0:00:03 > 0:00:07'I'm not the only person who loves reading cookbooks,
0:00:07 > 0:00:11'and the grande dame of them all is Mrs Beeton's Household Management.
0:00:11 > 0:00:14'A bestseller for a hundred years,
0:00:14 > 0:00:17'there was a time when no British kitchen was without one.
0:00:17 > 0:00:19'And as a food-lover and writer,
0:00:19 > 0:00:22'I have long been fascinated by its author.
0:00:22 > 0:00:25'Isabella Beeton was a fantastically modern woman -
0:00:25 > 0:00:28'one who shaped the appetites and habits of the British Empire.
0:00:28 > 0:00:31'But she remains a bit of an enigma.'
0:00:31 > 0:00:34I want to find out what made her write this book.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38I want to find out more about the extraordinary life she led.
0:00:39 > 0:00:41I also want to find out
0:00:41 > 0:00:44what made this book have such a heavyweight reputation,
0:00:44 > 0:00:47and why so many of us have got it in our kitchen.
0:00:49 > 0:00:53'Household Management was the domestic Bible for Victorians.
0:00:53 > 0:00:56'But is it at all relevant today?
0:00:56 > 0:00:59'I want to find out why Mrs Beeton's voice was so influential,
0:00:59 > 0:01:03'and to see how she shaped our idea of the perfect housewife.'
0:01:06 > 0:01:08I think it looks absolutely spectacular.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11'Can I get a sense of her through her recipes?'
0:01:12 > 0:01:15It is really effectively prosthetic snot.
0:01:15 > 0:01:18'Is the original book of any practical use today?'
0:01:18 > 0:01:22How many does it make? That'll give you some idea.
0:01:22 > 0:01:24'I'm even going to attempt
0:01:24 > 0:01:27'one of her rather impressive dinner parties. My aim -
0:01:27 > 0:01:31'to find the woman behind the book, and see if domestic goddesstry
0:01:31 > 0:01:34'a la Isabella Beeton is remotely achievable today.
0:01:44 > 0:01:47'I inherited my copy of Mrs Beeton from my grandmother.
0:01:47 > 0:01:49'It has always been a constant in the kitchen.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52'It might look dusty and inaccessible to a modern eye,
0:01:52 > 0:01:57'but 150 years ago, Household Management revolutionised cookery books,
0:01:57 > 0:02:00'presenting food in a whole new way.'
0:02:00 > 0:02:04This must have been stunning for somebody to flick through.
0:02:04 > 0:02:06'Alice Hart is a food writer,
0:02:06 > 0:02:10'but she's never seen the original Household Management before.'
0:02:10 > 0:02:12- And that is beautiful. - They are gorgeous!- Yeah.
0:02:12 > 0:02:15Total fantasy food there.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18She was the first person to have colour plates in a cookery book.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21I just wouldn't expect that with a book of this time.
0:02:21 > 0:02:24'For women of my grandmother's generation,
0:02:24 > 0:02:27'Household Management was an essential wedding present.'
0:02:27 > 0:02:31You can imagine a new wife at home being given this
0:02:31 > 0:02:33for a wedding present,
0:02:33 > 0:02:36wondering how she's going to achieve all of it.
0:02:36 > 0:02:38I think I might get stage fright.
0:02:38 > 0:02:41'And it wasn't just the colour pictures that were new.
0:02:41 > 0:02:43'Mrs Beeton combined all of this racy modernity
0:02:43 > 0:02:46'with unprecedented practicality.'
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Carrot jam's a Mrs Beeton staple.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07It was her economical recipe for people who couldn't afford apricots.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10You make carrot jam with almonds.
0:03:10 > 0:03:13'I want to know what the book means to other people,
0:03:13 > 0:03:16'so we're making a couple of her most iconic jams
0:03:16 > 0:03:19'to try out on the great British public.'
0:03:32 > 0:03:35"Simmer the damsons over the fire till they are soft,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39then beat them through a coarse sieve."
0:03:39 > 0:03:41'First published in 1861,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44'Household Management was a revelation.'
0:03:46 > 0:03:49And what was amazing about this book was,
0:03:49 > 0:03:52she was the first person to list ingredients first,
0:03:52 > 0:03:55then the method, and then the cost.
0:03:55 > 0:03:58There had been a lot of cookbooks written by male French chefs
0:03:58 > 0:04:02who didn't give that instruction, expected people to know.
0:04:02 > 0:04:04So it must have been with a huge sigh of relief
0:04:04 > 0:04:07that these housewives...
0:04:07 > 0:04:10Finally you really could plan your week's recipes
0:04:10 > 0:04:13- and your week's shopping, because you'd be able to budget.- Yeah.
0:04:15 > 0:04:20"Stir the sugar in and simmer the damsons for two hours."
0:04:20 > 0:04:23'And Household Management was about more than just food.'
0:04:23 > 0:04:25This book is brilliant because it's not just recipes.
0:04:25 > 0:04:28It's how to run your entire household.
0:04:28 > 0:04:31So she has how to hire staff, how to fire staff,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35how to wash your linens, what to do if you've got difficult tenants.
0:04:35 > 0:04:38We've got here "Substitute for milk and cream",
0:04:38 > 0:04:41"Stye in the eye". It just goes on and on.
0:04:41 > 0:04:45So this would become your domestic Bible, I suppose.
0:04:45 > 0:04:47This is what you would refer to.
0:04:48 > 0:04:51"Put the carrot pulp in a preserving pan
0:04:51 > 0:04:54with the sugar, and let this boil for five minutes."
0:04:54 > 0:04:58"When cold, add lemon rind and juice,
0:04:58 > 0:05:00almonds and brandy."
0:05:00 > 0:05:03I'm pleased with my plum cheese.
0:05:03 > 0:05:06- It's a lovely rich, wintry... - It's a beautiful colour.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10- How's your carrot jam? - Looking apricotty.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13Yes. See? That looks just like my granny's apricot jam.
0:05:13 > 0:05:15Gorgeous!
0:05:17 > 0:05:19'I'm taking our jams to market
0:05:19 > 0:05:23'to find out whether Mrs Beeton's recipes withstand the test of taste and time.'
0:05:23 > 0:05:25Would you like to try some jam?
0:05:25 > 0:05:29'The British palate has changed hugely since the Victorian era.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33'We've opened ourselves up to flavours from all around the world.
0:05:33 > 0:05:39'I wonder what today's foodies really know about the quintessential British cookbook and its author?'
0:05:39 > 0:05:43- Do you know anything about Mrs Beeton?- Just the book. It's massive.
0:05:43 > 0:05:45I think my mother-in-law still uses the book.
0:05:45 > 0:05:48- Plain, basic cooking. - That sort of simple...
0:05:48 > 0:05:51Simple... Very good for you, too.
0:05:51 > 0:05:54All these wonderful pictures of how to truss a chicken,
0:05:54 > 0:05:57and how to bake a cake! I don't remember this recipe.
0:05:57 > 0:06:00Mm! Very tasty.
0:06:00 > 0:06:05'So we have an idea of the book, but what about the woman who wrote it?'
0:06:05 > 0:06:07And do you know anything about her?
0:06:07 > 0:06:10Large, bosomy Victorian lady.
0:06:10 > 0:06:14- Do you imagine her at an age or looking a certain way?- Old and grey.
0:06:14 > 0:06:16- A spinster. - I'd have liked to have met her,
0:06:16 > 0:06:19especially if she could cook like this.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22- THEY LAUGH - Thank you very much.- Cheers.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31'It seems most people have heard of the book,
0:06:31 > 0:06:34'and their sense of the author is much the same -
0:06:34 > 0:06:36'starchy, authoritative, all-knowing.
0:06:36 > 0:06:39'But the real Isabella Beeton was something quite different.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43'At the National Portrait Gallery there is a rare photo of her,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47'taken when she was halfway through writing Household Management.'
0:06:49 > 0:06:54So, here she is - Isabella Beeton, aged 23.
0:06:54 > 0:06:57And what's amazing about this picture in particular
0:06:57 > 0:07:00is that she's already writing the book.
