This simple pattern for driving mitts comes from the 1838 edition of The Workwoman’s Guide and is described as “very useful for gentlemen or coachmen.” In the 1830s, of course, “driving” referred to horse-drawn vehicles, so the mitts are ingeniously designed to be thinner across the palms so that the wearer could easily hold the reins.
Read More »
Finding historic muffin recipes is always a bit confusing, as no one seemed to be able to agree on the term “muffin” throughout history.
Read More »
This recipe originally comes from Robert May’s The Accomplisht Cook, or, the Art and Mystery of Cookery, published in 1660. I used a modernized version from A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain, which reduces the size of the original from a twenty-pound monstrosity to a cake capable of being baked in a 9-inch tin.
Read More »
I found this cookie recipe in Eliza Acton’s 1845 book Modern Cookery, In All Its Branches (available from archive.org). I wanted to try it because a) I love gingerbread and b) the combination of ingredients (shredded coconut, rice flour) seemed unusual.
Read More »
Syllabub was a popular dessert drink in England from the 16th to the mid-19th century. There are a few different ways to make it; in early versions, a cow was milked directly into the mixture to make it foamy.
Since I am lacking a cow, I’ll be making whipped syllabub, a variation from Hannah Glasse’s 1747 book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy. The whole book is available on archive.org. The full title of her book, by the way, is The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy: Which Far Exceeds Any Thing of the Kind Ever Yet Published. So modest. So humble.
Read More »
