Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
The British Housewife is an academic survey of the cookery books of the 18th century. The male cooks of the 17th century tended to be flamboyant characters and their recipes had enormous numbers of ingredients, all of which were expensive and some very impractical. The 18th century was the time when female cookery writers started to really emerge. The 17th century recipes were trimmed down and simplified by ladies who had a real eye for economy, simplicity and for not wasting materials.
Let’s talk about Gilly Lehmann’s book, The British Housewife.
The British Housewife is really an academic survey of the cookery books of the 18th century. The male cooks of the 17th century tended to be flamboyant characters who worked in very wealthy households. Their recipes were just show-off things – they’ve got enormous numbers of ingredients, all of which are expensive and some very impractical. The 18th century was the time when female cookery writers started to really emerge. The 17th century recipes were trimmed down and simplified by ladies who had a real eye for economy, simplicity and for not wasting materials – and their books started to sell much more quickly than their male counterparts. Gilly Lehmann, in a very eloquent way, traces this very interesting phenomenon which is very much still part of the British pattern of culinary life – we have a huge place for the domestic in our cookery literature, rather than just the fancy, professional approach.
It talks about the movement away from the Continental style of cooking, too.
Well, one of the things that she points out is that during that period France and England were at war. It was not considered terribly patriotic to read books on French food, and the very wealthy who still kept their French cooks did so very quietly. Good old English roast beef and plum pudding was seen very much as a symbol of patriotism during this period, and anything that was Frenchified was seen as a little bit suspect. Nevertheless, some of the ladies who disparaged French food still included a lot of French recipes, and French cookery certainly had a huge effect on our own. Many French recipes that died out in France carried on in this country. One delicacy which started out in France was a pie-like dish called a poupeton with a forcemeat crust on the outside rather than pastry. It died out in France, but carried on in England and eventually became known as a pulpatoon, which is a very English sounding name. So lots of French ideas were implanted on English soil and they remained here. Her book is probably one of the best works on the subject. Another book which I can really recommend is actually one about French cookery.
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Ivan Day is a celebrated food historian and the author of several books on the history of food. He has worked as a broadcaster, in both television and radio. His collections of antique books and equipment and re-creations of historic table settings have been exhibited at venues including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Museum of London. He is also a talented cook and confectioner with 40 years’ experience in period cookery, and runs courses for the public at Wreay Farm in the Lake District.
