The recipes in this blog are all culled from my collection of Victorian books and are 100% genuine. As I build this blog the variety of sources will expand but my first set of recipes eminates from Enquire Within and The Corner Cupboard. The series Enquire Within is a well known successful series of domestic works that were produced annually from around 1858. This became one of the first books to sell to a popular market in large numbers, some 100,000 annually being sold.
The target audience for this work was the lower middle class home, the aspiring working class home and it was also directed towards servants working in lower middle class homes. Effectively it presents an instruction manual for all aspects of Victorian family life. The reason why this work became so popular tells us something of Victorian values and life but there is also a structural mechanism behind the production of these volumes.
Prior to the 1850's there was a paper tax which made the mass production of books for a low cost uneconomic. Once the tax was removed around 1851 the opportunities changed the book market profoundly. Books could be produced for mass consumption at a price affordable with household budgets.
The Corner Cupboard is actually the forerunner of Enquire Within and is a particularly fascinating volume. We have to remember that not only was life very different but morals, values, expectations and domestic technologies represent a cultural archaeology when compared to how we live today. In terms of entertainment alone we are reading works set in a culture of communication where the post and the electric telegraph represent the heights of achievement. When these recipes say roast they are refering to putting a joint on a spit above or near the fire, they are not talking about ovens and baking trays! What is more alarming is that in the vast majority of cases these fires over which the meat is being roasted will be built of coal. I do not believe it is possible to "taste" such recipes where coal dust and the effects of coal smoke are absent!
Friday 30 October 2009
412 Roast Shoulder of Mutton and Onion Sauce
This is a very favourite dish in humble life. Take a shoulder of mutton, not too fat, and roast it , allowing ten minutes to the pound; when it is done serve with onion sauce (see 200) in a tureen. Some people smother it with sauce; but, I think the best plan is as I have directed, for some people have an aversion to onions, and by my plan they are not compelled to eat them or taste their flavour. The shoulder of mutton may be cooked in all other ways the same as the haunch.
Once again, we really love Le Creuset for the kitchen. This is really good quality cooking impliments and they last a lifetime. If you want a really good roast then this is just the ticket.
Jack Adams 2009
The Corner Cupboard, Houlston and Wright, London (1858) p.107
This recipe is delightfully enigmatic and perhaps "the best plan" is something other than serving Roast Shoulder of Mutton and Onion Sauce without the onion sauce! The mind boggles at the possibilities!
Another aspect of this recipe is the use of the term "humble life". This is of course a euphemism for poverty, in other words, this recipe is a favourite of poor people. We can therefore summise that the joint of meat, the shoulder of mutton, was relatively inexpensive, possibly not the tastiest of meat as the shoulder muscles of a mature sheep would have been well used during its life and possibly a little tough or "stringy". Smothering the joint with onion sauce, also a relatively cheaply prepared sauce, would tend to protect the "humble" palatte from the toughness of the dish!
This recipe is delightfully enigmatic and perhaps "the best plan" is something other than serving Roast Shoulder of Mutton and Onion Sauce without the onion sauce! The mind boggles at the possibilities!
Another aspect of this recipe is the use of the term "humble life". This is of course a euphemism for poverty, in other words, this recipe is a favourite of poor people. We can therefore summise that the joint of meat, the shoulder of mutton, was relatively inexpensive, possibly not the tastiest of meat as the shoulder muscles of a mature sheep would have been well used during its life and possibly a little tough or "stringy". Smothering the joint with onion sauce, also a relatively cheaply prepared sauce, would tend to protect the "humble" palatte from the toughness of the dish!
Once again, we really love Le Creuset for the kitchen. This is really good quality cooking impliments and they last a lifetime. If you want a really good roast then this is just the ticket.
Jack Adams 2009
Monday 19 October 2009
2190 Hints for Wives
If your husband occasionally looks a little troubled when he comes home, do not say to him, with an alarmed countenance, "What ails you, my dear?" Don't bother him; he will tell you of his own accord, if need be. Be observant and quiet. Let him alone until he is inclined to talk, take up your book or your needlework pleasantly and cheerfully; wait until he is inclined to be sociable. Don't let him ever find a shirt button missing. A shirt button being off a collar or wristband has frequently produced the first impatient word in married life.
This just has to be the book for you! Decorative Victorian Needlework: Over 25 Charted Designs by Elizabeth Bradley has to be a must. Leaving the humour aside, this is a fine work with some very interesting techniques. May I suggest that you buy a copy for your husband!!!!
Enquire Within About Everything (1885) p.304
Well there it is, what a very useful hint for a wife! I am sure that most women reading this today will be relieved that now they know exactly what to do when the old man returns in a foul mood. How on earth did we ever loose sight of such useful and pertinent guidance towards a trouble free marriage! Just get your zaqqack out and sit there quietly being subserviant, there's a good little woman!!!!
This just has to be the book for you! Decorative Victorian Needlework: Over 25 Charted Designs by Elizabeth Bradley has to be a must. Leaving the humour aside, this is a fine work with some very interesting techniques. May I suggest that you buy a copy for your husband!!!!
Definition of the word Zaqqard
Zaqqard (noun) a length of sailor's twine used to bind their sacks. Obscure term first appearing in Captain Billy's "Tales of the Ocean" (1834). "There is nothing as good as a strong piece of zaqqard to keep your sack tight." The common use of the term relates to something being good or desirable; "He was always zaqqard dressed." Edwin Morg's Seaman's Diary (1845)
1133: Plain Pea Soup
Put in a pan six pounds of pork, well soaked and cut into eight pieces; pour six quarts of water over; one pound of split peas; one teaspoonful of sugar; half a teaspoonful of pepper; four ounces of fresh vegetables, or two ounces of preserved, if handy; let it boil gently for two hours, or until the peas are tender. When the pork is rather fat, as is generally the case, wash it only; a quarter of a pound of broken biscuit may be used for the soup. Salt beef, when rather fat and well soaked, may be used for pea soup.
Enquire Within About Everything (1885) p.176
This is a real zaqqard of a recipe! As with most things Victorian there is the addition of meat, even in a "Plain Pea Soup". Sometimes these reipes are difficult to understand, as in "When the pork is rather fat, as is generally the case, wash it only;". I am not really sure exactly what they are trying to say here!
