Penny For Your Thoughts By: Nancy Whitaker
My White House Cookbook from 1887 includes just about anything you would want to know for that time period. (1887)
Table manners were very strict and they followed rules of etiquette at every meal. These were discussed vividly and I am not even sure if I follow all of them.
I know today that most times I will eat meals on a TV tray and sit and watch television while I eat, but unless you were sick or dying, one was expected at the dinner table.
Dinner back then was a festive time with a lot of courses and many liquors, brandies and wine. Plus, you dressed for dinner. Now, remember this was clear back in 1837.
Then there was, and still is, a proper way to set a table and a proper way to seat people around a dinner table. When I was growing up, my Grandma was pretty strict when we ate.
She of course said not to sing at the table and no elbows on the dinner table as well. She always said not to hand a person a fork or it meant you would get in a fight with them.
Another interesting section is what food you serve to the sick. Some foods included Slippery Elm tea, toast water, gruel, and mutton or beef broth.
A sick person needed to be served on fine small dishes on a nicely decorated tray or bedside table. We do eat with our eyes first and a sick person is apt to eat better with an inviting tray.
One food the sick could eat was “Soft Toast.” Directions were: toast in the oven, a couple of pieces of stale bread. Then take the toast and put on a plate. Add a pinch of salt. Pour a little bit of boiling water over the toast and place another plate the same size on top. Drain water from the toast and put a little butter on each slice. Serve hot.
Now we used to make “hot milk toast” when I was young and when I get sick with the flu, I still make myself some. The recipe is as follows:
After toasting two slices of bread, tear into cubes in a bowl. Then pour warmed milk over the toast and add sugar and cinnamon. Yum, this is enough goodness coming from toast and milk that I could eat it “once a day.”
Now, when I always said to “put butter on a burn” my Granny was right. In 1887 it said to treat a burn: you are to grab the butter, apply it to a clean cloth. Then place the buttered cloth on top of the burn. See, I still always put butter on burns.
For a sore throat it was recommended to gargle. My family used hot water, vinegar and salt and pepper to gargle. I never could get the concept of gargling because each time I put my head back and make that gargle sound, I start laughing.
One last remedy from 1837: Grandmas Cough Syrup: 1/2 lb of dried horehound leaves, one red pepper pod, 4 TBS of ginger, and boil in 3 qts of water. Steep and add in one teaspoonful of good fresh tar and a pound of sugar. Boil slowly until mixture is like a syrup.
Well, my Grandma never gave us tar but she used to give us coal oil and sugar to ward off the germs.
This is truly a great book and maybe if you go to the library, maybe you can check out a copy.
Have you ever made or used a home made remedy? Did it work? Can you carve a cow or a pig?
Let me know and I’ll give you a Penny for Your Thoughts.
