Celebratory lunch for what my editor called the end of the beginning (first draft submitted). The wait staff were like 'we heard it was a celebration but we weren't sure what for'. Well, quite.
I do not how I feel about these. Kudos for 3 ingredients introduced from the new world in the C16 all mashed together in a modern Western form but..... er..... um.....
Victory in the Kitchen: Italian edition.
When books are published on translation, they usually get a different cover, for various reasons connected to copyright and also suitability for a new market. This one is for Victory in Italian, which comes out later this month. Very different, quite jolly, would feel like a textbook if it was in Britain (or in English abroad), but I suspect will do a very nice job advertising itself on the shelves of Italian bookshops.
What do you reckon? (It is the first translation for Victory - Greedy Queen had Korean and Taiwanese editions, again quite different- and fascinating to see).
Boozing at lunchtime? Could it be..... oh my actualfuckinggod...I have...FINISHED THE BOOK.*
*OK, not finished finished, as the edits look set to be epic and there are pictures to source and copy edits which I HATE and I need to sort out the references and stuff and that will all take at least 10 months yet but still.
375,000 words and three years of my life.
Those who know what I've been working on and have been anywhere near me in that time will be aware that a) it made me very boring, b) and possibly very really insane at times, and c) physically wrecked and yet d) ridiculously well-informed and also e) really very satisfied and exhilarated (often all at the same time).
Out next autumn and I can promise a lot of book related content to follow (but don't ask me for details yet as it's not been announced and also until I have a cover it isn't actually real.
(And yes, that is more seakale, this time with a bearnaise moussline which looked a lot better in real life).
SEA KALE: related, obvs, to other kales, coles and cabbages, sea kale grows naturally along the coastline of bits of Britain. However, it can also be grown as a useful perennial in the kitchen garden (in my case allotment). In Victorian Britain it was usually blanched with a forcing pot (similar to rhubarb) to make the stalks grow tall and white and less inclined to be bitter and tough. I force some every year, but only take one harvest so it can recover for next year (repeated attempts to sow a second plant have failed but I will keep trying).
Best eaten imho with hollandaise or caper sauce, but can basically be treated as asparagus or celery. Very much a taste of its time (fairly bland, the acceptable face of brassica).
Those interested in finding out more - we did a #TheVictorianWay video a few years ago (link to playlist in bio).
THE FIRST EVER SANDWICH 🥪 AD
Follow me as I try to replicate the first ever sandwich from 1762 with @hellmansuk and try and put the little town of Sandwich in Kent, back on the map. I’ve recipe tested, chatted to historians David Olusoga and Annie Gray, travelled far and wide, it’s one of the toughest challenges I’ve faced in the kitchen, but I reckon we did a pretty good job. You can try the sandwich right now at The Crispin Inn in Sandwich, Kent!
Mrs Wilding is back in her warm yellow kitchen and this time she's making a School Dinners classic: Gypsy Tart.
The Food Museum Presents… brings historic cookery to life through filmed recipes, created in collaboration with food historian Dr Annie Gray and historical interpreter Kathy Hipperson.
This project is made possible thanks to @heritagefunduk .
Find the full video via the link in our bio.
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Music: Kike Gutz, from freepik music: /audio/tune/reflections-in-minor
Minor procrastination (or possibly extremely useful research) from/for The Book in the shape of green sauce/sawce, a recipe which circulated with a fair degree of variation as to contents from the C14th on. This one was based on the version on Constance Hiett's Culinary Recipes of Medieval England and includes (wild) garlic, parsley, sage, thyme and mint along with fresh breadcrumbs, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, salt, wine and vinegar. Think of it as a variation on pesto.
I had it with carlin peas (v appropriate), lettuce (mmm, less so) and tomatoes (not at all so for England in ca.1399). Very nice it was too.
#foodhistory #medievalcooking
Finally visited the @museecarnavalet today, which i have failed to do, through bad timings or covid or it being closed for renovation for about a decade. Lovely spaces, a particular highlight (given The Bookshop, The Draper, The Candlestick Maker) was the galleries od shop signs.
Also enjoyed the guide who refused to countenence the fact that there might be a chatcutier in one of the pictures, tried to tell me what the sign said, got shirty when I said that wasn't what I was asking about and then told me there was nothing about food history (with outage!) anywhere. So i took a few pics to prove otherwise. Petty, but also there was quite a lot.
What did people in the past really eat?
📣 Speaking on our brand-new 'History's Greatest Dishes' podcast, Dr Annie Gray revealed lots of tasty historical morsels.
🎧 Listen to the full conversation ad-free on the HistoryExtra app or search 'historyextra' wherever you listen to podcasts.
📸 Getty and Dreamstime
I am on year 4 of my asparagus patch and this is the first year I can harvest all of the spears. Last year, I think each spear worked out at about £2 (about the price they retail at around now, tbh), given the amount of compost I had put in. This year, however, I will FEAST.
One of the many vegetable introductions of the late Tudor/early Stuart era, asparagus was associated with urinary health, and its effect on wee noted from the start. The early spears seem to have been quite weedy, and one popular recipe was for hollowed out rolls filled with savoury custard with the spears poking out of the lid like grass. Then they got thicker and looked a bit like a green spiky penis so inevitably people decided they might be an aphrodisiac.
I like them with hollandaise (who doesn't?!) and wrapped in parma han with parmesan. However, I'll also happily scarf them raw in a salad.
Assuming I get a gluten (gardening is the very definition of optimism), I am open to all of y9ur other ideas.... please.
✨ Dearest Reader…
If tales of high society, formidable women, and Regency intrigue set your heart aflutter, then this is the event you must attend.
🎩 Grit and Grace: An Afternoon of Talks on the Regency Era
📍 The Court House, Warwick
🗓 Saturday 9th May, 1pm–4pm
Step into a world worthy of the ton as we welcome an esteemed panel of speakers:
📖 Historian Dr Annie Gray
📚 Author Rebecca Wilson
📜 Archivist Laura Orriss
Hear about the remarkable women who shaped the Regency era and the culinary delights that defined the period.
📕 Books available to purchase from Warwick Books
✍️ Book signing with our speakers
💷 £20 + booking fee
👉 Link to the Heritage Box Office in the bio
#GritAndGrace #RegencyEra #BridgertonInspired #HistoricalTalks #WarwickEvents #WomenInHistory #LoveWarwick #WarwickCastleUnboxed #Warwick
