Cold Coffee

I don’t believe I have given you a recipe for making coffee during the lifetime of this blog. You may even believe that this would be a ridiculously unnecessary waste of blog space, and perhaps it is – although, on thinking about it, I have had more awful cups of coffee in my life than fantastic cups, in coffee-shops in several countries, so perhaps that is an assumption that needs challenging. In tea-addicted England in the 1840’s, however, coffee was somewhat of a mystery in most households. The editor of the Magazine of Domestic Economy saw fit to include a recipe (economical of course) for coffee in 1840.

And as for those of you who think you don’t need a recipe for coffee - I bet you don’t have one making it with cold water in your armamentarium.

RECIPE FOR MAKING EXCELLENT COFFEE.

The following novel recipe for making excellent coffee has been addressed by Professor Gregory to the Editor of the Kelso Mail.

“Sir, - The present high price of tea, likely as it is to rise still higher, gives a new degree of importance to the use of coffee as an economical substitute for it. Unfortunately, however, the making of coffee is so little understood in this country, that many are deterred from trying it by its notorious badness. It cannot therefore be indifferent to your readers to be put in possession of a simple and cheap method of making the very finest flavoured coffee.
This method is founded on the fact that cold water is capable of extracting all the pleasant and aromatic parts of roasted coffee, and may be described as an economical method of extracting coffee by means of cold water. As the most delicious part of the aroma of coffee is dissipated by boiling, coffee prepared by cold water is decidedly superior in flavour to that made by boiling.
The only apparatus required is a cylinder or percolator and a few quart bottles. The percolator is a cylinder, twenty to twenty four inches long, and two to two one eighth inches wide, terminating below in a funnel, the neck of which enters a bottle placed to receive the coffee. The following is the method of using this simple apparatus:- The throat of the funnel being lightly stopped with a clean bit of cotton wool, half a pound of ground coffee is to be mixed up in any convenient vessel with so much cold water as thoroughly to moisten it and give it the consistence of thin porridge. When this has stood for an hour or so, the mass is introduced into the percolator by means of a wide funnel. It immediately begins to drop into the bottle, and already the drops consist of a very strong infusion, nearly black. When the mass ceases to drop, the coffee is still impregnated with a very strong liquor. To obtain this, pour on gently through the upper end of the percolator as much cold water as fills it to the top. The pressure of this column of water forces out the liquid which is in the pores of the coffee and fresh water takes its place. This, in its turn, becomes charged though less strongly with the soluble parts of the powder and is in its turn displaced by the water above. At last, when the liquor which passes through (the cylinder being filled up from time to time) becomes very pale, the operation may be stopped, as the liquid remaining in the powder is now too weak to repay the trouble of extracting it. The whole of the liquors which have passed through, and to collect which several bottles may have been required, are to be mixed together; and if the directions above given be exactly followed, it will be found that, when made up, if necessary to the bulk of six imperial pints, the resulting liquid is strong and perfectly clear coffee of the most delicate flavour. Should six pints have been passed through, the liquors, when mixed, are ready for use; but if the filtered liquors amount, for example only to four pints, two pints of water are to be added. This sometimes happens, because from a variety of causes, the coffee is sooner exhausted in some experiments than in others.
… I ought not to omit to add that the exhausted coffee yields, when boiled with water, so much soluble matter as to furnish a considerable quantity of very tolerable coffe, not equal, certainly, in flavour to the cold infusion, but far from being disagreeable. When the cold infused coffee is to be used, it must, of course, be heated; but it ought only to be brought to the boiling point, not boiled, as boiling dissipates a great part of the flavour.

Quotation for the Day.

In America you can buy bucket-sized cups of coffee in any flavour you like other than coffee-flavour.
Author Unknown

Mode of Cooking Rations.

It is a while since we had any military food history, so today I want to give you some wisdom and recipes from an American Civil War era manual. It is the Hand-book for Active Service: Containing Practical Instructions in Campaign Duties, for the Use of Volunteers (1861), and it has an entire section on that most important duty – the feeding of the troops.

RATIONS AND MODE OF COOKING THEM.

The history of military campaigns develops no fact more striking than that a very large percentage of the casualties are those of diseases incident to an improper diet. .…

The regular daily ration of food issued to the troops in the United States service, is three fourths of a pound of pork or bacon, or one and a fourth pounds of fresh or salt beef, eighteen ounces of bread or flour, or twelve ounces of hard bread, or one and a fourth pounds of corn meal, and at the rate, to one hundred rations, of eight quarts of peas or beans, or in lieu thereof ten pounds of rice; six pounds of coffee; twelve pounds of sugar; four quarts of vinegar; one and a half pounds of tallow, or one and a fourth pounds of adamantine, or one pound sperm candles; four pounds of soap, and two quarts of salt.

On a campaign or on marches or on board transports the ration of hard bread is one pound.

Fresh beef, when it can be procured, should be furnished at least twice a week; the beef to be procured, if possible, by contract.

The recipes for the use of these rations, each for a mess of 25 men, are, as would be expected, for very minor variations on a theme of soup and stew. I found the recipes for tea and coffee quite interesting however, so here they are.

Tea for 25 men.
Allow 12 quarts of water; put the rations of tea, a large teaspoonful to each, in a cloth tied up very loosely; throw it into the boiler while it is boiling hard for a moment. Then take off the boiler, cover it, and let it stand full ten minutes when it will be ready to use; first add sugar and milk, if to be had at the rate of 3 pints or 2 quarts of milk, and a pound or a pound and a half of sugar.


Coffee for 25 men.
Take 12 quarts of water, when it boils add 20 ounces of coffee, mix it well and leave it on the fire till it commences to boil, then take it off and pour into it a little more than a quart of cold water; let it stand in a warm place full ten minutes; the dregs will settle at the bottom and the coffee be perfectly clear. Pour it then into another vessel, leaving the dregs in the first; add sugar, 4 teaspoonsful to the quart. If you can get milk leave out five quarts of water in the above receipt, and put milk in its place.

