Victorian Miscellany



	Copyright-Information may be used freely, however, permission must be obtained from Widow Rumble before reprinting anything found in this web site.

	See below for receipts for a period meal and hints to help create the dishes of the period.

	WIDOW RUMBLE'S FAVORITE SOAP RECIPE

	This recipe is a basic cold process soap which when made correctly has excellent results. After a few attempts which failed research indicated although the recipe (and many others) say add the lye to cold water this should not be taken literally When lye is added to water that is too cold it does not heat sufficiently for the saponification process.

	3 quarts bacon drippings or lard
	l quart "cold" water
	l can (l2 oz.) Red Devil Lye
	(Unless you have an ash hopper and access to large quantities of ashes prepared lye is the only way!)

	In a cast iron dutch oven OR porcelain pot add the lye to water (luke warm). Use a wooden spoon to stir. Add this slowly and stir until the water has cleared. Slowly add the fat which has been heated to the approximate same temperature and stir. This will begin to take on a creamy consistency. Continue to stir until you get to the trace stage (when droplets dropped into the pot leave a mark). At this point pour up into glass, wooden, or plastic molds and let set 24 hours. Cut into bars then allow to cure approximately l to 2 weeks.

	WHITE SOAP

	This recipe is from Godey's Ladies' Book August 1862

	"White Soap.-Take a pound box (a sheet-iron, not a tin one) of the Concentrated Lye, knock off the lid carefully, and throw box and contents into one gallon of boiling water. Next morning add two gallons more, and when the whole is boiling, throw into it four and a half pounds of clean fat; boil gently for two hours and ten minutes, then sprinkle into it a half pint of salt, and boil for thirty-five minutes longer; add a half gallon of hot water, and boil again for ten minutes; then pour it into a wet tub or box. The next morning cut the soap into cakes with a twine.

	The quality of the soap will be improved by the addition of a quarter of a pound of powdered borax.

	The soap should be allowed to harden before using; turn over the cakes and expose them to the air to promote the drying."

	To Season Earthenware and Iron

	This also comes from Godey's Aug. 1862. I add this here because as all Southern cooks know properly seasoned cast iron cookware is a MUST in any kitchen!!

	"It is a good plan to put new earthenware into cold water, letting it heat gradually till it boil, then letting it cool. Brown earthenware especially may be toughened in this way. A little rye or wheat bran, thrown in while it is boiling, will preserve the glazing from being injured by acid or salt. New iron should be gradually heated at first, as it is apt to crack."

	Widow Rumble's note: Never cook in cast iron until it has been properly seasoned. Clean and dry thoroughly. Use lard OR shortening to grease the pan. NEVER use oil, butter, or margerine. Put the pan in the oven or over the fire and heat. Use a cloth or paper towel to wipe clean. This will keep the pan from sticking when used, and will not allow rust to form. Re-season as needed to keep in good condition.

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	*PERIOD FOODS*

	One of my special interests is period foods, and ways to present them. My cookbook collection includes a few originals and several reprints. Below you will find receipts which readily lend themselves to a camp setting and a few hints to ensure that they are accurately duplicated using today's ingredients. - Widow Rumble

	Gill.....................4 fl. oz. (2 gills = l/2 pint)
	Pint....................l6 fl. oz.
	Tumbler.............l cup OR l/2 pint
	Tea cup.............l/2 fl. oz.
	Wine cup...........2 fl. oz.
	l small OR teaspoon = l/8 fl. oz.
	l large OR Tablespoon = l/2 fl. oz.
	Wheat flour. l lb. is l quart
	Indian Meal. l lb. 2 oz. are l quart
	Butter. When soft l lb. is l pint
	Loaf sugar, broken, l lb. is l quart
	White sugar, powdered, l lb. l oz. = l quart
	Ten eggs = l lb.
	Flour. 8 quarts are l peck. 4 pecks are l bushel.
	l6 large tablespoons = l/2 pint
	8 large tablespoons = l gill
	l lb. sugar/flour is 3 l/4 cups
	Wine glass = 2 to 4 oz.
	One package gelatin soaked in cold water = l oz. Isinglass

	Flour: Flour from the 1860's was low in gluten. Bleached flour is recommended, and search from available brands for the lowest percentage of gluten. The color of period flour can be duplicated by adding l to 2 tablespoons of whole wheat flour per cup of white flour.

	Meal: Research indicates yellow corn was used in the North, and white corn was used in the South. Both diaries and cookbooks seem to support this. White stone ground meal is satisfactory in duplicating period receipts. Meal is often referred to in period receipts as Indian meal.

	Sugar: Sugar commonly came in large cones which was crushed or cut with sugar nippers. Southerners were reluctant to purchase "pulverized" sugar because it often contained plaster of paris or other foreign substances as fillers. Light brown sugar is an acceptable substitute for sugar as is unrefined sugar, honey or sorghum.

Milk: Half and half will successfully replace the cream lost in processing milk today.

Flavoring: Nutmeg and mace were very popular. Mace is the red outer membrane on the nutmeg. Every kitchen had a nutmeg grater and all good cooks knew that in order to preserve the nutmeg it was grated from the small end because if the other end was grated first it allowed air to enter and the unused portion would deteriorate faster. Also popular were citrus and rose water.

Some of my favorite period recipes are given below. All may be prepared with success, and if ingredients are kept in period containers, and the food is served in period containers they will add greatly to a civilian impression.
Receipts are given exactly as found in the books and sources are listed at the end of the list.

FRIED CABBAGE: Get a firm white head, trim off the outer leaves, and cut the cabbage fine from the stalk; rinse it in cold water, put it into a pan with very little water, salt, pepper and enough lard or butter to season it well; cover the pan and fry it till it is done, raising the lid and stirring frequently.

