This detailed account of the Wordsworths' domestic life takes the reader into the home of the great poet in the Lake District during the early 19th Century. Including over 100 recipes of the best Lakeland fare taken from manuscript recipe books of the Wordsworth/ Hutchinson and Coleridge/ Fricker families, it exposes the truth behind Wordsworth's claim to be a simple water-drinking bard. Here then is food from the poet's board and from the inns of the area: it includes Coleridge's all-purpose 'Utopia Stew', the chicken casserole that comforted his pangs of love for Sara Hutchinson, pickles and preserves, hot and cold desserts, cakes, soups and remedies, in all a precious insight for anyone interested in Wordsworth's life and times. All of this is bound together with wonderful colour photographs showing items such as: the beautifully decorated pace eggs by James Dixon - handyman, gardener and butler to the Wordsworth's at Rydal Mount, and pages from the very recipe book of Joanna Hutchinson. ? Portuguese Vegetable Soup ? Blanc Mange with Isinglass ? Plum Cake ? Macaroons ? "Meranghes" ? Toffee ? Ginger Beer AUTHOR: Peter Brears is one of Britain's leading food historians and is the current holder of the prestigious international Andre Simon Food Book of the Year award. After a distinguished career in museums, including the directorship of the York and Leeds City Museums, he became a freelance museum and historic house consultant and food history writer in 1994. Since then he has undertaken a wide range of research and development projects for Historic Royal Palaces, the National Trust, English Heritage and others. In 1986 he was a founding member of the Leeds Symposium on Food History and Traditions, in addition to producing separate books both on this subject, and on museum collections of domestic artefacts In all of these he has also demonstrated his skills as an illustrator, his drawings greatly adding to the reader's understanding and appreciation of our culinary heritage.
