KECKS or kex (in OED) is the generic term for the hollow stem of any umbelliferous plant such as wild angelica or hogweed. Grigson gives it as a particular name of hogweed (cow parsley). (William Ellis, 1750)
KERMES: A red colouring and dye made from the dried bodies of the pregnant female insect called in Arabic qirmiz. The tiny kermes insect feeds on evergreen oaks and was formerly believed to be a berry. Kermes was used to colour cordials and liqueurs, as in the Italian alkermes. (John Nott, 1726)
KETCHUP. The name ketchup was derived from the Indonesian kecap (formerly spelled ketjap), which means soy sauce. A sauce made from mushrooms, with excellent keeping qualities, was thought to resemble soy sauce and thus gained its name. In the time of Hannah Glasse ketchup was always mushroom ketchup. Her reference to ‘foreign ketchup’, 156, is interesting. It seems likely that she meant ketchup as made on the continent (? in Holland) and that, since the addition of only one more ingredient (mum, q.v.) to her own recipe would create the right effect, this was not very different. See also the recipe for ketchup for use at sea (to keep 20 years, enough for the longest voyage!), 121. This last recipe is closely related to that in The Lady’s Companion (1743, II, 193-4).(Glasse, 1747)
KETLE: kettle. An open metal pot used to boil food. The word is still current with this meaning in North American cookery. (John Evelyn, Cook, C17)
KIBE-HEEL: kibes are chilblains, especially on the heel. OED suggests the word may stem from the Welsh. (William Ellis, 1750)
KICKSHAWS: Corruption of quelque chose. Term applied to fancy food, usually in contempt. But see K 2. (John Nott, 1726)
KICKSHAWS. A word derived from the French ‘quelque chose’ and meaning a fancy dish, a ‘little something’. The term denoted an ‘elegant, dainty dish’ in the 16th century, but later was often used in a derogatory sense (thus Addison, writing in the Tatler in 1709, referred to ‘That Substantial English Dish banished in so ignominious a Manner, to make way for French Kick-shaws’). However, the recipe ‘To Make Kickshaws’, 84, is quite straightforward.(Glasse, 1747)
KILDERKIN: 16 gallons of beer. (John Evelyn, Cook, C17)
KILDERKIN, a cask holding 16 to 18 gallons.(Glasse, 1747)
KITKEYS, 162: properly kite-keys, the ‘keys’ or fruit of the ash tree. (Robert May, 1660/1685)
KIVER, kive, keever: a large vessel for fermenting liquors; a mashing tub. (Sir Kenelm Digby, 1669)
KIVER is a shallow trough or tub, often describing that used for kneading dough, or for storing milk before skimming. (William Ellis, 1750)
KNEADING TROUGH: the wooden trough designed for kneading and maturing of bread dough is shown in Dorothy Hartley’s Food in England, p. 499. Receipt 11 has a cake, not bread, being prepared in the trough, though the compiler registers that it may, in this instance, be a pan (presumably of earthenware – a crock). Wooden troughs were not invariably free-standing. Many were smaller, table-top versions, hewn out of a single large chunk of wood. (John Evelyn, Cook, C17)
KNOTS, 162. The knot, Calidris ranutus, also called red sandpiper (or ‘grey plover’ when in its winter plumage), is a bird of the snipe family. It breeds within the Arctic Circle, but is common on British coasts in late summer and autumn.(Glasse, 1747)
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