Chicken (Standing) Pie, 1854

The pie, prior to baking.

Last dish from the camera roll. To add some variety the table last candlelight, I finally made a standing meat pie in my pie molds. 

I based the filling on a chicken pie receipt in Mrs. Williamson's Practice of Cookery and Pastry (1854), layering pieces of chicken and boiled egg inside a crust, the whole flavored with salt, pepper, nutmeg, and gravy. I miscalculated (read: used it all up on the croquettes) and had to omit the slices of ham, while the gravy was a thickened vegetable stock, since I had no giblets to boil down. The instructions are a bit vague about de-boning the chicken, and the reference to using whole birds rather than joints they are small, I assume the bones are meant to be left in. I intentionally changed this, using chicken breasts and thighs, with all the bone, skin, etc., removed. I think this was the right decision, both for my own eating preferences, and to avoid unpleasant surprises for various other reenactors.

While the above receipt calls for puff paste, I used a hot-water crust to ensure that it had the structural integrity to handle the 'standing pie mold' situation. The Complete Confectioner, Pastry-Cook, and Baker (1864) gave a raised pie crust, which nicely filled my mold when scaled down to 2 lbs flour (the original assumes 7 lbs flour). I did end up having to use lard in place of the suet, which likely cost me some strength, though the pie held up. I used cookie-cutters and Quin's edging-mold to make the ornaments for the top.

 

Belated 12th Night Cake

Revisited the 1857 Godey's receipt-in-verse for Twelfth Cake again this year. The changes this time were:

• I finally found candied citron, and thus was able to include all of the fruit and nuts in their proper proportions.
• I made a half-receipt worth of cake.
• I made a cake with gluten-free flour.
• I tried freezing the cake.
• I decorated the cake using piped icing. 
  

By way of explanation, I had two 12th Night events planned, one period and one modern, and so made two quarter-receipt-sized cakes. For the modern one, I again used a 1-to-1 gluten-free flour substitute, while I used regular flour for the period one. The period event then got postponed, so I stuck the extra cake in the freezer.

Period cake in the hoop, modern in the springform pan.

My first takeaway of the experience is that the candied citron mostly gets lost in the mass of other fruit (and some spice) flavors. There just isn't that much citron, so it's only every few bites that I'd get a flash of citron flavor among the currants and almonds. That being said, it was strong enough to be picked out, and it worked with the other flavors. I'm glad to have the chance to try it, and would use it again in the future, but I also think the cake doesn't suffer from missing it when the citron isn't available.

Since I used different flours, I was really making two quarter-batches rather than one half-batch. In the process, I observed that my modern springform pans are not large enough for even a half-receipt of the cake (the period cake hoop could probably manage a half batch, though not a whole), and it's doubtful that my mixer would be up to the half-batch either. I didn't notice any difference in taste or texture between the two cakes (both being functionally a mass of dried fruit held together with minimal batter), making it one of my most successful gluten-free baking experiments to date. Freezing the one cake worked beautifully:  as soon as it was cool, I wrapped it tightly with the parchment paper I had baked it in, then covered that with tin foil. It was in the freezer for a month, then I let it thaw for a day before frosting and serving it.

The icing was still my modern buttercream frosting, though I have since received a tip about adapting period royal icing which I will try next time (apparently meringue powder allows one to avoid the 'uncooked egg whites' issue).  I opted for piped decorations this time, since I came across detailed period instructions for piping icing onto Twelfth Cakes (also Wedding Cakes), though I failed to save the link for once. Will update when I find it again.

 

Modern cake. The period one had white-on-white frosting.

 

Comparative Cheese & Also Custard Puddings (1845-1855)

While I'm going through my old pictures: last week's cheese experiments at Fort Nisqually. All three receipts are variations on "melted cheese adjacent to bread" from The Carolina Housewife (1855).

Boiled Cheese.

