June Meals According To Mrs. Beeton

Plain Family Dinners for:
Sunday - 1 Salmon, trout and parsley and butter, new potatoes. 2 fillet of veal, boiled bacon, cheek, spinach, vegetables. 3 Gooseberry tart, custard.
Monday - 1 Light gravy soup, Small meat pie, minced veal with rolled bacon, spinach and potatoes. 2 Raspberry and currant tart.
Tuesday - 1 Baked mackerol, potatoes. 2 Boiled leg of lamb with young carrots. 3 Lemon pudding. Wednesday - 1 Vegetable soup. 2 Calf s liver and bacon, peas hashed lamb from remains of cold joint. 3 Baked gooseberry pudding.
Thursday - 1 Roast ribs of beef, Yorkshire pudding, peas, potatoes. 2 Stewed rhubarb and boiled rice.
Friday - 1 Cold beef and salad, cutlets and peas. 2 Boiled gooseberry pudding and baked custard pudding.
Saturday - 1 Rump steak pudding, broiled beef bones and cucumber, vegetables. 2 Bread pudding.

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Sunday - 1 Roast fore-quarter of lamb, mint sauce, peas and new potatoes. 2 Gooseberry pudding, strawberry tartlets, fondue.
Monday - 1 Cold lamb and salad, stowed neck of veal and peas, young carrots and new potatoes. 2 Almond pudding.
Tuesday - 1 Green pea soup,2 Roast ducks stuffed, gravy, peas and new potatoes. 3 Baked ratafia pudding.
Wednesday - Roast leg of mutton, summer cabbage, potatoes. 2 Gooseberry and rice pudding.
Thursday - 1 Fried soles, melted butter, potatoes. 2 Sweetbreads, hashed mutton, vegetables. 3 Bread and butter pudding.
Friday - 1 Asparagus soup. 2 Boiled beef, young carrots and new potatoes, suet dumplings. 3 College puddings.
Saturday - 1 Cold boiled beef and salad, lamb cutlets and green peas. 2 Boiled gooseberry pudding and plain cream.
 
 Things in Season
Fish - Carp, crayfish, herrings, lobsters, mackerel, mullet, pike, prawns, salmon, soles, tench, trout, turbot.
Meat - Beef, lamb, mutton, veal, buck venison.
Poultry - Chickens, ducklings, fowls, green geese, leverets, plovers, pullets, rabbits, turkey poults, wheatears.
Vegetables - Artichokes, asparagus, beans, cabbages, carrots, cucumbers, lettuces, onions, parsnips, peas, potatoes, radishes, small salads, sea kale, spinach, various herbs.
Fruit - Apricots, cherries, currants, gooseberries, melons, nectarines, peaches, pears, pineapples, raspberries, rhubarb, strawberries.

Spring Onions

I have harvested a nice bunch of spring onions and now am in need of something to do with them.

Spring Onions

The Kitchen & Flower Garden 1856
"Spring onions being in great request to be eaten raw in salads, as well as for other culinary purposes, the superabundant plants may be drawn from the rows as wanted. But great care should be taken, in so doing not to disturb the rest, nor should the completion of the thinning be too long delayed."

The Young Housewife's Daily Assistant 1864
"SALADS GENERALLY USED - Cos lettuces, cabbage lettuces, endive, beetroot (boiled), celery, cucumber, spring onions, shalots, watercresses, radishes, tarragon, chervil, chives, mustard and cress, &c. Every kind of salad must be quite fresh cut; it must be trimmed, and carefully washed in two or three waters; then put into a coarse cloth and dried, by shaking it up and down; cut or break the salad into pieces half an inch broad; then add the dressing as directed in the following receipt; or it may be served with oil and vinegar, two table-spoonfils of oil to one of vinegar, a saltspoonful of salt, and half a saltspoonful of white pepper."

 "SALAD DRESSING - Boil three fresh eggs for ten minutes; when cold, rub the yolks to powder; season with half a saltspoonful of white pepper, a saltspoonful of salt, a teaspoonful of flour of mustard, a saltspoonful of sifted loaf sugar; mix in the beaten yolk of one egg; add by degrees four tablespoonfuls of salad (Lucca) oil, and drop by drop two teaspoonfuls of tarragon vinegar, and one tablespoonful and a half of vinegar. Be careful to stir the same way all the time. The dressing should look like rich cream. Pour it on to the salad; stir lightly with a fork and spoon, and serve immediately. This quantity will be sufficient for four persons."

