dddavids Hauntingly Good Recipes

The Hearth
In historic and modern usage, a hearth is a brick or
stone-lined fireplace, with or without an oven, used
for heating and originally also used for cooking food.
For centuries, the hearth was such an integral part of a home.

Old German Honey Cookies

Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup shortening
1 cup honey
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground ginger

Instructions:
In a saucepan over low heat, melt together sugar, shortening and honey.
Let cool.
Mix the eggs, vanilla, baking soda and ginger. Gradually add to
cooled honey mixture.
Slowly add 4 cups of flour to mixture. Stir until well blended.
Drop by teaspoonfuls onto cookie sheets about 2 inches apart.
Bake at 350 degrees F.
until golden (about 12-15 minutes).

Cooking in the 1800's
A typical day on the farm began very early. Women rose and built the fire
based on the meals planned for that day. Families who could afford to
have detached kitchens (kitchens in buildings separate from the house)
did so for several reasons.
The kitchen often was hot, smoky, and smelly. For those who's families
did not have the resources for a separate kitchen, it was the hearth that
provided the center of home life and family activity. With no ovens or
electricity, women prepared meals on the hearths of brick fireplaces.
They used different types of fires and flames to prepare different types
of food. For example, a controllable fire was used to roast and toast,
while boiling and stewing required a smaller flame. To use all of the fire's
energy, families shoveled coals and ash underneath and onto the lids of
Dutch ovens. Standing on three legs and available in a wide array of sizes,
the cast-iron Dutch oven was one of the most important tools found on the
hearth. It was used to prepare several types of food and allowed cooking
from both the top and the bottom. Dutch ovens evolved into wood stoves,
common in homes of the later 1800s and early 1900s before most people
got electricity at home. Preparing meals was not just a matter of starting a
fire for cooking. Spices, such as nutmeg and cinnamon, and seasonings,
like salt and pepper, had to be ground up with mortars and pestles. Milk
had to be brought in from the family dairy cow and cream and butter made
from it. After someone brought in the milk, it usually sat out for about an hour.
The cream rose to the top, separating from the milk. Women placed this
cream into a butter churn and beat it until it hardened, first into whipped
cream and eventually into butter!
Every family member contributed to the production and preparation of meals.
Men and boys spent most of their time outdoors. Chores included working
crops in the fields, feeding larger livestock, and hunting. Diets included wild
game, such as deer and turkeys.
Women and girls worked mainly in the kitchen and fed smaller livestock.
Clearly, meal preparation two hundred years ago involved several more steps
than it does now.
Much like today, families usually ate three daily meals. The main meal in the
1800s, however, was not the large evening meal that is familiar to us today.
Rather, it was a meal called dinner, enjoyed in the early afternoon.
Supper was a smaller meal eaten in the evening.
A big difference between the way people eat today compared with long
ago is the work and time needed. For modern families, food and meals are
merely an after thought in the schedule.
Two hundred years ago, food and food preparation stood at the center of
the family's daily lifestyle.
Without the advances in technology that help us store, preserve, and prepare
food, men and women would spend much of their time getting meals ready to eat.