Antonin Careme: Chef Extraordinaire During the Regency Era

Antonin Careme, 1784 - 1833, was regarded the world's first celebrity chef, and was credited for creating haute cuisine for the kings and queens of Europe. He made Napoleon's wedding cake, souffles flecked with gold for the Rothschilds in Paris, and meals for the Romanovs in Russia using such esoteric ingredients as rooster testicles. On January 15, 1817, Antonin supervised the meal served at Brighton Pavilion for the Prince Regent, which included over 100 dishes.

In High Society, Venetia Murray writes:

At the Pavilion, and in other grand households, dinner was still served a la fracaise, which meant that the majority of the dishes were arranged in the middle of the table: the people were supposed to help themselves from the nearest dish and then offer it to their neighbours. If, however, someone fancied one of the other dishes, which might well have been placed at the opposite end of the table, he had to ask a fellow guest within range, or one of the servants, to pass it. It was therefore impossible to sustain a conversation because someone was always interrupting and the servants were always on the move. (p. 182-83)

The chances of the Prince Regent's guests getting the exact dishes they wanted on the menu would not have been great. At best they would have received a random sampling of such dishes as:

Les poulardes a la Perigueux, La timbale de macaroni a la Napolitaine, La fricassee de poulets a l'Italienne, Les galantines de perdreaux a la gelee, Le petits poulets a l'Indienne, La cote de boeuf auz oignons glaces, Les escalopes de volaille aux truffes, Le vol-au-vent de quenelles a l'Allemande, La brioche au fromage, Les canards sauvages, Les genoises glacess au cafe, Les sckals au beurre, Le fromage bavarois aux avelines, and de petites souffles au chocolat.


Here is one of the recipes Antonin used for the extravagant banquet at Brighton Pavilion. (Illustration above: Banquet Hall at Brighton Pavilion)

Les Petits Vol-Au-Vents a la Nesle

Brighton Pavilion and Chateau Rothschild

20 vol-au-vent cases, the diameter of a glass
20 cocks-combs
20 cocks-stones (testes)
10 lambs sweetbreads (thymus and pancreatic glands, washed in water for five hours, until the liquid runs clear)
10 small truffles, pared, chopped, boiled in consomme
20 tiny mushrooms
20 lobster tails
4 fine whole lambs' brains, boiled and chopped
1 French loaf
2 spoonfuls chicken jelly
2 spoonfuls veloute sauce
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
2 tablespoons chopped mushrooms
4 egg yolks
2 chickens, boned
2 calves' udders
2 pints cream
sauce Allemande
salt, nutmeg

Forcemeat:

Crumb a whole French loaf. Add two spoonfuls of poultry jelly, one of veloute, one tablespoon of chopped parsley, two of mushrooms, chopped. Boil and stir as it thickens to a ball. Add two egg yolks. Pound the flesh of two boned chickens through a sieve. Boil two calves' udders -- once cold, pound and pass through a sieve.

Then, mix six ounces of the breadcrumbs panada to ten ounces of the chicken meat, and ten of the calves' udders and combine and pound for 15 minutes. Add five drams of salt, some nutmeg and the yolks of two more eggs and a spoonful of cold veloute or bechamel. Pound for a further ten minutes. Test by poaching a ball in boiling water -- it should form soft, smooth balls.

Make some balls of poultry forcemeat in small coffee spoons, dip them in jelly broth and after draining on a napkin, place them regularly in the vol-au-vent, already half filled with:

a good ragout of cocks-combs and stones (testicles)
lambs' sweetbreads (thymus and pancreatic glands, washed in water for five hours, until the liquid runs clear)
truffles
mushrooms
lobster tails
four fine whole brains

Cover all with an extra thick sauce Allemande.

Learn more about Antonin Careme

• Wikipedia article about Antonin

• Cooking for the Kings: The Life of Antonin Careme

• Click here to listen to an NPR podcast about this great chef (the link may say it is outdated, click any way, and you will hear this fascinating story)
  

Janeites on the James

Our group of five Austen admirers met tonight in Richmond amongst much merriment and drinking of wine as we discussed the mature ladies in Jane's novels - Lady Russell, Lady Catherine de Bourgh, Mrs. Jennings, and Mrs. Norris. Mrs. Croft never quite entered the discussion because she was deemed too young. (Sorry, Eric). We ended the evening with a reading from the recent Newsweek article about Jane, which one of the Janeites read.

