Category: Food In Time

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Tea, Art, and Life

The Book of Tea by Kakuzo Okakura, published in 1906, is a joy to read. I’ve excerpted a few passages here with the desire to create a little cyber tea room where you can escape for a few minutes in your busy day. The text is paired with a series of woodblock prints by Mizuno Toshikata from 1897. Enjoy!

Tea with us became more than an idealisation of the form of drinking; it is a religion of the art of life. The beverage grew to be an excuse for the worship of purity and refinement, a sacred function at which the host and guest joined to produce for that occasion the utmost beatitude of the mundane. The tea-room was an oasis in the dreary waste of existence where weary travellers could meet to drink from the common spring of art-appreciation. The ceremony was an improvised drama whose plot was woven about the tea, the flowers, and the paintings. Not a colour to disturb the tone of the room, not a sound to mar the rhythm of things, not a gesture to obtrude on the harmony, not a word to break the unity of the surroundings, all movements to be performed simply and naturally—such were the aims of the tea-ceremony. And strangely enough it was often successful. A subtle philosophy lay behind it all. Teaism was Taoism in disguise.

Again the roji, the garden path which leads from the machiai to the tea-room, signified the first stage of meditation,—the passage into self-illumination. The roji was intended to break connection with the outside world, and produce a fresh sensation conducive to the full enjoyment of aestheticism in the tea-room itself. One who has trodden this garden path cannot fail to remember how his spirit, as he walked in the twilight of evergreens over the regular irregularities of the stepping stones, beneath which lay dried pine needles, and passed beside the moss-covered granite lanterns, became uplifted above ordinary thoughts. One may be in the midst of a city, and yet feel as if he were in the forest far away from the dust and din of civilisation. Great was the ingenuity displayed by the tea-masters in producing these effects of serenity and purity. The nature of the sensations to be aroused in passing through the roji differed with different tea-masters. Some, like Rikiu, aimed at utter loneliness, and claimed the secret of making a roji was contained in the ancient ditty:

          “I look beyond;

          Flowers are not,

          Nor tinted leaves.

          On the sea beach

          A solitary cottage stands

          In the waning light

          Of an autumn eve.”

Others, like Kobori-Enshiu, sought for a different effect. Enshiu said the idea of the garden path was to be found in the following verses:

          “A cluster of summer trees,

          A bit of the sea,

          A pale evening moon.”

It is not difficult to gather his meaning. He wished to create the attitude of a newly awakened soul still lingering amid shadowy dreams of the past, yet bathing in the sweet unconsciousness of a mellow spiritual light, and yearning for the freedom that lay in the expanse beyond.

Thus prepared the guest will silently approach the sanctuary, and, if a samurai, will leave his sword on the rack beneath the eaves, the tea-room being preeminently the house of peace. Then he will bend low and creep into the room through a small door not more than three feet in height. This proceeding was incumbent on all guests,—high and low alike,—and was intended to inculcate humility. The order of precedence having been mutually agreed upon while resting in the machiai, the guests one by one will enter noiselessly and take their seats, first making obeisance to the picture or flower arrangement on the tokonoma. The host will not enter the room until all the guests have seated themselves and quiet reigns with nothing to break the silence save the note of the boiling water in the iron kettle. The kettle sings well, for pieces of iron are so arranged in the bottom as to produce a peculiar melody in which one may hear the echoes of a cataract muffled by clouds, of a distant sea breaking among the rocks, a rainstorm sweeping through a bamboo forest, or of the soughing of pines on some faraway hill.

Even in the daytime the light in the room is subdued, for the low eaves of the slanting roof admit but few of the sun’s rays. Everything is sober in tint from the ceiling to the floor; the guests themselves have carefully chosen garments of unobtrusive colors. The mellowness of age is over all, everything suggestive of recent acquirement being tabooed save only the one note of contrast furnished by the bamboo dipper and the linen napkin, both immaculately white and new. However faded the tea-room and the tea-equipage may seem, everything is absolutely clean. Not a particle of dust will be found in the darkest corner, for if any exists the host is not a tea-master. One of the first requisites of a tea-master is the knowledge of how to sweep, clean, and wash, for there is an art in cleaning and dusting. … Dripping water from a flower vase need not be wiped away, for it may be suggestive of dew and coolness.

In this connection there is a story of Rikiu which well illustrates the ideas of cleanliness entertained by the tea-masters. Rikiu was watching his son Shoan as he swept and watered the garden path. “Not clean enough,” said Rikiu, when Shoan had finished his task, and bade him try again. After a weary hour the son turned to Rikiu: “Father, there is nothing more to be done. The steps have been washed for the third time, the stone lanterns and the trees are well sprinkled with water, moss and lichens are shining with a fresh verdure; not a twig, not a leaf have I left on the ground.” “Young fool,” chided the tea-master, “that is not the way a garden path should be swept.” Saying this, Rikiu stepped into the garden, shook a tree and scattered over the garden gold and crimson leaves, scraps of the brocade of autumn! What Rikiu demanded was not cleanliness alone, but the beautiful and the natural also.

True beauty could be discovered only by one who mentally completed the incomplete. The virility of life and art lay in its possibilities for growth. In the tea-room it is left for each guest in imagination to complete the total effect in relation to himself. Since Zennism has become the prevailing mode of thought, the art … has purposefully avoided the symmetrical as expressing not only completion, but repetition. Uniformity of design was considered fatal to the freshness of imagination. Thus, landscapes, birds, and flowers became the favorite subjects for depiction rather than the human figure, the latter being present in the person of the beholder himself. We are often too much in evidence as it is, and in spite of our vanity even self-regard is apt to become monotonous.

In the tea-room the fear of repetition is a constant presence. The various objects for the decoration of a room should be so selected that no colour or design shall be repeated. If you have a living flower, a painting of flowers is not allowable. If you are using a round kettle, the water pitcher should be angular. A cup with a black glaze should not be associated with a tea-caddy of black lacquer. In placing a vase of an incense burner on the tokonoma, care should be taken not to put it in the exact centre, lest it divide the space into equal halves. The pillar of the tokonoma should be of a different kind of wood from the other pillars, in order to break any suggestion of monotony in the room.

