Today we have a final (for the time
being) extract from the book that has been our source for the week - The footman's directory, and butler's remembrance,
published in London in 1823. The author
takes us to tea – with the help of the Lady of the House – and it is a far less
stressful event than the dinner we had yesterday.
TEA.
If the lady makes tea in the drawing-room,
which with small parties is generally the case, have the tea-tray well dusted,
and the tea-cups and saucers put on, one for each, with a tea-spoon to each ;
if there be coffee, a coffee-cup and saucer for each, with a spoon to each ;
let the tea-cups and saucers be put on the near side, so as to face the person
who makes the tea, with the tea-pot, cream-jug, and slop-basin on the off side
; and let the tea-caddy be put near ; if there be an urn-rug, do not forget it.
If you have to wait at tea, that is, to hand it about to the company, you must
have a small hand-waiter ; if there is not one proper for the purpose, use the
one with which you hand the glasses about at dinner, as you do not require a
large one.
When you take away the tea-things, always take
the urn off the first, then put the tea-caddy into its proper place, and then
remove the tea-things.
Always have a cloth in your pocket to wipe the
table with, in case it should be slopped, or crumbs of bread, &c. left on,
and properly adjust the candles, if there are any on the table. Perhaps you may
have to carry the tea and coffee up stairs to the company ready-made; if so,
you must be careful not to slop the tea over the cups into the saucers; see
also that you do not forget the spoons, sugar-tongs, cream, or slop-basin; have
a tea-pot on the tray with hot water in it, in case any of the ladies' tea
should be too strong. Your tray ought to be pretty large, so that you can put
the bread and butter, sugar-basin, or any thing else upon it; take care to
arrange them so, that the ladies may take the cups with ease, and hold the tray
low enough for that purpose; if it will not hold enough to go once round, you
must serve it as far as it will go, and then get more. If you have not cups and
saucers enough, you must wait in the room till the company have done with some
of them. Be quick in taking up the tea when it is once poured out, that it may
not get cold before the company have it, which is a subject of complaint almost
to a proverb; you will easily know when they have done, by their putting the
spoon in the tea-cup, or refusing it when you offer it to them. If there should be a
fire in the room, look at it before you leave the room.
And now for some nice cake to have
with our tea:
An Almond Cake.
Take a pound and a quarter of flour,
make a hole in the middle, put in a piece of butter half the size of a hen's
egg, four eggs well beaten, a quarter of a pound of sugar powdered fine, six
ounces of almonds blanched and beat with orange-flower water, and a little
salt. Mix -the whole well together, glaze it over with the yolk of egg, and
bake it on a tin well buttered.
A modern system of
domestic cookery … by M.
Radcliffe (Manchester, 1823)
Almond Sponge Cake.
Pound in a mortar one pound of
blanched Almonds quite fine, with the whites of three Eggs,—then put in one
pound of sifted Loaf Sugar, some grated Lemon-peel, and the Yolks of fifteen
Eggs,—work them well together ;—beat up to a solid froth the Whites of twelve
Eggs, and stir them into the other ingredients with a quarter of a pound of
sifted dry Flour :— prepare a mould as at (No. 67); put in the mixture, and
bake it an hour in a slow oven :—take it carefully from the mould, and set it
on a sieve
The Cook's Oracle…. by William Kitchiner (Second American
edition, 1823)
4 comments:
I suppose that an "urn rug" is a form of draped "cozy". Interesting. I own a late 18th c Sheffield plate urn, probably American, that has a removable, hollow insert, that probably once held an iron bar, that was heated in the fire and helped keep the contents of the urn hot.
Hello Lapinbizarre. I am very intrigued by the idea of an urn rug, and am intending to do a little more research on them - and hopefully find a picture.
How interesting that some people wanted the butler or footman to carry the tea and coffee on a tray to the room, already poured out into cups ... and then complained that it was cold or had spilled! I can't imagine doing that successfully without doing the pouring at a table just outside the door to the drawing room! This is also interesting in that it is an example of ladies entertaining each other during the day with tea, bread-and-butter, and cakes, before the legendary "invention" of afternoon tea by the Duchess of Bedford during Queen Victoria's reign.
Dear Foodie,
I tested the almondcake recipe for my culinary history blog this week (www.legoutdupasse.com) and, while I fully understand that your Dutch might not be 100%, I can say that they tasted wonderful! Quite scone-like in texture but with a distict marzipan afterflavor.
Thanks for so many years of posts, by the way!
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