We hope you enjoy this new episode of The Victorian Way. Here are the answers to some questions you may have, from food historian Dr Annie Gray: • Tell me more about the Harewood connection. ANSWER: It is true, head gardener James Vert had a strong connection to the Harewood estate in Yorkshire (though he was born in Cheshire, where his father worked for a junior branch of the Lascelles family). His wife’s family were also tied to the estate. He started work at Audley in 1880, but retained close connections in Yorkshire. Louis Lecomte is a real person: chef at Harewood House from 1876-1890. He contributed recipes to Theodore Garrett’s Encylopedia of Practical Cookery (1892), from which this recipe is taken. • This seems like something from 1950s America - savoury salads in jelly. ANSWER: Savoury jellies have a long history. The earliest jellies were made from calves’ feet, which were boiled to extract the gelatin, which was then flavoured and sometimes coloured. In the 19th century packet gelatin made from pork trotters was developed. The Victorians made lots of sweet jellies, using both calves’ feet and packet gelatin, but they also used unsweetened jelly as decoration for savoury dishes and as a way of displaying cold dishes, by setting mousses in jelly, or suspending ingredients in a moulded jelly. By the 1880s these savoury jellies were known as aspics to distinguish them from the sweet type. This is essentially an aspic, though it is rathe more delicate than most of the examples in other books. Savoury aspics continued to be made - though they were going out of fashion - until the 1970s. In the States, they underwent a real resurgence in the 1950s, when recipes often mixed sweet and savoury ingredients together in what sometimes seems (to modern eyes) like a very confusing cacophony. Search for jello salad on the internet and you will find some truly alarming examples. • Why is this Italian? ANSWER: Your guess is as good as ours. Gruyere is Swiss, and calves’ foot jelly was no more common in Italy than in Britain. Most Italian Jelly recipes are for a multi-coloured sweet jelly. Perhaps Louise Lecomte or one of the other contributors to the Encylopedia of Practical Cookery knew something we don’t (or something we no longer know, anyway). • What are the other cheese dishes Mrs Crocombe references? What does she do with the offcuts? ANSWER: The Victorians were very keen on cheese, especially hard cheese, which was pricier (and therefore preferred by the aristocracy). Popular dishes included Welsh (and other regional) Rabbits (cheese on toast, sometimes with beer), ramakins (similar, but in pots, sometimes without the bread but with cream and spice), and lots of versions of cheese straws. You can see Mrs Crocombe making cheese seftons here: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-XKPTUxoBw88.html • Where did the ice come from? ANSWER: Country houses like Audley End all had ice houses, into which ice was put in winter, chiselled from lakes and ponds. The ice house was effectively a deep well, with a small brick construction on top to allow access. It kept ice frozen for several years. By 1881, you could also buy ice imported from North America and Greenland. • What is an odd boy? ANSWER: Country estates invariably had an odd-job man around, often an older man who had semi-retired from more physical labour, but who was still able to fetch and carry and do random tasks around the grounds and service wing. Boy did not necessarily mean young - it was more a denotation of status.
"Search for jello salad on the internet and you will find some truly alarming examples." -- I can specifically recommend Dylan B. Hollis's channel for this purpose, he has plenty of videos about mid-20th century recipes, and they are indeed not for the faint of heart.
@@stargirl7646 Plain gelatine is flavorless. Plain aspic is generally defined as a savory liquid (usually some sort of stock) thickened with gelatine, so it will have a taste of whatever you thickened.
the concept of ice houses is fascinating to me, creating hot is as simple as smacking things together but to create cold you need extensive logistical networks to harvest, ship and or store the coldness medium so you can transfer its coldness onto something like this godless jelly, i swear they only liked it cause having a fridge was so baller
@@dadevi Not only is cucumber refreshing, it also has cooling properties and can help in reducing heat in the human body, so it's a great ingredient to use in summer treats.
Mr. Vert, my foot. We all know Mrs. Crombe's been watching "Minnesota Salads That Aren't Really Salads" TikToks and she got this straight from That Midwestern Mom.
You do know that Italian cooking and Victorian cooking were around a long time before Minnesota or any salads people think are from there. Salad recipes would have arrived with all the immigrants from the UK and Europe who settled the land.
@@ptolemyglenn79, it’s a joke! Look up That Midwestern Mom. She’s from Minnesota (USA) where I live and this comment was fully tongue in cheek. She recreates recipes using Jell-O (for us, jelly is jam without the fruit pulp and seeds) from the 1950s and 60s when people used it to make all kinds of god-awful molds. (Tuna, onions, and celery in lime Jell-O anyone? No, I’m not kidding.)
I was in that kitchen yesterday! We visited Audley End and had a lovely time in the house and gardens. We went to the kitchens and saw Mrs Crocombe and the kitchen maids making fruit jellies in orange shells, seed cake and some little pastries that were almond and raspberry but looked like salmon with icing on top. We didn't get a taste of anything but it was a lot of fun, having those ladies there really brings the period setting to life. ❤
Skip the intro? Never! I must admit I am getting a hint of "Minnesota salad" from this recipe - I guess Jello salads are the great-granddaughters of Italian Jelly!
lovely looking jellt. And a bir of FYI the term ice box was only used once we had invented mechanical regrigeration systems and needed to distiungush them from the cabinets that held blocks of ice known as refridgerators .
