Fairy Butter ©

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butter making, Fairy butter

How can you not love a food with such a celestial name as fairy butter?  It conjures up images of little gossamer winged nymphs nibbling at golden toasted crumpets while creamy butter drips from them. 

Truth isn’t always as fascinating as fantasy, however, fairy butter was probably named because of its similarity in appearance to a yellow gelatinous material found at the base of forest trees in England, Wales, etc.  There are as many references in literature to that material as there are to the edible variety. 

While English cookery books universally contain a receipt, it was also made in France if the insinuation in Charles King’s version is to be believed.  His receipt is called, “French or Fairy Butter”.  (1)

Charles Carter’s 1749 receipt was no different from that of Richard Briggs in 1788.  Briggs hardly described it as eloquently as the Christ Church cookbook team, who said it should be so light as to create spaces for fairies to live, but he did include a receipt in his book, which like many others contained hard-boiled egg yolks.  (2)

Take the yolks of two hard eggs, and beat them fine in a marble mortar, with a large spoonful of orange flower-water, and one of fine powder-sugar; beat it till it is a fine paste, then mix it up with as much fresh butter out of the churn, and force through a strainer full of small holes into a plate, or small dish, as an ornament for supper.  (3)

Hannah Glasse’s receipt was the same except she used two teaspoonfuls “of fine sugar beat to a powder”.     (4)

Susanna MacIver’s readers were told they could flavor fairy butter with either orange-flower water or rose-water, as they preferred.  In Domestic Economy rose-water was used to flavor the butter.  Like others, that book recommended serving it over ham and bread for breakfast or with “savoury jelly”.  (5)

A receipt from Good Housekeeping from 1903 contained a great deal more sugar demonstrating Americans’ ever-growing demand for sweetened foods.  A half cup of butter was beaten with a cup of sugar until white and light, then two tablespoonfuls of cream was stirred in and the mixture flavored with vanilla.  (6) 

Soon thereafter receipts offered the cook the choice of flavoring the fairy butter with nutmeg, vanilla, or lemon.  Some versions were made with egg-whites beaten into the butter rather than yolks, and versions flavored with sherry were quite common around the turn of the century. 

Receipts for fairy butter are consistently found in cookbooks from the mid-18^th century through the first quarter of the 19^th century, and the receipt continued to turn up sporadically into the 20th.  Some recommended it be eaten with slices of cake, biscuits, Brown Betty, blanc-mange, fritters, and on puddings of various sorts including Plum Pudding.  (7)

Snow Cake and Fairy Butter were meant to be served together [1880’s] and make quite an attractive presentation.  The cake contains 7 oz. sugar, 6 oz. butter, 9 egg whites, 4 oz. flour, 5 oz. corn starch, lemon juice or cream of tartar, ½ cup of milk, and flavoring extract.  “Warm the butter enough to soften it, rub it and the sugar together to a cream, add the white of eggs a little at a time without previous beating, then the starch and flour.  When these are well mixed add the milk and juice of half a lemon or a small teaspoonful of cream of tartar, and a teaspoonful of lemon extract.  Grease and flour a mold, and bake the cake about half an hour.  It is best when not too deep in the mold.”

The Fairy Butter recipe that accompanied the one for Snow Cake was a simple one made from the yolks of 4 hard-boiled eggs, 1 teacup of butter, 3 heaping tablespoonfuls of powdered sugar, and 1 teaspoon of orange flower water.  To the pounded egg yolks the other ingredients were added, the mixture chilled, and then rubbed through a sieve.  “They are to be eaten together like bread and butter”.  (8)

Recipes for a mixture called Nun’s Butter are sometimes little to no different than those for Fairy Butter, the difference, when there is one, is they contain more spice, or a quantity of wine or brandy.  A few books called the recipe Hard Sauce, or Fairy Butter.

Whatever you choose to call it, I’d be hard pressed to find an easier and better-tasting period food to share with that special someone.  “A Book of Verses underneath the Bough, A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread–and Thou” – Blissful Meals all, enjoy this simple taste of period splendor. 

