Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and PresentTimbs, John
History
Nooks and Corners of English Life, Past and Present
Timbs, John
England -- Social life and customs
"_Lady of Arundel's Manchet._--Take a bushel of fine wheat-flour, twenty
eggs, three pound of fresh butter; then take as much salt and barm as to
the ordinary manchet; temper it together with new milk pretty hot, then
let it lie the space of half an hour to rise, so you may work it up into
bread, and bake it: let not your oven be too hot."--_True Gentlewoman's
Delight_, 1676.
"Take a quart of cream, put thereto a pound of beef-suet minced small,
put it into cream, and season it with nutmeg, cinnamon, and rose-water;
put to it eight eggs and but four whites, and two grated manchets;
mingle them well together and put them in a buttered dish; bake it, and
being baked, scrape on sugar, and serve it."--_The Queene's Royal
Cookery_, 1713.
Manchets are used in the colleges of Oxford and Cambridge to this day.
The manchets and cheese, and fine ale, of Magdalen College are well
known.
The Manciple, a purveyor of victuals, a clerk of the kitchen, or
caterer, still subsists in the universities, where the name is therefore
preserved; but Archdeacon Nares believed nowhere else. One of Chaucer's
pilgrims is a manciple of the Temple, of whom he gives a good character
for his skill in purveying.
It is curious to find that one of the domestic arts which is somewhat
neglected in the households of the present generation, should, in the
last century, have been considered an accomplishment of such importance
as to be taught in schools: this was Pastry-making. There was then
resident in London one of the ancient family of the Kidders, of
Maresfield, in Sussex, and a descendant of Richard Kidder, Bishop of
Bath and Wells. This was Edward Kidder, a pastrycook, or, as he calls
himself, "pastry-master," who carried on his business in Queen Street,
Cheapside, and was induced to open two schools in the metropolis to
teach the art of making pastry, one at his own place of business, and
the other in Holborn. He also gave instructions to ladies at their
private houses. So popular did his system of teaching become, that he is
said to have instructed nearly 6,000 ladies in this art. He also
published a book of _Receipts of Pastry and Cookery_, for the use of his
scholars, printed entirely in copper-plate, with a portrait of himself,
in the full wig and costume of the day, as a frontispiece. He died in
1739, at the age of seventy-three. By will, he gave to his wife, Mary
Kidder, a gold watch, a diamond ring, and all the other rings and
trinkets used by her, and also all the furniture of the best room in
which she lay in the house in Queen Street; and to his daughters,
Elizabeth and Susan, he bequeathed all his money, bank-stock, plate,
jewellery, &c. Susan, among other bequests, gave to her cousin, George
Kidder, of Canterbury, pastrycook, 150_l_. and the copper-plates for the
receipt-book.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account