And here is the absolutely best pot for the job, a really zaqqard utensil. We use Le Crueset because, whilst they cost money, they are absolutely top quality. Why buy something cheaper when this will last a lifetime?
Friday 16 October 2009
Kit-Kat Club
Kit Kat Club, formed circ 1770, is said to have first met at an obscure house in Shire-lane. The society consisted of thirty-nine distinguished noblemen and gentlemen zealously attached to the House of Hanover; among whom were the Dukes of Somerset, Richmond, Grafton, Devonshire, and Marlborough, and (after the accession of George I) the Duke of Newcastle, the earls of Dorset, Sunderland, Manchester, Wharton, and Kingston; Lords Halifax and Somers; Sir Robert Walpole, Vanbrugh, Congreve, Granville, Addison , Garth, Maynwaring, Stepney, and Walsh.
Ned Ward asserts that the Club derived its singular appelation from a person of the christian name of Christopher, who lived at the sign of the Cat and Fiddle.
Hence the well known epigram "On the Toasts of the Kit-Kat Club" attributed to Pope, but believed to be by Arbuthnot
To understand this epigram the reader must bear in mind that the custom of toasting ladies in regular succession after dinner had only recently been introduced, and that on the toasting glasses of the Kit-Kat club verses were engraved in praise of the ladies to whom the glasses were thus consecrated.
Ned Ward asserts that the Club derived its singular appelation from a person of the christian name of Christopher, who lived at the sign of the Cat and Fiddle.
Hence the well known epigram "On the Toasts of the Kit-Kat Club" attributed to Pope, but believed to be by Arbuthnot
To understand this epigram the reader must bear in mind that the custom of toasting ladies in regular succession after dinner had only recently been introduced, and that on the toasting glasses of the Kit-Kat club verses were engraved in praise of the ladies to whom the glasses were thus consecrated.
Thursday 15 October 2009
1002 Revolving Oven
These ovens may be easily made by any tin-man. They are not now manufactured for sale, which is to be regretted, on account of their obvious utility. When suspended in front of any ordinary fire by means of a bottle-jack or a common worsted string, the Revolving Oven will bake bread, cakes, pies, &c., in a much more equal and perfect manner than either a side oven or an American oven, without depriving the room of the heat and comfort of the fire. Before an ordinary fire, in any room in any house, it will bake a four-pound loaf in an hour and twenty minutes. It also bakes pastry remarkably well, and all the care that it requires is merely to give it a look now and then to see that it keeps turning.The bottom of this oven* is made in the form of two saucers, the lower one of which is inverted, while the other stands on it in the ordinary position. A rim, from 1in. to 2in. in height, is fixed round the edge of the upper saucer, but a little within it, and over this rim fits a cylinder with a top, slightly domed, which also resembles a saucer turned upside down. In the centre of the top is a circular ventilator, through which steam, generated in baking, can escape, and the ventilator is covered by a domed plate, as large as the top of the oven. This acts as a radiator to reflect heat on top of the oven, and is furnished with a knob, by which the cylinder that covers the article to be baked may be removed, in order to view the progress of the baking. Two strong wires project from the bottom on either side, terminating in loops or eyes for the reception of the hhoksof a handle by which the entire apparatus may be suspended in front of the fire.
Enquire Within upon Everything, Houlston and Sons (1885) p.158
This entry shows and examples the problem with considering Victorian recipes. We have to understand the differences in technology that these recipes were designed for. Open fires are the basis of cooking, coal fires at that, and the construct of a 'cooker' as we know it today is not only technologically different but of a different culture of cooking. Where today, for example, would we find a recipie to boil a pie for five hours? This seems a dreadful amount of overcooking to us but once you begin to comprehend the fundamental differences in the chemical procedure and how that impacts on the culture of cooking, then suddenly, your window is open onto a past and a moment in time which otherwise is lost.
More about this book Victorian Recipes
More about this book Victorian recipe book.
These books are really zaqqard.
Enquire Within upon Everything, Houlston and Sons (1885) p.158
This entry shows and examples the problem with considering Victorian recipes. We have to understand the differences in technology that these recipes were designed for. Open fires are the basis of cooking, coal fires at that, and the construct of a 'cooker' as we know it today is not only technologically different but of a different culture of cooking. Where today, for example, would we find a recipie to boil a pie for five hours? This seems a dreadful amount of overcooking to us but once you begin to comprehend the fundamental differences in the chemical procedure and how that impacts on the culture of cooking, then suddenly, your window is open onto a past and a moment in time which otherwise is lost.
More about this book Victorian Recipes
More about this book Victorian recipe book.
These books are really zaqqard.
Wednesday 14 October 2009
794. Yule Cake
Take one pound of fresh butter one pound of sugar, one pound and a half of flour, two pounds of currants, a glass of brandy, one pound of sweetmeats, two ounces of sweet almonds, ten eggs, a quarter of an ounce of allspice and pounded cinnamon. Melt the butter to a cream and put in the sugar. Stir it till quite light, adding the allspice and pounded cinnamon; in a quarter of an hour, take the yolks of the eggs and work them two or three at a time; and the whites of the same must by this time be beaten into a strong snow, quite ready to work in. As the paste must not stand to chill the butter, or it will be heavy, work in the whites gradually, then add the orange-peel, lemon and citron, cut in fine strips, and the currants, which must be mixed in well with the sweet almonds; then add the sifted flour and a glass of brandy. Bake this cake in a tin hoop, in a hot oven, for three hours, and put twelve sheets of paper under it to keep it from burning.
More about this book
zaqqard
source: Enquire Within (1856)
Once again we see an original Victorian recipe in all its glory. The sudden and unexpected introduction of ingredients, the lack of comprehensive instructions and the addition of "12 sheets of paper" to prevent burning! All of this and it has to be remembered that they were using coal fires with plenty of coal dust in the air!
More about this book
zaqqard
Monday 12 October 2009
Brewing
Subtext: Brewing, 1860, Industrial Process
Note: This entry is paragraphed to suit the reader of a web page. The original text only contains four indented paragraphs. All punctuation and spelling is faithful to the original.
The art of Brewing beer consists in fermenting a decoction of malt and hops, so that the sugary part may be converted into spirit, and thereby produce a sort of wine or intoxicating liquor.