Nun’s Butter.  Beat ½ cup of butter until creamy, and add slowly to it 1 cup of powdered (or granulated) sugar.  Add 1 Tablespoon of vanilla, lemon, or brandy, and a sprinkling of grated nutmeg.  (9)

Nun’s Butter.  Take equal portions of butter and sugar; beat them well together, then add cinnamon and nutmeg to taste.  (10)

Nun’s Butter.  Four ounces of butter; six ounces of sugar; as much wine as the butter will take.  Beat the butter and sugar together, and gradually add the wine and a little nutmeg.  (11)

Fairy Butter.  Cream four ounces of butter thoroughly, and add five ounces of sugar gradually, beating hard and fast until it is so light that a million fairies may nestle in its cells.  Add the grated rind and juice of half a lemon, and beat three minutes more.  To be served ‘piled’ as it falls from the spoon—not smoothed, for all the world, for that would seal the hiding places. (12)

 

NOTES:  1.  King, Charles Henry.  Cakes, Cake Decorations, and Dessert.  1896.  Philadelphia.   

2.  Carter, Charles.  The London and Country Cook.  1749.  London.

3.  The English Art of Cookery, According to the Present Practice.  1788.  London.

4.  The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.  1780 & 1784.  London.

5.  A Lady.  Domestic Economy, and Cookery:  For Rich and Poor.  1827.  London.   & MacIver, Susanna.  Cookery and Pastry.  1789.  London. 

6.  Good Housekeeping.  Sept. 1903.

7.  Hanover Cook Book.  Hanover Library Association, Pennsylvania.  1922.

8.  The Chicago Herald Cooking School:  A professional Cook’s Book for Household Use.  1883.  Chicago.   

9.  Freshel, Maud Russell Lorraine Sharpe.  The Golden Rule Cook Book.  1919.  Boston. 

10.  Bouvier, Hannah Mary.  The National Cook Book.  1856.  Philadelphia.

11.  MacKenzie, Colin.  MacKenzie’s Ten Thousand Receipts.  1867.  Philadelphia.

12.  Christ Church.  The Home Cook Book:  Tried and True Recipes.  1876.  Toledo.

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Tamales: “Fresh” From Your Grocer’s Shelves©

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canned tamales, tamales

In my last post I covered the origins and easy history of tamales, moving on, this post will look at the canned tamale industry that sprang up in the early 20^th century.

The dusky hued Tamale Vendor of olden times is fast disappearing like ‘Lo the poor Indian.’  His wares so tantalizingly delicious, which were offered for sale at every street corner are now the basis of a huge industry.  The tamale is now a known quantity; its manufacture employs thousands of Union men and women.  Clean, sanitary kitchens displace the dingy, unsanitary places of manufacture of the old time husk tamale with its doubtful ingredients.  White men and women are employed the year around to prepare this delicious condiment for the tables of the world.  Ingredients of the highest quality enter into its manufacture.  Since 1900, when the first canned tamale was placed upon the market by C. H. Workman, of the Workman Packing Company, the consumption of husk tamales has decreased from 4,000,000 annually to a mere 40,000.  The canned variety has enjoyed a correspondingly phenomenal INCREASE.  This year the Workman Packing Company will produce over 4,000,000 tins of their I X L Brands.  San Francisco, through the Workman Packing Company, now practically controls the tinned tamale market of the world.  The wonderful growth of this company in the ten years of its existence is an evidence of the quality of its products and the business acumen of its officers. 

Although tamales were always the company’s best selling product, from, “the largest white tile kitchen in the West”, the Workman Company also made Chicken Tamales, Enchiladas, Chili Con Carne, Deviled Chili Meat, and Liver Paste.  – Yearbook.  California State Federation of Labor.  1916.  San Francisco.

C. H. Workman began selling tamales in 1900 and, the North Carolina native was widely known as, “the originator of a popular brand of canned tamales”.  His obituary, published in The Western Canner and Packer on May 1922, outlined his success as the unrivaled canned tamale king.   – Sheilds, George.  Recreation.  Vol. 15.  Oct. 1901.

