Image: Charles Elmé Francatelli · Public domain
A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes
- Year
- 1852
- Era
- 19th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English 19th C
A Plain Cookery Book for the Working Classes, issued in 1852 by Charles Elmé Francatelli, is a slim manual of inexpensive recipes and household guidance aimed at labouring families. Notable as the work of a chef who had served Queen Victoria, it carries considerable social-historical value, documenting mid-Victorian assumptions about thrift, diet, and domestic economy, and the foodstuffs deemed within reach of poorer English households.
Cooking from this book
Baked Bullock's Heart
Signature dishFew dishes capture the spirit of Francatelli's little manual quite like baked bullock's heart. A former royal chef writing for households of slender means, Francatelli championed the cheapest cuts of offal as honest fare for working families. Stuffed and roasted until tender, the humble heart was presented as a Sunday treat within reach of a labourer's wage, a small but telling emblem of mid-Victorian thrift and aspiration at the kitchen table.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
