I was tempted yesterday to give you the complete title of Nathan
Bailey’s Dictionarium Domesticum, published
in 1736, which was our resource for the day. Then I read it more carefully
myself, and Lo! and Behold! a new topic presented itself to me in the form of a
word I had to look up, so I decided to save it for today.
Here is the title in all its wordy glory – see if you can
spot my choice!
Dictionarium Domesticum:
Being a New and Compleat Houshold Dictionary. For the Use Both of City and
Country. Shewing, I. The Whole Arts of Brewing, Baking, Cookery, and Pickling.
Also Confectionary in Its Several Branches. II. The Management of the Kitchen,
Pantry, Larder, Dairy, Olitory, and Poultry. With the Proper Seasons for Flesh,
Fowl and Fish. III. The Herdsman: Giving an Account of the Diseases of Cattle,
Poultry, &c. And the Most Approved Remedies for Their Cure. IV. The English
Vineyard; Being the Best Method of Making English Wines and of Distilling Most
Kinds of Simple and Compound Cordial Waters. V. The Apiary: Or, The Manner of
Breeding, Hiving and Managing of Bees. VI. The Family Physician and Herbalist.
Containing the Choicest Collection of Receipts for Most Distempers, Incident to
Human Bodies, Hitherto Made Publick; with the Qualities and Uses of Physical
Herbs and Plants of English Growth.
The word was olitory.
Did you get it? The Oxford English Dictionary gives the etymology as deriving
from the classical Latin ‘olitōrius,
variant of holitōrius of or belonging
to a kitchen gardener or vegetables.’
So, an olitory
is a kitchen garden. The first reference to the use of the word in English is
given by the OED as being in John Evelyn’s Kalendarium
Hortense, in his famous work Sylva,
or a Discourse of Forest Trees ….. , published in 1664. He uses the word in
this book in the following sentence: “Let such Olitory-herbs run to seed as you
would save.” That John Evelyn (1620-1706) was the first to use the word in
print is hardly a surprise, given that Evelyn was already a famous gardener and
writer at this time, but he does actually reference the concept earlier in a
diary entry made in December 1658, upon publication of The French Gardener: Instructing How to Cultivate all sorts of
Fruit-Trees, and Herbs for the Garden – his translation of a work by Nicolas
de Bonnefons:
There was no
internal debate needed about the choice of recipe for the day today. There was
only ever one choice – something from John Evelyn’s famous book Acetaria, which just so happens to be
the very first English book specifically addressing salads. I give you his
piece on cucumbers.
Cucumber, Cucumis Sativus; tho' very cold and moist, the most approved Sallet alone, or in composition, of all
the Vinaigrets, to sharpen the
Appetite, and cool the Liver, &c. if rightly prepar'd; that is, by
rectifying the vulgar Mistake of altogether extracting the Juice, in which it
should rather be soak'd: Nor ought it to be over oyl'd, too much abating of its grateful Acidity, and palling the
Taste from a contrariety of Particles: Let them therefore be pared, and cut in thin
Slices, with a Slice or two of Onion
to correct the Crudity, macerated in the Juice, often turn'd and moderately
drain'd. Others prepare them, by shaking the Slices between two Dishes, and
dress them with very little Oyl, well
beaten, and mingled with the Juice of Limon,
Orange, or Vinegar, Salt and Pepper. Some again, (and indeed the most
approv'd) eat them as soon as they are cut, retaining their Liquor, which being
exhausted (by the former Method) have nothing remaining in them to help the
Concoction. Of old they boil'd the Cucumber,
and paring off the Rind, eat them with Oyl,
Vinegar, and Honey; Sugar not
being so well known. Lastly, the Pulp
in Broth is greatly refreshing, and
may be mingl'd in most Sallets,
without the least damage, contrary to the common Opinion; it not being long,
since Cucumber, however dress'd, was
thought fit to be thrown away, being accounted little better than Poyson. Tavernier tells us, that in the Levant, if a Child cry for something to
Eat, they give it a raw Cucumber
instead of Bread. The young ones may
be boil'd in White-Wine. The smaller
sort (known by the name of Gerckems) muriated with the Seeds of Dill, and the Mango Pickle are for the Winter.
Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets (1699) by
John Evelyn.
4 comments:
It caught my attention that cucumber was used during a meal with the purpose to sharpen one's appetite.
Our quest to kill appetite is a very recent desire. I remember the time when my grandma who raised me and my cousin together 50 - 40 years ago didn't let us eat between meals in order to preserve appetite till the appropriate meal time. She thought skinny children were the family disgrace. Something salty and sour was served before main course, I remember salted herring dressed with raw onion and vinegar, sliced pickles, sliced reddish with salt, green onions and vinegar, slices of smoked fish with lemon, tomato juice.
Exercise used to be the increasing appetite activity as well.
Oil, vinegar, and a little sugar...and a dash of red pepper! Yum. I'm glad I live in a time when cucumber isn't just thrown away!
Giving one to a baby or toddler sounds like a pretty good idea. Better than Cheerios!
I hadn't realized he had written a book devoted to Salads; the suggestion of using orange juice (presumably the rather sour oranges of the time?) sounds very interesting. You're an absolute fount of information, Janet!
I didn't know Evelyn had written a book devoted to Salads; the idea of using orange juice (presumably the rather sour varieties then available rather than that sweeter ones we generally use today?) is intriguing. Thank you!
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