Historicfood

LATEST ARTICLES ( 72 )

• The Jonah Mould - Or Size Matters

  

  Visitors to my kitchen frequently remark on the large number of antique jelly moulds scattered around the room. I usually explain that just a few of them were... Read more

  Posted on 31 January 2017 FOOD & DRINK

• The Edible Monument - Detroit Institute of Arts

  

  In 2015 I was commissioned by the Getty Research Institute to produce a replica of a sugar table centrepiece designed by the eighteenth century French cook and... Read more

  Posted on 20 January 2017 FOOD & DRINK

• Silent Culinary Witnesses

  

  Behind the sugar moulded torso of Neptune and his trident is an almond cake, decorated with ornamental bands of snow sugar and surmounted by a dragant figure... Read more

  Posted on 15 January 2017 FOOD & DRINK

• It is Not Too Late to Wish You All a Merry Christmas

  

  A Twelfth Cake as not seen on TV! Recently I have watched a lot on British television (and heard even more on the radio) about Twelfth Night, the so-called... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2017 FOOD & DRINK

• The Grand Feast

  

  At the School of Artisan Food François Marin's intensely flavoured 'restaurant', a restorative quintessence which gave its name to the early Parisian eating... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2015 FOOD & DRINK

• A Christmas Medley

  

  Merry Christmas Everybody - Unless you live in 1652! The changing face of Christmas food fascinates me. These days English supermarket shelves are full of exoti... Read more

  Posted on 13 December 2015 FOOD & DRINK

• Forthcoming Events

  

  Late eighteenth century dessert table at the Gardiner Museum, Toronto I have just had another extremely busy year and have had no time at all to contribute any... Read more

  Posted on 27 November 2015 FOOD & DRINK

• Pastry Jiggers and Pastry Prints - a Marvellous New Book by Michael Finlay

  

  Front dust jacket of Michael Finlay's new book. Photo © Michael Finlay. A few years ago, I worked on a television series with a well-known celebrity chef. Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• Merry Christmas - This Year's Twelfth Cake

  

  I have not posted much on this blog for a long time. I have had a busy and rather difficult year. I just wanted to wish all my followers a Merry Christmas and... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• Sucket and See

  

  A selection of 'wet suckets' - citrus fruits preserved in syrup. Clockwise from top left - green orange, lemon, bitter orange and citron succade on a wooden... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• A Victorian Altar to Curry and Other Events

  

  A high Victorian table at Hutton-in-the-Forest (Photo: Cressida Vane) I have been so busy over the past few months, that I have had no time at all to post on... Read more

  Posted on 08 August 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• Ryce Puddings in Scoured Guts

  

  Rice puddings boiled in skins made from Gervase Markham's 1615 recipe (see below) When I was a child, I frequently heard the popular idiom, 'he could n't knock... Read more

  Posted on 02 May 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• To Roast a Pike

  

  A pike roasted in front of the fire according to the directions in Elizabeth Birkett Here Booke 1699. It is stuffed with pickled herring, herbs, spices,... Read more

  Posted on 11 April 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• A Medieval Meal for Real

  

  The roasting range in the kitchen of Gainsborough Hall, probably being used for the first time in four hundred years as it was intended, for roasting a full... Read more

  Posted on 21 January 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• Macedoine Jelly Revisited

  

  A couple of glamorous victorian entremets in my kitchen Just a quickie. I have just spent a couple of days filming with a BBC crew making a number of items of... Read more

  Posted on 08 January 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• To Roast a Pound of Butter

  

  Some butter rotates 'a good distance from the fire' on a wooden spit in an abortive attempt to roast a pound of butter according to instructions from William... Read more

  Posted on 02 January 2014 FOOD & DRINK

• Chef Comes To Pemberley

  

  And Throws His Teddy Bear Out Of The Pram! A still from a kitchen scene in Death Comes to Pemberley, a BBC drama production based on the novel by P.D. Read more

  Posted on 29 December 2013 FOOD & DRINK

• Royal Jelly

  

  Jim Broadbent as King William IV having a row with the Duchess of Kent in front of an assemblage of some of my Georgian dessert food, including some Savoy... Read more

  Posted on 24 December 2013 FOOD & DRINK

• Some Christmas Night Caps

  

  My favourite Christmas tipple - Punch Royal - but why the orange peel? Recipe and explanation below. I was recently given a small job by a television... Read more

  Posted on 19 December 2013 FOOD & DRINK

• An Early Modern Christmas Party

  

  Or The Pastry Kunstkammer The Burghley Nef. Nautilus shell with parcel-gilt silver mounts, raised, chased, engraved and cast, and pearls. Read more

  Posted on 14 December 2013 FOOD & DRINK