Quotation for the Day.

When General Lee took possession of Chambersburg on his way to Gettysburg, we happened to be a member of the Committee representing the town. Among the first things he demanded for his army was twenty-five barrels of Saur-Kraut.
The Guardian (1869)

Coffee? Gravy?

For the next week or so (hopefully not longer), posts will consist of short-ish snippets and recipe curiosities, while my new notebook computer is resuscitated after its premature hard drive demise. The ‘spare’ computer suffered exactly the same fate on exactly the same day, and although it has been resurrected and is working very well, I am not inclined to restore every file to it, only to have to repeat the process when the baby returns – so, I do not have access to all of my stuff.

The incident made me think about how we get on and make do when the best is not available – which is not unusually determined by cost. Cost was undoubtedly the rationale for the excruciatingly awful versions of ‘coffee’ and ‘gravy’ supplied by the Correctional Association of New York to its guests in Clinton Prison in 1864, which were explained in their nineteenth annual report.

Bill of Fare.
Breakfast is uniform throughout the week, and consists of coffee, corned beef, bread, potatoes and gravy.
The coffee is made by browning crusts of bread in the oven until the outside is black. Then 8 lbs of these burned crusts and 2 gallons of molasses are boiled with 30 gallons of water; this makes a pleasant and healthy drink, which is much liked by the men. We believe it to be far the best substitute for coffee in prisons and alms houses that can be made.
The beef is corned beef boiled in the ordinary way.
The gravy is made by melting 13 lbs of lard and warming 20 lbs of flour; the warm flour is then rubbed evenly into the melted lard,; and cooked fifteen minutes; 24 gallons of warm water are then poured in to the flour and lard, and the whole boiled together half an hour; it is seasoned with salt and pepper well stirred together, and it is then fit for use. Each man receives one gill of the gravy. The men like it very much.

P.S. There are other stories on ersatz coffee HERE and HERE.


Quotation for the Day.

Forever: Time it takes to brew the first pot of coffee in the morning.
Author Unknown

Coffee Recipes.

This archive of recipes that use coffee as an ingredient began life in mid-2006 on the defunct Companion to the Old Foodie site. Rather belatedly I am bringing it into its new home, and intend to add to it again from time to time.

To read the original dedication and the comments, please go HERE.

Eighteenth Century.

Menon. “The professed cook: or the modern art of cookery, pastry, and confectionary, made plain and easy. Consisting of the most approved methods … ” (1769)

Gaufres au Caffé. With Coffee.
To a common Table Spoonful of grounded Coffee, put a Quarter of a Pound of Sugar-powder, a Quarter of a Pound of fine Flour; mix it well with good thick Cream as the preceding*; you may also put a little Salt to either. Des Cornets: they are done with the same preparation as the first or second, only a little more Liquid; as soon as you take them out of the Iron, twist them to what Shape you please; they will remain so in cooling.

*as the preceding … the Paste being prepared after this Manner … warm the Gaufer-iron on both Sides, and rub it over with some Butter tied in a Linen-bag, or a Bit of Virgin-wax; put a Spoonful of the Batter, and bake over a smart Fire, turning the Iron once or twice, until the Gaufer is done on both Sides of a fine brown Colour; if you would have them teisted, put them upon a Mould ready at hand for that Purpose; put it up directly as you take it out, and press it to the Shape of whatever Form you please, and so continue always; keep them in a warm Place.

Menon explains in the chapter heading that “What is here meant by Cornets, Horn, is the thin Dutch Wafers twisted like a Horn.”

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From "The practice of modern cookery; adapted to families of distinction, as well as to those of the middling ranks of life. …; " George Dalrymple; published in Edinburgh in 1781.

Tourte de Chocolate. Chocolate-pies.
Mix a little flour with a pint of cream, and chocolate in proportion, a little sugar, and four eggs; boil it about a quarter of an hour, stirring it continually for fear it should catch at bottom; then put it in the paste, and the whites of four eggs beat to a snow upon it; glaze it with sugar, and bake it.
N.B. Coffee-pie is made after the same manner, boiling two or three dishes of clear coffee with the cream instead of the chocolate, as the preceding; they are both to be done without top-crusts.

Crème de Caffé. Coffee-cream.
Mix four cups of good coffee, with three half-pints of cream, and sugar according to teaste; boil it together, and reduce it about one third; then add the yolks of eight eggs beat up, mix it very well, and bake as the preceding*.
N.B. Observe, that the coffee must be done as if it was for drinking alone, and settled very clear.

[*“bake as the preceding” refers to the recipe for Chocolate-cream, and says “bake it between two slow fires, without any border”]

Oeufs au Caffé. Coffee Eggs.
Make some good coffee, let it stand so clear as usual, and sweeten it according to taste; beat up the yolks of eight eggs with four or five cups of coffee, and strain it; pour this in little moulds in form of eggs; do not fill them quite full, and bake in a slow oven. You may also make them after this manner, in shape of any fruits, or birds, if you have proper moulds, then they take the name accordingly.

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From: The London art of cookery, and housekeeper's complete assistant. … With the addition of many new and elegant receipts; John Farley; London; 1792

Solomon’s Temple in Flummery.
Divide a quart of stiff flummery into three parts, and make one part a pretty thick colour with a little cochineal bruised fine, and steeped in French brandy. Scrape an ounce of chocolate very fine, dissolve it in a little strong coffee, and mix it with another part of your flummery to make it a light stone colour. The last part must be white. Then wet your temple mould, and fit it in a pot to stand even. Fill the top of the temple with red flummery for the steps, and the four points with white. Then fill up with chocolate flummery and let it stand till the next day. Then loosen it round with a pin, and shake it loose very gently; but do not dip your mould in warm water, as that would take off the gloss and spoil the colour. When you turn it out, stick a small sprig of flowers, down from the top of every point, which will not only strengthen it but also give it a pretty appearance. Lay round it rock candy sweetmeats.

