How to make Yorkshire Parkin
“It’s very sweet, with a distinct ginger flavour; sticky and a clinging texture” This is Yorkshire parkin as described for those who don’t know it. And if you don’t know it you should. This ginger-spiced chewy cake is certainly a …
How to make Bachelor’s and Spinster’s puddings
Two discovered recipes from mysterious sources and two antiquated words for being single
Pease pudding – how to make this vegan historical dish
How do you make historical food vegan? My library of historic cookbooks offered inspiration.
How to cook from a historical recipe
My first historical cookbook had no photos but also no ingredient list.
How to make a delicious vegan Georgian poached fruit salad
Food can take you to other places. But wouldn’t it be more fun to travel in time?
How to make a spectacular plum cake from the 1820s
Recipes are like small detective stories. They can give historical clues.
How to make Elizabethan Gingerbread. An easy recipe using breadcrumbs.
An autumn afternoon called for gingerbread so I consulted my recipe books
How to make hunter’s pudding
Hunter’s pudding is a variation of plum pudding, and so good autumn
How to make wonderful historic Hot Cross Buns
A quick history of the Hot Cross bun and a wonderful historic recipe
Shrove Tuesday – 3 unusual things to add to a pancake
Want to do something different for Pancake Day but don’t know what?
How to make Pumpkin Pie from 1796
If you have carved out a pumpkin for Halloween this recipe is ideal to use up the flesh
How to make Lemon Mince Pies from the 1830s
96 mince pies are made for a discerning audience. None remain
How to make the best Christmas Pudding in a pudding cloth
The damp fug of a pudding gently boiling in a old kitchen, the rattling of a saucer in the pot
How to make tempting chocolate tarts – Hannah Glasse’s way
This was the first ever historical recipe that I tried, one cold February in 2017
How to Pickle a Peach
The Regency Town House was full of Italian artists when I made this recipe for the first time.
How to make Seed cake (Elizabeth Raffald’s way)
The particular recipe I have chosen is flavoured with caraway seed
How do you make Fanchonettes (and what are they?)
Imagine a pastry case filled with almond and lemon custard, topped with meringue
Fennel Pickle and Pickled Grapes
Hannah Glasse, the 18th-century cook I often turn to, had these wise words to say about pickles
How to make historic Hot Cross Buns
We could have gone out to the shops and bought them but where is the fun in that?
What is a peck of flour?
Prior to 1800 a peck of wheat flour weighed 14 pounds. However…