Mrs. Beeton's Book…
/Hello Fellow Cheese Enthusiasts!
Image courtesy of Wikipedia
In 1861, just as the “War between the States” (American Civil War) had begun, a book on “domestic civility” had just been released in London, England. Entitled “Beeton's Book of Household Management”, it sounded like an early version of Lemony Snicket's: A Series of Unfortunate Events, but it was so much more than that…
Behind this Victorian Era masterpiece was publisher, Samuel O. Beeton. Samuel had made his early money as the first British publisher of Uncle Tom's Cabin in 1852, securing the rights from the then-unknown Harriet Beecher Stowe.
Samuel’s next publishing venture was The Englishwoman's Domestic Magazine. After becoming married in 1856, his wife Isabella started writing pieces for the monthly magazine. While this book was originally planned as a 24 part story for their magazine, the couple instead came up with the idea of turning it into a book that could help wives manage their households, as well as offering wonderful recipes.
The recipes were well organized (compared to other cookbooks of the times) and it was well illustrated with both monochrome and color images. Just as an example: The "art of carving at the table", was supported by 11 illustrations.
Mrs. Beeton explained of her own book: “I have attempted to give, under the chapters devoted to cookery, an intelligible arrangement to every recipe, a list of the ingredients, a plain statement of the mode of preparing each dish, and a careful estimate of its cost, the number of people for whom it is sufficient, and the time when it is seasonable”.
Image courtesy of Wikisource
At this point, you are probably asking yourself, “Why is Trevor reading a British Victorian Era book on running a home and cooking?....Is he planning on binge-watching Downton Abbey?...Has he just finished his third pot of Earl Grey Tea?...No, dear reader, it because of the cheese!
Case in point: Chapter 42 – Recipes for Milk, Butter, Cheese, and Eggs. This chapter contains excellent images of cheeses from this era.
Let’s look at the list:
Image courtesy of Archief Zaanstad
Gorgonzola
Double Gloucester
Koboko
Parmesan
Dutch
Roquefort
Schabzieger
Dunragit
York Cream
Port Du Salut
Cheddar
Pommel
Camembert
Mainzer
Cheshire
Stilton
Cream Bondon
Gruyère
Wiltshire Loaf
Cheddar Loaf
While many of these have been popular in Europe for hundreds of years, some I did not recognize (highlighted in bold)….Time to head to my cheese library and do some research.
Here is what I was able to find out about these cheeses that have seemingly been lost to time…
3.Koboko – This “Full Cream” cheese was produced in Amsterdam-Bodegraven. Due to its shape, size, and the labels shown (top, left corner), I believe that it was a Gouda style cheese. It may have been a “Registered” trademark at one time, but it’s long since gone. Status: extinct
5. Dutch – Most likely this is just a Dutch Edam Cheese half ball. I only included it on this list because the color was off from a traditional Dutch Edam…but then again, I am trying to explain the color from a 160 year old image…go figure. Status: Still in production
Sap Sago image courtesy of Homestead Market
7. Schabziger – I only included this because people may know of this cheese by multiple names. “Sap Sago, a cone shaped, light-green, hard grating cheese, has been made in the Canton of Glarus, Switzerland, since at least the fifteenth century and perhaps longer. It is known by various names including Schabziger (or which the name Sap Sago is a corruption) Glarnerkäse, Grünerkäse, Krauterkäse, and Grünerkrauterkäse. Its unique pungency results not so much from the sour skim milk, buttermilk, and sour whey used in making it as from the addition of large quantities of a dried aromatic clover, Melilotus coerulea, which has a sharp and indeed most distinct flavor.” – The Cheese Book by Vivienne Marquis and Patricia Haskell, ©1964 Simon and Schuster. Status: Still in production
Earthenware Dunragit Jar
8. Dunragit – “Dunragit Creamery (officially The Creamery Company) was established in 1882 as a private enterprise by Andrew Clement (a cheese producer in Glasgow, Scotland) and Robert McCracken (a Wigtownshire farmer). Andrew was responsible for selling the product and Robert was the general manager, as well as a butter expert from Denmark, he was responsible for the butter making.
An 1891 account records that the entrance was besieged every morning for three hours by an array of horse-drawn, two-wheeled farmers’ carts and four-wheeled, covered ‘spring vans’, which delivered a quantity of milk varying from 3,500 to 4,500 gallons daily.