A basic recipe for flummery from his book is:

French Flummery.
Beat half an ounce of isinglass fine, put to it a quart of cream, and mix them well together. Let it boil softly over a slow fire for a quarter of an hour, and keep stirring it all the time. Then take it off, sweeten it to your taste, and put in a spoonful of rose water, and another of orange flower water. Strain it, and pour it into a glass or bason, or whatever else you please, and when it be cold, turn it out.

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Nineteenth Century.

Francatelli, Charles Elmé: “The Cook’s Guide” (1867).

Francatelli was English, in spite of his name (he was of Italian parentage) and he was chef to Queen Victoria for some time.

Coffee Souffle.
To six ounces of flour add ten ounces of sugar, a little salt, two ounces of butter, half a pint of strong coffee, and half a pint of cream; stir together briskly over the fire till it boils; then work in six yolks of eggs, and mix in lightly the whisked whites of nine eggs. Bake the soufflé as directed in No. 816.

… i.e: in a soufflé dish, round which has been secured a high band of buttered paper, to prevent the batter from falling over the sides as it rises in the oven; place the soufflé on a baking-sheet in an oven of moderate heat, taking care to move it round occasionally so that it may receive the heat equally on all sides. Three quarters of an hour will suffice to bake a soufflé of this size; and if these directions are attended to, it should make its appearance on the dinner-table as high again as the soufflé-dish.

Coffee Bon-Bons.
To half a pound of sugar add a small cup of very strong coffee; boil to the snap, and then stir in a very little more coffee, and continue working the composition at the side of the pan with a wooden spoon for about five minutes, and as soon as it begins to thicken, pour it out upon an oiled baking-sheet, and allow it to be about the sixth of an inch thick; and when it becomes set – and before it cools, with the back of the blade of a knife, mark it out in oblong squares, measuring one inch by half an inch; when the bon-bons are quite cold, they will easily be snapped apart.

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From "Cassell’s Dictionary of Cookery" (1870’s)

Coffee Cream
Make a breakfast-cupful of strong, clear coffee; add half a pint of boiling cream to it; beat them well together; sweeten with two tablespoonfuls of sugar, and, when cool, add a small pinch of salt, the well beaten yolks of six eggs, and the whites of two. Stir the mixture over the fire for a few minutes, to thicken it, pour it into glasses, and serve with a little sifted sugar on the top of each glass. Probable cost, 1s. 6d for this quantity. Sufficient for six or eight persons.

Coffee Ice Cream.
Mix a breakfastcupful of strong clear coffee with another one of boiling milk, six table-spoonfuls of finely-sifted sugar, and the yolks of six eggs. Stir the custard over a moderate fire until it thickens, then add a pint of thick cream. Stir it again over the fire till the cream coats the spoon, but do not let it boil. Pour it out, when cold, put it in a mould, and freeze in the usual way.

Coffee Jelly.
Pour a pint of boiling milk through a muslin bag containing three ounces of freshly-ground coffee. Put one ounce and a half of soaked gelatine into a saucepan with a pint of cold milk, and inch of stick cinnamon, and two table-spoonfuls of sugar. Let it boil, and stir it until the gelatine is dissolved. Mix the yolks of two eggs with the coffee, strain the milk and gelatine upon it, pour it into a mould which has been immersed in cold water, and let it remain in a cool place until stiff. It will stiffen in about twenty-four hours. Probable cost, 1s. 3d. Sufficient for rather more than a quart of jelly.

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Presbyterian Cook Book: by The Ladies Of The First Presbyterian Church, Dayton, Ohio, (c1873). From the Feeding America Historic Cookbook Project.

Coffee Cake.
Mrs, J. D. Dubois.
One cup of butter; one of sugr; one of molasses; one of raisins; one of cold coffee; three of flour; two eggs; a piece of citron, cut small; nutmet and cinnamon.

“Erie” Coffee Cake.
Three cups brown sugar; one of butter; one of cold coffee; three eggs; three teaspoonfuls of soda; two of cinnamon; one of cloves; one of nutmeg; and three and one half cups of flour.

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Buckeye Cookery, And Practical Housekeeping: Compiled From Original Recipes. (1877); From the Feeding America Historic Cookbook Project.

Coffee Cake.
Two cups brown sugar, one of butter, one of molasses, one of strong coffee as prepared for the table, four eggs, one tea-spoon saleratus, two of cinnamon, two of cloves, one of grated nutmeg, pound raisins, one of currants, four cups flour. Mrs. Wm. Skinner, Battle Creek, Michigan.

Coffee Cake.
One cup brown sugar, cup molasses, half cup butter, cup strong coffee, one egg or yolks of two, four even cups flour, heaping teaspoon soda in the flour, table-spoon cinnamon, tea-spoon cloves, two pounds raisins, fourth pound citron. Soften the butter, beat with the sugar, add the egg, spices, molasses and coffee, then the flour, and lastly the fruit dredged with a little flour. Bake one hour in moderate oven or make two small loaves which will bake in a short time. Mrs. D Buxton.

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The Boston Cooking-School Cookbook; Fannie Merritt Farmer; (1896). From the Feeding America Historic Cookbook Project.

Coffee Cake.
¼ cup butter; ½ cup sugar; ½ cup raisins seeded and cut in pieces; ½ cup molasses; ¼ cup boiled coffee; 2 eggs; 2 ½ cups flour; 3 teaspoons baking powder; ½ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon cinnamon; ½ teaspoon allspice; ½ nutmeg grated.
Follow directions for mixing butter cake mixtures.

Rich Coffee Cake.
1 cup butter; 2 cups sugar; 4 eggs; 2 tablespoons molasses; 1 cup boiled coffee; 3 ¾ cups flour; 5 teaspoons baking powder; 1 teaspoon cinnamon; ½ teaspoon cloves; ½ teaspoon mace; ½ teaspoon allspice; ¾ cup raisins seeded and cut in pieces; ¾ cup currants; ¼ cup citron thinly sliced and cut in strips; 2 tablespoons brandy.
Follow directions for mixing butter cake mixtures. Bake in deep cake pans.