After failing at producing canned clams, Workman found himself a partner with experience at making tamales, and to get the company off the ground they made and packed the tamales at night and sold them by day.  He called on 32 grocers his first day as a tamale salesman and sold to 31 of them.  Business boomed, and in 1904 he purchased the IXL Packing Company which was a model successful business until the San Francisco earthquake.  It took just 14 minutes for his factory to lie in ruins. 

In 1911, he organized the Workman Packing Company and set out to design machinery to speed up production in order to stay ahead of his competitors.  By January 1920, 17 of his employees had attempted to open canneries and duplicate his success, however, none were successful. 

To promote his tamales, Workman provided a demonstrator to introduce the tamales to the customer right in the grocer’s store.  Next, he sent employees door to door, and then took ads in magazines and cookbooks offering customers genuine Rogers brand knives, forks, and spoons in exchange for labels from his canned tamales, enchiladas, chili con carne, and pork and beans.  – Printer’s Ink.  Vol. 81.  Oct. 1, 1912.  Philadelphia.

I applaud his business savvy, however, my experience with canned tamales has been rather dismal.  Upon opening the can, a copious amount of thick red grease sits atop paper-wrapped tamales which have been extruded one after another by a machine, independent of human hands. 

Workman’s life is a genuine rags to riches story and he was considered a model businessman during and after his passing.  He began his career working a cable car in San Francisco and by the time of his death, his company was estimated to be worth a million dollars.  That, folks, in the 1920’s, was a lot of tamales.  – The Magazine of Business.  Jan. 1920.

Tamales: A Historic Look©

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tamalles

A tamale vendor

Captain John Smith found Native Americans in Virginia preparing tamale-like products in 1612 and left a detailed description of how they were prepared.  “Their corne they rost in the eare greene, and bruising it in a morter of wood with a Polt, lappe it in rowles in the leaves of their corne, and so boyle it for a daintie.”  (1)

Smith did not use the name tamale but in 1691 Casañas did use the word.  “There are five or six kinds of beans–all of them very good, also calabashes, watermelons and sunflowers. The seed of all of these, mixed with corn make very fine tamales.”  (2)

They…cultivate certain kinds of sunflowers from which, after enjoying their beauty, they use the seeds, which are like little pine-nuts, and which, ground, they mix with corn, and form a dough, which they make into small cakes or tamales of good taste, and much nutriment. (3)

Swanton quoted Ramón who, in 1716, along with a group of missionaries, was presented with tamales (rolls of corn), beans cooked with corn, and nuts by a group of Indians. 

Most Americans had probably at least read about tamales as they turned up fairly frequently in travel documentaries for various countries of the Americas.  In 1861, the U.S. Minister to Equador noted the locals enjoying tamales, (4) Gabriel Ferry described the tamales being sold in Mexico in the 1850’s as a type of mead pudding, (5) and James Orton wrote about peddlers selling them in the Amazon in 1870 (6)

Tamales do not appear to have become commonly eaten outside of Native American and later Mexican influence as several late 19^th century writers thought they had been only recently introduced.  It may be that most European-Americans found them too rustic to discuss in cookbooks and culinary histories and had no desire to prepare Native American foods. 

 

Around the turn of the century, archaeologists declared the cuisine of the Indians of Mexico was little different to the Indians of the U.S.  “All things considered, the food of the Indians of Cholula is not very different from that of the New Mexican aborigines,–not even from that of the Iroquois.”

The habit of grinding corn well soaked, of making out of it thin cakes or mush, of boiling beans and calabashes, of broiling and stewing certain kinds of meat, forms the substance of the knowledge of cookery which they had acquired before the Conquest.  The advance they had made over the northern Indians is reduced, therefore, to the tamales, a composition of mush, meat, pepper, and sometimes of fruit like ahucate or even the exotic banana, and to a more perfect and varied seasoning…Tamales are nothing else but North American mush, sometimes with slices of meat and peppers enclosed, and baked in corn-husks.  (7) 

A written account of a “new” food is usually no hard evidence of when it was first introduced.  It is a proven occurrence that when introduced to a new food we tend to assume it is new to the entire populace when in fact it may have been around for ages. 

