In This Issue

• Chit Chat
• A Christmas Pudding
• Oxford Sauce
• Origin of the "Bill of Fare"
• 1882 Christmas Dinner
• 1897 Christmas Dinner
• Assorted Recipes
• Home Made Candy
• Parlor Games

From Past Issues

Victorian Christmas Decorations from 1875

Love One Another/Good Shepherd perforated paper bookmark pattern (pdf)

Victorian Christmas Table Decoration from The People's Home Journal, December 1897.

THE decorations appropriate for a Christmas table are red and green—the glossy hollow leaves with the bright red berries, the evergreens, candles with red shades, and satin ribbons of the same bright hue upon a snowy damask tablecloth. Christmas is really the children's day, and the table decorations should be arranged with the idea of making it attractive for them.

A simple but effective decoration is made by arranging a large mat of holly or evergreens in the center of the table, with a Santa Claus standing upon it, his pack filled with bonbons and mottoes. A light wreath made of evergreens, sprigs of holly and red berries should be formed around the table, about fourteen inches from the edge. Sift over the green mat and wreath a Jack Frost powder or powdered isinglass, which will glisten in the candle light like the frost. If candelabra are used they should be placed at the ends of the table, but if one has the tall, old-fashioned silver candlesticks, place one at each corner of the table inside of the wreath.

Another decoration that is exceedingly pretty, and may be used in place of the mat and Santa Claus, is made by cutting a large five-pointed star out of white sheet wadding (editors note: quilt batting of the kind that comes in rolls or by the yard, is pretty much the same as “sheet wadding”). Pull the wadding apart and place the smooth side down in the center of the table and cover thickly with Jack Frost powder. Out­line the edge of the star with small pieces of holly; stand in the center of the star a silver or glass bowl filled with holly twigs and branches of red berries. A bell or large ball covered with red immortelles, or a ball made of holly leaves and berries and mistletoe, suspended low from the chande­lier over the centre of the table by a satin ribbon, is a handsome and appropriate decoration. Long red ribbons intertwined with ground pine or cedar are festooned from the chandelier to the four corners of the table, two corners being finished by standing loops of the ribbon mingled with holly and mistletoe. Upon the two opposite corners place silver candelabra, holding white candles and shades, each shade ornamented with a bunch of holly berries and a few leaves.

A decoration that will please the little ones is a miniature Christmas tree in the center of the table. Secure a small but perfectly shaped cul­tivated pine, make a bank of evergreens and holly to cover the jar holding the tree, ornament the tree with light but sparkling trinkets, tinsel fringe, and dust with Jack Frost powder. Arrange two ribbons diagonally across the table, fastening along them hero and there twigs of evergreens or holly, and in the two opposite corners place the candelabra upon mats of green, the candles capped with red and white shades.

With walls and mantel of a dining-room hung with graceful festoons and ropes of greens, with plenty of light and warmth, bright faces and good cheer everywhere, the Christinas decorations will be a success.

Christmas Cakes for the Children

Ingall's Home Magazine, December 1890

Walnut Cookies: One cup of walnut meats chopped rather fine, one cup of sugar, one well-beaten egg, two tablespoonfuls of sweet milk, one heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, with enough sifted flour to roll out thin as possible. Bake in a quick oven (400ºF) and keep in a dry place. The older children will want a share of these dainty cakes.

Hickory Nut Drops: One egg, well beaten, one tablespoonful of sweet milk, one half-cup of flour, sifted with one-half a teaspoonful of baking powder. Drop on buttered tins, two inches apart, a tablespoonful for a drop, and bake in a quick oven (400ºF). Almond drops may be made in the same way. Use butter, washed free from salt, to grease the tins.

Cocoanut Jumbles: Use two cups of sugar, three-quarters of a cup of butter, two eggs, half of a grated cocoanut, one heaping teaspoonful of baking powder, sifted with the flour, using just enough flour to roll thin. Bake in a rather brisk (400ºF) oven.

Chocolate Sponge Drops: Beat four eggs to a stiff froth, add one cup of granulated sugar, one rounded cup of flour, sifted with one-half teaspoonful of baking powder, last a tiny pinch of salt, and juice of a lemon. Bake in cup tins fifteen minutes. Ice top and sides with chocolate icing, which may be simply made by stirring two large tablespoonfuls of grated chocolate into a teacupful of common plain icing.