The process is differently conducted by different brewers, but the following is the general mode of proceeding:- The malt is first either crushed between rollers or ground in a mill (this is called a "grist"), it is then placed in a large tub having a false bottom of wood perforated with holes, hot water (160 deg. Fahrenheit is considered best) is next poured on it and well stirred up, this in large breweries is done by large machinery (see cut) ; after a time a tap is opened and all the liquid, called sweet wort, run off into an under another vessel, named the "underback," the tap is closed and more hot water poured on; this process is repeated until all the wort required has been obtained, the quantity depending on the quantity of the malt used and the strength of the beer to be brewed; where table beer is made, the last washings of the malt are used for it, and only the first wort for strong beer.
When all the worts have run through, they are put into the boiler and hops added, the proportion varying from four to twenty-eight pounds to the quarter of malt, this last only being used in making "bitter beer," the hops and wort are then well boiled together; then the whole contents of the boiler are poured out into a large vessel called the "hop-back" and thence the liquid is drained off into a cooler.
In large brewings the quantity is so great that it would become sour and mouldy before it would cool, artificial means are therefore resorted to; thus it is passed over a cooling floor, or shallow vessel lined with iron and having iron tubes placed in a serpentine manner through which cold water is allowed to flow; this contrivance (see cut) effects the object, but before quite cold it is drawn off into the fermenting tun and well mixed with yeast ( a sort of scum produced in a former brewing), the fermentation is then continued.
The sugary matters got from the malt are slowly conversted into spirit and carbomic acid, this last escapes with a hissing sound but the spirit remains mixed with the liquid, giving to the beer its strength and pungent taste.
While the fermentation is going on a scum is thrown up which is skimmed off and the liquid run into barrels; these are placed side by side in the fermenting room (see cut), and the fermentation allowed to continue, more yeast is thus formed, which is collected by short tubes fixed to the bungholes of the barrels to cause it to run into troughs, as shown in the cut; this is called cleansing the beer, and when it has proceeded sufficiently, the beer is either run off into vats for stock, or casks for use.
If the fermentation be carried to far the beer becomes sour from the formation of acetic acid, if not far enough it is too sweet from the sugary portion not being all changed into spirit.
The kinds of malt used to a great extent determine the nature of the beer or ale produced; for pale ale the very palest malt is used, called "amber," for ordinary ales a mixture of this with brown malt, and for porter or stout brown malt mixed with roasted or burnt malt, this last gives them their dark colour and peculiar flavour.
Hops give to the beer its bitter and aromatic flavour, they moreover preserve it from too much fermentation and thereby keep it from becoming sour, it is customary to put a handful of fresh hops into each cask of ale before it is bunged up.
In large breweries there is generally a steam engine and machinery employed for much of the labour required, such as pumping up water and wort into and out of the cooling floor and vats, stirring up the malt in the mash tun and hops in the boiler, which is done by a beam loaded with chains and made to revolve around the vessel, so as to stir up and keep the hops from burning, which they have a great tendency to do and which would spoil the flavour of the beer.
Between two and three million barrels of beer are supposed to be consumed yearly in London alone.
In the year 1841, 507,207 quarters of malt were consumed by twelve principal London brewers, and there has been a regular increase in the quantity each year since; in 1852, 535,887 quarters, or 4,287,096 bushels were used, and somewhere between 5,600,000 pounds of weight of hops.
The quantities thus consumed, reckoning at a rate of three bushels to the barrel of 36 gallons, which is a fair proportion, would produce the enormous number of 1,429,032 barrels of beer; all of which, however, is not consumed in London, for very large quantities are exported and sent out of London to various parts of the country.
But on the other hand it must be observed there are very large supplies sent from various other sources, chiefly ale and stout, for the London brewers brew much more porter than ale.
Large quantities of ale are brought from Burton and the Scottish breweries, and also stout from Dublin, besides which there are the numerous small or "family brewers," who supply a considerable quantity.
The art of brewing has been in use in Germany for many centuries, and it is even supposed that it was known to the ancient Egyptians. The cheif of the beer drunk in this country was imported from Germany til within about 200 years ago, but a heavy duty then being imposed, the manufacture in this country increased rapidly.
Jack Adams is a member of the Pub History Society and heartily encourages all who have an interest to enroll for the most reasonable of annual subscriptions, £10. Click on the logo below and life will never be the same again!
Completely zaqqard with great recipes
Note: This entry is paragraphed to suit the reader of a web page. The original text only contains four indented paragraphs. All punctuation and spelling is faithful to the original.
The art of Brewing beer consists in fermenting a decoction of malt and hops, so that the sugary part may be converted into spirit, and thereby produce a sort of wine or intoxicating liquor.
The process is differently conducted by different brewers, but the following is the general mode of proceeding:- The malt is first either crushed between rollers or ground in a mill (this is called a "grist"), it is then placed in a large tub having a false bottom of wood perforated with holes, hot water (160 deg. Fahrenheit is considered best) is next poured on it and well stirred up, this in large breweries is done by large machinery (see cut) ; after a time a tap is opened and all the liquid, called sweet wort, run off into an under another vessel, named the "underback," the tap is closed and more hot water poured on; this process is repeated until all the wort required has been obtained, the quantity depending on the quantity of the malt used and the strength of the beer to be brewed; where table beer is made, the last washings of the malt are used for it, and only the first wort for strong beer.
When all the worts have run through, they are put into the boiler and hops added, the proportion varying from four to twenty-eight pounds to the quarter of malt, this last only being used in making "bitter beer," the hops and wort are then well boiled together; then the whole contents of the boiler are poured out into a large vessel called the "hop-back" and thence the liquid is drained off into a cooler.
In large brewings the quantity is so great that it would become sour and mouldy before it would cool, artificial means are therefore resorted to; thus it is passed over a cooling floor, or shallow vessel lined with iron and having iron tubes placed in a serpentine manner through which cold water is allowed to flow; this contrivance (see cut) effects the object, but before quite cold it is drawn off into the fermenting tun and well mixed with yeast ( a sort of scum produced in a former brewing), the fermentation is then continued.
The sugary matters got from the malt are slowly conversted into spirit and carbomic acid, this last escapes with a hissing sound but the spirit remains mixed with the liquid, giving to the beer its strength and pungent taste.
