The the milk jug, the tea pot and dripping pot and the butter dish

Its very strange how things go out of fashion.  I always remember that as a child there were always four items that were in constant use.  The first was the milk jug or jugs that were kept (if you did not have a fridge and many people did not then) the milk in your cold pantry  on the cold slab(most houses had pantries then).  The milk jugs were usually topped off with a little cover to stop any unnecessaries getting into them.  I remember the ones we had were white a very tall one and a smaller one.  Sadly the large jugs went out of common usage once more people obtained refrigerators to keep their foodstuffs cold.  They used to be ideal for popping the bottle of milk into especially if the milk had been outside in the cold snow and the milk had developed top hats of ice bursting through the foil lid and sticking up proud of the milk bottle.

Secondly, the teapot was on the go on and off all day.  Most were strategically covered in a tea cosy to extract as much tea as one could out of the tea leaves whilst still warm (tea leaves were the only thing back then - no tea bags they are a modern thing) and most people had a brown ceramic tea pot.  Since the arrival of the tea bag however most people tend to dunk their tea bags in their mugs or cups.  I must say that I prefer proper tea leaves and a proper tea pot.  I have a large pot for when I have visitors and a smaller one for my own use as well as tea leaves.  However OH prefers the tea bags - personally by choice I would not give them house room.  I prefer the traditional way.  Its strange how things stay with you.  It was always a bit of a ceremony preparing the tea.

Thirdly, the dripping pot. Long stoneware columns that were used to store any dripping or fat from cooking. Mum and Nan always had these from when they cooked large joints of meat and any fat left over used to be strained into the dripping pots.  Pork dripping was never rendered down but just used as and often spread on bread or used as the starter for making fresh gravy.  Something that I still do however mum used to strain the fat from beef or lamb and the white creamy fat would be used to grease the frying pan or do the roasties in.  Nowadays people would go ughh but its the way things used to be done and it does produce a good result especially with pork dripping or goose and duck fat which most people buy in jars off the shelf these days. 

Finally, the butter dish.  The butter dish was in constant use with its cover.  I only remember ours ever being plain glass to keep the butter nice and cold and to keep any flies or insects off.  It used to be a constant visitor to the tea table but less so these days when everything tends to be pre-prepared and just placed on the table.

I have always used a butter dish and at one stage had two on the go one for butter the other for a spread; but I do not use a spread now.  Both were glass and relatively inexpensive and I have had them for years that is until they got broken one after the other.  So on my way I went looking for a suitable butter dish and I have been unable to find a plain glass one like the ones I broke at all and so have ended up with this one which I am not sure about either. Its not glass but it looks cheerful enough but I would prefer a glass one, although I will use it until I am able to source another one if at all.

So can you remember using the above or is it something that you have never come across.  If anyone does know of a good source of a glass butter dish do tell and share as glass is my material of choice.  Otherwise I will have to keep my eye open in the charity shop but so far I have not seen one there either.


Catch you later.

Pattypan

x

Comments

  1. Hi patty, I do not remember a dripping bowl, but my great grandmother always had a little milk jug that had a flip top and was in constant use on the breakfast tahle ( I have this now) I use a butter dish all the time mine is a round ceramic one I don't know where you would find a glass one.
    love fluffy x

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    1. Thank you Maria. I have a set of jugs that were used for custard and the like but the big milk jugs I think mum jumbled them. I have a couple of ornate ones more for the tea table but with having cats in the house I need a covered butter dish as they are quite adept at winkling their way into places they should not be. I will have to keep my eyes open. Hope you are keeping well.

      Tricia xx

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  2. Hi we have got a dripping jar, but we call it the fat bowl LOL !!!! also a butter dish.l have seen some glass ones in charity shop s sometimes,good luck in finding one.
    I love all the country diary bits.We collect all mismatched blue and white China for our kitchen diner.Also l collect fairies, angels,materials and craft bits from all sorts of sources and novels from charity shop s but I do recycle those!!

