In the Kitchen

Our Kitchen is a separate building because it keeps the cooking odors and heat away from the house. On one wall there is a massive fireplace. The fireplace is used to cook food and heat the small room on cold days.

On the other three walls there are tons of cupboards, barrels, and chests where my family stores many things. Wood is placed over these things to act like tables so that we have a workspace. To keep the room cool there are windows on every wall and a tall ceiling. That makes the room comfortable on summer days and on cooking days. The ceiling is higher than the main house. We make our windows out of oilpaper. The floor in the kitchen is either brick or packed earth. The reason we don’t have wood is because wood is a fire hazard. People with a brick floor have to scrub it every day with soft soap and sand water.  Floors made of packed earth are swept every day. 

Sometimes the house gets over crowded, so the kitchen is also used for visits, study, and needle work.

We take very much pride in setting and serving the table. The girls have a special place were they learn to set the table.  We have dishes made of wood. The wood we use is poplar or lidnen. We use those two woods for two reasons. One there isn’t a big odor to them and two the dishes don’t taste like wood.

The table is usually set with two cloths. The first cloth is very heavy to protect the table. The second cloth is a pretty white cloth. This is the main cloth that our visitors see. Straw mats are put underneath the platter so not to slop on the white tablecloth.

The table is usually balanced. There is meat at both sides. The dishes match on each side of the table. Pyramids of dried fruit are arranged at the middle of the table for a centerpiece. This is called a middle board.

My family is always prepared with good food for the unexpected guests that come to give us the greeting for the day.  Cooking is hot and tiring. Us girls learn to cook, so that we can prepare our meals.

Foods that need to be cold so that they will stay fresh we often keep in the cellar or the springhouse in the back of our house.

See our Springhouse Video!

We work on open fires cooking meat and vegetables in large pots and kettles.   Another way to prepare meat is to turn the meat on a spit so it cooks evenly.

We control the temperature of the "oven" by moving the pots and pans back and forth through the fire. We know if the fire is hot enough if we can hold our arm over the fire for 30 seconds. My sister Grace was showing me how to control the temperature and the fire was too hot. She was burned all over her forearm, and now she has a big scar.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and it is extremely scrumptious. Breakfast is served between 8 and 9 o’clock in the morning. Unfortunately we have to get up at 5:30 in the morning to start preparing our meal.

We usually start with the bread. We first put the bread in a small oven in the wall next to the fire. We also could put the bread in a Dutch Oven or a bake kettle and put it in the fire. The Dutch Oven is short legged so that the bucket type shape is kept above the hot coals. While the bread is baking, we heat the griddle for the Johny Cakes and the Breakfast Buffs. While that chore is being done another one of my sisters starts fixing the Dressed Eggs. To make the dressed eggs we first heat the salamander in the fire until it’s red hot. While the salamander is getting hot we will crack eggs into a pan. When the eggs are set, we take the salamander and put it over the eggs to cook the top of the egg.

Dinner is the most important meal of our day. It’s served around 2 to 3 o’clock in the afternoon. Dinner has about two courses and there are at least 21 dishes per course, especially with a big party. Usually the first course includes meat, vegetables, soup, bread, veal, ham, chicken, and other meats. In the second course there are usually desserts, such as custards, and whipped Syllabub to name a few.

Don't Miss our Colonial Cookbook