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Twentieth Century.

The Neighborhood Cook Book Compiled Under The Auspices Of The Portland Section In 1912, Council Of Jewish Women. (1914). From the Feeding America Historic Cookbook Project.

Black Coffee Cake.
Cream a slice of butter one-half inch thick with one cup of sugar. Drop in two eggs, one at a time. Add one-half cup black coffee, one and one-half cups of flour, two teaspoons Crescent baking powder. Put in square pan, cover with chopped nuts, sugar, and cinnamon.

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Miss Tuxford’s Cookery for the Middle Classes; Manchester, England (c1920’s)

Coffee Cream Cake.
Make some Genoese Pastry [see below], and bake in a greased sandwich tin for about three-quarters of an hour. When cold, split open and spread with the Coffee Cream. Ice the top with 4 oz. icing sugar, 1 teaspoon coffee essence, and 1 ½ tablespoons water, mixed together, and decorate any way liked.

Coffee Filling.
Make as for Pineapple Cream Filling [see below], using 1 oz. sugar and 1 teaspoonful coffee essence instead of the pineapple chunks and syrup.

Pineapple Filling.
1 oz. cornflour, ½ oz. sugar, 1 yolk egg, ½ pint milk, 1 tablespoonful cream, 1 teaspoonful pineapple syrup, 2 oz pineapple chunks cut fine.
Mix the cornflour with a little of the milk, boil the remainder, pour this over the cornflour, return to the pan, and stir till boiling. Cook a little, add sugar, pineapple syrup, yolk of egg, and finely-cut pineapple, and cream. Use when cold.

Genoese Pastry.
¼ lb butter, ¼ lb flour, ¼ lb sugar, 2 eggs, ½ teaspoonful baking powder.
Cream the butter and sugar together, add eggs and flour alternately, and lastly, add the baking powder. Bake the mixture slowly in a papered Swiss Roll tine for half an hour. When cold, cut in small pieces and decorate with any kind of icing. The cakes take their name from the icing used.

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From “The Gentle Art of Cookery” by Mrs. C.F.Leyel and Miss Olga Hartley, first published in 1925, two very similar recipes with different names:

Coffee Souffle.
Three quarters of a pint of strong coffee, a quarter of a pint of milk, three eggs, a quarter of a packet of gelatine, four or five ounces of sugar, salt, and vanilla.
Put the made coffee with the milk, half the sugar, and the gelatine, into a double saucepan. Beat up the yolks of the eggs with the rest of the sugar and a pinch of salt, and stir this into the coffee. Whisk the whites of the eggs to a stiff froth. When the coffee mixture thickens, take it off the fire (it must not boil) and add the whites of the eggs and vanilla to taste. Pour into a wet mould and set aside to cool. Serve cold with whipped cream.

Mousse au Café.
Eggs, coffee, castor sugar, gelatine, and cream.
Put into a basin the yolks of four eggs, and add to it a quarter of a pint of very strong coffee freshly made, then mix in from two or four ounces of sugar according to the taste. Heat this without letting it boil; let it get cold, and add to it the beaten whites of the four eggs, and a quarter of a pint of whipped cream.
Serve it in glasses with petits fours.

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From “The Edinburgh Book of Advanced Cookery Receipts”, from the Edinburgh College of Domestic Science. (1933)

Coffee Cakes.
Two ounces cornflour.
Three ounces flour.
Three ounces butter.
Three ounces castor sugar.
Half-teaspoonful baking powder.
One tablespoon coffee essence.
Two eggs.
For decoration: Coffee glace icing [below]; chopped pistachios.

Cream the butter and sugar, beat in the eggs with a little flour, and add the coffee essence with the rest of the flour and baking-powder. Pour into greased tins, and bake from fifteen to twenty minutes in a moderately hot oven. Ice when cold with coffee glacé icing, and decorate with chopped pistachios.

Glacé icing.

Half-pound icing sugar; tepid water; flavouring.
Sift the icing sugar, place it in a basin with the flavouring and enough water to make a coating consistency. Beat well and use at once.

Note. – The water used for glace icing must not be hot, or the icing will lose its gloss.

Other variations. – (a) The addition of coffee essence or other flavouring, the icing being named accordingly. (b) Rum Glacé icing. – Add rum in the proportion of one teaspoonful of rum to three-quarters of a pound icing sugar. (c) Orange Glacé. – Add grated orange rind and mix with orange juice. Add a very little carmine or orange colouring if necessary.

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From “The Lily Wallace New American Cookbook” (1946)

Coffee Bread Pudding.
Follow recipe for bread pudding [TOF: see below], substituting 1 ½ cups strong coffee for an equal quantity of milk, and omitting vanilla.

Bread Pudding.
1 ½ cups bread crumbs; 3 cups hot milk; 2 beaten eggs; 2/3 cup sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 tablespoon fat; ½ teaspoon vanilla; ½ cup chopped nuts.
Combine crumbs, milk, eggs, sugar, salt, and fat. Mix well. Add vanilla and nuts. Turn into a greased baking tin. Bake in a moderate oven (350oF) or until firm. Serve with whipped cream. Serves 6.

Coffee Caramels.
Substitute 1 ½ cups coffee for milk in recipe for vanilla caramels [TOF: see below] and omit vanilla.

Vanilla Caramels.

2 cups sugar; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 cup light corn sirup; 1 cup condensed milk; 1 ½ cups milk; 1/3 cup butter or fat; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla.
Cook sugar, corn sirup, condensed milk, and milk together in a saucepan, stirring constantly until the sugar is dissolved. Cook slowly, stirring occasionally to prevent burning, until the temperature is 248o f., or until mixture forms a firm ball when tested in cold water. Remove from the fire, add butter, salt, and vanilla, and mix well. Pour into a greased pan. When cold remove from pan, cut in cubes and wrap each caramel in waxed paper.

