Historic Cooking
Bring the past to life through food. Historic Cooking is a show where we recreate dishes from history and reimagine them with a modern twist.
Hosted by Tom Adkins.
Episode 5
Victorian Bread
In this episode celebrating both Heritage Open Days #EdibleEngland and the Turner Prize 2021 at the Herbert, we make a meal once enjoyed by famous artist JMW Turner. Bread, cheese & beer 🍞🧀🍺
He left behind hundreds of oil paintings and watercolours, as well as 30,000 works on paper – amongst his notes held at Tate, we discovered a list of food and drink he consumed in 1839.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, ‘A List of Food and Drink’, 1839, Photo © Tate.
We then make a modern version of bread and cheese - pizza! 🍕
Grab the recipe here & start baking!
Find out more about Turner Prize 2021 here.
JMW Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner (1775 - 1851) was one of the greatest British artists and is particularly known for his landscape paintings. He toured Britain and Europe extensively, capturing the scenery and the fleeting effects of light and shade in watercolour.
Turner visited Margate often during his lifetime. He was a regular visitor from the 1820s onwards, taking lodgings there with a Mr and Mrs Booth. After Mr Booth died in 1822 Turner lived with his widow. This view of Margate was painted between 1830 and 1832.
Turner made his first visit to Italy in 1802 and returned on several occasions between 1819 and the 1840s. this view of Florence from San Miniato was painted around 1827.
Turner’s travels around Britain brought him to Coventry, where he painted a view of the city from the Holyhead Road. An engraving of this work by Samuel Fisher was printed in 1833.
Margate, Kent, JMW Turner, 1830 - 1832. Held at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
Florence, JMW Turner, 1827. Held at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
Lime Kiln By Moonlight, JMW Turner, 1797 - 1799. Held at Herbert Art Gallery & Museum.
Joseph Mallord William Turner, 'A List of Food and Drink', 1839, Photo © Tate. Creative Commons CC-BY-NC-ND (3.0 Unported) https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/turner-a-list-of-food-and-drink-d28637
Episode 4
2 Tone Special Roast Dinner
IIn this special episode we create an entire meal to celebrate the Herbert’s 2 Tone: Lives & Legacies exhibition.
The 2 Tone sound originated in Coventry’s thriving music scene of the 1970s. The legendary 2 Tone record label was founded in 1979 by Jerry Dammers of The Specials. Alongside the iconic tunes there was a desire to transcend and defuse racial tensions in Britain at that time.
Our Chef and host, Tom has produced a 2 Tone inspired Caribbean x English Roast Dinner. With the help of Esmie, owner of local Caribbean restaurant, Esmie’s, he has put together a tasty dish that captures the spirit of the 2 Tone movement.
Watch Tom’s interview with Esmie here.
Grab the recipe and start cooking!
Episode 4 Recipe & Ingredient List
Visit Esmie’s and order some spices here
2 Tone Movement
A number of musical influences went into forming the 2 Tone sound, but the two most significant ones were Jamaican ska and punk rock.
2 Tone founder Jerry Dammers’ initial plan was to combine punk rock with reggae, but the different tempos of the two types of music did not blend very well. Instead, he turned to ska which was faster than reggae and fused much better with punk.
Other members of the bands contributed influences from different types of music, such as rock, blues or disco.
The migrants who arrived in Britain from the Caribbean in the 1950s and ‘60s brought with them music from their homeland, including reggae and ska. This was often played on homemade sound systems at house parties and clubs. In Coventry the Police Ballroom and the Railway Club at Holbrooks became popular venues for Caribbean music events. The music soon became popular with British music fans, especially mods and skinheads.
Discover more about the iconic 2 Tone legacy here
2 Tone was famous for the live shows, which often featured two or three bands. They were incredibly lively and energetic and the atmosphere was electric.
“We were the voice of a generation and I’m a proud man to be the voice of that generation.” — Lynval Golding, The Specials
Many of the items on display in this exhibition are on loan from Jerry Dammers’ personal collection.
Jerry Dammers was keen that the 2 Tone band members dressed in a distinctive way which gave then a unique identity. This combined the fashions of Jamaican rude boys and British mods.