While the fermentation is going on a scum is thrown up which is skimmed off and the liquid run into barrels; these are placed side by side in the fermenting room (see cut), and the fermentation allowed to continue, more yeast is thus formed, which is collected by short tubes fixed to the bungholes of the barrels to cause it to run into troughs, as shown in the cut; this is called cleansing the beer, and when it has proceeded sufficiently, the beer is either run off into vats for stock, or casks for use.
If the fermentation be carried to far the beer becomes sour from the formation of acetic acid, if not far enough it is too sweet from the sugary portion not being all changed into spirit.
The kinds of malt used to a great extent determine the nature of the beer or ale produced; for pale ale the very palest malt is used, called "amber," for ordinary ales a mixture of this with brown malt, and for porter or stout brown malt mixed with roasted or burnt malt, this last gives them their dark colour and peculiar flavour.
Hops give to the beer its bitter and aromatic flavour, they moreover preserve it from too much fermentation and thereby keep it from becoming sour, it is customary to put a handful of fresh hops into each cask of ale before it is bunged up.
In large breweries there is generally a steam engine and machinery employed for much of the labour required, such as pumping up water and wort into and out of the cooling floor and vats, stirring up the malt in the mash tun and hops in the boiler, which is done by a beam loaded with chains and made to revolve around the vessel, so as to stir up and keep the hops from burning, which they have a great tendency to do and which would spoil the flavour of the beer.
Between two and three million barrels of beer are supposed to be consumed yearly in London alone.
In the year 1841, 507,207 quarters of malt were consumed by twelve principal London brewers, and there has been a regular increase in the quantity each year since; in 1852, 535,887 quarters, or 4,287,096 bushels were used, and somewhere between 5,600,000 pounds of weight of hops.
The quantities thus consumed, reckoning at a rate of three bushels to the barrel of 36 gallons, which is a fair proportion, would produce the enormous number of 1,429,032 barrels of beer; all of which, however, is not consumed in London, for very large quantities are exported and sent out of London to various parts of the country.
But on the other hand it must be observed there are very large supplies sent from various other sources, chiefly ale and stout, for the London brewers brew much more porter than ale.
Large quantities of ale are brought from Burton and the Scottish breweries, and also stout from Dublin, besides which there are the numerous small or "family brewers," who supply a considerable quantity.
The art of brewing has been in use in Germany for many centuries, and it is even supposed that it was known to the ancient Egyptians. The cheif of the beer drunk in this country was imported from Germany til within about 200 years ago, but a heavy duty then being imposed, the manufacture in this country increased rapidly.
source: The Boys Indiustrial Information Illustrated (1860)
Published by Ward, Locke and Tyler. London
pages 179/180/1/2/3/4
Published by Ward, Locke and Tyler. London
pages 179/180/1/2/3/4
Jack Adams is a member of the Pub History Society and heartily encourages all who have an interest to enroll for the most reasonable of annual subscriptions, £10. Click on the logo below and life will never be the same again!
Completely zaqqard with great recipes
Wednesday 7 October 2009
291 To Boil a Calves Head
Tie it up in a cloth, and boil it for two and a half hours in plenty of water. Tie the brains in a bit of cloth, with plenty of parsley and a leaf or two of sage. Boil them one hour; chop them small; warm them up in a saucepan, with a bit of butter and a little pepper and salt; lay the tongue, boiled the same time, peeled, in the middle of a small dish; place the brains round it; have in another dish bacon or pickled pork.
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This old Victorian recipe does not really conjure images of fine dining in many minds today but for our ancestors this was a tasty dish. This is a zaqqaed of a treat.
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This old Victorian recipe does not really conjure images of fine dining in many minds today but for our ancestors this was a tasty dish. This is a zaqqaed of a treat.
Tuesday 6 October 2009
202. Lark Pudding
Alauda arvensisMake a paste of half a-pound of suet and one pound of flour. Roll it out, and line the dish with it. Then take one pound of rump steak, three sheeps kidneys, one dozen larks, nicely picked and drawn, and all well seasoned with two of salt and one of pepper, and one dozen oysters blanched, Cut the steaks thin and place them at the bottom of the dish, then the kidneys in a like manner, the larks on top, with an oyster in each. It should be boiled for five hours.
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
defenestratethylacine
Remember please that this recipe is over 150 years old and that the laws on killing songbirds have been changed since they were commonly available in markets! You have to be responsible and realise that this recipe is an oddity and only posted here as a curiosity. However, perhaps it is possible to adapt it with small birds otherwise available. Any comments or experience with this would be very interesting to hear about.
Jack.
143 Hare Pie
Cut a hare into pieces, season it with pepper, salt, nutmeg and mace; put it into a jug, with half a pound of butter, close it up and set it on a copper of boiling water, and make forcemeat, with a quarter pound of scraped bacon, two onions, a glass of red wine, crumbs of bread, winter savoury, the liver cut small, and nutmeg. Season high with pepper and salt, mix it well up with yolks of three eggs, raise the pie and lay the forcemeat in the bottom of the dish. Then put in the hare, with the gravy that came out of it; lay on the lid, and send it to the oven. An hour an a half will bake it.
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This recipe is a fascinating by insight into Victorian cooking. Some of the terms are not exactly familiar, "winter savoury" for example, and it should be remembered that cooking is performed at this time on a range with a solid fuel fire. I will be putting up more recipes, all genuine Victorian cooking sourced from original texts, and would be very interested in any comments from anyone who actually manages to produce any of these dishes. This is a genuine zaqqard of a dish.
Jack.
defenestratethylacine
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This recipe is a fascinating by insight into Victorian cooking. Some of the terms are not exactly familiar, "winter savoury" for example, and it should be remembered that cooking is performed at this time on a range with a solid fuel fire. I will be putting up more recipes, all genuine Victorian cooking sourced from original texts, and would be very interested in any comments from anyone who actually manages to produce any of these dishes. This is a genuine zaqqard of a dish.
Jack.
defenestratethylacine
776. The Industrious Weeding by Flemish Farmers
It is hardly possible to conceive how much attention is paid by Flemmish farmers to the weeding of their land. In their best cultivated districts their exertions are incessant, and frequently from twenty to thirty women may be seen in one field, kneeling for the purpose of greater facility in securing and extracting weeds. The weeds collected in spring, particularly when boiled, are much relished by milch cows; and in various parts of Flanders, the farmers get their lands weeded by children of the neighbouring cottagers solely for the privilege of procuring these weeds for their cattle, and by this means converting a nuisance into a benefit.
