Regency Dish: Cafe au Lait

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Café au Lait Milk Coffee Requires two spoonsful of coffee to every cupful of water and is made as Café Noir only of double the strength many receipts are given with directions to boil milk and coffee together but to such as know any thing of extracting essences surely milk or cream will not appear a fit vehicle and the French know better The cream and milk are boiled and served separately and mixed as the taste of the drinker directs No foreigner would taste milk coffee made of half an ounce of coffee boiled in a pint of milk which is not the fourth of the strength they drink it as the measure with them is one pound of coffee to sixteen cups a third is saved by boiling the grounds to be put into the next making See the foregoing account This article shall be finished with a paragraph from Death in the Pot which ought to be in every house keeper's hands as hourly experience teaches that no ex posure will intimidate the hardy from imposition Advice given by a retired grocer to a friend at no dis tant period Never my good friend he said purchase from a grocer any thing which passes through his mill you know not what you get instead of the article you ex pect to receive Coffee pepper and allspice are all mixed with substances which detract from their own natural qualities
Persons keeping mills of their own cannot at all times prevent these impositions for that is not sufficient as substances are imitated even in grain and nothing but chipping and the use of a magnifying glass can detect them Pounded sugar candy and fine Brazil sugar ought to be served with coffee This also ought to be pounded at home and mixed together which the grocers not only do but mix with them the refuse of the candy boxes The sugar candy is seldom in fine enough powder which is not to be regretted so much for economy as the disappointment of the drinker The coffee in England being generally served so cold that although it melts loaf sugar it loses the relish in the mawkish half heat L. (1827). Domestic Economy, and Cookery: For Rich and Poor; Containing an Account of the Best English, Scotch, French, Oriental, and Other Foreign Dishes; Preparations of Broths and Milks for Consumption; Receipts for Sea-faring Men, Travellers, and Children’s Food : Together with Estimates and Comparisons of Dinners and Dishes …. United Kingdom: Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green.

I had to share because the anecdote was interesting to me. And also the throw away comment about coffee being served too cold in England.

 

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