Georgette Heyer Fans discussion
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Background information - links about GH's historical world
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I am pretty sure I would not enjoy it ;-)
I always thought Trifles were the same as Parfaits. Thanks for the link!
Trifle is also an Australasian thing - I don't think I would enjoy the version linked to (& I don't think a Regency trifle would have mascapone cheese) Unless you are making it for children it usually includes alcohol(usually sherry)Here is a basic one where you buy the custard & the sponge.
http://www.foodinaminute.co.nz/Recipe...
Annabel Langbein is probably NZ's most successful self published author (she writes cookbooks) I made this a couple of years ago but with whipped cream instead of mascapone & I didn't candy rose petals.
https://www.annabel-langbein.com/reci...
A true Regency trifle recipe can be found at the Jane Austen Centre trifle recipe from Martha Lloyd. The page also has a modern adaptation. A trifle is usually layered fruit and cream and pudding.
QNPoohBear wrote: "A true Regency trifle recipe can be found at the Jane Austen Centre trifle recipe from Martha Lloyd. The page also has a modern adaptation. A trifle is usually layered fruit and cream and pudding."*cautiously* I might eat that one - although "pound cake" sounds heavy.
Fruit and cream and “pudding”? It IS a pudding (dessert) and still eaten. The base is sponge that has been soaked in sherry. Then fruit jelly (not sure what the US word for that is) with fruit, then crème anglais, topped with whipped cream and such things as silvered sugar almonds and glacé fruit. Pretty magnificent and served in special glass trifle bowls
That's the one I know Norma and make it every Christmas for dessert. There would be mutiny in our house if it didn't appear on the table on that day!
Creme anglaise is another term for custard, isn't it?
Our trifle we make every year at Christmas is the one handed down from my GGrandmother (and probably from her mother) is very much the same as Norma's recipe. The original recipe tops the cream with "fruit and nuts as availabe", but inthe southern hemisphere we always have fresh fruit available, so strawberries are the traditional topping for us. Our trifle is made in a straight sided cut glass bowl, scalloped rim and glass pedestal that GGrandmother bought with her from England in 1874. It was my Grandmother's pride and joy - both bowl and contents.
Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "Creme anglaise is another term for custard, isn't it?"Yes, that's right and was described in GGrandmother's recipe as "custard with eggs". That has morphed over years to Edmonds custard :)
I have to say GGrandmother's recipe assumed you were already a proficient cook as there was no explanation as to what "custard with eggs" was!
I can no longer tolerate dairy so I make mine now with soya custard and I'll be honest I can't taste the difference and neither can the family. I just skip the cream altogether.
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Yum!! I'm getting hungry! And how did I miss this wonderful thread??? Now I've got to go back and peruse the previous 100 "really useful" tidbits!!
So, I'm going backwards reading all the previous posts. I've only made it to about Message 80, but just have to say I never realized there were so many Lucy Worsley videos on YouTube. I love her, and I've loved the few shows I've seen on PBS, but am now anticipating a night or two glued to YouTube!!
Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "QNPoohBear wrote: "A true Regency trifle recipe can be found at the Jane Austen Centre trifle recipe from Martha Lloyd. The page also has a modern adaptation. A trifle is usually layered fruit and ..."Old-fashioned pound cake meant literally a dense cake made with a pound of butter, lots of sugar, eggs and flour. I watch the British Baking Show, but still am not sure how all the cake terms translate - took me forever to figure out castor sugar is granulated white sugar!
I don’t think pound cake is exactly what they call sponge cake, but looks similar - kind of a good, dense crumbed, mild cake you can eat plain or dress up with goodies - like using as a building block for a trifle! Or a tiramisu.
More modern pound cakes are lighter, I think, and it’s one of my go-to favorites with lemon rind in there and maybe a lemon glaze - very nice with coffee or tea! You can make it as a loaf cake or in a bundt pan, so it’s versatile also, and add different flavors.
I made a Bakewell Tart yesterday, which I read that some version of was invented in 1826 in England. Every week I cook a meal (and sometimes dessert) from a randomly selected country. This week was England, so I did a Yorkshire Pudding, roast veggies, gravy and the Bakewell Tart.
❇Critterbee wrote: "I made a Bakewell Tart yesterday, which I read that some version of was invented in 1826 in England. Every week I cook a meal (and sometimes dessert) from a randomly selected country. This week w..."
Wow, Critter, that’s impressive, good for you! I love that weekly meal idea...sounds fun and delicious. There’s so much good food out there to sample! 😋
Just looked up Bakewell Tart, yum!