The American opinion of Mexican food, including tamales, varied widely and prejudices toward it were common in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, due in part to the noticeable lack of cleanliness in many areas where they were prepared; however, in fairness, the people who made and sold tamales were actually from various cultures.  In San Francisco in 1910, there were 17 East Indians known to be making tamales and selling them on the streets.  (8)    

Like the others, however, they take no care of their quarters and allow them to become very dirty…Every group has a gas stove on which they manufacture their tamales in their quarters…They are all Mohammedans and consequently wear their hair short without turbans. (9)

Some did find it, “exceedingly appetizing, but for most palates too highly peppered, chile entering largely into the composition of every dish”.  (10)

It is difficult to know exactly when tamales became common fare throughout the U.S., and to what degree they were first eaten by non-natives, but once tamalero’s began selling them accounts began to surface in printed materials.  Some writers claimed they were of Spanish-American origin and became popular in the U.S. about 1880 although Smith’s account says differently.  (11)

Our Eastern friends who seldom come in contact with Spanish, French, and other semi-barbarous customs, have little idea of the number of curious dishes and culinary compounds that this coast affords.  One of the most common forms of lunch to be had late in the evening and upon the street corner is the tamale, which the belated business man and home-returning theater-goer often avails himself of.  (12)

In 1895, the Tejas Indians were documented as routinely making tortillas and tamales, with dinner for dignitaries consisting of tamales, nuts, pinole of corn, and a large earthen pan of corn, ground nuts, and beans all cooked together.  (13)

Fair-goers in various states were often introduced to tamales at concession stands on the fairgrounds in the late 1800’s. 

To the uninitiated there is nothing particularly appetizing in the outside appearance of a tamale.  Its coarse husk is suggestive of the fare craved by the prodigal son…the steam from the oblong package has the homely flavor of country suppers away back in one’s childhood, when cornmeal mush was the favorite dish of Yankee farm folk…You carefully undo the wisps of corn-fiber neatly confining the almost transparent husk, and expose a thin layer of yellow meal, which has just the faintest spicing from close contact with interior layers.  You eat the meal slowly and with relish, and turn back another husk leaf only to find another layer like the first.  The next unfolding opens the heart of the tamale, and you note with increasing ardor and appetite pieces of chicken and olives buried in an indefinable mixture of ground chiles and corn and the whole deliciously peppery and savory.  (14)

American Indians found a way to make money by competing for the premiums offered for excellence in various crafts at fairs as evidenced by those in Arizona winning awards for their tamales at the Arizona State Fair in the early 20^th century.  (15)

In closing, I’ll share a few early published receipts and maybe the reader will be inspired by my latest food adventure.  Blissful Meals!

Tamales.  Chop one pound of beef, pork or chicken, add a little chopped tallow or one tablespoonful of lard and a little salt; fry in a pan until tender; chop again very fine; return to pan; add a little warm water and pulp of two red chiles; stir and fry a few minutes.  Add to one quart of cornmeal two tablespoonfuls of salt, two tablespoonfuls of lard, and boiling water to make a thick dough.  Cut off one inch of corn husk stalk ends and soak in hot water ten minutes; dry and rub over with hot lard.  Put a layer of dough on the husk about four inches long, and one and one-half inches wide and one-fourth inch thick; along the center spread two teaspoonfuls of the prepared meat; roll and fold the small end of the husk; place them folded end down in a strainer over hot water.  Cover and steam several hours.  Serve hot. (16)

Chicken Tamales.  Soak some trimmed corn husk for several hours in cold water, then boil until soft, remove; dry on cloth, and rub with lard.  Cut up a fat chicken, cook until very tender in just enough water to leave about four cups.  Chop up cooked chicken, add corn meal or masa to boiling hot chicken broth until a thick dough; add salt to taste, one tablespoon chile powder, or chile sauce No. 1; add tablespoon of lard and knead all together until light and smooth.  Now to all the chicken add enough chile sauce No. 1 to mix thickly together; add about one-fourth cup of sliced olives and a few whole ones and one-fourth cup seedless raisins, and a few whole ones, salt to taste and cook together for five minutes; spread corn dough evenly over shuck or husk about one-eighth inch thick.  In center of one larger husk place a large kitchen spoonful of chicken; spread over this one tablespoonful of dough; place another husk spread with dough; continue placing husk around on all sides until about ten are used.  Tie ends together over a strip of husk and place on end in a colander over boiling water for two or three hours, or place some corn husk in bottom of vessel, pile tamales on top, pour in about a quart of water and bring to a boil and steam slowly for three or four hours. (17)

