Brass Kettles

Brass kettles and their Care© « Thehistoricfoodie's Blog

1 copper kettle, 1 old brass kettle, 1 brass pott, 3 brass candlesticks, 1 brass skillitt, 1 small brass mortar and pestle, 1 brass skimmer, 1 brass spoone, 3 old iron potts, 1 small iron pott, 3 pesites, 1 frying pan, 2 spitts, 2 pair of... , a great brass kettle, lesser kettle, little kettle, and a little brass kettle, with 2 brass posnets, 4 ladles, 3 skimmers, and four candlesticks, all brass. Brass kettles were used for most sorts of foods, but specific accounts of what was prepared in brass kettles include meat, pickles, vegetables, soup, jams and jellies, and large brass kettles were used for evaporating salt, melting tallow for... Henry Ward Beecher, mother of Harriet Beecher Stowe and cookbook author Catherine Beecher, said her family had always used a brass kettle and never seen any injurious effects from it.   She told her readers that brass kettles had to be kept... Other brass utensils found in those early records included brass mortar and pestles, a brass box with pot hooks [1694], cullenders [colanders], strainers, ladles, dripping pans, shivers and [stop]cocks (a hand operated valve or faucet), boilers,... It is a great mistake to use vinegar and salt in cleaning a brass kettle, as the corrosion of the acid turns it black as soon as set aside.   With this care a brass kettle may be used daily, even in a damp climate, for boiling vegetables…and without anything more than a “rub-over” with ashes every day or two, present a shining yellow face the year in and year out. My mother always used a brass kettle. One inventory included a brass kettle weighing 31 lbs. The use of copper or brass cookware which does not have a tin lining is considered by many unsafe today and even when it was in common use was questioned by some in the preparation of acidic foods. century for a small brass pot averaged 10 to 14 shillings and smaller ones from 2 shillings 8 pence to 6 shillings 8 pence.   It was a common practice to make cucumber pickles in brass or copper pots because the vinegar reacted with the metal and made the pickles greener than when made in iron pots. To clean it properly, after washing it out with a cloth and warm water, put into the kettle a large tea-cupful of vinegar and a large tea-spoonful of salt and hang it over the fire. About two miles from West Liberty Town I passed by Probe’s Furnace, a foundry established by a Frenchman from Alsace, who manufactures all kinds of vessels in copper and brass, the largest containing about 200 pints, which are sent to Kentucky and... and then take it off, dip in a clean rag, and wash the whole inside of the kettle thoroughly with the salt and vinegar.   When a kettle is thoroughly cleaned, no harm comes from its use so long as it is kept over the fire. Esther Singleton studied Colonial era estate inventories at the turn of the 20 century and wrote that those documents showed a great deal of pewter, brass, and copper in the South. with this scour briskly your brass which, like all metals, will take a high polish more readily if warm.   These kettles should be kept always clean, that they may be ready for use at any time they are wanted.   So also should every vessel of brass or copper....