Savouries inspired by Mrs. Isabella Beeton's Book of Household Management

Pigeon Pie Tongue garnished
BLTongue1/1		 Ham garnished Game Pie
BLGamepie1/1
Pigeon Pie
BLPigeon1/1		 Tongue Ham Garnished
BLHam1/1		 Game Pie
Pheasant Savoury Jelly a la Bellevue
Pheasant
BLPheasant1/1		 Savoury Jelly a la Bellevue
BLSavjelly1/1

Mrs. Isabella Beeton was the Julia Childs or Delia Smith of the early Victorian age in Great Britain: a young, newly-married, middle-class woman whose guidance on cooking and managing a house (at a time, of course, when labour-saving machines were rare but servants common) gave confidence to thousands of young, newly-married, middle-class women who wanted an authoritative guide to running a home and keeping up appearances. The times were much like ours: there was great economic prosperity, growth and huge social change which led to a large number of people, in much better, and often quite different circumstances to their parents, who felt they needed to learn how to live up to their new houses and possessions, and to live, and entertain in the latest fashion. If the circumstances sound familiar then so should the story since "Mrs. Beeton" became a brand long before the term was widely understood; in fact perhaps even a 'franchise' since her book, refreshed by generations of editors, continued to be sold for decades and decades after Isabella's death at the age of only 28 (giving birth to her fourth child. Some things have, happily, changed.)

Many of the recipes Mrs. Beeton popularised, for mutton and all manner of things preserved in aspic are less consulted than they were. But these charming illustrations will still ornament your kitchen or pantry magnificently.