By Jo-Ann Roberts
Cooking
was much more complicated in the 1800s than it is in our modern
world. Many people take for granted the conveniences that are in their
kitchens. It is easy to feel superior when thinking about days gone by.
Nineteenth Century Western Kitchen
History
shows us that in the past it took a lot of work and a lot of time to put a meal
on the table. But if a modern-day family was transported back in time to a
pioneer kitchen, they might be surprised to see some of the wonders that
kitchens contained.
In my
soon-to-be-release, Grace-Brides of New Hope Book
Three, Grace
Donegan is the baker at Caroline's Cafe in New Hope. Turning out pastries,
pies, and desserts keeps her busy, especially working with some of the modern
gadgets of the day.
Sugar and
Sugar Snips
Sugar
was brought to the grocer in cone shapes called "loaves". The
woman of the house or proprietor of an establishment would cut up the loaf
using sugar nippers to break the hard substance into smaller, usable parts for
the table. The loaf was such a common sight until the later 19th century that
everyone knew what it looked like. Even the paper it was wrapped in played a
part in domestic life. Loaves from the Americas were wrapped in blue indigo
paper which was recycled as a source of dye for yarn or cloth.
Sugar Snips
Sugar Loaf
The
nips were tongs with a flat surface at the end suitable for lifting pieces of
sugar. But they were also sturdy and tough. Nips used for cutting sugar were
often made from steel. However, decorative tongs for table use by wealthy
families were often made from silver with elaborate engravings matching the
family's silver service.
When
powdered sugar was called for in a recipe, the cook had to use a mortar and
pestle. Some sugar boxes had compartments for powdered sugar as well as lumps.
Tongs, boxes, and casters (sugar sprinklers) were fashioned in silver for the
wealthy, but there were many wooden sugar boxes, too.
Silver Sugar Box
Wooden Sugar Box
Rotary Egg Beater
Invented by tinner
Ralph Collier of Baltimore, in partnership with A.S. Reip, a tin and iron war
manufacturer, the first U.S. patent for a rotary egg-beater was submitted in
1856. But at that time it wasn't yet clear what the best design for the job
would be. This patent describes how useful the new invention would be for
hotels and restaurants as well as for ordinary households hoping to speed up a
"laborious and fatiguing operation".
Rotary beaters with a
handle worked best, but they came in different forms. Some early ones were
fixed inside a pot, and couldn't be used with the cook's choice of mixing bowl.
Some were developed by the same inventors who designed small hand-cranked
butter churns.
Egg beater in a bowl
However, in 1873 the
Dover egg beater emerged on the scene and even the most skeptical of cooks was
quite taken with it. This invention did pave the path for easier cooking.
"The Dover
egg-beater saves much time and trouble in beating eggs and will bend the yolks
into as stiff a froth as the whites." The Northeastern Reporter, 1879.
Dover Egg Beater
In the early 1870s, the
cost of an egg beater could run a family $1.50. Less than ten years later the
Dover could be purchased for $1.25. As time went on and egg beaters became more
common, the price came down and by 1912 a housewife could pick one up for
$.05!!
Spurtle
Scottish in origin, the first documentation of
use in cooking was noted in 1528. The word, spartle was a
Northern English word meaning "stirrer". In the Germanic
languages. a spurtle refers to a flat-bladed tool or utensil.
Spurtle
Made from the straightest tree branch which
could be found, the utensil was peeled and used for flipping oatcakes on a
griddle, and not for porridge, stews, or soups which is common today.
Traditional Scottish spurtles have a thistle end, in homage to the national
emblem of Scotland, whereas contemporary spurtles have a smooth tapered
end. There are some tall tales about the spurtle which is not surprising
given that it is in the shape of a magic wand. The most famous of the customs is
when using a spurtle you must always stir clockwise and always with your right
hand..."Lest you invoke the devil".
I first came across a spurtle when I was doing
research for Lessie-Brides of New Hope Book One. Eli MacKenzie, the MMC (male main character), presents Lessie
with several gifts following their wedding, one of which is a spurtle. Bearing
a Scottish heritage, this fits in perfectly with his backstory. Here's a
brief excerpt:
He placed his hands on her waist after setting the gift in front
of her.
“Eli, you’ve already
given me so much. I really don’t need anything more.” Lessie brushed away a
tear that remained. After she untied the strip of rawhide, the burlap fell away
to reveal a long-handled wooden stick, resembling a spoon, that flared out at
the bottom. Something similar to a cornstalk was carved at the narrowed top.
“Thank you, Eli.” She tilted her head and inquired, “Is this your way of
asking me to cook something for you?”
He ran his hand down the
stick. “This is called a spurtle. In Scottish families, it is a
traditional gift given to the bride with the hope that it will bring her good
luck cooking for her new husband.” He indicated the top portion. “Burt
Davis made it in his shop and carved a thistle on the top. The thistle is
the national emblem of Scotland. In many ways, it reminds me of you.”
Lessie arched an
eyebrow. “That’s not a particularly flattering comparison, Eli. I am not
prickly.”
Eli chuckled. “That
isn’t my interpretation at all. I see you as a thistle because, like that
bloom, you symbolize bravery and courage in the face of adversity. And those
spiky painful thorns suggest endurance and fortitude. I don’t know a single
woman who would have carved out a life for herself after enduring a bloody war,
traveled to an unknown town with nothing but a scrap of paper from a stranger
who disappeared after marrying her, with a baby and a few trinkets wrapped in a
quilt. Nor do I know of any woman who had the foresight to chart her own path
as a midwife and transform a neglected farm into a place to be proud of.”
Sieves and Strainers
The word "sift" is derived from
"sieve". In cooking terms, a sieve or sifter is used to
separate and break up flour and dry goods, as well as to aerate and combine
them. A ladle with draining holes or a strainer is a form of a sieve used to
separate suspended solids from a liquid...think an egg separator.
Early wooden sieves used tin or horsehair for
the sieving. The widths of a wooden sieve were made from fir or willow,
American elm being the best choice. The rims would be made of fir, oak, or
beech.
Miscellaneous Gadgets
Cake Separator
This tool was widely used for
cutting angel food cakes and other soft cakes, as the delicate tines wouldn’t
crush or compress the cake under pressure. Cake breakers were so popular that
you could even find one in your silver pattern.
Herb
Cutter
Herb
cutters came in different styles than this one. For example, some herb cutters
had a handle on both sides of the blade for each hand.
 |
| Herb Cutter |
Coffee
Grinder
By the mid-1800s, various
coffee grinders were present in almost every home. Most grinders had a grinding
handle on the top of a box that was set inside a bowl-shaped holder of roasted
coffee beans. The bottom of the box had a drawer that held the coffee beans
after being ground.
Molds
While
most pioneer cooks had all they could do to put three meals a day on the table,
some
cooks
experimented with tin molds. In Mrs. Beaton's Book of Household Management (1861) recipes for
jellied delights and other molded foods meant that many people aspired to have
devices with which to make ordinary dishes extraordinary. Cooks back then would
have also had several pitting, chopping, and peeling tools available since they
had to process all their foods by hand.
******************************
July 7th Release
Preorder Now!
https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Brides-New-Hope-Book-ebook/dp/B096PKGC96
