Category Archives: Ingredients

A Quire of Paper

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Kevin Carter

Here’s one more recipe for 18th century pancakes from John Farley’s 1783 cookbook, “The London Art of Cookery“: A variation of this recipe can also be found in Mary Randolph’s 1824 cookbook “The Virginia Housewife.” A “quire” is a term borrowed … Continue reading →

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Pancakes: They’re Not Just for Breakfast

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Kevin Carter

While I look forward nearly every day to going to work, every now and again, I’ll look forward with greater anticipation to the drive home. I know of no job that is void of any stress of one sort or … Continue reading →

Posted in 18th Century Cooking, Baking, Bread, Historic Cooking, Ingredients, Recipe, Video | Tagged | 8 Comments

A Rare Glimpse and a Unique Resource

Posted on April 4, 2013 by Kevin Carter

Here at Jas. Townsend & Son, we’re presently researching, of all things, the history of pancakes.  We noticed a broad range of various pancake recipes as we perused the numerous period cookbooks in preparation for our video series, but we … Continue reading →

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18th century Sailor’s food – Ships Provisions

Posted on March 22, 2013 by Jon Townsend

Just to give an idea of the variety or lack there of, in the 18th century sailor’s diet. Provisions listed for the British ship Bellona 74 guns in 1760 listed as provisions for 650 men for four months. Beef 5200 … Continue reading →

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A Pork Pie with a Standing Crust

Posted on February 11, 2013 by Kevin Carter

In a previous post, I presented three common types of pastry crust used in the 18th century: the standing crust, the puff paste, and the short paste. These are fairly broad categories of crusts, and recipes for numerous variations for … Continue reading →

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Suet, Part Four: A Few Recipes.

Posted on January 23, 2013 by Kevin Carter

While perusing several 18th century cookbooks, I’ve identified and included below a selection of recipes using suet. I chose these recipes because they seem to be fairly typical representations of food categories which commonly use suet: puddings, dumplings, pastry crusts, … Continue reading →

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Suet, Part Three: Preparing it.

Posted on January 22, 2013 by Kevin Carter

Suet was apparently used both raw and rendered (refined) in 18th century cooking. While some of the original recipes specified the use of rendered suet, most seemed to leave the option open.  It is fairly common for recipes to instruct the … Continue reading →

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Suet, Part two: What it is, What it isn’t, and What to Look For

Posted on January 21, 2013 by Kevin Carter

In my last post, I took a brief look at the important role suet had in 18th century foodways as well as in life in general. I gave an over-simplified explanation that suet is the hard fat from the loins … Continue reading →

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Suet, Part One: Its role in 18th Century Foodways and Life

Posted on January 18, 2013 by Kevin Carter

Scan through almost any 18th century cookbook and you will find a recurring term: Suet. Suet was an important ingredient in English cooking. It’s still used today, though it seems to have reserved its spot on British grocery shelves much more … Continue reading →

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The Christmas Pie

Posted on December 19, 2012 by Kevin Carter

In most English societies, for centuries Christmas has been a time of gatherings, and food, and festivities, and traditions, and family. For many people in the eighteenth century, Christmas was celebrated much differently than it typically is today. Remnants of … Continue reading →

Posted in 18th Century Cooking, Baking, Historic Cooking, Ingredients, Pies, Recipe, Spices, Video | Tagged , , , , , | 13 Comments