Cooking in the 1890s

Beef roasting over an open fire

 Last fall, I was privileged to visit the Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia, with my cousin Elizabeth. In addition to having a great time, we learned a lot about the era in which my latest book, “Brothers by Grace: Fire and Faith,” is set. I’m always up for new insights that I can weave into my stories.

Here’s what we learned about cooking in the late 1800s, according to the professor volunteering as a “character” that day. I’m only sorry I didn’t get his name. He was very knowledgeable and a great entertainer.

The professor loves to cook and still cooks his meat in a fireplace or in a portable device called a ‘tin kitchen.' You can buy those tin kitchens even now if you care to spend hours cooking your dinner outdoors.

When we entered the house, he was roasting the chunk of beef in the photo above. According to him, we have probably never had roasted meat. No roasted turkey at holidays, he said. The reason is that we put the meat in the oven and bake it with dry heat. He swears he never has dried-out meat because he cooks it in the air where there is ambient moisture.

Hmm. Could be. And I suppose the heat keeps the flies away.

The meat you see in the photo above hung from a mechanical device that wound up like the inner workings of a clock. It turned the meat slowly for about an hour. Then, it had to be rewound. Those nineteenth-century folks were inventive. Cooking up until this time was done in fireplaces. Women learned from their mothers how to roast meat and do the other cooking and baking that a family required. Cooking skills were passed from generation to generation. There hadn’t been much change for centuries.

The fuel for the fires was the responsibility of the men, who had to fell trees and chop the logs to keep the fires going. It was back-breaking work and was never finished. So when the iron woodstoves became available, the men were all for acquiring a stove if they could afford one. Much less wood was required for cooking.

However, the ladies were not too thrilled about having to learn a whole new cooking style. Nobody likes change. They knew how to cook over the fireplace and didn’t want to be bothered with that learning curve.

The professor tells the story (and he told it as true) of one fellow who bought his wife a new woodstove. He was proud of his purchase and set it up in her kitchen. Then he had to go out on some errand that took a few days – possibly a hunting trip. When he returned, he found the new iron stove in the lake. She had had her say.