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This entry has all the language and detail that absolutely tickles me. The Victorian construction and vocabulary is one which seems to serve a visible need to convey a status of the learned author!!! Authority and intelligent observation are "much relished". As for "...kneeling for the purpose of greater facility in securing and extracting weeds.", well clearly the idea of saying that:
"...twenty to thirty women may be seen in one field..." weeding
does not begin to describe the detail of the scene! This type of activity reminds me of a zaqqard.
defenestratethylacine
jack@takethepebble.com
The Corner Cupboard (1858)
This entry has all the language and detail that absolutely tickles me. The Victorian construction and vocabulary is one which seems to serve a visible need to convey a status of the learned author!!! Authority and intelligent observation are "much relished". As for "...kneeling for the purpose of greater facility in securing and extracting weeds.", well clearly the idea of saying that:
"...twenty to thirty women may be seen in one field..." weeding
does not begin to describe the detail of the scene! This type of activity reminds me of a zaqqard.
defenestratethylacine
jack@takethepebble.com
Sunday 4 October 2009
Food for Thought
A casual enquiry into the pub grub in the apple of the English Hostelry.
Imagine a wide and lazy river sliding softly in the evening sun towards an ancient stone bridge. A scene contained in one of those balmy summer evenings that have a mythical quality about them when re-told as the memory of a man well past his autumn. Then, with a sense of epiphany, place besides the bridge an old and venerable inn within which a man called Norman is then the third generation of his family to be its custodian. The scene is set and all we now need is to place it in time, to label it with a year and that is 1989. That was the year I first met Norman, a quiet man who had the local granite in his dna. This was and remains a family owned pub as the web site today attests:
“Great-grandfather was William John Gibbings from Clyst St. George. He moved into the Inn in 1897, and our family has been there ever since. The current licensee is Caroline Cheffers-Heard, his Great Grand-daughter. She is the fourth generation, her daughter Riannon will be the fifth, and Amelia, born in April 2008, will be the sixth generation.”
Source: http://www.cheffers.co.uk/hist.html
What was special when I first went to The Bridge in 1978 was.... well actually, now I come to think about it almost everything about the place was special. The two solitary signs on the wall by the road, Watneys Pale Ale I remember and another I have forgotten because it was, if possible, even more bland.
“But you don't serve either of those Norman!” I challenged after several months of drinking there, the amount of time required to engage even in the most innocuous of conversation with the landlord who had see them all come and go.
“Ahhh.. we have never sold them,” said Norman and nodded sagely, “they are to discourage the unworthy.”
These late eighties were a time when the Campaign for Real Ale was bulging with the follower of fad, the moth of fashion or the bearded guru of middle class obscurity. They would take one look at those signs as they passed by and turn up their noses as they charged off in search of “the real thing”. Norman was a guardian and gatekeeper of tradition. Not the label attached to a process or the banner proclaiming a value but the old stone and wood of a country inn that had developed its own indisputable character and style.
“Would you like to see the menu?” Norman would ask as you entered the door to find him leaning on an internal stable door with a small but convenient shelf on its waist.
The menu was a white piece of card, a bit worn at the edges and gathered at the top with a large bulldog clip. This was a list of anything up to twelve different beers, written out in hand and annotated with the specific gravity for each ale. This stable door was as far as Norman and his family had really gone in terms of a public bar. Behind this door was the snug, a small room with a real fire and a bench seat around the window. Beyond the snug was a few steps down to the cellar; two rows of old wood beams on which the barrels were set and spiked.
“How long do you have to be a regular before you get invited into the snug.” I asked after a year of looking at the menu and ordering nectar.
“Oh about ten years...but you have to come in several times a week not just now and again.” Norman replied.
The layout of the pub is essentially in rooms, rooms with very basic tables, some comforts in the 'lounge' but certainly no machines of any kind. Just walls, tables, people, conversation and good beer.
“Yes, we are very happy with the layout,“ Norman said in response to a question about the pub, “we modernised in 1909.”
This reveals a proper sense of time because Norman told me that they may have to start thinking about budgeting for a refit sometime in 2030. He was an artist Norman, he knew how to play the inquisitive young customer and feed his gullible mind with pure Devonshire delight. Not that anything he said was untrue when concerned with the past but when looking to the future he knew how to stay in character.
So food, because believe it or not this is all about food. To be honest, I cannot remember what was available to eat at The Bridge twenty years ago but in my minds eye I see a Ploughmans Lunch with
a proper big slab of cheese and a decent amount of bread, fresh, wholesome unsliced bread sharing a plate with some Branston Pickle. I may be wrong about this memory but I am sure I am on the right track. If you go to the web site you will see that The Bridge has made every effort in 2009 to keep up with the Twentieth Century thanks to the work of Norman's daughter.
Evening meals reach The Bridge!
Chunk pork pie served cold with homemade coleslaw and English mustard.
The perfect accompaniment for a pint, served lunchtimes and 6-8.30pm only, my dear...
source: http://www.cheffers.co.uk/bridge.html
Such generosity of spirit, to see that not only have evening meals reached The Bridge but that they have made it to lunchtime also! But then food has been at the heart of our inns for centuries, good food, hearty food, home cooked food. As traditional as The Bridge, food was always part of the inn experience so what exactly went wrong, when and why? If we think of the pub today we think of drinking, drinking, drinking or we think gastro pub or we think Weatherspoons or we have nightmares about toasted baggettes and micro waved burgers. What I would suggest, is that we do not immediately think of home cooked food when we hear the words “Let's go down the pub!”.
“Here we had an excellent meal in a delightfully cool old fashioned room, our fare cold roast beef and freshly gathered salad, with cheese to follow, washed down by good old English ale, clear and sparkling, a repast fit for a king; at least had I been king then, I could not have wished for better cheer.” A Tour in a Phaeton (1889) JJ Hissey p.147
This quote from Hissey refers to The Bell Inn at Saxmundham which today attracts the attention of an invertebrate known as “a foodie”.
“The annual migration of the chattering classes to the Suffolk coast is about to begin. Until now, foodies have had to soldier on between the oases of Orford and Southwold without so much as a sniff of a steamed sea bass on saffron risotto to keep them going. The Bell has changed all that. In the words of the great Leslie Phillips, "Ding dong".
