Today the tables are turned, and Neil is the guest on his own podcast and is interviewed about his new book Before Mrs Beeton, Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper, about c18th cook and Manchester legend Elizabeth Raffald, published on 28 February.

In the interviewer’s chair is previous guest and friend of the show Alessandra Pino. Alessandra is co-author of A Gothic Cookbook which is an illustrated cookbook inspired by classic and contemporary Gothic texts. She is also co-host of Fear Feasts which is a podcast about food and horror in books and the films based on those books. Like Neil, she is also interested in the history of sugar and has a chapter coming out soon in The Palgrave Companion to Memory and Literature about memory, sugar and Cuba.

They talked about how I discovered Elizabeth, her great achievements, the problem of Mrs Beeton, her recipes, my recipe section of updated Raffald recipes, "Rabbits Surprized", comparisons with modern chefs like Heston Blumenthal, why there’s no statue of her, the time she exorcized a house from an evil spirit and much, much more.

Pre-order Neil’s new book Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper at you favourite bookshop, or from the publisher Pen & Sword History: www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Before-Mrs-Beeton-Hardback/p/22437

Things mentioned in today’s episode:

The Experienced English Housekeeper by Elizabeth Raffald (1769): https://archive.org/details/experiencedengl01raffgoog/page/n9/mode/2up

Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management (1880 edition): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Book_of_Household_Management/otoAAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0

The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse (1780 edition): https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/_/fe8HAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjPiaaExKz9AhUMQ8AKHazyCXkQre8FegQIHRAJ

Previous podcast episode 18th Century Dining with Ivan Day: https://open.spotify.com/episode/22BHsKHncyk2i6UXEzcIY2?si=3afcd447af0b4eb9

Previous Podcast episode Food in Gothic Literature with Alessandra Pino: https://open.spotify.com/episode/6Nt55uQLXp6vrqH6MZsdPY?si=7b342ca391514232

Alessandra links:

A Gothic Cookbook: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/63143496-a-gothic-cookbook

Fear Feasts podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/5IV7dms3DLxrVF81zj6ZRY?si=deac902534cd442d

Find her on Instagram @sasacharlie and twitter @foodforflo

Neil’s book A Dark History of Sugar is available now from all bookshops as well as from the publisher Pen & Sword: https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/A-Dark-History-of-Sugar-Hardback/p/20481

If you want to buy a signed copy of either book directly from Neil for £18 + postage (£2.85 if within the UK, the going rate if outside!). Contact him via email or social media if you fancy it (see below).

Don’t forget there will be another postbag episode at the end of the season. If you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email Neil at [email protected], or find me on twitter @neilbuttery, or Instagram dr_neil_buttery my DMs are open. You can now find me at Mastodon too: @[email protected].

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Mentioned in this episode:

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Visit fruitpig.co.uk for more details of their products and journey, and to access their shop. Grant and Matthew are very kindly giving listeners to the BFHP a unique special offer: 10% off your order until the end of October 2025 – use the offer code Foodhis in the checkout. Time to fill your boots.