0:07:00 > 0:07:03She's writing this tome of domesticity,
0:07:03 > 0:07:05this young woman.
0:07:05 > 0:07:07She looks very prim and buttoned up.
0:07:07 > 0:07:11She looks very much the staunch Victorian matron,
0:07:11 > 0:07:14from her posture to her dress.
0:07:14 > 0:07:17- You wouldn't mess with her. - SHE LAUGH
0:07:17 > 0:07:19She looks very serious.
0:07:27 > 0:07:31'I don't think it's an accident we imagine this 23 year old
0:07:31 > 0:07:35'as a bossy old woman. She sounds like one, in the book.'
0:07:41 > 0:07:45"As with the commander of an army, or the leader of any enterprise,
0:07:45 > 0:07:48so it is with the mistress of a house."
0:07:48 > 0:07:52"Her spirit will be seen through the whole establishment."
0:07:52 > 0:07:55I think, from the portrait we've just seen
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and the tone that she takes in the book,
0:07:57 > 0:08:00she wanted to portray a tone of matronly authority.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02You don't imagine her as a young woman,
0:08:02 > 0:08:05and I think the reason for that was,
0:08:05 > 0:08:07young women weren't listened to in Victorian times.
0:08:07 > 0:08:11They were considered flibbertigibbets. They didn't know anything.
0:08:11 > 0:08:16You had to earn your stripes, and so that sort of matronly stance,
0:08:16 > 0:08:21the matronly tone, it was a very, very good selling tool.
0:08:21 > 0:08:24How could you doubt that a person that looked like that
0:08:24 > 0:08:27and wrote like that wouldn't know what they were talking about?
0:08:27 > 0:08:32But the truth about Isabella Beeton was far more complex.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37She was born to Elizabeth and Benjamin Mayson in 1836,
0:08:37 > 0:08:40and was brought up above her father's drapery business
0:08:40 > 0:08:43in London's Cheapside.
0:08:43 > 0:08:45The London she was born into
0:08:45 > 0:08:48was the biggest and wealthiest city in the world.
0:08:48 > 0:08:51Money was creating huge social change in Britain,
0:08:51 > 0:08:55and a whole new class, the middle class, was emerging.
0:08:55 > 0:08:58STALLHOLDERS SHOUTING
0:08:58 > 0:09:01How'd you like to get your hands on me buns, m'dear?
0:09:03 > 0:09:08The historian Kate Williams knows the impact food had on Isabella
0:09:08 > 0:09:10and her future readers.
0:09:12 > 0:09:1419th-century London was really the time
0:09:14 > 0:09:18of the growth of what we call now the middle classes.
0:09:18 > 0:09:23Industrialisation created this huge, aspirational middle class,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26so many people gaining their money from trade,
0:09:26 > 0:09:30from the great empire. And these were the new power, the new money,
0:09:30 > 0:09:34and they wanted to prove themselves as excellent through taste.
0:09:34 > 0:09:36Where was the food coming from?
0:09:36 > 0:09:40From all over the empire. By the end of her reign,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43Queen Victoria ruled a quarter of the world's population.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46She ruled huge swathes of the world,
0:09:46 > 0:09:49and these places produced incredible foodstuffs
0:09:49 > 0:09:51for Londoners to enjoy.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53- Was there an abundance of food? - Absolutely.
0:09:53 > 0:09:55Nuts, meats, wonderful vegetables,
0:09:55 > 0:09:58exotic fruits... You could buy lemons out of season.
0:09:58 > 0:10:01The great foods, you could buy them.
0:10:02 > 0:10:05Of course, not everyone got to experience these riches.
0:10:05 > 0:10:08An expanding working class struggled to survive
0:10:08 > 0:10:10on low-quality street food.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13For them, a hot meal might be a simple baked potato,
0:10:13 > 0:10:16used as a hand-warmer until it was eaten.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21So, if you'd escaped from the clutches of poverty,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25you wanted to make damn sure everyone knew about it.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29The middle classes wished to differentiate themselves
0:10:29 > 0:10:31from the working classes, who didn't have kitchens,
0:10:31 > 0:10:34who didn't have servants. They prided themselves
0:10:34 > 0:10:39on dining at home, and they needed guidance on what to do
0:10:39 > 0:10:41with all these amazing ingredients.
0:10:41 > 0:10:43There's no point having all this abundance
0:10:43 > 0:10:46if you don't know what to cook.
0:10:46 > 0:10:49Small wonder, when it was published in 1861,
0:10:49 > 0:10:52Household Management was an immediate bestseller.
0:10:52 > 0:10:56It provided the perfect blueprint for how to be middle class.
0:11:10 > 0:11:14'To get a sense of how these new middle classes were living,
0:11:14 > 0:11:17'I'm attempting a Mrs-Beeton-style dinner party.
0:11:17 > 0:11:20'I want to road-test some of the recipes beforehand,
0:11:20 > 0:11:22'so I've enlisted the help of Annie Grey.
0:11:22 > 0:11:24'She lives and breathes food history,
0:11:24 > 0:11:27'and also looks very fetching in a corset.'
0:11:27 > 0:11:31Annie, you're in full Victorian costume. Will you tell me why?
0:11:31 > 0:11:34I'm dressed as a middle-class housewife would be
0:11:34 > 0:11:37in 1861-ish, when the book was published.
0:11:37 > 0:11:40'I've decided to try out one of the most fashionable recipes
0:11:40 > 0:11:42'in the book.'
0:11:49 > 0:11:53Would this have been one of the new recipes for the young housewife
0:11:53 > 0:11:57- who was entertaining? - Yes. A French dish upon the table
0:11:57 > 0:11:59shows that you have arrived.
0:11:59 > 0:12:03"Take one lobster, pick the meat from the shell,
0:12:03 > 0:12:05and cut it up into small, square pieces."
0:12:08 > 0:12:10'Victorian dinner parties were epic feasts,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13'designed to impress. You would serve several dishes
0:12:13 > 0:12:16'at each course. Annie's constructing a pie
0:12:16 > 0:12:19'that would have been served at the same time as the lobster.'
0:12:28 > 0:12:31So, Annie, you're making pigeon pie over there.
0:12:31 > 0:12:35Yes. And of course I've plucked them earlier.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38- Good housewife, you are. - Yes. Plucked and gutted them.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45- What goes in your pie?- It's a pie dish, which is lined with pastry,
0:12:45 > 0:12:48and then there'll be layers of rump steak,
0:12:48 > 0:12:50then some pigeon - pigeon breasts in this case-
0:12:50 > 0:12:53with a piece of butter and ham, seasonings,
0:12:53 > 0:12:55and then the yolks of some hardboiled eggs
0:12:55 > 0:12:58just to make sure that the surface is beautiful,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01so when you put your puff pastry lid on and decorate it,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03it looks absolutely gorgeous.
0:13:03 > 0:13:05It wasn't just the food that was alien.
0:13:05 > 0:13:09Many of Mrs B's housewives were learning how to work with staff
0:13:09 > 0:13:11for the first time,
0:13:11 > 0:13:14and the ovens and kitchen accessories were new, too,
0:13:14 > 0:13:16nothing like what they'd grown up with.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20This kitchen would have been new to Mrs Beeton and her readers.
0:13:20 > 0:13:24Do you think that's why there was a gap in the market
0:13:24 > 0:13:26for a cookbook? There needed to be a guide
0:13:26 > 0:13:29- to cooking and running a household like this.- Yes.
0:13:29 > 0:13:33She really sees the desperation of a lot of middle-class girls
0:13:33 > 0:13:35having to turn out middle-class dinners
0:13:35 > 0:13:39to entertain their husbands' prospective business colleagues.
0:13:39 > 0:13:41"Take the white stock,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45cream, mace and cayenne, and add to the lobster."
0:13:45 > 0:13:49"Serve it in the shells, which should be nicely cleaned,
0:13:49 > 0:13:52and have a border of puff pastry."
0:13:53 > 0:13:56There's an awful lot of aspiration in Mrs Beeton's cookbook.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00She has, er, recipes for turtle soup,
0:14:00 > 0:14:02which no-one in the middle class would have made.
