MORE ON PRETZELS©

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soft pretzels

                       Image In the Public Domain – taken from Wikimedia.

In June 1864, the U.S. Sanitary Commission held a great fair in Philadelphia to contribute to the aid and comfort of the Northern soldiers during the Civil War.  It was such a grand and extravagant affair that a book was published on the activities and items found at the fair including the various foods of Pennsylvania.  Pretzels were one of the foods fair-goers could sample. 

Speaking of cookery naturally suggests the bill of fare, which, in this case, consists of coffee, tea, chocolate, bread and butter, lot-werk (apple butter), noodle-soup, eggs (boiled or fried), omelette etwas (scrambled eggs), dried beef, summer wurst, tongue, ham (boiled or fried), buttered waffles (with sugar and cinnamon), trichter-kuchen (flannel cakes), dampf-knauf and schnitz, meerschaum, pie, zwiebach, krollers, fast-nachts, pfefferkuchen, leb-kuchen, pretzels, or zucker-pretzels…The cooking is going on very constantly, and a glance into the back kitchen reveals cakes and loaves and pies, and all the delicacies we have named, in exhausting profusion…The Pennsylvania Kitchen is a great feature of the Fair, and a visit to it provokes that hearty good feeling and enjoyableness which more elegant departments fail to excite…  - Stille, Charles Janeway.  Memorial of the Great Central Fair for the U.S. Sanitary Commission.  1864.  Philadelphia. 

All those luscious treats were made by hand and served hot and fresh in great quantity.  Some, especially the pretzels, schnitz un knepp, and dried beef, remain Pennsylvania Dutch specialties today. 

Anything made by hand tastes better than when mass produced by machines, and pretzels are the perfect example.  We’ve watched the employees making soft pretzels at Revonah in Hanover, PA, and it looks easy.  Looks can be deceiving.  My first effort at making pretzels was a dismal failure.  Perhaps because we’ve had the best anything else pales in comparison.

In Ohio (and probably other pretzel-making states) girls were employed in making pretzels by hand from the later part of the 19^th century.  It was hard work, monotonous, with long hours, and for little pay. 

The work is tiresome and the wages low.  Their duties consist of forming the pretzels, the material coming to them cut in strips by machinery.  The girls stand at long tables and before each is placed a small board, leaving just space enough in front of her to shape the dough.  As the pretzels are rolled and formed they are placed upon the board and when the latter, which hold just 800, is full, the girl has earned 3 ½ cents.  Although the wages are slender, and in some cases fall as low as $1. per week, many of the girls attain a high degree of speed and skill.  An expert, with constant work can make $3. per week.  The figure represents the making of 25,860 pretzels which would be an average of 4,300 pretzels per day.  The girls are required to be constantly on their feet.  Wrapping and packing are not so laborious, and is paid by the week instead of by the piece.  In all departments, the little corner in which each girl works is called her shop, and she must clean it up and put in order every evening, after working hours are over.  The average number of weeks worked during the year is fifty, and the average hours per day 10.  – Ohio Bureau of Labor Statistics.  Annual Report.  Vol. 17.  1893. 

Now that we’ve seen how hard workers labored to produce sufficient quantities of pretzels to sell on the streets and in shops during the 19^th century, let’s take a look at period pretzel recipes to see what went into them.  The 1881 receipt is probably the closest to the pretzels served in 1864 by the U.S. Sanitary Commission.  I could find no receipt actually published that early.  [The internet is full of recipes for pretzels for those who want a modern recipe.] 

GERMAN PRETZELS.  Take 2 quarts of flour, one tablespoonful of butter, one teaspoonful of salt, one compressed yeast cake, 2 tablespoonsful of sugar and 2 ½ cup of milk; dissolve the yeast in a third of a cup of milk, add 1 tablespoonful of sugar and mix with 1 cup of flour to a soft dough; put into a bowl and let stand overnight.  Mix the remainder of flour with the salt and sugar, put the light dough into the center and mix with the milk and butter and knead until smooth, and let rise again; when light divide the dough into small pieces, roll out into long sticks, twist in pretzel shape, and lay on buttered pans; when light, brush over with the white of an egg and sweet milk and bake in a quick oven.  – Our Horticultural Visitor.  1895. 

PRETZELS:  Sift together two cupfuls of flour, one teaspoonful of salt and a pinch of ginger; add one egg beaten, one-third of a cupful of butter, one-half of a yeast cake dissolved, and stir in enough sweet milk to make a very stiff dough; beat with biscuit roller until smooth, and let rise; cut off small pieces and roll them between the hands into strips, form small rings, pinch the ends of the dough together, and let rise; put them a few at a time in salted boiling water, let cook until they begin to come to the top of the water, take out quickly, sprinkle with salt, put in a greased pan, and bake a light brown.  – Table Talk.  Vol. 27.  Feb. 1912.

GERMAN SWEET PRETZELS.  Mix half a pound of flour with half a pound of fresh butter; add a quarter of a pound of sugar, one egg and one beaten yolk, one tablespoonful of sweet cream and some grated lemon peel.  Mix thoroughly and mold the dough into small wreaths; brush the top with the yolk of an egg and sprinkle with powdered sweet almonds.  Lay in a well buttered baking tin and bake until a deep yellow.  – Table Talk.  Vol. 27.  June 1912.

TEA PRETZELS.  1/3 cup butter, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 egg, 2 cups white flour, 1 teaspoon salt, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 3 dozen almonds.  Cream the butter and add the sugar slowly.  When thoroughly creamed, add the beaten egg, the salt, and the flavoring.  Add the flour.  Cover the dough and place on ice an hour or so.  Break off small bits and roll into strips the size of a lead pencil.  Bring the ends together, cross them and fold back to the middle portion of the strip.  Beat one egg slightly and add one tablespoon of milk.  Brush the pretzels with the egg mixture.  Chop the almonds and press into the dough.  Bake in a moderate oven.  – Cooper, Lenna Frances.  The New Cookery.  1914.

PRETZELS.  Made of ordinary bread dough with an extra amount of salt; roll the dough to a proper thickness and form into pretzel shape; throw them into a cauldron of strong hot lye made from wood-ashes; as soon as they rise to the surface, throw them on fine salt; immediately after put in the oven and bake; it requires about an hour to perfectly bake them.  – Gill, Thomas.  The Complete Bread, Cake, and Cracker Baker.  1881.  Chicago.