Variety Cakes: Make a plain cake batter as you choose. Bake in the many fanciful tin shapes which are cheaply bought at the stores. Ice with plain icing and while still moist decorate the top in any manner your fancy may suggest, some with hickory nut meats, or almonds blanched and halved, with a half of an English walnut meat, with a few raisins or candies arranged in fanciful shapes; you may color part of the icing with bright fruit juice, two tablespoonfuls to a cup of icing. You will in this way secure an endless Varity at small expenditure of time and labor.

From Peterson's Ladies National Magazine, December 1874

To Boil a Turkey.—The turkey should be well washed in tepid water, then rubbed all over with lemon-juice, and placed in a sauce-pan, with just enough water boiling hot to cover him well. A large piece of butter, a couple of onions, a head of celery, some carrots, sliced, whole pepper, mace, cloves, a bundle of sweet herbs and parsley, with salt to taste, should be added. The boiling should be carried on slowly, the pot should be carefully skimmed, and in a couple of hours or less, according to the size of the victim, the sacrifice will be accomplished. Some people stuff a boiled turkey with oysters, and serve oyster-sauce with it. That is a matter of taste. A purée of celery, or of chestnuts, or of onions, even oyster sauce (not oysters floating in paste) properly made, will go very well with boiled turkey. But the best of all sauces is tomato sauce, or a purée of endives, or of any other green meat, if the proper degree of piquancy were given to it by the admixture of lemon-juice.

To Roast Partridges.—To look well there should be three birds in the dish. Pluck, singe, draw, and truss them; roast them for about twenty minutes, baste them with butter, and when the gravy begins to run from them, you may safely assume that the partridges are done. Place them in a dish together with bread-crumbs, fried nicely brown, and arranged in small heaps. Gravy should be served in a tureen apart.

To Fry Partridges.—Take a brace of cold partridges, that have been either roasted or braised, cut them into quarters, and dip them into beaten and seasoned yolk of eggs. Make some butter perfectly hot in a frying-pan, put into it the birds, and do them over a moderately hot fire until they are brown.

Cabbage.—Boil it very well, then chop it up with a little butter, add a small quantity of vinegar and pepper, and then fry it for two minutes; grate a little Parmesan cheese, and, when ready to serve, pour some melted butter over the cabbage, and sprinkle the grated cheese over it.

Beetroot.—The beetroot is boiled, and shortly before it is wanted, so as to retain its color; it is sliced, and over it is poured a sauce of one teaspoonful of vinegar mixed with sweet cream, to which are added a pinch of salt and a little sugar.

Victorian Games for Holiday Gatherings

Peterson's Ladies National Magazine, December 1874

This is the season of the year when long evenings begin, and people make merry around the fireside.

“Neighbor, Neighbor, I Come to Torment You,” is an amusing game, played as follows: The players sit in a circle, and one begins by saying, “Neighbor, neighbor, I come to torment you.” “What with?” is the question of the next player. “To do as I do,” whereupon one hand is moved. This is passed round the circle, until all the players are moving their one hand. Then the same formula is repeated, save that the answer is “To do with two as I do,” when both hands are moved; and the thing continues until both hands, legs, head, and body of each player are in motion, which presents a comical effect.

“Jingles” is also amusing. One of the players leaves the room, and the rest determine on a word. When he reenters he is told a noun that rhymes with the one chosen, which he must find out by their dumb movements. Say “bat” is the word selected, he is told that it rhymes with “rat,” and the players either try to imitate flying or hitting a ball with a bat.

We have known much fun caused by keeping four or five children in the room while the others are sent out, and placing them behind the drawn window-curtains; then let one just show the eye through the opening, and when the rest are admitted they have to decide to whom it belongs—by no means as easy a task as it seems.