Green Chili Sauce for Tamales.  Split, remove seeds and veins from green chilies and boil in a little hot water till tender; mash, press through a sieve, melt one-fourth cup lard, add 2 tablespoonsful flour, teaspoon salt, brown just a little, add 3 cups green pulp, cook slowly half hour. (18)

Chili Sauce.  Take some ripe peppers and toast on the fire until they are the color of gold.  While they are still warm, remove the outer skin, the veins and seeds.  Add to what remains, when cool, the juice of an equal number of tomatoes toasted in the same manner as the peppers, a little salt, an onion (if liked), and crush all together with a little water.  (19)

Tamale Gravy.  Fry a small piece of garlic in the bottom of the pot of beef suet, add onions and let them fry, when the onions are partly cooked, add tomatoes and when they have begun to stew, add chili peppers and salt, and a little butter to season.  (20)

Bibliography:  1.  The American Museum Journal.  March 1917.

2.  Swanton, John Reed.  Source Material on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians, quoting  Francisco Casanas de
Jesus Maria #2.  Southwestern Historical Journal.  Descriptions of the Tejas or Asinai Indians, 1691-1722.  Translated from Spanish by Mattie Hatcher. 

3.  Swanton, John Reed.  Source Material on the History and Ethnology of the Caddo Indians.  Quoting Morfi, 1932, page 44. 

4.  Hassaurek, F.  Four Years Among the Spanish-Americans.  1868.  NY],

5.  Ferry, Gabriel.  Vagabond Life in Mexico.  1856.  NY. 

6.  Orton, James.  The Andes and the Amazon; or, Across the Continent of South America.  1871.  NY

7.  Papers of the Archaeological Institute of America:  American Series.  Vol. 2.  1881.  Boston.    

8.  Immigrants in Industries.  U.S. Immigration Commission.  1911.  Washington.

9.  Ibid.

10.  Harper’s Magazine.  July 1890.

11.  Recreation.  Vol. 25.  Oct. 1901. 

12.  California Medical Journal.  Sept. 1889.

13.  U.S. Congressional Serial Set.  Issue 3343.  Annual Report, House of Representatives.  1895.  Washington.

14.  Overland Monthly.  April 1894. 

15.  The Native American.  Dec. 9, 1916.

16.  Haffner-Ginger, Bertha.  California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook.  1914.

17.  Haffner-Ginger, Bertha.  California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook.  1914.

18.  Haffner-Ginger, Bertha.  California Mexican-Spanish Cookbook.  1914.

19.  Lummis, Charles Fletcher.  The Land of Sunshine.  Vol. 3.  Nov. 1895.

20.  California Medical Journal.  Sep. 1889.

Native Americans and the use of Brass Kettles©

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nesting kettles

illustration, 1880's, Sugar Making

Having looked at the use of brass kettles over an extended period of time (for they remained in use well into the 19^th century), we’ll look at the brass kettle as used by Native Americans who acquired it by trading with the whites.  Brass was so much more durable than their native pottery vessels that once a line of trade was established few tribes continued making pottery pots. 

In 1684, La Salle wanted 2000 pounds of small brass kettles at Ft. Frontenac, costing 1 livre, 5 sous, a pound.  They would sell for four francs a pound, yielding a great profit.  The English and Dutch sold them and included them among presents.  In 1693, Gov. Fletcher gave the Mohawks 24 brass kettles for cooking to replace those the French had destroyed earlier, some two or three pounds weight, are among the presents of the following year.  They prized small brass kettles, but large ones were needed for public occasions. 