Coffee Tapioca.
1 egg yolk; 1 cup evaporated milk; 1/3 cup minute tapioca; 2/3 cup sugar; ¼ teaspoon salt; 1 cup water; 2 cups strong coffee’ 1 egg white; 1 teaspoon vanilla.
Mix egg yolk with small amount of milk in a saucepan. Add remaining milk, tapioca, sugar, salt, water, and coffee. Bring mixture to boil over direct heat, stirring constantly. Remove from fire. Beat egg white until just stiff enough to hold shape. Fold hot tapioca mixture gradually into egg-white. Cool. When slightly cool, stir in flavouring. Chill. Serve in parfait glasses with caramel sauce. Serves 8.

Caramel Sauce.
Butter the inside of a granite saucepan. Add 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate and melt over hot water. Add 2 cups light brown sugar and mix well. Add 1 ounce butter and ½ cup rich milk. Cook until the mixture forms a soft ball in cold water, then take from fire, and flavor with vanilla.

Unreal Coffee.

Those of you who have been with me from the beginning of this blog will remember that for the first half of its life every day had an “on this day” theme. I wandered away from the idea for a number of reasons, but today a lovely little sad story begs me to take notice.

On this day in 1849, the literary Brontë sisters Anne (1820-1849), Charlotte (1816-1855) and their friend Ellen Nussey travelled by train from their home in Yorkshire to the seaside town of Scarborough. Anne was ill with consumption, and as their brother Bramwell and sister Emily had both died of consumption within the previous year, she was under no illusions as to the seriousness of her condition. She decided to use her small inheritance to fund the trip, in the hope that the sea air would be beneficial. As soon as they arrived, the young women treated themselves to dandelion coffee, and bought season tickets for the spa and the famous Cliff Bridge. Sadly, it was too late for Anne, who was already very ill and frail, and she died in their lodging house only a few days later.

We have considered some of the culinary uses of the dandelion and several of the substances used as coffee substitutes in previous blog posts, but I don’t believe we have ever considered dandelion coffee in the past. Nowadays some folk prefer to use alternative “coffees” for negative health reasons – that is, they chose to avoid real coffee because of its perceived injurious effects. In other times the choice was often made because of the perceived health benefits of the substitute itself.

The other motivations for using coffee substitutes are unavailability of the real thing due to circumstances such as war. The protagonists of the American Civil War were particularly creative in this regard, if we are to to judge from passionate claims made in correspondence to various southern newspapers of the time and which we must continue to explore in more detail in a future post.

The dandelion has a longstanding reputation as a healing herb. The first half of its botanical name (Taraxacum officinale) comes from a Greek word indicating to alter or to change, and refers to the belief that use of it can alter the state of the blood. In the past it has been used as a panacea for all sorts of ills, especially as a diuretic and for “derangements of the liver”

The editors of the OED first note the phrase “dandelion coffee” in 1852, but they have clearly missed some earlier references – perhaps because it was made in the household or by individual pharmacists, therefore rarely mentioned in print until it started to be made commercially on a larger scale (perhaps “on the Continent” in the mid-1850’s).

Dandelion coffee was not a cheap alternative in the Bronte sisters’ time. It was a relatively expensive medicinal treat - which seems surprising given that the dandelion grows like a weed in Britain but the coffee bean is of course imported. As with many substitutes, dandelion coffee can be used “straight”, or it can be mixed with the real thing, as the recipes below show.

Strangely, or perhaps not, prolonged exposure to ersatz anything sometimes leads to the development of a preference for it against the real thing. It certainly seems that chicory “coffee” is the beverage of choice for some citizens of some southern states of the USA, and in Holland for example.


Dandelion Coffee.
Dr Harrison, of Edinburgh, prefers dandelion coffee to that of Mecca; and many persons all over the Continent prefer a mixture of succory and coffee to coffee alone. Dig up the roots of dandelion, wash them well but do not scrape them; dry them, cut them in bits, the size of peas, and then roast them in an earthen pot or coffee-roaster of any kind, and grind them in the coffee mill, or bruise them in any way. The great secret of good coffee is to have it fresh-burnt and fresh-ground.
British Husbandry, by John French Burke, 1811

Dandelion Coffee.
Good colonial coffee, 3 parts; hard extract of dandelion, 1 part; chicory, 1 part. Reduce them to coarse powder, and mix and grind them together.
The United States practical receipt book, 1844

Quotation for the Day.

Tobacco, coffee, alcohol, hashish, prussic acid, strychnine, are weak dilutions; the surest poison is time.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Other Uses of Coffee.

Sometime ago, I wrote a short article called ‘The Other Uses of Coffee’ for my regular gig with a bakery trade magazine. The curse and blessing of a limited word allowance meant that some of the weirder uses of coffee had to be left out, but I have no intention of wasting the delightful information I gleaned in my research. Today I give you an interesting idea from the nineteenth century Australian cookbook guru, ‘Mrs. Rawson’ (Wilhemina Frances, or ‘Mina’ to her friends.)

Mrs. Rawson’s Dry Coffee Preservative.
(To Preserve Game When Carried Any Distance, Or Kept Some Time.)
When the ducks, water hens, turkeys etc are shot, let them be cleaned as soon as possible. The task need not be an unpleasant one at all, if each gentleman is provided with a piece of stout wire, and each does all that falls to his own gun. Cut the opening at one side, the left is the most handy, first picking away just a few feathers. That done, introduce the wire which should be bent like a wide hook at the top, and draw out all the loose contents of the body. All that should come without trouble, and in one pull, the wire being held firmly. Now sprinkle a liberal quantity of dry coffee into the inside, pick a handful of grass, roll it up, and push it in as stuffing. I cannot tell you what qualities the coffee possesses, but that it is far before pepper, used in this way. I have also used it successfully on butcher’s meat.

I am not too convinced that pulling out the innards of a duck with a loop of wire can be done ‘without trouble’ – and a lot of splattery mess, but then I have never tried the manoeuvre. I wonder if the coffee does have some preservative ability – or just disguises the smell of putrefaction. Anyone know of any other examples of its use in this way?

