Mrs. Charles Darwin’s
Recipe Book
Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway
Preface by Janet Browne and Foreword by Nach Waxman

Charles Darwin’s name is recognized around the globe and his discoveries have shaped our understanding of the natural world. While the scientist pursued research and theory, his wife Emma Wedgwood Darwin, like many women of her time, kept a notebook filled with recipes, culinary instructions and personal anecdotes about everyday life in the Darwin household. Authors Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway have recreated and tested every one of Mrs. Darwin’s 55 recipes and put them in a new cookbook, Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book: Revived and Illustrated (Glitterati Inc.; November 2008; $35.00/hardcover; ISBN-13: 978-0-9801557-3-0). This unique cookbook offers a rare glimpse behind the dining room doors of one of the Victorian era’s most eminent families.

More than a cookbook, Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book illuminates a lifestyle at the top of English society. This treasure trove of fifty-five delicious recipes reflects Emma Darwin’s social position and responsibility for feeding her family, entertaining guests, and maintaining the household. Reading her recipes and notes today offers remarkable insight into Victorian life and includes dishes popular in her day such as:

· Baked Cheese Custard
· Scotch Woodcock
· Beef Collops
· Chicken and Macaroni
· Veal Cake
· Turnips Cresselly
· Baked Apple Pudding
· Potato Rissoles
· Arrowroot Pudding
· Compote of Apples

And of course, all her ingredients were free-range and organic.

These wonderful recipes have been adapted for today’s modern kitchen and are easy to prepare and create unique dinner menus for family get-togethers, holiday parties, or weeknight dinners.

From a historical perspective, the authors provide a unique look at Victorian life through their Introduction chapter, discussing details and practices of the Darwin household. And, the historian in anyone will be delighted to see many reprinted pages from Mrs. Darwin’s actual diaries.

“While researching our book we found that cooking and eating a dish enjoyed by Charles Darwin and his family brought us closer to the great man,” say authors Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway. “And our impression of Emma at the end of our culinary journey? We felt a growing admiration and warmth. From her letters she emerges as a truly interesting and extraordinary woman. “

February 12, 2009 was Darwin Day, the bi-centennial anniversary of Darwin’s birth and an international celebration of the discoveries and life of this extraordinary man. Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book is the perfect complement to the celebration of the life of Charles Darwin through authentic dishes from the Darwin household, and opening a window into the life and accomplishments of Emma Darwin, who gracefully supported her husband along his path of scientific inquiry. Cookery, history, Victoriana, and botany buffs alike will be sure to devour this rich culinary exploration.

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

DUSHA BATESON studied history at England’s Cambridge University. She may have inherited her interests in investigating archival materials and writing from her father, a BBC foreign correspondent to the Balkans and author of several books. Born and raised in the UK, Dusha has worked as a journalist and as a librarian. In 1988, her husband, Sir Patrick Bateson, became Provost of King’s College where the Batesons entertained many guests, from Queen Elizabeth II to the Dalai Lama. The Batesons live in East Suffolk, England.

WESLIE JANEWAY studied history and politics at Barnard College and Brown University. She has worked as a political analyst in banking, investment banking and continued to work in investment (at Sontag Advisory, a boutique investment firm) until 2006, when she and her semi-retired husband moved to Cambridge, England. She lives with her husband and son variously between Cambridge, England, New York City, and the coast of Maine.

Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book
Revived and Illustrated
by Dusha Bateson and Weslie Janeway
Glitterati Inc.
November 2008
$35.00/hardcover
ISBN-13: 978-0-9801557-3-0

Recipes from Mrs. Charles Darwin’s Recipe Book

Buttered Eggs
To produce a simple and well-known dish like scrambled eggs there are probably as many methods as there are preferred outcomes. Some like their eggs well done, with a firmer texture; others favour a creamier, sauce-like result — and there are all points between. It is the same with boiled eggs — people become very passionate about exact timings and outcomes. Perhaps Emma was a supporter of the more creamy scrambled egg. She uses the older name, buttered eggs, with its hint of luxurious richness, while ‘scrambled’ has overtones of haste and carelessness. She also includes cream. As for the final result — much depends on how you interpret her use of the word ‘rough’. Whatever you prefer, the foolproof way of ensuring you obtain the exact required consistency is to use a double boiler. It takes longer and so you have a better chance of judging the precise moment when perfection has been reached. Emma’s way of first heating the butter and cream together has much the same effect and makes it possible to achieve an excellent, creamy result.

For each egg:
1/4 ounce butter
1 tablespoon double cream
Salt and pepper

In a bowl beat the eggs until well blended. Season with salt and pepper.

In a heavy pan heat the butter and cream, over gentle heat, until the butter has melted and the mixture
begins to bubble.

Pour in the beaten eggs and, stirring gently, cook until you have the consistency you like.
Serve at once on slices of buttered toast.

Postscript
Looking into when ‘buttered’ became ‘scrambled’ revealed that the former also refers to a method of preserving eggs for use in the winter months when hens go ‘off lay’. The new-laid egg is coated in butter while still warm. As the egg cools the butter, having been absorbed into the porous shell, solidifies and forms an air-tight barrier. Carefully stored these eggs then kept for several months!