I love the British Baking Show (Americans should YouTube the BBC episodes of earlier seasons) for the historical information Mel and Sue share with the audience. Most well-known modern day British desserts seem to have originated in the Victorian era and not things Georgette Heyer's characters would have known. Perhaps the jaded heroes' chefs were dreaming up new things to please their masters that early. According to the Jane Austen Festival hosts in Bath, in the Regency period they ate for breakfast (before a big trip) things modern British people have for tea and Americans eat for breakfast and brunch. Muffins (like English muffins for those of us in America): French rolls with butter if the butter “hadn’t gone off” (spoiled), cakes : seed cake, fruit cake, beetroot chocolate cake, pound cake and of course tea and toast. No doubt our runaway heroines would like a sustaining meal like that!
Our sherry trifle is usually layers of jam swiss roll sliced and soaked in sherry, mandarin oranges or banana, jelly (american jello) custard and a sprinkled flake.
Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "Creme anglaise is another term for custard, isn't it?"It depends how you make the custard. If with milk and yellow coloured cornflower out of a tin (eg Birds Eye) then no. If made with egg yolks, cream, milk and real vanilla essence, then yes.
Louise,What is a “sprinkled Flake?”
I meant that we get a Cadbury's Flake and break it up, sprinkling the bits over the top ;p
Carol ꧁꧂ wrote: "Trifle is also an Australasian thing - I don't think I would enjoy the version linked to (& I don't think a Regency trifle would have mascapone cheese) Unless you are making it for children it usua..."I've only seen a couple of her cooking shows, but I love Annabel!
Louise Sparrow wrote: "I meant that we get a Cadbury's Flake and break it up, sprinkling the bits over the top ;p"Ooooh, what is a Cadbury Flake?
It’s a delectable British chocolate sweet (candy) - chocolate is layered and folded over on itself into a long stick - so when it crumbles the flakes go everywhere!
Susan in Perthshire wrote: "It’s a delectable British chocolate sweet (candy) - chocolate is layered and folded over on itself into a long stick - so when it crumbles the flakes go everywhere!"Yum! Thanks sound good!
Colours in Regency times (found by Maith)http://sarahs-history-place.blogspot....
http://hibiscus-sinensis.com/regency/...
Brave Lufra by Sir Walter Scott (referenced in Frederica)Apparently Alfred, Lord Tennyson had a deerhound named Lufra.
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We take tea so much for granted as the quintessential British drink that it's easy to forget that, during the Regency, it was considered a luxury. (Consider the scene in Venetia, when Venetia offers to tea to the new Lady Lanyon and her mother Mrs. Scorrier, and Mrs. Scorrier says in reply that she does "not in general indulge in that luxury at this hour.")With that in mind, I thought this article might be of interest, even though I can't call to mind any instances of tea caddies in Heyer's work:
https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles...
Doris wrote: "We take tea so much for granted as the quintessential British drink that it's easy to forget that, during the Regency, it was considered a luxury. (Consider the scene in Venetia, when ..."Thank you for that article!
I didn’t realize that tea was a luxury! During the time- period of GHs romances. Indeed, I thought everyone had tea! I didn’t imagine that the “liwer orders” had the fancy “equipment” for making it and serving it that is so ubiquitous in the HR novel.
Doris wrote: "We take tea so much for granted as the quintessential British drink that it's easy to forget that, during the Regency, it was considered a luxury. (Consider the scene in Venetia, when ..."That is an interesting article, especially about the tea smugglers!
Oh yes loose leaf tea is still expensive. It was even more so back then when the East India Company had a monopoly on the trade. Tea was so expensive it was kept locked and one lady of the house had the key. It was not to be trusted to the housekeeper for she might *gasp* drink it herself or sell it. Supposedly, the unmarried daughter, like Jane Austen, kept the key to the tea caddy. (Fine by me, that way I can have tea whenever I want). The lower orders drink tea dust from the bottom of the barrel. That's the stuff they stick in bags and sell in the grocery stores here in America and call it tea. Yuck! Tea as a meal did not occur until later in the 19th century, just after the Regency period.
All the Tea in China is an excellent novel dealing with the tea trade and repercussions.
My friend's grandmother would refuse to drink tea made from tea bags - she thought it was beneath her! What airs, indeed.
Tea in the Regency era Tea with Jane Austen is a good book to read for information on tea and how to throw a Regency tea party on a modern budget.
The popularity of tea is also linked to the lowering price of sugar in the 18h-century. This also led to tooth decay!
