Kettner's Book of the Table

Every food on the Victorian table gets its history, its etymology and a strong opinion — the wittiest cookery book of 1877, written in secret by a Times leader-writer and named for London's most fashionable restaurant.

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11 entries in this part of Kettner's Book of the Table.

Walnut

When an Englishman thinks of a nut, it is the filbert or the cobnut which comes most readily into his fancy: walnut is to him what its name…

Welsh Rabbit

Let the Welsh tell their own tale in the words of Lady Llanover :- "Welsh toasted cheese and the melted cheese of England are as different…

Wheatears

OR FALLOWCHAT, is a pleasant little bird which is found to be very satisfactory at the end of the Lordon season, while we are still waiting…

Whey

"The whey of milk is the opalescent liquor from which the curd has been removed in making cheese. Although not highly nutritious, it still…

White

The use of this word is so frequent in cookery Whitebait that though it has been many times explained, it may be well to define it here…

Whitebait

Our ignorance of whitebait is odd. The controversies that have arisen as to whence the whitebait comes are as interminable, curious and…

White Wine Sauce

Strictly speaking there is really no such distinct sauce. The phrase, however, is a convenient one for the mode of working up the liquor in…

Whiting

When we think of a whiting we generally see in vision a little fish golden-brown from the frying-pan, with his tail in his mouth-the symbol…

Widgeon

It will not do to inquire too curiously into the food of all the animals we eat. It may be painful to reflect that the hogs of Montanches…

Woodcock

The muse has sung the praises of the woodcock in the following exalted strain :- If partridge had the woodcock's thighs, 'Twould be the…

Woodsorrel

That this trefoil is the shamrock which excited the devotional feelings of St. Patrick when he landed in Ireland, is shown by the fact that…

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