PRETZELS, FROM EUROPE TO THE NEW WORLD©

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Job Adriaenszoon Berckheyde’s The Baker, 1681.  Pretzels are shown with various other types of bread.

Recently a segment on Today spoke of pretzels being eaten in Philadelphia since the early 1700’s, obviously relished by the Germans who settled there.   Areas where pretzel-eating Europeans settled in the U.S. would have continued to make them, but they would have been slow to spread outside those areas until the age of global transportation and communication.

A published account dated pretzel making to the year 610 AD.  Although it has been reposted countless times, there was no source given for that date, and in the absence of documentation, the origins and earliest history of pretzels becomes again conjecture.   

There is proof of pretzel making in medieval paintings and in the emblem of the Baker’s Guild in Germany dating from between 1111 and 1300.  A depiction of a pretzel, or bretzel in German, in Hortus Delicarum places it on the tables of the Biblical King Ahasuerus and Queen Esther in 12^th century; however, the food on the table is evidence of what was eaten during the lifetime of the painter, not during the Biblical era.  He was used to seeing and eating pretzels so he painted them. [See illustration] 

Hortus Delicarum  comes from the Southwest German Alsace, today France.  The area changed hands several times politically, however, food customs would have remained constant, and this is where the origin of pretzels plays into German and French culture.  Pretzels seem to have also played into early Italian history.

Pretzels, the well-known German rolls, have never taken hold in this country [England]…in America where in some of the large towns there are great German districts in which the home customs are maintained as much as possible.  Amongst those customs, the eating of Pretzels plays an important part.  – The Epicure.  Nov. 1902.

Julius Sturgis opened the first commercial bakery to make hard pretzels in 1861 in Lititz, Lancaster Co., PA.  The Anderson Pretzel Factory followed in 1889.  Legend has it that the hard pretzel originated in Pennsylvania, possibly during this period. 

A writer claimed in 1890, it had been some 75 years previous [1815] when he first saw the word pretzel in print, and referred to them as New Jersey handcuffs.   

Mary Anne Hines and William Woys Weaver identified one of the earlier Pennsylvania pretzel vendors as Daniel Christopher Kleiss who sold soft pretzels on the streets of Philadelphia in the 1820’s, however, again, they offered no source for that information.  – Hines, Mary Anne, Weaver, William Woys.  The Larder Invaded.  1987.  Philadelphia.  Walsh, William Shepard.  American Notes.  1890.  Philadelphia.

An early 20^th century account claims the name came from, “a slight modification of the old German word meaning a chain.  In form the pretzel reminds us of the magic chains of the old German sorceresses.”  – Bray, Frank Chapin.  The Chautauquan.  March 1897.

When we visit Pennsylvania the first thing we do is stop for soft pretzels at Revonah Pretzel Co. in Hanover.  They are soft and chewy, salt sprinkled, and a nostalgic return to his childhood for Martin.  I grew up or, as we say in the South, “was raised” in South Central Tennessee and have no such recollections.  There is a reason for that.

In 1947, Pennsylvania pretzel-makers were putting forth a campaign to introduce pretzels into what they termed, “darkest America—those broad reaches of the South and West where the natives, languishing in barbarism, apparently never heard of pretzels and certainly don’t eat them”. 

Pennsylvania produced more pretzels in the 1940’s than any other state, followed by Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, and California.  Readers will note the lack of Southern states in that line-up.  The method of making them was fairly standard.

An ancient art, pretzel making came to Pennsylvania with the early settlers.  Pretzel history dates back to the third or fourth century.  Their design apparently typified arms crossed in prayer, and it is believed that pretzels were given children as a reward for saying their prayers. 

Pretzels once symbolized bakeries just as striped poles indicate barber shops, and the pretzel was part of the crest of the Bakers Guild.  – Kiplinger’s Personal Finance.  Feb. 1947.

Pretzel dough itself, no matter how the baker shapes it, is pretty much the same everywhere; wheat flour, yeast, salt, water, and maybe a dash of sweetening.  Either in sheets or in strands, the raw dough gets a hot soda dip, which prepares it for a sprinkling of surface salt and makes it take a glaze.  Then it goes into the baking and drying ovens. 

In earlier times, the pretzels were dipped in lye-water, but by the 1940’s that had been replaced with soda water.  “The pretzels are dropped into the lyewater, kept at boiling point.  At first, they will sink, but come to the surface after a few seconds when they are done and must be removed at once with a strainer.  They are immediately placed on the peel, sprinkled with salt, and placed in the oven”.  Thus prepared, the baking time was minimal.

The baking time and the strength of the lyewater in which they were dipped determined the color of the baked pretzels, and different areas had their own preference as to color.  In Wurttemberg and other provinces of Southern Germany they preferred gold or straw yellow.  In Switzerland and Austria they were baked until much darker, and in Elsass-Lorraine [Alsace-Lorraine] and Rhinelands they preferred them even darker.  – Braun, Emil.  The Baker’s Book:  A Practical Hand Book of the Baking Industry.  1902.  NY. 

Pretzel vendor, Junius Henry Browne, The Great Metropolis [New York], 1869.  Note the pretzels on the pole coming out of the basket.

Pretzels were sold by vendors who carried them on long poles and that custom survived into the early 20^th century.  Harper’s Weekly indicated that at least in some areas of New York the pretzel vendor did little business and endured extremes of weather.  – Harper’s Weekly.  Vol. 35.  No. 1778.  Jan. 1891.

Carnival scene by Pieter Bruegel, 1559.  Pretzels are seen in the bottom right corner (on the cart, and hanging from the waist of the person just behind the cart.

See:  Allentown Board of Trade.  Past, Present, and Future of the City of Allentown, PA.  1886.  Allentown.

 

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES – the food, not the movie by the same name©

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fried green tomatoes

If there’s one food Southerners know, its home-grown tomatoes whether they’re ripe slices served with a helping of fried okra and creamed corn, or fried green slices.   With summer fast approaching let’s take a quick stroll down memory lane and see how and when our ancestors discovered the pleasure of a crispy golden brown on the outside, tender on the inside, fried tomato slice.

A Charleston food critic recently wrote in his blog that fried green tomatoes aren’t Southern at all because he only found one recipe for them in a Southern newspaper.  While they weren’t strictly Southern, they were being eaten in the South as well as every region of the country by the mid-19^th century as receipts are common from the 1870’s on, and fried tomatoes were discussed as early as the 1830’s. 

