PEAR TREE LOG

pear tree log: I started this blog to keep my younger son, Jonny, in touch with life in Lincolnshire, while he spent a year working in China. That year turned into five! Now he is home and training to become a physics teacher. This is simply a patchwork quilt of some of the things I enjoy - life in rural Lincolnshire, our animals, friends, architecture, books, the gardens, and things of passing interest.



Friday 27 January 2012

One Simply Cannot Get the Staff

Do not entrust the making of tea to servants
This is taken from a very old Victorian recipe book.  It made me smile.

Blend your teas thoroughly well and keep in a closed tin in a dry place.

Do not entrust the making of this (or any other tea) to servants.  The scalding of the teapot and making of tea with freshly boiling water are essential:  and this is what servants usually ignore.

Water that has been boiling some time will not "draw" tea properly: much less so, water that "has boiled" which is too frequently made use of by servants.


Hints on Food Storage:
It is essential that all store-provisions should be kept covered otherwise they accumulate dust and germs, and become unfit for use, even though they may appear so.  


This is a fact which no servant can get into her head, and which requires constant attention.



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19 comments:

  1. The Owl Wood27 January 2012 at 20:14

    Had a batman once who made decent tea. Had to shoot him though, he kept puttin' the milk in last. Damn shame.

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    Replies
    1. Elaine28 January 2012 at 07:19

      Hi Ian, No wonder we can't get the staff!

      Delete
  2. Jane and Chris27 January 2012 at 21:06

    I think I was a servant in a past life...no wait I've got cats..I'm a servant in this life too!
    Jane x

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    Replies
    1. Elaine28 January 2012 at 07:24

      Hi Jane, With 13 cats - you are a slave! Must be fun though.

      Delete
  3. Meggie27 January 2012 at 21:40

    My thought was to write something funny, until I read the first two comments. I laughed so hard, I decided mine could not compare to their humor.

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    Replies
    1. Elaine28 January 2012 at 07:32

      Hi Meggie, They are both great fun. I can't help thinking that the woman who wrote the recipe book must have been a real horror to work for.

      Delete
  4. Ms Sparrow27 January 2012 at 22:51

    I wonder what the snooty Victorians would have thought of electric tea pots and instant tea?

    (What is a batman?)

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    Replies
    1. Elaine28 January 2012 at 07:35

      Hi Ms Sparrow, Imagine their horror!
      What is a batman? A caped crusader.

      Delete
    2. The Owl Wood28 January 2012 at 08:31

      A batman? Sort of personal servant. Ruddy nuisance really, always offerin' the wrong socks when what I really need is me vest. Do you know that blighter once presented me with "Morning Coffee Biscuits"? Thought they looked the same as "Rich Tea Biscuits". Pah. I deliberately didn't use me best gun to shoot him.

      Delete
    3. Elaine28 January 2012 at 08:40

      Ms Sparrow - Meet Owl, my (younger) brother aka Ian.

      Delete
    4. Ms Sparrow28 January 2012 at 16:08

      Aha! I just caught up with him yesterday. I shall be keeping an eye on him from now on!

      Delete
  5. Anonymous28 January 2012 at 05:52

    You put the milk in first? So shoot me!

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  6. Elaine28 January 2012 at 07:39

    Hi Janet, There is still an awful lot of snobbery about tea-making, and the milk first/last one provokes a lot of debate. Life is too short for such nonsense. I put my milk in last.

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    1. The Owl Wood28 January 2012 at 08:33

      Ye gods, woman! This is how civilisations begin to fall. Do you even cut the crusts off your toast soldiers in the morning? If not for yourself then at least for The Empire!

      Delete
    2. Elaine28 January 2012 at 08:42

      Janet - May I introduce you to Owl, my younger brother, aka Ian.

      Delete
  7. Moving with Mitchell28 January 2012 at 12:02

    Uh oh. It appears I'm going to have to tell "the servants" to stop boiling tea water in the microwave.

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    Replies
    1. Elaine28 January 2012 at 16:25

      Mitch, that's no way to talk about Jerry!
      I just can't resist reading these old books I love the little glimpses of different times, very different lives. As far as making tea goes - well you make it any way you like - there is too much nonsense written about it.x

      Delete
  8. gz29 January 2012 at 09:37

    milk was only added first to stop the English china ( a copy of the Chinese ware) cracking as it would not withstand the thermal shock from hot tea.

    Now when tea is often made in a mug instead of a teapot people are STILL putting the milk in first....and it doesn't brew properly!! You also can't take out too much milk......

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    Replies
    1. Elaine29 January 2012 at 10:03

      Hi gz, That is fascinating - at last I have the answer. Trust me to look at it from the wrong angle! Thank you for the potter's insight.

      Delete

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