The Gastronomic Regenerator 1852
"Oignons Printaniers au Sirop doree - Peel about forty spring onions, each about the size of a walnut, put them into a stewpan, with one ounce of butter and one of powdered sugar, toss them occasionally over the fire, (but be careful not to break the outer skin,) until covered with a light glaze; cover with a white stock and stew very gently till quite done, drain them upon a cloth, dress neatly upon a border of mashed potatoes, reduce and skim the stock till nearly a glaze, add two pats of butter, sauce over and serve."

May Meals According To Mrs. Beeton

MAY
Plain Family Dinners for:
Sunday - 1 Vegetable soup. 2 Saddle of mutton, asparagus and potatoes. 3 Gooseberry tart custards.
Monday - 1 Fried whitings, anchovy sauce. 2 Cold mutton, mashed potatoes, stewed veal. 3 Fig pudding.
Tuesday - 1 Haricot mutton made from remains of cold mutton rump steak, pie. 2 Macaroni.
Wednesday - 1 Roast loin of veal and spinach, boiled bacon, mutton cutlets and tomato sauce. 2 Gooseberry pudding and cream.
Thursday - 1 Spring soup. 2 Roast leg of lamb, mint sauce, spinach curried veal and rice. 3 Lemon pudding.
Friday - 1 Boiled mackerel and parsley and butter. 2 Stewed rump steak, cold lamb and salad. 3 Baked gooseberry pudding.
Saturday - 1 Vermicelli. 2 Rump steak pudding, lamb cutlets, and cucumbers. 3 Macaroni

~

Sunday - 1 Boiled salmon and lobster or caper sauce. 2 Roast lamb, mint sauce, asparagus, potatoes. 3 Plum pudding, gooseberry tart
Monday - 1 Salmon warned in remains of lobster sauce and garnished with croutons. 2 Stewed knuckle of veal and rice, cold lamb and dressed cucumber. 3 Slices of pudding warmed and served with sugar sprinkled over Baked rice pudding.
Tuesday - 1 Roast ribs of beef, horseradish sauce, Yorkshire pudding, spinach and potatoes. 2 Boiled lemon pudding.
Wednesday - 1 Fried soles, melted butter. 2 Cold beef and dressed cucumber or salad, veal cutlets and bacon. 3 Baked plum pudding.
Thursday - 1 Spring soup. 2 Calfs liver and bacon, broiled beef bones, spinach and potatoes. 3 Gooseberry tart.
Friday - 1 Roast shoulder of mutton, baked potatoes, onion sauce, spinach. 2 Currant dumplings.
Saturday - 1 Broiled mackerel, fennel sauce or plain melted butter. 2 Rump steak pie, hashed mutton, vegetables. 3 Baked arrowroot pudding.
  
Things in Season
Fish - Carp, chub, crabs, crayfish, dory, herrings, lobsters, mackerel, red and gray mullet, prawns, salmon, shad, smelts, soles, trout, turbot.
Meat - Beef, lamb, mutton, veal.
Poultry - Chickens, ducklings, fowls, green geese, leverets, pullets, rabbits.
Vegetables - Asparagus, beans, early cabbages, carrots, cauliflowers, cresses, cucumbers, lettuces, pease, early potatoes, salads, sea kale, various herbs.
Fruit Apples - green apricots, cherries, currants for tarts, gooseberries, melons, pears, rhubarb, strawberries."

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I am assuming that the 1, 2 and 3 are shortened and mean 1st course, 2nd course and 3rd course.

There are several things that I find very interesting about these lists. The first thing that struck me was the number of vegetables in the weekly meal plan. I am wondering if people in rural communities ate more greens than those in the city simply because they had more access to it or if this list is accurate of the diet of the average person.

My second realization is the large variety of meat cuts and fish that are listed. In modern life, we eat a select few types and cuts of meat. While we eat fish, most that are listed are new to me entirely.

At the end, I was completely surprised that rabbit is listed in with poultry. We have domestic rabbits and I know that people eat rabbit, but I would have listed it with game or lamb.