By Tracey MacLeod The Independent on Saturday, 22 May 2004 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/the-bell-hotel-saxmundham-suffolk-563855.html
Maybe my underlying criticism here is a bit harsh as the current owners, by all accounts, took a run down pub/hotel and turned it into something viable and vibrant. The position here is not to be a publuddite (sorry, just thought it was better sounding when they ran together) and I use The Bell only to illustrate changing circumstance.
Hissey was a wealthy man, anyone who can spend his time travelling around at a leisurely pace in a horse drawn carriage, stopping here and there to dispense a half crowns to locals and stay in old coaching inns night after night probably only had the callouses he sat on. I wonder if that wealthy Hissey would recognise The Bell and if he would applaud the new ways or find fault at loss of the old? A peep at their web site may inspire your answer: http://bellhotel-saxmundham.co.uk . It appears that they have modernised somewhat, about 2002 I believe, probably a somewhat rash expenditure for Norman's way of thinking.
So what has happened with our habit of going to the pub to eat and drink? This is so often the continental criticism of us English; that we drink and get drunk because we don't eat when we drink. We all know there is a truth here, we know this truth because our history is full of people going to inns and pubs to eat and drink, we know it because it has to be an unreasonable exception that, “All over Europe bars serve food and drink except in England”.
Now obviously this is a very loose thesis that would not stand the test of rigour. I hope though that you are willing to take my point in the general sense. We know we have always had a love of beer...
579. SUGAR BEER, - As many of our cottage readers may not be able to procure brewing apparatus, and as we wish that every labourer who requires beer may be able to brew his own, we will give him an excellent and wholesome beer, out of sugar and hops, with no other brewing apparatus than a washing copper, a hair sieve, and a cask;...
The Corner Cupboard (1858) Houlston and Wright, London. P202
… but what happened to our love of food?
I made a longish, tedious stay here; my Horse faring better than I did, in a good Stall, and with good Food: But my charge was very cheap, and the brown Bread excellent (white I always discard), nor was the Sage-Cheese amiss....I allways think of Dinner for...[half]...an hour before my arrival at the Inn, which gives me an appetite, and an hurry for eating; and I never Eat with so much good will, as when I come in heated, and can have my meat quickly; for then both Body and Mind are instantly Refreshed, and Recover'd.-
D
Eating........…Beef Steaks and..........................8
Drinking......…3 glasses B. and Water.............. 6
Horses...-...Hay and Corn............................... 5
Feeing.......two Servants................................. 4
....................................................... ________
............................................................... S1. 11
The George Inn, Silsoe
Saturday 30th May 1789
A Most Labourieuse Journeye
into Distant Counteyes;
Performyd by John Bynge June 1789
Perhaps we see one contributing factor here, that of the means of travel. Both Hissey and Bynge travelled by horse, though later Hissey would migrate 'toad like' to the motor car, and the inn served the function of a hotel on these long and dusty journeys. The suspicion has to be that Bynge would no more approve of The George today than Hissey would applaud The Bell. Once again, for your own conclusion the web site of The George possibly promises the same standards Bynge alleged 230 years ago: http://thegeorge-silsoe.co.uk/index.html .
defenestratethylacine
Between Bynge in 1789 and Hissey in 1889 their distance in time is greater than their distance in spirit, both are gentlemen of leisure who romance the open road and decry progress and the perils of fashionable travel. Perhaps the same can be said of Norman in 1989.
“...in the Summer, I cou'd wish to lounge about The Country, in Search of Antiquity, and The Beauties of Nature; finding myself at an Inn, free, unembarrassed, How unlike the foreign traveller, who at the end of three (lost) years Returns (after much Expence, and Dupage) in full Self-Sufficency, Equipped with an amazing Rage for Opera, and Vertu...”
Author's Introduction
A Most Labourieuse Journeye
into Distant Counteyes;
Performyd by John Bynge June 1789
“The fortunate possessors of horses must keep them somewhere, and they do not cost so very much more on the road than 'eating their heads off' doing nothing in their stables at home, whilst perchance their owners are absent at some fashionable watering-place, repeating their life in London second-hand by the sea, or it may be rushing about restlessly here and there, as fast as the railway and steamer will carry them, spending much, travelling far and seeing little. 'La rapidite, voila le reve de notre siecle.' says Theophile Gautier. 'We cannot travel fast enough, we must get quickly through the country – comprehend nothing, admire nothing, only arrive quickly.'
A Tour in a Phaeton (1889) JJ Hissey p.3/4
So here we have two gentlemen of leisure who spend their summers on horses or pulled by them around the old inns of England. Wealthy romantics who can afford to view their present from their past. Perhaps we have to make sure that we too do not 'arrive quickly' in our judgement of the value of their view of their day. Could it be that Norman of The Bridge, now sadly 'one of the many' as Hissey described the departed long before we had more living on this planet than had ever lived before, could it be that Norman in his snug would welcome John Bynge and James John Hissey and both would chide his family for their dreadful modernisation in 1909?
Where did the eating with the drinking go? Times change, they always have done and always will, except for those who are fortunate enough to possess a horse. Perhaps it is all just a sign of the times.
“Ahhh.. we have never sold them,” said Norman and nodded sagely, “they are to discourage the unworthy.”
“Quite right sir” said John Bynge.
“After you with the chunk pork pie my lord.” said James John Hissey.
And the sun set peacefully over a scene of mythic England.
defenestratethylacine
Imagine a wide and lazy river sliding softly in the evening sun towards an ancient stone bridge. A scene contained in one of those balmy summer evenings that have a mythical quality about them when re-told as the memory of a man well past his autumn. Then, with a sense of epiphany, place besides the bridge an old and venerable inn within which a man called Norman is then the third generation of his family to be its custodian. The scene is set and all we now need is to place it in time, to label it with a year and that is 1989. That was the year I first met Norman, a quiet man who had the local granite in his dna. This was and remains a family owned pub as the web site today attests:
“Great-grandfather was William John Gibbings from Clyst St. George. He moved into the Inn in 1897, and our family has been there ever since. The current licensee is Caroline Cheffers-Heard, his Great Grand-daughter. She is the fourth generation, her daughter Riannon will be the fifth, and Amelia, born in April 2008, will be the sixth generation.”
