Domestic bliss - 18thC style...Pig's Ears, Dung and Musk!

Ah! They were the good old days!

A best selling book in 1742, written by Eliza Smith, has been found and is coming up for auction soon, according to The Times Newspaper today.

Since us "oldies" often cop for criticism (and banter) on SF about reminiscing about "the good old days", I thought this article may interest you.

TimesOnline today

 

She was the Nigella Lawson of her day, a wide-ranging life-style goddess who preached to the upper-class ladies of the mid-18th century.

 

But some of the recipes of Eliza Smith would be hard to follow today, as many of her ingredients, like burnt bees, pure musk and sheep dung are not often in stock, even at the larger branches of Waitrose.

 

When first published in London in 1742, Mrs Smith’s The Compleat Housewife Or Accomplish’d Gentlewoman’s Companion became an instant bestseller and ran into at least five editions. An American edition, the first cookbook to be published in the colonies, followed four years later as a guide to English fashion for Virginia’s ladies of taste.

 

On recipes for cooking:-

same source

 

Not all of Mrs Smith’s recipes would appeal to the modern delicate palate. To please a hungry husband she advocates a meal of sliced cows’ feet, or a ragoo of pig’s ear garnished with barberries. Pigs’ ears (dried, mercifully) are now generally confined to dogfood but the barberry, a sharp-tasting fruit, is still used in Middle Eastern cooking, where it is known as zereshk.

 

On recipes for Cosmetics:-

same source

 

For a perfect complexion, try Mrs Smith’s preferred potion: “Wash your face in goose egg and water. Add three spoonfuls of milk to keep your face smooth and plump.”

 

Or perhaps you have a scald mark on your hand after slaving over a hot stove with the pigs’ ears. “Take a pound of hog’s lard and two handfuls of sheep dung, boil to an ointment, add a bit of an onion and white of an egg. In less than a week it will work well.”

 

Or a cure for male baldness:-

same source

 

Gentlemen are not forgotten; Mrs Smith has a sovereign remedy for male baldness.

 

“Take two ounces of boar’s grease, one dram of the ashes of burnt bees, one dram of the ashes of Southernwood, one dram of the juice of the white lily root, one dram of oil of sweet almonds and six drams of pure musk. According to the art, make an ointment of these. And, the day before the full moon, shave the place and anoint it every day with this ointment.”

 

You see, us oldies on SF know the values of the "old tymes", it's just that we remain reluctant to let you young 'uns know our secrets!

I ask you, is it any wonder you say we're smelly, bad-tempered and barmy?

Full Article

Gentlemen are not forgotten; Mrs Smith has a sovereign remedy for male baldness.

 

“Take two ounces of boar’s grease, one dram of the ashes of burnt bees, one dram of the ashes of Southernwood, one dram of the juice of the white lily root, one dram of oil of sweet almonds and six drams of pure musk. According to the art, make an ointment of these. And, the day before the full moon, shave the place and anoint it every day with this ointment.”

I've been using this technique for years. Hasn't everyone?