An Eighteenth Century Cooking Glossary

Have you ever run across terms that you are unfamiliar with when reading through an old receipt book?  Let’s start with the word receipt, do you know that 200 years ago receipt meant the same thing that recipe does today?

In amongst my cookbooks, I keep a bedraggled piece of paper entitled An Eighteenth Century Cooking Glossary.   I’ve had this particular reference for such a long time that I no longer remember exactly where I acquired it or who compiled it.

Since I find it particularly helpful, I thought I’d post it here for you to use too.  Plus let’s be honest,  if I ever lose my copy, now I’ll be able to find it again by checking the blog archives! 🙂

Measurements:

1 pound butter = 2 cups

1 pound flour = 4 cups

1 pound salt = 2 cups

1 pound sugar = 2 cups

1 pound cornmeal = 3 cups

1 pound milk = 2 cups

1 ounce butter = 2 tablespoons

1 ounce flour = 4 tablespoons

1 ounce baking soda = 2 tablespoons

1 ounce of any liquid = 2 tablespoons

General Rules:

1 cup liquid to 1 cup flour for pourable batters

1 cup liquid to 2 cups flour for drop batters

1 cup liquid to 3 cups flour for dough batters

1/8 teaspoon salt to each cup flour

1 tablespoon (or less) sugar to each cup flour – obviously there are a lot of exceptions to this rule! 🙂

Additional Terms and Measurements:

butter the size of an egg = 1/4 cup

butter the size of a walnut = 2 tablespoons

coffee cup = 1 measuring cup

dash = 1/8 teaspoon

1 kitchen spoon = 6 tablespoons

1 sugar spoon = 1 tablespoon

1 dessert spoon = 1 – 1/2 teaspoons

1 dram = 1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon

1 gill = 1/2 cup

1 lump of butter = 2 tablespoons

1 pinch = 1/8 teaspoon

pint = 2 cups

pound of eggs = 8 or 9 large – Colonial eggs were small, so cookbooks of the period may suggest as many as 10 – 12 per pound

pound of flour = 3 to 4 cups – this varies greatly with some sources specifying as much as 4 – 1/2 cups

pound of sugar = 2 to 2- 1/2 cups

quart = 2 pints or 4 cups

scruple = 1/24 ounce or about 1/4 teaspoon

teacup = 1/2 to 3/4 cup

tin cup = 1 measuring cup

tumblerful = 2 cups

wineglass = 1/2 gill or 1/4 cup

Glossary of Terms:

Cree – To boil any of a variety of grains into porridge

Flummery – Jellied dessert often flavored with rose water or orange-flower water.

Forcemeat – Chopped meat seasoned with herbs and used for stuffing and meatballs.

Hoop (or Garth) – A deep ring used as a mold  for large cakes; first made of wood and later made of iron.

Isinglass – A gelatin made from the air bladder of a sturgeon and dried into sheets; also used as a clarifying agent.

Lively Emptings – The yeast sediment in the bottom of a beer barrel, used in place of beaten eggs in some recipes.

Pearl Ash – A bicarbonate of potash used as the alkaline in combination with sour milk for leavening.

Sack – White wine originally imported to England from Southern Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Salteratus – A more refined bicarbonate of potash that replaced pearl ash as a leavening agent.  Today equal amounts f baking soda may be substituted for saleratus.

Searce (or Search) – To sieve, necessary to remove lumps from pounded loaf sugar and impurities (yuck!!! think about it :() from flour.

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