“Lovers of tomatoes are very fond of them, sliced green as apples are sliced, and fried in butter.  Some persons are fond of them sliced and fried after being dipped in butter.  The green tomatoes, which the season will not permit to ripen, may be turned to good account by using them fried.”  - The New England Farmer.  Oct. 14, 1836. 

The preceding passage by no means indicates they were only eaten as Jack Frost made his appearance or that frying them was the only option for preparing them.

“Where’s the batter?” you ask.  By the 1840’s tomato slices were being coated in flour before frying them.  “Fried Tomatoes.  Have plenty of butter hot in a pan, cut ripe tomatoes (large or small), in half, and lay the cut side down, salt, pepper, and dust with flour; when brown, turn and soon as all are quite soft, serve on a meat dish.  This is a suitable relish if you are hurried, and universally esteemed”.  – Pennsylvania Farmer and Gardener.  Vol. 2, I. 7.  August 1861. 

“Not fried green tomatoes”, you point out.  True.  To that, I ask, have you ever tried frying a ripe tomato slice?  The flavor is excellent, but because a ripe tomato is juicier and softer, it is much more difficult to get that nice texture one gets when frying green tomatoes.  I’m sure our ancestors were equally observant.

In 1874, John Cowan instructed his readers, “green or half ripe tomatoes fried, or rather browned, make a nice relish for breakfast, but they require care and patience.  Wipe the fruit clean, cut in slices one-fourth of an inch thick, dip in corn meal, and brown on a griddle till tender, say ten or fifteen minutes”.  – Cowan, John.  What to Eat and How to Cook It”.  1874.  NY. 

Another example:  “Fried Tomatoes.  Cut in one-half inch slices the required amount of tomatoes, not so ripe as to be soft—green ones are good.  Salt, turn in flour, and fry brown in hot olive oil or cotton-seed oil.  Place in a platter and pour over them a ripe tomato sauce…”  – Diet for Health With Favorite Recipes.  1913.  New Jersey. 

The previously mentioned blogger quoted Fannie Flagg who says her aunt was preparing them in her restaurant in Irondale, Alabama in the 1930’s, but he seems to question her account, further implying, “if it was”, that doing so was a fluke, something not common, but rare, that her aunt found in, “a syndicated newspaper column or a general-interest, national cookbook.”  Shame on you, Sir.  While you say you are not going to question Miss Fannie’s account, you did just that. 

He went on to say that the 1944 article from the Dothan Eagle mocks a pamphlet from the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture which recommended fried green tomatoes for breakfast.   “The title makes the Alabama editor’s opinion clear:  ‘No, Thank You, Suh!  Our Culinary Tastes Won’t Permit It, Suh!’ “ The implication is that, as of the 1940’s at least, no self-respecting Southerner would dream of eating a fried green tomato. 

Once again, someone has misunderstood our culture, and mistakenly remarked upon it.  Alabamians were eating fried green tomatoes, but not for breakfast.  It is the custom of eating them for breakfast that was being commented on by the editor, not the eating of them in general. 

Trust me (and Miss Fannie), they certainly pre-date the movie Fried Green Tomatoes at the Whistle Stop Café, released in the early 1990’s. 

Even though he quotes two Jewish cookbooks containing recipes and implies a Jewish origin, he should realize that doesn’t make them quintessentially Jewish either.  The books he quoted were published in 1889 and 1919, a time when cookery books almost routinely carried receipts for fried green tomatoes.  That didn’t make them a quintessentially Jewish dish anymore than being published in the 1904 Presbyterian Cookbook made them a Presbyterian dish.    – Presbyterian Cookbook.  1904.  Fostoria, Ohio.

Fried green tomatoes were certainly a staple in our family kitchens from the 1930’s and before, and like fried potatoes, grits, and a host of other dishes were so simple and easily prepared that a good Southern cook needed no recipe for them. 

The difference in the way we prepared them during my childhood in the 1950’s and now, is that we sliced them, battered them, and put them all into a skillet to fry instead of frying them one slice at a time as most people expect today.  We planted enough tomatoes in the garden, staggering the planting times, so that we had an abundant supply until frost at which time any green ones remaining were pickled or frozen to last through the winter. 

While some early writers instructed the tomato should be picked just as it started to ripen, others cautioned readers to pick them before they showed any sign of color.  Still others voiced no preference at all.

FRIED TOMATOES.  Peel tomatoes and cut crosswise in large slices, salt and pepper, dip each slice into wheat flour, then into beaten egg, and fry at once in hot lard; serve hot.  A cup of milk is sometimes thickened with a little flour and butter, boiled, and poured over them.  – Wilcox, Estelle Woods.  Practical Housekeeping.  1883.  Minneapolis. 

“But that recipe was published in Minnesota, not in the South”, you note.  True, but the author included the same recipe in a book entitled The Dixie Cook Book published in Atlanta, GA, two years later (1885), so what do we make of that?  Could fried tomatoes be both Southern and Midwestern?  I think it will be impossible to determine exactly where and when they were first made, and from the abundance of receipts from all areas of the country, we must conclude that they were universally prepared and eaten throughout the U.S.

In 1907, Mrs. Frederick Sidney Ciger compiled receipts she claimed were used a century prior in Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cooking School, also famous old Creole and Moravian Receipts, “and some of the best formulas of our modern chefs”, including a receipt for fried tomatoes from Muncy, Pa.  Unfortunately, she made no distinction as to which receipts were vintage and which were modern, so one can only guess based on additional research.  – 1907.  Philadelphia.

Sarah Tyson Heston Rorer’s 1888 Hot Weather Dishes contained three receipts for fried tomatoes.  One was basically baked tomatoes with gravy, the other two were for sliced tomatoes, dipped into egg, then into breadcrumbs, and fried.  One receipt was for ripe tomatoes, “yellow tomatoes are especially nice done this way”, and the other was for green tomatoes.  The cook was free to use which one she preferred.

In 1902, Christine Terhune Herrick (pen name Marion Harland) joined several writers who instructed the cook to sprinkle the fried tomato slices with sugar, something few Southerners would find appealing.  The sprinkling of sugar was probably to decrease the tanginess so much associated with the dish these days and more closely replicate the flavor of the fried ripe slices.   – 365 Luncheon Dishes:  A Luncheon Dish for Every Day in the Year.  1902.  Philadelphia.

