Category Archives: Cookery & Housecare

In the days before refrigeration and canning, different means for keeping foodstuffs edible over the winter were an essential part of every household’s routine. If you didn’t pay attention to this, much of your harvest would go to waste. Besides, … Continue reading →

Browsing through the cookbook of Katherine Windham, wife of the squire of Felbrigg Hall in the late-seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, I came across the recipe above for “Solid Soup”. What on earth might that have been? As you can see, … Continue reading →

I noted in an earlier post how autumn was the time for preserving fruits and vegetables against the winter months to come. It was also essential to be able to build up stocks of meat. A high proportion of farm animals … Continue reading →

As I noted in a recent posting, one of the myths that goes the rounds is that everyone in the past was always dirty. It isn’t true. The wealthy weren’t, the poor almost certainly were. As I pointed out there, … Continue reading →

Taken from Katherine Wyndham’s Book of Preserving c. 1718 In the absence of refrigeration or freezing, most fruit eaten during the winter months had to be preserved by other means. Although some grand houses possessed an Ice House – in … Continue reading →

Katherine Windham’s recipe notes of 1707, transcribed by my friends Bonnie Lovelock and Roger Sykes, do not list recipes by season. However, it’s possible to select items we associate with Christmas nowadays. Whether any were served at Felbrigg Hall at this … Continue reading →

Two more ‘receipts’ (recipes) from Katherine Windham, Mistress of Felbrigg Hall, both sounding somewhat off-putting to modern ears![1] To make Almond puddings in Guts To a quart of good Cream boyled, put 3 or 4 Blades of mace & a nutmeg … Continue reading →