9b Upper Kettle Street

As you know times have been hard in recent years and some people have had to move for new jobs, have had to take up new occupations and make a series of distressing changes in their lives.

Even the Wren Cottage dolls are not immune. So I have to report that the income my Hittys and Hettys relied on has failed, and our little friends are temporarily parted. Lillibet had to give up the nice home they rented and has gone to the capital to take up a dress designing job. Hittys Lucy, Ettie, Lottipeg and Gisella have been looking for a place to live, where Lucy can dressmake and Gisella can possibly work in a shop.

Today, they found just the place. They will take No 9 Upper Kettle Cottages, or rather the back wing of the house, 9b. It is a newly built (for 1850) house in an area where weaving and cotton work is growing. They will have a yard (I mean, a yard – not a garden – and an outside water closet. They will move in their few possessions and a mattress this afternoon. They are quite anxious to put up some curtains! They have had to sell many of their lovely things to raise the train fare to this town.

Barley Gruel (can be made in advance and reheated when required)

2 pints water, 2 oz pearl barley, 1 oz raisins, 1 oz currants, 1/2 tsp ground mace

Put the water in a cooking pot with the barley, and if you can afford it, the raisins, currants and mace, and boil until the water is reduced by half, and the barley is tender.

Possible additions, escalating with your means: 1 oz raisins, 1 oz currants and 1/2 tsp ground mace.  Butter to taste.  2 tablespoons sugar.  2 fl oz white wine.  Possibly not all at once!

Can be made alternatively with oats to give porridge.

To console themselves, they will refer to No 9b as Wren Cottage – it’s certainly as small as a wren!  The dimensions of the rooms are : 8′ 10″ by 6′ 5″, ceilings vary 6′ 9″ tall.  One room downstairs, with range;  one room upstairs and an attic.  The water closet is outside, 5′ deep by 2’6″ wide.   It’s a good thing our girls are around 5′.

Looking at the new home.

Hitty Lucy comes home

Hitty Lucy has returned from her Master Dressmaking course.  She had caught the Stage Coach from the city, and took the last leg of the journey sitting with the Rector in his gig during a hail shower.  She was welcomed home by Ettie with a shawl and a cup of chocolate.  Ettie remarked that most of the Dressmakers she knew were ladies even if the old fashioned mantua makers were often men.  Why was Lucy not a Mistress Dressmaker?  Lucy shushed her, “You’ll have the men up in arms!   Don’t fill your head with such ideas!”  There were to be great plans for stuffs, trimmings, and new wardrobes for all.   However, events have caught up with us as you will shortly see.  Great changes are afoot for the Wren Cottage dolls.

 

Hot Chocolate Drink

Grate a quantity of dark good quality chocolate into a bowl, and first mix, then briefly whisk with a chocolate whisk with water, heating over a bain-marie until it is well incorporated and hot.  If you like the chocolate thickened, add an egg whilst whisking.  Add a grating of fresh nutmeg, and serve.

Ratafia biscuits

Take 1 cup/4 oz ground almonds, and sieve or pound in a bowl.  In another bowl, whisk 2 egg whites with 1 teaspoonful of orange-flower water (or orange liqueur) until stiff.  Then mix thoroughly 6oz / 3/4 cup of caster sugar (superfine) into the almonds and lastly fold in the whisked egg whites.

Cover a baking sheet with rice paper, and place small teaspoonfuls of mixture on it, well spaced out (they spread).   Bake for ten to twelve minutes at 350 deg F or 180 deg C (Gas 4), until they are just coloured beige – they should still be soft underneath.  Cool them on the baking sheet, cut out,  and keep in an air tight container.

Molinette, or Chocolate whisk

 

Wigs and Brown Betty

Thank you for the kind messages/requests about the cooking!

Recipes for Wigs (Whigs, Whiggs or Wigges!) have been known for over 250 years, although they have been made for far longer and are mentioned.

Elizabeth Raffald’s recipe says

To three-quarters of a Pound of fine Flour, put half a Pint of Milk made warm, mix it in two or three Spoonfuls of light Barm (frothing yeast), cover it up, set it half an Hour by the Fire to rise, work in 3 ounces of Sugar, and four Ounces of Butter, make it into Wigs (moulded long ways, and thick in the middle – a fat Langue de Chat?) with as little extra Flour as possible, and a few Caraway Seeds, set them in a quick Oven to bake.

Traditionally served with ‘Caraway Confits’ scattered on top – they are sugared  caraway seeds, like the sugared almonds we know.

I feel there is enough information for a reasonably competent cook to produce the Wigs from that description.

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A Betty can be made with any fruit.  Nineteenth century recipes were made with apples, breadcrumbs and suet.  The recipe, more precise to our modern mind:

Apple Brown Betty

3 oz butter, 6 oz fresh white breadcrumbs, 1 1/2 lb tart flavoured apples, 4 oz demerera (light brown) sugar, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, the Grated rind and juice of 1 lemon or 1 orange.  Extra demerera sugar to finish.

Melt the butter in a heavy frying pan (skillet), add breadcrumbs and cook over moderate heat, stirring continuously to prevent burning, until crumbs are light golden in colour.  Peel, core and slice the apples thinly.  Mix them with the sugar, cinnamon, grated lemon or orange rind and juice.  Butter a 2 pt ovenproof dish and put in a thin layer of crumbs, then a layer of apples, then more crumbs more apples, finishing with a layer of crumbs.  Sprinkle with extra demerera sugar and cover with foil.  Bake in the centre of a moderate oven (e.g. 350 F, 180 C or Gas Mark 4) for 20 minutes, then remove foil and bake for a further 35 minutes, or until the top has browned and is crisp, and the apples are soft.

Serve hot with clotted or whipped cream, or Custard sauce.

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 Coleridge’s Stew made with Mutton

Take a pound of Beef, Mutton, or Pork;  cut it into small pieces;  a pint of Peas; four Turnips sliced; six or seven Potatoes cut very small; four or five Onions, put to them three Quarts of Water, and let it boil about two hours and a half … then thicken it with a pound of Rice – and boil it a quarter of an hour more – after which season it with salt and pepper.

[8oz cubed beef, mutton, or pork; 8 oz young turnips; 12 oz Potatoes, 8 oz Onions;  8oz short-grain rice;  6 oz Peas;  1 tsp Salt – pinch ground pepper – Salt and pepper the meat first; put into a large pan with 3 pints of cold water and the vegetables (if using frozen peas, leave until the end).  Bring to boil, turn down low enough to simmer, skim the scum, simmer as slowly as possible 2 1/2 hours. Stir in the rice, continue simmering 30 mins, stirring the rice up from the bottom periodically to prevent sticking.  Check seasoning, serve.]

Elizabeth Raffald: ‘The Experienced English Housekeeper’  1769