Taking Tea

Illustrations of tea time:

This amazing woodcut is from Arthur's Home Magazine 1857, entitled Mathematical Abstraction. The detail of the table is fantastic. You can clearly make out the tea strainer, butter, tea cups and tea pot. I'm not sure what the open box is, perhaps a tea caddy or safe. I also really like the book shelf hanging on the wall behind the table.

Kitchen Utensils

Here, I have found some very interesting items for the kitchen. Firstly a wire dish cover. How this will save the wonderful dishes that we prepare from the infestation of flies and flying bugs.

 

 

Secondly there is a wonderful water cooler that will keep ice water cold for a long while.

 

Thirdly, a very nice, new style refrigerator. The ice is kept in the top and the cool air moves down through wire shelves.

 

 

Lastly, there is the matter of this new patent ice-cream freezer.

 

 

Found in Arthur's Home Magazine 1857

Glassware

glass lemonade or custard cup, Rhine wine glass, wine decanter, and fountain champagne glass

 

Collamore & Co., of 479 Broadway, have got up some exquisite articles in glassware. The new wine decanter, which is antique in its shape, is novel in its application to this purpose. Its appearance is handsome, light and solid, and its convenience in handling can hardly be excelled. We have rarely seen a decanter in more perfect taste.

The fountain champagne glass is a very great improvement on the ordinary fountain glasses. It is not so broad nor so shallow, but is vastly more convenient and elegant, while still retaining that peculiar quality which sends the wine for ever sparkling up to the brim.

The glass lemonade or custard cup is both elegant and convenient in form, and differs in its rounded outline from those lately in use, which it has entirely superseded in fashionable houses.

The Rhine wine glass is one of the most exquisitely delicate pieces of work that we can remember to have seen. It is graceful in form, with a stem so delicate as hardly to be perceptible and yet most pleasant to the touch.

All these articles are of the purest glass, and represent the newest fashions now in vogue.

From Frank Leslie's Monthly Magazine 1860

Milk Griddle Cakes & Delicate Omelettes For Breakfast

Both of these recipes came from Peterson's 1862, February issue.

Milk Griddle Cake for Breakfast - Take a pound and a half of flour, and about three ounces  of butter, and a little salt; rub the butter into the flour well, and wet it with milk enough to make it a stiff paste. Knead and work it well, roll it out very thin, cut the cakes out with either a tin cutter or a tumbler, prick them all over with a fork, and bake them on a griddle. A little additional butter will make them richer, but that is according to taste; cream may be used in place of milk.

A Delicate Omelette - Break eight eggs in a stewpan, to which add a teaspoonful of very finely-chopped parsley, half ditto of salt, a pinch of pepper, and three good tablespoonfuls of cream; beat them well together; then put two ounces of butter in an omelette-pan, stand it over a sharp fire, and, as soon s the butter is hot, pour in the eggs, stir them round quickly with a spoon until delicately set; then shake the pan round, leave it a moment to color the omelette, hold the pan in a slanting position, just tap it upon the stove to bring the omelette to a proper shape, and roll the flap over the spoon; turn it upon your dish, and serve as soon as done. Take care not to do it too much.

Research: What is a ditto measure? It just means to repeat the last measure.

Conclusion: The griddle cakes reminded us of modern day English Muffins. I was surprised how well they turned out without any sweetener. The children loved them. Jam was also provided on the table but the young children ate the cakes without. The eggs were very similar to the egg puffs that I have grown up with. They were also very good. I used fresh parsley from a plant that I over-wintered in a sunny window.

Modern translation:
Griddle Cakes
4 1/2 cups flour plus some to flour your table
6 Tablespoons butter at room temperature
salt
1 - 1.5 cups of milk or cream

Mix all together, adding enough milk to make a stiff dough. Kneed it on a floured surface until smooth. Roll it out and cut with biscuit cutters or a large mouthed glass or jar. Prick the tops all over and "bake" them on a buttered griddle. They should turn out like short biscuits, not crackers.