0:14:02 > 0:14:06In fact, mock-turtle soup, which she also has a recipe for,
0:14:06 > 0:14:10ends up being THE middle-class dish, because you can make it with a calf's head.
0:14:10 > 0:14:13She's writing not only in an aspirational way,
0:14:13 > 0:14:17but also, because this is an era where people shoot up and down the social scale very quickly,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21all of a sudden the housewife might find herself in the position
0:14:21 > 0:14:24where she has to cook a wedding breakfast for 100 people
0:14:24 > 0:14:28because her daughter has married someone further up the social scale than she is. Panic!
0:14:28 > 0:14:30But Mrs Beeton has the answer.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34'I'm not convinced that this pie has a great deal going for it.'
0:14:34 > 0:14:37"Clean three of the feet and place them in a hole
0:14:37 > 0:14:41made in a crust at the top. This shows what kind of pie it is."
0:14:41 > 0:14:43The feet look like they're trying to climb out.
0:14:43 > 0:14:45I think it looks absolutely spectacular.
0:14:45 > 0:14:48There's something quite Gothic about it.
0:14:48 > 0:14:51'Household Management's promise
0:14:51 > 0:14:53'was that it would always have the right recipe,
0:14:53 > 0:14:56'whatever your circumstances.'
0:14:58 > 0:15:02'And Isabella herself knew that circumstances could change
0:15:02 > 0:15:04'very, very quickly.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09'In 1841, when she was just five,
0:15:09 > 0:15:11'Isabella's father died.
0:15:11 > 0:15:15'Her mother Elizabeth was pregnant, and had three young children.
0:15:18 > 0:15:21'With no welfare state, and the looming possibility of the workhouse
0:15:21 > 0:15:24'the family were hugely vulnerable.'
0:15:26 > 0:15:30I think losing her dad at five was a formative lesson for Isabella.
0:15:30 > 0:15:35I think she realised how fleeting life could be,
0:15:35 > 0:15:38and you really get a sense of that from the book.
0:15:39 > 0:15:42She has recipes for 19-course meals,
0:15:42 > 0:15:45and she also has these sweet, quite meagre recipes
0:15:45 > 0:15:47for bread soup or a toast sandwich.
0:16:02 > 0:16:05Living in a city that heaved with both the very rich and very poor,
0:16:05 > 0:16:08Isabella's childhood had shown her that everything was possible,
0:16:08 > 0:16:11but that everything could also be whisked away.
0:16:11 > 0:16:15So she understood the need for a guide that you could rely on
0:16:15 > 0:16:17whatever life threw at you.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22'But Isabella was fortunate.
0:16:22 > 0:16:25'Her sensible mother did what any young Victorian widow
0:16:25 > 0:16:28'with children would do - she married again.'
0:16:28 > 0:16:31Elizabeth's second husband, Henry Dorling,
0:16:31 > 0:16:34was a well-to-do widower who ran the racecourse at Epsom,
0:16:34 > 0:16:36'home of the Derby.
0:16:36 > 0:16:39'Swapping London, with its smoke and poverty,
0:16:39 > 0:16:41'for the bucolic pastures of Surrey,
0:16:41 > 0:16:44'Isabella had entered the world of the middle classes.
0:16:46 > 0:16:50'Like Elizabeth, Henry already had four children of his own,
0:16:50 > 0:16:53'so the couple started with eight, and carried on.
0:16:55 > 0:16:57'Models of Victorian productivity,
0:16:57 > 0:17:00'Elizabeth and Henry eventually produced a brood
0:17:00 > 0:17:03'of - deep breath - 21 children.'
0:17:04 > 0:17:06'With so many brothers and sisters,
0:17:06 > 0:17:09'the young Isabella took on a lot of responsibility.'
0:17:09 > 0:17:11How can I help?
0:17:11 > 0:17:14Could I have, a, um...a tea, please?
0:17:14 > 0:17:18- Tea? Would you like any cakes? - Um, no, thank you. - I'll just get that for you.
0:17:18 > 0:17:22This is a card that Elizabeth made for Henry Dorling
0:17:22 > 0:17:24for his birthday in 1848,
0:17:24 > 0:17:28and it gives a real insight into what childhood would have been like
0:17:28 > 0:17:31for Isabella. You've got her, aged 12,
0:17:31 > 0:17:35surrounded by... You can't even tell.
0:17:35 > 0:17:37I think it's 13 children.
0:17:37 > 0:17:40She's the only one that's shaded in, like her mother,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43so she's a little miniature mother.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47They look happy, they look loving, but it looks quite chaotic,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51and Henry's standing to the side, looking, um, a bit baffled.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54It's unsurprising to me that, out of that,
0:17:54 > 0:17:58she entered into a life of lists and order and...
0:17:59 > 0:18:03But that could be my own projection on it.
0:18:04 > 0:18:07'Given Isabella's chaotic childhood,
0:18:07 > 0:18:10'perhaps it is unsurprising that Household Management
0:18:10 > 0:18:14'places so much importance on creating the perfect family home.'
0:18:14 > 0:18:16"It ought to enter into the domestic policy
0:18:16 > 0:18:19of every parent to make her children feel
0:18:19 > 0:18:22that home is the happiest place in the world."
0:18:22 > 0:18:24"To imbue them with this delicious home feeling
0:18:24 > 0:18:28is one of the choicest gifts a parent can bestow."
0:18:28 > 0:18:31CROWD CHEERING
0:18:31 > 0:18:35Isabella's own childhood became ever more extraordinary.
0:18:35 > 0:18:38Come on! Come on, now! Come on!
0:18:38 > 0:18:40Though the family were by now very comfortable,
0:18:40 > 0:18:45not even wealthy Henry Dorling could provide a house big enough for 21 children.
0:18:45 > 0:18:49As the brood rapidly expanded, Isabella and some of her siblings were sent to live,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53of all places, in the grandstand of Epsom racecourse.
0:18:53 > 0:18:55Come on, now!
0:18:56 > 0:18:59'I want to get a sense of what it was like for the young Isabella
0:18:59 > 0:19:02'to grow up in the havoc that is a racecourse.'
0:19:02 > 0:19:04CHEERING
0:19:04 > 0:19:06'Having never been to the races before,
0:19:06 > 0:19:09'who better to go with than the doyenne of the racing novel,
0:19:09 > 0:19:11'writer Jilly Cooper?'
0:19:11 > 0:19:15I can't believe you've never been. You've missed so much.
0:19:15 > 0:19:19It's incredibly exciting. The horses, they're so beautiful,
0:19:19 > 0:19:23and they race their hearts out. And very, very glamorous people.
0:19:23 > 0:19:26Somehow racing attracts very, very good-looking men
0:19:26 > 0:19:28and very beautiful women,
0:19:28 > 0:19:31and that helps a lot. And also it's lovely,
0:19:31 > 0:19:33because at the races, all classes mix.
0:19:33 > 0:19:36Would it have been like that at Epsom, where Isabella grew up?
0:19:36 > 0:19:39Tremendous amount of drinking went on, and bad behaviour,
0:19:39 > 0:19:43lots of aristocratic young men gambling and fighting,
0:19:43 > 0:19:47and all the gypsies would turn up, and the crowd would be quite extraordinary.
0:19:47 > 0:19:50- The royal family would be there too. - I'm asking you all of this
0:19:50 > 0:19:53because Mrs Beeton grew up in the grandstand.
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- In the grandstand? At Epsom? - At Epsom.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00- Mercy!- Yes. Sleeping in camp beds. Her stepfather was the clerk there.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04There wasn't enough room for her and her brothers and sisters at home
0:20:04 > 0:20:10because there were so many of them, and she was responsible for all these small children.
0:20:10 > 0:20:14A lot of weight on her shoulders. You can imagine this bunch of raggle-taggle children...
0:20:14 > 0:20:17And ghosts of punters, ghosts of horses floating round.
0:20:17 > 0:20:21And tobacco on the floor, and what it might have smelled like.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24Absolutely extraordinary! What an extraordinary thing to do!
