Farmhouse Breakfast Week!

It's Farmhouse Breakfast Week! Visit http://www.shakeupyourwakeup.com/ to find out more.

There are many variations on the history of the cooked British breakfast, which really began to evolve in the 19^th century. Mrs.Beeton cites anything from boiled eggs, potato bread, broiled mushrooms, to potted hare, broiled pheasant and partridge as dishes to be eaten at breakfast. And here is one of her recipes for fried ham and eggs:

'Cut the ham into slices, and take care that they are of the- same thickness in every part. Cut off the rind, and if the ham should be particularly hard and salt, it will be found an improvement to soak it for about 10 minutes in hot water, and then dry it in a cloth. Put it into a cold frying-pan, set it over the fire, and turn the slices 3 or 4 times whilst they are cooking. When done, place them on a dish, which should be kept hot in front of the fire during the time the eggs are being poached. Poach the eggs, slip them on to the slices of ham, and serve quickly. Time.— 7 or 8 minutes to broil the ham'.

According to the 1900 edition of British Popular Customs Present and Past, people from the Isle of Man (Manks) traditionally ate Sollaghyn for breakfast, which was a type of porridge.

Common-sense Papers on Cookery by A. G. Payne written in 1877 talks at length about the many variations of bacon and egg breakfasts and the benefits of adding sausages to the plate.

'The great advantage in making sausages at home

is, first and principally, that you know what is in

them; secondly, that you can flavour them to suit

your taste.'

To make your own sausages in the early 1900s you could have used one of these from the Museum of Kitchenalia

Post 1921 meat grinder

© Museum of Kitchenalia

You may well also have a cruet set like this on the table to season your breakfast.

Cruet Set circa 1890s

© Museum of Kitchenalia

And for the strong armed, one of these Marmalade Cutters would provide you with all the shredded citrus you need for your toast.

Follows & Bate, 'Rapid' Marmalade Cutter, circa 1920-1936

 

© Museum of Kitchenalia

 

 

 

 

 

Types of Kitchens

Whilst most of us associate the history of the British kitchen with those that we visit on display in large historic houses or dramatised in period dramas on television. There are many and varied kitchens to be considered. Such as those that can be distinguished between the wealthy and poor, the urban and rural kitchen as well as the armed service kitchens, the Hospital kitchen, public kitchens to serve the poor and the Workhouse kitchens as well as the commercial kitchens in restaurants, factory canteens and other catering establishments. 

The World War One German Prisoner of War camps in Britain  reveal interesting photographic archives, such as those documented at Alexandra Palace, London, some of which are available to view from the collections at the Imperial War Museum, like this photograph from their Air Ministry Collection.

The kitchen at Alexandra Palace internment camp, Imperial War Museum http://www.cabinetwarrooms.org.uk/collections/item/object/205222753)

 

These often forgotten camps; the main ones of which were located at Donnington Hall, Alexandra Palace, Dorchester, Handforth, Lofthouse Park and Eastcote are captured in comprehensive images in the 1916 'German Prisoners in Great Britain',published by Tillotson & Son Ltd.

The British Government's 1824 publication detailing regulations of Barracks, lists the contents of the Officers' Mess Room kitchen including:

One range

One fender

One shovel

One poker

One jack

Two spits

One iron or copper boiler

Basically the bare minimum was available to roast or boil food over an open range.

The Foundling Hospital was a Children's home for unwanted or deserted children, established in 1741. Now a Museum whose collections tell the story of the original Foundling Hospital.  http://www.foundlingmuseum.org.uk/

A report for the Society For Bettering The Condition And Increasing The Comforts Of The Poor details the Foundling kitchen and its fittings that were modified in 1796 by Count Rumford; an Anglo-American Physicist and Inventor, who worked prolifically in the field of kitchen innovation. Best known for the Rumford Fireplace. The kitchen was 17 x 21 feet with two large Rumford iron boilers divided into economic double boilers heated by one small fire and a 5 foot 'roasting machine'. The kitchen at the Foundling became a benchmark for other public industrial kitchens for their ability to remain productive, safe, healthy and economical.

 

Epiphany and Twelfth Night Cake

Yesterday marked Epiphany, or the end of the Christmas season (Twelfth Night) in the Christian calendar. 
Twelfth Cake was once popularly eaten in homes across England after tea to mark the occasion. 
One of the first references to this cake appears in 1774 when a bean and a pea were inserted into the cake. 
Whoever was served the bean and pea were made king and queen for the day, while other friends and family became their maids of honour and ministers of state respectively.

This tradition changed slightly over the years. During the 19th century a wedding ring, thimble and sixpence were stirred into the mixture. Whoever was served these items would either marry, become wealthy or die as a spinster that same year, depending on what they received.

Twelfth Cake was rather similar to what we know as Christmas Cake today and it was heavily iced and ornately decorated. The 19th century Anglo/American cook William Kitchiner wrote a recipe for icing a Twelfth Cake in 1830:

'Icing, for Twelfth or Bride Cake —(No. 84.)

Take one pound of double refined Sugar, pounded

and sifted through a lawn sieve ; — put into a pan

quite free from grease,—break in the whites of six

eggs, and as much powder Blue as will lie on a

sixpence ;— beat it well with a spattle (spatula) for ten minutes,

then squeeze in the juice of a Lemon, and

beat it till it becomes thick and transparent. Set

the cake you intend to Ice, in an oven or warm

place, five minutes, — then spread over the top and

sides with the mixture as smooth as possible ; — if

for a Wedding Cake only, plain Ice it; — if for a

Twelfth Cake, ornament it with Gum Paste, (sugar paste) or fancy

articles of any description.'