A Delicate Omelet
8 eggs
1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
half teaspoon salt
a pinch of pepper
3 Tablespoons of milk or cream
4 Tablespoons of butter

In a bowl combine the eggs, parsley, salt, pepper and milk or cream. Beat them until well mixed. Melt the butter in a pan, preferably an omelet pan. Once it is melted, add the egg mixture. Cover the pan for a moment until the egg has set. Shake the pan or loosen the egg from the sides with a spatula, being careful not to break it. Once it is done, fold the omelet onto your dish and serve hot.

Rice Custard

This was listed as a desert in Peterson's Magazine, January 1863

Rice Custard - Sweeten a pint of milk with loaf sugar, boil it with a stick of cinnamon, stir in sifted ground rice till quite thick. Take it off the fire; add the whites of 3 eggs well beaten; stir it again over the fire for 2 or 3 minutes, then put it into cups that have lain in cold water; do not wipe them. When cold, turn them out, and put them into the dish in which they are to be served; pour round them a custard made of the yolks of the eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk. Put on the top a little red currant jelly or raspberry jam. A pretty supper dish.

Research/questions for this project:

1) What is "loaf-sugar"?
According to Lessons on Common Thing, published in 1857, the qualities of loaf-sugar are: "it is soluble, or dissolvable in water. fusible, or may be melted by heat. brittle. hard. sweet. white. solid. opaque." and is used "To sweeten our food".
Here is a wonderful resource on sugar Essay On Sugar and Treatise on Sugar Refining, 1864

2) Was there white rice or rice flour?
Searching on Google Books from 1860-1865 there are many references to white rice as well as red rice and rice flour.

3) Needed recipe for Raspberry Jam - From The Royal English and Foreign Confectioner, 1862
Raspberry Jam without seeds
Ingredients: 12lbs of raspberries, 12lbs of sugar, 2 lbs of red currants.
Time: twenty minutes
Bruise the currants in the preserving pan, with a pint of water, then add the picked raspberries; stir the whole on the fire for a few minutes, and then rub the pulp through a cane sieve into a large pan. Boil the sugar with just water enough to dissolve it, to the pear, add the pulp, boil sharply for twenty minutes, stirring the jam the whole time, and as soon as it drapes on the edge of the spoon, pour it into the pots.

Raspberry Jam with seeds.
Ingredients: 12lbs raspberries, 12lbs of sugar.
Time: twenty minutes
Boil the sugar to the ball degree, add the fruit, stir over a brisk fire for twenty minutes, when the jam will be ready to pour into the pots; finish in the usual manner.

4) Need recipe for "a custard made of the yolks of the (3) eggs and a little more than a half-pint of milk" -  Mrs. Beeton's Dictionary of Every-Day Cooking 1865
Custard Sauce, for Sweet Puddings or Tarts
Ingredients - 1/2 pint of milk, 2 eggs, 3 oz. of pounded sugar, I tablespoonful of brandy.
Mode - Put the milk in a very clean saucepan, and let it boil. Beat the eggs, stir to them the milk and pounded sugar, and put the mixture into a jug. Place the jug in a saucepan of boiling water; keep stirring well until it thickens, but do not allow it to boil, or it will curdle. Serve the sauce in a tureen, stir in the brandy, and grate a little nutmeg over the top. This sauce may be made very much nicer by using cream instead of milk; but the above recipe will be found quite good enough for ordinary purposes.

Conclusion: The custard is quite good and creamy. Most people will probably want to add more sugar but it was sweet enough for my household. It was relatively quick to make, with the exception of beating the eggs by hand. According to the last statement in the recipe, "A pretty supper dish", this would be served at the evening meal.

Modern translation: Chill custard cups in the refrigerator. Beat the whites of 3 eggs until stiff peaks form. In a double boiler, heat 2 cups of milk with 1/4 cup sugar until the sugar is dissolved. Add a cinnamon stick and bring to a boil. Remove the cinnamon and stir in sifted rice flour until it becomes thick. Take this off your heat and fold in the egg whites. Return to the stove and heat, stirring for 2 or 3 minutes. Spoon the custard into the chilled cups and set aside to cool. When completely cool, turn out onto serving dishes and top with currant jelly or raspberry jam.

Meal Planning - Supper

Taken from Breakfast, Dinner and Tea 1860

"Another view of supper belongs to that state of society where the dinner is taken after the close of the day. Here the supper is provided at a late hour in the evening, sometimes towards midnight and consists either of cold roast meats, game, hot or cold, or oysters, salads, sandwiches, biscuits, etc. with various beverages."

