Victorian Jellies were all the rage throughout nineteenth-century America and Victoria’s British Isles.
Through mid-century, cooks relied on various gelling agents to set up their moulded creations. Two of those articles from the sea–isinglass and Irish moss–are illustrated by means of Victorian-era recipe books and newspaper advertisements.
Victorian-era jellies were thickened with a variety of articles–including ivory dust.
Yes, the dust created from carving and shaping ivory into things like knife handles.
Victorian-era U.S. publications tell the story.
Victorians (in every English-speaking nation) adored jellied desserts.
Vintage recipes from cookbooks and newspapers (from both sides of the Atlantic) illustrate how cooks made foods gel.
July 6th is (United States’) National Fried Chicken Day. A perfect time to acknowledge and celebrate the love of fried chicken throughout the nineteenth century. Not only was this dish well-established in the colonies (17th and 18th centuries), it was a favorite throughout the States as the nation expanded to the California coast. Vintage newspaper clippings detail restaurant menus featuring fried chicken and provide vintage instructions for frying succulent drums, thighs, and breasts. Apparently folks said thank you with a good meal then, the same as they do now.
Oatmeal took its place in the Victorian-American kitchen in the late 19th century. We’ve discovered oatmeal cookies (with and without raisins), oatmeal porridge, oatmeal in toiletries; now more late 19th-century recipes that call for oats. Delicious dishes like oatmeal puddings, oatmeal custards, oatmeal cream pie, oatmeal muffins, oatmeal biscuits (sweet), “parkin”… and a rather scary option– Oatmeal Soup.
