Mrs. Salisbury's Stove

This week, my kitchen dearies, I’ll share a recipe. This is my most famous and most delicious beef steak pie, eaten by generations of the B---- family, made by my mother and her mother before for family and service alike. Enjoy, poppets!

For your beef steak pie

Steaks you must, of course, buy.

Only the finest of cuts

A shoulder, a loin, perhaps even butt

On a board lay them flat.

Beat them well with a pin.

Salt and pepper – add that!

To your tastes be they seasoned.

Make a good crust.

If you can’t then you must

Leave the kitchen this minute;

No fools allowed in it.

Lay that crust in a pan.

Fill with water – half full.

Place the steak in by hand.

More seas’ning! (never dull)

Add one tablespoon butter right into the dish.

(one spoonful more if you like your pie rich)

Some parsley, some thyme, added right in.

Lay down the crust, to cover the tin.

Bake one hour, or two

Depends on what size you’ve got.

Don’t dally, just chew,

It’s best while it’s hot!

The Two Strongholds

           A good and true gentleman ought to be a reflection of his house. The two ought to echo one another. Take, for example, the Gothic homes outside of London. They are much like a man of our time should be. Both are simple, yet elegant and refined on the outside. But on the inside, we find them to be simple, yet elegant and refined. And like the layout of the House, so should the mind of a man be organized. At the top of the house, at the surface, one should keep one’s family. This is the priority of any good man and the surface should reflect the health and financial well-being of the family and home. Of course, below, in the pockets (and pocketbooks) are the real matters of money, the servants, the running of the house. Those things should indeed be kept below, not visible to all who pass. After all, a good man must keep his family’s air of simple elegance intact without ever seeming like a braggart.  

My Good Position in Service

     I am a maid. That is all I am. Perhaps the only place I will ever be is in service. I like being a maid. I’m suited for the strong work. It’s a good position. My master and mistress make up a respectable family, and they are kind, if distant, people. I wouldn’t want to lose my position… but what if I left?

     I wash; I clean; I make fires; I help in the kitchen. What other jobs can there be in the world? My sister left service for a factory two years ago, and I was ashamed she would abandon a good position at a good house. But her life sounds wonderful from what she writes – or better than mine, at least. For every 80 hours a week I do of back-breaking work, she performs but a mere 56 of the same factory work over and over. My sister speaks often of her worker friends. I’m quite lonely here. There’s Cook and there’s her ladyship’s lady maid and some footmen. But this is a lonely life. I don’t know if I have a true friend. But it’s a good position. No one should leave such a good post. Right?

One Rotten Apple

I saw a rather nasty thing the other day. If I had been a Lady of the house I would've had to look away. Lucky for me, I'm just a footman so my stomach could handle it. In order to protect the identities of the good Lord and Lady and their household, I'll just say it concerns the House of D-----. A maid with a certain Napoleonic air about her conducted herself in a matter most unfit for someone of her position. From what I heard and saw, the girl was defiant of her mistress so much so that she refused to get in the carriage with the good Lady! Instead she took to walking around in the mud with not a thing on her feet like a common street urchin. It was just shameful. Just know we ain't all like that. Most of us in service is dignified and real refined!

Brown's Smelling Salts

Mrs. Salisbury's Stove

Tales, advice, recipes and tips from a House Kitchen

     Through my years in service, starting out as a kitchen maid, then the cook’s assistant, then Head Cook at a respectable House in Lincolnshire were I remain today, I’ve seen a good many things. But, if there’s one truer than true thing I can tell you, it’s that us cooks are indispensable. I can’t think of a single House – not one worth its salt anyway – without a cook. Maids come and go. Valets are out the door as soon as a gentleman learns he can dress himself. But a cook, she’s the backbone of any good House. A family’s got to eat. Can’t get anything done without eating. And the rest of a House service staff can’t run on an empty stomach either.

     We’re so indispensable, were dispensable. I once knew a woman who lost her position because she went to go see her mum on her death bed. The mistress couldn't boil water if she tried. She was clueless and sacked the cook because she was so mad. If a Lady wants to have a dinner party, she won’t get far with her guests without a skilled cook at the stove. So, all you girls, if you’re going into the noble profession of service, aim for cook. So long as nobody else goes hungry, you’ll never go hungry.

               

  Yours in cooking,

                Mrs. Salisbury