The tea-master deems his duty ended with the selection of the flowers, and leaves them to tell their own story. Entering a tea-room in late winter, you may see a slender spray of wild cherries in combination with a budding camellia; it is an echo of departing winter coupled with the prophecy of spring. Again, if you go into a noon-tea on some irritatingly hot summer day, you may discover in the darkened coolness of the tokonoma a single lily in a hanging vase; dripping with dew, it seems to smile at the foolishness of life.

A solo of flowers is interesting, but in a concerto with painting and sculpture the combination becomes entrancing. Sekishiu once placed some water-plants in a flat receptacle to suggest the vegetation of lakes and marshes, and on the wall above he hung a painting by Soami of wild ducks flying in the air. Shoha, another tea-master, combined a poem on the Beauty of Solitude by the Sea with a bronze incense burner in the form of a fisherman’s hut and some wild flowers of the beach. One of the guests has recorded that he felt in the whole composition the breath of waning autumn.

Flower stories are endless. We shall recount but one more. In the sixteenth century the morning-glory was as yet a rare plant with us. Rikiu had an entire garden planted with it, which he cultivated with assiduous care. The fame of his convulvuli reached the ear of the Taiko, and he expressed a desire to see them, in consequence of which Rikiu invited him to a morning tea at his house. On the appointed day Taiko walked through the garden, but nowhere could he see any vestige of the convulvulus. The ground had been leveled and strewn with fine pebbles and sand. With sullen anger the despot entered the tea-room, but a sight waited him there which completely restored his humour. On the tokonoma, in a rare bronze of Sung workmanship, lay a single morning-glory—the queen of the whole garden!

In such instances we see the full significance of the Flower Sacrifice. Perhaps the flowers appreciate the full significance of it. They are not cowards, like men. Some flowers glory in death—certainly the Japanese cherry blossoms do, as they freely surrender themselves to the winds. Anyone who has stood before the fragrant avalanche at Yoshino or Arashiyama must have realized this. For a moment they hover like bejewelled clouds and dance above the crystal streams; then, as they sail away on the laughing waters, they seem to say: “Farewell, O Spring! We are on to eternity.”

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Baking Victorian Bread

Years ago, when I was a Mark Bittman devotee, the no-knead bread craze hit. I hadn’t made bread before because I was scared of the process, which seemed like a sacred art of sorts. When Mark Bittman published his version of the no-knead recipe in the New York Times, I had found a bread recipe that even I could do. I had started my gluten-free-ish lifestyle by that time, but I still loved making bread for the sensory aspects: the smell, texture, how the bread transformed over the cooking process, and the joy that warm bread gave others.

However, my growing children demanded my time, and it was easier to buy bread at the grocery store bakery than to bake our own. That is until the pandemic hit and store shelves were stripped bare. Now, stuck at home, I, like many Americans, have been baking. I’ve found an updated version of my beloved no-knead recipe that makes wonderful bread. My children are amazed that I can actually bake. However, my teens are amazed whenever I show any kind of aptitude. This morning, as my latest baking project rose on the counter, I researched Victorian bread making. I’ve decided to excerpt from two books that are from the earlier decades of the Victorian Era because they explain how to make yeast.  

Let’s start with The Good Housekeeper, Or the Way to Live Well, And To Be Well While We Live, published in 1839 and written by Sarah Josepha Buell Hale, supposed author of “Mary Had A Little Lamb” and a long-time editor for Godey’s Lady’s Book.

ADVANTAGES OF BREAD MAKING. If you wish to economize in family expenses, bake your own bread. If this is good, it will be better as well as healthier than baker’s bread.

The rich will find several advantages in having a portion, at least, of their bread baked at home, even though the saving of money should not be an object. They can be certain that their bread is made of good flour. This is not always sure when eating baker’s bread. Much damaged flour, sour, musty, or grown, is often used by the public bakers, particularly in scarce or bad seasons. The skill of the baker and the use of certain ingredients-(alum, ammonia, sulphate of zinc, and even sulphate of copper, it is said, has been used !)—will make this flour into light, white bread. But it is nearly tasteless, and cannot be as healthy or nutritious as bread made from the flour of good, sound wheat, baked at home, without any mixture of drugs and correctives. Even the best of baker’s bread is comparatively tasteless, and must be eaten when new to be relished. But good home-baked bread will keep a week, and is better on that account for the health.

If the sponge be set at seven or half past, in the morning, and everything well managed, the bread will be ready to be drawn from the oven by twelve. Four or five hours of attention, then, is required ; but three fourths of this time might be employed in needlework, or other pursuits. Only half or three quarters of an hour, devoted to kneading the bread, is wanted in active exertion ; and this would be one of the most beneficial exercises our young ladies could practise.

I have dwelt at length on this subject, because I consider it as important as did “Uncle John,” that “ Girls should learn to make bread—the staff of life”–and that to do this well is an accomplishment which the lovely and talented should consider indispensable, one of the “ must haves” of female education.

There are three things which must be exactly right, in order to have good bread—the quality of the yeast; the lightness or fermentation of the dough ; and the heat of the oven. No precise rules can be given to ascertain these points. It requires observation, reflection, and a quick, nice judgment to decide when all are right. Thus, you see, that bread-making is not a mere mechanical treadmill operation, like many household concerns ; but a work of mind ; the woman who always has good home-baked bread on the table shows herself to have good sense and good management.

MAKING BREAD, A large family will, probably, use a bushel of flour weekly; but we will take the proper quantity for a family of four or five persons.

Take twentyone quarts of flour, put it into a kneading trough or earthen pan which is well glazed, and large enough to hold double the quantity of four. Make a deep, round hole in the centre of the flour, and pour into it half a pint of brewer’s yeast, or the thick sediment from homebrewed beer—the last if good, is to be preferred. In either case the yeast must be mixed with a pint of milk-warm water, and well stirred before it is poured in. Then with a spoon stir into this liquid, gradually, so much of the surrounding four as will make it like thin batter; sprinkle this over with dry flour, till it is covered entirely. Then cover the trough or pan with a warm cloth, and set it by the fire in winter, and where the sun is shining in summer. This process is called ” setting the sponge.” The object is to give strength and character to the ferment by communicating the quality of leaven to a small portion of the flour ; which will then be easily extended to the whole. Setting sponge is a measure of wise precaution-for if the yeast does not rise and ferment in the middle of the flour it shows that the yeast is not good ; the batter can then be removed, without wasting much of the flour, and another sponge set with better yeast.

