A delightful 531-page cookbook entitled “Food for the Hungry: A Complete Manual of Household Duties” appeared this week in a box of donations to the library. Written in 1896, it contains “well-tried recipes compiled from famous sources…together with Bills of Fare for All Seasons” and gives us a fascinating look into culinary tastes and habits from over a century ago.
Authors Julia MacNair Wright and Marion Harland remind us of the “close connection between good morals and good digestion” and assure us in the book’s introduction that there is “nothing here to tempt coarse gluttony, or to incite appetite for alcoholic stimulus.”
There are hundreds of recipes for popular items: Philadelphia Pepper Pot (start with two lbs of tripe), Scrambled Codfish (eggs and pickled fish), stewed beef kidneys, soused pigs’ feet, calf’s head cheese, piccalilli and chowchow, Johnnie Cake, Sally Lunn, Pompton Puffs, Gooseberry Fool, Dandy Pudding and Quaking Custard.
There’s also lots of stern-toned cooking advice: “do not scowl nor contort your mouth while carving meat”; “boil a lobster for ½ to ¾ hour…if cooked too long they will be tough”; “never cook poultry until 6-8 hours after killing it. Pluck feathers, then when it is picked clean, roll up a piece of white paper, set fire to it, and singe off all the hairs.”
In addition, there are whole chapters on household remedies and cleaning solutions: learn to make poultices, cure boils, banish ringworms, rid your home of bedbugs, or treat chilblains. Make your own mosquito repellent, ant traps, beauty creams and bayrum lotions; find out how to waterproof leather shoes, remove household stains from rugs and furniture, and clean your best kid gloves.
One section is devoted to table settings (no starch in the napkins, please, and never use your crumb-brush until the preparation for bringing in the dessert) and another to table etiquette: “once seated, gloves should be drawn off and laid in the lap under the napkin, which is spread lightly, not tucked in”. Also, “do not twirl your goblet, nor soil the tablecloth by placing bones or fragments upon it”; “Never blow on your soup”; “One’s teeth are not to be picked at table; but if it is impossible to hinder it, it should be done behind the napkin”; “Corn should be eaten from the cob, held with a single hand only” (oops, I’d flunk that one!); “Sit erect. Let the food be taken to the mouth and not the mouth to the food.” And above all, “Don’t come to the table half-dressed, half-washed, half-combed.”
I checked Alibris.com, the used/rare book site, and this book is selling there for $38. We won’t be adding it to the library’s collection (the binding is in pretty poor condition and pp. 9-20 are missing) but if you know someone who might be entertained and amused by it, I’d certainly sell it at the same price to a cookbook collector! Call the library, 603-516-6050 if you’re interested!
Authors Julia MacNair Wright and Marion Harland remind us of the “close connection between good morals and good digestion” and assure us in the book’s introduction that there is “nothing here to tempt coarse gluttony, or to incite appetite for alcoholic stimulus.”
There are hundreds of recipes for popular items: Philadelphia Pepper Pot (start with two lbs of tripe), Scrambled Codfish (eggs and pickled fish), stewed beef kidneys, soused pigs’ feet, calf’s head cheese, piccalilli and chowchow, Johnnie Cake, Sally Lunn, Pompton Puffs, Gooseberry Fool, Dandy Pudding and Quaking Custard.
There’s also lots of stern-toned cooking advice: “do not scowl nor contort your mouth while carving meat”; “boil a lobster for ½ to ¾ hour…if cooked too long they will be tough”; “never cook poultry until 6-8 hours after killing it. Pluck feathers, then when it is picked clean, roll up a piece of white paper, set fire to it, and singe off all the hairs.”
In addition, there are whole chapters on household remedies and cleaning solutions: learn to make poultices, cure boils, banish ringworms, rid your home of bedbugs, or treat chilblains. Make your own mosquito repellent, ant traps, beauty creams and bayrum lotions; find out how to waterproof leather shoes, remove household stains from rugs and furniture, and clean your best kid gloves.
One section is devoted to table settings (no starch in the napkins, please, and never use your crumb-brush until the preparation for bringing in the dessert) and another to table etiquette: “once seated, gloves should be drawn off and laid in the lap under the napkin, which is spread lightly, not tucked in”. Also, “do not twirl your goblet, nor soil the tablecloth by placing bones or fragments upon it”; “Never blow on your soup”; “One’s teeth are not to be picked at table; but if it is impossible to hinder it, it should be done behind the napkin”; “Corn should be eaten from the cob, held with a single hand only” (oops, I’d flunk that one!); “Sit erect. Let the food be taken to the mouth and not the mouth to the food.” And above all, “Don’t come to the table half-dressed, half-washed, half-combed.”
I checked Alibris.com, the used/rare book site, and this book is selling there for $38. We won’t be adding it to the library’s collection (the binding is in pretty poor condition and pp. 9-20 are missing) but if you know someone who might be entertained and amused by it, I’d certainly sell it at the same price to a cookbook collector! Call the library, 603-516-6050 if you’re interested!
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I always place my gloves in my lap when dining!
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