kitchen- gear

[Charles Kaiser]

Hallo Kameraden,
I am looking for for correct Kitchen and Cooking gear, like a periodical soup ladle or an egg whisk . I am not looking for Dutch oven, pans, skillets, plates and pots.
only the tool you work with in the kitchen.
Has anyone access to an historical catalog, or knows an old book where this things are figured?

[Little Jo]

Re: kitchen- gear

http://books.google.com/books?id=j3MEAAAAYAAJ&pg=PP5&dq=american+lady+cookbook&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=1840&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1870&num=50&as_brr=1#v=onepage&q=&f=false

This book has great illustrations of cooking implements.

[Virginia Mescher]

Re: kitchen- gear

And if you'd like a reproduction copy to be able to hold in your hand, they are available from Ragged Soldier Sutlery (raggedsoldier.com) in the menu item "Books: 19th Century Reproductions"

[benjclark]

Re: kitchen- gear

Extensive discussion on egg whisks (or whips): http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php?topic=5284.0

All things period cooking:
http://thesewingacademy.org/index.php?board=27.0

[Charles Kaiser]

Re: kitchen- gear

Great, all this stuff you could buy ! I didn't know that they had an digester in 1864!
Thats more Input I hoped for!
Until this day, I believed, those little live easyer making items are mostly a child of our time, like the egg boiler for the breakfast table , but thats an error!

[gschult3]

Re: kitchen- gear

Chas – Though I don’t know if such is scanned anywhere to the web, the 1865 Russell & Erwin Mfg Co catalog (reprinted in 1980 by the Assoc of Preservation Technology) has a lot of info you can use for your mission. Definitely worth having as a reference if you can get your hands on a copy.

[ajhamler]

Re: kitchen- gear

You might also consider a spurtle if your impression is European immigrant, or even if not. Originating in Scotland centuries ago, the spurtle is a simple wooden stirring stick. They were (and still are) more common in Europe, but I've used one in my kitchen for years. I've made dozens on my lathe for family and friends.



Spurtles can be simple cylinders a foot or so long, somewhat flattened along their length, sometimes tapered or flared on the ends, have a distinct handle or no handle at all, or any combination of these. Many are rather intricately lathe-turned. The examples in the photo shown here are just one of a nearly infinite variety of shapes and sizes. A Google search will turn up hundreds of results.

A.J. Hamler

[ElizabethClark]

Re: kitchen- gear

Mr Hamler, these are entirely new to me! Would you mind pointing me in some research directions regarding their use in the US mid-century? Determining the common use of them here would be important before adding them to an impression.

[PetePaolillo]

Re: kitchen- gear

Mrs. Clark,

Although I have not found any sources as it pertains to their use in the United States I did
find the term in the below dictionary. It is a Scottish term applied to a kitchen tool dating back to the 15th century for stirring Porridge and oatmeal. In fact they give the golden Spurtle award to the winning Porridge makers today in Scotland.

http://www.goldenspurtle.com/

Spurtle or Spatula?
In his book 'Treen and other Wooden Bygones', Edward Pinto tells us that "both spatulas and spurtles have their origins in Scotland. There is some confusion in terminology, but generally the drum-stick-like porridge stirrer is called a spurtle and a flat sided stirrer is a spatula. Both types of implement have a long history."

The Oxford English Dictionary records both uses of the word, dating back to 1572. The flat ones were used for turning oatcakes.

More recently two other factors have added to the confusion. First is the use by brewers of a long handled paddle which they call a Brewers Spurtle. Second is the popularization of a flat stirrer by Graham Kerr which he called a spurtle.

http://www.seafoamwoodturning.com/Shopping/porridge.htm

http://books.google.com/books?id=SE4OAAAAYAAJ&dq=Spurtle&source=gbs_navlinks_s

A dictionary of Lowland Scotch By Charles Mackay, Allan Ramsay, G. May 1888

Spurtle or parritch spurtie, a rounded stick or bar of hard wood, used in preference to a spoon or ladle for stirring oatmeal porridge in the process of cooking. Jamieson—who seldom dives deeper than the Teutonic—derives the word from tprgten, the Latin assula. The Gaelic has sjrarr or tparran, a little wooden bar or bolt; and the Flemish has sport, with the same meaning; and also that of the rung of a ladder (a bar of wood which a Scottish house

. wife, in default of any better spurtie, might conveniently use for the purpose). Good bairns in the olden times when oatmeal porridge was the customary food of the peasantry, were often rewarded by having the ipurtle to lick in addition to their share of the breakfast.

