Are you as excited to learn authentic Victorian era recipes as I am?
What is the Victorian Cooking School?
The Victorian Cooking School is an attempt to learn about late Victorian era cooking, from the ground up, in the most well rounded way possible.
How? By making every one of the recipes outlined by Mary Johnson Bailey Lincoln in the 1884 edition of “Mrs Lincoln’s Boston Cookbook, What to Do & Not to Do in Cooking”. Yes, even the ones that don’t sound appetizing at all (ahem, oatmeal gruel…).
Why?
Too often, I find myself picking & choosing recipes based on modern taste, entertainment value or even ease of sourcing ingredients. But do those choices really create a well rounded experience of what historical cooking was at the time in question? Or are they giving me a false sense of knowledge & a distorted view point, without my even realizing it? How close am I coming to knowing what they would have known, if I’m not learning it they way they would have learned it?
Honestly, I don’t know the answer to those questions, but maybe by eliminating the bias of choice when making recipes, I will find out.