I won't duplicate the excellent post on Austen.blog, where you can find a link to the article. But I will quote one passage we all responded to with deep feeling:

But it's time to rescue Austen from her fans, lest the most adventurous and discerning readers pass her by. If you look at her books closely, you find them more bleak than charming: her characters are isolated within their own minds, trapped in tight spaces, forced to socialize daily with a small group of people they can never fully trust, including their own families. Not a one of her heroines ever shares everything with a true confidant—that is, up until the marriage we never see—and everybody has secrets and conflicting agendas.

This passage resulted in a prolonged and lively discussion. We do see the weddings in a few novels, but author David Gates is right, we do not see the marriages of our heroes and heroines. But "rescue Jane from her fans and save her for a more discerning reader?" What on earth is the man talking about?

To form your own opinion, go to Austen.blog and click on the link to read the rest of the article.

Brighton: A Popular Seaside Resort

During Jane Austen's time, Brighton, a town along the south Sussex Coast and seen above in a John Constable painting, was the popular resort destination. Bath's desirability had plummeted among the Ton, as it had gained the reputation of being a stodgy tourist attraction for the elderly and infirm. By the time the Prince Regent's fashionable set frequented Brighton, it had grown from a sleepy seaside village of 3,000 in 1769 to a booming tourist town of 18,000 by 1817-1818.

The lengthening of the formal season helped in establishing Brighton as a holiday destination. By 1804 the season started late July and lasted until after Christmas, and by 1818 it had been extended until March. Visitors of note were always mentioned in Brighton's newspaper, and there were a host of them. (Illustration below is of Fashionables in Brighton, 1826)


The first notables were both members of the Royal Family, the Duke of Gloucester in 1765, and then the Duke of York in 1766. From 1771 the Duke and Duchess of Cumberland were regular visitors and the town's popularity with his uncles might have been one reason why the Prince of Wales came in 1783 and why he stayed for eleven days.

The Prince of Wales, after he became Prince Regent, began to spend enormous sums of money refurbishing Brighton Pavillion to his own fanciful specifications. Click here for my post on this beautiful palace.

In the early 18th century visitors were left to their own devices to find entertainments, but by 1810 guide books pointed out sites of interests in surrounding villages, amusements to be had, and picturesque walks. The sea was also used for entertainments such as yacht races and water parties which were watched from the shelter of the Steine. Military manoevres on the Steine and the Downs were popular.


Read more about Brighton here:

• The Prince of Wales Second Visit to Brighton

• Brighton Pavilion and John Nash

• Brighton, 19th Century Seaside Resort

• Brighton

• For a later history, click on A History of Photography in Brighton

Quotes: Georgian Brighton, 1740-1820, Sue Farrant, University of Sussex Occasional Paper No. 13

Visiting Great Houses During Jane Austen's Time

During Jane Austen's day it was as popular to visit the Great Houses that dot the English country side as it is today. In fact, Jane describes one such visit in Pride and Prejudice, when Elizabeth Bennett visits Pemberley with her aunt and uncle, Mr. and Mrs. Gardiner.

The housekeeper proudly escorts the trio, showing off the fine furniture and art work and allowing them free reign of the grounds. Jane describes Elizabeth's first introduction to Pemberley House:

On applying to the place they were admitted into the hall; and Elizabeth, as they waited for the housekeeper, had leisure to wonder at her being where she was.

The housekeeper came; a respectable-looking elderly woman, much less fine, and more civil, than she had any notion of finding her.

Later on, Elizabeth moves through the rooms:

And of this place, thought she, I might have been mistress! With these rooms I might now have been familiarly acquainted! Instead of viewing them as a stranger, I might have rejoiced in them as my own, and welcomed to them as visitors my uncle and aunt...

Jane might well have patterned the housekeeper in her novel after Mrs. Garnett, the housekeeper who showed visitors around Kedleston Hall, the Palladium Mansion in Kent built by the Curzon Family during the 18th century.

Samuel Johnson visited the house in 1777 with James Boswell, who described meeting the housekeeper: Our names were sent up, and a well-drest elderly Housekeeper, a most distinct Articulator, showed us the House...