The Stool of Repentance

Peterson's Magazine, December 1877

This is usually played thus: One person being sent out of the room, another, who acts as public prosecutor, goes round the circle, and invites each of the company to accuse the absent one of some offence; the more absurd the imputed crime, the better. This done, the culprit is introduced, and the public prosecutor addresses him. “It is my painful duty to inform you that in this open and honorable court, you have been accused of—“ here follows the offence imputed. “Dying your hair” — “Conceit” — “Punctuality” — “Modesty” — “Going to sleep in church” — “Wearing green gloves” — “Flirting” — “Writing poetry” — “Believing in compliments” are all good crimes. Having heard the accusation, the culprit makes a short defense of himself against the charge, and winds up by pointing out the person whom he supposes to have made it, as a proof that no credence can be attached to it. If he guesses right, the accuser is in turn sent out, and made to sit on the stool of repentance—if not, the next charge is heard until they are all exhausted.

Chit Chat

NOTE: This is an archived issue of Miss Mary's Gazette. I'm currently organizing all of the Christmas related material from the newsletters on a new site, http://christmas.missmary.com

Welcome to my Victorian Cookery issue, being part two of a three part Jumbo Holiday Gazette. Part One featured authentic Victorian-era gifts to make, and Part Three will be a "Read and Relax" number, complete with Victorian Ghost stories and a splendid illustrated article on Christmas from 1873.

Jam Cake
Six eggs, one cup of butter, three cups of flour, two cups of sugar, one large cup of jam, two teaspoonfuls of baking powder, two tablespoonfuls nutmeg, two tablespoonfuls cinnamon, two tablespoonfuls allspice.

Escalloped Sweet Potatoes
Cook and peel them, then slice thin. Put a layer in baking dish, then sprinkle with butter and sugar, then a layer of potatoes till dish is filled, place in oven till potatoes are brown; serve from baking dish.

Cranberry Sauce
This recipe is for a sauce and not for a jelly. Put one quart of cranber­ries and one pint of boiling water into a granite kettle. Boil the berries rapidly for five min­utes. Press them through a colander and re­turn them to the kettle. Add to them one pound of sugar, bring to boiling point and turn out to cool.

Southern Spoon Corn Bread
Pour a pint of boiling water over one cupful of corn meal and boil five minutes, stirring constantly. Add one teaspoonful of melted butter, two well-beaten eggs, one cupful of water, one cupful of milk, and one teaspoonful of salt. Pour into a greased baking dish and bake half an hour in a slow oven. Leave in the dish and serve with a spoon. This is one of the best of corn breads.

Canned Asparagus
If this is to be used with a cream sauce, proceed as follows: Drain the liquor from the can and put it over the fire to heat; when hot, add the asparagus carefully and let it simmer gently until heated through. Make a cream sauce, drain the asparagus, lay on toast, season the sauce, pour it over the asparagus and serve. If a thin milk sauce is to be used, scald the milk, drain the asparagus from the liquor in the can, add to the scalded milk and cook until the asparagus is heated through only. Serve on toast.

Roast Turkey with Oyster Dressing
Clean and wash well a nice fat turkey, salt and pepper it inside and out. Take about one quart of dry bread crumbs, one-half teacup of butter (not melted) cut in pieces, two stalks of celery cut in pieces, salt and pepper; mix all together thoroughly. Drain one pint of oysters, then fill the turkey first, put in a tablespoonful of the dressing, then a few oysters, until the turkey is full. Lay it in the dripping pan, sprinkle flour over it, strain the oyster liquor and use it to baste the turkey with. A ten-pound turkey will require three hours' cooking in a moderately hot oven.

Tomato Soup
One quart can of tomatoes, one pint of stock and one small onion, one bay leaf, one stalk of celery, a sprig of parsley, one teaspoonful of sugar, one-quarter teaspoonful of baking soda, two level teaspoonfuls of butter, four level teaspoonfuls of flour; salt and pepper to taste. Put the tomatoes in a sauce pan with the onions, bay leaf, parsley and celery; let it stew for about ten minutes. Now press through a sieve fine enough to remove the seeds. Put it into a clean sauce pan with the stock, place over the fire, and bring to boiling point. Beat the butter and flour together until smooth, and stir into the boiling soup. Stir constantly until smooth; then add the salt and pepper, sugar and soda, and serve.

Source: The People's Home Journal, December 1897.

