Ghosts of Kitchens Past & Present

Hello there!

I've been busy working and unable to get to blogging lately.

But I ran across an article on kitchens and kitchen design on Economist.com that I just HAD to share.
It's quite a read, but kitchen aficionados won't mind.

The article, Downstairs Upstairs, by ??? (whoever it is, they are English and did a lot of good research), is a lengthy history of kitchens from the days of Henry XIII to the present; as well as a look at kitchens around the world today.

Some excerpts:

"Royalty ran them on an industrial scale. Henry VIII extended the Tudor kitchens at Hampton Court Palace into 55 rooms, covering over 3,000 square feet (280 square metres). These included the great kitchen, privy kitchen, cellar, larder, pantry, buttery, ewery, saucery, chaundry, spicery, poultery and victualling house."

"No corner of the kitchen escaped Catharine Beecher's critical eye, nor the precision of her advice. She recommended the construction of cupboards, shelves and drawers adapted to each sort of utensil. She favoured a work-table with built-in drawers, in order “to save many steps”."

"Many contemporary ideas about kitchen design can be traced back to another American, Christine Frederick, who set about enhancing the efficiency of the housewife. Her 1919 work, “Household Engineering: Scientific Management in the Home”, and her articles for the Ladies Home Journal on radical notions such as “Suppose our servants didn't live with us?”, were based on detailed observation of a housewife's daily routine."


Enjoy!
And Happy Holidays to ALL!

Peggy

Chocolate Maida cake - A Sweet

My sister and her 4 yr old daughter Gauri came from Gurgaon to spend a week with us. Her Kerala visit is after 5 years. I was busy for the one week she stayed with us. My brother-in-law likes this sweet very much and wanted me to send them through her. So on the day of her return, I prepared this.

Maida - 1 cup

Coco powder - 1 tablespoon

Sugar - 2 cups

Oil / Ghee - 3/4 cup ( I used 1/2cup of oil and rest ghee)

Water - almost a cup

Preparation
Seive maida and coco powder together so that they get mixed well.

Take a kadai. Add sugar and water and make sugar syrup of one string consistency.

Add the maida,coco mixture with out forming lumps.

When maida gets mixed with the syrup, add ghee little by little. This step willl take about 10 minutes.

When the mixture starts to leave the sides, transfer to a greased plate.

Allow it to cool for 10 minutes. Then cut into desired shape

I used twice the quantities mentioned here

More Retro Stuff

Retro Renovation has some great new images of 1948 kitchens today.





















And a commenter, TomorrowWindy, left a link to a PRICELESS video on kitchen design back in the formative years.

You’ve likely seen it, but here’s a fabulous video from the 1950s about the “Step-Saving Kitchen.”

Peggy