Something rings a bell with me here, that a certain era, I'm not sure which, all had bad teeth and this was a sign of a persons affluence because they could obviously afford sugar. Wish I could remember where I read this.
Arabella, I believe, is the heroine who befriends a girl with tooth decay.
I've seen something about it in a Lucy Worsley doco. I believe Elizabeth 1 had rotten teeth by later life, (I think) because she could afford to eat (and loved) sugar. Poor woman also had smallpox at some stage so had pock marks on her face as well.
Thanks Jan. I watch a LOT of Lucy Worsley docs. I think she's brilliant.
Critterbee❇ wrote: "My friend's grandmother would refuse to drink tea made from tea bags - she thought it was beneath her! What airs, indeed."Haha! I'm with her, although not because it's beneath me. There is a world of difference between a perfectly made pot of loose leaf tea and the … insipid tea bag stuff. I have several one and two cup teapots (and a nice collection of bigger ones, too) so I can have the good stuff whenever I want!
I drink nettle tea now all the time. I loved tea. Drank a lot of it. About six years ago I was diagnosed with an intolerance to cow's milk (after being reared on it) and I just could not drink ordinary tea without milk, so that was that!! I miss it sometimes but the nettle tea is lovely and refreshing.
Teresa wrote: "Thanks Jan. I watch a LOT of Lucy Worsley docs. I think she's brilliant."Me, too! I love her humor - nothing says you can’t learn something while enjoying a chuckle!
Ooh Nettle tea sounds interesting! What does it taste like?
Feb 1st in Regency history compiled by Gail Eastwood1793 France (under the National Committee) declares war on Great Britain and Netherlands
1810 Seville, Spain surrenders to the French (under Napoleon)
1814 Lord Byron's "Corsair" sells 10,000 copies on day of publication.
QNPoohBear wrote: "Feb 1st in Regency history compiled by Gail Eastwood1793 France (under the National Committee) declares war on Great Britain and Netherlands
1810 Seville, Spain surrenders to th..."
Love it!
Wasn’t sure where to post so hope this is ok. I’m on my way to Gretna Green! Not to get married (hehe) but for a short visit - persuaded my husband that we should stop on the drive up to Edinburgh. Just wondered if anyone could remember which Georgette Heyer books Gretna Green is mentioned in? Might have to re-read a few once I’ve seen the famous anvil! Thanks
Gretna Green is talked about in many of the regencies and short stories - the dash to the border, or the threat of such action! It is mentioned in many of her books, but I don't remember any where the anvil is actually described.
Oh, Katie, that sounds like such a fun trip! I can't remember which Heyer books specifically focus on a trip to Gretna Green; like Critterbee said, I think it's mentioned in quite a few of them. I vaguely remember one of the short stories in Pistols For Two had a Gretna trip, and I've heard that the new Snowdrift and Other Stories (which is a reissue of Pistols for Two plus three new short stories) has two new stories about Gretna. Also, in The Corinthian there is a young couple (not the main characters) that heads for Gretna Green. And I think there may have been mention of it, as well, in Sylvester.
I looked in Georgette Heyer's Regency World by Jennifer Kloester and there is a small section on Gretna Green but the only book it mentions is Bath Tangle (which is this month's group read!!).
I've read some books by other authors that focus on Gretna Green, but the only one I can remember, for obvious reasons!, is On the Way to Gretna Green, which I thought was a cute story (naturally, not up to Georgette's standard, but not many books are!! ). There is also a collection of novellas called Road to Gretna Green that I have not read but some of my friends liked it.
Georgette Heyer Fans
Books mentioned in this topic
Black Sheep (other topics)Frederica (other topics)
Bath Tangle (other topics)
Arabella (other topics)
Tom And Jerry: Life In London; Or The Day And Night Scenes Of Jerry Hawthorn And His Elegant Friend, Corinthian Tom (other topics)
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Authors mentioned in this topic
Pierce Egan (other topics)Jennifer Kloester (other topics)
Gail Eastwood (other topics)
Gail Eastwood (other topics)
Catherine Coulter (other topics)
When I was a teen or a very young adult, I bought a little Signet Regency by Catherine Coulter. At that time, I didn’t know the book was a regency or what that meant. The detail about the time period and the fashion went over my head.
There is a scene where everyone is at the evening meal and mention is made of having “Trifle” for desert. Apparently, this is a desert from the time period. Here is the recipe and I don’t think I’d enjoy eating this:
http://cookit.e2bn.org/historycookboo...