Cooking & Dining in the Victorian Country House

This detailed exploration spans the years from 1837 to 1901, when, in the estimation of food historian Peter Brears, the food cooked in British country houses “was the finest available, its variety expanded by Victorian investment in new technology, and professional cooks…” 

Brears’ work helping restore many of Britain’s country house kitchens has given him a remarkable acquaintance with their design and operation, including the roles of different staff, rules of table service, the availability of equipment and ingredients, and typical meals served to both employers and employees. The complexity of operations is manifold.

This 446-page book includes illustrations from period sources as well as Brears’ own renderings of everything from kitchen and scullery floorplans to designs for water pumps, butter molds, specialized confectionery stoves, bacon lofts, fish kettles, and breakfast table layouts.

There are sample menus, but more common are illustrative recipes drawn from period publications and adapted from the records of various country houses. Some, such as “puff paste,” will seem nearly familiar, while others, like spiced pressed beef, seem to have been supplanted by dishes from elsewhere such as pastrami.

Throughout, Brears keeps us aware of the social relationships and economic forces underlying all that was possible in these great establishment, as well as the skills that it took to prepare elaborate meals from ingredients that were rarely processed in any form before they arrived at the county houses.

In many ways, quite startling.

Hardcover. Line-drawings.