Home-Made Candy from The American Girl's Home Book of Work and Play, 1888

To-day it is not only possible for any one to make excellent candy for home consumption, but even to imitate successfully the choicer varieties of French candy. For this last there is always a certain sale. Its preparation requires time, patience, delicate handling, and the skill which comes from even a short practice in the use of these prime essentials. Here as elsewhere, practice makes easy, and various cases have been given me in which candy-makers of this order have found that a very comfortable sum could be made monthly by supplying the drug-store or the village store with the carefully prepared and pretty bonbons. Before giving any hints for work of this nature, I will give you the simple form which is possible even for a child of only ten or twelve, and the knowledge of which ends any buying of cheap candy. There is no doubt that Americans eat too much sweet stuff of one sort and another, but as it is a national weakness, it is a good thing to know the purest forms. Here is the rule for the foundation of many sorts of candies.

Cream for Candy

Note: Take care if using raw egg—for your safety you may wish to adapt this recipe using powdered or egg substitute. –MM

Take the white of one egg and an equal amount of cold water. The best way is to drop the white in a tumbler, notice how far it comes up, and then take the same amount of water and mix both. The egg must not be beaten. Now add one pound of confectioner's sugar, and the strained juice of a lemon, or vanilla can be used for half and half a lemon for the remainder. Work in this sugar till all is in a firm mass; then lay it on a pastry-board and knead it like a lump of dough, using a little dry sugar to keep it from sticking. From this lump take a third for chocolate creams, a third for walnut and date creams, and the rest for nut candy.

Chocolate Creams
Mould some of the sugar dough into small balls. Melt two ounces of chocolate, by scraping it fine into a cup and setting it in boiling water till it melts. Drop in the little balls, and when well covered take them out and put on waxed or paraffine paper such as can now be bought at any stationer's or confectioner's, and let them dry. They must be lifted out carefully with a fork, and require some hours to dry.

Walnut Creams
Have ready quarter of a pound of English walnuts, the meats taken out carefully in halves, and press a half nut on each side of a ball of the prepared sugar. For date or prune creams, split both, take out the stone, and put half the fruit on each side as with the walnuts. Almonds and filberts can be covered with some of the paste and dipped in the chocolate or left plain.

Pure Delight
This is the title given by a family of experimental girls to a candy made in this fashion. Take the remaining third of the sugar paste, and add to it two figs, a handful of raisins seeded and chopped, about an ounce of citron, and all the broken nuts, say a teacupful of them, altogether. Chop them all quite fine and then mix thoroughly with the sugar, kneading them in, rolling it about a third of an inch thick and cutting in very small squares. If there is any chocolate left, use it to cover a few of the squares, or it can be stirred into some of the plain sugar and cut into chocolate squares. It is possible to vary these combinations in many ways, and a little of this candy, if made a part of the meal and not given between meals, can do no possible harm to children.

We come now to the more troublesome preparations, and I give the first form which is the foundation for every thing that follows. Use a porcelain-lined or enameled saucepan. It is impossible to make good candy in a tin one. Begin with small amounts till you have learned how to handle it easily and skillfully.

Cream Candy
Boil one pound of the best granulated sugar and one gill (1/2 cup) of water, and a little more than half an ordinary saltspoonful (1/4 teaspoon) of cream-of-tartar, till when you drop a little in ice-water it becomes a rather soft ball. Stir it just once as you put it on to boil, but not at all afterward, else it will not be creamy. Then pour it into a dish but do not scrape out the saucepan into it, or leave a spoon in it. When it has become blood-warm begin to stir it, and stir and beat it till it is white. It will very soon be too stiff for the spoon. Then roll and work it with your hands, the more the better. It soon becomes like firm lard, and in this form, by covering it with waxed paper you can keep it for weeks. It should be firm enough when cold to cut easily with a knife, and if it does not, it has not been boiled enough, in which case you have only to boil it over again, using as little water as possible—a tablespoonful or, at the most, two, should be enough. This cream can be colored red with a few drops of cochineal; green, with the juice of spinach, one drop or so giving it a pale green, and more as a deep a shade as desired. Settle beforehand what sorts are to be made, and prepare your nuts, chocolate, and anything else desired, as there must be no stopping after the work begins.

