By Annie Leverton, Visitor Services Officer

In honour of International Food Day on the 16th October, this month’s Carnegie Birthplace blog draws inspiration from Victorian and Edwardian banqueting.

There are not many similarities between our 21st century diets and the food, which Andrew Carnegie was presented with at dinners, and banquets, so I thought it would be a good place to start investigating.

The Museum Curator started me off in a good place – sending me a list of various banquets and menu items. ‘Tis the season for the Great British Bake Off and we’re all big fans in the office, so I set myself the challenge to make a typically Victorian sweet treat. 

The list of suggestions she sent me:

Plum Duff – a sizeable steamed pudding eaten aboard the Wiscasset, the ship Andrew and his family crossed to America on. A stodgy mound of sultanas, plums and suet – basically all the good stuff.

Maids of Honour and Curacao Jelly, both desserts eaten at Brentford in 1904 (see image below). Now I know what Curacao is, but never did I imagine that’s what me and Andrew Carnegie share in common. Curacao Jelly is just as imagined – an unnaturally tropical blue jelly! The finite opposite of Maids of Honour, delicate curd tarts, most similar to egg custards or Portuguese Pasteis de Nata.

Charlotte Russe, Maraschino Jelly and Gateau St Honorés. - All served in Dundee in 1902.

Pudding a la Reine (or Queen of Puddings) Served in Glasgow in 1901.

We did broach the idea of attempting a savoury recipe, but they are all just too vague (and/or now illegal – turtle soup graced the dining table at many a Victorian banquet, yet for good reason is hard to come by now.)

Researching these dishes required serious Googling and I am amazed at the sheer finesse that was needed to make these desserts – and the stamina! Many of these recipes involve a serious amount of egg whipping, which without the help of a mixer or electric whisk, I can imagine would quickly become a thankless task!

A couple puddings were quickly ruled out. Much to the chagrin of my steamed pudding and custard-loving boyfriend, the first to go was the poor old Plum Duff, largely due to the fact, I do not own a pudding basin, nor do I intend to buy one in the near future. Next for the chop was the jelly. Whilst this is may be every
child’s dream dessert, it had to go. After that, it was only fair to eliminate the Maraschino Jelly for the sake of impartiality. Also I’ve been informed by multiple people that making jelly simply doesn’t constitute baking, so it would be cheating to make that. Next were the Maids of Honour, because I was told they were too easy – this left the battle of the bakes between the Pudding a la Reine, Charlotte Russe, and the Gateau St Honorés.

Charlotte Russe

This is a classic Edwardian dessert, similar to a trifle in terms of its ingredients but instead the ladyfinger sponges surround the dessert, holding in the centre filling of cream, mousse or jelly. It certainly would be a pretty sight to grace any banquet table.

I loved the idea of making this pud, but feared its structural integrity would be comprised on the bumpy car journey across rural Fife from my kitchen to the office! However I will definitely be attempting this for future dinner parties and potlucks.

Gateau St Honorés

Now whilst the name of this delight may indicate it is a cake, it is in fact a wonderful pastry delight. Its namesake is the French patron saint of bakers and pastry chefs, Saint Honoré or Honoratus (d. 600 AD), Bishop of Amiens in Northern France.

It was invented in 1847 at the Chiboust bakery on Rue Saint-Honoré in Paris.

This dessert consists of a puff pastry ring, topped with cream choux buns, caramel and crème patisserie. Now I have watched enough Bake Off to know what a nightmare making pastry from scratch is, so however tempting this pudding might be, unfortunately I did not feel confident enough to attempt this recipe.

Pudding à la Reine

Literally translating as the ‘Queen of Puddings,’ this stodgy delight certainly caught my attention and quickly made itself a serious contender in my miniature museum bake-off. I suppose it is most similar to a bread and butter pudding, except slightly more indulgent as it is topped with snowy browned peaks of Italian meringue – similar to S’mores. This pud would traditionally have been made with breadcrumbs baked within custard, topped with a jam of choice, and then piped with meringue. I found a Nigella Lawson recipe, where she substitutes the breadcrumbs for crumbled brioche – what a treat!

This pudding ticked the boxes for concise and simple recipe, reinventing stale ingredients (always a fan of this as it means we end up with less food waste!), and of course sound structural integrity.

I decided to give Britain’s resident domestic goddess Nigella Lawson’s recipe a whirl – although I swapped plum jam for bramble jam! If making in summer, I would be tempted to use something like Rhubarb curd instead, for a bit a tang to cut through the custard soaked bread layer. I even thought instead of using brioche, you could substitute the brioche for teacakes (ones used for toasting!). The whole thought behind this pudding is using up the leftovers and making something new out of stale ingredients rather than chucking it away.

The UK food industry produces a shocking 1.9 million tonnes of food waste per year. Whilst there are few things I think that should be taken away from the Victorians, eating up what we have left in the kitchen is certainly one point I can get behind!

Ingredients

150g/5½oz brioche, cut into slices and left to go stale (see recipe tip)
        
50g/1¾oz unsalted butter, softened, plus more
for greasing

 500ml/18fl oz. full-fat milk

1 lemon, zest and juice

1 tsp vanilla extract        

25g/1oz caster sugar

Pinch fine sea salt

4 large free-range egg yolks (whites reserved for meringue topping)

175g/6oz jam

For the topping

4 large free-range egg whites (from eggs above)

100g/3½oz caster sugar, plus extra for sprinkling

As you can see my pudding was largely a success, asides singeing the tops of my meringue a little! It also felt good to make a recipe using up odds and ends in the kitchen! It is certainly a hearty and warming pudding for those autumn days as the nights are drawing in and the temperature is dropping. Happy Baking!

Here is the method I used:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/queen_of_puddings_33046