Memory Monday: A 19th Century Summer Bill of Fare

My Great-grandmother

A 19^th CENTURY SUMMER BILL OF FARE

I was looking at some of my old editions of Worbly’s Family Monthly Magazine and came across something I thought was very interesting. It is from Mrs. Goodfellow’s Cookery As It Should Be, published in 1865. (My great-grandmother, pictured above would have been a young girl of 13 at that time.)

In this article, there is a summer’s Bill of Fare for the young housekeeper. Here is a suggested menu for a week in the summertime:

MONDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, fish, boiled eggs.

Dinner. Lamb and peas, calves' head, vegetables,

Dessert. Fruits.

Tea. Cold bread, light cake, fruit, curds and cream.

TUESDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, broiled ham, poached eggs.

Dinner. Ochra soup, fried chickens, calves' feet boiled, parsley sauce, vegetables.

Dessert. Fruit, floating island.

Tea. Cold bread, corn bread, fruits.

WEDNESDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, chops, boiled small hominy.

Dinner. Roast lamb, mint-sauce, green peas, boiled pigs' feet, parsley sauce, boiled tongue, vegetables.

Dessert. Pie, trifles.

Tea. Cold bread, toast, cream cheese, fruits.

THURSDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, fish, fried mush.

Dinner. Lobster, boiled mutton, stewed liver, vegetables

Dessert. Pudding and fruit.

Tea. Corn bread, light cake, stewed fruit.

FRIDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, clam fritters, boiled rice, and boiled eggs.

Dinner. Fish, beef steaks, vegetables.

Dessert. Pudding, fruit.

Tea. Corn bread, cold bread, fruit, cream cheese.

SATURDAY.

Breakfast. Corn bread, cold bread, fish and boiled eggs.

Dinner. Boiled fowls, egg or celery sauce, tongue, cutlets, vegetables.

Dessert. Pie, floating island, &c.

Tea. Cold bread, sliced tongue, fruit.

SUNDAY.

Breakfast. Cold bread, boiled ham and eggs, and small hominy.

Dinner. Roast beef, fricasseed chicken, vegetables.

Dessert. Fruit, jelly, or blanc-mange.

Tea. Cold bread, fish, fruits, light cake.

Now you have to realize that while I live in 2017, I write mid-19^th Century historical fiction, a lot of the time about farmers or ranchers, not city dwellers who go to the butcher shops every day or two. So if the reader of this cookbook was a farm wife, Mrs. Goodfellow would, in one week, have the young housekeeper take apart a whole cow and serve it part by part. Notice: Monday—head, Tuesday—feet, Thursday—liver, Friday—hips or ribs (steaks), Saturday—tongue, and Sunday—hips or ribs again (roast). My question is: if this young farm wife uses all those parts one week, what is she supposed to do the next week when there is not head, feet, or tongue? Let her family starve? Or just give them more cold bread to eat? And why does the bread have to be cold? Why can’t she toast it or at least let it come to room temperature? And don’t even get me started on all this fish for breakfast? The one saving thing about this bill of fare is that there are plenty of desserts.

My final thought after reviewing this suggested menu for a week—Thank goodness for McDonald’s, Taco Bell, and Subway! With these three, I can eat all summer without worrying how I can find a cow’s head, tongue, and feet every week.