Food traditions in the 1700s- the difference between farmers and the poor and b y- and fine people was great!
"Det egerske kiøkken" anno 1784
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When parish priest Hans Strøm in 1784 published his description of practically all aspects of the Eiker and the Eikværings, he was of course also in the dining room, in the chapter on «Houses, Husgeraad and Huus -lige Oeconomie». Unfortunately, the learned professor does not write much about this everyday subject, and he notes that "their food and drink are far inferior to what one should conclude from their Huusgeraad and Klædedragt".
Farmers and the poor
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Breakfast
Bread and Liquor.
Oat flatbread. The spirits were grain spirits from Denmark or Germany
Possibly
Herring, possibly whey butter / whey cheese / other cheese for example pult cheese on bread (oat flatbread)
Dinner
Porridge of all kinds. Ie. oatmeal on water for the poorest, ever-increasing amounts of barley or wheat in gruel with milk for the finer
For finer occasions : (for example Sundays or similar) peas and cabbage, some meat, and maybe a root mash of for example white cabbage.
But this was only for those who had a farm with enough animals to slaughter and land good enough for a garden plot. Oatmeal on water was still the most common
Urban and fine people
Breakfast
Breakfast was usually sourdough bread baked
with rye. The yeast was brewer's yeast.
Cold cuts were meat cut into thin slices, herring and cheese, probably of the pult cheese type.
Drinks were wine, coffee (with a lot of sugar) and finally brandy.
Dinner
Soup, either of meat (preferably game), fish, vegetables, or all. Fried meat. The vegetables were usually stews or mashed potatoes made with cream and flavored with different kinds of spices. Pea stew and cauliflower puree. The meat dish was followed by game, never less than two varieties.
Dessert
in the summer there were large quantities of all kinds of fruit, except peaches which did not thrive in Norway, as well as sweet cakes.
Right after dinner there was coffee and at six o'clock there was tea.
At nine o'clock it was time again for a larger meal. It was almost as extensive as dinner, and consisted of about the same dishes, albeit with perhaps even greater variety in the meat, fish and vegetables.
In 1994, Roar Dege published the book Christopher Hammer: Norsk Kogebog, 1793: some glimpses of the Minister of Justice, his contemporaries and his kitchen. at Hammers embetsgård Melbostad is the focus of the book, and Hammer takes readers on tours of glass and ironworks, anchovy factories and sugar houses, to East India's spices and Dutch porcelain.
A separate chapter deals with music, with notes, lyrics and examples of dance descriptions.
Christopher Blix Hammer was a Norwegian official, scientist, swindler and author, known as "the father of aquavit".