In another book, Mrs. Rorer included fried green tomatoes in her breakfast menus .  – The Helping Hand Cook Book.  1912.

Chef Fred Guyer of Los Angeles was making them in 1910 and preferred cornmeal for battering the tomato slices.  – Santa Fe Magazine.  Vol. 4.  Aug. 1910.

In conclusion, I offer one of the more interesting sources, Fifty Years in a Maryland Kitchen, originally published in 1881.  If we count backward 50 years from the date of publication, we see that the author claims to have been preparing the dishes in the book between the years from 1831 through 1881.  If we consider that Maryland was a border state that preferred to join the Confederacy during the Civil War, but was barred by force from doing so, we get the idea that the recipes were probably predominantly Southern in nature. 

That hypothesis was strengthened when the book was updated and released again in 1913 with a note from the publisher saying it was being reprinted because of a constant demand for it.  “The present edition includes a great many famous receipts, which have long been in use in Maryland and Virginia and other parts of the South; which were omitted by Mrs. Howard [the author of the original book] probably for lack of space.” 

Both editions included a recipe for Fried Tomatoes, but neither specifies whether the tomatoes should be ripe, green, or either.  I feel it is safe to assume, in the absence of further instructions, that either was considered acceptable and that both were being prepared according to personal preference, and in the South as much as anywhere.   

Whatever you choose to believe about the origin and history of fried green tomatoes, one thing is certain – you’ll find them pretty much anywhere these days and they’re still as tasty as they were when they were discussed in the 1830’s.  – Vickie Rumble, The Historic Foodie

ADDITIONAL RECIPES:

The Blue Grass Cook Book’s versions were for both ripe and green tomatoes.  The green slices were sprinkled with sugar, rolled in corn meal , fried in hot lard, and then seasoned with salt and pepper.  There was no mention of battering the ripe tomato slices.  “Cut fresh tomatoes in thick slices.  Fry ½ hour in little butter and take out of frying-pan.  Stir into what is left in frying pan 1 teaspoon of flour moistened in milk.  Add a little milk.  When consistency of cream sauce, pour over tomatoes.  – Fox, Minnie.  1904.  NY.    

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.  Wash and wipe the tomatoes dry, cut into thick slices, dust with salt and pepper, dip each slice in the beaten yolk of an egg, roll in bread crumbs and fry in boiling lard.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.  Slice the tomatoes and lay in salt water a half hour, drain and roll in corn-meal and fry in hot lard; salt and pepper to taste.  – Housekeeping in the Blue Grass.  1881.  Cincinnati.

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES.  Wash and cut the tomatoes into slices about an eighth of an inch in thickness, dry each slice carefully with a soft towel, then dust with salt and pepper.  Beat an egg in a saucer until light, add to it a tablespoonful of boiling water.  Dip each slice first in this and then in bread crumbs.  Put two or three tablespoonfuls of lard or dripping in a frying pan; when very hot, cover the bottom of the pan with the slices of tomatoes; fry brown on one side, then turn and brown the other.  Take them up carefully with a cake turner, place on a heated dish and pour over them Sauce Hollandaise.  Very good.   – Rorer.  – 1888.  Philadelphia.

FRIED TOMATOES IN BATTER.  A nice side-dish is made by dipping slices of ripe tomatoes in a batter made of flour, milk and an egg, and frying them a delicate brown.  – Williams, Jennie B.  Us Two Cook Book.  1909.  NY.

FRIED TOMATOES.  Cut fine, ripe, solid tomatoes in halves; dredge them with pepper, salt, and sifted cracker dust.  Put three tablespoons of butter in the chafing-dish; when very hot, cook the tomatoes on both sides and serve.  A little onion juice is an improvement.  – Sawtelle, Henrietta.  What One Can Do With a Chafing Dish.  1890.  NY.

Native and Non-Native Foods of the Colonial Southeast

These photos are from my display on the above topic for the French and Indian event at Ft. Toulouse in April 2012.  I displayed various foods and discussed their origins and uses, of those were several non-native foods such as purslane, plantain, and dandelion, which were brought here by European settlers as garden crops.  Native foods displayed included hickory nuts, dewberries, squash, wild rice, chestnuts, etc.  Several non-native foods had been introduced so long ago that some of the early writers mistakenly assumed them to be native. 

Kitchen utensils displayed included an 18th century waffle iron, wafer iron, toaster, sugar nippers, redware pipkin, bottle jack, mustard pot, horn spoon, sorbetier, beverage warmer, butter mold, etc.

 

 

Pleasant Hill, Alabama

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Alabama, Pleasant Hill, Southern antebellum homes

Culture can change, homes can change, and those who live in the homes can change, but the one constant is the history of it all.  We can’t (truly) rewrite it, we can’t relive it, but we can remember it, cherish it, learn from it.  Such is the story of Pleasant Hill, Alabama.

In a previous post I wrote about Phillip Henry Gosse and the account he penned of his short stay in Pleasant Hill, readers may wish to scroll down to that entry to learn more about this gentleman and the village he called home in the late 1830′s.

Gosse described the homes in Pleasant Hill, even for the wealthier citizens, as crude log houses and log dog-trots which fell into ruins and rotted away decades ago, but the countryside is still much as Gosse saw it.  It is rural, largely unsettled, and consists primarily of fields and pastures.  It is just the sort of place where one could sit on a porch swing in the gentle southern breeze watching grandchildren play or shelling peas for supper, without traffic noises and unwanted intruders.   

These photos were taken on an excursion Martin and I took to retrace the footsteps of Phillip Henry Gosse.  The antebellum home pictured here and the larger of the two churches were built about a decade after Gosse returned to England, but the country side is not so different from the way he discovered it.  Enjoy, gentle reader, a short stroll through the village of Pleasant Hill.  Victoria Rumble, The Historic Foodie

This church stood when Gosse lived in Pleasant Hill, and if he attended church at all, this is where he worshipped.  The church is within walking distance of the home where Gosse worked as a teacher. The graves of his employer’s family, Judge Saffold, are not located in the cemetery, they are buried on the property where the home stands now. 

Tea History©

A couple of nice ladies I know are working on a gathering for Ft. Toulouse’s French & Indian event this weekend and since I haven’t made any real contribution to the effort, I thought perhaps a bit of information might be welcomed.  If I can get my own presentation on Native Plants and Animals in the Diet of Colonial Inhabitants of the Southeast ready, I may try to bake up something appropriate to contribute in the way of food.   The verdict is out on that possibility as of this morning, however, since I’m not packed yet and the event starts tomorrow.

