Other:
Research Areas
Research Content
Current Research Topics
Cooks and kitchens in the English Country House
Traditional readings of dining change promote a narrative of top down emulation. Yet a strong argument can be made for ‘new money’, in the shape of the newly wealthy upper and middle classes as driving stylistic change, while the old, landed, elites retained older forms well into the nineteenth century. In-depth work on cooking in aristocratic houses is lacking, and is one of my central research interests.
As with so many aspects of food history, the introduction of service à la Russe is the subject of a creation myth. It is usually suggested that the style was introduced at a banquet given by the Lord Mayor of London in 1814. However, the many elements which differentiated the à la Russe meal from dinner à la Française coalesced into a recognisably different dining style very gradually, and it was not until the 1880s that the older form was wholly superseded. Even then, some aspects were retained, such as the presentation of many dishes upon the table at once as part of ‘high teas’ and cold suppers. Investigation of the kitchens of middle and upper class homes can help elucidate the pace and nature of change, as the dishes characteristic of each style required different equipment, ingredients and, indeed, kitchen organisation.
I have a particular interest in the development of country house kitchens. Partly dictated by the greater survival rates of elite evidence as opposed to middle class sources, this also comes from my work at Audley End, a site which I know in detail. Country houses were spaces of class tension, encompassing within the estate not just the owning family, but also a range of family hangers-on, employees of various ranks. Additionally, houses were not closed spaces, but the focus of constant comings and goings by suppliers, visitors to servants and the family, and occasional other parties such as policemen (and burglars). The kitchen can be seen as the house in microcosm, and its organisation as a reflection of the wider mentality of that estate. Those who worked in such kitchens moved on, both to other houses, and to start families of their own, and the habit learnt in the English Country House were therefore a large influence outside the narrow confines of the elite context.