Buttered Crumbs

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored or Christmas comes

A fifties housewife turning out her Christmas pudding

Good Housekeeping Cookery Compendium, 1954. Learn how to cook with the help of step-by-step pictures

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored or Christmas comes

Biscuits for hanging on the tree. I've never really understood this, don't they go really stale?

German Cooking. Robin Howe, 1953
Plus an inscription: C M Dochaly (?) Bahrain, Persian Gulf, 1957

...It's no coincidence that when a baby sicks up a bit of milk it's known as 'posset'. Actually, this alone would stop me drinking it...

From Alison Uttley's* Recipes from an Old Farmhouse, 1966 2/2

*Author of the Little Grey Rabbit series

Description of the drink posset

Description of Christmas posset

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored

Posset. A drink made with milk, alcohol & spices. Warmed on the fire & poured out to make a froth.
Sounds okay, until you see that the milk curdles, i.e. goes into blobby bits...1/2

Can any #Australia friends confirm if these are "typical" recipes?

Today's recipe is a "fruitarian" Christmas pudding, i.e. suet free. So, vegetarian then... unless breadcrumbs are fruit.
Without suet, the pudding has to be made and eaten fresh

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored

If the last one was a unit, this one is a hecking chonker. Mrs Beeton's Household Management, 1923. Up to date advice for cooking, cleaning, laundry, arranging rooms, legal advice, home remedies & made even longer with recipes from the colonies

A thin slice of meat, derived from french "escalope".
I think I've seen recipes where they're minced & served with mashed potatoes 🤔

Bonus:
Desperate to mull something, but wine isn't an option?
Here's a recipe for mulled milk. Perfect for kiddies, designated drivers and anyone else not drinking alcohol

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored again

A menu from Elizabeth Moxon's English Housewifery, 1800. The oldest original cookbook we own

Turkey one side of the table & beef the other. Pudding on the table at the same time. Mince pies were part of the first course

All of the recipes are for Christmas cake or Christmas pudding.
I love finding books with things in. Unless it's crumbs or squashed bugs, or something.
And, Atora are still the main brand of suet on the market 👍 3/3

The cuttings appear to be post war, but still within rationing. So that's 1945-1954
Trouble in the Balkans & the death of golfer James Braid help us to narrow it down to around 1950. Probably a paper local to Middlesex 2/3

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored again

I got this gorgeous copy of Mrs Beeton's Everyday Cookery (1893) for a bargain price. Mainly, because it's falling apart and unusable. What tempted me were the newspaper cuttings and handwritten recipes tucked inside 1/3
#christmas 🎄

Mulligatawny Soup Buttered Crumbs published a post on Ko-fi

Dinner tonight is Mulligatawny soup, from my Ko-fi page

ko-fi.com/post/Mulliga...

On the day itself, keep the other meals simple. You don't want to overeat beforehand, or overwork those slacking servants.
Fin
4/4

Next, table decorations. Some glass knick-knacks, floating candles, & folded napkins should do the trick. Try these, in the shape of a slipper, and a...um...er... BOAR'S HEAD. Yes. 😳
3/4

Menu planning: remember that a proper meal consists of EIGHT courses. Sure, you could do less, but you wouldn't want Mrs Cholmondely-Jones to talk about you at the bridge club
2/4

Something Christmassy or vaguely Christmas adjacent until I get bored
Today, from the 1936 edition of Mrs Beeton's Family Cookery. I was very lucky to find one with it's dust jacket in perfect condition.
Anyway. Planning your Christmas meal...1/4

I made one a couple of years ago from a handwritten family recipe circa 1820. Interesting how the meat improves the texture without tasting meaty

... while Lady Lasson prefers a mix of veal and mutton.
Kenelm's variation has the meat mushed up to pap i.e. baby food. Mix it with the other ingredients & bake in a coffin, sprinkled with caraway comfits

And if anyone knows where I can get some comfits, do let me know!

2/2

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored or forget

More Mince Pie fun, this time from Sir Kenelm Digby; Courtier, philosopher, privateer, sealing wax magnate & inventor of the modern wine bottle.

Also something of a name dropper. Lady Portlands swears by neats-tongue..

1/2

Surprisingly, some of the books are available on Amazon as print-to-order copies. Thrill your pious kiddies today!
Advert found in The Complete Biscuit and Gingerbread Baker's Assistant by George Read, 1854.
2/2
#Christmas 🎄

Something Christmassy every day until I get bored or forget

Stuck for present ideas? Why not choose one of these gift books for the "young and good" person in your life

One can imagine how saccharine and preachy these are. But, only 2 shillings & sixpence 👍

Introduce yourself as a TV character

Happy pannetone season to all who celebrate.
We've already got through the first one; and by "we" I mean I ate all of BF's share too.

...And if 4 courses of protein and puddings weren't enough, there's still unspecified 'desserts and ices' to follow.
The "plain family dinner" seems more manageable. Plus, you get to have roast turkey & sausages instead of boiled with celery sauce 👍

#Christmas 🎄

Something Christmassy until I get bored or forget

December dinner for 10 persons, from the 1st edition of Beeton's Book of Household Management (1861)
An exhausting menu, featuring beef, turkey, tongue and a whole load of other meats...1/2

Anything is better than tripe

True story

But what constitutes "good" mincemeat? Maybe this recipe, filled with nutritious ox tongue?

Or "superlative mincemeat" where you can leave the meat out, or substitute it with crushed macaroons?

I know which I'm choosing, and it's not tongue 🤢