Before the invention of the hand-cranked ice cream freezer in 1843, making ice cream was a time-consuming and laborious task.
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Tag: 1830s
Cherry Batter Pudding
Read More »“When we had done, he brought me a pudding, and having set it before me, seemed to ruminate, and to become absent in his mind for some moments.
‘How’s the pie?’ he said, rousing himself.
‘It’s a pudding,’ I made answer.
‘Pudding!’ he exclaimed. ‘Why, bless me, so it is! What?’ looking at it nearer. ‘You don’t mean to say it’s a batter-pudding!’
‘Yes, it is indeed.’
‘Why, a batter-pudding,’ he said, taking up a table-spoon, ‘is my favourite pudding! Ain’t that lucky? Come on, little ‘un, and let’s see who’ll get most.’”
-Charles Dickens, David Copperfield, 1850.
Pear Butter
Historic cookbooks usually include many recipes for preserving fruits and other seasonal produce. This recipe, with pears, apple cider, and spices, is perfect for Fall.
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Peach Pie
This recipe, which can be used for either peach or apple pies, comes from Lettice Bryan’s The Kentucky Housewife, published in 1839. Along with Mary Randolph’s The Virginia Housewife (1824) and Sarah Rutledge’s The Carolina Housewife (1847), The Kentucky Housewife is known as one of the three “southern housewife” cookbooks. These three books are often considered the earliest American regional cookbooks; although they include a variety of recipes, there is a strong focus on “classical” southern cooking.
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Driving Mitts
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.
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History in the Making 