0:20:24 > 0:20:27But it makes sense, why she would sort of have...
0:20:27 > 0:20:31somewhat sought order and lists, and...
0:20:31 > 0:20:34- Yes, and Household Management...- Yes.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36- ..probably is how she... - Chaos.- Chaos, yes.
0:20:36 > 0:20:40- Yes.- Very good for a writer, very good material for a writer.
0:20:40 > 0:20:45She had plenty to draw on. All the seeds were there at the Derby.
0:20:46 > 0:20:49I believe this early responsibility was a key part
0:20:49 > 0:20:53of Isabella's success. Out of that rambling, child-ridden chaos,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56she emerged, her heart set on practised domesticity.
0:20:58 > 0:21:00'After all, by the time she was a teenager,
0:21:00 > 0:21:03'Isabella was already well versed in mothering.
0:21:03 > 0:21:06'Her small shoulders were loaded with responsibility.'
0:21:11 > 0:21:13'But she was no poor Cinderella.
0:21:13 > 0:21:17'Perhaps mindful of the early burden she'd borne,
0:21:17 > 0:21:20'her stepfather Henry sent her to Heidelberg
0:21:20 > 0:21:22'to finish her education.
0:21:23 > 0:21:25'She learnt French, she learnt German,
0:21:25 > 0:21:28'and she learnt how to bake.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30'She was clearly pretty passionate about it.
0:21:30 > 0:21:34'There are 179 baking recipes in her Household Management,
0:21:34 > 0:21:36'the largest chapter in the book.
0:21:43 > 0:21:46'150 years on, there are still plenty of people
0:21:46 > 0:21:50'building their afternoon teas round Mrs Beeton's recipes.'
0:21:50 > 0:21:52Hello, Mary!
0:21:52 > 0:21:55'To find out why she still has such a powerful reputation,
0:21:55 > 0:21:59'I've come to Suffolk for a baking session with some of her biggest fans, the WI.'
0:22:01 > 0:22:03- So, you're the fun, modern WI. - I hope so, yes.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05What sort of things have your WI done?
0:22:05 > 0:22:08- We did The Full Monty last year. - I have to know.
0:22:08 > 0:22:11- You have to expand. - Eight of us stripped down
0:22:11 > 0:22:16to very skimpy aprons, which we did in front of our entire village,
0:22:16 > 0:22:18- and we just shocked them rigid. - SHE LAUGHS
0:22:18 > 0:22:21Did you have a stiff drink beforehand?
0:22:21 > 0:22:23We did, actually, girls, didn't we?
0:22:23 > 0:22:25We had a lot of drinks before we did it.
0:22:26 > 0:22:30'The WI has clearly modernised, and so has Household Management.
0:22:30 > 0:22:33'Over the years it's been regularly updated.
0:22:33 > 0:22:35'In fact, there are over 60 editions,
0:22:35 > 0:22:39'with recipes added or altered in line with our changing tastes.
0:22:41 > 0:22:44'Today we're comparing a recipe from the first book
0:22:44 > 0:22:47'with more modern editions. The WI are making scones and Swiss rolls
0:22:47 > 0:22:49'from the more recent Mrs Beetons.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52'I'm making ginger nuts from the original.'
0:23:02 > 0:23:06Mrs Beeton's ginger nuts call for a great deal of ground coriander!
0:23:06 > 0:23:10- Really?- Yes. So I have no idea what they're going to taste like.
0:23:13 > 0:23:15"Take allspice, coriander and ginger,
0:23:15 > 0:23:19freshly ground. Put them into a basin with flour and sugar,
0:23:19 > 0:23:21and mix well together."
0:23:21 > 0:23:23Carol, are those Mrs Beeton's scones?
0:23:23 > 0:23:27They are, yes, from one of the more modern, adapted recipes.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30There is such a connotation of Victorian food
0:23:30 > 0:23:35being very stodgy. You could whack people over the head with it.
0:23:35 > 0:23:39I suspect that my ginger nuts may be heading in that direction.
0:23:39 > 0:23:41There you go!
0:23:42 > 0:23:44"Warm the treacle and butter together."
0:23:44 > 0:23:47"Then, with a spoon, work it into the flour
0:23:47 > 0:23:50until the whole forms a nice smooth paste."
0:23:50 > 0:23:53Mary, can I call on you for a non-pregnant arm?
0:23:53 > 0:23:56- Yes. Let me give you some help. - Thank you.
0:23:56 > 0:23:59- Oh, my goodness! - SOPHIE LAUGHS
0:23:59 > 0:24:03They must have had very strong arm muscles.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07'This mix needs the full resources of the WI sisterhood.
0:24:07 > 0:24:09'My pregnant arms can't take it any more!'
0:24:09 > 0:24:11Would you like to have a go?
0:24:11 > 0:24:13- What size was Mrs Beeton? - THEY LAUGH
0:24:13 > 0:24:16- Was she a petite woman? - A little sturdy-looking.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19- Does that look better? - That looks perfect.
0:24:20 > 0:24:23- Over to you.- Thank you very much.
0:24:23 > 0:24:26- How big?- There.
0:24:26 > 0:24:28How many does it make? That'll give you some idea -
0:24:28 > 0:24:31- how many it makes.- 559.
0:24:34 > 0:24:36- Lovely.- Thank you.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40- Can I be on tea duty?- Yeah.
0:24:40 > 0:24:43'Afternoon tea was a Victorian invention.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46'Household Management contained all the recipes
0:24:46 > 0:24:50'Isabella's early readers needed, and in the following 150 years,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52'it continued to supply fashionable recipes
0:24:52 > 0:24:55'for entertaining at home.'
0:24:55 > 0:24:57- THEY LAUGH - They're not round.
0:24:57 > 0:25:01- Now, these look so tasty. - Well, yours might look very tasty.
0:25:01 > 0:25:04The proof is in the eating, though.
0:25:04 > 0:25:07But can we just be honest about these?
0:25:07 > 0:25:10- They look like rabbit-turd biscuits. - THEY LAUGH
0:25:10 > 0:25:14They're not a thing of beauty. They're really not.
0:25:14 > 0:25:16THEY LAUGH
0:25:16 > 0:25:21You can certainly taste the ginger. You've got a really crispy outside
0:25:21 > 0:25:26and quite a heavy, dense inside. It's a bizarre combination.
0:25:26 > 0:25:30- I quite like them, actually. I do. - She's got weird tastes.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34- I am weird.- We know that she learned to bake in Heidelberg,
0:25:34 > 0:25:38so do we think they're possibly a little German in influence? Yes?
0:25:38 > 0:25:41The white icing, the spices?
0:25:41 > 0:25:44I think white icing would actually help them.
0:25:44 > 0:25:47THEY LAUGH
0:25:47 > 0:25:51- What would you like next, girls? - Carol has made scones
0:25:51 > 0:25:55from one of the modern ones, and that was 2005.
0:25:55 > 0:25:57Mm! Absolutely beautiful!
0:25:57 > 0:26:00They are so light and fluffy, aren't they?
0:26:00 > 0:26:02- They're so good.- Mmm!
0:26:02 > 0:26:05Mrs Beeton is this enduring character.
0:26:05 > 0:26:09We've all got variants of her, but what does that say about her?
0:26:09 > 0:26:13I think it's what she stands for - the household management,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17the domesticity, the getting some standards and rules in place,
0:26:17 > 0:26:22and I think everybody knows the name Mrs Beeton,
0:26:22 > 0:26:25so there's an element of trust.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28I think because it's what our mothers did,
0:26:28 > 0:26:30and it's so nice to carry that tradition on
0:26:30 > 0:26:35- from our mothers to us, and then on to our children.- Mm.
0:26:36 > 0:26:40Household Management became much more than a Victorian phenomenon.
0:26:40 > 0:26:43Its contents are regularly updated, but the name has stayed the same,
0:26:43 > 0:26:47and so we have continued to trust in the reliability of its author.
0:26:47 > 0:26:51The name Mrs Beeton was one of the first and most powerful brands
0:26:51 > 0:26:53in Britain.