Let the sponge stand till the batter has swelled and risen so as to form cracks in the covering of flour ; then scatter over it two table spoonfuls of fine salt, and begin to form the mass into dough by pouring in, by degrees, as much warm water as is necessary to mix with the flour. Twentyone quarts of flour will require about four quarts of water. It will be well to prepare rather more ; soft water is much the best ; it should in summer be warm as new milk ; during winter, it ought to be somewhat warmer, as flour is a cold, heavy substance.

Add the water by degrees to the flour, mix them with your hand, till the whole mass is incorporated; it must then be worked most thoroughly, moulded over and over and kneaded with your clenched hands, till it becomes so perfectly smooth and light as well as stiff, that not a particle will adhere to your hands. Remember that you cannot have good bread, light and white, unless you give the dough a thorough kneading.

Then make the dough into a lump in the middle of the trough or pan, and dust it over with flour to prevent its adhering to the vessel. Cover it with a warm cloth, and in the winter the vessel should be placed near the fire. It now undergoes a further fermentation, which is shown by its swelling and rising ; this, if the ferment was well formed, will be at its height in an hour-somewhat less in very warm weather. It ought to be taken at its height, before it begins to fall.

Divide the dough into seven equal portions ; mould on your paste-board, and form them into loaves ; put these on well floured tin or earthen plates, and place immediately in the oven.

The oven, if a good one and you have good dry wood, will heat sufficiently in an hour. It is best to kindle the fire in it with dry pine, hemlock furze or some quick burning material; then fill it up with faggots or hard wood split fine and dried, sufficient to heat it-let the wood burn down and stir the coals evenly over the bottom of the oven, let them lie till they are like embers; the bricks at the arch and sides will be clear from any color of smoke when the oven is sufficiently hot. Clean and sweep the oven, throw in a little flour on the bottom, if it burns black at once, do not put in the bread, but let it stand a few moments and cool.

It is a good rule to put the fire in the oven when the dough is made up—the batter will rise and the former heat in about the same time.

When the loaves are in the oven, it must be closed and kept tight, except you open it for a moment to see how the bread appears. If the oven is properly heated, loaves of the size named, will be done in an hour and a half or two hours. They will weigh four pounds per loaf, or about that—thus giving you twentyeight pounds of bread from twentyone quarts (or pounds) of flour. The weight gained is from the water.

It is the best economy to calculate (or ascertain by experiment) the number of loaves of a certain weight or size, necessary for a week’s consumption in your family, and bake accordingly. In the winter season bread may be kept good for a fortnight; still I think it the best rule to bake once every week. Bread should not be eaten at all till it has been baked, at least, one day. When the loaves are done, take them from the oven, and place them on a clean shelf, in a clean, cool pantry. If the crust happen to be scorched, or the bread is too much baked, the loaves, when they are taken out of the oven, may be wrapped in a clean, coarse towel, which has been slightly damped. It is well to keep a light cloth thrown over all the loaves. When a loaf has been cut, it should be kept in a tight box from the air, if you wish to prevent its drying.

YEAST. It is impossible to have good light bread, unless you have lively sweet yeast. When common family beer is well brewed and kept in a clean cask, the settlings are the best of yeast. If you do not keep beer, then make common yeast by the following method.

Take two quarts of water, one handful of hops, two of wheat bran; boil these together twenty minutes ; strain off the water, and while it is boiling hot stir in either wheat or rye flour, till it becomes a thick batter; let it stand till it is about blood warm ; then add a half pint of good smart yeast and a large spoonful of molasses, if you have it, and stir the whole well. Set it in a cool place in summer and a warm one in winter. When it becomes perfectly light, it is fit for use. If not needed immediately, it should, when it becomes cold, be put in a clean jug or bottle ; do not fill the vessel and the cork must be left loose till the next morning, when the yeast will have done working. Then cork it tightly, and set in a cool place in the cellar. It will keep ten or twelve days.

MILK YEAST. One pint of new milk ; one tea-spoonful of fine salt, and a large spoon of flour-stir these well together; set the mixture by the fire, and keep it just lukewarm; it will be fit for use in an hour. Twice the quantity of common yeast is necessary ; it will not keep long. Bread made of this yeast dries very soon; but in the summer it is some. times convenient to make this kind when yeast is needed suddenly

Never keep yeast in a tin vessel. If you find the old yeast sour, and have not time to prepare new, put in salæratus, a tea-spoonful to a pint of yeast, when ready to use it. If it foams up lively, it will raise the bread, if it does not, never use it.

HARD YEAST. Boil three ounces of hops in six quarts of water, till only two quarts remain. Strain it, and stir in while it is boiling hot, wheat or rye meal till it is thick as batter. When it is about milk warm add half a pint of good yeast, and let it stand till it is very light, which will probably be about three hours. Then work in sifted [corn] meal till it is stiff dough. Roll out on a board; cut it in oblong cakes about three inches by two. They should be about half an inch thick. Lay these cakes on a smooth board, over which a little flour has been dusted; prick them with a fork, and set the board in a dry clean chamber or store-room, where the sun and air may be freely admitted. Turn them every day. They will dry in a fortnight unless the weather is damp. When the cakes are fully dry, put them into a coarse cotton bag ; hang it up in a cool dry place. If rightly prepared these cakes will keep a year, and save the trouble of making new yeast every week.

Two cakes will make yeast sufficient for a peck of flour. Break them into a pint of lukewarm water and stir in a large spoonful of flour, the evening before you bake. Set the mixture where it can be kept moderately warm. In the morning it will be fit for use.

Let’s cross the ocean to England and look at yeast made from potatoes, as well as, a time-table for baking rolls. This excerpt comes from  The Young Cook’s Assistant, and Housekeeper’s Guide, published in 1841.

To make Yeast or Barm.

Boil three pounds of potatoes, in as much water as will cover them, to a mash, and pass them with the water through a sieve (take care in paring the potatoes that all the eyes are picked out); then add more water, till it is about the thickness of common yeast. Put in six ounces of lump sugar, and when nearly cold, add four table spoonfuls of good yeast: stir it in at the time, but not after. Let it stand twelve hours in a rather warm place-any part of a room where there is a fire will do. Then put it in a cold situation, and in twelve hours it will be fit for use. Put it in a jar, and tie a paper over: it will keep a week or ten days.

Another.