"The third form of supper is the entertainment given at evening parties, balls, etc. at which a greater display is allowable than at any other. Confectionery in most elegant forms and devices is exhibited and contributes with fruits and flowers to captivate the eye and delight the other senses."

Meal Planning - Tea

Taken from Breakfast, Dinner and Tea 1860


"When the dinner is served at a late hour as in fashionable life Tea does not deserve the name of a meal since it is seldom more than tea or coffee served in the parlor accompanied by cakes."

"Out of merely fashionable life however the tea becomes of more importance it is a most cheerful and social repast for the domestic circle and one to which the unexpected guest most readily finds a cordial welcome It is composed not merely of tea and cakes but of bread and butter of various relishes and of fruits either fresh or preserved In our Northern States it is a very general custom both in town and country to invite company to tea this meal being preferred to dinner as involving less effort fatigue and formality The table is on these occasions more or less bountifully spread according to the means and tastes of the hosts conversation flows unrestrained by formality a general cheerfulness seems to emanate from the steaming cups of tea and the company generally separate at an early hour with increased kindliness and neighborly feeling."

"In the rural districts this meal partakes of the nature of a supper both on ordinary and extraordinary occasions When these latter occur the greatest profusion abounds plenty with them is the soul of hospitality and it is desired that every guest shall taste of every dish."

"At the evening receptions which are coming into favor in our society the slight refreshment of tea and cakes is very appropriate and a promoter of ease and sociability A small table is spread with tea or coffee and cakes which are offered to the guests by either the lady of the house or one of her family No invitations are given to these receptions but the general one which the lady issues to her friends at the beginning of the season The guests come when they choose spend as much or as little time and retire when they please without formality."

"The varieties of black tea are Bohea Congou Campoi Souchong Caper and Pekoe The green teas are known as Imperial Hyson Twankay and Gunpowder."

"The Preparation of Tea
Black tea is best when boiled fifteen or twenty minutes green tea should not be boiled It has the freshest taste when steeped in an earthen tea pot which has been previously scalded leaving it to stand by the fire ten or fifteen minutes Turn only a small quantity of scalding water upon the tea while steeping but fill the pot when ready to take to the table It is well to follow the English rule when preparing tea for company allow a spoonful of tea for each person and one for the pot."

"Mr Brace in his Social Life in Germany mentions that tea was passed flavored with vanilla and rum."

Meal Planning - Dinner

Taken from Breakfast, Dinner and Tea 1860


"The Dinner Hour
Although among the business and laboring classes of community the hour for dining has always been at mid day among the circles of fashion there have been many changes respecting it ....  Thirty years later it was three and so it has advanced until now the fashionable dinner is partaken of at any of the hours between five and nine. the moderns imitating in this respect the ancients who took their second meal at evening."

"The fashionable world in thus appointing so late an hour for their dinner have been obliged to recognize another meal to be eaten in the middle of the day and which though it is entitled luncheon is nothing less than an unceremonious dinner. Mrs Stowe speaks of it as such when alluding to a lunch at the Duchess of Sutherland's. She says "The dinner which comes after it at eight or nine in tho evening is m comparison only a ceremonial proceeding. At lunch every thing is placed upon the table at once and ladies sit down without removing their hats children are also admitted at the table even in the presence of company."

"Willis in speaking of lunch in England says At two o clock a dish or two of hot game and a profusion of cold meats were set on the small tables in the dining room and everybody came in for a lounging half meal which occupied perhaps an hour."

"We have at the present day the square the oblong the oval the round and the extension table all of which are approved though the three latter are esteemed the most elegant."

"To dine well in private at home there are a few requisites among which wo will name as foremost that the meats be well cooked and well served the accompanying dishes be appropriate to the meats that all be served with neatness and care and particularly that all bo served hot Also that the dinner be punctual to the hour and last not least that a spirit of love and harmony prevail among the members of the household."