Mrs Rawson was big on baking too, but I am going to take a leap into the mid-twentieth century for the recipe for the day – to my favourite source of the wartime Ministry of Food leaflets. From issue number 29, a recipe that fits nicely into the Coffee Recipe Archive.

Coffee Potato Scones.
Sift 6 oz plain flour, 2 level teaspoonfuls baking powder, and ½ teaspoonful salt into a basin. Mix thoroughly with 4 oz mashed potato. Rub in 2 oz fat with the tips of the fingers. Blend to a soft dough with ½ teacupful strong, milky, sweetened coffee. Roll out to ½ inch thickness on a floured board and cut into little rounds. Glaze the tops with a little milk. Bake on greased baking sheets in a hot oven for 15 minutes.

Quotation for the Day …

Coffee: we can get it anywhere, and get as loaded as we like on it, until such teeth-chattering, eye-bulging, nonsense-gibbering time as we may be classified unable to operate heavy machinery.
Joan Frank

Westphalia Coffee.

July 29 ...

It seems that subsitutes for coffee have been a long-term pre-occupation for the whole world. An expert writing in American Farmer in 1823 had something to say on the topic. He had been given a sample of ‘Germanic or Westphalia Coffee’ – or substitute coffee made from Chicory (Chicorum intybus).

'… It is very much used in the north of Europe, and in France, as a surrogate for coffee, and that it is used in the latter country to adulterate the coffee which is sod in powder or ground in the shops … immense factories are established in Germany, for the sole purpose of its preparation. The manufacturers collect the root towards the end of autumn, it is then cut in slices, dried, afterward torrified and pulverised or ground. The French authors say “It is used in infusion or decoction with water, to make a drink which has all the appearance and bitterness of coffee, without possessing the other precious qualities of that useful beverage. But that it is nevertheless applied to the same uses, either alone or mixed with milk or cream. They state that it is necessary to take great precaution in keeping it, since, in large masses, it is liable to spontaneous combustion.'

The author goes on to extoll its ‘health’ virtues compared to the real thing.

'From the trials I have made of it, I believe, as a dietetic article of family use, it is more healthful than rye coffee, and has a softer and more agreeable taste: it is less injurious to delicate constitutions than coffee – it is less heating, more perspirative, less stimulating than coffee; and, though far inferior, as every substitute must be, to genuine coffee taken in moderation, I yet believe the health of the community, the female part of it especially (to whom there can be no doubt that coffee is particularly injurious), would be benefitted by using a moiety or two thirds of this article, mixed with one half or one third of genuine coffee.'

One of the nice thing about that little story is a new word (to me) – ‘torrified’, which means “roast, scorched, or dried by fire” (from the verb ‘torrefy’).

The most astonishing (or amusing) thing is the reported propensity for chicory root to spontaneously combust! The author attributes several large fires in German factories to this (wonder why the roasting equipment was not thought responsible?). And who would have thought that coffee was more injurious to the fairer sex? On account of it being more ‘perspirative’ I suppose.

In the same journal, but not by the same author, is this wonderful-sounding recipe:

Mrs. G’s Famous Buns.
One pound and a half of flour (a quarter pound left to sift in last) and half a pound of butter cut up fine together. Then add four eggs beat to a high froth, four tea-cups of milk, half a wine glass of brandy, wine, and rose-water each, and one wine glass of yeast*; stir it all together with a knife, and add half a pound of sugar, then sift in the quarter of a pound of flour, and when the lumps are all beaten fine, set them to rise in the pans they are to be baked in. This quantity will make four square pans full.

* presumably she means a sloppy mix of yeast, flour and water, not pure yeast)

Quotation for the Day …

A cup of coffee - real coffee - home-browned, home-ground, home-made, that comes to you dark as a hazel-eye, but changes to a golden bronze as you temper it with cream that never cheated, but was real cream from its birth, thick, tenderly yellow, perfectly sweet, neither lumpy nor frothing on the Java: such a coffee is a match for twenty blue devils, and will exorcise them all.
Henry Ward Beecher, "Eyes and Ears"

America.Coffee. The War.

Juy 28 ...

President Roosevelt announced the end of wartime coffee rationing on this day in 1943 in the USA. So, in the dark coffee-restricted days, how had the populace managed?

The ‘nationally famous home economist, dietitian, and nutrition expert’ Prudence Penny gave a lot of hints on ‘Long Drinks On Short Rations’ in one of her wartime cookbooks (Coupon Cookery, 1943). She gave some remarkably good suggestions - for a totally fictitious person (I wonder if she is friends with ‘Betty Crocker’?).

Coffee-Saving Ways.

Buy coffee one pound at a time. Keep tightly covered. Preserve metal lids and use them instead of the past-board ones that come with the jar.
Keep coffee in dark, cool place, preferably in the refrigerator.
Use the right grind – the one suited to your coffee-maker. Use regular grind for steeped and percolated coffee; use drip grind for the drip method and use fine grind for the vacuum type pot.
Measure both coffee and water accurately and make only as much as you need.
Experiment: you will find you can use less coffee by steeping or percolating the coffee a little longer; in the Cory or Silex pot, let water remain in contact with coffee in top of bowl for slightly longer than recommended by the manufacturer.
Warm cups by rinsing out in hot water.
Scour, air, and clean coffee-makers regularly.

Stretched Coffee.

Many people whose coffee ration is simply not adequate, are successfully mixing one pound of coffee with one pound of unrationed coffee-like beverage, such as Fiego, Soyfee, or any one of several others and using it identically as coffee.

And to go with your stretched coffee, why not try one of Prudence’s cakes?

Honey Chocolate Cake.
½ cup shortening
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 ½ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon double action baking powder
¾ teaspoon soda
½ cup cocoa
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cup sour milk
¾ cup honey

Cream shortening and brown sugar thoroughly.
Add well-beaten eggs. Sift dry ingredients, add alternately in thirds with the milk, mixing each time until smooth.
Add the honey last and mix lightly. Add flavouring; pour into well-greased 9 inch layer tins.
Bake 40 minutes at 350 degrees.