A portrait of Mrs. Garnett painted by Thomas Barber and clutching a guide book hangs towards the front of the house. Dr. Johnson's description of Kedleston Hall might just as well have been a description of Pemberley as well:

The day was fine and we resolved to go by Kedleston, the seat of Lord Scarsdale, that I might see his Lordship's fine house. I was struck with the magnificence of the building, and the extensive park, covered with deer, cattle and sheep delighted me. The number of oaks filled me with respect and admiration. The excellent smooth gravel roads, the large piece of water formed by his Lordship with a handsome barge upon it, the venerable church, now the chapel, just by the house, in short the grand group of objects agitated and distended my mind in a most agreeable manner.

Walking the grounds became part of the experience of visiting a country estate. Gardens had become less formal and had moved toward a more natural style, striking a balance between naturalism and formality. Many of these new gardens were designed to show visitors around the grounds, showing off vistas from several garden points and from small buildings, or follies.

• You and Yesterday provides more information about Kedleston Hall
  

• Here's a clip of Elizabeth's Encounter With Mr. Darcy at Pemberley in the 2005 version of Pride and Prejudice

Deadline for the Mr. Darcy Battle

Voting ends at midnight EST USA on Wednedsay, June 27th. This one's a nail biter! May the best man win. (Ahem, I vote for ... read my comments in the comment sections.)

As we await the Mr. Darcy Battle outcome

...for your delectation, the BBC Drama Pride and Prejudice site provides fans of the 1995 P&P version with a complete and comprehensive site of the series. Indeed, Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle fans would be proud. Click here to enter the site. Here is the Internet Movie Database Site with more of Colin and Jennifer.

For the fans of the 2005 version, here is your site: Every Girl is Looking for Her Mr. Darcy. And if you think you have seen everything about Matthew, here is a flipbook about Matthew as Mr. Darcy created on June 17, 2007.

At this moment we are at 50-50%. So VOTE! (Frankly, I like them both, but I'll keep that secret to myself.) Want to vote? Click here and scroll down to the poll.

The Mr. Darcy Battle Heats Up ...

When I wrote the previous column it was out of respect for Mr. Macfadyen's reputation. He was being so resoundingly walloped, that I though I was doing him a kind favor. At that precise moment, Mr. Firth had acquired 31 votes and Mr. Macfadyen none.

Then Lady Jane rallied her readers to vote for Mr. Macfadyen and they answered her clarion call. Now Mr. Firth's votes have stagnated. Have all the Colin Firth fans voted already? The contest currently stands at Mr. Madfadyen 59% and Colin Firth at 41%. Oh, the injustice of it all.

What is the prize? The winning Mr. Darcy will have his photo put up on my sidebar. Can there be no greater accolade?

So, Mr. Darcy fans. VOTE for your favorite Mr. Darcy! You may vote once per day for a week. Click here to vote (scroll to the bottom).

Graciously thankful for your interest in this modest blog, Ms. Place

Mr. Darcy Battle Won

Update: Battle won? Not at all. The Macfadyen fans have rallied, and their hero has caught up with Colin Firth and passed him.

We could continue this glaringly lopsided battle between our favorite Mr. Darcys, gentle readers, but that would be unseemly and unkind. So, out of compassion for Mr. Macfadyen, I am declaring Colin Firth the victor of this short but fierce contest. After 36 tense nail-biting hours, poor Matthew received nary a vote. The polls will remain open for a few more days, just in case Mr. Macfadyen supporters want to come to his rescue, but I say enough is enough.

Here is another breathtaking picture of our gorgeous Colin in modern garb.

Battle of the Mr. Darcys

Can't get enough of Matthew Macfadyen as Mr. Darcy? This YouTube video is generous with its screen shots of him. Mmm. I hadn't liked him as Mr. Darcy much before, but now I can utterly see his appeal. Click here.

If you haven't seen this analysis yet, here's a fun Battle of the Mr. Darcys.

For the Colin Firth/Darcy fans,here's the infamous "Wet Shirt" scene from P&P 1995, and Elizabeth's unexpected encounter with Mr. Darcy during her visit to Pemberley. This is the moment I fell in love with Colin, but I have been hopelessly in love with Mr. Darcy since I was fourteen.