Source: http://www.cheffers.co.uk/hist.html
What was special when I first went to The Bridge in 1978 was.... well actually, now I come to think about it almost everything about the place was special. The two solitary signs on the wall by the road, Watneys Pale Ale I remember and another I have forgotten because it was, if possible, even more bland.
“But you don't serve either of those Norman!” I challenged after several months of drinking there, the amount of time required to engage even in the most innocuous of conversation with the landlord who had see them all come and go.
“Ahhh.. we have never sold them,” said Norman and nodded sagely, “they are to discourage the unworthy.”
These late eighties were a time when the Campaign for Real Ale was bulging with the follower of fad, the moth of fashion or the bearded guru of middle class obscurity. They would take one look at those signs as they passed by and turn up their noses as they charged off in search of “the real thing”. Norman was a guardian and gatekeeper of tradition. Not the label attached to a process or the banner proclaiming a value but the old stone and wood of a country inn that had developed its own indisputable character and style.
“Would you like to see the menu?” Norman would ask as you entered the door to find him leaning on an internal stable door with a small but convenient shelf on its waist.
The menu was a white piece of card, a bit worn at the edges and gathered at the top with a large bulldog clip. This was a list of anything up to twelve different beers, written out in hand and annotated with the specific gravity for each ale. This stable door was as far as Norman and his family had really gone in terms of a public bar. Behind this door was the snug, a small room with a real fire and a bench seat around the window. Beyond the snug was a few steps down to the cellar; two rows of old wood beams on which the barrels were set and spiked.
“How long do you have to be a regular before you get invited into the snug.” I asked after a year of looking at the menu and ordering nectar.
“Oh about ten years...but you have to come in several times a week not just now and again.” Norman replied.
The layout of the pub is essentially in rooms, rooms with very basic tables, some comforts in the 'lounge' but certainly no machines of any kind. Just walls, tables, people, conversation and good beer.
“Yes, we are very happy with the layout,“ Norman said in response to a question about the pub, “we modernised in 1909.”
This reveals a proper sense of time because Norman told me that they may have to start thinking about budgeting for a refit sometime in 2030. He was an artist Norman, he knew how to play the inquisitive young customer and feed his gullible mind with pure Devonshire delight. Not that anything he said was untrue when concerned with the past but when looking to the future he knew how to stay in character.
So food, because believe it or not this is all about food. To be honest, I cannot remember what was available to eat at The Bridge twenty years ago but in my minds eye I see a Ploughmans Lunch with
a proper big slab of cheese and a decent amount of bread, fresh, wholesome unsliced bread sharing a plate with some Branston Pickle. I may be wrong about this memory but I am sure I am on the right track. If you go to the web site you will see that The Bridge has made every effort in 2009 to keep up with the Twentieth Century thanks to the work of Norman's daughter.
Evening meals reach The Bridge!
Chunk pork pie served cold with homemade coleslaw and English mustard.
The perfect accompaniment for a pint, served lunchtimes and 6-8.30pm only, my dear...
source: http://www.cheffers.co.uk/bridge.html
Such generosity of spirit, to see that not only have evening meals reached The Bridge but that they have made it to lunchtime also! But then food has been at the heart of our inns for centuries, good food, hearty food, home cooked food. As traditional as The Bridge, food was always part of the inn experience so what exactly went wrong, when and why? If we think of the pub today we think of drinking, drinking, drinking or we think gastro pub or we think Weatherspoons or we have nightmares about toasted baggettes and micro waved burgers. What I would suggest, is that we do not immediately think of home cooked food when we hear the words “Let's go down the pub!”.
“Here we had an excellent meal in a delightfully cool old fashioned room, our fare cold roast beef and freshly gathered salad, with cheese to follow, washed down by good old English ale, clear and sparkling, a repast fit for a king; at least had I been king then, I could not have wished for better cheer.” A Tour in a Phaeton (1889) JJ Hissey p.147
This quote from Hissey refers to The Bell Inn at Saxmundham which today attracts the attention of an invertebrate known as “a foodie”.
“The annual migration of the chattering classes to the Suffolk coast is about to begin. Until now, foodies have had to soldier on between the oases of Orford and Southwold without so much as a sniff of a steamed sea bass on saffron risotto to keep them going. The Bell has changed all that. In the words of the great Leslie Phillips, "Ding dong".
By Tracey MacLeod The Independent on Saturday, 22 May 2004 http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/food-and-drink/reviews/the-bell-hotel-saxmundham-suffolk-563855.html
Maybe my underlying criticism here is a bit harsh as the current owners, by all accounts, took a run down pub/hotel and turned it into something viable and vibrant. The position here is not to be a publuddite (sorry, just thought it was better sounding when they ran together) and I use The Bell only to illustrate changing circumstance.
Hissey was a wealthy man, anyone who can spend his time travelling around at a leisurely pace in a horse drawn carriage, stopping here and there to dispense a half crowns to locals and stay in old coaching inns night after night probably only had the callouses he sat on. I wonder if that wealthy Hissey would recognise The Bell and if he would applaud the new ways or find fault at loss of the old? A peep at their web site may inspire your answer: http://bellhotel-saxmundham.co.uk . It appears that they have modernised somewhat, about 2002 I believe, probably a somewhat rash expenditure for Norman's way of thinking.
So what has happened with our habit of going to the pub to eat and drink? This is so often the continental criticism of us English; that we drink and get drunk because we don't eat when we drink. We all know there is a truth here, we know this truth because our history is full of people going to inns and pubs to eat and drink, we know it because it has to be an unreasonable exception that, “All over Europe bars serve food and drink except in England”.
Now obviously this is a very loose thesis that would not stand the test of rigour. I hope though that you are willing to take my point in the general sense. We know we have always had a love of beer...
579. SUGAR BEER, - As many of our cottage readers may not be able to procure brewing apparatus, and as we wish that every labourer who requires beer may be able to brew his own, we will give him an excellent and wholesome beer, out of sugar and hops, with no other brewing apparatus than a washing copper, a hair sieve, and a cask;...
The Corner Cupboard (1858) Houlston and Wright, London. P202
… but what happened to our love of food?
