Start planning your Jane Austen dinner party with this book of her favorite recipes.
Great news the Jane-ites who are hungry for more than just sharp Regency-era social commentary: you’ll soon be able to prepare Jane Austen’s favorite dishes, including “Toasted Cheese.” (It’s made with egg and mustard, and honestly, given how much suet most old-time cooking usually involves, sounds surprisingly replicable in a contemporary kitchen!)
Austen’s friend Martha Lloyd recorded that recipe—along with recipes for “White Soup” (get ready to pound[?] some hard-boiled eggs), sweet, sweet mead, “Thin Cream Pancake” (which doubles as a good zinger), and more—in the “household book” she wrote between 1798 and 1830, while living with Jane, her mother, and her sister Cassandra.
Bodleian Library Publishing will release a color facsimile of the handwritten book in June. Julienne Gehrer, the book’s editor, told The Guardian that household books were “essentially the Google of the 18th-century household,” and contained medical remedies as well as recipes. (So maybe we’ll also find out Jane Austen’s preferred hiccup cure?)
Given the endless appetite (sorry) for Austen artifacts—and manufactured controversy—this could be the hottest cookbook of the summer. Hope you like mutton!
[via The Guardian]
