Georgian Cookery
Handel's Hungry! Georgian cooking comes back to London with live demonstrations at Handel Hendrix House.
Join us on 28 and 29 September 2024 to see a Georgian feast prepared in London’s only 18th-century townhouse kitchen at 25 Brook Street, the home of the great composer George Frideric Handel.
With food historians Marc Meltonville and Robert Hoare in period costume and using replica Georgian kitchenware, you will experience a kitchen filled with the sights and smells of Georgian cooking using recipes from the 1747 cookbook The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse.
In his day Handel was known for his love of food. ‘Handel was in the best humour in the world’ observed his friend as they shared tea and coffee, chocolate, mulled white wine and biscuits during an evening of music making.
Handel boasted a well-equipped kitchen with a cook ready to boil, pickle, fry, stew, and roast up his favourite dishes. At one meal he is known to have wolfed down ‘Rice soup with mutton in, petty patties, lamb’s ears, an eel pye’ all accompanied by ‘French claret, rhenish wine, madeira’. His kitchen has been carefully re-created at the museum.
Whilst enjoying fine food, wine and good company, Handel may not have always shared the finest foods with his guests. On one famous occasion, he was apparently discovered in his closet surreptitiously enjoying a ‘hamper of Burgundy’ whilst his musician guests tucked into meaner fayre. Like many of us today, Handel ‘eats too much of those things he ought to avoid’ worried his friends, and as one music manuscript bears his handwritten note-to-self to order 12 gallons of port, one can understand why…
Watch and talk to the cooks as they prepare different dishes throughout the day. Find Georgian inspiration for your own table and find out what life was like for the cooks working in the townhouses of Georgian London. Then, step upstairs to enjoy fabulous 18th-century music performed live by professional musicians in the room in which Handel himself performed. There will also be family-friendly Georgian crafting, with the opportunity to make your own souvenir of your visit.
The cookery event, live music and crafting are included in general admission and children under 16 go free. Please note, it is not possible for visitors to taste food prepared during this event.
Our historic cooks follow original recipes, use original techniques and replicas of historic kitchen tools to demonstrate how Georgian cooks worked in their kitchens. As with a modern kitchen, the tools being used may cause injury if misused or mishandled. To make sure you enjoy your visit to the kitchen, please ask before touching items that the cooks are using and follow any safety instructions given by the cooks, or our staff and volunteers. Please ensure children are supervised at all times while visiting the kitchens.
Many historic recipes contain ingredients now known to be allergens. Whilst none is available for consumption, please note that these demonstrations may include the use and processing of almond and other nuts (Nuts), cows milk and other dairy products (Milk), Celery, flour (Wheat), Eggs, Fish, Mustard, Oats, Fish, Molluscs, and dried fruits (Sulphites). Wine, beer and other alcoholic beverages may also be present.