When good potatoes are not to be had, use a flour paste made about as thick as gruel. Add to every pint of it, when nearly cold, one ounce of sugar and a spoonful of yeast. Work it as the potato yeast, and keep it in a jar. As this is seldom made except in hot weather, it will not keep more than three or four days. It must stand in a cold place, but not in ice, for that destroys the strength of the yeast.

Rolls for Breakfast. The last thing over-night take three pounds of fine flour, rather more than half-a-pint of potato yeast, or of the paste-yeast, a little salt, and two eggs: then warm a little milk (which in hot weather should boil and get cold again), and make a light dough of it; set it on the kitchen table all night, covered with a cloth. The next morning turn it on the dresser, mould it over, and make it up in whatever shape you want it. Twists are made by taking a bit of butter on the dresser instead of flour, and rolling out a long thin length of the dough: then cut it in lengths and turn it in whatever shape you fancy, or may have seen. Place them on the baking-sheet and set it by the fire half-an-hour, to rise, while the oven is heating. For French rolls, put a piece of dough in each shape, set them to rise, and place them in the oven ten minutes before the others, as they must be rasped. The very small fancy twists, &c., should be brushed over the top with an egg, beaten with a little milk, before you set them to rise. Bake these in a slow oven, as they should be coloured but very little.

Buns. Take a piece of the dough made for the rolls; dissolve a bit of butter in a very little warm milk, beat it together, and mix with the dough. Add a little sifted lump sugar, one egg, a little allspice, carraway seeds, and currants—any or all of them, as approved. It must then have an hour to rise; after which, take a little flour on the dresser, and make the buns in whatever shape you please. Place them on the bakingsheet, and set them by the fire to rise. Brush them over with the eggs and milk as prepared for the small rolls, or sift a little white sugar on the top; for which purpose whisk the white of an egg, brush it over, and then sift the sugar upon it. These must have rather a slow oven, and will take a little longer baking than rolls of the same size.

Household Bread. The potato yeast is best for this purpose; and moist sugar will do if lump is a consideration. For a bushel of flour use the quantity of yeast that two pounds of potatoes make, with a handful of salt, and lukewarm water. First make a hole in the middle of the flour, put in the yeast and salt, and three quarts of water, and stir it up to a stiff batter: this is what is called the sponge. Shut it up two hours, and then make it into dough with warm water, but not very stiff.

Cover it up again another hour, or an hour and a half, and in the meantime heat the oven; then take out the dough on the moulding-board before the oven, and mould it in pieces the size of half a loaf: give it a good moulding, and leave it on the board before the fire, at least half-an-hour; it will then only require making into loaves, when the oven is ready. If you make eight loaves of a bushel of flour, they will take three hours and a half baking. Take care the oven is hot, and while it is heating frequently scrape one side and turn the fire over to it, and then scrape the other side. You need not shut the door at first, if too warm.

French Cottage Bread. French bricks are made of the same dough as rolls, or they may be made of a piece of the bread dough. Mould it well, and put it into a tin shape-it should be only half full-set it by the fire, and it will rise to the top. Do not shake it in putting it into the oven. Bake according to the size of the tin used: all kinds of bread ought to be well baked.

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Victorian Eggnog Recipes

I’m posting some eggnog recipes from the mid-1800s to help you get into the holiday cheer or to simply cope with the holidays. No judgment here.

Of course, these old versions are made with raw eggs, so if you want to try these recipes, you may want to find a technique to gently heat the eggs to the minimum temperature to destroy the pathogens.

According to Jerry Thomas in his 1862 book How to Mix Drinks: Or, The Bon-vivant’s Companion, “Egg Nogg is a beverage of American origin, but it has a popularity that is cosmopolitan. At the South it is almost indispensable at Christmas time, and at the North it is a favorite at all seasons.”

Here is Thomas’ basic eggnog recipe. I believe “do.” means ditto of the measure in the preceding line.

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Egg Nogg
(Use large bar glass.)

1 table-spoonful of fine sugar, dissolved with
1 do. cold water, 1 egg.
1 wine-glass of Cognac brandy. 
½ do. Santa Cruz rum.
1/2 tumblerful of milk.

Fill the tumbler ¼ full with shaved ice, shake the ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed together, and grate a little nutmeg on top. Every well-ordered bar has a tin egg-nogg “shaker,” which is a great aid in mixing this beverage.

Here is another version of Egg Nogg from Cooling Cups and Dainty Drinks, by William Terrington, 1869.

Hot Egg Nogg, or “Auld Man’s Milk”

Heat a pint of Scotch ale;  add while warming 1/4 oz. bruised cinnamon, 1/4 oz. grated nutmeg, 1/4 oz. powdered ginger; beat up the yolks of 2 eggs with a little brown sugar; pour in the ale gradually; when well amalgamated, add glass of whiskey

The remainder of the recipes in this post are from Jerry Thomas.

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Hot Egg Nogg
(Use large bar glass)

This drink is very popular in California and is made in precisely the same manner as the cold egg nogg above, except that you must use boiling water instead of ice.

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Sherry Egg Nogg

1 table-spoonful of white sugar.
1 egg.
2 wine-glasses of sherry.

Dissolve the sugar with a little water; break the yolk of the egg in a large glass; put in one-quarter tumblerful of broken ice; fill with milk, and shake up until the egg is thoroughly mixed with the other ingredients, then grate a little nutmeg on top, and quaff the nectar cup.

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Mississippi Egg Nogg
(Use large bar glass)

1 egg.
1 ½ teaspoonful of sugar.
2 or 3 small lumps of ice.
Fill the tumbler with cider and shake well.

This is a splendid drink and is very popular on the Mississippi River.

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Egg Nogg
(For a party of forty)


1 dozen eggs.
2 quarts of brandy.
1 pint of Santa Cruz rum.
2 gallons of milk.
1 1/2 lbs. white sugar.


Separate the whites of the eggs from the yolks, beat them separately with an egg-beater until the yolks are well cut up, and the whites assume a light fleecy appearance. Mix all the ingredients (except the whites of the eggs) in a large punch bowl, then let the whites float on top, and ornament with colored sugars. Cool in a tub of ice, and serve.

Baltimore Egg Nogg
(For a party of fifteen)

Take the yellow of sixteen eggs and twelve table-spoonfuls of pulverized loaf-sugar, and beat them to the consistence of cream; to this add two-thirds of a nutmeg grated, and beat well together; then mix in half a pint of good brandy or Jamaica rum, and two wine-glasses of Madeira wine. Have ready the whites of the eggs, beaten to a stiff froth, and beat them into the above-described mixture. When this is all done, stir in six pints of good rich milk. There is no heat used.

