The British Food History Podcast
History
Ho! Ho! Ho! Merry Christmas!
Leaving a mince pie out for Santa this year? I do hope so. This year’s Christmas Special is all about mince pies: the history and baking, as well as the confusion surrounding the fact that there’s no meat in them. Neil makes some early 18th-century-shaped pies and makes a sweet lamb mincemeat from the North of England. He’s on a mission to get the meat back into mincemeat AND to have them on the menu outside of the Christmas period.
A huge thank you to Ivan Day for his help regarding the making of those 18th-century pies.
*blog posts of recipes to accompany the episode will appear on Wednesday 20th December and Friday 22nd December 2023.*
Things mentioned in today’s episode:
Ivan Day’s blog post about mince pies
The Accomplisht Cook by Robert May
The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald
Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management
Receipts of Pastry and Cookery by Edward Kidder
Jane Grigson’s Orange Mincemeat
Mrs Beeton’s Mincemeat Recipe
Jane Grigson’s Gooseberry Tarts recipe
Ivan Day’s historical pie-making course
Neil’s appearance on the Full English podcast
Neil’s appearance on the Shackbaggerly podcast
Neil's A Dark History of Sugar talk
Neil's Museum of Royal Worcester talk
Previous episodes mentioned in today’s episode:
Pagan Lent and Easter (includes a section on hot cross buns)
Elizabeth Raffald with Alessandra Pino & Neil Buttery
Christmas Feasting with Annie Gray
Hogmanay and Hamely Kitchen with Paula McIntyre
Christmas Pudding
Neil’s blogs:
‘British Food: a History’
‘Neil Cooks Grigson’
Neil’s books:
Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper
A Dark History of Sugar
Both are published by Pen & Sword and available from all good bookshops.
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at neil@britishfoodhistory.com, or on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. His DMs are open. He is also on BlueSky at @neilbuttery.bsky.social
You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
Ormskirk Gingerbread with Anouska Lewis
The History of Food Waste & Preservation with Eleanor Barnett
The Scottish Salt Industry with Joanna Hambly, Aaron Allen & Ed Bethune
Stuffed with Pen Vogler
The Leeds Symposium on Food History & Traditions with Ivan Day
BONUS EPISODE: 'A is for Apple' with Sam Bilton, Neil Buttery & Alessandra Pino
Medieval Meals & Manners with Danièle Cybulskie
Spices with Ian Anderson
The Philosophy of Chocolate with Sam Bilton
Apples & Orchards with Joanna Crosby
BONUS EPISODE: 18th Century Female Cookery Writers with the Delicious Legacy Podcast
Special Postbag Edition #3
English Food, a People's History with Diane Purkiss
The School Meals Service with Heather Ellis
Early Television Cookbooks & Tie-ins with Kevin Geddes
18th Century Tavern Cooking with Marc Meltonville (& Richard Briggs)
Tudor Cooking & Cuisine with Brigitte Webster
Tinned Food with Lindsay Middleton
Medlars with Jane Steward
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