Food in the
Servants’ Hall
A Typical Servants’ Hall Weekly Menu
Sunday roast beef, potatoes, plum pudding
Monday meat pies, vegetables, simnel cake
Tuesday leg of mutton, vegetables, apple pudding
Wednesday boiled beef and cabbage, porter cake
Thursday pea soup, steak and kidney pie, rice
pudding
Friday Irish stew, fruit pudding
Saturday leg of mutton, vegetables, apple tart
Breakfast: porridge,
bacon and eggs, or bread with a slice of cold meat pie; fish occasionally
Supper: cold meat,
bread, pudding and leftovers from the Lord’s table
Breakfast
Servants
had to be well fed to endure long working hours. The first meal of the
day for the servants was breakfast, which was eaten at 8am in the servants’
hall or at the kitchen table. By this point in the morning, all but the
highest ranking staff had done a morning’s work and were undoubtedly ravenous.
In most wealthy houses, food for servants was abundant, if somewhat below
the standard served ‘upstairs’. For breakfast, the servants ate bread
and meat, the meat carved by the cook from the previous day’s roast or
served in a slice of cold pie. Alternatively, they ate porridge, followed
by bacon and eggs. In the 18th century, servants drank beer
with breakfast, a practice which continued in some houses into the 19th
century. |
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Meat
pie (Mrs Beeton)
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Tea and sugar remained expensive in the mid-19th
century, and were not always supplied by the mistress. If servants were not
given a tea and sugar allowance, they reused the tea leaves from the pots
served upstairs. Tea was, of course, poured by the cook, as a mark of her
seniority in the kitchen.
Dinner
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The servants
had their dinner at midday, in contrast to the family’s lunch served at one. This midday-meal consisted
of roast or boiled meat served with vegetables, followed by a dessert
of apple tart, plum pudding, or cake. In the absence of safe clean drinking
water, dinner was washed down with beer, which also provided valuable
nutrients. An allowance of three pints a day for men, and one or two
pints for women was usual.
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Roast
beef (Mrs Beeton)
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The
servants ate their main meal in the servants’ hall, after which the upper
servants retired to the housekeeper’s room for dessert and wine. Dinner was
a solemn affair, presided over by the housekeeper and butler. Dinner was laid
on the table by the cook, while the beer was drawn by the first footman or
under-butler. Before grace, the butler carved the meat while the housekeeper
or cook served the vegetables. In some houses, when the butler lowered his
knife and fork the meal was officially over, so if the butler was a fast eater,
the rest were forced to keep pace! When the senior staff retired to the housekeeper’s
room, the lower servants remained for dessert, breathing a sigh of relief,
no doubt, as the main meal had been served in near silence, the butler and
housekeeper monitoring the conversation. With the upper servants gone, the
rest could talk freely without watching their Ps and Qs.
In
the servants’ hall, the hierarchy of the servant world was strictly enforced.
Servants entered and left the hall in strict order of rank: lower servants
trooped into the hall first, remaining standing until their superiors
were seated. Seating was also decided by status, and naturally the housekeeper
and butler sat at the head of the table. The cook sat to the right of
the housekeeper, the lady’s maid to her left, while at the opposite end,
the coachman and first footman had pride of place next to the butler.
When guests were staying, their servants also ate in the servants’ hall,
and the usual order of seating was altered according to their rank (and
the rank of their mistress or master). |
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Boiled
neck of mutton with caper sauce
(Mrs Beeton)
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If the Earl of Portarlington entertained
a Duke, for example, (as in 1876), his first footman gave up his seat to the
first footman of the Duke. Serving was also done in order of rank, with the
lowest ranking servant served last.
In
some houses, the servants ate almost as well as their employers and shared
some of the same courses – at Longleat in England for example, servants enjoyed sumptuous four
course dinners. More commonly, however, the servants ate simply, with roast
mutton, veal or Irish stew as standard fare, sometimes alternating with fish.
At Abbeyleix, for example, large quantities of herrings
were bought regularly for the servants’ hall. There, one wonders if the ‘poor
veal for broth’ (the side, head and feet) which often appears in the account
books ended up in the servants’ hall too. Certainly, poor veal was served
up to seasonal workers such as shearers (who were also provided with bread
and beer or whiskey). Meat was served with seasonal vegetables, drawn fresh
from the gardens, and was lavishly smothered in sauce. Cooked meat which was
not used up at dinner generally reappeared for the servants’ supper and breakfast.
Five O’clock
Tea and Supper
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Five
o’clock
tea was the most relaxed meal of the day, for unless there had been
a special lunch upstairs, many of the servants would have had an hour’s
rest beforehand. Like the afternoon tea served to the family, the servants’
tea was accompanied by bread and homemade cakes.
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Simnel
cake (Mrs Beeton)
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Supper
was generally a simple meal of cold meat and rice or suet pudding. In most
houses, however, servants supplemented the food given to them with leftovers
from meals served upstairs, and supper was often made up of such leftovers.
The array of mouth-watering dishes served to the family for lunch and dinner
must have whetted the servants’ appetites enormously. While the inexperienced
maid was disappointed when dish after tasty dish returned to the kitchen almost
untouched, as the family and their guests paced their way through a five or
seven course meal, the experienced servant licked his lips at the prospect
of a more exciting supper!
Thus, servants might
pick at cold chicken, venison, or pheasant, or taste delicacies which they
would never have had access to at home. They also enjoyed occasional treats
of ices and soufflés or other items which could not keep after a dinner party.
Such treats were a rare luxury, otherwise reserved for the special occasion
that was the annual servants’ ball.
Food at the Servants’ Ball
The
servants’ ball at Emo
Court
was an annual event under the 3rd Earl of Portarlington and
this tradition was continued by his successors. Although we have no record
of the food served at these events, lists of food and spirits bought for
such events at other grand houses give us some indication. While the servants’
ball was a special day for many reasons, allowing servants to socialise,
dance, and be merry, it was also no doubt, the culinary highlight of their
year. |
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http://karenswhimsy.com/public-domain-images
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At
the 1892 ball at Emo, the servants’ hall was elaborately decorated for the
occasion and a sumptuous supper was served. At such events, beef or pork dishes
came with rich, creamy sauces, while seasonal favourites such as roast goose,
turkey stuffed with chestnuts, or spiced ox tongue were served along with
vegetables, pies and tarts. This was followed by a dessert of jelly, blancmange,
water-ices, sorbets or rich fruit cake served with cream. A
large bowl of punch laced with gin or whiskey and perhaps garnished with home-grown
fruit may have served for refreshment. At Abbeyleix,
for example, the household accounts include entries of whiskey bought ‘for
servants’ punch’.
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In 1892,
on that special night at Emo, the refreshments were served in the billiards
room, a room usually reserved for the family. The rich food and drink
supplied at the servants’ ball provided a welcome change from the usual
fare served to servants, allowing them for one brief moment to live
like ‘them upstairs’.
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Elaborate
fruit jelly (Mrs Beeton)
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