0:26:56 > 0:27:01So, how did the young Isabella Mayson transform herself
0:27:01 > 0:27:04into the enduring character of Mrs Beeton?
0:27:04 > 0:27:07In the first place, through marriage.
0:27:08 > 0:27:11Sam Beeton was a young, ambitious publisher
0:27:11 > 0:27:15who Isabella first met when they were children in Cheapside.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17He was a very modern man.
0:27:17 > 0:27:21He was very forward-thinking in his attitude toward women,
0:27:21 > 0:27:25and you can really tell that from the tone of their letters to each other.
0:27:25 > 0:27:27There's, um...
0:27:28 > 0:27:30..one from her to him. She says, "In a very short time
0:27:30 > 0:27:33you will have the entire management of me,
0:27:33 > 0:27:36and I can assure you that you will find me a most docile and willing pupil."
0:27:38 > 0:27:40And he writes back,
0:27:40 > 0:27:43"I don't desire, I assure you, to manage you."
0:27:43 > 0:27:45"You can do that quite well yourself."
0:27:45 > 0:27:49So there must have been... rather a sense of relief,
0:27:49 > 0:27:52in that she wasn't off to marry someone
0:27:52 > 0:27:55who was going to boss her around, and she was marrying an equal,
0:27:55 > 0:27:59and throughout their life together, you get a huge sense of that,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02that they were partners. They were proper equals.
0:28:03 > 0:28:06Isabella married her beloved Sam
0:28:06 > 0:28:08on Thursday the 10th of July 1856,
0:28:08 > 0:28:11at St Martin's Church in Epsom.
0:28:11 > 0:28:15She was 20, and ready to set up her very own family home.
0:28:18 > 0:28:21And the British home was changing.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24This was the time of sudden railway expansion in Britain,
0:28:24 > 0:28:27allowing people to live away from the cities they worked in.
0:28:27 > 0:28:30Suburbs were being built for the very first time.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38'And suburban homes were marketed heavily at new middle-class couples
0:28:38 > 0:28:40'like Sam and Isabella.'
0:28:41 > 0:28:43This is a copy of the original prospectus
0:28:43 > 0:28:46of Sam and Isabella's first marital home,
0:28:46 > 0:28:48Chandos Villas in Pinner.
0:28:48 > 0:28:51And this would have been the thing that Sam used
0:28:51 > 0:28:54to tempt Isabella, in her chaperoned glory,
0:28:54 > 0:28:57to say, "This is what I can give you when we get married."
0:28:57 > 0:29:01You get a real sense from this what they were buying into.
0:29:01 > 0:29:06It's leafy suburbia at its best,
0:29:06 > 0:29:09so you have, "In short, real country air, food,
0:29:09 > 0:29:12seclusion and society can only be had
0:29:12 > 0:29:16by going into the country, by leaving London a dozen miles behind,
0:29:16 > 0:29:18and thereby getting beyond the smell of its smoke,
0:29:18 > 0:29:23the range of its bad characters, and the influx of its population."
0:29:24 > 0:29:26Look at their house here.
0:29:26 > 0:29:29Incredibly grand.
0:29:29 > 0:29:33It's probably very difficult for us to imagine in modern times,
0:29:33 > 0:29:38a young married couple moving into this grandeur.
0:29:38 > 0:29:40Isabella must have felt relief,
0:29:40 > 0:29:43coming out of her enormous, chaotic family
0:29:43 > 0:29:46with all those children. Suddenly sort of shutting the door
0:29:46 > 0:29:50and getting peace and quiet must have seemed like total heaven.
0:29:50 > 0:29:53'Although the Beetons' beautiful house was bombed
0:29:53 > 0:29:56'in the Second World War, I know one of the original houses
0:29:56 > 0:29:58'from the estate still stands.
0:29:58 > 0:30:00'I want to walk the streets she walked.
0:30:00 > 0:30:04'I want to breathe the neighbourhood that she and Sam first called home.'
0:30:07 > 0:30:11'In new suburbs like Pinner, many women were for the first time
0:30:11 > 0:30:13'living far away from their families.
0:30:13 > 0:30:16'They didn't know their neighbours, and new rules
0:30:16 > 0:30:18'about how to call on people were needed.'
0:30:21 > 0:30:24'This is where the book really came into its own.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26'Mrs Beeton guided these inexperienced women
0:30:26 > 0:30:28'through every moment of daily life.'
0:30:31 > 0:30:34- Hello!- Hi! Hi, there. Hi.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37I'm Sophie Dahl. I'm making a programme about Mrs Beeton.
0:30:37 > 0:30:40- I do recognise you, yes. Hi! - Did you know anything, really,
0:30:40 > 0:30:42- about the history of Mrs Beeton?- No.
0:30:42 > 0:30:46She was probably our first celebrity cook, I suppose.
0:30:46 > 0:30:50"After luncheon, morning calls may be made and received."
0:30:50 > 0:30:53"These visits should be short, a stay of from 15 to 20 minutes
0:30:53 > 0:30:55being quite sufficient."
0:30:55 > 0:30:58"A lady paying a visit may remove her boa or neckerchief,
0:30:58 > 0:31:01but neither her shawl nor bonnet."
0:31:01 > 0:31:05Since we've moved in, we've got the bug. We all love cooking,
0:31:05 > 0:31:07and our neighbours and the neighbours before,
0:31:07 > 0:31:09so I think her spirit lives on.
0:31:18 > 0:31:21The one problem with these idyllic suburban homes
0:31:21 > 0:31:24is that it meant a new separation between the place men worked
0:31:24 > 0:31:27and the place women stayed.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33'Preparing a delicious dinner to lure your husband home
0:31:33 > 0:31:35'was a key task for the novice housewife.'
0:31:35 > 0:31:39In the beginning of the book, Mrs Beeton stresses the importance
0:31:39 > 0:31:41of having a hot meal on the table for your husband,
0:31:41 > 0:31:44because there are so many temptations in the city,
0:31:44 > 0:31:47so much that could tempt a man from home.
0:31:47 > 0:31:50So she has this very funny bit in the opening of the book,
0:31:50 > 0:31:52which says,
0:31:52 > 0:31:56"Men are now so well served out of doors, at their clubs,
0:31:56 > 0:31:58well ordered taverns and dining-houses,
0:31:58 > 0:32:01that, in order to compete with the attractions of these places,
0:32:01 > 0:32:05the mistress must be thoroughly acquainted with the theory and practice of cookery,
0:32:05 > 0:32:08as well as be perfectly conversant with all the other arts
0:32:08 > 0:32:11of making and keeping a comfortable home."
0:32:22 > 0:32:25The thing about so many of her recipes is,
0:32:25 > 0:32:27they're for whatever's available,
0:32:27 > 0:32:30and apples in England, quite a plentiful thing.
0:32:30 > 0:32:33'Every Victorian dinner would start with soup.
0:32:33 > 0:32:37'I'll try this one out now to use at my party later.'
0:32:38 > 0:32:41"Peel and quarter the apples, taking out their cores."
0:32:41 > 0:32:45"Put them into the stock. Add the cloves."
0:32:45 > 0:32:47"Stew gently till tender."
0:32:49 > 0:32:52"Rub the whole mixture through a strainer."
0:32:52 > 0:32:55One of the reasons Mrs Beeton was so invaluable to her readers,
0:32:55 > 0:32:58she would provide monthly charts,
0:32:58 > 0:33:01breakdowns of what to serve, how much it cost,
0:33:01 > 0:33:06so here you've got, "A plain family dinner for February".
0:33:06 > 0:33:09"Sunday, ox-tail soup, roast beef, Yorkshire pudding,
0:33:09 > 0:33:13broccoli and potatoes, plum-pudding and apple tart, cheese."
0:33:13 > 0:33:15One meal.
0:33:15 > 0:33:17"Monday, fried soles, butter and potatoes,
0:33:17 > 0:33:21cold roast beef, mashed potatoes. The remains of the plum-pudding
0:33:21 > 0:33:25cut in slices, warmed and served with sifted sugar sprinkled over it. Cheese."