 We used Quin's homemade sourdough and a mild cheddar cheese for all three receipts, in order to compare them. The boiled cheese involved melting the cheese on the stovetop with milk, butter, and egg. It was served with sippets of toasted bread (made in bulk on the skillet on the stovetop, since toasting it on the forks one at a time would have been prohibitive). The stewed cheese called for cream, butter, cheese, and a salamander to cook it from above. Both ended up tasting like delicious melted cheese, and tended to solidify quickly once taken off the heat. The stewed cheese was a little less intensely cheddar-flavored, but they were very similar in general.

To Stew Cheese.

The toasted cheese again called for grated cheese mixed with cream and butter, but also had salt, pepper, mustard, and breadcrumbs, which worked into a paste with the consistency of play-dough. This was spread over slices of bread and baked in the oven until the cheese started to brown. The flavor was quite good (after eating so much cheese, the slight kick of the mustard made a nice variation), though the texture of the cheese paste was a little too similar to the bread in my opinion. It was however, much easier and neater to eat than the first two receipts. All three receipts went together quickly, and would be easy to make around other receipts (say, for the cook's lunch while demonstrating other dishes).

To Toast Cheese.

For dessert, we made two different versions of a custard pudding. Again, for good comparison, both were flavored with almond [there was a mishap with the lemon flavoring] and served with homemade preserves. One was a common custard pudding from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1845), the other from Cookery Rational, Practical, and Economical (1855). 

Common custard pudding. (Boiled)

The first was boiled, and the second baked, but the only other difference was the exact proportion of eggs, milk, and flavoring. The baked pudding did have an option to substitute flour for some of the eggs, but we decided not to do this. Both receipts produced a nice molded dessert with the texture of a flan and a notable, but not overwhelming, almond flavor. There was a small mishap with the boiled pudding turning sideways enough to have water leak into the mold, but the pudding still held together when turned out. I did end up draining excess water off the plate after it had set a few minutes. I noticed little difference between the two, but Quin preferred the baked pudding (the water leak apparently making the boiled one too moist).

Custard pudding. (Baked.)

All in all, it was a tasty day. Except for the bread being baked in advance in a modern home kitchen, everything was prepared in the Fort's historic kitchen, using the wood-burning stove. All of our ingredients were as close to period as possible, and most can be documented to the place as well.

Updated Coconut Macaroons (1845)

Coconut Macaroons.

 

Revisited the Very Fine Coconut Macaroons from Eliza Acton's Modern Cookery (1845) for Fort Steilacoom on Sunday. It's a simple receipt that scales easily (1 white beaten stiff, 2 oz sugar, 1oz dry shredded coconut; bake on low until firm). I did 2 eggs worth again, which neatly filled 1.5 pans. Despite beating the egg whites to stiff peaks, the mixture liquefied as soon as I added the other ingredients, so I didn't get to shape the macaroons by rolling the dough into balls. This is probably why they turned out a bit flat, but they tasted fine anyway. I'm mostly posting this update so that I can note the cooking temperature: the macaroons were mostly done after 30 minutes at 180F, but the bottoms were still sticky and tended to come apart. I put them back in for another 10 minutes (40 minutes at 180F in total), and then let them sit in the cooling oven overnight. They ended up cooked all the way through, without changing color.

Original: Silk Ankle Boots, c.1855-1865

 I never did get my new mid-19th century boots started last summer, but with my size out of stock at my last supplier, it is a project I need to get busy with. So, time for some more inspiration.

Girl's Boots, made from silk and patent leather, c.1855-1865. LACMA.

February Mending

A fairly busy mending month (especially as a proportion of overall sewing). After Steilacoom's open day at the beginning of the month, I fixed some escaped bones from my 1850s corset, the tie my plaid petticoat and a section of gathering which had disengaged from my pink apron. I was at Nisqually the last weekend, where I discovered several problems with my brown print (a few inches of detached skirt gauging, a section of loose neck binding, escaped cording on the left armscye, and a loose seam on the interior waistband lining), all of which have now been fixed. In between, I patched a pair of modern jeans, fixed a loose seam on a brace, reattached the elastic to some pjs, and secured two sets of escaping underwires. 

