The next Will Rees, titled “The Shaker Murders”, has been sent along. For some reason, I found this one difficult to write. But it is done and on its way. Yayy!
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Shakers andPets
Although the simple life is certainly a draw in this hectic over-scheduled modern life, I would find living as a Shaker difficult, if not impossible. For one thing, I am not obedient. But also the shakers do not have pets.
The Milennial Laws of 1821 and then again in 1845 laid out rules governing every aspect of Shaker lives. They were not allowed pets, primarily because their focus was supposed to be upon God.
For me, this is a deal breaker. I have had a dog since I was ten, with only a few years here and there without. Plus a few cats scattered among the dogs.
Shelby is my current dog, although she actually, emotionally, belongs to my husband. I wanted a dog for my birthday. When we went to the rescue, she raced to him. Once she’d chosen him, we couldn’t leave her behind. So, I got a dog for my husband for my birthday.
But I digress. Sandy was my previous dog. She looked similar to Shelby – a little lighter in color. Sandy was my best friend. She went everywhere with me. Although a medium dog (65 pounds) she lived to be 17 1/2. The vet was astonished she lived so long. by then she was blind, deaf, and had hip displasia. I was so heart broken I did not get another dog for a few years.
So, having a dog is one thing I could not surrender.
Cookery language in 1797
Cooking in 1797 was a much different affair than it became even a few years later. Benjamin Franklin had invented a stove but it was not yet commonly used, for cooking especially, so much cooking took place over an open fire. In a previous post I discussed leavening. Up to this point, yeast or beating to incorporate air were the methods to achieve lightness in baked goods. But sometimes in the 1790s an American cook discovered chemical leavening, i.e. pearlash. we now use baking powder, a combination of an acid (cream of tarter) and baking soda (a base) to make carbon dioxide and raise the dough. Failing baking powder, which had not been invented yet, cooks used buttermilk for the lactic acid.
But I digress. Besides the new foods with their own (usually American Indian names such as squash), some of the names for tools and methods are not familiar today. I’ve already mentioned Hannah Hill, the name for sea bass. And pearlash. What is that? Also called potash, it is potassium carbonate (lye) and is the result of soaking wood ashes in water. It is bitter beyond belief!
Other terms:
amber gun, probably ambergris, from the sperm whale. It is now used in perfumery but once was used as a cooking ingredient.
Bladder and leather – the items used to tie over jars of jelly. (Give me paraffin wax any day!)
calavance – an early variety of bean
calapash – the part of the turtle adjoining the upper shell
emptins – semi prepared liquid yeast.
gallipot – a small earthen pot
jump in the pan – a characteristic action of eels when cooked in a pan.
What it tells me is how difficult time travel would be, even a few hundred years in the past. Not just the clothing is different but even simple homey actions like cooking.
Food in the 1790s
While talking with a friend about early American food, and the divergence between American cookery and British, he said the differences were due to the influx of immigrants with their regional cuisines.
Yes, that is partly true, but more so later on,
The truth is that what was eaten began diverging right away.
Take the word corn for example. In Britain, corn was a general term for grain. (So in the nursery rhyme ‘the cows in the corn’, the cows could have been in the wheat. the term used for corn was the American Indian word maize.
Corn was a staple of the American diet, eaten in a variety of ways: bread, pancakes, pone (little cakes) and so on. Including something called ash pone which was cooked in the ashes. (Yuck?)
Squash, another Indian name for an American vegetable, was an addition to the American diet.
They did have something they called pumpkin pie but we would not recognize it. It was slices of raw apple and pumpkin sugared and cooked in a crust. (Unappealing, I think. I tried a recipe for a Shaker lemon pie which was slices of raw lemon, heavily sugared and baked in a pie. Incredibly sour, despite the sugar. But I digress). What we would call pumpkin pie (stewed pumpkin stewed with sugar and spices) was called a pudding at that time.
Other differences: corn cobs were used to smoke bacon and cranberry sauce accompanied the roast turkey, cranberries being an American fruit. Mince pie, by the way, was made with meat – usually venison, not apples and raisins as it is now.