I made a longish, tedious stay here; my Horse faring better than I did, in a good Stall, and with good Food: But my charge was very cheap, and the brown Bread excellent (white I always discard), nor was the Sage-Cheese amiss....I allways think of Dinner for...[half]...an hour before my arrival at the Inn, which gives me an appetite, and an hurry for eating; and I never Eat with so much good will, as when I come in heated, and can have my meat quickly; for then both Body and Mind are instantly Refreshed, and Recover'd.-
D
Eating........…Beef Steaks and..........................8
Drinking......…3 glasses B. and Water.............. 6
Horses...-...Hay and Corn............................... 5
Feeing.......two Servants................................. 4
....................................................... ________
............................................................... S1. 11
The George Inn, Silsoe
Saturday 30th May 1789
A Most Labourieuse Journeye
into Distant Counteyes;
Performyd by John Bynge June 1789
Perhaps we see one contributing factor here, that of the means of travel. Both Hissey and Bynge travelled by horse, though later Hissey would migrate 'toad like' to the motor car, and the inn served the function of a hotel on these long and dusty journeys. The suspicion has to be that Bynge would no more approve of The George today than Hissey would applaud The Bell. Once again, for your own conclusion the web site of The George possibly promises the same standards Bynge alleged 230 years ago: http://thegeorge-silsoe.co.uk/index.html .
defenestratethylacine
Between Bynge in 1789 and Hissey in 1889 their distance in time is greater than their distance in spirit, both are gentlemen of leisure who romance the open road and decry progress and the perils of fashionable travel. Perhaps the same can be said of Norman in 1989.
“...in the Summer, I cou'd wish to lounge about The Country, in Search of Antiquity, and The Beauties of Nature; finding myself at an Inn, free, unembarrassed, How unlike the foreign traveller, who at the end of three (lost) years Returns (after much Expence, and Dupage) in full Self-Sufficency, Equipped with an amazing Rage for Opera, and Vertu...”
Author's Introduction
A Most Labourieuse Journeye
into Distant Counteyes;
Performyd by John Bynge June 1789
“The fortunate possessors of horses must keep them somewhere, and they do not cost so very much more on the road than 'eating their heads off' doing nothing in their stables at home, whilst perchance their owners are absent at some fashionable watering-place, repeating their life in London second-hand by the sea, or it may be rushing about restlessly here and there, as fast as the railway and steamer will carry them, spending much, travelling far and seeing little. 'La rapidite, voila le reve de notre siecle.' says Theophile Gautier. 'We cannot travel fast enough, we must get quickly through the country – comprehend nothing, admire nothing, only arrive quickly.'
A Tour in a Phaeton (1889) JJ Hissey p.3/4
So here we have two gentlemen of leisure who spend their summers on horses or pulled by them around the old inns of England. Wealthy romantics who can afford to view their present from their past. Perhaps we have to make sure that we too do not 'arrive quickly' in our judgement of the value of their view of their day. Could it be that Norman of The Bridge, now sadly 'one of the many' as Hissey described the departed long before we had more living on this planet than had ever lived before, could it be that Norman in his snug would welcome John Bynge and James John Hissey and both would chide his family for their dreadful modernisation in 1909?
Where did the eating with the drinking go? Times change, they always have done and always will, except for those who are fortunate enough to possess a horse. Perhaps it is all just a sign of the times.
“Ahhh.. we have never sold them,” said Norman and nodded sagely, “they are to discourage the unworthy.”
“Quite right sir” said John Bynge.
“After you with the chunk pork pie my lord.” said James John Hissey.
And the sun set peacefully over a scene of mythic England.
defenestratethylacine
Friday 2 October 2009
J.J. Hissey "A Tour in a Phaeton"
This book is a wonderful view of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk sometime before 1889. The means of transport, a Phaeton, is a carriage which takes its name from the Greek mythological character Phaeton, the son of Helios the Sun God. The choice of transport is central to this work, as indeed the title suggests, and the author travels the forgotten roads and villages bypassed by the railway.
In the main Hissey is interested in architecture and there are two specific types of building that attract his critical eye, old coaching inns and country churches.
Phaeton image from hire facility through:
Beth & Steve Podhajecki
Loon Meadow Farm
PO Box 554
Norfolk, CT 06058
Phone (860) 542-6085
E-Mail: carriage@loonmeadowfarm.com
defenestratethylacine
Welcome to Victorian Gems
Welcome to Victorian Gems, a blog dedicated to small treasures of 19th century English writing. The reason for this blog is that I have recently started going to book fairs and collecting books from the 19th century. I am not interested in first editions, famous titles or novels but in the mostly disregarded works on travel, life style and social observation. Such works can be bought for a couple of pounds but I believe that the information they contain is priceless and provides a view of life which we should preserve. Over the coming months I hope to provide a series of small articles about some of the subject matter in my small but growing collection.
Jack Adams october 2009
defenestratethylacine
Jack Adams is a writer, historian, video producer and project leader for HumanRightsTV.
"Jack Adams, a muff, stupid fellow" source: http://www.victorianlondon.org/publications/sinks-2.htm
As an element of background I would paste here the begining of the text from the Past versus Present project of the Cambridge Victorian Studies Group. This text provides a very good foundation for any enquiry about how Victorian values and ideas formed and the problems we face when trying to understand this fascinating past:
This project, funded by the Leverhulme Trust for five years (2006-11), investigates the development and impact of competing views of the past in the nineteenth century in Britain. Within our own collective memory, the nineteenth century occupies a pivotal place as an age of progress and tradition. The Victorians had a constant, often agonized awareness of their responsibility for creating the future, and also unparalleled access to the past. At the same time as technology and economic development were raising prospects of an unprecedented leap into the future, the same tools and processes were unearthing - through scholarship, archaeology, geology and biology, education and political debate - multiple pasts in wonderful profusion and vexingly contradictory detail. Elites had grappled with similar issues in the eighteenth century, but in an increasingly complex and democratic culture, these problems faced the whole of society. The problem of multiple pasts and the choice of using or transcending them preoccupied the Victorians at all conceptual levels, from the individual's sense of personal development to the global question of the fate of empires. Which pasts should be abandoned, which cherished as foundational? This project will look at this central problem of nineteenth-century British culture from a range of different perspectives and disciplines.
source: http://www.victorians.group.cam.ac.uk/past_versus_present.html
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