“The social tea-table is like the fireside of our country, a national delight; and, if it be the scene of domestic converse and of agreeable relaxation, it should likewise bid us remember that every thing connected with the growth and preparation of this favourite herb should awaken a higher feeling—that of admiration, love, and gratitude to Him “who saw every thing that he had made, and behold it was very good”.  [Sigmond, George Gabriel.  Tea:  Its Effects, Medicinal and Moral.  1839.  London.]

If tea had become such an institution by the time the previous author wrote the statement above in 1839, when would we consider that popularity to have gained momentum?

Samuel Pepys wrote in his diary that he had tasted tea for the first time in 1660, although, it was most likely introduced in England some 50 years prior.  “I sent for a cup of tee—a China drink—of which I had never drank before”, – 25 Sept., 1660.  The tea Pepys purchased came from the London merchant, Mr. Thomas Garway, who had received a large shipment three years prior and established a house where he prepared it and sold it to patrons. 

Pepys did not write of tea being prepared in his own home until 1667.  “Home and there find my wife making of tea, a drink which Mr. Pelling, the potticary, tells her is good for her cold and defluxions”. 

Garway had a handbill circulated which told interested parties he was a tobacconist and seller and retailer of tea and coffee located in Exchange Alley, “near the Royal Exchange in London”.  Interestingly enough, my direct ancestor, Sir Thomas Gresham, is credited with the creation of the Royal Exchange some years before, Sir Thomas, having died in 1579.  One would assume from Pepys’ diary entries about the introduction of tea, that Sir Thomas may have died blissfully unaware of the beverage or the pomp and circumstance associated with drinking it in the early days of its use. 

                   The author’s ancestor, Sir Thomas Gresham of London.

Another source claims, however, that the East India Company brought tea to England in the first half of 1571.  If that is true, then Sir Thomas and his illustrious brothers would have almost certainly joined their wealthy counterparts at the tea-house or tea-gardens of London.   

                   Lady Ann Fernley, widow, married Sir Thomas Gresham

 Another source states, “There were at this time (1659) a Turkish drink, to be souled almost in every street, called coffee, and another kind of drink called tea; and also a drink called chocolate, which was a very hearty drink.” 

The Mercurius Politicus referred to tea as, “That excellent, and by all physicians approved, China drink, called by the Chineans Teha, by other nations Tay, alias Tee, is sold at the ‘Sultaness Head’ coffee-house in Sweeting’s Rents, by the Royal Exchange, London.” 

In 1710, a tea house was founded which is probably familiar to most Americans – Twinings.  A portrait of the founder, Thomas Twinings, painted by Hogarth, remained a fixture long after he was gone and the establishment was being run by his great-great grandsons. 

Montgomery Martin wrote that in 1662 Charles II married Princess Catherine of Portugal who was exceedingly fond of tea, and credited her with helping to make tea-drinking fashionable in England.  Others, such as Dr. Alexander Carlyle, through their writings added to the appeal of tea-drinking among the wealthier class.  “The ladies gave afternoon’s tea and coffee in their turn, which coming but once in four or six weeks amounted to a trifle”. 

The gentry found a vast array of treats to partake of while enjoying their cup of tea, including fruit tarts, rich cakes, gingerbread, fruits in season, dry sweet-meats, and cheesecakes, but what of the country people?  A historian for the town of Whitby wrote that, “tea was very little used a century ago, most of the old men being much against it, but after the death of the old people it soon came into general use”. 

An Italian visitor to England wrote in 1755 that even the common maids expected their tea twice daily, but indicated that the still costly beverage was purchased by their wealthy employers and wasn’t paid for from their earnings.  Was this indulgence standard, or how did the tea consumption of other countries compare to Britain?  [Reade, Arthur.  Tea and Tea Drinking.  1884.  London.]

Several years later, Mullhall wrote in his Dictionary of Statistics that the United Kingdom consumed 72 ounces  of tea per inhabitant per year compared with 21 ounces in the United States, 8 in Belgium and Holland, 8 in Denmark, 7 in Russia, 2 in Sweden and Norway, and 1 in France, Germany, Austria, Italy, and Spain.  [Mulhall, Michael George.  Dictionary of Statistics.  1886.  London.]

A Bit on Tea in the 18th Century©

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tea

                          Richard Collins, A Family of Three at Tea, 1727

Early in the 18^th c., tea, accompanied by porcelain from which to drink it, and sometimes lacquered tables to serve it on, began to make some figure in the houses of the colonial gentry, who readily followed an English fashion.  Before 1725, tea “green and bohea” had no only become established in larger towns, but had found a secure lodgment among the country gentry of Virginia and the Carolinas; in North Carolina the “better sort” early showed a preference for such “sober liquors”.  When beaux were announced in the afternoon, Virginia young ladies were accustomed to go out into the hall and pour tea for them.  The Dutch of New York became very fond of the new beverage; they drank it after a fashion of their own, laying by each cup a lump of sugar, which they put into the mouth and held there while they sipped the tea. ..Tea made its way in New England much more slowly than elsewhere, and was not in general use until about the middle of the century.  There is a pretty well authenticated story of some young ladies in Connecticut, who in their eagerness to test the new drink, boiled it in a kettle and served it like broth, with the leaves for thickening.  Coffee was never so generally drunk as tea in any of the colonies…

The frequent loss of teeth in America was set down to the account of tea, when it had hardly been in general use for one generation.  A colonial historian of New York in 1756 said, “Our people are shamefully gone into tea-drinking”, and an Annapolis broadside of 1774 calls it “that detestable weed, tea.”  In 1742 Benjamin Lay, the Quaker Elijah, went into the market-place in Philadelphia at noon-time, during a general meeting of the Society of Friends, and “bore a testimony” against tea-drinking by mounting a huckster’s stall and breaking piece by piece with a hammer a valuable lot of china-ware that had belonged to his deceased wife.  In vain the crowd sought to stay his hand by offering to buy the dainty cups and saucers; the people at last pushed the enthusiast down and carried off what was left of the china.  The great popularity of tea-drinking was probably due in part to the wide-spread notion that it was a novel and rather dangerous dissipation.  But all the effects supposed to come from tea-drinking were not bad, for the Abbe Robin, who says that the Americans took tea at least twice a day, attributes to this beverage the ability of the Revolutionary soldiers to endure the military punishment of flogging. 

