Literary Feast  ·  Read the passage. Cook the meal.
A bill of fare

The bitter tea of General Yen

by Grace Zaring Stone

THE BITTER TEA OF GENERAL GRACE ZARING STONE
Our binding, not the publisher's

“"What would you like to eat?" the lady asked. "We can give you some foreign food. Would you like ham and eggs and some fried potatoes and toast? We can give you coffee too, if you prefer it to tea."”

From a cookbook of 1852

A cook of roughly the same moment, setting down the same dish.

1852  ·  Francatelli
TEAS AND COFFEES IN ENGLAND

* * * * * GOOD STRONG USEFUL CONGOU, 2s. 6d., 2s. 8d., 2s. 10d., 3s., and 3s. 4d. PURE COFFEES, 1s., 1s. 2d., 1s. 4d., 1s. 6d. _A PRICE-CURRENT FREE._ Pure Preserving and other Sugars at Market Prices. * * * * * ALL GOODS SENT CARRIAGE FREE WITHIN EIGHT MILES OF LONDON. Teas and Coffees _Carriage Free_ to all England, if to value of 40s. * * * * * PHILLIPS AND COMPANY, TEA MERCHANTS, KING WILLIAM STREET, CITY, LONDON, E.C.

Sources: The passage is from Grace Zaring Stone, The bitter tea of General Yen, free to read in full at Project Gutenberg. The recipe is from Francatelli, A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes of 1852, also free in full. Both are in the public domain in the United States. The binding above is ours — moss cloth, boar stamp.

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