I truly have to wonder what becomes of the dish once Mrs. Crocombe finishes making it. Like does the filming staff get to sample it? Imagine coming to work and they're like "how about some cheese jelly"? 😂All that aside, I do love this channel so much
I wonder what Victorians would think of the jello mold craze mid 20th century... Fascinated or horrified. Also 15 hrs since this released on YT and I am the 3rd comment, that's wild. But a bright point of my long work day was getting to see a video! Thank you to all that make these video's possible! @EnglishHeritage
I'm not getting notifications for some reason... so this was a super surprise to see Mrs Crocombe again. I absolutely love her ... long may she reign in the kitchen!!❤❤❤❤❤
Did you try setting the notifications to All, instead of Personalized? Maybe that’s what’s causing the issue, because I notice when it’s set to Personalized, sometimes it doesn’t recommend you the channel because assumingly it doesn’t fit with your recommendations. It got better when set it to All…
Harewood House in Leeds, seat of the Earl of Lascelles. Eventual home for Mary, Princess Royal and Countess of Harewood. The Earl Mrs. Crocombe mentions would have been the grandfather of Sir Tommy Lascelles, first private secretary to Her Late Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.
I don't know what makes it Italian. Perhaps it is because Monsieur Le Conte said it is, while eating escargot and baguette while asking curious questions on our pudding recipe.
Dislike aspics with all my heart but I would watch Mrs Crocombe make just about anything at this point 😅 and I agree with her that calling whatever that was Italian is peculiar 😂
I've recently watched the whole of "Duchess of Duke Street" (for frock spotting. I've never been able to find a list of where BBC:s costume departments' historical frocks have been used, so now I'm watching everything with a historical setting), which is about a chef and hotel owner in (mostly) Edwardian times. After a while it almost becomes a joke: "How will you serve it?" "In aspic."
Refrigerator as a term for a cooling house or place where things may be chilled was first recorded in 1803 (the term was first recorded in the context of a coolant in 1611). It was in fairly common use by 1881. It was another term for ice cave, or ice box. Mrs Crocombe would not have had access to an electric refrigerator (they did not come into widespread use in Britain until the 1960s) - but instead picture a wooden chest, lined with lead, and into which ice or ice and salt would be put to ensure the central compartment was at the right temperature to set ice creams or jellies (ices need to freeze, whereas if jellies made with gelatin freeze, they flop).
Any cook of mine who served me aspic would be looking for a new Lord and Lady to serve. Sorry and all. Other than that, Mrs Crocombe for Prime Minister!
We need a crossover episode where Jon Townsends and Mrs Crocombe cook together Perferably with Max Miller narrating. (But softly, hidden in the bushes, like David Attenborough)
One hopes that one of the maids of the house will open a window once Mrs. Crocombe cuts the cheese. (Apologies from this humble peasant from across the sea, dear Mrs. Crocombe.)
Isn't it Italian simply because of the gruyère cheese? Swiss and Italian culture flows together in the Alps and I'm sure gruyère-like cheeses were produced on the Italian side of the border.
I'm surprised by the lack of shade thrown at box jelly. I honestly didn't expect Mrs C to allow something like that into her kitchen. But maybe it's good to have in case Mary Ann Fs something up. Again.
Nope...wtf did these rich people eat back in the day...ick. I want some French onion soup with gryuere. Not some weird tiny cheese bits in jelly over salad!?! Maybe a walnut, cranberry, gorgonzola said with a vinaigrette would be lovely.
I love Mrs. Crocombe but the dish is so gross though I have been aware of salad put on top of jelly. And savory gelatin being a common food for the rich.
The ‘odd boy’? I reckon he does odd jobs? The Lascelles were royalty! The Earl’s wife was Princess Mary, daughter of GV! That’s quite an endorsement of the dish, then!
This plate is absolutely horrible and is a crime for the whole cheese universe, but I love you anyways ❤😂 And I must say thank you so I know that this plate exists for real, because if I dare tell about it, nobody would believe me. I think Monsieur Le Comte was a spy from the cuisine française to avoid English cooks to improve their recipes, but that's my personal opinion Signed : a french girl, very found of cheese
The comment on Stilton has me wondering if it was aged or young Stilton that Mrs. Crocombe was referring to for a dish such as this. For a brief time, i was a cheese-monger, so I've seen both. With young Stilton made with dried blueberries or dried mango and candied ginger. Aged Stilton is a blue cheese, which I've regrettably not tried. I've tried Gorgonzola and Saint Agur, both relativly young blue cheeses compared to Stilton. As a general rule, the more expensive cheeses are generally more aged, as the work put into making it increases its value. But some younger cheeses, mostly blues, are still quite pricey due to the work put in to introducing penicillin or other mold to produce the blue or dark green veins that we see. Another factor to the price of cheese, at least nowadays, all depends on the diet of the cows, goats or sheep. If water buffalo milk is made into cheese, it's quite pricey. Milk fat content also plays a role. The fattier the cheese, the higher its worth. For example, skim milk mozzarella is far cheaper than whole milk, because skim milk is more water, which is why it melts easier. But it's not quite as rich. Wonderful instructions, Mrs. Crocombe and thank you so much for bringing her to us for all these years, English Heritage! I've been a longtime fan and I'm always looking forward to seeing more of your content.
Mrs Crocombe would surely have said “Harwood” as, until the current Earl, David Lascelles, became the holder of the title, that was how the name of the house was pronounced by the family and those in the know….and Mrs Crocombe was surely in the know! Things are changing a lot at Harewood now and one of the changes is that the pronunciation in use has been changed to Harewood….but even Mrs C surely couldn’t have seen that coming!!!