Egg Nogg made in this manner is digestible and will not cause headache. It makes an excellent drink for debilitated persons, and a nourishing diet for consumptives.

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Helpful Hints for the Victorian Cook

Last week I spent an evening researching the merits of various multi-cookers, slow cookers, pressure cookers, and rice cookers. Finally, hopelessly confused, I went with what America’s Test Kitchen recommended. In an oddly parallel situation, I spent a frustrating few hours yesterday researching cooking with antique open ranges, kitcheners, closed ranges, gas ovens, or on open grates in fireplaces. I wish there was a Victorian’s Test Kitchen with recommendations and explanations to guide the clueless.

On a positive note, I found some helpful Victorian kitchen hints in The Illustrated London Cookery Book, containing upwards of fifteen hundred first-rate receipts selected with great care, and a proper attention to economy; and embodying all the latest improvements in the culinary art; accompanied by important remarks and counsel on the arrangement and well-ordering of the kitchen, combined with useful hints on domestic economy. The whole based on many years’ constant practice and experience; and addressed to private families as well as the highest circles… Profusely illustrated with engravings on wood. This 1852 volume was written by Frederick Bishop, the late cuisinier to St. James Palace, Earl Grey, The Marquis of Stafford, Baron Rothschild, Earl Norbury, Captain Duncombe and “Many of The First Families Of The Kingdom.” It also contains a short story and poetry!

Enjoy!

IMPORTANT HINTS TO COOKS, which they will not regret following with attention.

Let there be a place for every article, and when not in use let every article be in its place.

Keep every utensil clean and ready for immediate use.

The stockpot should never be suffered to be empty, as almost any meats (save salt meats) or fowls make stock; the remnants should never be thrown anywhere but into the stockpot, and should too much stock be already in your possession, boil it down to a glaze: waste is thus avoided.

Keep your meat in a cool dry place, your fish on ice, and your vegetables on a stone floor free from air.

Cut your soap when it comes in, and let it dry slowly.

Keep your sweet herbs in paper bags, each bag containing only one description of herb. They should be dried in the wind and not in the sun, and when ordered in a receipt should be cautiously used, as a preponderance in any seasoning spoils it.

When oranges or lemons are used for juice, chop down the peel, put them in small pots and tie them down for use.

Still Life with Lemons, Oranges and a Pomegranate – Jan van Hulsdonck

Apples.—In choosing apples, be guided by the weight; the heaviest are the best, and those should always be selected which, on being pressed by the thumb, yield with a slight crackling noise. Prefer large apples to small, for waste is saved in peeling and coring.

Apples should be kept on dry straw in a dry place, and pears hung up by the stalk.

Batter for fish, meat, fritters, &c, —Prepare it with fine flour, salt, a little oil, beer, vinegar, or white wine, and the whites of eggs beaten up; when of a proper thickness, about the size of a nutmeg, it will drop out of the spoon at once. Fry in oil or hog’s lard.

Carrots, if young, need only be wiped when boiled—if old they must be scraped before boiling. Slice them into a dish, and pour over them melted butter.

Cauliflowers.—Cut off the stalks, but leave a little of the green on; boil in spring water with a little salt in it: they must not boil too fast.

Celery.—Very little is sufficient for soups, as the flavour is very predominating. It should be particularly cleanly washed and curled when sent to table. To curl celery, wash well, and take off the outside stalks, cut it to a proper length, split each stalk into three or four divisions with a large needle, then place the head of celery in spring water with the root uppermost, and let it remain for four or five hours—it may then be tastefully arranged on the dish.

Game may often be made fit for eating when it seems spoiled, by cleaning it and washing with vinegar and water. Birds that are not likely to keep, should be drawn, cropped, and picked, then wash in two or three waters, and rub them with salt; have in readiness a large saucepan of boiling water, and plunge them into it one by one, drawing them up and down by the legs, so that the water may pass through them. Let them stay for five or six minutes, then hang them up in a cold place; when they are completely drained, well salt and pepper the insides, and thoroughly wash them before roasting.

Juan Sánchez Cotán

Gravies.—The skirts of beef and the kidney will make quite as good gravy as any other meat, if prepared in the same manner. The kidney of an ox, or the milt, makes excellent gravy, cut all to pieces and prepared as other meat, and so with the shank end of mutton that has been dressed, if much gravy is not required. The shank bones of mutton add greatly to the richness of gravies, but they should be first well soaked and scoured clean. The taste of gravies is improved by tarragon, but it should be sparingly used, immediately before serving.

Lard should be carefully melted in a jar put in a kettle of water and boiled, and run into bladders that have been strictly cleaned; the bladders should not be too large, as the lard will become rank if the air gets to it. While melting it, put in a sprig of rosemary.

Mustard mixed smooth with new milk, and a little cream added, will keep; it is very soft, and by no means bitter.

Sago should soak for an hour in water previous to using, to take off the earthy taste.

Suet may be kept for a twelvemonth, thus: choose the firmest and most free from skin or veins, remove all trace of these, put the suet in a saucepan at some distance from the fire, and let it melt gradually; when melted, pour it into a pan of cold spring water; when hard, wipe it dry, fold it in white paper, put it into a linen bag, and keep it in a dry cool place; when used, it must be scraped, and will make an excellent crust, either with or without butter.

Tongue, which has been dried, should be soaked in water three or four hours. One which has not been dried will require but little soaking; put it in cold water, and boil gently till tender.

Raisin wine may be substituted for sherry, for sweets generally.

Copper vessels, when the tinning is worn off, must never be used, or the poisoning of those who partake of whatever may have been cooked in them is inevitable. They should be sent to be re-tinned immediately they require it.

Still-life with various copper cooking utensils on a hearth – Martin Dichtl

Keep tapes and jelly bags clean, or when again used they will impart an unpleasant flavour.

All soups should be moderately thin and bright.

Meats such as beef, mutton, and venison, must rather be underdone than overdone, excepting veal and pork, which require to be well done.

Fish should be quite done, but not overdone.

Pastry must be carefully baked; it should be sent to table a pale gold colour.

Onions should be kept on ropes in a dry place—a specked one should be removed or it will contaminate the others.

