What Americans Ate for Dinner in the 1800s
Tastes in 19th-century America were generations removed from our tastes today. Vegetables weren’t generally as appreciated as they are nowadays, and vitamins were yet to be discovered as an important nutritional factor. Food was also very regional, a trend we see in modern cuisine, too, but the localization at the time was due to scarce means of transporting ingredients. Some foods from the Victorian era endure today, such as oatmeal, roast beef, tomato soup, and mayonnaise. But others might seem as strange and outmoded as the horn on a victrola. Here’s a look at some bygone dishes from the Victorian table.
Squab
Nowadays, if squab is known at all, it’s known as the meat of a meticulously raised young rock pigeon, served as a rarified poultry component of an exclusive dinner. But in the 1800s, squab was a staple protein. That’s because the squab of previous eras was a different type of pigeon, one that was among the most abundant birds in the world: the passenger pigeon. Due to its tendency to fly in massive, densely packed flocks, the passenger pigeon was extremely easy to hunt, and represented freely available meat. Prized for its tenderness and often described in terms that suggest a ducklike quality (one historical source recounts it as “darker than the dark meat of a chicken” and “entirely without strong taste”), squab was prepared just about every which way: served in stews, roasted with salt pork, fried, baked in a pie, broiled, and served on toast.
In the wake of post-Civil War advancements in communication, such as the telegraph, and transportation, such as the railroad, a large-scale pigeon industry emerged, which saw professional hunters and trappers tracking and harvesting the flocks en masse. Sadly, the resulting combination of overhunting and habitat disruption led to a catastrophic decline in the passenger pigeon population. By 1900, the birds were too scarce to hunt; by 1914 the passenger pigeon was extinct.
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Chicken Fricassee
Fricassee, a French loanword, is both the name of a dish and the cooking process used to create it. To fricassee a chicken is to first sauté it in fat, then stew it in a stock that is eventually thickened with flour. The result is a stewlike dish of tender meat in a light roux gravy. As is typical of stew and similar dishes, many variations existed: Sometimes tomatoes were added; sometimes dumplings; sometimes it was served with biscuits. The flexibility of the dish was part of what made it popular; fricassee was known to be a favorite dish of Abraham Lincoln.
Succotash
A vegetable stew that has its origins in Indigenous cookery, succotash is an Anglicization of the Narragansett word msickquatash. The classic base of succotash is the trio of produce known in agricultural circles as the "Three Sisters": corn, beans, and squash. The dish had two main variants based on the season. During spring and summer, succotash was made with fresh corn and lima or string beans, while in winter it was made with dried corn and dried white beans. Both versions were cooked with butter or pork fat, and a little milk.
In the 20th century, succotash became a common commercial canned food product, and the dish became associated with bland and overcooked cafeteria mush — a far cry from its origins as a harvest meal. As a result, succotash fell out of favor as the century progressed, but 21st-century cooks have been rediscovering the appeal of the original made-from-scratch dish.
Oysters
Today, raw oysters on the half shell are most often associated with upscale dining, but in the 19th century, oysters were a staple food, prepared in a multitude of ways. They were grilled, fried, roasted, stewed, baked in pies, even pickled. They were eaten in sandwiches, used as turkey stuffing, made into soups and sauces, or composed into dishes such as Hangtown Fry, an oyster and egg dish that, according to a 1933 cookbook, looked “like an egg pancake with oysters mixed in.” Oysters became so popular that by the late 1800s, households tended to keep specific plates for them — oyster plates had between four and six indentations in them, in order to cradle an oyster shell in place.
Because of their incredible abundance, the popularity of oysters transcended class — they were eaten by rich and poor folks alike. But oyster harvesting was not done sustainably. In New York City, which was considered the oyster capital of the world during the 19th century, pollution, landfill, and overharvesting compromised the oyster beds of New York Harbor to an extent that the oysters became inedible. The oyster beds were closed permanently by 1927.
Turtle
In the 1800s, turtle meat was a protein most often associated with upper-class dining. Preparation for turtle and terrapin was labor intensive — Maude C. Cook’s 1887 cookbook Three Meals a Day contains directions for the laborious process, which required removing the shell. In part because of the difficult preparation, turtle was rarely eaten at home; the meat was most commonly served in a banquet setting. Another reason was the sheer size of the turtles, which averaged between 50 and 300 pounds. The typical preparation of turtle was in turtle soup, considered a delicacy throughout the 1800s.
Over time, overharvesting led to the endangerment and near-extinction of the terrapin, and Prohibition made it difficult to get sherry, which was considered an essential seasoning ingredient for turtle soup. While the popularity of turtle waned during the 1920s, it recovered after World War II, only to mostly disappear by the dawn of the 21st century.
Baked Beans and Brown Bread
Brown bread was a steamed puddinglike loaf made from rye, wheat, and molasses. Mainly popular in New England, the bread was an affordable food that took advantage of lower prices for rye and wheat in that region. Brown bread was prepared by steaming it in a can, which resulted in a cylindrical shape, and it was served sliced into rounds. Baked beans were the traditional accompaniment, and had been since colonial times. Though it’s rarely seen in other parts of the U.S., the dish is still a popular food in New England today.