0:33:25 > 0:33:29"Tuesday, the remains of ox-tail soup from Sunday."
0:33:29 > 0:33:31There's a lot of meat,
0:33:31 > 0:33:34there's a lot of boiling, and there's a lot of re-use
0:33:34 > 0:33:39of leftovers. Leftovers would see you through the week.
0:33:39 > 0:33:42"Add cayenne and white pepper,
0:33:42 > 0:33:45give it one boil-up, and serve."
0:33:48 > 0:33:51This would have been the smell to tempt the man back from the city.
0:33:53 > 0:33:56Looks like it might appear in Oliver!
0:33:58 > 0:34:01It's, um... It's quite heavy going.
0:34:02 > 0:34:05But while Mrs Beeton was teaching her readers
0:34:05 > 0:34:10to be patient homemakers, her own life was something rather different.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14'Isabella was not tied to the stove like many of her young readers.
0:34:14 > 0:34:16'She was off to the office.'
0:34:19 > 0:34:23She was an extremely successful journalist,
0:34:23 > 0:34:27and, together with Sam, she commuted into London each day.
0:34:30 > 0:34:32With more and more women becoming educated,
0:34:32 > 0:34:36female literacy was booming. 60 percent of women could now read,
0:34:36 > 0:34:39and they were crying out for new literature.
0:34:39 > 0:34:42There was a huge gap in the market just waiting to be filled.
0:34:42 > 0:34:45'Sam already published several popular magazines,
0:34:45 > 0:34:48'but it was when he collaborated with his wife
0:34:48 > 0:34:50'on The English Woman's Domestic Magazine
0:34:50 > 0:34:53'that they struck gold.
0:34:53 > 0:34:55'I'm going to the Women's Library in East London
0:34:55 > 0:34:59'to see Isabella's first printed endeavours in the flesh.'
0:35:03 > 0:35:06You get a real sense, through looking at the contents pages
0:35:06 > 0:35:09of English Woman's Domestic,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12really how varied the information they're giving to women was.
0:35:12 > 0:35:16So here you've got the poetry of the month,
0:35:16 > 0:35:18Home Arrangements And Domestic Economy,
0:35:18 > 0:35:23my favourite, Curious Weddings And Remarkable Marriages,
0:35:23 > 0:35:27and then, in a flash, the first time we see Isabella's name
0:35:27 > 0:35:31in print, "The Paris Fashions, Edited by Mrs Isabella Beeton,
0:35:31 > 0:35:34from material supplied direct from the capital of 'Le beau monde'."
0:35:34 > 0:35:39And it's so funny, because we're used to thinking of her
0:35:39 > 0:35:43in only terms of this domestic voice of kitchen reason,
0:35:43 > 0:35:46and here she is, she's a fashion journalist. She's off in Paris.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49She's writing about what all the pretty women of Paris are wearing.
0:35:49 > 0:35:53I think they realised, with the success of English Woman's Domestic,
0:35:53 > 0:35:56that there was this huge audience that they could reach
0:35:56 > 0:36:00and somewhat exploit.
0:36:00 > 0:36:03They put out a request to all their readers
0:36:03 > 0:36:07to supply them with recipes for a forthcoming cookbook,
0:36:07 > 0:36:10Mrs Beeton's Book Of Household Management.
0:36:10 > 0:36:12"We shall be exceedingly obliged to any lady
0:36:12 > 0:36:15who will spare a few moments to write out for us
0:36:15 > 0:36:19some of her choice recipes." Very, very, very clever.
0:36:19 > 0:36:22You look back, and you think, "How brilliant!"
0:36:22 > 0:36:24They knew who their audience was,
0:36:24 > 0:36:26they knew how they wanted to be treated,
0:36:26 > 0:36:31and they knew that they could keep profiting from them.
0:36:33 > 0:36:37So, out of all this came this, the Book Of Household Management.
0:36:37 > 0:36:42It's a compendium of knowledge for a generation of women
0:36:42 > 0:36:45that were really missing that authority,
0:36:45 > 0:36:49missing...mothers,
0:36:49 > 0:36:53living in different towns, missing a sisterhood.
0:36:55 > 0:36:59It took Isabella four years to pull together recipes and advice
0:36:59 > 0:37:02from her readers and other experts. But it was worth it,
0:37:02 > 0:37:05for, though she was just 26 when she finished it,
0:37:05 > 0:37:08Isabella had produced the ultimate domestic Bible.
0:37:08 > 0:37:13It sold 60,000 copies in its first year,
0:37:13 > 0:37:17more than Charles Dickens' Great Expectations, published at the same time.
0:37:18 > 0:37:21Its genius was that it covered much more than recipes.
0:37:21 > 0:37:24From hiring domestic staff to tending to sick children,
0:37:24 > 0:37:27Isabella instructed her readers on everything they needed
0:37:27 > 0:37:30to run a home and care for a family.
0:37:32 > 0:37:35'But how reliable was that broader household instruction?
0:37:35 > 0:37:37'I'm going to ask some modern-day experts
0:37:37 > 0:37:39'what they think of Isabella's advice,
0:37:39 > 0:37:43'and find out whether it could still be considered of use to young women today.'
0:37:53 > 0:37:56I always regard myself as a bit of a Mrs Beeton, actually,
0:37:56 > 0:37:59because I'm very bossy with my clients,
0:37:59 > 0:38:01and I tell them exactly what to do.
0:38:01 > 0:38:05'Clare Byam-Cook is a midwife and breastfeeding consultant.'
0:38:05 > 0:38:08What I think is interesting is that, in Victorian times,
0:38:08 > 0:38:11they started having a new attitude to breastfeeding babies,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13and what Mrs Beeton was saying was that,
0:38:13 > 0:38:16as a mother, you actually should feed your own baby,
0:38:16 > 0:38:18and get great pleasure from it.
0:38:18 > 0:38:23Motherhood itself was redefined in the Victorian era.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26For the middle classes, childcare had previously been the domain
0:38:26 > 0:38:29of servants. But now, tending to the needs of your little ones
0:38:29 > 0:38:32was elevated to one of the chief womanly virtues.
0:38:32 > 0:38:36Women wanted guidance on how to get to grips with this new role.
0:38:38 > 0:38:41A lot of the advice she was giving back in the 1860s
0:38:41 > 0:38:45is very similar to the advice that mothers either do get now,
0:38:45 > 0:38:47or, in my opinion, should get.
0:38:47 > 0:38:50Mrs Beeton gives a lot of advice about what you should eat
0:38:50 > 0:38:52as a nursing mother.
0:38:52 > 0:38:55Well, I think her sort of old-fashioned advice
0:38:55 > 0:38:58of "eat regularly", and she even tells you what to eat,
0:38:58 > 0:39:00is actually quite good.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04There's very amusing diet advice.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09It's, er, "The food itself should be light, easy of digestion,
0:39:09 > 0:39:12and simple - boiled or roast meat with bread and potatoes,"
0:39:12 > 0:39:15then her big suggestion is, "Half a pint of stout
0:39:15 > 0:39:18with a Reading biscuit at 11 o'clock
0:39:18 > 0:39:21will be abundantly sufficient between breakfast at eight
0:39:21 > 0:39:24and a good dinner with a pint of porter at one o'clock."
0:39:24 > 0:39:28I have to say, I think if the modern mother started tucking into alcohol
0:39:28 > 0:39:31at 11 in the morning, she would be deemed an alcoholic,
0:39:31 > 0:39:35- not a good mother.- Social Services would be at the door in minutes.
0:39:35 > 0:39:38Absolutely. So I think generally her advice is good.
0:39:38 > 0:39:41Obviously there weren't opportunities to bottle feed
0:39:41 > 0:39:44in Mrs Beeton's time, so the next best thing,
0:39:44 > 0:39:46- a wet nurse.- Absolutely.
0:39:46 > 0:39:50Just because breastfeeding's natural doesn't mean everyone can do it.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53And it's very funny to imagine her wet-nurse interviewing.
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Yes, exactly. I love the way she describes how to do it.
