Muffins

If you lived in London or in any of England’s larger towns during the nineteenth century, you did indeed know the “muffin man” of the old nursery rhyme, the one who was said to live on Drury Lane. He walked the streets at teatime, in the late afternoon, ringing a little bell as he sold what we Americans call English muffins. At tea, people would spear a muffin with a broad, long-handled fork made especially for the purpose, toast it on both sides before the fire, and then pull it in half at the fork line and spread the soft, spongy crumb with butter. Muffins were never cut, as that would compact the lovely crumb.