French Ragout of Mutton

A marriage between turnips and mutton does not, at first sight, appear to be the prelude to a culinary triumph. However, a present day version of this recipe proved unexpectedly good — well worth trying. This is food for cold weather. True mutton, meat from a sheep at least a year old, having almost disappeared from butchers, is staging a bit of a comeback following the efforts of some enterprising cooks and enthusiastic reports from food writers. Here lamb was used as it is, for the moment, still the more widely available. If you make this dish in late autumn or in winter, at least the lamb will be a little older, and more strongly flavoured, than the babies on sale at Easter and in the summer. It will also be the right time for new season’s young turnips.

For the ragout
1-1/2 pounds chump (the next bit of the animal along from the top of the leg) boned and with any large pieces of fat removed and cut into generous pieces
Flour — 1 dessert spoonful
1 sugar lump, salt and pepper
1/2 pint water or stock
Butter for frying
Parsley

For the turnips
1 pound young turnips, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch dice
Butter for frying

Season the flour with salt and pepper and place in a plastic bag with the pieces of lamb. Holding the bag closed, give it a good shake so the meat gets coated with the flour.

Melt the butter in an ovenproof dish with a lid. Add the lamb and fry over a medium heat, turning the pieces so they get evenly browned.

Pour in the water or stock and stir making sure any sticky bits from the bottom of the pan are brought into the sauce. Bring to the boil, add the sugar lump, and simmer for a minute or two.

Put on the lid and bake in a 160C oven for about 40 minutes. Test the meat with a knife to see if is tender — if not give it another 10 – 15 minutes. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed. Sprinkle generously with chopped parsley.

About 20 minutes before serving melt a good lump of butter in a frying pan which will take the diced turnips in a single layer and fry them over a medium heat, moving and turning them about so that they brown but do not burn. Season with a little salt and pepper and serve with the lamb. A very basic way of cooking turnips, but surprisingly good!


Nesselrode Pudding

If there were charts for puddings as there are for popular songs then Black Forest Gateau, Baked Alaska and Tiramisu would have topped them in their different times. Nesselrode pudding must have been similarly fashionable for several decades in the nineteenth century. Nesselrode himself was a Russian statesman active during the Napoleonic wars, present at the Congress of Vienna (1814-15) and a signatory, in 1856, of the Paris peace agreement after the Crimean war. He was a great survivor! In the course of his long career he had many dealings with that other wily statesman, Talleyrand. For a time the great French chef, Antonin Careme, worked for Talleyrand and indeed went with him to Vienna in 1814 —so perhaps it was there that he created the pudding and paid Nesselrode the compliment of naming it after him. Both Eliza Acton and Mrs Beeton give a recipe for Nesselrode pudding in their books and both attribute it to Careme — though neither admits to having made it. Obviously his name gave the recipe a certain cachet. Careme, also chef for a time to the Prince Regent, was famous for his elaborate and ambitious creations and, indeed, the pudding described by the English ladies is very demanding. Sweetened and pureed chestnuts, a rich custard, fruit soaked in maraschino, an Italian meringue mixture, all frozen and moulded into exotic shapes at different times, meant this pudding was not for the inexperienced or single-handed cook. Fortunately, for present purposes, Emma’s version is a much simplified one. A small quantity of ground almonds is substituted for ‘40 best Spanish chestnuts’ and twelve egg yolks become six. What we have here is a rich ice cream with dried fruit and a glass of brandy to make it special.

1 pint double cream
1/2 pint milk
6 egg yolks
1/2 vanilla pod
2 ounces sugar
1 ounce ground almonds
8 ounces dried fruit, chopped small
1 wine glass brandy (the original recipe suggests maraschino; you could use any fruit liqueur if you prefer)

If your dried fruit includes glace cherries, large raisins, etc., chop them into smaller pieces. Pour the glass of brandy over them and leave to soak overnight.

Split open the vanilla pod lengthwise and scrape out the tiny seeds into the cream along with the pieces of pod. Bring cream and milk to the boil.

Beat egg yolks with the sugar. When nice and creamy beat in the ground almonds. Discard the vanilla pod pieces and pour the hot cream and milk onto the egg yolk mixture. Beat well.

Transfer the custard to a double boiler and, stirring all the time, cook over a medium heat until the custard thickens. Have patience, it may take ten minutes or more and it is important not to let it boil. Remove it from the heat, add the brandy and fruit and give it a good stir.

Leave the custard to cool. Refrigerate.

When thoroughly chilled pour the mixture into an ice cream machine and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions. If you do not have a machine put the mixture into a suitable container and freeze for a couple of hours. When the ice cream begins to harden round the edges give it a good stir and freeze again. For a really creamy consistency you might need to repeat this.

The ice cream will need to soften in a refrigerator for some time before serving. For just how long will depend on your container and the temperature of your refrigerator — 30 minutes or longer.


These recipes may be reproduced with the following credit:
Recipes from MRS. CHARLES DARWIN’S RECIPE BOOK: Revived and Illustrated