Cold water cracks hot iron infallibly.

Pudding towels should be carefully washed, and kept clean in a dry place. Put a clean round towel on the jack roller quite as often as necessary.

Be very particular in not letting your stocks and sauces pass over two days without boiling them up, and be careful to stir the thick soups and sauces all the time they are on the fire, and change all your cold meats into fresh clean dishes every morning, wiping down the dressers and shelves, and if allowed larding cloths see that they are clean. Keep your larder door shut, free from dust and damp; do not have your baked paste in the larder, but in your kitchen cupboard, and then see to your game larder, wiping and peppering and gingering your venison, arranging the game which requires to be dressed first, and see that all the blood which may have dropped from the game or venison is cleaned from the dressers and flooring. Then see to the vegetables, removing all stale and what is not wanted, giving it to the poor, either as dressed in some way or natural; do not be over-stocked, yet always keep a little reserve. This will save much trouble to the gardener, and frequently to the kitchen-maid, who will otherwise have to run from her work down to the garden, which, even if she likes it, takes her from other more important things. Be sure to look well every morning to your pickled pork and hams, keep and rub them well and turn them, marking those to be used first; your fish must be looked to and well cleaned and washed, and if intended for that day’s dinner, kept in water until required; if not, keep it on the marble or stones; your doors should always be shut.

Still life of game in a larder – Benjamin Blake

Clean hands, always clean hands.

A dirty kitchen is a disgrace to every one connected with it.

In conclusion, the mistress of the household will understand that the well-being of her establishment depends upon her surveillance; and though her too frequent presence in the kitchen would be unnecessary and annoying to the cook, yet she should not be deterred from visiting it by any false delicacy, or deference to an absurd custom which makes it vulgar for a lady to visit her cook in her own domains. If the cook is thrifty and clean, she will be glad to receive the praise to which she is fairly entitled; if dirty and careless, it is very essential that the lady should be acquainted with the fact in order to remedy it by a change.

Good housewifery provides, ere a sickness do come,
Of sundry good things in her house to have some—
Good aqua composita, and vinegar tart,
Rose water, and treacle, to comfort thine heart.
Cold herbs in her garden, for agues to burn,
That over strong heat to good temper may turn,
White endive and succory, with spinach enow—
All such, with good pot-herbs, should follow the plough.
Get water of fumitory, liver to cool,
And others the like, or else lie like a fool.
Conserves of barbary, quinces, and such,
With sirops that easeth the sickly so much.
Ask medicas‘ counsel, ere medicine ye take,
And honour that man for necessity’s sake:
Though thousands hate physic because of the cost,
Yet thousands it helpeth that else should be lost.;
Good broth and good keeping do much now and then—
Good diet, with wisdom, best comforteth man.
In health, to be stirring, shall profit thee best—
In sickness hate trouble; seek quiet and rest.
Remember thy soul; let no fancy prevail;
Make ready to God-ward; let faith never quail :—
The sooner thyself thou submittest to God,
The sooner he ceaseth to scourge with his rod.


Tusser, 1710.

La Petite cuisinière – Pierre Édouard Frère
Posted on

Victorian Life Hacks

y family and I have been enjoying the Victorian Farm and Victorian Pharmacy BBC series on YouTube. We enjoy watching faux Victorians toil while munching on our microwaved popcorn from the comfort of our sofa. I’ve had the companion books to both series lying about for a year or two, but I hadn’t had a chance to peruse them because, up until recently, my life had been rather chaotic because of long, tiring commutes.

Yesterday as I was flipping through the pages of the companion book to Victorian Farm, the reference to The Family Save-All book jumped out at me. I looked up the book on Google books and found a delightful volume published in 1861 about how to use what we would call “leftovers” so that they possess “all the warmth and nicety of appearance of the original Cookery”, and how to cook with “secondary parts of animals” such as liver, tripe, feet and head, and hints for the “practical matters” of household. The author writes, “Perhaps there are none but the houses of the wealthier classes in which joints and other eatables are not, as a general rule, sent to the table twice or even thrice.” The book comprises thousands of hints, and, in small print at the bottom of the pages, are humorous anecdotes from Victorian life. The author, Robert Kemp Philp, wrote several books about practical daily life matters in Victorian times.

For hint one, he recommends making a pudding from cold roast beef.
MINCE about a pound of the cold Beef, add to it one teaspoonful of salt, the same of flour, and half that quantity of pepper ; mix well ; fill the paste with the prepared meat, and add a gill of water ; a little chopped onions and parsley may be added ; cover in the ordinary manner, shake well, and tie in a cloth. Boil for half an hour, or longer, if the paste is thick. Chopped gherkins, pickled walnuts, or mushrooms, may be added, or a little of the vinegar of any well-seasoned pickle.

For hint 538, he recommends saving coal by lighting fires with the following method:
BEFORE lighting the fire in the morning, thoroughly clean out the grate ; lay a piece of thick paper, cut to the form and size of the grate, at the bottom; pile up fresh coal, nearly as high as the level of the top bar; the pieces should be about the size of small potatoes or walnuts, but this is not absolutely necessary; the larger lumps should be laid in front, the smaller ones behind ; then put a liberal supply of paper, or shavings, and sticks, on the top, and cover the whole with yesterday’s cinders, adding a very little coal. Thus, it will be seen, the fire is to be lighted at the top. The results will be not only satisfactory, but astonishing… One fair trial of this system will satisfy everybody; and the servant will soon find that it will not only save her master an incredible quantity of coals, but that it will also save her a vast amount of trouble : the bell will be rung less frequently for the coal-scuttle, and the hearth will not require sweeping so often ; the fire, if properly made, will never require to be relighted during the day; there will be no soot-flakes on the furniture, and so little even in the chimney, that the services of the sweep will seldom be required.

Hint 555 is a suggestion for how to make a bed for an impoverished person.
BEECH leaves are recommended for this purpose, as they are very springy, and will not harbour vermin. They should be gathered on a dry day in the autumn, and be perfectly dried.