Quotation for the Day ...

"After a few months' acquaintance with European 'coffee' one's mind weakens, and his faith with it, and he begins to wonder if the rich beverage of home, with it's clotted layer of yellow cream on top of it, is not a mere dream after all, and a thing which never existed." Mark Twain, in A Tramp Abroad.

Coffee, if you can get it.

Today, August 10th …

General Orders No. 54, dated this day in 1861, specified the ration for a Civil War Confederate soldier to be:

22 ounces of soft bread or flour, or 1 pound of hardbread (hardtack) per day.
1 pound 4 ounces salt or fresh beef or 12 ounces of pork or bacon.
1 pound of potatoes three times per week if available.
To every 100 rations 15 pounds beans or peas AND 10 pounds rice or hominy; 10 pounds green coffee or 8 pounds roasted coffee; 1 pound 8 ounces tea; 15 pounds sugar; 4 quarts vinegar; 3 pounds 12 ounces salt; 4 ounces pepper; and 1 quart molasses.

Sounds deficient in some vitamins, and very boring, but filling enough. Of course, this was the ration in theory. In practice things were not so luxurious. Apparently the biggest and most bemoaned issue for both civilian and soldier of the South alike, was not the vitamins or the variety – but the lack of coffee. Something had to be done, and much imagination was applied to the problem.

The range of coffee substitutes invented by desperate humans is quite astounding. Not all have been the result of wartime shortages. There are those anxious souls who fear what might happen to them under its stimulating effects - but don’t want to relinquish a hot beverage at breakfast. Such souls as Ella Kellogg, whose recipe for Caramel Coffee made from parched cornmeal we featured in a previous story – staunchly pure souls who consider prunes on toast an delicious alternative to marmalade. Most coffee substitutes are not the result of misguided opinion and choice however, they are the response to necessity in hard times. We have previously featured a Civil War recipe for ‘coffee’ made from sweet potato, but there were many, many, more ideas – and a significant amount of newspaper space was taken up with letters and recipes for coffee substitutes during the war. It seems to me that the range of ideas is testament to human ingenuity in deprivation – and to the amazing ability for hype in desperation. Most of the suggestions and recipes are accompanied by enthusiastic assurances that the substitute is as good, if not better than the real thing (so why was there an enthusiastic return to drinking expensive coffee instead of the infinitely cheaper substitutes after the war?).

Such creativity should be acknowledged: I will give a few more recipes for coffee substitutes in the future. For today, I give you an alternative idea – a method of ‘bulking up’ a limited amount of coffee, to make it go further. It is from a Georgia newspaper in 1865.

Substitutes for Coffee.
Nobody has had more occasion to mourn over the blockade than that numerous and highly respectable class, the coffee topers. Many an one would cheerfully munch his dry crusts at breakfast, if he could wash them down with the cheering beverage which used, in former times, to atone for the short-comings of cooks and fortify him against a day of vexations. For the stimulating property to which both tea and coffee owe their chief value, there is unfortunately no substitute; the best we can do is to dilute the little stocks which still remain, and cheat the palate, if we cannot deceive the nerves. The best substitute which we have yet found for either tea or coffee, is plenty of good, rich milk, which is at least nutritive, if not stimulating. But alas! the price of butter plainly tells that milk is almost as scarce as coffee, and many persons want something hot to drive off the fogs of the morning. After many unsatisfactory trials of rye, wheat, corn, potatoes, okra, acorns, and almost everything else that can be purchased, we have found in molasses, we will not say a substitute for, but an adulteration of coffee, which leaves but little to be desired, but the stimulus. Don't be alarmed, Mr. Editor, we are not about to propose "long sweetening." Molasses when boiled down until it scorches, is converted into an intensely bitter substance, called by chemists caramel. Our method is to put a quart or more of sorghum syrup into any convenient vessel, and stew it down over a slow fire, as if making candy, stirring constantly until the syrup is burnt black; then pour it out into a greased plate to cool. The blackish porous mass thus obtained is pounded, when quite cold, in an iron mortar. We mix it with twice its bulk of ground coffee, and use a teaspoonful of this mixture for each person; thus one teaspoonful of caramel and two of coffee will make six cups of a beverage which, as far as taste is concerned, is far preferable to pure Rio coffee. The burnt molasses or caramel, attracts moisture when exposed to the air, and must, therefore, be kept in a close vessel. It would be well, for the same reason, to prepare it in small quantities. If the molasses is burnt too much, it is reduced to charcoal and loses all taste. By the way, though a very simple matter, many housekeepers do not know that it is perfectly easy to clear coffee by adding a small quantity of cold water, just as it "comes to a boil."

Next Week …..

Next week, just for a change of routine, we will dine in mid-nineteenth century France with the writer and gastronome, Baron Léon Brisse.

Quotation for the Day ….

Give a frontiersman coffee and tobacco, and he will endure any privation, suffer any hardship, but let him be without these two necessaries of the woods, and he becomes irresolute and murmuring. U.S. Army Lt. William Whiting (1849)

The King bans Coffee.

Today, December 29th …

The proliferation of coffee houses in seventeenth century London made King Charles II nervous. Coffee houses were ideal places to chew the political fat, which could perhaps include ideas of dissent and decapitation – so in view of his father’s fate Charles’ reaction is not surprising. So what is a King to do? Ban them of course, which Charles attempted to do by a Proclamation issued on this day in 1675.

Naturally, it does not do for a King to publicly proclaim insecurity about his head, so Charles argument was that coffee houses disturbed the peace of the realm and promoted idleness and some scurrilous and defamatory rumour-mongering.

By the King
A PROCLAMATION
FOR THE
Suppression of Coffee-Houses.

CHARLES R.

