Ladies of the Pen and the Cookpot: Isabella Beeton (Part II)
(Continued from August 23, 2010): Brillat-Savarin’s comments about the English being the worst cooks in the world drew a sniff …
Category Archives: England
Ladies of the Pen and the Cookpot: Isabella Beeton (Part I)
Today in Britain, “Mrs. Beeton” is a culinary trademark not unlike “Betty Crocker,” whom General Mills created in a Frankensteinian moment to boost sales by appealing to Every Housewife.
The difference between the two ladies is that Mrs. Beeton was a real, breathing, living personage who wrote a monster of a book with a monster of a title: The Book of Household Management Comprising information for the Mistress, Housekeeper, Cook, Kitchen-Maid, Butler, Footman, Coachman, Valet, Upper and Under House-Maids, Lady’s-Maid, Maid-of-all-Work, Laundry-Maid, Nurse and Nurse-Maid, Monthly Wet and Sick Nurses, etc. etc.—also Sanitary, Medical, & Legal Memoranda: with a History of the Origin, Properties, and Uses of all Things Connected with Home Life and Comfort, BOHM for short.
See Jane Cook:* A Word About Sophie Grigson’s Mum
Jane Grigson is the nearest thing that we have on this side of the great green bouillabaisse to M.F.K. Fisher, …
Of Herbs and Other Country Messes
When the sage comes to life again, after its long, lonely slumber in the freezing winter, I always just stop …
Parsley, Sage, Rosemary and Thyme … and Lavender
First, a pinch of etymology. The Greeks called lavender nardus after the Syrian city of Naardus, from which comes the …
From Mother Russia with Love: Great Lent, the Beginning
Many years ago, a high school history teacher of mine asked our class to write down everything we knew about …
Idylls of Cuisine, #54
[A photograph, and nothing more, for silent contemplation.]
A Bloody Fish Story
The price of fish is something nice — for fishmongers through the centuries, that is. And over the years, observers …
The Eels of Hannah, Or, Hannah Glasse’s Lenten Recipes
Poor Hannah Glasse. Literally. Except for Martha Stewart, she may be the only cookery book writer who did hard time …
The Black Fast, a Mortification of the Appetite
With Lent fast approaching (February 17, 2010), an examination of fasting and other fleshly challenges seems apropos. Religious-based fasting, in …
