The Book of Household Management
Author: Mrs. Isabella Beeton
Published Originally By S. O. Beeton in 24 Monthly Parts 1859-1861. First Published in a Bound Edition 1861.
Nothing lovelier can be found In Woman, than to study household good.--MILTON. (Obviously written a long time ago.)
Isabella Beeton was an authority on both household management and on needlework crafts. This household book gives instructions on how to manage the servants, how to nurse the sick, how to cook, how to care for laundry, and do a variety of chores around the household.
It is interesting the number of people employed in a household. Salaries are given for the following servants: The House Steward, The Valet, The Butler, The Cook, The Gardener, The Footman The Under Butler, The Coachman, The Groom, The Under Footman, The Page or Footboy, The Stableboy, The Housekeeper, The Lady's-maid, The Head Nurse, The Cook, The Upper Housemaid, Upper Laundry-maid, The Maid-of-all-work, The Under Housemaid, The Still-room Maid, The Nursemaid, The Under Laundry-maid, The Kitchen-maid, The Scullery-maid.
This is her recipe for coffee for invalids, with comments from Florence Nightingale, a pioneer nurse.
NUTRITIOUS COFFEE.
INGREDIENTS.--1/2 oz. of ground coffee, 1 pint of milk.
Mode -Let the coffee be freshly ground; put it into a saucepan, with
the milk, which should be made nearly boiling before the coffee is put
in, and boil both together for 3 minutes; clear it by pouring some of it
into a cup, and then back again, and leave it on the hob for a few
minutes to settle thoroughly. This coffee may be made still more
nutritious by the addition of an egg well beaten, and put into the
coffee-cup.
Time -5 minutes to boil, 5 minutes to settle.
Sufficient to make 1 large breakfast-cupful of coffee.
Our great nurse Miss Nightingale remarks, that "a great deal too
much against tea is said by wise people, and a great deal too
much of tea is given to the sick by foolish people. When you see
the natural and almost universal craving in English sick for
their 'tea,' you cannot but feel that Nature knows what she is
about. But a little tea or coffee restores them quite as much as
a great deal; and a great deal of tea, and especially of coffee,
impairs the little power of digestion they have. Yet a nurse,
because she sees how one or two cups of tea or coffee restore
her patient, thinks that three or four cups will do twice as
much. This is not the case at all; it is, however, certain that
there is nothing yet discovered which is a substitute to the
English patient for his cup of tea; he can take it when he can
take nothing else, and he often can't take anything else, if he
has it not. Coffee is a better restorative than tea, but a
greater impairer of the digestion. In making coffee, it is
absolutely necessary to buy it in the berry, and grind it at
home; otherwise, you may reckon upon its containing a certain
amount of chicory, at least. This is not a question of the
taste, or of the wholesomeness of chicory; it is, that chicory
has nothing at all of the properties for which you give coffee,
and, therefore, you may as well not give it."
This book is filled with pages of recipes including wild berries and meats, that were available to the English. It can be downloaded from the Gutenberg site.
|