Whereas it is most apparent, that the Multitude of Coffee-Houses of late years set up and kept within the Kingdom, the Dominion of Wales, and the Town of Berwick on Tweed, and the great resort of Idle and disaffected persons to them, have produced very evil and dangerous effects; as well for that many Tradesmen and others, do therein mis-spend much of their time, which might and probably would otherwise by imployed in and about their Lawful Callings and Affairs; but also, for that in such houses, and by occasion of the meetings of such persons therein, diverse False, Malitious and Scandalous Reports are devised and spread abroad, to the Defamation of His Majesties Government, and to the Disturbance of the Peace and Quiet of the Realm; his Majesty hath thought it fit and necessary, That the said Coffee-houses be (for the future) put down and supressed, and doth (with the Advice of his Privy council) by this Royal Proclamation, Strictly Charge and Command all manner of persons, That they or any of them do not presume from and after the Tenth Day of January next ensuing, to keep any Publick Coffee-house, or to Utter or sell by retail, in his, her, or their house or houses (to be spent or consumed within the same) any Coffee, Chocolet, Sherbett or Tea, as they will answer the contrary at their utmost perils.

And for the better accomplishment of this his Majesties Royal Pleasure, his Majesty both hereby will and require the Justices of the Peace within their several Counties, and the Chief Magistrates in all Cities and Towns Corporate, that they do at their next respective General Sessions of the peace (to be holden within their several and respective Counties, Divisions and Precincts) recall and make void all Licences at any time heretofore Granted, for the selling or retailing of any Coffee, Chocolet, Sherbett or Tea. And that they or any of them do not (for the future) make or grant any such Licence or Licences to any persons whatsoever. And his Majesty doth further hereby declare, that if any person or persons shall take upon them, him or her, after his, her or their Licence or Licences recalled, or otherwise without Licence, to sell by retail (as aforesaid) any of the Liquors aforesaid, that then the person or persons so Offending, shall not only be proceeded against , upon the Statute made in the fifteenth year of his Majesties Reign (which gives the forfeiture of five pounds for every moneth wherein he, she or they shall offend therein) but shall (in case they persevere to Offend) receive the severest punishments that may by Law be inflicted.

Given at our Court at Whitehall, the Nine and twentieth day of December 1675, in the Seven and twentieth year of Our Reign.

God save the King

The proclamation was to take effect on January 10th, but due to pressure from his own ministers (who loved their coffee), it was withdrawn on January 8th.

Hannah Woolley’s famous book ‘The Accomplished Ladies Delight … ’ was published in the same year. It did not contain any coffee recipes – it was still an exotic and expensive beverage, and it was a long time before it sank to the level of a mere culinary ingredient. The book did have some recipes for other beverages that must have been just as risky to the peace and quiet of the realm, such as cock ale, capon water, artificial malmsey – and ‘Usquebath’ (i.e whisky)

To make good Usquebath.
Take two Gallons of good Aquavitae, four ounces of the best liquorice bruised, four ounces of Anniseed bruised, put them into a Wooden, Glass, or Stone Vessel, and cover them close, and so let them stand a week, then draw off the cleerest and Sweetest with Molosso’s and keep it in another Vessel, and put in some Dates, and Raisens stoned; keep it very close from the Air.

Monday’s Story …

New Year Breakfast.

A Previous Story for this Day …

Last year on December 29th we had a story about Philadelphia Pepper Pot Soup, called 'The Battle for Food'.

On this Topic ...

For other interesting primary documents on tea and coffee, see Thomas Gloning's site.

If you love coffee as an ingredient, please look a the Archive of Coffee Recipes.

Balzac's famous dissertation “The Pleasures and Pains of Coffee” is also on the Companion site.

Quotation for the Day …

Wherever it has been introduced it has spelled revolution. It has been the world's most radical drink in that its function has always been to make people think. And when people think, they become dangerous to tyrants. William Ukers.

Sex and Science in the kitchen.

Today, December 15 …

On this day in 1926, Dr John Harvey Kellogg, the man who gave us cornflakes, gave a speech to the Chicago Medical Society on the danger of excessive weight loss “to meet the demand of the fashion for slimness”. Few of us would argue with that theory, nor his promotion of regular exercise. Vegetarianism is OK too, for those who don't mind murdering plants, although his was a strict, condiment-free version.

Actually, he wasn’t keen on anything even remotely spicy. All “sexual excess” was sinful, and he had so broad idea an of “excess” that he spent his honeymoon in 1892 writing “Plain Facts for Old and Young: Embracing the Natural History and Hygiene of Organic Life”. He also managed to distract himself from dangerous excesses by the practice and promotion of what we would now call “klismaphilia” (look it up!).

John and Ella never had children, so perhaps his dedication to writing pre-occupied him beyond their honeymoon. She occupied herself with writing too, and in 1893 published “Science in the Kitchen. A Scientific Treatise on Food Substances and their Dietetic Properties, Together with a Practical Explanation of the Principles of Healthful Cookery, and a Large Number of Original, Palatable, and Wholesome Recipes”.

Wholesome, perhaps. Palatable? I leave it to you to decide.

A sample daily menu:

BREAKFAST
Fresh Fruits
Graham Grits and Cream
Prune Toast
Graham Puffs
Cream Crisps
Strawberries
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

DINNER
Vegetable Broth with Toasted Rolls
Baked Potato with Pease Gravy
Stewed Asparagus
Cracked Wheat and Cream
Whole-Wheat Bread
Canned Berries
Manioca with Fruit
Caramel Coffee or Hot Milk

Real coffee being forbidden (too stimulating), you must substitute:

Caramel Coffee. Take three quarts best bran, one quart corn meal, three tablespoonfuls of molasses; mix and brown in the oven like ordinary coffee. For every cup of coffee required, use one heaping tablespoonful of the caramel. Pour boiling water over it, and steep, not boil, for fifteen or twenty minutes.
Instead of bacon:

Prune Toast. Cook prunes,allowing them to simmer very slowly for a long time. When done, rub through a colander, and if quite thin, they should be stewed again for a time, until they are about the consistency of marmalade. Moisten slices of zwieback with hot cream, and serve with a spoonful or two of the prune dressing on each. One third dried apple may be used with the prune, if preferred.
Tomorrow: The goodly litter of the cupboard.