Hoopskirts

Winter is such a wonderful, satisfying time for soup!  My entry for the Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge "Downstairs Dinner" is A Plain Cheap Soup. The Challenge  Historical Food Fortnightly Challenge Season 4, Number 2:  Downstairs Dinner.  Make a dish of the working classes. The Recipe This recipe comes from The Practical Cookbook (Philadelphia, 1850) What I Did / The Method Ingredients   Leftover meat bones:  I used the carcass of a roast chicken Two large carrots, peeled and chopped Three small turnips, peeled and chopped One large yellow onion, peeled and chopped 2 whole cloves salt and pepper water Method Being used to making soup from scratch on a frequent basis, this concept felt very easy and familiar.  I placed the chicken carcass in a large pot and liberally covered it with water, then let it cook for several hours until the meat fell off the bones. At this point I refrigerated the e

Peach jam on homemade bread! As summer wound into autumn, I found some end-of-season stone fruit at my local grocery store - peaches and apricots available for a song!   A bit bruised and battered, they were for sale on the produce clearance rack, and, as such, were perfect for making jam.  I made some of each type, but the photos shown are of the peach jam (bet you couldn't tell!). The Recipe- the same for each Fruit This recipe comes from The Young Cook's Assistant and Housekeeper's Guide by  P. Masters (1841, London, The recipe is similar or identical to many others I surveyed.   Working Through the Recipe I have made jam many times, so the concept was easy to me, but let's walk through it. Weighing Ingredients Weighing may seem intimidating, but is by far the easiest way to make this jam.  I purchased an inexpensive digital scale from Harbor Freight, that allow you to weigh in ounces, grams, and pounds. Fruit While I suppose it