Atkinson. Interesting baby keeper and a sleeper on the top.

Upcoming talks for the rest of the month, listed below.

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.
A few food history virtual food talks at the end.

Dumb-waiters - table

There are several items which have been termed dumb waiters over the years - a table, revolving door with shelf/shelves or a small shelf to be moved between floors. Thomas Jefferson used all three types in his homes and while in the White House.

Upcoming zoom talks at the end.

Derricke's 1581 Ireland - dining and cooking

John Derricke wrote in his The Image of Irelande about English victories over the Irish... and describing an image of cooking and a feast. Not having a pot, the beef was cooked in it's skin.

Ladyfingers

By 1850, some sponge biscuits (cookies) were named Ladyfingers. “Fingers, or Naples Biscuits” combined the two names in a recipe by Francatelli in 1846. Their shape was described by Philadelphian Eliza Leslie in 1857 as “double ovals joined in the centre.” Later, Harland (see below) said they were long narrow cakes that were nice when dipped in chocolate icing or caramel. Leslie, and others, sprinkled sugar on the top before baking.

38 foot chocolate monument

During the World's Fair of 1893 in Chicago, the Stollwerck chocolate company of Germany created the Statue of Germania out of a 2,200 pound block of chocolate and the entire structure was made of 30,000 pounds of chocolate.
The small card is 2" wide by 3 3/4"

Stone sinks 1740s - 1780s

There are many styles of stone sinks. This 1740s one by the window is in the Ephrata Cloisters kitchen, Pennsylvania. The second set of images is a stone sink in The Woodlands, c1780s in Philadelphia. Several 1800s descriptions are below. My favorite stone sink, in a window, will be in a future post.
Food history talks are listed at the end.

Peter Cooper's gelatine

Although Peter Cooper (1791-1883) of New York City may be more well known for designing 'Tom Thumb', the first American steam locomotive that lost a race with a horse in 1830 on the early B&O Railroad line from Baltimore to Ellicott Mills (now Ellicott City, MD). But there is more... Cooper Union, glue, iron and ... gelatin.