When Schuyler and Livingston went to Onondoga in 1700, the Indians, “according to their custom, hung over a great kettle of hasty pudding made of parched Indian meal, and sent it to us.  The great kettle is now of iron, but is still a feature of the New York reservation life”.  (1)

In 1694, presents recommended for the Five Nations were, “50 brass kettles of two, three, and four pounds apiece, thin beaten, and light to carry when they go a hunting or to war…”.  Another 30 small and 14 large were called for in 1696.  (2)

Kettles dug up at the turn of the 20^th century included many approximately 5 ¾ inches in diameter and about 3 inches deep.  Some were tapered, about 5 ½ inches at the top and about 4 1/8 inches at the bottom, still about 3 inches deep.  The ears were cut out and riveted in place. 

Nesting kettles were found in the early digs varying in size from the largest which held about two pails to the smallest which held about two pints.  (3)

When the brass kettles were no longer serviceable they were used to make arrowheads, knives, saws, and ornaments of many kinds.  Early histories are filled with accounts of such articles that were turned up by the plow.  The ears, however, served no purpose for the Indian and were usually discarded, thus early digs often yielded large numbers of them in relation to the number of kettles that were found.  (4)

One dig produced a penny dated 1728 which left no doubt as to the time the items were put aside.  With the penny were found a brass spoon made from a kettle, a comb cut from a fragment of a kettle, and some pewter pieces.  (5) 

Plowing often turned up buried items, the bodies and belongings buried as shallowly as seven inches.  (6)

In some areas, Canada for instance, dug brass kettles often had holes knocked in the bottom.  Damaging the kettles discouraged looters from taking them because a kettle with a hole in the bottom was of no use in the earthly world, but it was still serviceable in the spiritual world and would serve the deceased well. 

Both Europeans and Natives hid kettles along routes they traveled frequently so that they could be retrieved and used without the burden of carrying them along on the journey.  An account penned in 1750 documented that practice, “There we found the kettle which we had concealed when we passed here the last time”.  (7)

When carving a farm out of the wilderness, a hired hand dug up a brass kettle while plowing and gave it to the farm wife who cleaned it up and began using it in her kitchen.  After some years, an Indian man came to the farm and told her husband when he was a boy his father had buried their belongings before fleeing the area and that he, himself, had carried a “kettle of gold” which was buried with the other possessions.  The man and his family had gone to great lengths to find the farm in the hopes of retrieving a valuable golden kettle, and were much disappointed to learn that the golden kettle he remembered from his youth was brass and had little value.  The farmer dispatched his son to the house to fetch the brass kettle and gave it to the Indian as he felt it was rightfully his.  (8) 

The following account from present-day Alabama will dispel any doubt that brass kettles were used by Native Americans in the South since the previous accounts have come from New England. 

In 1894, a Creek town near the junction of the Coosa and Tallapoosa rivers [where Ft. Toulouse and Ft. Jackson stood], the oldest Creek town known at the time, was noted for a skeleton that was unearthed from a depth of about three feet with a brass kettle filled with glass beads, brass buckles, brass rings made from wire, and bell buttons.   Other skeletons were found at various depths with earthen pots and various other items including brass plates.  (9)

A captive taken in the 1780’s left an excellent description of an Indian woman’s possessions including her brass kettle:

Her household furniture consisted of a large brass kettle for washing and sugar making; a deep close-covered copper hominy kettle, a few knives, tin cups, pewter and horn spoons, sieves, wooden bowls, baskets of various sizes, a hominy block, and four beds and bedding comprising each a few deerskins and two blankets so that altogether her circumstances were considered quite comfortable. (10)

While the early Native Americans left no written accounts, the early explorers and settlers did leave appreciative accounts of the food the Natives prepared in those brass kettles ranging from wild rice or, “the three supporters of life, corn, beans, and squashes”, and hasty pudding made from Indian meal to, “boiled pig and Indian corn”.  Their accounts substantiate the earliest use of brass kettles among the Native people. 

Bib: 

1. New York State Museum.  Bulletin 55.  1901.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
4. Ibid
5. Skinner, Alanson.  The Pre-Iroquoian Algonquin Indians of Central and Western New York.  1920.  NY. 
6. Mather, Increase.  Early History of New England.  1864.  Boston.
7. Callaghan, E.B.  Documentary History of New York.  1849-51. NY. 
8. Catlin, George.  Life Among the Indians; A Book for Youth.  1861.  London.
9. Smithsonian Institution.  Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology.  1894. 
10. Spencer, Oliver M.  The Indian Captivity of O. M. Spencer.  [1780’s].  Pub. 1852.  NY. 