0:39:57 > 0:39:59"The best evidence of a sound state of health
0:39:59 > 0:40:02will be found in a woman's clear, open countenance,
0:40:02 > 0:40:06the ruddy tone of the skin, the full, round and elastic state of the breasts,
0:40:06 > 0:40:10and especially in the erectile, firm condition of the nipple,
0:40:10 > 0:40:12which in all unhealthy states of the body
0:40:12 > 0:40:14- is pendulous, flabby and relaxed"... - Yes.
0:40:14 > 0:40:17.."in which case the milk is sure to be imperfect
0:40:17 > 0:40:20in its organisation, and consequently deficient
0:40:20 > 0:40:22in its nutrient qualities."
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Well, that's clearly her opinion, and actually I do agree.
0:40:26 > 0:40:28My local dairy farmer tells me
0:40:28 > 0:40:31that when he needs to replace some of his cows,
0:40:31 > 0:40:33he examines their udders very carefully,
0:40:33 > 0:40:36and he can often tell, just by examining the udders,
0:40:36 > 0:40:39whether they're going to be good milk producers,
0:40:39 > 0:40:41and Mrs Beeton clearly felt the same.
0:40:41 > 0:40:44I think the thing that's so impressive about Mrs Beeton
0:40:44 > 0:40:48is that, at the age of 23, she's got the voice of...
0:40:48 > 0:40:50- It's extraordinary.- ..the mother.
0:40:50 > 0:40:52Can you imagine many 23 year olds today
0:40:52 > 0:40:55knowing anything at all about household management,
0:40:55 > 0:40:58or parenthood, or...you know, in the detail that she does?
0:40:58 > 0:41:02And I think she was a great boon to mothers in those days.
0:41:02 > 0:41:05- We all need a Mrs Beeton. - You do! Exactly. You do.
0:41:06 > 0:41:10Looking after children often meant managing their illnesses.
0:41:10 > 0:41:13Isabella was determined to equip her readers
0:41:13 > 0:41:15for this vital responsibility,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19and so she commissioned a surgeon to produce a full chapter
0:41:19 > 0:41:22of essential first aid.
0:41:30 > 0:41:35James, in the 1850s, women weren't just responsible for the cooking, domestic duties.
0:41:35 > 0:41:39They were also responsible for the health of their families.
0:41:39 > 0:41:42Health would have been considered akin to the raising of children
0:41:42 > 0:41:44as one of the domestic duties.
0:41:44 > 0:41:47'I've asked ethnobotanist James Wong
0:41:47 > 0:41:50'to help me explore the science behind Mrs Beeton's home remedies.'
0:41:50 > 0:41:54This is a cold remedy. This actually has some relative plausibility
0:41:54 > 0:41:58- behind it. It might work. I'll take you through the ingredients.- OK.
0:41:58 > 0:42:00The first thing here is a cupful of linseed.
0:42:00 > 0:42:04- What does it do for a cold? - When you stick linseeds in water,
0:42:04 > 0:42:07they start to swell up. They produce this mucilage,
0:42:07 > 0:42:10this slimy, gel-like substance that coats them.
0:42:10 > 0:42:13I'm going to put another thing, what she calls sun raisins.
0:42:13 > 0:42:17Grape polyphenols, which is the chemical
0:42:17 > 0:42:19responsible for the colour in grape skin,
0:42:19 > 0:42:23actually has been linked to reduced incidence of inflammation,
0:42:23 > 0:42:26and is also antiviral and antibacterial
0:42:26 > 0:42:28in certain situations. There's evidence, in fact,
0:42:28 > 0:42:31that people who drink red wine in reasonable amounts
0:42:31 > 0:42:35- have a 60 percent less incidence of catching colds.- Marvellous!
0:42:35 > 0:42:38So... Another one of the ingredients that she would have used a lot,
0:42:38 > 0:42:40and that's in this recipe, is liquorice.
0:42:40 > 0:42:43This is the original liquorice stick,
0:42:43 > 0:42:45and it has a chemical in it called glycyrrhiza,
0:42:45 > 0:42:48which has an antiviral effect. It has been demonstrated
0:42:48 > 0:42:52in some tests to stop the virus invading the cells of the lungs,
0:42:52 > 0:42:55so it's a really useful thing to have.
0:42:55 > 0:42:57So there really is a genuine plausibility
0:42:57 > 0:43:01about how this could work. I'll just pour some water on here.
0:43:01 > 0:43:02This looks unpromising now,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05and I can tell you will look even more unpromising
0:43:05 > 0:43:08when we boil it up. But surprisingly, it tastes wonderful.
0:43:08 > 0:43:12- I've made it quite a few times. - I'm not sure of a promise of that.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15- It's kind of a very old-school hot toddy.- OK.
0:43:15 > 0:43:19"Let it simmer over a slow fire till reduced by one quart."
0:43:19 > 0:43:22"Add a quarter of a pound of pounded sugar candy."
0:43:22 > 0:43:25It's really exciting to do a cold remedy,
0:43:25 > 0:43:29because there were huge influenza outbreaks during the 19th century
0:43:29 > 0:43:31that killed hundreds of thousands of people,
0:43:31 > 0:43:34including at about the time this book was published,
0:43:34 > 0:43:38so this would have been a very important form of first aid.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40Have a look at that.
0:43:40 > 0:43:42- Appetising!- Mmm!
0:43:42 > 0:43:45- Now, if I do this...- Although...
0:43:45 > 0:43:48- it smells much better than it looks. - It smells great.
0:43:48 > 0:43:52- It smells kind of raisiny... - It smells like Christmas. Exactly.
0:43:52 > 0:43:55If you don't have enough mucus to coat your mucous membranes,
0:43:55 > 0:43:59this gives you the next best thing. It is effectively prosthetic snot.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02- HE LAUGHS - Do you want to try some?
0:44:02 > 0:44:05- Well...- I've got a spoon. - ..for the sake of science.
0:44:05 > 0:44:08A full half pint is the recommended dosage,
0:44:08 > 0:44:11taken every couple of hours, I believe.
0:44:11 > 0:44:14- Hang on. Look at that. Oh, yeah! - THEY LAUGH
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Yours gets improved with rum, and I don't get the benefit of that...
0:44:20 > 0:44:24- You can get some lemon juice. - ..because I'm up the duff. OK.
0:44:24 > 0:44:27- Yeah, that's rum. Pop that in. - I'm jealous of your rum. OK.
0:44:30 > 0:44:32It is improved by the lemon.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Extremely sweet. Tastes a bit of raisins. Bit slimy.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39- It's just quite snotty. - SHE LAUGHS
0:44:39 > 0:44:41But if you were ill, not altogether unpleasant,
0:44:41 > 0:44:44particularly because you feel it coating your throat.
0:44:44 > 0:44:47It actually isn't that bad. Cheers.
0:44:47 > 0:44:50'So obviously some of her remedies do work.'
0:44:50 > 0:44:54But as a Victorian mother, you could only do so much.
0:44:54 > 0:44:58Diseases we now control with vaccinations and antibiotics
0:44:58 > 0:45:00were then terrifying killers.
0:45:00 > 0:45:03When Household Management was published,
0:45:03 > 0:45:05nearly one in three children in Britain died
0:45:05 > 0:45:09before their fifth birthday, and no-one was exempt.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15In the year she began writing the book,
0:45:15 > 0:45:18Isabella lost her first baby, who was three months old.
0:45:18 > 0:45:20And in the year that the book was published,
0:45:20 > 0:45:22she lost her second child, who was three.
0:45:22 > 0:45:24What's extraordinary about the book
0:45:24 > 0:45:27is that it covers the gamut of medical information,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30how to look after your babies, everything from cold
0:45:30 > 0:45:32to consumption.
0:45:32 > 0:45:36But there's a very finite passage,
0:45:36 > 0:45:39which just acknowledges that sometimes...
0:45:39 > 0:45:41infant death is...
