ANSWER (and more) to CABINET OF CURIOSITIES QUIZ No. 2 Talking Turkey (and hares…)

b) ‘To roast a turkey the genteel way’ was first published in 1747 in ‘The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy’, by Hannah Glasse

The recipe, one of twelve for cooking, saucing and presenting turkey, appeared in ‘The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy’, a work for which Hannah Glasse made bold claims:

I believe I have attempted a Branch of Cookery which Nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon: but as I have both seen, and found by Experience that the Generality of Servants are greatly wanting in that Point, therefore I have taken upon me to instruct them in the best Manner I am capable; and I dare say, that every Servant who can but read will be capable of making a tolerable good Cook, and those who have the least Notion of Cookery can’t miss of being very good ones.

That wasn’t all: she found extravagance intolerable, especially when she suspected it amongst fashionable French cooks whom she accuses of cheating their English employers by the over-lavish use of expensive ingredients:

So much is the blind Folly of this Age, that they would rather be impos’d on by a French Booby, than give Encouragement to a good English Cook!

This collection of recipes enjoyed continuous and extraordinary popularity and was still being republished well into the 19th century, although editions after 1858 include material by other authors. As for Hannah Glasse, she is credited with having instructed in one of her recipes: ‘First catch your hare…’ but did she?

Myth-busting: did she really say ‘First catch your hare? Nowhere in her recipes does Hannah Glasse use the phrase ‘First catch your hare…’ but it gained ground quickly, was repeated frequently, especially in the 19th century, and persists, sometimes applied to other creatures and other recipes. If you’d like to read chapter and verse on the evidence, track down the Prospect Books edition of ‘The Art of Cookery’ published in 1995. Full details are in ‘Sources’ below – and the phrase even appears as a quote on the title of the 1995 book.

Were her recipes original? The ‘art’ of making cooking plain and easy sometimes depended upon re-writing an existing recipe or, in the case of Isabella Beeton a century later, in the skilful curating and editing of existing recipes. Nor was Hannah Glasse the first to make the claim: Robert May, who published his cookery book in 1660, claimed it offered ‘an easy and perfect method’ in the art of cookery, inended for ‘Master Cooks’ and ‘young Practitioners’ alike. Jennifer Stead (see Sources) provides the evidence for how Hannah Glasse worked, revealing that 263 of her 972 recipes were based on existing ones but often with subtle modifications. Some were designed to reduce the use of heavy ingredients such as cream; others simplified language and techniques to make the recipes accessible to the servants she identified as her target market.

Who was Hannah Glasse? Hannah was baptised on 24 March 1708 at St Andrew’s, Holborn. In 1724, at barely 16 years of age, she was married by special licence to John Glasse. The union caused consternation within her family based on claims about the feckless nature of her husband. Nonetheless, children resulted and were baptised in Broomfield, Essex, in 1728, 1729 and 1732. Entries in the parish register suggest that both husband and wife were in the service of Arthur Chichester, 4th Earl of Donegall, who lived then in New House, Broomfield. After the Earl’s move to Abinger, Surrey, the Glasses moved several times. Between the children baptised in Essex in 1728 and others baptised later and at various addresses up to 1747, Hannah appears to have given birth to eleven children, six of them not surviving beyond the age of five, and there were miscarriages, too. Her husband, John, died in 1747. Complex financial lawsuits within the family ensued and to cut a long story short, Hannah was forced to find a way of making a living. Income from ‘The Art of Cookery’ did not sustain her for many years. In 1755, copyright of ‘The Art of Cookery’ was included in a sale of assets resulting from bankruptcy. Editions post-dating 1755, which included accretions and variations, are not her work. Hannah Glasse did write two books later; but little else is known about her life following bankruptcy. She died on 1 September 1770.

Sources and more:

In 1995, Prospect Books published a facsimile of Hannah Glasse’s first edition of The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy, supplemented by additional recipes up to the fifth edition. Prospect Books had published a facsimile in 1983 but the 1995 edition includes contributions by Jennifer Stead, Priscilla Bain and Alan Davidson which offer a new biographical introduction, bibliography, glossary and notes. The information above was taken from the 1995 edition.

Our ‘Lockdown Library’ of articles shared freely on our website includes an item on Isabella Beeton’s Every Day Cookery and Housekeeping Book, featuring highlights from the 1893 edition. Click here to read it.

Other items on Isabella Beeton and older recipe manuscripts were published in our ‘Lockdown’ e- Newsletters sent to Attleborough Heritage Group Members between March and July 2020. You can find a full index and summary of the contents here, and if you join us, you will have access to all of the stored e-Newsletters through the Members’ Area of the website.

Norfolk Museums hold a collection of original manuscripts and printed cookery books. We will feature extracts in future ‘cabinets’, including recipes from a handwritten manuscript compiled by a 19th- cenury Hingham resident.