                          John Singleton Copley, 1768, Paul Revere

Source:  The Century Illustrated Magazine.  Vol. 29.  April 1885.

Wafers: Not Quite a Waffle ©

Tags

wafers, waffles

“Still Life with Wafer Biscuits”, Le Dessert de Gaufrettes, painted 1630’s.  Baugin, Lubin (b. ca. 1610, Pithiviers, d. 1663, Paris).  Musée du Louvre, Paris

Wafers are thin crisp cookies, plain sweetened versions, or flavored with a variety of ingredients, baked in the manner of waffles.  They could be served flat or they could be wrapped on a round object as soon as they came from the oven which resulted in a rolled product.

The eminent diarist, Samuel Pepys, was among the 17^th century writers who made mention of eating wafers.  – Pepys, Samuel.  Diary.  1661.  London.

While not in recipe form, some of the earliest mentions of these cakes were by their French names.  A definition from 1706 stated these, “thin cakes or wafers, bak’d in Iron moulds”, were, “still called oublies by the French”.  – Kersey, John.  The New World of Words, or Universal English Dictionary.  1706.  London.  [First edition was pub. 1696]

Another dictionary from that time period spelled oublies obleè or obliè, again, called such by the French.  As will be seen in the following quote, the French have a long history of making and serving wafers.  – Cowel, Dr.  A Law Dictionary:  Or the Interpreter of Words and Terms, Used Either in the Common or Statute Laws of that Part of Great Britain, call’d England.  1708.  London.

There is a plaintive cry that rises from Paris streets about sundown, accompanied with the monotonous sound of a wooden rattle, that is delightful to the ear of  French children, and has been a familiar sound, through life, to the oldest inhabitant of Paris.  The street-seller of ‘plaisirs’ or oublies as they are called long, long years ago, is generally an elderly woman of somewhat lively temperament, dressed with scrupulous neatness, her head covered with a cap, white as mountain snow.  She must needs be amiable, and of a kindly habit of mind, for it is her business to please, and attract children to that magic round green box, in which she holds those frail crisp cakes, curled in the shape of sugar-bags, which have delighted—well, how many generations shall we say?  —of the vivacious, light-witted children of Lutetia.  These oublies of sweet paste, cooked between hot irons, have come direct down, according to some authorities, transmitted to the Paris bèbès of to-day, from the Obliophores, who used to cry their cakes, or obolios, about the streets of ancient Athens.  Certain it is, however, that the rising generations of Parisians have been delighted with the toothsome oublie or plaisir from a very remote period.  Time was, when the King of France had his Officer of the Mouth, whose duty it was to offer oublies to the royal guests.  Centuries ago the street vendors of oublies (which were carried about hot, in a basket laid out with white linen) tempted their customers to gamble with dice for their dainties.  Sometimes a very lucky gambler would win the basket and its entire load.  Levasseur, in his history of the working classes, describes how the students, when they had won a whole basket of oublies, were in the habit of hanging them outside their windows in triumph.  But when the makers of oublies, or oublayers, were formed into a corporation under regular statutes, the use of dice was prohibited, and the oublayers gradually developed into a great corporation [guild] of pastrycooks, making infinite varieties of pastry.  Considerable skill was demanded from the journeyman pastrycook, even in the thirteenth century, for then he was compelled, by the statutes of his corporation to prove that he could make at least a thousand of the cakes called ‘heules’ in a day…and time was when vassals were compelled, on certain days of the year to offer oublies to their feudal lords; so that the oublayer occupied a somewhat important position.  – Jerrold, Blanchard.  At Home in Paris:  and a Trip Through the Vineyards of Spain.  1864.  London.

Wafers were among the items meant for guests as a last course in their meal in the 1390’s.  The notation, “Hippocras and wafers to finish”, was listed following the dessert course.  – Greco, Gina & Rose, Christine, translation.  Le Menagier de Paris.  2009.  Cornell University.

In 1826, an article on food made the comparison between the sweet wafer and the item by the same name used in communion.  The similarity lay in the appearance and not the flavor of the two items.

The Wafer, by far the greatest favourite of the French, and common over Europe, was probably Grecian or Roman origin and was early known in the middle ages by the name oblatae, the term given to the holy cakes used in the Eucharist.  Hence the French oublie, which in that language, as well as wafer in our own, denotes both the consecrated and the common cake.  In form it was round and thin, and baked, as the Eucharistal one, between two flat hot irons, shutting together by a pivot, and ornamented inside, so as to leave the impression on the cake.    – The Gentleman’s Magazine, and Historical Chronicle.  “The Cries of Paris in the Thirteenth Century”.  Vol. 96, Part 2.  November, 1826.

Wafers also referred to wax disks used to seal letters, but for this article we will concern ourselves only with the definition of a, “thin round cake, often formed into a roll, sold by pastry cooks; this seems to be the Earliest use of the name in England, and the persons selling them were formerly called waferers”.  – Ripley, George.  The New American Cyclopaedia:  A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge.  1863.  NY.

They were baked on wafer irons which opened and closed scissor-fashion, with two flat round surfaces on the end.  They were made of iron and are fairly heavy to handle in making any significant quantity of wafers.  The flat surfaces were inscribed with a design of some sort which pressed the decorative design into the wafers.

To bake the wafers the cook was to, “Heat an iron on both sides over a moderate fire.  Rub it inside with a little butter, put a tea-spoonful of the wafer batter into it, close the iron upon this almost immediately, and put it on the fire.  When cooked upon one side, turn it upon the other.  Cut away the superfluous paste round the edges, and roll the wafer on a stick while it is still warm.  Put in another piece of batter and repeat until all the batter is used.  Keep the wafers in a tin box in a dry place till wanted.  They are generally served with the sweets”.  – Cassell, Ltd.  Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery.  1883.  NY. 

Do not expect that there was any consistency in the receipts as to the thickness of the batter as it varied from a thick batter poured onto the heated surface of the iron by a spoon to pinching or cutting off small pieces and laying them onto the iron.  Even receipts within the same book varied a great deal in the thickness of the batter or dough.

