Go back with us to the 18th and 19th Century
and look at the kitchen tools available to the average household

Taken from The Historic American Cookbook Project
Feeding America
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/index.html

 

Sugar nippers like these date back to before the 1850s.
In the 18th and early 19th centuries, sugar came molded in the shape of hard and dense cones wrapped in blue paper.
Nippers were used at the table to break off a chunk for use in coffee or tea.
If granulated sugar was needed, the chunks would have to be crushed with a mortar and pestle.

 
This metal roaster was placed in front of a fire on a hearth, and the heat from the flame was reflected by the metal surface to cook the meat on the spit.
The spit on the roaster shown here had to be turned by hand.
Some roasters were equipped with a spring jack, which would turn the spit automatically after being wound up.

From 1869 Lea:
A tall, narrow, wooden cask/barrel with a manually operated churn.
Before it was used it would be filled with water to cool the churn and swell the barrel.
In the 18th century butter became a standard part of the American diet.
It was usually made at home in wooden or stoneware churns.
Churning butter was an arduous process requiring time and stamina.
Cream was poured into the cask and agitates with the churn (or dasher) until particles of butter float to the surface.
The butter was then removed, washed, and then worked into a wooden bowl with a wooden paddle (called butter paddles) to remove excess moisture. What remained in the cask was butter milk. (Real buttermilk is churned, not cultured).
Salt was added to the butter which flavored and preserved the butter.
Sometimes carrot juice was also added in order to add color (especially in the winter when the cream is very light in color).
The resulting butter was kept in stone crocks or wooden boxes.

 
This chopper was made completely of metal and has multiple sharp heavy blades.
The bottoms of the blades are slightly rounded for use in a wooden bowl.
The patent date stamped on the handle of this chopper is 1893.

This globe-shaped, cast-iron implement was used for roasting coffee beans over a kitchen fire.
The coffee beans were placed inside and the roaster had to be turned continuously so the beans would roast evenly.
The roaster shown here (left) is quite elaborate; most coffee roasters were a simple tin container, mounted on a long metal rod, with a small door in its side.

This soft pine board was used in cleaning knives.
The blade was placed on the raised sloped center that was sometimes covered with leather, then cleaned and polished.
Other types of knife boards consisted of a long, narrow wooden board with an open box at the end to hold the polishing agent.

 
Skimmer From1832 Miss Leslie
Long handled dipper From 1884 Mrs. Lincoln
These ladle-like utensils were used to remove foods from hot fats and liquids.
They have holes in the round, metal end to allow liquid and fat to drip off of the food item and out of the skimmer.
The long handle helps to keep distance from the hot fat or liquid.
The longer handled of the two skimmers at left is hand crafted.

 
This chopping machine is an example of the many 19th century inventions to make food preparation easier.
The meat or vegetables to be chopped were placed in the bowl and the handle was cranked.
The chopping blade moved up and down while the bowl rotated, so that the blade hit a different portion of the food each time.

Nutmeg is a spice which grows in the form of small, hard seeds. In order to be easily used, nutmeg must first be ground or grated into a powder or grain-like texture.
Nutmeg graters are used to grind aromatic nutmeg seeds into an easily useable form.
The seeds are inserted into the grater and rubbed up against the perforated metal of the grater by use of a crank or other mechanism.
This grinds the nutmeg into smaller pieces.
Pictured here are a selection of older nutmeg graters dating from the late 1800s and early 1900s.

From 1884 Mrs. Lincoln
This photo shows a variety of potato and vegetable mashers, also called beetles.
Potato mashers are often rounded heavy wooden objects with handles and flat bottoms.
Many of the wooden items were hand made. The more "contemporary" potato mashers use metal.
These implements were designed to press or mash foods but can be used in multiple other ways as evidenced in 1884 Mrs. Lincoln.
In this book (p. 248) the potato masher (or pestle) is to be used to press finely chopped meat tightly into cloth bags, much as a sausage stuffer is used to press chopped/ground meat into casings.
This genre of equipment - food mashers/beetles - are the oldest kitchen utensil still being used today.
The most popular use of them is for mashing potatoes and for pounding meat to tenderize.

This wire device was invented in the late 19th century.
As the ring is slid to the end, the four "legs" on the opposite end come together to grip a dishrag, which is held in place when the ring is again slid toward the rag. It can then be used to wash the inside of tall glasses, bottles, jars, and lamp chimneys.
Rag holders were produced both with and without vegetable skimmers at the opposite end.

 
Spice boxes with small, individual compartments were made to hold the spices used for cooking and preserving foods.
Spices were expensive and sometimes hard to obtain, so they were stored carefully.

This box-shaped wooden implement was used to slice vegetables.
The slicer consists of a wooden "tray" with wooden sides.
At the bottom of the tray is a sharp metal blade. In the middle of the tray is a wooden block with a handle, which will slide down the middle of tray. This block is used to push the vegetable to be sliced against the blades.

 

Original Recipes

Below are page images of the original versions of the recipes featured in the Detroit Free Press on October 9, 2001
The versions published in the paper were slightly adapted for modern tastes.
If none of these options tempt you, perhaps you would like to search the collection for additional recipes

Click on this link to view the recipies.
http://digital.lib.msu.edu/projects/cookbooks/html/project/project_press_original.html

Apple Souffle, from Aunt Babette's Cook Book (1889)

Croquettes, from The Virginia Housewife, or Methodical Cook (1838)

Delicate Indian Pudding, from The Woman Suffrage Cook Book (1886)

Gingerbread, from The Mary Frances Cook Book, or, Adventures among the Kitchen People (1912)

Parsnip Fritters, from Mrs. Rorer's How to Cook Vegetables (1891)

Stuffed Peppers, from Mrs. Rorer's How to Cook Vegetables (1891)

Rice Pudding, from American Cookery (1798)

Sweet Potato Bread, from Mrs. Rorer's How to Cook Vegetables (1891)

Vegetable Soup for Winter, from Mrs. Lincoln's Boston Cook Book: What To Do and What Not To Do in Cooking (1891)

Washington Tea Biscuits, from The Woman Suffrage Cook Book (1886)

 

Just a bit of history
'Colonial Kitchens ~ Not Glamorous Places'
Beaver County Times, July 2, 1975

The Colonial farm wife's stove was an open fireplace, and meal preparation could be both an arduous and smoky chore. One observer of the day reported, "This was a hard way to cook. Women would nearly break their backs lifting these heavy kettles on and off, burn their faces. smoke their eyes, singe their hair, blister their hands and scorch their clothes."