Days of Yore 2023!

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Get all the details and stay up to date on the plans here.

Days of Yore

June Fashion Friday

 For this month's Fashion Friday we have a video concerning protective clothes, outer garments that protected the regular clothes when working or travelling.
These garments were common in all places during Victorian times not just the "Wild West".

Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta

June Book Tuesday and Recipe test

For June's post the ever resourceful Marian Gibbard has prepared a wonderful combination Book  Tuesday and Recipe test!

Combining a tasty Picnic for One with links to lots of resources at the Internet Archive to get us inspired for our Summer.

Enjoy!
The Victoria Society of Alberta

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An Early Summer Picnic Lunch

A Google search for ‘Victorian picnics’ will soon overwhelm the curious explorer with extensive menus, numerous recipes and complex social etiquette instructions. I scaled the affair down to a simple outdoor lunch for one, and put together a basket of tasty late Victorian and Edwardian style food to enjoy on a beautiful May afternoon in my backyard.

The menu:

• Cucumber sandwich
• Ham sandwich
• Rhubarb cake
• Gingersnaps
• Blackberries (purchased)
• Roasted and salted almonds (purchased)
• Raspberry vinegar
• Lemonade
  

Picnic for One

The recipes:

Cucumber Sandwich

From the "North End Club Cook Book".

https://archive.org/details/northendclubcook00nort/page/24/mode/2up

Ham Sandwich

Based on instructions for similar sandwiches, but using modern conveniences: store bought light rye bread spread with a grainy mustard, lettuce leaves, and thin sliced deli ham.

Rhubarb Cake

A simple cake, similar to some Victorian era recipes I have seen, but using a modern recipe.  Rhubarb is often of the first fruits or vegetables available in this area, and the first picking had arrived in my kitchen the day before this picnic, making for an unexpected but welcome addition to the menu.

The recipe came from the Western Producer, a farm/agricultural newspaper, May 26, 2022 edition. You’ll find article with the Old-fashioned Rhubarb Crunch Cake and three other rhubarb recipes on their website here:

https://www.producer.com/farmliving/rhubarb-among-mother-natures-first-garden-offerings/

Gingersnaps

Made from a vintage family recipe, which is very similar to this one found in the "North End Club Cook Book".  

Chill the dough overnight in the fridge before slicing and baking. Leave plenty of room between  the cookies to allow for spreading when they bake, and then let them cool for a few seconds on the cookie sheet before removing them.

https://archive.org/details/northendclubcook00nort/page/110/mode/2up

Raspberry Vinegar

Sweetened vinegar based syrups are an excellent way to preserve strongly flavoured berries beyond their regrettably short season as fresh fruit. This was made last summer using an old family recipe which is very similar to the instructions found in multiple period cook books.


Raspberry Vinegar

• 3 quarts raspberries
• 1 quart vinegar (white)
• Let stand in crock for 2 or 3 days, mashing raspberries thoroughly. Strain.
• To 1 pint syrup add 1 pound white sugar. Let set in cool place, stirring frequently.
• When sugar is dissolved, strain and bottle.

To make a drink, dilute the vinegar syrup to taste - usually a spoonful or two to a glass of cold water. Stir well, and enjoy.

Lemonade

Made using this Lemon Syrup recipe from the "White House Cook Book".  Originally published in 1886, the "White House Cook Book" went through numerous editions; this one is from 1908.

I had made the syrup last year, and put it up in pint canning jars. A dilution of 1part lemon syrup to 6 parts water seems to work well for this batch. Preferred dilution ratios will vary with personal taste and may vary between batches of syrup.

https://archive.org/details/whitehousecookbo00gill_2/page/446/mode/2up

The sources:

The "North End Club Cook Book": a collection of choice and tested recipes. 1905. North End Club, Chicago, Illinois. https://archive.org/details/northendclubcook00nort/mode/2up


The "White House Cook Book": a comprehensive cyclopedia of information for the home, containing cooking, toilet and household recipes, menus, dinner-giving, table etiquette, care of the sick, health suggestions, facts worth knowing, etc.. Fanny L. Gillette and Hugo Ziemann, editors. 1908 edition.  https://archive.org/details/whitehousecookbo00gill_2/mode/2up


The Western Producer. ‘Rhubarb among Mother Nature’s first garden offerings’. May 26 2022. https://www.producer.com/farmliving/rhubarb-among-mother-natures-first-garden-offerings/


Personal collection of family recipes.

It was a fine repast indeed!

Happy Victoria Day!

We hope everyone is enjoying the long weekend.

 Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta

May Fashion Friday

 For this month's Fashion Friday we present a very interesting discussion about how Victorians created the illusion of having such tiny waists.

Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta

May Book Tuesday

This month we feature a review by VSA member Marian Gibbard

Thanks Marian

Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta

Title:         Thunderstruck
Author:     Erik Larson
Published:     2006
 
The late Victorian and Edwardian era was a time of great change, both scientifically and socially.  Transportation and communication technology were advancing rapidly. Increased access to wealth and consumer goods was causing rapid shifts in established social structures. Against this background, Erik Larson paints the seemingly unconnected stories of two men. One, Guglielmo Marconi, a scientist and inventor grappling with natural forces he barely understands; the other,  Hawley Crippen, a struggling business man and devoted husband and lover.  Both are ambitious, daring, and facing long odds of achieving their dreams.  One of them will go on to become one of the great names in wireless communication, the other will go on to be executed as a murderer.

Extensively researched and with numerous footnotes, this book reads more like an adventure novel than a non-fiction selection.  More than just a dry recitation of facts and events, considerable effort has been put into describing for the reader the small details of scene, atmosphere, and personality that brings the characters and their settings to life.  The sights and sounds of the first, primitive wireless broadcast stations are brought to life without burying the reader in excessive technical details.

This was an entirely enjoyable read, and held my attention throughout.  I would recommend it to readers who want to know more (but not too much) about the development of intercontinental wireless communication, and also those who enjoy a good ‘true Victorian crime’ story.

“Snow began to fall and soon covered the clifftop. At night sparks from the transmitter lit the descending flakes. With each concussion a pale blue aura burst across the landscape, as if the transmission house were a factory stamping out ghosts for dispersal into the ether. Three-foot daggers of ice draped wires.”

    Thunderstruck by Erik Larson, p 233

Recipe Test Simnel Cake

 Here is another Victorian Recipe Test by VSA member Marian Gibbard.

Mmmmm...

Enjoy
The Victorian Society of Alberta

Recipe Test:    Mrs.Crocombe’s Simnel Cake 

From:    English Heritage - The Victorian Way YouTube channel
Link:    English Heritage. (2023, April 4). How to Make Simnel Cake - The Victorian Way
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z4bIJgfCSw

When the link to this video was posted to the VSA Facebook page just before Easter, I thought it would be the perfect dessert for my holiday dinner. But then someone mentioned cheesecake and lemons and raspberries, and suddenly Simnel Cake turned into a ‘next weekend’ project.  And now, here we are at next weekend already.

Mrs Crocombe as depicted by Kathy Hipperson on English Heritage’s The Victorian Way YouTube channel is absolutely my favourite Victorian cook.  The humour is subtle, the educational details extensive without being oppressive, the attention to detail exceptional, and the recipes tantalising. I’d definitely recommend the channel to anyone interested in Victorian food or life ‘below the stairs’ on a Victorian estate.

I had most of the ingredients for the Simnel Cake in my kitchen already, other than the candied citron peel and candied lemon peel.  Since I wasn’t able to find either of them in any of the stores I visited while doing my last minute shopping, I substituted some fruitcake fruit that I had leftover from making Christmas cakes a few years ago. By carefully picking out only the paler coloured bits from the mixed fruit, I think I succeeded in getting mostly lemon peel and citron for my cake.  Mrs Crocombe tells us that we can use currants or sultanas and milk rather than brandy if we prefer,  so I used sultanas since my currant jar was empty, and milk since there was no brandy in the cupboard. Only having large eggs in the fridge, I used only 2 instead of Mrs C’s 3 small ones.

The instructions provided are straightforward, and easy to follow.  Mrs Crocombe doesn’t actually tell us what size of pan she uses, but thanks to technology and instant replays I guessed that my largest fruitcake pan (8” diameter x 3” deep) would be about the right size - a springform and would probably also work well.

The cake smelled wonderful as it was baking.  Everyone passing through the kitchen commented on it. Just the smell was enough to make me feel that this would be a successful trial. About 1 hr 20 min into the baking time, I noticed that the top of the cake was already fairly brown, so I laid a square of parchment paper over top to hopefully help control it.  I think it helped, but the cake was still quite dark by the time it was done.  At 2.5 hrs the cake tested done, smelled delightful, but was just beginning to blacken a bit around the edges. Hoping for the best, I turned it out to cool.

 

 

 

The almond paste I was using for the top of the cake was softer than it should have been - it was leftover from another baking experiment and had a bit of orange juice added to it, which made for a lovely flavour, but a softer and stickier paste which was difficult to roll out and shape nicely. Fortunately, the cake wasn’t being judged on its artistic merits, so I just pressed the almond paste into place and sprinkled it liberally with icing sugar.

 

 

 

 

The finished cake is quite dense, and mine had quite a heavy crust, so a sharp knife is definitely needed for cutting.  Its a rich cake, somewhat reminiscent of a good fruit cake (or Christmas cake, or wedding cake) but a less intense flavour.  I definitely prefer the Simnel cake to the others. I’d recommend that you keep the pieces on the smallish side, and as Mrs Crocombe says, it is rather good with a cup of tea.

This is definitely on the list of things that will be made again.

 

 

Notes for next time:

Pan size: 8” diameter x 3” deep seems to work well.

Consider how best to reduce excess browning -

    - line the pan with paper, like you do for Christmas cake,

    - check about 1 hr into cooking time for colour - cover if necessary,

    - possibly reduce cooking temperature to 325 F from 350 F