Flavoring agents used in 18^th century receipts included chopped almonds or pistachios, mace, nutmeg, cinnamon, orange zest, orange-flower water, rose-water, and lemon, etc., later, the 19^th century saw a variety of spices and flavorings added to the repertoire such as ginger, vanilla, and cardamom.

At the turn of the 20^th century, the rolled wafers were often filled with whipped cream. 

Cafes in Paris served flat wafers imprinted with the name of the café along with various ices.  – By an American.  Ice-Cream and Cakes.  1909.  NY.

Let’s compare receipts, for a pourable batter, and for making balls of paste to be placed in the irons.  In so doing, we may also compare receipts from the 16^th century through the 19^th.

Gervase Markham’s receipt for wafers was surprisingly easy to follow considering the early date of publication. 

To make the best Wafers, take the finest wheat-flower you can get, and mix it with Cream, the yelks of Eggs, Rose-water, Sugar, and Cinamon, till it be a little thicker than Pancake-batter, and then warming your Wafer Irons on a charcoal-fire, anoint them first with sweet Butter, and then lay on your batter, and press it, and bake it white or brown at your pleasure.  – Markham, Gervase.  A Way to Get Wealth.  1668.  London.  2.  Markham, Gervase.  The English Huswife.  1615, Michael Best edition.  1986.  McGill-Queens University Press.  Kingston and Montreal.

By, “anoint them first with sweet Butter”, he means to grease the heated irons with butter to prevent the wafers from sticking. 

John Nott’s cookery book [1723] contained five receipts for wafers, a good indication of their popularity.  Two versions were made primarily of flour and cream, another was made with, “the yolks of 4 Eggs, and three Spoonfuls of Rose-water, to a Quart of Flour; mingle them well, make them into a Batter with Cream and double refin’d Sugar, pour it on very thin, and bake it on Irons”.  – Nott, John.    The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary.  1723.  London. 

Nott’s second receipt was quite lengthy, requiring the flour and cream to be mixed and left to sit overnight before mixing in sugar and orange-flower water to the consistency of milk.  A spoonful and a half of the mixture was poured onto the heated iron to bake.  He advised rubbing both sides of the wafer iron with butter periodically to prevent the wafers from sticking.  The cook was to, “open your iron a little, and observe, if it come to a good Colour, it is enough”.  When done, the wafer was removed with a knife and rolled, “round the same” where it was allowed to cool.  Once cooled, the sugar hardens and the wafers retain the rolled shape. 

Take two Spoonfuls of Cream, two of Sugar, the same of Flour, and one Spoonful of Orange Flower Water, beat them well together for half an hour, then make your wafer tongs hot, and pour a little of your batter in to cover your Irons, bake them on a Stove Fire, as they are baked roll them round a Stick like a Spiggard, as soon as they are cold, they will be very crisp; they are proper for Tea, or to put on a Salver to eat with Jellies.  – Raffald, Elizabeth.  The Experienced English Housekeeper.   1769.  Manchester.

Wafers, Dutch.  Put seven ounces of flour upon a pasteboard, and work it to a smooth stiff paste with three ounces of butter, the grated rind of an orange, five ounces of powdered sugar, and one egg.  Divide the paste into pieces the size of a pigeon’s egg, form these to an oval shape, and bake in an oval wafer-iron.  – Cassell, Ltd.  Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery.  1883.  NY. 

Imprint on the inside of the plate of an 18^th century wafer iron.  The wafer bears the imprint of whatever design is carved into the plates. 

At various time periods through the 18^th and 19^th centuries, receipts are found which instruct the building of a confection on top of a wafer, in essence, the wafer forms the base or foundation.  Such wafers can be purchased from the King Arthur flour catalog and the description reads that they are designed to cradle certain German cookies. 

Modern redaction:  4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, 2 eggs, ½ cup sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla, 1 teaspoon orange-flower water, ½ teaspoon cardamom seeds, grated zest of 2 oranges, 2 cups unbleached flour, butter or piece of pork fat for oiling the iron. 

Melt the butter and set aside.  Break the eggs into a bowl, and whisk in the sugar until well blended.  Whisk in the melted butter, being careful it has cooled enough not to cook the eggs.  When this mixture has cooled, add the vanilla, orange-flower water, cardamom seeds and orange zest.  Stir in the flour until the mixture is smooth, but do not overwork the dough.  Let the dough rest for 20 to 30 minutes.  Turn onto a floured surface, dust with flour, and form into a long roll about the diameter of a small egg.  Cut this dough into about 18 pieces of equal size.  Roll the pieces of dough into balls.  Cover to prevent drying while baking.

Place a tripod over coals that have been pulled out of the fire onto the hearth.  Place the wafer iron on the tripod and rotate it to heat both sides of the iron.  When ready to bake, grease both plates of the wafer iron, then place a ball of dough onto the center of the wafer plate.  Close the iron.  Bake until the wafer begins to brown, rotating the iron as needed.  Usually one to two minutes is sufficient time.  Remove the wafer from the iron and place onto a rack to cool.  OR, if desired, roll the wafer onto a round form and allow it to cool.  Add more coals underneath the tripod as needed in order to maintain an ideal baking temperature. 

Note:  Wafer irons changed little in design over two or three centuries, other than perhaps the degree of skill and the subject matter of the design imprinted on the plates.  Those in the collections of museums in the U.S. and Europe dated to the 17^th century or earlier are no different from the ones in my collection which I estimate to be early to mid 18^th century.  Irons from the 17^th century and earlier often depict Biblical images or images associated with heraldry, whereas flowers and leaves, geometric patterns, or patriotic images were common later on.

For those who have an interest in serving wafers, but either don’t want to bake them or don’t have a wafer iron to bake them on, see www.stashtea.com, and type in “wafers” in the search box.  They offer wafers, “faithfully baked following a 200 year old European recipe”.

CLEAN EGGS ARE GOOD EGGS©

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farm-yard eggs, fresh eggs

As a child, I enjoyed gathering eggs with my grandmother and seeing whether or not the hens had left eggs for us to find.  There is no comparison to well-kept farmyard eggs and mass-produced store-bought.  I loved having the banty eggs fried up for my breakfast – their dimunitive size seemed tailor-made for someone my size. 

I liked comparing them to the giant eggs the turkeys laid and I’ve made bite-sized pickled eggs out of fresh quail eggs.  It’s difficult to find fresh farm eggs now, and I often wish I had a larger place where I could gather my own. 