"To give a dinner party however or to dine well in company requires many more essentials There must be added an agreeable and well adapted company of guests ease and confidence on the part of the host and hostess well trained and experienced servants a spacious dining room and ample means to purchase the rarities and delicacies of the season To combine all these essentials is a somewhat difficult undertaking and therefore to give what is called a stylish dinner in fashionable life is one of the greatest trials to an inexperienced housekeeper It is folly on her part and great want of consideration in her husband to undertake it for mortification and failure are sure to be the result An unpretending dinner however she may give in which consulting tho means at her command she should aim at nothing which she does not fully understand and which she cannot do with perfect confidence in its success particularly regarding the old rule among cooks never to try a new dish when company is expected Every arrangement which requires her personal attention should be made at an early hour that she be not anxious and care worn when the dinner hour arrives for the cheerful welcome she is to givo to her guests is no insignificant part of the entertainment."

Meal Planning - Breakfast

Taken from Breakfast, Dinner and Tea 1860

"The industrious hardy farmer who rises before the sun having performed his wonted tasks sits down to his breakfast at five o clock with a strong appetite.
 The enterprising citizen not called forth quite as early by his business yet still desirous of making each day as profitable as possible breaks his fast at six or seven.
 The professional man whose hours of labour may have encroached on those devoted to sleep rises later in the day and eight or it may bo nine o 'clock will find him with weary head and but little appetite sipping his cup of coffee.
 Ten is considered an early hour by the fashionable lady the luxurious nobleman of London is scarcely prepared for it by midday and the shadows of evening may begin to fall before his first meal is partaken of by the effeminate epicure of Paris."

" Breakfast in America is peculiarly a family meal At this more than any other there is an unrestrained enjoyment of the home circle The breakfast parti is almost unknown among us being confined to a very limited circle of the fashionable class not that we are less socially inclined than the English but that the busy active life of this new country forbids the devoting the early hours of the day to merely social enjoyment It is usually a hearty meal consisting of coffee meats fish toast a variety of hot cakes and in the Southern States hominy and rice cooked in various ways and several kinds of hot bread."

"chicory dealer chicory There are three kinds of coffee for sale The Arabian or Mocha which is the best It has a small yellow bean The Java and East Indian the second in quality has a larger bean and is of a paler yellow color than the Mocha The West Indian Rio has a bluish or greenish tint."

"The Preparation of Coffee
Previous to roasting the coffee wash the grains and dry them on a pan placed near the fire or in a cool oven While roasting stir them constantly that all may be equally brown Some persons think the aroma more agreeable when the heat is not greater than is sufficient to impart a light brown color to the bean Others prefer the coffee roasted to a dark brown but carefully avoid burning it In order to prevent the blunders of servants in roasting coffee many housekeepers buy it already scorched and ground as it is now so generally prepared by dealers in coffee."

"M Soyer's mode of making coffee is an original one and one worthy of note. He puts the dry coffee in the pot stirs it while heating then pours the boiling water over it which is a quart to one ounce of coffee and sets the pot where it will keep hot but not boil It stands ten minutes when it is ready for drinking Where eream cannot be had boiled milk serves well as a substitute in making a good cup of coffee Cafi au lait is made by nearly filling a cup with boiled milk sweetening to the taste and flavoring with coffee The following receipt by M Roques makes a delightful beverage for breakfast during the heat of the summer Cafe d la Crime frappt de glace Make an infusion of strong Mocha coffee put it in a china bowl sweeten it agreeably to your taste and add to it an equal quantity of boiled milk or a third of rich cream surround the bowl with broken ice and let it stand till icy cold In Germany and France the coffee is prepared at the table by the ladies by pouring boiling water over it and letting it drain a few minutes in a machine for the purpose care being taken to drain it slowly through a sieve and tissue paper."

"In preparing Chocolate for family use cut off about two inches of the cake to one quart of water stir it first in a little cold water till it is soft then pour on the boiling water After it has boiled a short time add a pint of milk boil up and serve Sweeten to taste."

"Here is breakfast ready laid Imprimis tea and coffee second dry toast third butter fourth eggs fifth ham sixth something potted seventh bread salt mustard knives forks etc One of the first things that belong to breakfast is a good fire There is a delightful mixture of the lively and snug in coming down into one's breakfast room of a cold morning and finding every thing prepared for us a blazing grate clean table cloth and tea things newly washed faces and combed heads of a set of good humored urchins and the solo empty chair ready for its occupant Leigh Hunt "