How it started.

My workbasket is still piled high with both mending and in-progress projects, but I did manage to clear all the garments from my travel workbag, and am most of the way back to having a functional 1850s outfit.

Another Typical Tudor Smock, mid-16th century

So I apparently never posted one project from last summer: a second Typical Tudor smock, this one all hand-sewn to use the 'hem each piece then whip-stitch the seams together' method. And because my older smocks were suffering catastrophic seam failure all through the first weekend of Faire.

The place where this method shines.

Compared to run-and-fell seaming, this method takes about 50% more sewing per seam (since both sides of each seam is getting finished individually before they're even joined). However, it makes the square gussets fit beautifully with no weird lumps or bulk where the felled finishes of the gusset overlaps with the sleeve and body seams. Other benefits include most of the project being very portable (the sleeves and gusset pieces fit very easily in my to-go work bag, so that most of the hemming could be done in odd minutes), and very easy repairs (since the seams under stress can be replaced without compromising the edge finish).

Managed to photograph this smock before wearing it on the last day of the event.

Doll Reform Dress, c.1849-1855

Finally finished Nelly's reform dress or Bloomer ensemble. It's a two-piece outfit made of brown wool crepe: her usual dress made up with slim bias-cut sleeves and a shortened skirt, worn over ankle-length trousers.

Nelly's new outfit.

 The trousers are not part of her usual pattern; to make them, I lengthened the split drawers, added a cuff at the ankle, and tacked the center split most of the way closed. They close with a shell button and thread loop. The dress was made as usual, except for the shortened skirt. The dress closes down the back (doll-style) with three metal hooks and thread bars.

I didn't both making a short petticoat to wear with the outfit, since the trousers and the skirt's own body give it ample support at this small scale. The overall effect is a bit dull, so I might add some trim (or at least a nice collar and small button brooch).

Foods in Season: February 1861

Late this month, but I finally have some historic cooking to do, and decided to once again consult with Beeton's Book of Household Management about ingredients considered to be in season for February.

Fish- Barbel, brill, carp, cod may be bought, but is not so good as in January, crabs, crayfish, dace, eels, flounders, haddocks, herrings, lampreys, lobsters, mussels, oysters, perch, pike, plaice, prawns, shrimps, skate, smelts, soles, sprats, sturgeon, tench, thornback, turbot, whiting.

Meat- Beef, house lamb, mutton, pork, veal

Poultry- Capons, chickens, ducklings, fowls, tame and wild pigeons, pullets with eggs, turkeys, wild-fowl, though now not in full season.

Game- Grouse, hares, partridges, pheasants, snipe, wild-fowl, woodcock

Vegetables-Beetroot, broccoli (purple and white), Brussels sprouts, cabbages, carrots, celery, chervil, cresses, cucumbers (forced), endive, kidney-beans, lettuces, parsnips, potatoes, savoys, spinach, turnips,-various herbs

Fruit- Apples (golden and Dutch pippins), grapes, medlars, nuts, oranges, pear (Bon Chrétien), walnuts, dried fruits (foreign), such as almonds and raisins; French and Spanish plums; prunes, figs, dates, crystallized preserves.

I was interested to note that the only different in fish suggestions between January and February is the cod being "not so good," while venison falls off the meat list moving into February and wild fowls are added into the game category. Poultry sees the most more changes, as wild pigeons, wild fowls, and chickens are now "in season" and rabbit is out; I plan to bother my friendly neighborhood chicken-raisers with questions about this. I had expected the vegetable category to slightly expand over January to March as spring approaches and the fruit list to contract over that time as winter storing varieties run out; the main difference instead seems to be that the February lists gives more specific varieties of broccoli, apples, and pears.

