Ask me anything! The Mrs Beeton bible!

loumac

Ha, I feel I have just discovered the answer to everything!

My mother has today found out and donated to me a 1963 edition of 'Mrs Beeton's Everyday Cookery'.

There's a whole chapter on 'The housewife' - best quote so far "home-making must always rank as one of the most honourable and most rewarding occupations of all". Ha, I need to work a lot on that one!

Though I'm sure Martin would like this one:
"the housewife who does not make the effort to balance the domestic budget properly is, to put it bluntly, neglecting her most vital task".

A further chapter is on 'The kitchen' outlining all the utensils you should own. Genius!

Oh and so many fabulous recipes! I just don't know where to start. I'm tempted to try 'jugged rabbit'!!

lil_me

I bet that is an interesting read, what does it to sugest for yorkshire puddings, my DP is always going on about them always being better when older people made them so I might need to try an old recipe!

Thistle-down

I have that book - it is so helpful, usually the one I turn to first!! My dh's mother got hers when she was first married and it was the only cookbook she had for years. I coveted hers but she wasn't giving it up so I found a second-hand copy on ebay and am so glad I did!

It seems to cover just about everything!!

Ebany

I also have a copy of this that I found on the second hand book stall at the local market for £5 - featuring an inscription 'For Mummy and Daddy, with love and best wishes for *something I cant make out*. Happy Christmas, From Shirley'

I'm not sure when its from as I can't find a date anywhere, though its got loads of adverts for products of the day which I find quite fascinating to look at. I haven't tried any of the recipies yet as I have been more interested in just seeing the differences between then and now - I have picked it up and turned to a page with pictures including 'The Dean gas-operates washing machine, showing wringer in position'. I think what I find most strange is thinking that this isnt going back a long way, this was all new fangled stuff to my grandparents (I wish they were still around to talk to about all this as I find it so interesting!) but to me it looks so old. Technology is moving so fast.

According to the front page this features a section on the art of "using up" so I should clearly pay it much more attention! I have just come across a wonderful sounding recipie for stewed sheeps trotters that I just can't want to try :eek:

Ebany

lil_me wrote:

I bet that is an interesting read, what does it to sugest for yorkshire puddings, my DP is always going on about them always being better when older people made them so I might need to try an old recipe!

Yorkshire Pudding:
Ingedients - 1 pint milk, 2 eggs, 4 heaped tablespoonfuls of flour, a little fine salt and some good dripping.

Method - Put the flour and a good pinch of salt into a basin, make a well in the centre, break in the eggs, stir gradually, mixing in the flour from the sides, and add milk by degrees until a thick, smooth batter is formed. Now beat well for about 10 minutes, then add the remainder of the milk, cover, and let it stand for at least 1 hour.

When ready to use, cover the bottom of a pudding-tin with a thin layer of dripping taken from the meat-tin, and while the tin and dripping are getting thoroughly hot in the oven, give the batter another good beating. Bake the pudding for about 10 minutes in a hot oven partially to cook the bottom, or, if more convenient, place the hottest shelf from the oven on the meat-stand, and at once put the pudding in front of the fire, and cook it until set and well browned.

"Yorkshire" pudding is always cooked infront of the fire; when baked in the oven, the term "batter pudding" is applied to it by the people in the county whence it derives its name. This pudding is frequently served with gravy, and, as a rule, before the meat.

(Sufficient for 5 or 6 portions)

Thats what she has to say on the matter in my copy. Don't think I'll be putting mine in front of the fire though...

ChocClare

I have a great copy of Mrs Beeton dating from the beginning of the First World War which my great-aunt gave me (it wasn't hers originally - she volunteers for Oxfam and bought it for me because she thought it would interest me). Again, the ads are absolutely brilliant, as are the references to mysterious things like "spirits of wine" (which I think is methylated spirit or white spirit) and cleaning things with brick dust (always readily available in our house, as you may imagine). Long, long sections on the selection, training and supervision of servants - very useful! Advice on "marketing" - buy your eggs in the summer when they are cheap and plentiful and do xyz to preserve them. The most poignant thing for me was the chapter on the home nurse, talking about the care of your children when they are poorly - with pages and pages on the best way to care for your child when s/he has diphtheria... so easy to forget just how easy we have it these days... However, also great chapters on food, menu planning etc. (though they seem to have eaten HUGE amounts of food - I suppose you needed to, with no central heating and having to walk everywhere) and a surprisingly "modern" attitude to "foreign" food - again, whole chapters devoted to cuisine from different countries, implying a cosmopolitan attitude to the whole eating experience which I really didn't think existed in England in those times! I find myself reading mine just for the social history! My friend has a 1950s version which I think must be the same as Ebany's - lots of recipes for using up leftovers for that thrifty post-war housewife - great stuff.