The following demonstrates the care that should be taken in keeping laying hens and gathering their eggs for personal use or for sale.  It is good sound advice even today.

While there are a few egg producers who take the best of care of their product, the average farmer considers the eggs produced on the farm a by-product and makes very little provision for their care, aside from gathering them.  A large loss is caused by dirty eggs, the number being enormous, and according to the estimate of Secretary Wilson of the Department of Agriculture this money loss to the farmers in the United States amounts to about $5,000,000 annually.

This loss is very largely brought about by not gathering the eggs often enough.  In wet weather more dirty eggs are found than at any other time.  This is caused by the fact that the hen’s feet are often covered with mud or other filth, and in going on the nest to lay she soils the eggs already in the nest.

An insufficient number of nests is often the cause of many of the dirty eggs found.  Eggs are laid on the ground and around the hay and straw stacks, and becoming stained, are classed as ‘dirties’.  Again, when too many eggs are allowed to remain in a nest some are broken and many of the others become smeared with broken yolks.  This condition is often brought about by allowing the broody hens to use the same nests with the layers.  On a farm where one nest to every four hens is provided and the nests are kept clean and well bedded, it is found that very few dirty eggs are produced.

After gathering the eggs, care should be taken not to put them where they will become heated, or near oil, onions, or other vegetables as they readily absorb odors.

Although dirty eggs may be perfectly fresh, they invariably sell as ‘seconds’, and when but a few dirty eggs are mixed with an otherwise fresh, clean lot, they materially decrease the price of the clean eggs.  – Southern Planter.  Jan. 1912.

Waffles: A History © [Part Two]

Tags

chicken and waffles, waffle iron

“Peasants by the Hearth”, ca. 1560’s.  Aertsen, Pieter, (b. 1508, d. 1575).  The bowl sitting on the stool to the right is filled with freshly baked waffles.

Chicken and waffles is a trendy meal now, but the concept is not a new one.  “In the evening both convention parties again met at the Pines, a resort outside of Pittsburgh, where a chicken and waffle dinner was served” [1919].  – The Heating and Ventilating Magazine.  Vol. 16.  July 1919.

Another writer left an account of being served chicken and waffles as hotel fare earlier in 1904.  – Furniture World and Furniture Buyer and Decorator.  Vol. 71.  Jan. 21, 1905. 

For those who possessed a waffle-iron, waffles were sometimes party fare.  To invite friends or family to a waffle frolic or waffle party, was to invite them to a gathering with entertainment at which the food served would be waffles, usually with each person baking his or her own. 

There were usually other foods served at waffle frolics, probably because baking the waffles was somewhat of a slow process and having other food insured everyone was well fed without waiting in line for a turn at the waffle iron.  As we will see from William Livingston’s account, written in 1744, some hostesses served such a lavish array of other foods the waffles were only a portion of what guests were served.

We had the wafel-frolic at Miss Walton’s talked of before your departure.  The feast as usual was preceded by cards, the company so numerous that they filled two tables; after a few games, a magnificent supper appeared in grand order and decorum, but for my own part I was not a little grieved that so luxurious a feast should come under the name of a wafel-frolic, because if this be the case I expect but a few wafel-frolics for the future; the frolic was closed up with ten sunburnt virgins lately come from Columbus’s Newfoundland, besides a play of my own invention which I have not room enough to describe at present.  However, kissing constitutes a great part of its entertainment.  – Earle, Alice Morse.  Colonial Days in Old New York.  1896.  NY.

The previous passage was penned in a letter by William Livingston, a young man of privilege and great social standing in New Jersey in 1744 while attending college at Yale.  See:  Appleton’s Journal.  July 4, 1874.

Waffle parties were still the rage in the mid-19^th century as first one hostess and then another invited a circle of friends to her home.  In the North where goods were more easily obtained, even the Civil War didn’t discourage women from hosting such gatherings.  – Gould, Edward Sherman.  John Doe and Richard Roe.  1862.  NY.

By the turn of the 19^th century, books were being published instructing the hostess in the art of entertaining, and the waffle party was included in the types of gatherings people enjoyed attending. 

Invitations made to resemble waffles were suggested reading, “Come and eat me” with the time, date, and address.  To make the invitations, cream white satin was fashioned in the size and shape of a waffle, padded with white cotton wadding, and tacked so as to simulate the marks from the waffle-iron.  They were “scorched to the right color” with a hot iron. 

A card with the recipe for the waffles was placed at each table and groups went into the kitchen and made their batter according to the recipe card.  As a Master of Ceremonies called out names or numbers, each guest would have a turn at baking his or her own waffle.  – Pierce, Paul.  Suppers:  Novel Suggestions for Social Occasions.  1907.  [No location of publishing]

Before the days of structured bakeries, a woman sometimes set about making waffles, muffins, great loaves of bread, cakes, etc. in her home to sell within the community in which she lived.    – Foster, Emily.  Teddy and his Friends.  1876.  NY.

Waffle-women sold their wares from market stalls along with egg-women, poultry-women, and others.  Any number of factors could have influenced the location of their venture, not the least of which was the distance from the home to the main thoroughfares of the nearest village.  – Atlantic Educational Journal.  Vol. 8.  Oct. 1912. 

It wasn’t uncommon for men or women to carry a waffle-laden basket or a large tray which hung from the shoulders and sell waffles in the street, much the same as street vendors do today.  – Ballou’s Dollar Monthly Magazine.  Vol. 2.  Dec. 1860.  

Waffles were still common street fare in New Orleans in the 1940’s, sold from a horse-drawn wagon on high wheels, and usually painted white and yellow.  “Children eagerly thrust their nickels forward to purchase one of his delicious hot waffles sprinkled liberally with powdered sugar”. 

One can’t help but wonder if the light and airy square puffs of perfectly cooked dough liberally sprinkled with powdered sugar and sold under the name beignets evolved from the traditional waffles sold by vendors in earlier days.

The New Orleans waffle-sellers announced their presence with a shrill blast on a bugle and sometimes by reciting a verse reminiscent of street criers from earlier centuries. Close your eyes, gentle reader, and imagine a vendor strolling down a cobblestone street calling out to hungry patrons enticing them to purchase his tender golden brown waffles. 

The Waffle Man is a fine old man.  He washes his face in a frying-pan, He makes his waffles with his hand, Everybody loves the waffle man.       – Gumbo Yaya.  Houghton-Mifflin.  1945.