Knit Undersleeves (1855), Take 2

Revisited the November 1855 Warm Undersleeve pattern from Godey's, once again on my circular knitting machine. Having learned from last time, the main change I made was reducing the frill to 4 whole motifs (with the extra 8 stitches divided between them and added into the plain sections; this was necessary because the repeat is 18 stitches and I was using my 80-slot machine cylinder). It was much faster and easier to work the pattern that way, and I think the symmetry it quite becoming. The one downside is a slightly less dramatic scallop effect. I also positioned the upper frill higher on the sleeve (~2" rather than 1" above the lower), which I think looks nicer.

New sleeves for Friend E.

For this pair, I used the Knit Picks pallette yarn which I like for socks on this machine. One skein did the first sleeve and both extra frills, with a bit left over. I knit the sleeves and frill headers at two tension-dial-rotations above the loosest setting, switching down to the loosest for the 'Old Shale' pattern, to make it lacier.

Clothing Longevity c.1840-1870, Part 1: An Introduction

This project stated with the broad question of "How long did mid-Victorian clothing last?" (and it's reenacting corollary: "Can one justify wear a dress with specifically 1840s style elements at an event set in the 1850s, 1860s, or later by pretending to be old, poor, or rural?"). I've since come to realize it's really a series of related questions encompassing among other things:

• How frequently are dresses (or clothing more generally) being replaced?
• How long is a particular dress expected to be used in its original configuration by its original owner?
• How long can a particular dress (or other garment) continue to be used as clothing in some capacity by any person at all?
• Which people have the means, ability, and inclination to update old garments? Are there groups who do not?
• What assumptions or stereotypes do period writers attach to wearing outdated or outworn clothing?
  

Related to this, of course, is the issue of what happens to a garment after it's initial period of service. Is it being "turned" or altered to continue being used by the same person in the same capacity? Is the garment being altered to serve a different purpose for the same person? Is it being passed on, intact, for use by another? Is it being remade to a different purpose for a different person to use? Is the garment's fabric being re-used for a non-clothing purpose? Or is fiber itself being recycled?

Consider a woman's formerly 'best' silk dress...

• which has been re-made for/by the owner to keep the sleeve shape and other style elements up to date, for continued use as her best silk.
• which has been re-made for/by the owner as a wrapper for wear around her own house, with a new dress taking the role of "best."
• which has been sold through a used clothes dealer and bought by someone else to wear as-is.
• which has been gifted to a servant and re-made to suit the new owner's size, taste, and social station.
• which has been been taken apart and used to make a mantel for the original owner's daughter
• which was put away for several years, and later cut up to make a "crazy quilt"
  
• which has been used for one or more of the above, until the last pieces are finally picked apart by a rag-merchant and sold to a fertilizer company.

Arguably, most of these events can mark the end of the dress, if not the end of the fabric's useful life. And, unfortunately, the sources available to use don't always differentiate between one of these fates and another, especially when it comes to the issue of remaking the dress. As a result, my answers here are going to take a few different forms, and there will be a certain amount of uncertainty about how remade and altered dresses fit into the "life expectancy" of the middle class wardrobe. I'm mostly sticking to sources from the period 1840-1870, excepting The Workwoman's Guide (1838) and a beautifully comprehensive guidebook published in 1873 which brings together many of the elements suggested and implied in the 1850s and 1860s sources.

I'd also like to observe, before we get too much further, that different materials may perform very differently, not only due to their inherent properties, but also on account of how they are worn, laundered, and repaired. Sheer dresses (cotton, silk, or wool) can be very fragile; figured weaves can snag and collect fuzz; cotton prints may be subjected to harsh laundry methods; woolen materials are preyed upon by moths; an expensive silk might entail a much higher level of care than a cheaper material and be worth re-modelling.

