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"Boy what day is this? "
"Why Christmas day sir, but I'm a girl! "
"Sorry I've just woke up. The spirits have shown me the error of my ways."
"They didn't tell you to be careful about misgendering trans people then?"
"This is 1843, anyone that say they're the opposite sex is often locked away in a mental institution."
"Oh, ok then. Before you say anything about the prize turkey. You do realize that it will take hours to pluck and prepare a bird like that. Even then most poor people had to pay to use a bakers oven to cook anything like that. They'll be luck to eat it on boxing day."
"Well that's ruined that surprise then."
Scrooge didn't misgender btw. This is the original
“What’s to-day, my fine fellow?” said Scrooge.
“To-day!” replied the boy. “Why, Christmas Day.”
“It’s Christmas Day!” said Scrooge to himself. “I haven’t missed it. The Spirits have done it all in one night. They can do anything they like. Of course they can. Of course they can. Hallo, my fine fellow!”
“Hallo!” returned the boy.
“Do you know the Poulterer’s, in the next street but one, at the corner?” Scrooge inquired.
“I should hope I did,” replied the lad.
“An intelligent boy!” said Scrooge. “A remarkable boy! Do you know whether they’ve sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?—Not the little prize Turkey: the big one?”
Comments
Uh
Most homes had an earthen oven outside made out of clay, straw/grass and sand. More influential people have indoor fireplace hearths where cooking was done. The rich had servants with brick ovens and stuff in basement with a separate set of stairs going from attic to basement.
Earthen ovens didn’t last very long and had to be rebuilt. Still one of the best ways to cook bread.
The poor didn’t have turkey, duck, or roasted foul of any type as it was illegal. Christmas dinner was bread and meat stew. Meat being whatever was available. Rat, wild chicken(which didn’t count as foul for some odd reason), rabbit/hare, skunk, weasel. Kind of a surprise feast for the poor. But it was meat stew.
Some of the meals ww1 cooks made for troops followed same lines. Wars tend to drive off animals so meals are a real issue. The sailors ate better than ground troops. Boiled cat tail reeds was actually a thing for those in war zone. You can survive on it but it’s not the best and too much will make you sick. Tree roots was also a thing for poor. Eg here in Canada there is a recipe for boiled spruce root. Another recipe for cat tail pie. Note made from sugary root.
China has recipes for bamboo, the inside of the weed(apparently it’s not a tree but a weed).
The United States has a recipe for the sapwood of a certain tree.
Interesting stuff Tels, but
Interesting stuff Tels, but not sure why you think eating Turkey or goose was illegal . Dickens says that the Cratchits ate a goose. I found this on the history of eating turkey.
"By the 19th Century, however, turkey had an esteemed culinary status in the UK, when it was beloved of the upper and middle classes as a quality food, says food historian Ivan Day. "
It is illegal to eat swan in the UK, as it was a "royal bird". Now a protected species.
Geese were used in huge quantities sisnce the middle ages. Their feathers were used to fetch arrows. Strangly enough Christmas Carol helped the turkey replace goose for Christmas dinner in the UK
1843
The popularisation of turkey at Christmas happened after its appearance in literature. It featured in Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol (1843), when Scrooge sends Bob Cratchit a huge turkey on Christmas Day to replace his goose.
Leeanna
Just going by history
Depending on the age things were not available to peasants. You had to be “middle class” to get certain things.
In this case I was referencing the cooking people did. Earthen ovens outside were peasant, indoor hearths were middle class, and indoor stoves were rich class in basements all done by servants.
Dickens tale takes place during the steam age. Houses didn’t have insulation and depending on area, we’re mainly heated with coal fired stoves(thin cylinder things that generally couldn’t boil much water) hearths were more common in homes for heating via either wood or peat. Rich homes had gravity syphon boilers with gas lighting.
The. Crotchets would not have baked a bird in a pan. Spit over the hearth fire with these neat little contraptions for turning the bird. Cooked over wood or peat as coal was too expensive. Wood crates were quite common and easy to find broken in certain areas.
Between 1600s and 1850…ish hunting and getting a water foul bird was not allowed for those of lesser means, aka licensed, and therefore illegal. They had to pay for a bird, which many could not afford, so other meats were used. One of reasons the black plague took hold so quickly among others. The duck punt was a boat developed specifically for huntering water foul. Now the punt is an accomplished racing dingy.
