To celebrate the modern obsession with autumn-themed cooking and baking, I decided to take a look at what Jane Austen herself might have enjoyed during this particular season.
Film still from Emma. (Autumn de Wilde, 2020. Adapted from Austen's 1815 novel, Emma.)
Hello, Janeites!
Wherever you find yourself this November– blessed with sun or rain or snow, heat or chill, the ephemeral changing of the leaves or perhaps, still, with leafless trees– there is nothing quite like the flavor profile specific to this time of the year, especially in the United States. (Even if one does not partake in the craze, one must admit, pumpkin spice obsession is still going strong.) With Thanksgiving right around the corner, what better time to cozy up and take a look at an autumn menu of yore?
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In the Georgian and Regency eras there were particular foods associated with the seasons, just as there are today. The historical ingredient-to-season relationship, however, was largely due to the more widespread– and in many cases necessary– practice growing of cultivating one's own food or purchasing the fare of local farmers. What households ended up cooking hinged upon the particular fruits and vegetables in season during a given month. Peruse any cooking-related book from this time period and one will certainly encounter a plethora of recipes with great flexibility in regard to ingredients. A perfect example of this is a lovely autumn vegetable soup or "Swiss Soup Meagre" from a dear friend and eventual member of the Austen family, Martha Lloyd. (For additional recipes, you must turn to Martha Lloyd's Household Book in full, which provides a window into the lives of the Austens, intertwining day-to-day meals and recipes not only mentioned in Austen's letters, but her novels, as well.)
Colin Spencer, in his 2011 book British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History, touches upon Martha Lloyd's Household Book and this recipe in particular: "Martha Lloyd's Swiss Soup Meagre is a Soup Maigre, meaning a vegetable soup without meat [...] Martha's recipe uses cabbage, lettuces, endive, sorrel, spinach, chervil, onions, parsley, beet leaves, cucumber, peas and asparagus, which gives us a picture of what was growing in the garden outside the kitchen door. " (Colin Spencer, British Food, Chapter 9)
18th Century Soup Meagre recipe, recreated by Colonial Williamsburg
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Take four cabbage lettuces, and endive, sorrel, spinach, cherville, chives, onions, parsley, beet leaves, cucumber sliced, peas and asparagus; let all these herbs be cut fine and no stalks be put in. Then put a quart of a pound of butter in a stewpan, shake over your herbs when they are in the butter a small teaspoonful of flour and let them stew sometime then pour in a quart of boiling water adn let it stew on till near dinner time, then add the yolks of three eggs in a teacup of cream. Broth is better than so much water if you have it. If you have not all the vegetables above mentioned it will be very good with what you have or a little Seville orange juice if you like. Salt and Peper to Taste.
Please see the National Trust's Guide to Seasonal Food for more information on British food seasons. Being a present-day compilation, it is a slightly variegated list from the one Austen herself knew; nevertheless, it is quite similar to what was available in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This delightfully informative blog article sheds additional light on the subject.
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The Kitchen at Sandpit Gate c. 1752 by Paul Sandby
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Shifting gears to dessert fare, while fruit pies– such as pumpkin pie– were not traditionally consumed in England during Jane Austen's lifetime, her American contemporaries were just getting started. Included below is a recipe from Amelia Simmons in 1796, detailing how to make not one but two iterations of this autumn "pompkin" pie. The recipe was originally included in American Cookery, which was the first known cookbook written by an American.
(For more historic pumpkin pie details as well as yet another recipe, see this 1803 variation, courtesy of The Jane Austen Centre blog.)
Recreated 1796 pumpkin pie courtesy Tasting History with Max Miller
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Amelia Simmons's Pompkin Pie
No. 1. One quart stewed and strained [pumpkin], 3 pints cream, 9 beaten eggs, sugar, mace, nutmeg and ginger, laid into paste [...] and with a dough spur, cross and chequer it, and baked in dishes three quarters of an hour.
No. 2. One quart of milk, 1 pint pompkin, 4 eggs, molasses, allspice and ginger in a crust, bake 1 hour.
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Thus concludes our brief foray into the autumn culinary traditions of Austen's time. Find yourself curious about Georgian and Regency cuisine and food culture at large? Check out the first Jane Austen & Co webinar, "Eating With Austen" with food historian and freelance writer, KC Hysmith, recorded all the way back in 2020... or the illuminative eighth episode of JASP's podcast: Austen Chat, featuring author and food historian, Julienne Gehrer.
And if you enjoyed this article, as always, please consider making a donation to keep all online Jane Austen Summer programming free to the public.
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