One of the early recipes gives directions for spruce beer. Yes, it really does contain spruce, but also hops and molasses. And speaking of molasses, this is a word Americans, even from this time forward, have used in preference to the more British treacle.
Winter?
We are almost into January and the warmth continues. Thus far, even in upstate New York, we have not had a killing frost. I still have beets
and kale
Moreover, my poor dog is suffering. She grew in her winter coat. And now it looks like her April hair; ragged as she sheds. This is her flank one day after brushing.
I, however, am not complaining. Maybe this year I will actually get my peas in to the ground mid-March instead of being held back by snow.
Copy edits on The Devil’s Cold Dish
Copy edits on “The Devil’s Cold Dish ” have arrived. The finished manuscript is due back to Minotaur on January 5.
What are copy edits? Mainly spelling, grammar – those little things that slip through. It is also my last chance to review the finished manuscript. Line edits, which come first, detect problems with the plot or timeline. More substantive changes can be made during the line edit phase. Copy edits are not the creative part but they help make the manuscript a finished product. Everyone knows how annoying typos are and the copy edits are designed to prevent them as much as possible.
The timing proves something else: when one is a writer you are always on duty – even over the holidays.
Shaker Exhibition
Because of my goodreads giveaway, I am behind on my blogging. Now that most of the books have been put in the mail to the winners, and the remaining ones ready, I can turn my attention to something else.
A few weeks ago, my husband and I went to an exhibition of Shaker items at the New York State Museum. I”d wanted to attend the program on Children and the Shakers, which was unfortunately canceled. But the display was still up and will be until March.
Despite all my research, I still learned some new facts. One of the pieces on display was a Granny Cradle. The explanation given was that it was used either to comfort the ill adult or to move them.
I did not know that some parents indentured their children to the Shakers. Several contracts were on display.
Here is the board listing a boy’s duties.
The morning began early, at 6:30, with many chores before breakfast and more after. School (from Dec to March for the boys) was fit into the mornings. Photos of smiling children on outings were also on display. It may seem harsh to modern eyes but hard work was usual even for very small children then.
We also paused on our way out to see the exhibit on the World Trade Center. Crushed trucks and heavy beams bent and twisted like licorice sticks. Even after the passage of more than a decade, this exhibit has not lost its power.
Goodreads Giveaway Ends
I am thrilled to announce that 941 people requested Cradle to Grave. (And here I was wondering if I would break 500!) I have received the names of the winners and will be sending copies of the books to them this weekend.
Goodreads Giveaway
The Giveaway ends tomorrow at midnight; two days left to add your name for the Giveaway.
Will and Lydia travel to New York just outside of Albany after a frantic plea for help from Shaker friend Mouse. There they find Mouse had been accused of kidnapping – and she admits it. Shortly after, the mother of the children is found dead and Mouse is the the primary suspect.
What did they eat in 1797?
With Thanksgiving coming up, my thoughts turn naturally to food.
One of the first things that strikes a modern person when one researches food from this era is how meat heavy it is. The American plate for the last fifty or so years has been meat, a vegetable and a starch like potato or rice.
Johnny cakes or cornbread would have more likely been the starch on the table. And while vegetables from the garden would be available in the summer and early fall, people would have been limited to good keepers like cabbage apples, and carrots after that.
Refrigeration was primitive. Root cellars, holes dug into the ground and cool, were further cooled with ice covered in sawdust for insulation.
But meat, both from domesticated animals and whatever a hunter could bag, was available all year. (Assuming enough wealth to own animals or the skill to hunt successfully.)
Here is a list of some of the animals eaten:
The regular domesticated: beef, pork, mutton, lamb and chicken.
Fish: salmon, shad, Hannah Hill (sea bass), oysters, lobster, cod, haddock, perch, eels
Wild: ducks, geese, partridge, deer, snipes, pigeon, hares and rabbits, turtles and of course turkey.
Recipes included many herbs.
No wonder people longed for greens in the spring.