As …polished as society in uk was at the time of dickens story it was much harsher than told. Everything was usually covered in soot. The gap between middle class and rich was huge.
Peasant class worked in labor houses, or factories. Childbirth was uncontrolled. Middle class worked in offices, such as crotchet, and barely knew math or how to read and write. Medical care cost lots and was mainly use of narcotics to relieve pain.
The rich owned the factories and work houses, the younger men doing most of the daily work involved with profits. Nobles were entertained to gain favor. In some cases the rich lavishly spent on trappings to entertain nobles and appear more affluent than they were.
Loss of the colonies was still very much a sore point. Prior to 1900 it was generally referred to as the colonies instead of America. The navies of the USA and uk were…at odds.
Most people don’t see it but steel was not commonplace till about 1910. Prior to that many ships were still wood covered by wrought iron and most steel was used for trains and boiler systems for steam engines. They could produce steel in larger quantities but the rolling mills really changed the availability of steel. Ww1 was possible due to mass availabilities of good steel and navies built bigger and badder battleships.
I can go on and on but I’ll stop here.
Interesting stuff.
Interesting stuff.
Where I live in Hertford there is a place called Berchley Green in the middle of town. It was Butcherley green in the past , a place of grinding poverty, where they butchered animals. There was 1 toilet for around 50 people. They used to complain of rats biting babies. The sewers were full of rats attracted by the waste from the butchers. It flooded often filling the street with raw sewage and rotting waste.
In the 19th century a large extent of the town’s housing was very poor. There were two outbreaks of cholera in 1832 and 1849 which badly affected the crowded courts and yards in the town centre. After a public health report in 1850, a sanitary committee was established. Work to improve sanitation was immediate but the added problem was overcrowding. In some cases, there were eight or more people sleeping in a small room.
The report revealed the state of the town nd the terrible conditions in which people were living:- “…cesspools under human dwellings and the effluvium so offensive that parties could not occupy their lower rooms; dung-heaps, foul water, excrement soaking into houses, soil from privies soaked into wells,accumulation of offal from slaughterhouses…”. Not surprisingly, disease was widespread. The town hall’s response was that it was a not a parish surveyor’s duty to clean the highway, only to maintain it. A ditch in Ware road was used as a common sewer to the gaol and was a source of malaria. Typhus was common and there was a fatal case of cholera at Providence Court in Railway Street.
It was realised that this could be remedied by improving the water supply, drainage and cleansing the streets. Two men were paid 9s per week to cleanse the streets and remove filth in barrows. Providence Court had 16 houses, lived in by 68 people who shared 4 privies over one cesspool. (Ironically, the site of the court is now a group of new houses in a courtyard style called Providence Place). Many landlords refused to acknowledge the problem. Lord Salisbury of Hatfield House was the largest owner of cottages in the town and several complaints were made against him, especially about the sub-standard privies his tenants were using. They were basically tubs on wheels and the sewage was emptied into the river. He was invited to inspect his cottages to see for himself but said he was too busy. A landlord named Mr Kimpton owned a few cottages without sufficient sanitation but was not prepared to share his toilet with anyone. At a Board of Health meeting, he said: “I have a privy for my own use, to which I allow no-one else to go. I carry the key in my pocket. I am very particular about that. I think it has not been emptied for 20 years.”
It's a shopping centre now. In the 70's I used to visit Petticoat lane market in central London. The colour of most of the buildings was grey and Black. I moved away until the lated 90's . When I came back they had cleaned most of it up. A lot of building are made of portland stone, which is a sandy brown colour. They were cleaning up Westminster clock tower (Big Ben is just the name of the bell, not the tower of clock). I never knew that the real colour should be sandy brown not black, until then. It was due to 100's of years of coal, then later coke.(semi smokeless coal.)
Leeanna
In all the movies
In every Christmas Carol movies I've seen the boy comes back with the butcher packing a fully dress (plucked and gutted) bird. It would require only roasting. The real question is would the Cratchits have the roasting pan and oven or even enough experience to cook such a big bird.
It didn't seem to bother Dicken's so maybe they could have managed.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Hi Patricia, I saw the George
Hi Patricia, I saw the George C Scott version today(for the 10th time) That one has the huge bird, feathers and all.
I'm not sure if butchers in Engand in the 19th century sold pre-plunked birds or not?
My mothers old cottage had hooks in the basement for hanging game. It was around 300 years old.
Leeanna