Food

By the Georgian period, most kitchens used coal and food was mainly cooked by roasting, boiling and stewing. Although French cooked food was considered a luxury, English plain food was very popular. The middle and upper classes would eat a large breakfast at around 9am, take a dish of tea in the afternoon and have dinner at around 6-7pm. The first course usually consisted of several heavy meat dishes, the second of lighter fish and meat with puddings and sweet pies or tarts. Dessert followed with an assortment of fruit, nuts, cheese, sweetmeats and jellies. After a glass or so of wine, the ladies would retire leaving the men in the dining room.

Foods were prepared quite simply. Butter was used for most cooking and meat and puddings were the staple English diet. The most popular vegetables were cabbage, turnips and carrots and fruit was finally considered safe to eat raw. Popular flavourings were those of butter, nutmeg and wine. Diets were not very healthy, food often went off due to lack of preservation methods and cooking techniques were rather rudimentary and sometimes dangerous. However you might like to try the following recipes in a safer modern environment!

Make these Georgian Recipes

Hasty Oatmeal Pudding

You will need:

• Water (575ml)
• Salt (1/4 tsp)
• Butter (40g)
• Oatmeal (225g)

Method:

Bring the salted water to the boil in a pan with 15g of butter. Add the oatmeal slowly, stirring vigorously. Keep stirring for another 3-4 minutes and serve hot with the rest of the butter, cream or milk.

Strawberry Fritters

You will need:

• Large strawberries (450g) which need to be dry with their stalks on
• Plain flour (175g)
• Caster Sugar (50g)
• Grated nutmeg (2tsp)
• 2 beaten eggs
• Cream (225ml)

Lard for frying –margarine will do nicely

Method:

Put the flour, sugar and nutmeg in a bowl, add the eggs and cream and stir. This is now your batter and must be left to stand for one to two hours. Heat the lard hot enough to fry not burn. Dip the strawberries into the batter and fry them in the hot lard. Drain them off on kitchen paper and enjoy!