Toast

[miss_squiddy]

The other day, someone (maybe arachne or jezebel_z) was writing about cheese on toast. That and the Cathedral City advert has reminded me to post something I found years ago and have never bothered to type up. It's from a lovely little book called 'Consult me... For all you want to know', a 1902 guide to cleaning, curing and cooking. If you ever want to know what to with rancid butter, how to weigh hay or how to talk properly (miss_soap - I think you might find that article quite interesting), then this is the book for you. Anyway - toast. Here it is 1902 style:

RABBIT, an English.- Toast a slice of bread brown on both sides; then lay it on a plate, pour a glass of port wine over it; then cut some cheese very thin and lay it over the bread; put it in a dutch oven before the fire to brown. Serve it hot.

RABBITS, Scotch.- Toast a piece of bread on both sides; butter it; cut a slice of cheese the size of the bread; toast in on both sides, and lay it on the bread.

RABBITS, Welsh.- Toast a piece of bread on both sides, and butter it; toast a slice of Cheshire cheese on one side, and lay that next to the bread, and toast the other with a salamander*; rub mustard over, and serve very hot, and covered.

So now you know.

*No, not an amphibian! An object, such as a poker, used in fire or capable of withstanding heat.

Comments

[shellbun.livejournal.com]

Phew! My brain went all Three Children and It then...

[markeris.livejournal.com]

I wouldn` eat anything that had been placed in a "dutch oven". Ew.

[jozafeen.livejournal.com]

Port? On toast? That's a crazy idea!

[sepheri.livejournal.com]

Thats brilliant! I love having lots of books like that around, where did you find it? And it also explains why my Scottish mother and Welsh father were always arguing about how to make "proper" cheese on toast.

[satsumagirl]

I found this early 1900's guide to etiquette in the charity shop, though not in Dagenham I think. I had lots of ideas about the correct size for a calling card and ideas for games at parties, including some really awful racist ones.

[miss-soap.livejournal.com]

Which article? Scan?

[sarah-mum.livejournal.com]

I'm glad it wasn't just me. Mr R. Melly has a lot to answer for.

[miss_squiddy]

...but it just might work!

[miss_squiddy]

It's the later version of a book called 'Enquire within... Upon anything' that is often referenced in Victorian fiction as 'the little green book'. I tried to hunt down a copy of that but this was as close as I could get. I needed it for a research project a few years ago.

[miss_squiddy]

What an amazing find (aside from the racist games, I mean)!

Was thinking about you guys the other day - they've got the new Chilly's out in Tesco...

[satsumagirl]

It is really interesting and the other books in the series are hilarious. Try 'Modern Woman and How to Manage Her' which covers topics like 'why women torture their lovers' why conjugality is often a state of warfare' and so on :) We shall have to catch up soon!

[miss_squiddy]

Clever me! I managed to lose that page. I'm hunting it down now but I have scanned 'Correct use of the letter H' for you:



I love the last section but 'Erb? Bah. I'm offended.

[miss_squiddy]

Just noticed Helephant - I love the idea of people thinking that made them sound posh.

[miss_squiddy]

Here's the article about errors of speech. It's so interesting to see which have fallen into common use and which have completely disappeared. Some of these turns of phrase which must have been common at the time seem so convoluted now!

The examples they have used are just lovely too...