From the weighing machines the milk then passed to the vat-room, where it was stored in large containers of 800 gallons capacity; from these vats the milk was conveyed by tin-lined pipes to the warmers, and thence to the centrifugal cream separators. Part of the cream was made exceptionally thick, and after being thoroughly chilled, was put into neat little earthenware jars carefully sealed for dispatch to the cities every afternoon. This cream, which kept sweet for at least fourteen days.” – Source: A McCreath Miscellany . Status: extinct
9. York Cream – When researching this cheese, I once again turned to the newspaper archives from the U.K. to see what would turn up. What I found was an ad from 1819 that announced the following: The proprietors of the London Dairies, No. 342, Oxford Street, respectfully inform the Nobility and Gentry, that they have engaged some of the finest Dairies in the County for BATH and YORK CREAM CHEESES. Thinking that I might be on to something, I continued researching until I stumbled upon another article, this one was from 1895 – FORGEIGN CHEESES AND HOW TO RECOGNIZE THEM WHILE SHOPPING – They went on and gave their review of the cheeses: “In our young days the only cream cheeses in the London market were two very nasty substances, one called “Bath Cheese”* and the other “New Cheese.”† The Bath cheese looked very cool and nice enclosed in a kind of envelope of rushes of straw, which when opened revealed a delicious-looking, snow-white compound with a pretty pattern impressed upon it by the reeds. When one came to taste it, however, the disappointment was keen, as it was found to be a sourish, tasteless substance difficult to swallow, and leaving an unpleasant irritation in the mouth. The “new” cheese was of a yellowish colour about two inches thick and six or eight inches in diameter: all we can recollect of it is that it was not at all nice. [* Also “York cheese,” which is exactly similar to “Bath cheese,” if it is not the same article. † This is I think the same cheese which is now called “Forest cheese,” both names being derived from the New Forest.] Source:” The Girl’s Own Paper, 30 Nov 1895. Status: extinct
Petit-Suisse Image courtesy of Catalog CS
12. Pommel – It seems as though Pommel and another cheese called Gervais, were quite similar. I found numerous articles to support this: “The Gervais cheese is a very delicate little luxury which is produced upon an enormous scale by several makers in France, two of whom are pre-eminent, M. Gervais and M. Pommel, both of Gournay. These makers produce millions in the course of a year. M. Gervais supplies Paris, sending up fabulous numbers every day; M. Pommel, I believe, by private arrangement with his neighbour, supplies other markets, including that of London. I have paid a visit to both establishments, and was able to see a great deal that was interesting and instructive in the factory of M. Pommel. Gervais is a mixture of cream and milk; it is unnecessary to suggest what proportion should be used, in as much as every maker has his own idea, but one-third of average cream mixed with two-thirds milk will produce a most palatable and luxurious cheese. The essence of this system is the low temperature at which the mixture is set, 55 degrees Fahr. The rennet added is so tiny a quantity – it is also mixed with water – that coagulation is not complete for from eight to twelve hours; indeed, one maker made a practice of delaying coagulation until twenty-four hours. The object after the removal of the curd is to extract the whey, and one of the simplest plans is to suspend it in a cloth or bag until it is sufficiently firm to be removed to a press of a curious form. The somewhat firm curd is laid in a cloth, which is placed within a wooden frame from 6in. to 9 in. in depth, and a heavy wooden block is placed upon it; examination takes place from time to time until the curd is perfect in texture. It is then placed in batteries of little molds which have been already lined with a peculiar kind of unglazed paper, on the outside of which the maker stamps his name and address. These cheeses are extremely profitable, and, partaking so much of the character of cream (with which the flavour of the cheese is combined), they are readily saleable at remunerative prices. Source: The Nottinghamshire Guardian newspaper 3 August 1895.
While Pommel ultimately did not survive, its counterpart Gervais did and is still being produced today... Pommel Status: extinct; Gervais Status: Still in production. Today, this cheese is known as Petite Suisse.
Wow!!….This is one POWERFUL cheese!
14. Mainzer – I didn’t initially recognize this cheese by this name until I started researching it…Then I realized, I have only seen it once in the United States…I found it at Jungle Jim’s in Cincinnati, OH. It was called German Hand Cheese and was a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) cheese. Here is some more on the cheese if you are not familiar with it: “Handkäse – Generic term for small, traditionally hand-molded cheeses made from sour milk curds, descendants of the earliest, most primitive form of cheese making. They come in a wide range of shapes – bars, rolls, disks, squares – and vary in flavor from delicate to powerfully sharp. Many are additionally flavored with herbs or spices. They can have smooth rinds or be covered in mold smears and pure white, buff, or yellowy-orange in color. All of them are low in fat and high in protein. The innumerable variations are often found under specific (usually regional) designations including Harzer, Mainzer, Rheinischer, Odenwalder, Bauernhandkäse, Bodenfelder, Berliner Kuhlkäse, Stangenkäse, Spitzkäse, Korbkäse and Alte Kuhlkäse. In Hesse eaten with ‘Musik’, an onion and vinegar garnish, and in the Harz mountains with goose drippings. Source: The Simon and Schuster Pocket Guide to Cheese ©1981. Status: Still in production.
