Barbara...that just whets my appetite. I want to learn more! I tried to find some of the recipes in the great grandson's book...you have to wonder how much he remembers from those days at the Dicken's homestead. And did he include great grandma's recipes?
I did find this book - about Catherine Dickens own household - the write-up states this book contains recipes, but not a one is mentioned.
Let's do this - let's keep our eyes opened for any mention of dining at Bleak House and the type of dishes served.
"Catherine, the wife of Charles Dickens, was herself an author, but of just one book: What Shall we Have for Dinner? Satisfactorily Answered by Numerous Bills of Fare for from Two to Eighteen Persons. As the title indicates, it was a cookery book, in fact a pamphlet containing many suggested menus for meals of varying complexity together with a few recipes. It went through several editions after 1851, under the authorial pseudonym of ‘Lady Maria Clutterbuck’ with a brief introduction that was, commentators aver, the work of Charles Dickens himself.
In this book, Susan Rossi-Wilcox has investigated the life of Catherine Dickens, the domestic arrangements of the Dickens family, the composition of this menu-book and how the various changes in succeeding editions reflect both Catherine’s own development and the state of play in Victorian cookery, entertainment and food supply.
At the same time, it contains a transcript of the menu-book itself and the appendix of recipes. It would not be sensible to claim the little book changed very much about Victorian cookery, but it serves as a potent marker of what was going on at the time, for example the modes of service, the sorts of dishes cooked, the domestic organisation necessary to maintain a reasonably well-off household."
I should add that this book can be yours for $50.00
