Feasting Afloat The Edwardian Dinner Table

[Michael H. Standart]

Okay, for those familier with the gastronomical delights served up during the Edwardian era, I noticed that the menus for sterrage oftem offered something called "Gruel" I'll probably regret asking, but what exactly is "gruel"???

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Oh Michael- Do you really want to know! Standard fare for invalids, and the poor of Dickens' Victorian slums- it is a thin and watery sort of porridge. There are even special spouted gruel boats (in museums), shaped to trickled the nasty stuff down sickly throats. Usually some sort of farina, semmolina, cornflower, or similar grain product is thinned with water or milk, stirred to a slippery wallpaper paste consistency, and heated up. Probably it was just the thing for seasick matrons. All of this lovely trivia I have learned from Agatha Christie!

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Forgot to mention this gruel business is a British import- hard to believe those lovely folks who brought us treacle toffee, crumpets, Seville orange marmalade, Earl Grey, Devonshire cream teas AND the cucumber sandwich could devise such an ugh-some potage!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Eeeeeewwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!! I think I'll go with the coffee, Earl Grey tea, crumpets, marmalade, etc. Somehow, gruel for dinner makes being executed by slow torture look like a pleasant way to spend an afternoon!

Thanks for the info.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Robert M. Himmelsbach]

Note to Michael & Shelley: At that time it was pretty common for the Lower Classes, many Middle, and not but a few upper class types, especially at British Boys Boarding Schools, to routinely serve gruel as a children's food. It was believed that mild (bland) and watered down foods, reasonably nutritious and high in fiber, would prevent interest in sex and/or masturbation! Hence the Graham Cracker, invented for that very purpose.
The late 19th/early 20th Centuries were positively bonkers on preserving "purity" and firmly believed that nutrition played a key role.
At the same time, they themselves were, of course, noshing on oysters and spicy foods to increase their own ...well, you get the idea!

 

[Michael H. Standart]

Double standards even at the dinner table! Funny about the Graham Crackers. They never caused "problems" for me.

Cordially,
Michael H. Standart

 

[Kris Muhvic]

Graham Crackers?!...OK- now I'm a little confused. For some reason I was thinking of Mr. Kellog inventing "Corn Flakes" for the supression of the appetite... of a less than gastronomic nature! Again, could be wrong.
One thing I do want to mention, thinking of Randy's "egg" link (thank you!); is that I found yet Another variation of a souffle recipe. One must keep in consideration Geography/regional influences when it comes to food cultivation and preparation. Today we are so used to everything from all over, it's a little difficult to think of a time when what you were eating in your own town would probably be quite different in the neighboring town, let alone miles or countries away.
When it comes to food, it is apparent that the world is indeed shrinking!

Take care~
Kris

 

[Kyrila Scully]

Actually, Kris, it was Doctor Kellogg, and he didn't invent the cornflakes for that purpose, but was asked to create the breakfast cereal by the leadership of his church (Seventh-Day Adventists) for the purpose of adding fiber to the diet of poor people who were suffering from diseases created by poor diet. It was also beneficial to traveling evangelists who could carry it on train trips and wagon trips, as one of the first convenience food. Dr. Kellogg operated a famous sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, and was later expelled from the church for adopting a spurious doctrine and trying to take over the leadership of the church. The Post family were also prominent in the SDA Church, as is the McKee family of "Little Debbies" fame. The church was and still is very active in promoting nutritional health as a preventive to disease, although they no longer promote vegetarianism entirely.

