To make a chicken pie…

Finally. A savoury dish. And, while I’m a fan of food from foreign lands, you can’t beat a British pie. One of the classics is, of course, chicken and mushroom, a popular choice in my household. So for this classic dish I went to a classic recipe book of the 18th century, The Art of…

Apple Tart, the Scottish Way

  The traditional tarte aux pommes of the French pâtisserie is something that always brings me back to France. On holiday last year we must have bought at least five. Sometimes we were so desperate that we picked them up from the supermarket, which must seem shocking to the French, but… needs must. I’ve always wanted to…

How to make pancakes (Lady Atkins’ way)…

Dear readers, First I must apologise profusely for not posting at all to my blog as of late. I blame it on Christmas. Anyway, here it is now. This recipe is for something very simple (I realised that a lot of the recipes I’ve posted have been far too complicated) and comes from the collection…

Mary Tapfield’s ‘Ginger Bread’ and a Christmas Fayre…

It’s been a long time since I made my post on ‘Spunge Cake‘. Hopefully I am not in disgrace. Last week I sold my wares at a Christmas Fayre (and yes, I am using the archaic spelling of the word) taking place at my old school. It was an ideal opportunity to advertise my blog…

Mary Tapfield’s ‘Spunge Cake’

It seems that Nigella was not the first Lawson to put together a recipe book. Her predecessor was Mary Lawson, born in 1773 to a Yorkshire family with a lineage that could be traced back to the sixth wife of Henry VIII- Katherine Parr. Mary Lawson married Peter Tapfield, a steward to a Duke, and…

Martin Brooke’s Rice Pudding

May I introduce you to the elusive Martin Brooke of 50 Red Lion Street, Holborn, a man who, on the 6th April 1784, began to collect ‘Recipes & Remedies’ in a leather bound book which has survived the centuries. Lamentably, I haven’t actually seen the original book, which is kept somewhere in Camden. However, I…

Buckland Abbey

This week, I spent a pleasant few days down in Devon, on the west side of Dartmoor. The weather was, needless to say, unpredictable, but we managed to fit in some lovely walks. One day, when the weather was not so bearable, we visited Buckland Abbey. The original 13th century monastery was converted into a house by Sir Richard…

Lady Castlehill’s ‘Macarooms’

This is my very first recipe, and I’m eager to introduce to you the lady that has kindly collected some rather elegant recipes, some of which I plan to recreate. The lady in question is Martha Lockhart, a distinguished Scottish woman who collected recipes from 1712-1713. After the passing of her brother, Lord Castlehill, with no issue,…

Recipe Research at the British Library

Admittedly, cooking is not my primary skill, but it is certainly a very enjoyable activity. History, however, is a most fascinating subject, and a while back when I stumbled upon some old recipes, I thought to myself wouldn’t it be fantastic if I could actually eat what someone ate years and years ago? and so,…