Hint 572 is a clever way to kill pesky flies.
TAKE some jars, mugs, or tumblers, fill them half-full with soapy water; cover them as jam-pots are covered, with a piece of paper, either tied down or tucked under the rim. Let this paper rubbed inside with wet sugar, treacle, honey, or jam-in fact anything sweet, and it must have a small hole cut in the centre, large enough for a fly to enter. The flies settle on the top, attracted by the smell of the bait; they then crawl through the hole, to feed upon the sweet beneath. Meanwhile the warmth of the weather causes the soapy water to ferment, and produces a gas which overpowers the flies, and they drop down into the vessel. Thousands may be destroyed this way, and the traps last a long time.

Hint 966 explains the tedious process of washing clothes with lime.
The method of Washing with Lime is as follows : Take half a pound of quicklime, half a pound of Soap, and half a pound of Soda. Shred the soap and dissolve it in half a gallon of boiling water ; pour half a gallon of boiling water over the soda ; and enough boiling water over the quicklime to cover it. The lime must be quite fresh. Prepare each of these in separate vessels. Put the dissolved lime and soda together, and boil them for twenty minutes. Then pour them into a jar to settle. Set aside the Flannels and Coloured things, as they must not be washed in this way. The night before washing, the collars and wristbands of shirts, the feet of steckings, &c., should be rubbed well with soap and set to soak. In the morning pour ten gallons of water into the copper,· and having strained the mixture of lime and soda well, taking great care not to disturb the settlings, put it, together with the soap, into the water, and make the whole boil before putting in the clothes. A plate should be placed at the bottom of the copper to prevent the clothes from burning. Boil each lot of clothes from half an hour to an hour. Wash the finer things first. Then rinse them well in cold blue water. When dry they will be beautifully white. The same water will do for three lots.

• Susanna’s Note: blue dye was a chemical brightener.

The last pages of the book contain many small, handy hints that I’ve excerpted below.
1057 Port Wine sediment, is excellent as a flavouring to coffee.
1058 Biscuits, broken, and biscuit dust are good for puddings.
1059 Chestnuts may be made into soups or puddings.
1060 Milk, morning, is richer than that of the evening.
1061 Leeks, green tops of, sliced thin, capital flavouring for soups.
1062 Wood ashes form a good lye for softening water.
1063 Bricks covered with baize, serve to keep open doors.
1064 Rye roasted, is the best substitute for coffee, with chicory.
1065 Turnip-peel, washed clean, and tied in a net, imparts good flavour to soups.
1066 Gold green tea, well sweetened, put into saucers, will destroy flies.
1067 Celery leaves and ends, are useful for flavouring soups, gravies, sauces, &c.
1068 Beans, roasted, form an agreeable substitute for coffee, with chicory.
1069 Walnuts, the outer green husks supply, with vinegar, a very good catchup.
1070 Cherry kernels, broken, steeped in brandy, make a nice flavouring for tarts.
1071 Mulberry juice in small quantity greatly improves the colour and flavour of cider.
1072 Wheat, roasted, forms an agreeable substitute for coffee, with chicory.
1073 Cloth of old clothes, may be made into door mats, pen-wipers, &c.
1074 Bay leaves, in their green state, allay the inflammation of bee-stings.
1075 Linen rags should be washed and preserved for various domestic uses.
1076 Apple pips impart a fine flavour to tarts and dumplings.
1077 Old shoes make excellent slippers, and being occasionally polished look very well.
1078 The Soot should be brushed from the backs of kettles daily, and the front parts be polished.
1079 Sage leaves in small quantity, make an excellent addition to tea.
1080 Lemon juice will allay the irritation caused by the bites of gnats and flies.
1081 Clothes lines should be well wiped before they are put away. Gutta percha lines are best.
1082 Ashes and soap-suds are a good manure for shrubs and young plants.
1083 Oyster shell, put into a teakettle, will prevent its becoming furred.
1084 The white of egg, beaten to a froth with a little butter, is a good substitute for cream in tea or coffee.
1085 Honey and castor oil mixed are excellent for the asthmatic. A tea-spoonful night and morning.
1086 Soap suds, and soapy water, supply a good manure for garden soils.
1087 Cold potatoes, mashed with peas, make an excellent and light peas pudding.
1088 Wooden spoons are generally best for articles that require beating or stirring in cookery.
1089 Milk when slightly acid, mixed with a little lukewarm water, is a cooling drink for invalids.
1090 Bran, dusted over joints of meat when hung, will keep them good for an extra time.
1091 As much carbonate of soda as will lie on a four-penny piece, added to tea, will increase its strength.
1092 Parsley eaten with vinegar will remove the unpleasant effects of eating onions.
1093 Fine coals are excellent for cleaning bottles. Put them in with a little hot or cold water, and shake well.
1094 Lemon Peel is useful for flavouring gravies, sauces, puddings, punch, grog, &c.
1095 Plum stones, broken, and steeped in brandy, afford an excellent flavouring for tarts.
1096 The juice of Bean Pods is an effective cure for warts.
1097 Eggs white of, useful for clearing coffee; and as a cement for broken china, with lime.
1098 A little cider added to apple tarts, greatly improves them.
1099 Fried cucumber, added to Soups, greatly improves them. They should be fried in slices.
1100 Gras meters may be prevented from freezing by keeping one burner lighted during the whole day.
1101 Scotch oatmeal, carefully dried, will keep cream cheese good and dry, if laid over it.
1102 The leaves and roots of the blackberry shrub make an excellent and refreshing tea. The berries are a corrective of dysentery.
1103 Stale bread, after being steeped in water, and re-baked for about an hour, will be nearly equal to new.
1104 Pea-shells and haulm are excellent food for horses, mixed with bruised oats, or bran. Good also for pigs.
1105 Butter which has been used for covering potted meats, may be used for basting, or in paste for meat pies.
1106 Bleeding from the nose may be stopped by putting bits of lint into the nostrils; and by raising the arms over the head.
1107 Egg shells, are useful for the stock-pot, to clarify the stock.
1108 In winter, get the work forward by daylight, which will prevent many accidents and inconveniences with candles, &c.
1109 In ironing, be careful first to rub the iron over something of little value; this will prevent the scorching and smearing of many articles.

