The Victorian kitchen
Jennifer Davies (Author)
"The Victorian kitchen -- the words conjure up an 'upstairs downstairs' image of maids in their starched aprons, overseen by an outwardly stern cook with a heart of gold, cosily ensconced around a scrubbed wooden table. But what was life really like 'below stairs' in Victorian times? In her book 'The Victorian Kitchen', which accompanies the major BBC television series, Jennifer Davies takes a look behind the scenes. We discover that 'kitchen and scullery should never assert their nearness through the nose', we look at the vast collection of equipment used -- from the dusty, smoky range, which had to be cleaned out and coaxed into life at 6 o'clock every morning, to the gleaming array of 'coppers' which were every cook's pride and joy. We meet 'The Victorian Kitchen''s cook, Ruth Mott, who started her working life as a scullery maid in an old-style country house in 1930 when mansion kitchens were still run on Victorian lines. Ruth and other former kitchen and scullery maids tell of rushing across the scullery to catch rabbits and pheasants as they were pushed through the window to be skinned and cleaned, of climbing 178 steps to take Cook her early morning cup of tea and of stirring an ice-cream pail until their arms ached. The book includes a section on that most Victorian of culinary techniques, preserving; discusses in fascinating detail the five meals a day which the kitchen staff had to prepare -- breakfast, luncheon, tea, dinner and supper; and has a collection of recipes which have been specially adapted from Victorian cookery books. Beautifully illustrated with period drawings and engravings, as well as full-colour photographs of the restored Victorian kitchen, Jennifer Davies's book is a marvellous -- and very readable -- insight into a bygone age."-- taken from book jacket from flap
Print Book, English, 1989
BBC Books, London, 1989