17. Cream Bondon – Nearly extinct, I found one producer still making this. To explain what this cheese is like, I return to my 1895 newspaper: Bondon Cheese is largely made in the country districts around Rouen. It is produced entirely from (cow’s) milk, and is an important industry among the very small farmers and cottagers of that part of France. Bondon, like Gervais, is extrememly small, and from seven to nine (units) are made from one gallon of average milk. The milk is set at a low temperature and the curd takes a long time in coagulation. It is removed when fit to a strainer-cloth which has been stretched by the four corners over a vessel somewhat resembling an ordinary washing tub. Here it gradually parts with its whey, being occasionally and gently moved, when the curd forms a coat preventing the passage of the whey through it. At a certain stage it is removed into a clean cloth, which is covered with a board and gently pressed. The right consistency having been obtained, the little cheeses are moulded by hand in a most expert manner, the mould, which is a slight cylinder some three inches in length by an inch and a half or thereabouts in diameter, being of copper. I am bound to say that the process is difficult for an inexperienced maker, but like every other difficulty, it can be overcome by patience and practice. The cheeses are subsequently salted and either sold at the end of the week in their fresh white form, or kept until they have been covered with mould in a cave, when their flavour is enhanced, and their value increased. They are sent in trays to the markets, the smaller makers sending weekly or fortnightly and the larger makers nearly every day. Source: The Nottinghamshire Guardian newspaper 3 August 1895. Status: Nearly extinct
19. Wiltshire Loaf – As far as I can see, there is only one (or two) producers left. “Wiltshire, which was first made in western Wiltshire, England, is a hard, sweet-curd cheese similar to Derby. One style, which is about 9 inches in diameter and 9 inches thick, is known as Truckles.
Morning milk is added to partly-skimmed evening milk, which has been kept cool overnight. The temperature of the milk is adjusted to 80º F., and rennet is added. An hour later the curd is cut with a curd breaker or curd knifes. It is warmed, with gentle stirring, to 90º F. When it is sufficiently firm, it is removed from the whey, pressed for about 20 minutes, ground in a curd mill, and salted at the rate of 2 ¼ pounds of salt per 100 pounds of curd. The curd is pressed overnight in a so-called press vat, which is a wooden form with holes in the bottom to permit drainage of the whey. The following day the cheese is removed from the press, salted on the surface, dressed in cloth, and repressed. This process is repeated once or twice, after which the cheese is pressed continuously for a week. Then it is transferred to a curing room where it is placed on boards. If necessary, the cheeses are bandaged at first to aid in retaining their shape. They may be inverted during curing by means of a revolving rack. The cheese is cured in the same way as Derby cheese. Analysis: Moisture, 34 to 40 percent; fat, 25 to 28.7 percent; and salt, 1.4 to 2 percent. Source: Cheese Varieties and Descriptions – U.S. Dept. of Agriculture ©, 1951.
The only producer that I can find is Brinkworth Dairy. They describe the flavor of their Wiltshire Loaf as “Beautifully smooth with flavours of chamomile and daisies. It has a fresh honey flavour when young and pale and matures to a fruitier hay and yellow hue. The texture is irregular and the body of the cheese is springy. This a complex cheese that manages to be creamy and crumbly, sweet and sharp simultaneously.” Ceri Cryer of Brinkworth Dairy is the fifth generation of the family to have made cheese on the farm…a farm that has been there since 1910. Starting in 2005 she revived the Wiltshire Loaf which went on to win Best Territorial Cheese at the British Cheese Awards.
Mentioned in two of Jane Austin’s books, this is a cheese worth finding. Status: Nearly extinct
Image courtesy of Cold Springs Cheese Shop!! It was this same puzzle that became the inspiration for this week’s blog post
Isabella, the “Mrs.” behind Mrs. Beeton's Book of Household Management sadly passed away in 1865, but it continued to be a best seller…selling 2 million copies by 1868, it remained in print until at least 2016…. Now even that would make Mrs. Patmore and her kitchen staff of Downton Abbey proud!
While this is my longest post to date, I am grateful that Mrs. Beeton took the time to include the images of these cheeses in her now famous book. I am sad to know that an era has gone by and some of these cheese are lost to time.
Until next week,
Trevor
