Episode Details

In this episode from the BFHP vaults, the tables are turned, and Neil is the guest on his own podcast, interviewed about his new book Before Mrs Beeton, Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper, about c18th cook and Manchester legend Elizabeth Raffald, which won the Best Food Book at the Guild of Food Writers Awards 2024.

In the interviewer’s chair is previous guest and friend of the show Alessandra Pino. Alessandra is co-author of A Gothic Cookbook which is an illustrated cookbook inspired by classic and contemporary Gothic texts. She is also co-host of Fear Feasts which is a podcast about food and horror in books and the films based on those books. She is also the co-host of A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink alongside Neil Buttery and Sam Bilton.

They talked about how I discovered Elizabeth, her great achievements, the problem of Mrs Beeton, her recipes, my recipe section of updated Raffald recipes, "Rabbits Surprised", comparisons with modern chefs like Heston Blumenthal, why there’s no statue of her, the time she exorcised a house from an evil spirit and much, much more.

Pre-order Neil’s new book Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper at you favourite bookshop, or from the publisher Pen & Sword History: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Before-Mrs-Beeton-Hardback/p/22437

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1769): https://archive.org/details/experiencedengl01raffgoog/page/n9/mode/2up

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1880 edition): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Book_of_Household_Management/otoAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1780 edition): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/fe8HAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPiaaExKz9AhUMQ8AKHazyCXkQre8FegQIHRAJ

Previous podcast episode 18th Century Dining with Ivan Day: https://open.spotify.com/episode/22BHsKHncyk2i6UXEzcIY2?si=3afcd447af0b4eb9

Previous Podcast episode Food in Gothic Literature with Alessandra Pino: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Nt55uQLXp6vrqH6MZsdPY?si=7b342ca391514232

Alessandra links:

A Gothic Cookbook: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63143496-a-gothic-cookbook

Find her on Instagram @sasacharlie and twitter @foodforflo

Neil’s book A Dark History of Sugar is available now from all bookshops as well as from the publisher Pen & Sword: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/A-Dark-History-of-Sugar-Hardback/p/20481

Don’t forget there will be another postbag episode at the end of the season. If you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question abo