Brass kettles and their Care©

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brass kettles

Emil Carlsen painting

Cato’s descriptions of an olive farm and a vineyard farm are among the earlier accounts of brass kettles, specifically a brazen [made of brass] kettle holding 30 quadrantes*, a kettle lid, a brazen kettle holding 5 quadrantes, a kettle lid, and one brass kettle for cooking.  (1)

Brass kettles were among the first utensils brought to America and Myles Standish had three of them.  The kettles were hammered out of sheet brass or copper, first by hand and then by trip hammer.  (2)

Estate inventories from the 17^th century are filled with brass kettles being bequeathed to heirs in the U.S. and in Europe.  For one household, an early Connecticut inventory listed a great brass kettle, lesser brass pan, brass scummer [skimmer], brass chafing dish, brass skillet, small brass kettle, and brass candlesticks.  (3)

Brass kettles were often described as great [very large], lesser, and least.  (4)

Carlsen, Brass and Copper, 1926

Other brass utensils found in those early records included brass mortar and pestles, a brass box with pot hooks [1694], cullenders [colanders], strainers, ladles, dripping pans, shivers and [stop]cocks (a hand operated valve or faucet), boilers, warming pans, saucepots, frying pans, hand washing basins, etc. 

One inventory included a brass kettle weighing 31 lbs., a great brass kettle, lesser kettle, little kettle, and a little brass kettle, with 2 brass posnets, 4 ladles, 3 skimmers, and four candlesticks, all brass. (5)

Esther Singleton studied Colonial era estate inventories at the turn of the 20^th century and wrote that those documents showed a great deal of pewter, brass, and copper in the South.  She gave the inventory for Colonel Stephen Gill of York County, VA [1650’s] as an example.

1 copper kettle, 1 old brass kettle, 1 brass pott, 3 brass candlesticks, 1 brass skillitt, 1 small brass mortar and pestle, 1 brass skimmer, 1 brass spoone, 3 old iron potts, 1 small iron pott, 3 pesites, 1 frying pan, 2 spitts, 2 pair of potthangers, 3 pair potthookes, 1 iron ladle, 1 flesh hook, 3 tin cullenders, forty-six pounds of pewter, 4 old porringers, 19 pewter spoons, 4 old pewter tankards, 1 flaggon, 2 salt sellers, 6 tin candlesticks, 2 dozen old trenchers, and 2 sifters.

Brass kettles were used for most sorts of foods, but specific accounts of what was prepared in brass kettles include meat, pickles, vegetables, soup, jams and jellies, and large brass kettles were used for evaporating salt, melting tallow for candles, and laundry and dyeing. (6)

About two miles from West Liberty Town I passed by Probe’s Furnace, a foundry established by a Frenchman from Alsace, who manufactures all kinds of vessels in copper and brass, the largest containing about 200 pints, which are sent to Kentucky and Tennessee, where they use them in the preparation of salt by evaporation.  The smaller ones are for domestic uses.  (7)

The use of copper or brass cookware which does not have a tin lining is considered by many unsafe today and even when it was in common use was questioned by some in the preparation of acidic foods.  It was a common practice to make cucumber pickles in brass or copper pots because the vinegar reacted with the metal and made the pickles greener than when made in iron pots.  Some said doing so was unhealthy while others insisted there was no danger so long as the pot was properly cleaned before and after use. 

My mother always used a brass kettle.  I never heard of its hurting anybody.  If you have good cider vinegar, the green pickles will be wholesome enough.  Everybody in Hookertown cures ‘em in this way, and we are not an ailin’ sort of people.  (8)

Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, mother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and cookbook author Catherine Beecher, said her family had always used a brass kettle and never seen any injurious effects from it.  She told her readers that brass kettles had to be kept scrupulously clean, cleansed with salt and hot vinegar, and rubbed till every part of it shone like gold. 