Of the two men, who do you prefer as Mr. Darcy? Inquiring minds want to know. Please note, as of midnight 6-27-07 EST US, all voting has paused.

My Favorite Mr. Darcy
	Colin, Colin, Colin!
	Matthew, Matthew, Matthew!
Free polls from Pollhost.com

Thank you for the correction, Kimberley!

The English Class System

The British Class system during the Regency Period was fixed and defined among the nobility, gentry, working class people, servant class, and the poor. Read more about these distinctions in the following links.

• The English Class System, particularly the section before the Victorian era

• What the Butler Saw and High Society in the Regency: Book Reviews

• Correct Forms of Address

• The Pride of the Servant Class in Pickwick and North and South

• Domestic Service and Gender, 1660-1750: Life and Work in the London Household & Domestique et servante.

Are You Well Versed in England's Regency Period?

I got a nine out of ten on this quiz about the Regency Period. Darn. I was certain I would get a ten! The average score is a 6.

Click here to take the quiz

Two Worlds: Children During the Regency Period

Children in the early 19th century lived in vastly different worlds according to their incomes and circumstances

While the rich could afford to educate their children during the Georgian and Regency periods, the children of the working classes knew no such luxuries since there were no free state-run schools at the time.

Many children from lower income families were expected to work, often in textile mills and factories. In 1788, two-thirds of the individuals working in factories were children who worked 13 hours a day, six days per week. In fact, women and children were often the preferred laborer since they earned lower wages. Children, being quite small, were employed to repair machinery or keep them in order, often while the machines were still running. This practice resulted in many accidents or fatalities. One apprentice in a mill described his accident:

There was a great deal of cotton in the machine, one of the wheels caught my finger and tore it off, it was the forefinger of my left hand. I was attended by the surgeon of the factory Mr Holland and in about six weeks I recovered.

Children's books became popular during the end of the 18th century and early 19th century, entertaining those privileged children who could read. At the same time, funding for the local parishes that took care of pauper children, orphans, and poor families began to decrease or dry up.

Mill owners took up some of the slack, taking care of the children that parishes could no longer support. Samuel Greg of Quarry Bank Mill, an owner with a sense of fairness, insisted that: each child he took on came to him with a new set of clothing, in return he promised the Parish that he would give 'sufficient Meat, Drink, Apparel [clothing], Lodging, Washing, and other Things necessary and fit for an Apprentice.'
By the early 19th century, a series of factory acts were passed to restrict the hours that children were allowed to work, and to improve safety. (Wikipedia).

Learn more about children during this period in the following links:

• Children in the 1800's

• Women and Children In the Industrial Revolution

• Milestones in Children's Books, Bernice Leary

• Toys and Games

• Children's amusements in the early 19th Century

• History of the Workhouse

• The Life of the Industrial Worker in 19th Century Britain

Book image from the Republic of Pemberley, Ingres portrait from the Louvre

Jane Austen's Father

Rev. George Austen was by all accounts a handsome man. Anna LeFroy, Jane's niece wrote, “I have always understood that he was considered extremely handsome, and it was a beauty which stood by him all his life. At the time when I have the most perfect recollection of him he must have been hard upon seventy, but his hair in its milk-whiteness might have belonged to a much older man. It was very beautiful, with short curls about the ears. His eyes were not large, but of a peculiar and bright hazel. My aunt Jane's were something like them, but none of the children had precisely the same excepting my uncle Henry.”

George Austen was born in 1731. His mother died in childbirth and his father died a year after marrying a new wife, who did not want the responsibility of taking care of the young lad. George then lived with an aunt in Tonbridge and earned a Fellowship to study at St. John’s. He received a Bachelor of Arts, a Master of Arts, and a Bachelor of Divinity degree at Oxford. Called "the handsome proctor", he worked as an assistant chaplain, dean of arts, Greek lecturer while going to school.

He first met Cassandra Leigh in Oxford when she was visiting her uncle Theophilus. After they married, George became rector in several country parishes. The family grew by leaps and bounds, and eventually he and Cassandra Leigh had six sons and two daughters. Shortly after Jane was born, her father said: "She is to be Jenny, and seems to me as if she would be as like Henry, as Cassy is to Neddy.”

