Dinner is Served

Jacob assisted Sall and Mary in preparing dinner, the main meal of the day, which was served at two o'clock in the afternoon. They could have made an extra-special family meal on the day that young William set sail for boarding school in Scotland.

Roasted pork, oyster stew, and several vegetables would have been among the items prepared for the Brown family. Jacob was tasked with grinding corn by hand, with a mortar and pestle, to be made into corn cakes for the servants and slaves. They might also have eaten pork and pickled vegetables.

Beef and pork were common foods for well-to-do colonists. The lower classes usually ate pork. Without refrigeration, meat was salted, dried, and smoked to keep it from spoiling.

Grinding corn was a task often assigned to young children. How were Larkin and Jacob's chores similar and different?