London Labour and the London Poor, Volume 1
Mayhew, Henry
1861
Of the Street-Sellers of Pastry and Confectionary.
THE cooked provisions sold in the streets, it has been before stated, consist of kinds— solids, liquids, and pastry and confectionary. The have now been fully described, but the last still remains to be set forth. | |
The street pastry may be best characterised as of a flavour. This is, for the most part, attributable to the use of old or rancid butter,— possessing the all-important recommendation of cheapness,—or to the substitution of lard, dripping, or some congenial substance. The "strong" taste, however, appears to possess its value in the estimation of street pastry-buyers, especially among the boys. This may arise from the palates of the consumers having been unaccustomed to more delicate flavours, and having become habituated to the relish of that which is somewhat rank; just in the same way as the "" of game or venison becomes dear to the palate of the more aristocratic To some descriptions of street pastry the epithet strong-flavoured may seem inappropriate, but it is appropriate to the generality of these comestibles,—especially to the tarts, which constitute a luxury, if not to the meat pies or puddings that may supply a meal. | |
The articles of pastry sold in the London streets are meat and fruit pies, boiled meat and kidney puddings, plum "duff" or pudding, and an almost infinite variety of tarts, cakes, buns, and biscuits; while the confectionary consists of all the several preparations included under the wide denomination of "sweetstuff," as well as the more "medicinal" kind known as "cough drops;" in addition to these there are the more "aristocratic" delicacies recently introduced into street traffic, viz., penny raspberry creams and ices. | |