After it is used [cooked in] and taken from the fire; remove the contents at once.  When a kettle is thoroughly cleaned, no harm comes from its use so long as it is kept over the fire; the mischief arises from letting anything stand in it and cool.  (9)

Methods of cleaning brass kettles differed over time.  Accounts are commonplace of using salt and vinegar during the colonial era and into the 19^th century although by then others thought vinegar caused the newly cleaned brass to tarnish even faster between cleanings. 

CLEANING A BRASS KETTLE.  A brass, bell-metal, or copper kettle should always be cleaned immediately after using.  Even when not used, it will require occasional cleaning; otherwise it will collect rust or verdigrease, which is a strong poison.

To clean it properly, after washing it out with a cloth and warm water, put into the kettle a large tea-cupful of vinegar and a large tea-spoonful of salt and hang it over the fire.  Let it get quite warm; and then take it off, dip in a clean rag, and wash the whole inside of the kettle thoroughly with the salt and vinegar; after which, wash it well with warm water.  Next, take wood ashes and clean rags, and scour it well.  Afterwards, wash it with hot-soap-suds, and finish, by rinsing it with cold water, and wiping it with a dry cloth, both inside and out.  These kettles should be kept always clean, that they may be ready for use at any time they are wanted.  So also should every vessel of brass or copper.  (10)

Between Eliza Leslie’s account published in 1850, still carrying over from earlier times, and one from some 36 years later the reader will notice the difference of opinion.

It is a great mistake to use vinegar and salt in cleaning a brass kettle, as the corrosion of the acid turns it black as soon as set aside.  The best cleansing medium is a flannel cloth wet in hot suds; rub this with soap (soft if you have it), and plunge into wood ashes; with this scour briskly your brass which, like all metals, will take a high polish more readily if warm.  Ashes taken warm from the fire are also more effective.  After scouring, wash quickly in warm suds and wipe thoroughly dry before putting away.  With this care a brass kettle may be used daily, even in a damp climate, for boiling vegetables…and without anything more than a “rub-over” with ashes every day or two, present a shining yellow face the year in and year out. (11)

Some accounts indicate brass kettles were more common than copper because they were generally less expensive.  The weight is often given for brass kettles and Rogers wrote that various copper and brass kettles sold by the pound, some weighing up to 66 lbs.  Prices in England during the 18^th century for a small brass pot averaged 10 to 14 shillings and smaller ones from 2 shillings 8 pence to 6 shillings 8 pence.  A great kettle purchased in London in 1585 cost 44 shillings 3 pence.  (12)

I have purchased original brass kettles and saucepans of various sizes in the U.S. and in the U.K. and have used them in preparing foods with never any more problem than with the tin-lined reproductions I own.  I do not use them with acidic foods and I do not allow food to sit in them after it has finished cooking.  I do keep them scrupulously clean, just as the early authors instructed, and I use them for historic cooking demonstrations, not on a daily basis.    The reader will, however, assume all responsibility for any problem associated with its use.   

*  A quadrant was a Roman measure equivalent to about 24 quarts.

Part II, Native Americans and their Use of Brass Kettles, to follow in my next post.

Bib:  

1.  Oliver, Edmund Henry.  Roman Economic Conditions to the Close of the Republic.  1907.  Toronto.
2. Plater’s Guide.  Vol. V.  Jan-Dec. 1909.
3. Manwearing, Charles William.  Digest of Early Connecticut Probate Records from 1635 to 1700.  1904.  Hartford.
4. Ibid.
5. Isham, Norman.  Early Connecticut Houses.  1900.  Providence, RI. 
6. Proceedings of the State Historical Society Wisconsin.  1904.  Madison.
7. Quoted from Michaud’s Early Western Travels in Moore, N. Hudson, The Collector’s Manual, 1905.  NY.
8. American Agriculturist.  Vol. 24.  Sep. 1865. 
9. Beecher, Henry Ward, Mrs. All Around the House.  1881.  NY. 
10. Leslie, Eliza.  Miss Leslie’s Lady’s House-book; a Manual of Domestic Economy.   1850.  Philadelphia.
11. Good Housekeeping.  Jan. 9, 1886.  NY. 
12. Rogers, James Edwin Thorold.  History of Agriculture and Prices in England 1583 to 1702.  1887.  Oxford.