Ebany

Another passage that I think is just wonderful, who wants a house like this:

Mrs_Beeton wrote:

The Labour Saving House

Unfortunately, even now, very few houses are built on labour-saving lines; in fact, the architect (perhaps because he is a man!) seems to go out of his way to make things as difficult as possible for the poor housewife and cook. Some day, perhaps, the dream of every labour saving housewife may be realised. Then we shall see a house with kitchen and scullery combined, the walls white-tiled, and the floor of rubber composition, soft to the feet, and easy to keep clean. There will be no decorative and unnecessary mouldings or fittings on which dust would collect; walls, floor and ceiling will be swilled down with a hose, a drain in one corner carrying off the water. Fittings and furniture will be of white enamel and as compact as possible. The table-top and sink will be of white porcelain, and adjustable to the height of the worker. To economise space, the dresser and cupboards will be built into the wall, and will have glass doors so that articles may be found at a clance. They will be conveniently placed so as to save the housewife all unnecessary steps while preparing a meal. Coke or gas will provide a constant hot water supply, electricity or gas will cook, electricity will wash up, clean metal ware, peel potatoes; in fact, do all the drudgery.

Lifts and trolleys will relieve servants of most of the carrying. Every bedroom, besides having hot and cold water laid on, will have its gas-fire or electric radiator, cooker, boiler and toaster, telephone, electric clock, wireless and television set.

Electric vacuum cleaners, sweepers and scrubbers will make the housemaids work a sinecure. Besides all this, there will be no basement kitchens and few houses of more than two storeys.

Much of what she hoped for we have, though I doubt we would trust the cleaning power of 'swilling down' the kitchen, even if we could! Not sure how much I fancy having a cooker in the bedroom either, though I suspect my husband would like it! I do like the idea of height adjustable sinks though, it would take away his excuse for not doing any washing up! (Hes 6'6 and says he has to bend uncomfortably)

lil_me

Brilliant, I might have to invest in a copy.

I agree about the sinks, DP is same height and that has been one of his excuses for washing up twice since we met over 9 years ago.

Smiley_Mum

Aren't Marks & Spencers selling Mrs Beeton books for £5 each, 3 for 2 just now as well I think.

http://www.marksandspencer.com/Search/MNSSearchESP.process?query=mrs+beeton&SearchAction=Basic&var=stemming&stemming=true&var=num_rows&num_rows=50&var=query.message&error_query=Go+back+and+enter+some+words+to+search+for.&RowsPerPage=50&prod_attrib=1&RestartFlow=t

Waterstones have a good selection of her books too...

http://www.waterstones.com/waterstonesweb/simpleSearch.do?searchMode=1&searchType=0&simpleSearchString=Mrs%20Beeton&sort=REQUEST_SORT_SELLING_PRICE|REQUEST_SORT_DIRECTION_ASC

Ebay...

http://search.ebay.co.uk/mrs-beeton-s

Smiley_Mum

Mrs Beeton online...

http://www.exclassics.com/beeton/beetintr.htm

cuddlymarm

Hi:wave:

I was given a copy of Mrs Beetons Cookery and Household Management as an engagement present (been married 23 years now). The covers is a bit dog eared now but although I've bought and received loads of cookery books over the years still tend to use this most (mainly for cakes I must say and I tend to use the recipes as a starter and alter them depending on what is in the cupboard)

Mine has been invaluable over the years and even has some memories (such as the worlds heaviest Christmas cake I made the first year we were married.
My brother-in-law sat and politely waded his way through a piece of cake because he didn't want to upset me. (It tasted OK it was just so heavy that you could only eat a tiny bit without feeling stuffed) I still don't know what went wrong with it.

Anyway as I said mine has earned its cost many times over.:rotfl: :rotfl: