From c. 1861 until c. 1890, this popular Prang chromo titled, “Our Kitchen Bouquet,” displayed in many people’s home, thus the familiar name was a beloved title. Bouquet Garni to flavor soups, stews, and sauces with herbs, etc. existed before 1882. The making of Caramel and Browning for soups, stews, and sauces existed before 1882. What candy-maker K.G. Tournades seemed to do for the 1882 invention “Kitchen Bouquet” was add a combination of spices and a vegetable juice to caramel, merging the common “bouquet garni” used for flavoring with the concept of common caramel used for coloring. and Voila! It is still in use today, perhaps sitting next to your salt and pepper shaker.
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***Before the product “Kitchen Bouquet” made it to the marketplace***
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Juliet Corson’s 1879 recipe for —
Caramel
Ingredients: 1 oz. sugar.
Put one ounce of brown sugar over the fire in a frying pan, and stir it until it turns very dark brown, but do not let it burn, when it is the proper color, pour into the pan half a pint of boiling water, and stir it until the sugar is thoroughly dissolved. Let the caramel cool, and then strain and bottle it; it is a good and harmless coloring for soups, sauces and stews of various kinds.
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And here is Corson’s 1879 formula for —
A Bouquet
one sprig each of parsley, thyme, marjoram, and two bay leaves, tied up compactly.
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1881 Am. Encyclopedia of Agriculture’s recipe for —
Bouquet Garni
a mixture of parsley, thyme, and bay-leaf, and sometimes marjoram, rosemary and a clove of garlic when tied into a bunch and used for seasoning.
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***After the product “Kitchen Bouquet” made it to the marketplace***
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1891 Science in the Kitchen by Ella Ervilla Kellogg’s recipe for —
Caramel for Coloring Soup Brown — Melt a half pint of sugar and one tablespoonful of water in a saucepan over the fire; stir constantly until it is of a dark brown color; then add a half pint of boiling water, simmer ten minutes, strain, and put into an air-tight can or bottle. When needed, mix such a quantity with the soup as will give the desired degree of color.
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Sarah Rorer used a “kitchen bouquet” (lower case) in her recipe ingredients in her cookbooks and magazine articles, 1890s to 1910s, unless “a kitchen bouquet” was already an earlier cooking term, at this stage she may have known about the product “Kitchen Bouquet” as she sometimes wrote to use “kitchen bouquet or caramel” or either “kitchen bouquet or browning.”
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Rorer’s recipe from c. 1915 —
CARAMEL COLORING For Soups and Sauces
Chop one small onion, one carrot, one clove of garlic. Mash a teaspoonful of celery seed, and cover them with a pint of cold water. Add a teaspoonful of black pepper. Boil slowly until reduced one half. Strain through cheese cloth. Put one cupful of sugar in an iron frying pan; stir it over a good fire until it melts and burns. It must smoke and get almost black. Add the seasoned water. Stir until caramel is dissolved. Add a teaspoonful of salt and five drops of Tabasco. Boil a minute and bottle. Use as a kitchen bouquet to color and flavor brown soups, stews and sauces.
