Kitchen Volume I
National Trust Collections describe Kitchen Vol I (transcribed version with index) as,
A green recipe book initialled 'JB Number 105'. Contains a number of hand written recipes and cooking advice. Circa 18th century.
The bookplate depicts the 1st Earl Brownlow’s Royal Guelphic Order and must post-date 1834, when awarded that honour by William IV. This bookplate is found in 17th century Belton books, and so is of no value in dating this book.
Based on the inserts, the volume relates to Sir Abraham Hume (1749-1838) and his wife, Lady Amelia Hume (1751-1809) of Wormleybury Manor, Church Lane, Broxbourne, Hertfordshire.
Hume married Lady Amelia Egerton in 1771. Therefore, the recipes with her name on must post-date that year. The recipe sent to Hume, again is after 1771, the year he inherited the baronetcy. The Humes were the 1st Earl Brownlow's parents-in-law from his marriage to their youngest daughter, Amelia Sophia Hume (1788-1814). Known as Sophia, she was the mother to Lady Sophia Frances Cust (1811-1882), John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford (1812-1851) and Hon. Charles Henry Cust (1813-1875).
Hume owned the manor of South Kyme and via Sophia, it came to the Brownlows. Likewise, after Hume’s death in 1838, Wormleybury came to the Brownlows. Viscount & Viscountess (Marian) Alford spent their 1841 honeymoon there. The greater part of Hume’s fortune went to the Earl’s second son, Charles (West Kent Guardian 30 July 1842). The Wormleybury estate was sold in 1851 for £1,311,136 (adjusted to 2022).
It seems likely that such a personal, recipe book came to Belton on Sophia’s marriage.
Categorising the recipes by country, where possible, shows a significant French and Dutch influence on C18, early C19 taste. in 1760 Martha Bradley wrote:
The Dutch supply all Europe with Cinnamon, which they have in the Islands of Ceylon in such abundance that they burn a great deal annually to keep up the price
In 1783, John Farley writes of cloves and mace that the Dutch have monopolized these and almost all other spices.
Dutch Influence
Brewin (2013) attributes the Dutch influence in part to the Glorious Revolution of 1688 that introduced the Dutch, William and Mary dual monarchy. This influenced art, architecture, tastes and culture. It manifests at Belton in the Blue Bedroom State Bed. A design modelled on those of William III's Daniel Marot (1661–1752), his French-born, Dutch architect and furniture designer. Brewin also includes Marlborough’s war in Flanders when Britain was allied with the Dutch fighting Louis XIV from 1701 to 1710. Dutch control of food trade played a role, exemplified by herrings, eels, grasses, onions, hops, isinglass, oil, salt, sugar, tea, coffee, gin, expensive spices and vegetables.
The French produced elaborate cookbooks. François Pierre de la Varenne's “Le Cuisinier Français ..." was the first to be translated into English in 1653. Marie Antoine Carême (1784-1833) was a French chef and an early practitioner and exponent of the elaborate style of cooking known as grande cuisine. He cooked for Napoleon and other heads of state in Europe. On January 15, 1817, Antonin supervised the meal served at Brighton Pavilion for the Prince Regent, which included over 100 dishes.
The fashion in grand households was for serving à la française, which meant that the majority of the dishes were arranged in the middle of the table.
Two Londoners discuss the merit of French cooking, "A little learning is a dangerous thing". Plate 2 etched by G. Cruikshank c. 1824. He refers to haricot blanc within Belton's kitchen book. Note the shop fronts with French culinary terms.
Interesting recipes
No. 32 To Dress Bird Nests
Steep the Nests 24 Hours in luke warm Water, then pick the Feathers and the black from them
Bird’s nest soup - made from the nests of some species of Asian swifts which are made from strands of dried saliva. The nests were harvested in China, Java, Borneo and Sumatra. The earliest mention in western cuisine is a 1770 Swedish recipe, an East Indian dish written by Anna Christina Warg. Nests were probably imported from Macau & Canton by the Swedish East India Company. During the years between 1731-1813 that company (Svenska Ostindiska Compagniet) made over 130 trips between Gothenburg and China. Each journey took 18 to 22 months.
Et Ostindiskt Fogelbo eller Näste at laga
[bottom of page 36, translates from the Swedish in Fraktur type as, An East Indian Bird dwelling or nest to cook]
Warg (1770) Hjelpreda I Hushållningen För Unga Fruentimber (modern type face version). The first English mention of bird's nest is among a list of comestibles for trading in 1799 (Madras Courier 30 October 1799). Swallows-nests, cooked in the Nankin method, appear in Paris in 1858. Ball (1893, page 51) gives instructions on how to prepare this soup. However, the Hume recipe may have come via his cousin, Alexander Hume (1726 -1794) for many years chief of the English factory at Canton the only Chinese port that Western merchants were allowed to use. Below, the Alexander Hume Scroll Painting of Foreign Factories in Canton.
No. 55 To make a Jambe de Bois Soop
La jambe de bois, wooden leg soup, a rich (French) soup of meat and vegetables, traditionally served with the veal shank sitting straight up in the middle of the tureen, hence the name. Enjoyed by Lyonnaise nobility since the 18th century. Reynolds 1849 published several of the French recipes in our book.
Right, decapitating a turtle at a Paris restaurant 19th century, as recommended in the Belton recipes.
Sea Turtle or Tortoise
The extract left is from Bradley (1733)
The Country Housewife and Lady's Director, in the Management of a House, and the Delights and Profits of a Farm
Green sea turtles (Chelonia mydas) are native to tropical and subtropical waters around the world, including the Caribbean region and Ascension Island. They are the only herbivorous species of sea turtle. Their diet mainly consists mainly of algae and seagrasses giving their fat a green colour. A high status dish, the earliest English recipes are for roast or boiled turtle, later used in a soup. Over-fishing led to Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery (1770) giving instruction on "How to dress a mock turtle" to make soup from a calf's head. In Belton's book, calves feet are used.
How these turtles might arrive via the proceeds of slavery is described in the context of Harewood House built on enslavement profits.