Oops! Sorry for rambling.
Kyrila

 

[Shelley Dziedzic]

Sylvester Graham (1795-1851) invented the famous cracker which was an offshot of his Graham bread actually. Graham flour is coarsely ground wheat flour, the germ being left intact, and is the joy of most health food -vegetarian types still. Sylvester was a farm hand, clerk, and teacher until ill health sent him to pursue a less rigorous career- a Presbyterian minister. Born in West Suffield Connecticut, his active preaching years were spent in New Jersey where he incorporated his ideals of cold showers, hard mattresses, vegan diet, whole grains, daily toothbrushing, chastity, open window sleeping, and pure water into his preaching. His views made him very unpopular with butchers and bakers, and he often needed police protection from the same as he made his way about town. Needless to say, his views on procreation were..uh.. somewhat unexciting-thus the connection between Graham's crackers and abstinence. There was a film in the 1990's called JOURNEY TO WELLVILLE which details the cornflake kings' rise to celebrity. It is rather a "saucy" film as I found out much to my embarrassment! Blush. Lest you feel virtuous eating your Graham Crackers today, the storebought kind are made with refined white flour! Drat those Keebler elves- saucy, prolific little imps themselves.

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

A cousin of Laura Francatelli Haering was the famous royal chef Charles Elme Francatelli. Here is his recipe for goose:

BAKED GOOSE

From "A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes," by Charles Elme Francatelli, late maitre d'hotel and chief cook to H.M. Queen Victoria.

No. 26, Baked Goose

Pluck and pick out all the stubble feathers thoroughly clean, draw the goose, cut off the head and neck, and also the feet and wings, which must be scalded to enable you to remove the pinion feathers from the wings and the rough skin from the feet; split and scrape the inside of the gizzard, and carefully cut out the gall from the liver. These giblets well stewed, as shown in No. 62, will serve to make a pie for another day's dinner.

Next stuff the goose in the following manner, viz.:-First put six potatoes to bake in the oven, or even in a Dutch oven; and while they are being baked, chop six onions with four apples and twelve sage leaves, and fry these in a saucepan with two ounces of butter, pepper and salt; and, when the whole is slightly fried, mix it with the pulp from out of the inside of the six baked potatoes, and use this very nice stuffing to fill the inside of the goose.

The goose being stuffed, place it upon an iron trivet in a baking dish containing peeled potatoes and a few apples; add half-a-pint of water, pepper and salt, shake some flour over the goose, and bake it for about an hour and a-half.

 

[Kyrila Scully]

Two ounces of butter!!! Sounds a bit much in our current cholesterol-soaked society. The potato stuffing sounds good, I'll have to try it; but as a vegetarian, I'll pass on the goose.

Kyrila

 

[Pat Winship]

Not really all that much. It's two tablespoons of butter-- two pats, if you like-- and would be just about enough to fry six onions and four apples, with no excess of grease.

Pat W

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

Here is the comparatively modest menu for an Admiralty dinner party given 24 July 1912:

Melon Glace

Consomme de Volaille Froid
Potage Bisque

Truite Saumonee Norvegienne
Blanchailles

Souffle de Cailles au riz

Boeuf Flamande a la Gelee

Jambon de Prague

Dindoneaux Froids
Salade

Glace d'Ananas
Peches Bonne Femme

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

The menu for a dinner at Hever Castle in Kent, hosted by William Waldorf Astor on 10 July 1909:

Melon Glace

Consomme Princesse

Bisque d'Ecrevisses
Blanchailles

Supreme de Volaiile a la Marechale

Selle d'Agneau a la Chivry

Fois Gras a la Gelee
Salade Nantaise

Cailles rotis sur canapes

Peches Rose de Mai
Caroline Glace
Croutes de Merluche

 

[Randy Bryan Bigham]

From "Vogue" May 15, 1914:

"Creme de Volaille"

A deliacte meat course for a summer luncheon is made by grinding one pound of raw chicken with one-half teaspoonful of onion juice and two teaspoonfuls of parsley. Into this, one quarter of a pound of butter, seasoned with salt and pepper, is creamed, and three raw eggs, one at a time, are beaten into it very lightly. A mold is lined with this combination and the middle is filled with one-half can of champignons stewed in their liquor and thickened with butter and flour.

The middle is covered with some of the meat and the whole is steamed for five hours. The other half of the can of champignons is stewed in cream and poured over the mold before the dish is served. A small can of truffles greatly improves the dish. The liquor should be poured in the meat, one-half of the truffles sliced and stewed with the champignons, and the other half added to the cream champignon dressing. Individual molds may be used instead of the single large mold, if desired.