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    1. Hi Yvonne, I love that you call it the fat bowl. Different areas different names. I will have to persist in scouring the charity shops for one. I have been in Wilkinons today but they did not have a glass one. How lovely that you collect mis-matched blue. I have sorts of lots of different colections. I am particularly fond o the country diary bits and bobs too. I collect Enchantica and I also have some Paint box poppet fairies, dragons, goblins, witches Lord of the Rings collection etc. etc. I also have lots of craft stuff. Oh dear are we estranged twins! I also recycle paperbacks every so often too. Hope you are keeping well and have recovered from your little blip. Take care lovely to see you over here. Pattypan xx

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  3. Yes, there was a dripping bowl in the kitchen and my mother always cooked chips in dripping, but perhaps this was a northern thing? She was a Lancashire lass but we moved as a family to Devon in 1951 when I was a child. I never liked butter and was very glad when soft spreads came on the market - I found butter just too, well, buttery! Yes, milk went into a jug which was kept in a bowl of water to try and keep it cool in days before we had a fridge. And I still prefer loose tea but buy bags simply because they're easier - my favourite tea drink is one bag of Twining's Earl Grey to one bag of Lifeboat (Indian) tea.
    I don't know about other things that we now don't use, but there are many things which have disappeared from the market which I liked: Vitbe bran buns; Shippham's anchovy paste (Gentleman's Relish, the posh version, isn't half as nice!); Huntley and Palmer's Breakfast Biscuits; Cyclax Skin Soap (in it's purple and silver wrapper); Elizabeth Arden's fragrance, Memoire Cherie; Revlon's Aquarmarine lotion.
    Margaret P

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    1. Hi Margaret, we always had chips fried in beef dripping as well; my family are predominantly from the Lincoln area but on my paternal grandfather's side London too. I have never heard of the combination of tea you have just described. It sounds like a very aromatic cuppa. I remember vitbee buns, and the anchovy paste which I was not keen on and I certainly did not like Gentleman' relish. I am not keen on anchovies at all. Sadly I loved Elizabeth Ardens perfumes but my skin is too acidic and does not make the perfumes smell as nice as they should. Its about the only brand of perfume I cannot wear mores the pity. Never mind. Hope you are okay. take care pattypanx

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  4. I bought a lovely plain glass one in Quality Discount stores last autumn [about £4 I think] It works either way up too. It is not in their current online catalogue but if you have a QD near you, they might have one lurking on a shelf still! I also have a teapot and a milk jug - but not a dripping pot anymore. With a 6pint plastic bottle in the fridge, I find it is better to put ½pint in a jug to go out on the tea tray. That way the remaining 5½pts stays fresher![tea tray, now that's another anachronism]

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    1. Angela, a friend (an ex-colleague of my husband) always teases us as we use cups and saucers all the time, not mugs. We do have mugs but they're mainly for the garden or when all the cups and saucers are in the dishwasher! Indeed he laughed (good naturedly, of course) and said we must be the only people in Britain still using cups and saucers every day. I countered by saying that the saucer prevented tea 'rings' on surfaces, and if held correctly slops of tea on our clothes. I don't think he was convinced! Maybe he doesn't have polished furniture, maybe that an anachronism, too!
      Margaret P

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    2. thank you Angela. We do have a QD but I will have to get OH to take me over there as it is not easy to get to. I tend to use the milk straight out of the fridge. Its safer to keep all food out of the way. I have found to my cost that they are very partial to dairy products. Squeak the old lady of the outfit in particular. Hope you are keeping well.Take care. Pattypan

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  5. I use all these things but then I am a lover of the old ways.

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  6. Hello Rosemary, I think there is something to be said about the old ways. Where I come from deepest darkest Lincolnshire there is a saying if its not brock don't mend it. My Nan was very good at making a meal out of nothing and she passed on a lot of tips to my aunt and to my mother -traditional ways. They still work and I still use a lot of them. Thanks for popping by and leaving a comment. take care Pattypan x

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  7. Galant I go one further. I totally agree about using a saucer. I use them with the mugs as well and then you do not have as much clearing up or having to use as much stain remover. I have wooden (mostly pine) furniture too. take care. Pattypan x

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