And, as a final aside, modern clothing really can't be a guideline in this matter, in my opinion. The materials out clothing it made out of has changed drastically; the manufacturing processes of the fibers themselves produce different fabrics; wear patterns have changed; laundry methods have changed; the frequency a given garment is worn has changed; mending and alterations are much less common; there's greater tolerance for idiosyncrasies in dress; and the way our garments work together are all very different from the practices of the 1850s and 1860s. A modern person retaining clothing from 20+ years ago is not evidence that people in the year 18-- commonly did so without censure.

Foods in Season: January

Thinking more about cooking through the season, Victorian style, and decided this year to share the monthly suggestions from Beeton's Book of Household Management.

For January, foodstuffs that should be in season:

Fish- Barbel, brill, carp, cod, crabs, crayfish, dace, eels, flounders, haddocks, herrings, lampreys, lobsters, mussels, oysters, perch, pike, plaice, prawns, shrimps, skate, smelts, soles, sprats, sturgeon, tench, thornback, turbot, whitings

Meat- Beef, house lamb, mutton, pork, veal, venison

Poultry- Capons, fowls, tame pigeons, pullets, rabbits, turkeys

Game- Grouse, hares, partridges, pheasants, snipe, wild-fowl, woodcock

Vegetables-Beetroot, broccoli, cabbages, carrots, celery, chervil, cresses, cucumbers (forced), endive, lettuces, parships, potatoes, savoys, spinach, turnips,-various herbs

Fruit- Apples, grapes, medlars, nuts, oranges, pears, walnuts, crystalized preserves (foreign), dried fruits, such as almonds and raisins; French and Spanish plums; prunes, figs, dates.

*Terminology notes: "house lamb" is, as the name suggests, a lamb that has been hand-raised in the house (generally over bitter winter weather). "Forced" cucumbers would be grown with artificial heating and protection from the elements (greenhouse, use of glass covers outdoors, a "hot bed" with decaying manure used to warm the soil, etc).

2025 Costuming Resolutions

I rather liked how last year's costuming resolutions went (though I'd like to get more of them done!), and I  think that it makes sense to stick with completing ongoing projects rather than starting too many new ones.

• First off, I'm going to try sticking to the "projects done at least 1 week before any event" rule. Triaging my projects a week out, and acknowledging that a given garment won't be done in time for a particular event, helped me plan better and focus on making older items work. I also enjoyed the reenactments more and felt less stressed.
• Finish the chemises and drawers in my WIP basket. This should keep me well-supplied with linens for 19th century events.
• Green plaid 1850s dress actually done and wearable. Hopefully before June, when the weather turns.
• Red wool 1850s basque ensemble. I tried to have this ready for autumn 2024 events, but only have the hemmed skirt and fitted toile done. I'd like to have this complete by Candlelight.
• Shoes for 1850s wear. I either need to make some gaiters or get my purchased ones re-soled ASAP.
• Dotted swiss undersleeves. They've seasoned long enough.
• 1850s Nightgown. My old one is badly worn out.
• Wrap Cape. 
• Linen divided skirt.
• Still trying to get those drafts below 100. While I'm at it, I should systematically go through my old posts and fix what link-rot I can, especially for images on older posts.
  

I think this is a reasonable number of projects: two are nearly done, another is at least half there, several more are cut (and partially sewn), one I've had the fabric for ages, and the remaining three are all things that I actively need to replace. For stretch goals, other WIPs in my basket include a bloomer costume for Nelly, an 18th century peignoir, and an 1850s tucked petticoat. There's also wool earmarked for a 16th century gown and kirtle, and for a 14th century cotte and surcotte...

Original: Silk Reticule c.1825

 A pretty antique to start the year:

Reticule, c. 1825, LACMA.

The purple color is what caught my eye (along with the familiar shape!) I also like the contrasting cording along the seams (which feels very 1820s), the delicacy of the tassels, and of course the elaborate embroidered panel.