Although the cast iron open range arrived in kitchens towards the end of the eighteenth century, the ‘hob’ was a grate over the fire allowing for some contamination from the coal. During the 1840s the closed range was introduced with a flat cast iron hob that covered the top of the oven and the fire-grate. Cooking was carried out on the hob or in the closed ovens on either side of the grate, thus further preventing contamination. Further modifications were made which provided the ability to regulate temperatures, and by the end of the century, gas and electric cookers had started to be used. In rural areas the installation of range cookers was slower to take the place of open fires but by the last quarter of the century virtually all households had range cookers inserted into the old hearth and fireplace. The kitchens of the middle classes now included a scullery where a sink with running water would be used for washing food, kitchen equipment and crockery.
Humbler kitchens, particularly in rural areas, retained the dresser placed against one of the walls, but in larger kitchens, purpose-built, waist high cupboards were installed on one or more walls and used for the storage of equipment, and to provide workspace to complement the kitchen table in the centre of the room. Food was stored separately in a larder.
Kitchen equipment became ever more labour-saving with the introduction of kitchen gadgets such as pastry cutters, cheese graters, can openers and potato peelers. A variety of different shapes of baking tins were introduced, and by the end of the century pudding cloths were replaced with pudding basins. In 1881 the first electric kettle was introduced.
Although developments in refrigeration were taking place in the nineteenth century, domestic refrigerators would not be available to most households until well into the twentieth century, so other means of preserving food were still important. Sugar was now cheap and was used to preserve fruits and to make chutneys and pickles, and the old earthenware pots covered with animal stomach linings were now replaced with glass jars with a rubber seal. Preserved foods could now be kept for much longer and it was easy to see what the contents were.
Before the nineteenth century meals served in upper- and middle-class households would be in ‘removes’ rather than courses (Service à la Francaise). A variety of dishes, both savoury and sweet, would be placed on the dining table at the same time and guests would serve themselves. The first ‘remove’ might include soup, fish, roast birds and a couple of desserts which although probably not eaten until the end of the meal were kept on the table for decoration. The second ‘remove’ might include roast meats, stews and meat puddings.
During the nineteenth century Service à la Russe was gradually introduced and courses rather than ‘removes’ would be served. Courses consisted of one dish only and there might be five or more courses. So now soup would usually be the first course and guests would now be served either by servants, or the hostess in more humble households. The next course would be fish, followed by a meat course which was followed by dessert and possibly a further course of cheese or a savoury.
Basic ingredients did not alter much from the previous century, but the introduction of industrially produced foods changed the contents of the larder dramatically. By the end of the century, it would contain a range of tinned foods such as vegetables and soups, packets of cereals such as Corn Flakes, bottles of ready-made sauces, cake making products such as baking powder, tins of bought biscuits and bars of chocolate.
The British Empire continued to influence British cuisine, and Indian-inspired dishes such as kedgeree and mulligatawny soup made regular appearances on the dining tables of the middle classes.
The number of restaurants and cafés increased in the cities, and in 1864 the first fish and chip shop opened in London with the method of cooking fish brought in by Portuguese Jews and the frying of chipped potatoes influenced by Belgium and France.
The cookbook went from strength to strength and the books of Mrs Rundell and Eliza Acton, amongst others, were used by most domestic cooks; and in 1861 Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management became an essential requirement in the homes of the middle classes.
An increasing concern for the natural world and animals in particular led to a decision by some to avoid the eating of meat, and in 1847 the world’s first vegetarian society was established.
