The 19th century was full of innovation, exploration and is one of the most popular eras for writing historical fiction. This blog is dedicated to tiny tidbits of information that will help make your novel seem more real to the time period.
Monday, April 4, 2016
Kitchen Furnishings
KITCHEN FURNISHING.
To a woman who is interested in cooking and in her kitchen there are few places so tempting as a kitchenfurnishing store. There are so many articles that are of no great value in the kitchen that one must exercise great care in selecting what is best adapted to her wants. Closets crowded with all sorts of utensils are not a help to order, neatness, and expedition in cooking; but it is essential to the highest perfection in cooking that there shall be enough of the right kind of utensils.
The object of this chapter is to show what a good housekeeper really needs, of what material the utensils should be made, and some of the numerous inventions which, if not absolutely needful, are at least very desirable in a modern kitchen.
Here is a list of articles with which every housekeeper should be supplied: —
Apple-corer.
Baking-pans, four, of tin, and shallow.
Baking-pans of Russian irou, two sizes.
Bean-pot.
Biscuit-cutter.
Blacking-brush, for polishing stove.
Block, or thick board, on which to break bones, open lobsters, etc. Boards, two, on which to cut bread and cold meat. Boning-knife.
Bowls, four, yellow earthenware, holding from six quails down.
Bowls, four, white, and smoothbottomed, holding one quart each.
Boxes, of tin or wood, for rice,
tapioca, crackers, bailey, soda,
cream-of-tartar, etc. Braising-pan, say of granite-ware,
round and deep, with cover. Bread-pans, two, holding six ami
eight quarts respectively. Brown-bread pans, two. Buckets or tin boxes for sugar,
graham, Indian, and rye meal. Butcher's knife. Cake-box.
Case knives and forks, two each.
Chocolate-pot
Chopping knife*and tray.
Coffee-biggin.
Coffee-pot.
Colander.
Covers for flour-barrels.
Cups, six, holding half a pint each.
Dipper with long handle.
Dish-cloth, of wire.
Dish-pan.
Double-boiler.holding three quarts.
Double-broilers, three, — one each for toast, fish, and meat.
Dredgers, one each for flour, powdered sugar, salt, and pepper, — the last two to be small.
Dust pan and brush.
Egg-beater, Dover.
Fish-kettle.
Flour-sieve.
Fork, large.
French cook's knife.
Frying-basket.
Frying-kettle, Scotch, No. 4
(which is deep). Frying-pans, French, polished,
Nos. 3 and 6. Orater, large, (iravy-strainer, (iriddle. Hand-basin. Jagging-iron. Larding-needle. Lemon-squeezer. Meat-rack. Melon-mould. Milk-pans, two. Moulding-board, of hard wood. Muffin-pans, two, of stamped iron. Pail, for cleaning purposes. Pans, four, deep, for loaves of
bread or cake. Pots, two, of cast-iron (they come
with the stove).
Preserving-kettle, porcelain-lined.
Pudding-dish, of earthenware.
Pudding-mould, round.
Quart measures, two.
Rolling-pin.
Roll-pan, French, of Russian iron,
and deep. Scoops, one each for flour and
sugar. Scrubbing-brush. Skewers, of steel, one set. Spice-box.
Spoons, four, large, for mixing
purposes. Squash-strainer.
Steamer that will fit on to one of the cast-iron pots. Stew-pans, four, of stamped tin or
granite-ware, holding from one
pint to four quarts. Stew-pans, three, porcelain-lined,
holding from one to six quarts. Stone pots, — one holding ten
quarts, for bread; one holding
six quarts, for butter; and one
holding three quarts, for pork.
Table-spoons, two.
Tea-canister.
Teapot
Teaspoons, six.
Trussing-needle.
Vegetable-cutters, two.
Vegetable-knives, two.
Vegetable-masher.
Waffle-iron.
Whip-churn.
Wire beater or whisk.
Wooden bowl, for chopping purposes.
Source: Miss Parloa's Kitchen Companion ©1887
I've added a picture of a dredger as Vickie had a question about it. Actually there are two images of two types but they look very similar.
What a great post!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Tracey
DeleteI made a copy of this to refer back to when I'm writing, but several of these have me scratching my head. Why would you need a double boiler to make toast? And do you know what a dredger is?
ReplyDeleteVickie I agree about the double boiler as for the dredger it is what we call a flour sifter today.
DeleteVickie I just added an image to the bottom of the post. Hope that helps.
DeleteMy mother had a flour dredger. She called it a sifter, I think.
ReplyDeleteAnd this is a great post!!! :-)
ReplyDelete