What's+Cooking

=What's Cooking: Food of the time=

 Before the advent of central heating, the kitchen played an even more central role in the house as the source of both sustenance and warmth. It was also a very important place for homemakers, who were likely to be found here at any hour of the day preparing meals without many of the labour-saving devices -- such as refrigerators, gas stoves, and microwave ovens -- that we now take for granted. || ||  While the coal-fired range was much more dangerous and laborious than its modern equivalent, it was absolutely essential to the Victorian household. The integral appliance functioned not only as a cooker, boiler, and toaster, but also as a means of heating the home and providing hot water for bathing. If not properly tended, the engine of the house could explode without warning, and its highly inefficient design required it be fed coal 24 hours a day, since as much of seven-eighths of its heat went up the chimney. Maintaining the infernal beast was more of an art than a science, as it featured no dials for adjusting its temperature, and the most accurate way to check the heat was to put one's hand inside. || Click on this link to se a modern woman struggle with a 1900 stove: []
 * **__The kitchen __**
 * **__Cooking and the stove __**

Click on this link to see a modern woman try to cook a cake in 1900: [] ||  Today, ice comes in convenient little cubes straight out of the freezer, but in 1900, it had to be lugged in huge blocks from arctic climes by ship. While refrigeration had begun to revolutionize food storage by the turn of the 20th century, it was still a pricey, high-tech wonder out of reach for most middle-class homes. Food preservatives, plastic wrap, and Tupperware were still years away, so nearly anything edible would go bad within a few days. Victorians slowed spoilage by placing food in "larders" (pantries) with marble shelves cooled by bowls of cold water. ||  ||  Without refrigerators, Victorians couldn't keep very much food in the house, so did they go shopping every day? Actually, they did. Luckily, butchers, bakers and green grocers were plentiful on the average suburban block, and many brought their wares right to their customers' front doors. That covers food, but how did they shop for clothes, appliances and furniture in an age when only the upper class owned automobiles? Mail-order companies, the shopping malls of 1900, could deliver nearly every item required in the home. || ||  Vegetarians were considered rather eccentric in Victorian times, since meat was the only practical means of nourishment. The staple food of the middle class was cheap cuts of meat that served as the centrepiece of nearly every dish, from casseroles and stews to beef tea and beef broth --a purported elixir for illness. Eggs were prohibitively expensive for those who didn't keep their own chickens, but canned fruits and vegetables were becoming more popular, as was spaghetti, an easy-to-prepare Italian dish that could provide sustenance without meat. ||
 * **__Food storage __**
 * **__Shopping __**
 * __**The 1900 diet** __

Click on this link to see what a modern boy thinks about the sort of food people ate in 1900: [] ||

=**The 1900-1909 PANTRY. **=

 **__1900-1909 NEW COOKING GADGETS__**  Egg beater with perforated blades  Thermos bottle  Bakelite handles

 **__1900-1909 VICTORIAN RECIPES.__**

· __<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bombay Pudding. __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Cook a heaped tablespoon of semolina in ½ pint of mild to a stiff paste. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Spread it on a plate to cool. (Smooth it neatly with a knife.) · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When quite cold, cut it into four. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Dip in a beaten egg and fry brown. Serve hot with lemon sauce. This may also be served as a savoury dish with parsley sauce. This will serve two people.

__<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Apple Charlotte. __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Ingredients: Apples, castor sugar, grated lemon rind, butter, bread-crumbs. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grease a pie-dish. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Put in a thin layer of crumbs. On this dot a few small pieces butter. Over this put a generous layer of chopped apple. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Sprinkle with sugar and grated lemon rind. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Repeat the process until the dish is full. Top with crumbs. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Bake from 20 minutes to half an hour. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">When done, turn out on to dish, being careful not to break. Sprinkle a little castor sugar over. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Serve hot or cold. Boiled custard may be served with it.

__<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Ling. __ <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Ingredients. - Ling (a type of fish), breadcrumbs, herbs, butter, pepper and salt. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Wash the fish and cut it in slices. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Butter a shallow dish, put in some breadcrumbs, and lay over the slices of fish. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Season well with herbs, pepper, and salt, and add a little vinegar and water. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cover with a layer of crumbs, put small pieces of butter over the top, and bake in a slow oven from ¾ to 1 hour.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"> __Cheese Straws__ · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Roll piecrust dough the same thickness as for pies. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Cut in strips from six to ten inches wide and cut the strips into straws or sticks a quarter of an inch in width. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Lay upon baking sheets, leaving a space between the straws a third the width of the straws. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Grate rich cheese, season to taste with salt and red pepper and scatter thickly over the straws and the spaces between them. · <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">Put in the oven where the greatest heat will be at the top and bake ten or fifteen minutes. · <span style="font-family: Calibri,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 1.5;">Cut the cheese in the centre of the spaces between the straws, remove from the baking sheet with a limber knife and pile on a plate.

Breville Wok Cooking