Nut or Chocolate Creams
For chocolate creams, melt chocolate as directed in the rule given. Mould small bits of the firm cream, and drop them into it, taking them out with an oiled fork and drying on waxed paper. For nuts a different method is needed. Take part of the firm cream and put it in a bowl, standing the bowl in a saucepan of boiling water. Stir the cream steadily as it melts, letting the water boil around it all the time till melted, then leave it still in the saucepan, but remove to a table. Drop in almonds or filberts, let them get well coated; then lift out with an oiled fork, give it a tap on the side of a bowl to free it from superfluous candy, and drop the balls on waxed paper to dry. A second coating when dry is always an improvement, but is not necessary.

Peach or Ginger Creams
Take a preserved peach, or piece of preserved ginger, crush it well to get rid of all the juice, add then a few drops of lemon juice and enough confectioner's sugar to make a firm and easily handled paste. Roll it then into finger lengths, cut into pieces half an inch thick and dip into the melted cream. Any rich sweetmeat, cherries, apricot, and the like, can be treated in the same way, the cherries, of course, being each dipped separately. Preserved quince makes a delicious cream.

Orange, Lemon, or Peppermint Creams
Make a cream candy as already described, and when cool and in shape, divide into three parts, working into each part from two to four drops of the oil of peppermint, of lemon or of orange. This is far stronger than the essence and must be used carefully. To the lemon and orange add half a teaspoonful of lemon juice. The strength varies, and as the oils are powerful flavors, you had better begin with two drops for each portion of the candy, and add more if needed. If you get it too strong add some of the plain cream.

To shape these creams either make some stiff paper forms an inch deep and wide and six inches long, or you can get small boxes that have held a dozen spools of cotton. Oil them well and press in the candy. When it is quite firm turn it out, cut it in caramel shapes with a warm knife and do up each one neatly in waxed paper in the same way that caramels are wrapped.

Almond Creams
Almond paste, ready for macaroons or candy, can now be had at the large grocers and is much less troublesome than to blanch and pound the almonds separately. These creams are most delicious, and are made by boiling half a pound of granulated sugar with just enough water to dissolve it, till a little will harden slightly in ice-water. Grate the yellow rind of a lemon; strain the juice of a lemon and a half, and shave four ounces of the almond paste very thin. Have these all ready and add to the candy, when it hardens a little in water. Stir till well mixed, and now and then to prevent burning, and boil steadily till it cracks crisply on dropping in ice-water. Oil or butter a dish, and pour the mixture on it. When cold it will not be hard, but can be cut in squares like caramels, or you can mould it in balls or any shape you like, and dip in the cream candy. In either case, it is delicious and easy.

Georgia Taffy
This rule was given me many years ago by a Georgia friend, and has won applause wherever tried. One quart of roasted peanuts shelled and chopped or pounded very fine. One pound of brown sugar; a teaspoonful of butter, the strained juice of a lemon, or a teaspoonful of butter, the strained juice of a lemon, or a teaspoonful of vinegar and a tablespoonful of water, or just enough to dissolve the sugar when put on the fire. Boil the sugar, lemon, etc., for twenty minutes, stirring to keep from burning. Then mix in the nuts, boil up once, and pour thin, in buttered pans.

Butter Scotch
This form of taffy is so popular in England that a great factory in London does nothing else. To make it on a small scale, take one pound of brown sugar, one teacupful (about 3/4 cup) of molasses, half a teacupful of butter, two tablespoonful of vinegar. Boil all together about twenty minutes, or till it hardens in cold water, then pour thin on buttered tins, cutting in squares while still warm. For a variation it an be pulled like ordinary molasses candy till it is a light straw color, twisted and cut in short lengths. In either case it is the best form of molasses candy, the brown sugar being but one remove from molasses.

A Perfect Caramel
One large cup of molasses; a teacupful of sugar, and one of milk; one heaping tablespoonful of butter; a pinch of salt; quarter of a pound of chocolate, cut or scraped fine. Boil all together about half an hour, or until it hardens when dropped in cold water, then pour on buttered tins, and as it cools cut into small squares.

See you next week with Part 3

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