1110 When chamber towels wear thin in the middle, cut them in two, sew the selvages together, and hem the sides.
1111 One flannel petticoat will wear nearly as long as two, if turned hind part before, when the front begins to wear thin.
1112 For turning meats while broiling or frying, small tongs are better than a fork. The latter lets out the juice of the meat.
1113 Persons of weak sight, when threading a needle, should hold it over something white, by which the sight will be assisted.
1114 Lemon and orange seeds either steeped in spirits, or stewed in syrups, supply an excellent bitter tonic.
1115 Gutta Percha is useful for filling decayed teeth, stopping crevices in windows and floors, preventing windows from rattling, &c.
1116 Potatoes may be prevented from sprouting in the spring season, by momentarily dipping them into hot water.
1117 To loosen a glass stopper, pour round it a little sweet oil, close to the stopper, and let it stand in a warm place.
1118 Raspberries, green, impart an acidity to spirit more grateful than that of the lemon. A decoction in spirit may be kept for flavouring.
1119 Acorns, roasted, form a substitute for coffee, and produce a beverage scarcely less agreeable especially if with an addition of chicory.
1120 The presence of copper in liquids may be detected by a few drops of hartshorn, which produces, when copper is present, a blue colour.
1121 Cold melted butter may be warmed by putting the vessel containing it into boiling water, and allowing it to stand until warm.
1122 Cabbages, (red), for pickling, should be cut with a silver knife. This keeps them from turning black, as they do when touched with iron.
1123 Common radishes, when young, tied in bunches, boiled for twenty minutes, and served on buttered toast, are excellent.
1124 Eel skins, well cleansed, to clarify coffee, &c. Sole skins, well cleansed, to clarify coffee, &c, and making fish soups and gravies.
1125 Charcoal powder is good for polishing knives, without destroying the blades. It is also a good toothpowder, when finely pulverised.
1126 The earthy mould should never be washed from potatoes, carrots, or other roots, until immediately before they are to be cooked.
1127 Apple pips, and also the pips of pears, should be saved, and put into tarts, bruised. They impart a delicious flavour.
1128 Potatoe water, in which potatoes have been scraped, the water being allowed to settle, and afterwards strained, is good for sponging dirt out of silk.
1129 Sitting to sew by candle-light, before a table with a black cloth on it, is injurious to the eyes. When such work must be done, lay a black cloth before you.
1130 Straw matting may be cleaned with a large coarse cloth, dipped in salt and water, and then wiped dry. The salt prevents the straw from turning yellow,
1131 Cold boiled potatoes used as soap, will cleanse the hands, and keep the skin soft and healthy. Those not over-boiled are best.
1132 In mending sheets, shirts, or other articles, let the pieces put on be fully large, or when washed the thin parts will give way, and the work be all undone.
1133 Leaves, green, of any kind, worn inside the hat in the heat of summer, are said to be an effectual preventive of sun-stroke.
1134 Cakes, Puddings, &c, are always improved by making the currants, sugar, and flour hot, before using them.
1135 It is an error to give fowls egg shells, with the object of supplying them with lime. It frequently induces in fowls a habit of eating eggs.
1136 Buttermilk is excellent for cleaning sponges. Steep the sponge in the milk for some hours, then squeeze it out, and wash in cold water.
1137 Lamp shades of ground glass should be cleaned with soap or pearlash; these will not injure noi discolour them.
1138 When reading by candle-light, place the candle behind you, that the light may pass over your shoulder and fall upon the book from behind.
1139 Walnut pickle, after the walnuts are consumed, is useful for adding to gravies and sauces, especially for minced cold meats, and hashes.
1140 Coffee grounds are a disinfectant and deodorizer, being burnt upon a hot fire-shovel, and borne through any apartment.
1141 Cold boiled eggs may be warmed by putting them into cold water and warming them gradually, taking them out before the water boils.
1142 The best plan to collect dripping is, to put it while warm into water nearly cold. Any impurities it may contain will sink to the bottom.
1143 Hay, sprinkled with a little chloride of lime, and left for one hour in a closed room, will remove the smell of new paint.
1144 Tea leaves, used for keeping down the dust when sweeping carpets, are apt to stain light colours; in which case, use newly-mown damp grass instead.
1145 Moths deposit their eggs in May and June. This, therefore, is the time to dust furs, &c, and to place bits of camphor in drawers and boxes.
1146 Bran may be used for cleaning damask or chintz. It should be rubbed over them with a piece of flannel.
1147 A cut lemon kept on the washing-stand, and rubbed over the hands daily after washing, and not wiped off for some minutes, is the best remedy for chapped hands. Lemon juice, or Salts of Lemon, will clean Sponges perfectly.
1148 Elder flowers, prepared in precisely the same manner as 1153, furnish a very cooling ointment, for all kinds of local irritation, and especially for the skin when sun-burnt.
1149 Common washing soda dissolved in water, until the liquid will take up no more, is an effective remedy for warts. Moisten the warts with it, and let them dry, without wiping.


1150 Bran water, or water in which bran has been steeped, greatly improves bread, instead of plain water. The bran may afterwards be given to fowls, or pigs.
1151 After washings, look over linen, and stitch on buttons, hooks and eyes. For this purpose keep a box or bag well supplied with sundry threads, cottons, buttons, hooks and eyes, &c.
1152 It has been suggested that the sea; of eggs may be determined by the situation of the air-cell; but careful experiments have shown that no dependence can be put upon this criterion.
1153 The leaf of the common dock, bruised and rubbed over the part affected, will cure the stings caused by nettles. Leaves of sage, mint, or rosemary are also good for the same purpose.
1154 Pudding cloths should never be washed with soap. They should be rinsed in clean water, dried, and be put away in a drawer, where they will be free from dust.
1155 Add a tea-spoonful of Alum, and a tea-spoonful of Salt, to each three gallons of Vinegar for Pickling, and immerse in it whole pepper, ginger root, and mixed spices, and it will be greatly improved.
1156 It is a great economy in serving Dinners to provide a plentiful supply of good vegetables, thoroughly hot. For which purpose they should not be served up all at once, but a reserve “to follow” should be the plan.
1157 It is an error to wash weak children, in cold water, with the view of strengthening them. The temperature should be modified to their condition, and be lowered as they are found to improve.
1158 Onions, eschalots, scallions, chives, garlic, and rocambole are pretty much the same, and may be substituted one for the other in many instances, as a matter oi convenience or economy.
1159 For Soft Corns, dip a piece of linen rag in Turpentine, and wrap it round the toe on “which the corn is situated, night and morning. The relief will be immediate, and after a few days the corn will disappear.
1160 The Juice of an Onion will relieve the pain from a bee-sting; dusting the blue from a washerwoman’s “blue bag ” will have a similar effect. The venom must first be pressed out.