REPUBLICAN PUDDING: Take one cup of soft boiled rice, a pint of milk, a cup of sugar, three eggs, and a piece of butter the size of an egg. Serve with sauce.

WINE SAUCE FOR PUDDING: Fill a teacup with brown sugar. Pour as much wine upon it as it will hold. Melt it with a little butter, nutmeg, cinnamon stirred in.

INDIAN BREAD: One quart of buttermilk, one quart of corn meal, one quart of coarse flour, one cup of molasses, and a little soda and salt.
(Widow Rumble's note-this makes about 3 loaves of bread. Bake the equivalent of 350 deg.)

CROQUETTES: Take 2 lbs. of veal or chicken, parboil it, mince it as fine as possible; add two tablespoons of butter, two three ounce eggs, with mace, pepper, salt and a little onion, parsley, and two or three tablespoons rich cream. Mix all these ingredients together, form them in shapes, coat them with cracker crumbs, and fry them light brown.

PORK AND APPLE FRITTERS: Prepare a light batter, freshen or use cold boiled or baked pork; cut it fine enough for hash, and fry it a little to extract some of the fat for frying the fritters. Peel sour apples, and cut or chop them not quite as fine as the pork; mix first the pork then the apples in the batter and fry them brown.

FRITTERS: Make a nice batter of sweet rich milk, add salt. To every quart of milk allow three eggs beat separately. Mix in first the yolks and after the flour the whites. Boil in hot lard. The batter should be just stiff enough to drop in without flying in pieces. Dip the spoon in the lard before putting it in the batter. Serve as soon as boiled. Some use sweet cider and sugar but the best sauce for them is maple syrup. They should be fried in a deep spider.

LEMON DROPS: Boil clarified syrup to the sixth degree, flavor with lemon, and drop the candy in small drops on buttered paper, and let it remain on the paper till hard.
(Widow Rumble's note - the U. S. Sanitary Commission issued lemon drops to soldiers to help prevent scurvy).

POTATO PUMPKIN: Potato pumpkin when large and ripe, is very good, tasting much like the sweet potato, and can be kept well through the winter, put up in a dry place, and covered securely with fodder or shucks. They may be dressed with various receipts I have just given for winter
squash.
(Widow Rumble's note - potato pumpkins are large crook-necked pumpkins of light color with green stripes. They are also called cutshaws and are available in the fall along with other pumpkins. They are delicious when prepared like candied sweet potatoes).

MASHED TURNIPS: Boil them as before [for boiled turnips], mash them fine, put the pulp into a pan with a small lump of butter, some pepper and salt, stir it till it is well mixed with the seasonings, and serve it up; make it smooth in the dish and spot it over at intervals with black pepper.

HAM PATTIES: Boil some potatoes. Mash them as if for the table omitting the salt. Chop very fine some pieces of cold ham. Stir it into the potatoe, make into patties and fry a rich brown. This is a nice breakfast dish.

ESSENCE OF CELERY: Steep an ounce of celery seed in a half pint of brandy or vinegar. A few drops of this will give a fine flavor to soups or sauce for fowls.

SWEET POTATO PIE: Boil the potatos very soft, then peel and mash them. To every quarter of pound put one quart of milk, three tablespoons of butter, and four beaten eggs, together with sugar and nutmeg to taste. It is improved with a glass of wine.

MEAT BALLS: A savory way of preparing meat is in the form of meat balls thus made: Put cold boiled or raw beef or pork chopped fine into a dish with eggs-one to each half pound of meat. Add crumbs of light bread, soaked and mashed fine, and a couple of medium sized chopped onions (may be omitted if not liked). Season to taste with salt; if meat is fresh pepper, nutmeg and allspice. Form into egg shaped balls with the hand. If too moist to form well, add a little flour and fry in plenty of lard.

COLD SLAW: Cut the cabbage very fine, dissolve in a cup of vinegar a teaspoon of sugar, the same of salt, add a little pepper; pour it over the cabbage and add another half cup of vinegar.

BOILED RICE: Wash the rice clean, and put it in cold water; when it boils, throw it off and add more; let it boil until nearly tender and the water about evaporated, then salt it; stir in milk and let it simmer until done. Be careful not to break the kernels more than is necessary. If it burns it is ruined. Serve with sour wine or sweet sauce, it is also good with butter and sugar, maple syrup or sweetened cream. Raisins may be added.

For further reading please refer to:
The Kentucky Housewife, 1839, by Lettuce Bryan, University of S. C. Press.
Confederate Receipt Book, A Compilation of Over One Hundred Receipts, Adapted to the Times, printed 1863. University of GA Press. (Widow Rumble's note-this was the only cookbook known to have been published in the South during the war years. It contains as many substitutions for items not available in a blockaded South as it does actual receipts.)
An Antebellum Plantation Household Including the South Carolina Low Country Receipts and Remedies of Emily Wharton Sinkler, l855. University of SC Press.
Housekeeper's Encyclopedia, 1861, New York
The Robert E. Lee Family Cooking and Housekeeping Book, Anne Carter Zimmer (Widow Rumble's note - Ms. Zimmer is Gen. Lee's great granddaughter. Mrs. Zimmer has not only supplied us with the favorite receipts of the Lee family, but also modern versions of the recipes which make them incredibly easy to produce.)
The Confederate Housewife - John Hammond Moore.
(Mr. Moore compiled this book from receipts found in various newspapers and publications from the times. They are all of Southern origin and there are many ersatz items contained in the volume as well.)
Housekeeping in Old Virginia, 1879. (Widow Rumble's note - This wonderful book is one of my treasured originals. It contains receipts, housekeeping tips, remedies, and much more.)



	To exchange information in my parlor - Widow Rumble