The English and Australian cookery book: cookery for the many, as well as for the ‘upper ten thousand’, is regarded as Australia’s oldest surviving recipe book. It was written by Tasmanian Edward Abbot for both the masses and the wealthy (the ‘upper ten thousand’). The tome was published in 1864 in London by Sampson Low, Son & Marston.
At this time, the components of many meals were prepared from scratch – the book provides instruction on how to extract gelatin from calves’ feet, how to make ice from chemicals and how to achieve fluffy cakes using ‘volatile salts’ (ammonium acetate). There is also plenty of insight (and personal opinion!) on social and dining etiquette from the author, who describes himself as an ‘aristologist’ – an expert in cooking and eating. As such, the book provides a fascinating snapshot, through a food lens, of Australian life and dining in the Victorian era.
Abbot begins an introduction by outlining his inspiration to write a cookery book, stating that he wished to produce a book of cookery for people of ‘moderate means’. There was a gap in the cookery book market, according to Abbot, as he deemed the groundbreaking cookbook Modern Cookery for Private Families (1845), written by Englishwoman Eliza Acton, to be ‘excellent’, but too ‘elaborate’.
Along with recipes, Abbot’s book is peppered with poetry, quotes and historical accounts regarding food and dining. Abbot advises his readers on various topics, from social and dining etiquette (such as how to handle a drunk guest), to servants, smoking, alfresco parties, and food service – ‘hot plates are a positive necessary to a dinner’. He delivers some rather cutting advice for gentlemen attending dinner parties: ‘if you are diminutive, ugly, without grace or tournure, give up all intention of presenting yourself in society’.
This is just a sneak peek! To read the rest of the article, check out Edition 29 of Traces.