By all accounts George and Cassandra Austen had a happy marriage. His annual income from the combined tithes of Steventon and the neighboring village of Deane was around 210 pounds. The sales of his farm produce also supplemented his income. With so many mouths to feed, the family was not wealthy, to say the least. To augment his income even more, Rev. George Austen opened a boarding school at Steventon Rectory for the sons of local gentlemen.

Rev. Austen encouraged Cassandra and Jane to read from his extensive library. For entertainment, the family read to each other, played games, and produced plays. George Austen must have been proud of his daughter's accomplishments. He tried to get Pride and Prejudice published. The "Memoir" by Edward Austen-Leigh contains a letter from George Austen to Mr. Cadell, the publisher, dated November 1797, in which he describes the work as a "manuscript novel comprising three volumes, about the length of Miss Burney's 'Evelina'" and asks Mr. Cadell if he would like to see the work with a view to entering into some arrangement for its publication, "either at the author's risk or otherwise." Unfortunately, nothing came of this query, but P&P became hugely popular among the friends and family who read it before it was published in a much shorter form. The original 3-part manuscript no longer exists. Regardless, countless readers have delighted in the much shorter version for 200 years.
The Rev. George Austen died January 21, 1805, where the Austen family had moved after living in Steventon for over 30 years. (The silhouettes above are of George and Cassandra). On the 2nd. January 1805, Jane Austen wrote sorrowfully to her brother, Frank: "We have lost an excellent Father. An illness of only eight and forty hours carried him off yesterday morning between ten and eleven. His tenderness as a father, who can do justice to?"

The inscription on Rev. George Austen's grave reads:

"Under this stone rests the remains of
the Revd. George Austen
Rector of Steventon and Deane in Hampshire
who departed this life
the 1st. of January 1805
aged 75 years."

Double click on this grave marker to read the words. (From: Find a Grave Memorial)


Read about Jane's mother, Cassandra Austen nee Leigh on this site. Click here.

• Jane Austen: A Picture Taken

• Austen Family Genealogy

• The Reverend George and Mrs. Austen

• About Jane Austen: Her Life and Her Novels

The Cob at Lyme Regis: Persuasion

Ah, England. One of the chilliest periods I ever spent in my life was April in London.

Be that as it may, when I saw this scene in Persuasion 2007, I realized how much the settings added to the drama in this film adaptation. The Cob seemed cold and forbidding, and the waves were ominous. Considering the state of Captain Wentworth's and Anne's feelings, and their anxiety (or fearfulness) of being rejected by the other, this scene was quite apropos.

You can watch Persuasion 2007 online

Update:
Persuasion 2007, Part One can be viewed here. You will find the other video segments in the sidebar.

In addition, you can also watch the 1995 version of Persuasion here.

Critique: The 2007 version of Persuasion is quite serious and somber. The scenery is lush and gorgeous, and I find the costumes more authentic in this production than in other cinematic depictions of Jane's work. Rupert Penry-Jones is the perfect Jane Austen hero and his handsome Captain Wentworth is quite to my liking. However, this production is not as full realized as the 1995 version of Persuasion, and I preferred Amanda Root as Anne Elliot over Sally Hawkins.

Jane Austen's needlework

Jane Austen was an accomplished needlewoman, as so many women were in times past. In Jane Austen: Her Homes and Her Friends, Constance Hill describes Jane and her mother and sister, Cassandra, settling into a routine at Chawton House of gardening, reading, writing, and needlework. Today, a visitor to the house can see the quilt the three women created, as well as a few samples of Jane's other needlework. (Above: Detail of the quilt at Chawton House)

Baptism cloth, 1800, shows a fine example of chain stitch embroidery during this period. This is not one of Jane Austen needlework samples.

This Norwich Shawl was embroidered in 1800, and used an embroidery pattern that would have been popular in northern Europe.

To learn more about Jane Austen as a needlewoman, click on the following links:

• Pride and Patchworkdiscusses Jane Austen as an accomplished needlewoman.

• Jane Austen's Quilt,an article from the Jane Austen Centre, discusses the quilt in detail.

• The Jane Austen Quilt, an article from the Jane Austen Society, also discusses the quilt at length.