HOUSEKEEPING IN THE OLD DAYS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 43, 6 March 1937, Page 17

HOUSEKEEPING IN THE OLD DAYS

1 8th CENTURY RECIPES

Mrs. Raffald's Book

J^ONG BEFORE the days of Mrs. Beeton there had been many famous English housewives, though what was the earli.est work in our language on the culinary art I do not know, writes a corfespondent in the London Observer. Certainly among the earliest, however, was "The Experienced English House keeper, ' ' first published in 1709, the work of Elizabeth Raffald, sometime in the eervice of Lady Elizabeth Warburton, Born a't Doncaster in 1733, she en- . cred the Warburton service at Arley tiall, in Cheshire. There, head cook and housekeeper, she changed her xnaidea name of Whitaker and married the head gardbner, John Raifald. They moved to Manchester, where in the intervals of producing and caring for no i'ewer than sixteen children, all daughtersfl in tho tughteen years that elapsed before her death at forty-eight in 1781 she prepared and published tke book above-mentioned. It coii3isted ' ' of near nino hundred original recipes, most of which never appeared in print before," and by 1799 had reachod il>twelfth edition. • But this is by no means all of Mrs. Raffald's achievement. She ran a* confectioner 's shop, was hostese of the King's Head at tiaii'ord, published Ihe lirst Manchester and Salfoxd directory, opened the first registry oifice there for servaiits, wrote regulnrly for tho local papers on domestic matters, and constantly gave demonstrations and delivered lectureB on cookory and housnhold economy. Just before her early death, Mrs. Raffald was eollaborating with Charles White, a famous gynaecologist of the period, upon a manual on midwifery, a branch of medical science of whiqh she had certainly considerable I practical expbrieixcel "I have mad© it my study," wTites Elizabeth Raffald, "to pleaee both thfl

eye and the palate., without using por- ' nicious things fdr the sake o£ beauty." All who abhor the synthetic and love the natural will approve that sentiment, thoagh another of her introduetory sentences may Le more controver sial. This is: — "I am not afraid of being called extravagant, if my reader does not thlnk I have orred on the iragal side." Gastxonomy loomed large ixi the .days of Parson Woodforde. The hjgher the social scale, the more elaborttte the meals servecl. INobody could accuHe the author of imduo parsimoxxy. Her recipes have u largoness aboxxt them that nxakes us eixvious — as, for exaxuple, in the making of rice cake. This rcads:— Take iii'teen eggs, leave out one half of the whitcs, beat them exeoed ing well near an hour with a whisk, then beat the yolka half-au-hour, pul to your yolks ten ouncos of loaf sugar sifted fine, beat it well in, thexi put in half a pound of rice flotlr, a little orange water or brandy, then put in' your whites, beat them well together for a quarter of an hour. then put them in a hoop and set them in- a quick oven for half an hour. Time and cost 6eem to have been nothing aceounted of in the household oi Lady Warburton! The first fourteen pages of the work i aro devoted to soups. Elizabeth is par- ► tial to onxons and peas. For the former

i,t is desirable the main iugredient ehould be washed three times in milk and water and then rubbed tlxrough a hair sieve. A chopped up cockerel, haif-a-pint of cream, and asparagus are other requisites before "Onion Soup" is ready for the quality above stairs. Turning to fish, the initial recipe given is to "dress a turtle of an hun-dred-weight"! This occupies four full pages, the whole subdivided into a top dish, a bottom dish, and four cornex dishes, and must Ixave taken even tho experienced housekeeper quite a while to prepare for table. The xngredients include a galloix or so of Madoira, "half-a-pint of essence of ham, if you have it." mushrooms and oysters by the score. Having deuit adequately with marino delicacies from "boiling Pike with a pudding in his belly". to pxckling shrimps and frying the humble herring. Elizabeth begins " Observations on Roasting and Boiling," with a few notee by way of preface on tlxe correet way to "stick a pig," after whicb tlie reader is given full measure of tho yarious ways of sorving fish and fowl — -inclnding ruffs and rees, birds only met with in Lincolnshire. , "The best way is to feed them with white brcad boiled in milk. They must have separate pots, as two will not eat out of one." A "Hunting Pudding" is the nearest she gets to what W6 know M Christ-

mas Pudding, but her advice on turkey roasting shows that the task has altered little with the passing of centuries. By way of made dishes, pies and puddings in profusion, the author reaches what is evid.ently her xeal forte — sweets, wine, and table decorations fittxng for a polished age. Part IL, which occupies over a hundred pages, starts delightfully with: — When you apin a silver web for a dessert always take particular eare your fire is clear, and a pan of water upon the fire to keep the heat from your fp.ee and stomach for fear the heat ahould make you laint. , , « CMnese Temples, Fish Ponds, Flum mery, Hens' Nests, Moonshine — "a proper dish for a second course, either for dinner or supper" . . . Mrs. Raffald is famiiiar with all these and many more, ending by tellxng how "to make a Syllabub under the Cow": Put a bottle of strong beer and » pint of cyder into a punch-bowl, grate in a small nutmeg, and sweeton it to your taste,.then milk as much milk from the cow as will make a strong froth, and the ale looks clear let it stand an hour, then strew ovoi it a few currants, well washed, piclced and plumped before the fire, and .then send to the table. Next came chapters on Preserving, Drying, and Candying — "Peppermint Drops to carry in the pocket" — and then upon creams, custards, and cheeso cakes, ot forgetting "Apple FloatiDg Island," "Fairy Butter," and "Lovo Royal. ' ' "When you make any kind of cakes, be sure you got the things ready before you begin," aptly, if tritely, remarks Mrs. Raffald, and so we progress from cakos to "Little Savory Dishes," starting with "rr" Ragoo Pig's Feet and Ears ' ; !