Victorian cooking: upperclass dinner (3/4)

In the mid-1870s, the woman of an upper-class household planned lunch and evening meals, but she had a cook to actually do the work for her. Because upper-class families were not doing hard physical labor during the day, their largest meal was served in the evening. When they entertained, they served twelve or thirteen course meals. When they dined alone, they ate five or six courses. An example:

Savory Soup

Roast Turkey with Dressing or Roast Pork with Specialty Potatoes or Chicken Fricassee served with Rice

Two Vegetable Side Dishes

Citrus Ice

Fresh Dinner Rolls with Sweet Cream Butter

Jams, Jellies & Sweet Pickles

Fancy Cake & Preserved Fruit

Coffee, Hot Punch & Water

Usually, one would eat dinner in late afternoon and then supper at early evening, or dinner at early evening and then supper later at night. You could say Supper is the Victorian mid-night snack ;)

Some other food that was used in the Victorian (judging by when these words were first used in the English language,) are: crêpes, consommé, spaghetto, soufflé, bechamel, ice cream, chowder, meringue, bouillabaisse, mayonnaise, grapefruit, eclair, and chips.

Sources:
calacademy.org
The cambridge encyclopedia of the English language, D. Crystal.

This post is part of a series on cooking! Follow the links to see the other posts:
A Victorian Christmas
Victorian cooking
Victorian kitchens
Links to recipes & etiquette

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Victorian cooking (2/4)

Today some random bits ‘n bobs that didn’t fit into the other posts.

Food preservation
Before the Victorian Era, food preservation techniques such as salting, pickling, drying, and smoking had changed little. The theory of canning was first developed in the 18th century with “dried soups” that were made by reducing stocks to a “glue” that could be reconstituted when needed, but they never attained much popularity outside the navy. However, by the 1880s, largely in response to Pasteur’s theories about disease and putrefaction, scientists experimented with chemicals to kill germs and bacteria in food. These early attempts often proved fatal to those who ate the “preserved” food, but legislation to control the use of chemicals for preserving food was not developed until 1901. The first tin cans in which preserved foods were packaged came with the simple instruction, “Cut around the top outer edge with a chisel and hammer.”

The next is taken from this livejournal post, there’s also a few recipes.

Hints for Gentlewoman at Table.
A Gentlewoman being at table abroad or at home must observe to keep her Body straight, and lean not by any means with her Elbows, or by ravenous Gesture discover a voracious appetite; talk not when you have Meat in your Mouth; do not smack like a Pig nor venture to eat spoonmeat so hot that the Tears stand in your Eyes, which his as unseemly as the Gentlewoman who pretended to have as little Stomach as she had Mouth, and therefore would not swallow her Peas by Spoonful, but took them one by one and cut them in two before she would eat them. It is very uncomely to drink so large a Draught that your Breath is almost gone, and are forced to blow strongly to recover yourself, throwing down your Liquor as into a Funnel is an Action fitter for a Juggler than a Gentlewoman. In carving at your own Table distribute the best Pieces first, and it will appear very comely and decent to use a Fork, so touch no piece of Meat without it.

To Extinguish Fire in the Female Dresses
So many fatal Accidents arise from light Dresses catching Fire no Manual for Females is complete without the following cautions.

1st. Let every Female mind be impressed that Flame tends always upward: that she will burn more rapidly if upright than if laid on the Floor.

2nd. Give instant alarm by screaming or pulling the Bell, (which is usually near the fire-place), but if possible avoid opening the door.

3rd. The Alarm should be given while the Female is rolling in the rug, tearing off the burnt clothes, or turning her clothes over her head.

4th. A Man may quickly strip off his coat and wrap it around a Female.

5th. If the Victim cannot save herself entire, let her protect her bosom and the face by crossing her hands and arms over these parts.

6th. A Piece of green or scarlet-baize called a Fire-extinguisher should be in universal Use in Sitting-Rooms and Nurseries, and its Name and use known, although it serve as a Table or Piano-forte Cover.

7th. Let the injured Person have cold Water plentifully pored over them if they cannot be immersed in water till Medical Advice is obtained.

More Victorian recipes

And even more recipes

This post is part of a series on cooking! Follow the links to see the other posts:
A Victorian Christmas
Upperclass dinner
Victorian kitchens
Links to recipes & etiquette

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Why heroines die in classic fiction

Why do heroines die in classic fiction? BBC had doctors analyse the death of Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne, Wuthering Heights’s Catherine, and Bleak House’s Lady Dedlock. Fun!

 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7060533.stm

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Victorian cooking & kitchens (1/4)

      Around 1800 the first stove that was made to cook on was developed by Benjamin Thompson, it was called the Rumford Stove. (Up to 1800, stoves were mostly used for heating, not for cooking.) One fire was used to heat several pots, which hung in the fire through various holes on top of the stove. This stove however was too large for domestic use.
     In 1834 the Oberlin Stove was patented in the US, it was the same technique but made smaller for domestic use. In the following 30 years 90,000 units were sold. During this time, the stoves still worked on wood or coal; while gas was available but it wasn’t used until late in the 19th century.
     Towards the end of the 19th century, more and more houses got water and sewer pipes, and also gas pipes (used for light.) These pipes were later used to provide gas for the first gas stoves (around 1880.)
     In 1893 the first electrical stove was presented in Chicago, but only in 1930 these stoves were advanced enough to be sold for domestic use.
     Because the small houses of the working closses, the kitchen was often used for living and sleeping, and also as a bathing room. (No wonder: due to the stove that was almost constantly on, this room was probably the warmest place in the house!) While pots and kitchenware was usually stored on open shelves in the kitchen, curtains were used to seperate them from the rest of the room.
     Upperclass kitchens were of course the territory of servants only. Gradually, these houses got water pumps, sinks, drains, and sometimes even water on tap. With the closed stoves the kitchen became a cleaner place, because the fire was more restricted.

     During the 19th century, new kitchen appliances were invented and patented, for example the cork-shaper (to shape corks to fit into different bottles,) the can-opener and the corkshrew

An exhibition of kitchen wares.

This post is part of a series on cooking! Follow the links to see the other posts:
A Victorian Christmas
Upperclass dinner
Victorian cooking
Links to recipes & etiquette

Read Full Post »

Victor Horta, architect of the Art Nouveau

The architect that most accurately captures the spirit of the Art Nouveau (or Jugendstil) is, in my opinion, Victor Horta. Horta was born in 1861 in Ghent (Belgium) and started his carreer as a interior designer in Montmartre, Paris. After his father’s death he moved to Brussels, where he graduated at the Academy of Arts and received his first gold medal for his art.
A year after graduating he started his own bureau, entered many contests and networked a lot, which paid off because Horta became a very popular artist. His design for the Hotel Tassel in 1893 is generally seen as the start of the Art Nouveau. He introduced many new concepts in architecture, which are still used today, for example the bel étage and the soutterain.

Due to copyright issues, not a lot of Horta architecture pictures are online (and you can’t take pictures in the museum!) So if you’re ever visiting Brussels, checking out some Horta buildings will be definately worth the effort!

The famous staircase in Hotel Tassel

The entrance of the Hotel Tassel

Rue Americaine

The website of the Horta museum, with lots of info.

The Lifejournal community for Art Nouveau

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victorian prints & photographs

I wish to write something awe-inspiring and insightful, but I’m really tired. Maybe you’re really tired too, and just feel like flipping through pictures. Here are some of my favourite sites with Victorian prints and photographs. And I promise a decent update for sunday ;)

Victorian photographs

the 100 year old photo group on Flickr.

The database of mid-Victorian wood engravings.

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other blogs

My favourite posts from fellow bloggers this week.

Kaori writes on the harmony of colour in the 19th century

Victorians knew drama (the elections of 1800)

Please please please don’t click this at work! Victorian-style erotic clipart.

Amanda writes about another time I’m a big fan of: the 1920s

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19th century tattoos?

You might think tattoos are a 20th century thing, at least in the west. It isn’t! In 1862 the Prince of Wales, later to become king Edward VII (he was the son of queen Victoria!) received his first tattoo, a Jerusalem cross made by Francois Souwan, while he visited Jerusalem. He was then around 18 or 20 years old, and send to the East by Victoria, who seemed to have not been particularly fond of her dandy son.
While most British ports had had professional tattoo artists in residence since the 18th century, Edwards tattoo started a fad among aristocracy. In 1882, Edward’s sons, the Duke of Clarence and the Duke of York (George V,) were tattood by the Japanese tattooist Hoti Chiyo, George V received a tattoo of a dragon on his arm. Later on the prince received more tattoos, by Tom Riley and Sutherland Macdonals.
Prince George (Edward’s son) wrote in a letter “we have been tattooed by the same old man who tattooed papa, and the same thing too, five crosses. You ask Papa to show you his arm.” (This contradicts the BBC source at the end of this article.)

All the 19th century dictionaries and encyclopaedias suggest that among Europeans tattooing was confined to seamen, and sometimes soldiers. The first permanent tattoo shop in new york city was set up in 1846 and began a tradition by tattooing military servicemen from both sides of the civil war. Samuel o’Reilly invented the electric tattooing machine in 1891.
In 1861 French naval surgeon Maurice Berchon published a study on the medical complications of tattooing and after this, the navy and army banned tattooing within their ranks.

Another 19th century thing is people who claim to have been unwillingly tattood, for example John Rutherford who arrived on the exhibition scene in 1827 with a full Maori Moko tattoo on his face. He made quite a profit from telling how he was captured and tattood by force.

Sadly, none of the British princes seems to have been keen on showing off their tats in public. The only pictures of 19th century tattoos I could find are these, but please click at risk, as these have been removed from the rest of the body:
It made me a little queasy.

Disclaimer: the issue of tattoos, being something of the body, is not very well documented in contemporary sources. All info in this post was found on the net, I only included what seemed to make sense but keep in mind there are no ‘official’ sources!
I found this on the BBC website, which I consider a fairly academic source:
During the 19th Century leading figures in society criticised the practice, associating it with the rough life of sailors, port towns and prostitutes.
However in 1882 King George V was given a large dragon tattoo on his arm on a visit to Japan.
In 1900, it was estimated that 90% of all sailors in the US Navy were tattooed, while the Second World War saw a surge in patriotic tattoos among servicemen

Edit: Commenter Elisabeth linked me to a forum where some excellent research was done on Victorian tattoos, and a picture was found showing Nicolas II with a tattoo, from the 1890s. You can read all about it, here.

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Victorian spooky stuff!

Everyone likes Victorian creepy stuff right? These are my favourite resources right now:

A blog researching the truth behind Dracula.

A blog on ghost stories in general, I’m linking you to a 19th century ghost story.

A new blog, researching Dracula and Bram Stoker. It looks promising!

I eagerly wait for the day that I get my first google hit for ‘Victorian Dead Babies’. Anyway, that’s what’s on the page, please check it out at risk.

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Victorian men’s wear: fall front trousers

I first saw this kind of trousers at my job, sorting costumes, and I thought it was pretty smart. They are called ‘fall front trousers,’
‘drop front trousers,’ or sometimes ‘flap pants.’ Zippers were not in use in the nineteenth century, and having a button front closure on trousers might have been seen as uncomfortable or not elegant enough, the trousers were closed with a ‘flap’ which buttons on the sides or top. Under the flap, the waistband has a front closure so you can open the flap without dropping trou (convenient, convenient.) The pockets are also located under the flap. Trousers like this were worn from the French Revolution onwards (1790s), around 1840 the centered trouser closure was introduced but for a long time the two styles existed simultaneously.



Picture credit to vintagetextiles.com

My very favourite emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was a big fan.

Now you might think, I want one of those! Luckily, Marc Jacobs thinks they’re very sexy too:

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