“Ellen emptied the blue-enameled pail into the sink. The kitchen was roomy. There was a kerosene stove for summer use and a huge range for winter heat and cooking. A black-painted iron sink stood at the side away from the windows. There was no running water but a drainpipe took away the waste. Fresh water was supplied by a well a hundred feet from the house, to which Ellen went. She drank from the dipper before returning. The family was proud that the water from this well was always sweet and cold. At the windowed end of the kitchen was a long table of red oak that had been dressed with ax and adz long ago by Anton’s father, Jules. The surface was whitened from lye-scrubbing, uneven from the years’ wear. On it was a blue dish of poplar honey, a bowl of salt, a milkglass jar of knives, forks and spoons stacked handles down. A pantry was adjacent to the kitchen, where staples were kept—sacks of flour and meal, curd cheeses that hung in cloths from the rafters, milk that stood in pans and jars to be skimmed, and cream that ripened in a churn. More supplies were stored in the cellar. There dusty shelves were holding jars of jelly, jam, ketchup, honey, red and yellow tomatoes, chard and collard greens, peaches, fried chicken and beef. On the lower shelves were tins of lard. From the ceiling dangled strings of dried apples and quinces. On the dirt floor of a bin, potatoes left from fall softened and rotted in the musty darkness. Root crops of salsify and parsnips lay neglected.”
A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.
A batter as above. When the pancakes are fried, lay upon a hot plate, spread quickly with nice jam or jelly, and roll up neatly upon the preserves. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar, and send around with wine sauce or sweetened cream.
Sources: The passage is from Helga Sandburg, The wheel of earth, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Harland, Common Sense in the Household of 1871, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — forest cloth, beehive stamp.