Our gudeman cam' hame at e'en,

And hame cam' he ;
And there he saw a nraw broad sword,


Where nae sword should be.

How's this? gude wife,

How's this, quo he,
How came this sword here


Without the leave o' me ?

A sword ! quo she,

Aye, a sword, quo he ;
Ye nuld blind doited Ixxlie,


And blinder may ye be,
'Tis but a parritch spurtle,


My minnie gied to me.

Far hae I travelled,

And muckle hae I seen,
But scabbards upon spurtles,


Saw 1 never nanc !

—Our Gudttnan.

[MrsArmstrong]

Re: kitchen- gear

You would be better off having a mush-stick...

Miss Leslie's New Cookery Book by Eliza Leslie, 1857, page 413
"mush-stick,(a round stick about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end)"

http://books.google.com/books?id=FLYpAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA3-PA413&dq=%22mush+stick%22&lr=&as_drrb_is=b&as_minm_is=0&as_miny_is=&as_maxm_is=0&as_maxy_is=1865&num=100&as_brr=1#v=onepage&q=%22mush%20stick%22&f=false

Susan Armstorng

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/19thcenturyfoodways/

[Hank Trent]

Re: kitchen- gear

That reminded me of a mush stick, though it's typically flattened on one end like the other spirtles Pete mentioned.

"You must keep the pot boiling all the time you are stirring in the meal and between every handful stir hard with the mush-stick, (a round stick about half a yard long, flattened at the lower end,) as, if not well stirred, the mush will be lumpy." Source.

Hank Trent
hanktrent@gmail.com

[PetePaolillo]

Re: kitchen- gear

Mr. Trent and Mrs. Armstrong are on the same page...literally!:D...The Mush stick may be a name variation of a similiar or the same tool.

On page 473 of that source it also mentions a spaddle....

http://books.google.com/books?pg=RA3-PA473&dq=%22mush+stick%22+date:0-1865&id=FLYpAAAAYAAJ&output=html

"Stir them to a light cream with a wooden spaddle, which is shorter than a mushstick, and flattened at one end; that end rather thin, and rather broad. Beat in a shallow pan, (with hickory rods) six eggs, till very thick and smooth, and stir them gradually into the mixture"
Good stuff!

[ajhamler]

Re: kitchen- gear

Elizabeth...

Pete gave a lot of good background that I can't really add to. However, I do know that spurtles have been in my family in the U.S. since around 1850 when my mom's side of the family came here from Germany. When I was growing up in the 1950s, my great-grandmother used one all the time in her kitchen, and said it was her mother's. I was amazed that she used a hundred-year-old stick (which I thought at the time was a miniature baseball bat) to cook with. While I now may doubt that the one she used was actually that old -- it was probably a replacement -- I have no doubt that her family brought at least one over with them, or made or obtained one when they got here, since she grew up seeing them used in the kitchen.

The bottom line is that spurtles would be familiar during the 19th century to just about anyone in the U.S. whose family came from Europe, especially the British Isles or western Europe.

I don't make a heck of a lot of porridge, but I use mine for stirring anything that's thick -- stew, my (world famous!) spaghetti sauce, red beans and sausage (which I made earlier this evening), even chili.

A.J.

[gschult3]

Re: kitchen- gear

Websters Dictionary 1856 -

Spurtle: To shoot in a scattering manner.
Spaddle: A little spade.

If 'spurtle' as an implement has roots in gaelic I suppose it doesn't have to make sense in English. However, if it's basically a thick swizzle stick for stiring mush it seems functional and has provenance historically. Still I'd have to say I like the concept of basting spoons better.....