Episode 3
WW2 Sausage Rolls
In this episode we bake some wartime sausage rolls from a recipe written by a British Army cook in 1941.
This cookbook was found in a loft in Radford, Coventry and later donated to Coventry Archives. It is extremely detailed and features a range of recipes designed to feed 100 men.
Read excerpts from the cookbook here (contact Coventry Archives if you wish to visit the museum and view the book in person)
Our Chef and host, Tom has produced a scaled down recipe for these beef sausage rolls in addition to a modern pork roll and a vegetarian/vegan version.
Grab them here and start cooking!
Episode 3 Recipes & Ingredient lists
Puff Pastry recipe available in the Gloria & Lil’s cookbook.
Wartime Cooking
At home, citizens had to endure rationing. Less food for the population meant more food for the armed forces fighting in Europe and beyond.
Meals were prepared in field kitchens, producing large quantities of food to feed the hungry soldiers. Food was both a way to keep soldiers healthy and avoid malnutrition, but food could also be an excellent morale booster.
Suggestions for haversack rations.
Recipe for Brown Stew.
Recipe for Fondant Potatoes.
Cuts of beef and their uses.
Episode 2
Victorian Cheesecake
In this episode we recreate a Victorian recipe from The Book of Household Management by Mrs Isabella Beeton. ‘Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book’, is an extensive guide to running a household in Victorian Britain, first published as a book in 1861.
The book can be accessed online here.
Our Chef and host, Tom has produced some easy-to-follow recipes for the Victorian cheesecake in addition to the modern vegan version.
Grab them here and start cooking!
Victorian Cooking
Cooking in the Victorian period would often be about making dishes to impress. Making fanciful, elaborate meals that would delight guests with their looks as much as their taste. The art of the dinner party became a way to improve social standing and a great host would need to use all the tools they could in order to wow their guests.
For the average family, cooking was a time to gather at the dinner table to enjoy both food and good company.
This is a long-handled iron saucepan with a lid.
A Victorian period wooden rolling pin. This could easily be mistaken for a modern-day rolling pin!
This is a cast iron Victorian kitchen grinder. Used to create minced meat.
A steel vegetable cutter with a wooden handle.
Episode 1
Medieval English Beef Stew
In this episode we recreate an English beef stew from 1420. The original recipe was taken from 'Two fifteenth-century cookery-books : Harleian MS. 279 (ab 1430), & Harl. MS. 4016 (ab. 1450), with extracts from Ashmole MS. 1439, Laud MS. 553, & Douce MS. 55' / edited by Thomas Austin.
The book can be accessed online here.
Our Chef and host, Tom has produced some easy to follow recipes for the medieval stew in addition to the modern version.
Grab them here and start cooking!
Medieval Cooking
Cooking in medieval Britain was very different depending on how wealthy the family was. It was mostly done by women, although wealthy families would have servants to do the physical work. We know that the Carmelites at Whitefriars in Coventry did their own cooking as they were paid by some of the Coventry guilds to provide their annual feast and entertainment!
Cooking was done on a central hearth using a large iron pot to boil meat and vegetables. Apart from the very poor, most people had a reasonable diet. This might include brown bread, beans, chicken, beef, pork, herrings, salted cod and vegetables such as turnips, onions and cabbage.
A variety of implements were used in cooking. For example, flat, slotted skimmers removed the unwanted ‘scum’ at the top of stews. Strainers would be used to remove meat and vegetables so the remaining liquid could be made into broth.
Salt was important for preserving meat and fish and flavouring food at the table. Did you know that people only used knives and spoons to eat? Forks became more popular in the late 1500s.
This is a late medieval or Tudor table salt container in the shape of a woman found in central Coventry. This salt cellar was imported from a wealthy merchant's house in the Netherlands and would have been expensive.
This is a Cistercian ware tyg (tig) mug from between 1400 - 1550. Tygs often had multiple handles which were used for passing around hot drinks to share with others.
Two medieval skimmers made of metal. These skimmers were used for getting rid of the scum on the top of your stew!
This is a medieval pipkin - a type of earthenware pot. It was put over coals or fires but not put in direct contact with either otherwise this would crack the pot.