0:45:42 > 0:45:44..is unavoidable.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48"Sometimes, however, all these means will fail
0:45:48 > 0:45:51in effecting utterance from the child,
0:45:51 > 0:45:54which will lie, with livid lips and flaccid body,
0:45:54 > 0:45:58every few minutes opening its mouth with a short gasping pant,
0:45:58 > 0:46:01and then subsiding into a state of pulseless inaction,
0:46:01 > 0:46:05lingering probably some hours,
0:46:05 > 0:46:08till the spasmodic pantings growing further apart,
0:46:08 > 0:46:10it ceases to exist."
0:46:11 > 0:46:15I think although we know infant mortality was very high
0:46:15 > 0:46:18in Victorian times, what becomes so clear
0:46:18 > 0:46:20from reading the descriptions of it
0:46:20 > 0:46:23is that it didn't become any more palatable.
0:46:23 > 0:46:27It didn't become any easier just because it was commonplace.
0:46:27 > 0:46:29There's a letter from Sam to Isabella
0:46:29 > 0:46:33seven years after their son died, and he's sleeping in the room
0:46:33 > 0:46:36in Newmarket where their son died, and he writes to her,
0:46:36 > 0:46:40"I slept in the room last night - it made my heart ache -
0:46:40 > 0:46:43you may know - where our first little chappy went away from us."
0:46:43 > 0:46:46So you get this...
0:46:46 > 0:46:48It's really heartbreaking,
0:46:48 > 0:46:51this sense of their loss, and just their total...
0:46:51 > 0:46:54There was nothing they could do about it, absolutely nothing.
0:47:01 > 0:47:03'There's an emotional tone in the personal letters
0:47:03 > 0:47:06'that is avoided at all costs in the book.
0:47:06 > 0:47:09'While Isabella suffered horrendous tragedies at home,
0:47:09 > 0:47:13'Mrs Beeton exuded only serenity and calm confidence.
0:47:13 > 0:47:16'And the poor Beetons' fortunes continued to fail.
0:47:16 > 0:47:18'Despite the book's commercial success,
0:47:18 > 0:47:22'Sam got into debt. They had to give up their suburban idyll
0:47:22 > 0:47:25'and move back into London.
0:47:25 > 0:47:29'Their chances of living out the domestic dream were ruined.'
0:47:31 > 0:47:35In 1863, now living in the flat above the office on the Strand,
0:47:35 > 0:47:37Isabella gave birth to a third son.
0:47:37 > 0:47:40He survived, and the family struggled on.
0:47:40 > 0:47:43But one year later, just seven days after the birth
0:47:43 > 0:47:45of her fourth son, Isabella died.
0:47:47 > 0:47:49She was 28 years old.
0:47:50 > 0:47:54With his beloved wife gone, Sam's life unravelled.
0:47:54 > 0:47:57He accrued more debts, got into complex legal battles,
0:47:57 > 0:48:01and his writing became pornographic. He appeared to be going mad.
0:48:01 > 0:48:04'Recent research has suggested Sam's behaviour
0:48:04 > 0:48:06'and the death of the children could be put down
0:48:06 > 0:48:08'to one shrouded source.'
0:48:09 > 0:48:12'Household Management covers almost every illness,
0:48:12 > 0:48:16'but there is one glaring omission - sexually transmitted diseases.
0:48:19 > 0:48:22'I've come to ask clinician Peter Greenhouse
0:48:22 > 0:48:25'if it's really possible that Sam Beeton
0:48:25 > 0:48:27gave his wife and children syphilis.'
0:48:27 > 0:48:31As a sexual-health consultant, can you help me put the pieces together
0:48:31 > 0:48:34- over whether Mrs Beeton could have had syphilis?- Yeah, sure.
0:48:34 > 0:48:37We need to know how many children she had
0:48:37 > 0:48:41and what sequence she had them in. That'll give you the clue.
0:48:41 > 0:48:44So, the history. She had two children who died.
0:48:44 > 0:48:48- The first one died three months old...- Yep.
0:48:48 > 0:48:50..of reported cholera,
0:48:50 > 0:48:53although there were no other reported cholera cases
0:48:53 > 0:48:56in the area at the time the child died.
0:48:56 > 0:49:00- No reported cases, and they labelled the child as having cholera?- Yes.
0:49:00 > 0:49:03Then, there's no way that the kid had cholera. Absolutely.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Suspicious. Her second child died at the age of three
0:49:07 > 0:49:10of suppressed scarlatina.
0:49:10 > 0:49:12That will give you a rash, and it's interesting
0:49:12 > 0:49:15that some scarlatina rashes, particularly the trunk,
0:49:15 > 0:49:19will look exactly like syphilis. I do have some illustrations
0:49:19 > 0:49:22that were produced in Germany exactly around the time.
0:49:22 > 0:49:24Not very nice pictures at all,
0:49:24 > 0:49:28but syphilis would tend to cause rather unpleasant skin rashes,
0:49:28 > 0:49:32and so you'd get this child born
0:49:32 > 0:49:34with this rash all over the body,
0:49:34 > 0:49:38and there's very little else that would cause a rash like that.
0:49:38 > 0:49:40- What happened after that?- Then...
0:49:40 > 0:49:43for four years, no children reported,
0:49:43 > 0:49:45and then two healthy children
0:49:45 > 0:49:49- who lived to be in their 80s and... - Lived for a long time.- Yes.
0:49:49 > 0:49:53A big gap is going to be miscarriages that are just not recorded.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57This pattern of births is absolutely classic for syphilis.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00- It really can't be anything else.- So Isabella gave her children syphilis.
0:50:00 > 0:50:04- Would she have caught that from her husband?- Tell me a bit about him.
0:50:04 > 0:50:08Er, Sam died in his late 40s.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11- He died of, er, reported TB.- Yeah.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14But there was evidence of dementia.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16Then, that's syphilis until proved otherwise.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19It stays under the surface for ten, 15, 20 years,
0:50:19 > 0:50:22until it may come back later in life
0:50:22 > 0:50:26when they might go mad, get a stroke or they might get heart disease
0:50:26 > 0:50:29or a number of other features that are really quite obvious to see,
0:50:29 > 0:50:33and which may not have been properly recorded at the time.
0:50:33 > 0:50:37Syphilis was rife among prostitutes and the men who frequented them,
0:50:37 > 0:50:39and prostitution was extremely common
0:50:39 > 0:50:41because of Victorian double standards.
0:50:41 > 0:50:44Nice girls couldn't have sex before marriage,
0:50:44 > 0:50:46but the boys could, and did.
0:50:48 > 0:50:51It's a tragic reality of Victorian existence
0:50:51 > 0:50:55that lots of people would have had perfectly monogamous relationships,
0:50:55 > 0:50:58but the syphilis would have been in the relationship beforehand
0:50:58 > 0:51:01because the young man will have sown his wild oats, acquired it,
0:51:01 > 0:51:05and passed it to his wife. Neither of them may have known.
0:51:05 > 0:51:08- They wouldn't have the foggiest... - He wouldn't have known?
0:51:08 > 0:51:11They would probably not have had the foggiest idea.
0:51:11 > 0:51:14So could syphilis have been an explanation
0:51:14 > 0:51:16- for why Isabella died? - How old was she?
0:51:16 > 0:51:19- She was 28. - Oh, very unlikely. That's very early
0:51:19 > 0:51:22to die of syphilis. Do we know anything more about it?
0:51:22 > 0:51:24Her death was reported as childbed fever.
0:51:24 > 0:51:28That was the commonest cause of death in childbirth. It was so common
0:51:28 > 0:51:31that, from Samuel's point of view, a man of his background
0:51:31 > 0:51:35would expect to lose at least one wife in his lifetime.
0:51:35 > 0:51:39- It was that widespread, and that tragic, actually.- Mm.
0:51:46 > 0:51:49'Household Management went on to sell millions of copies.
0:51:49 > 0:51:52'Publishers brushed over the fact
0:51:52 > 0:51:55'that its author had died years before.
0:52:00 > 0:52:03'While the motherly caricature of Mrs Beeton flourished,
0:52:03 > 0:52:06'the real, resourceful, flesh-and-blood young woman
0:52:06 > 0:52:08'was forgotten.'
0:52:14 > 0:52:17"In affectionate memory of Samuel Orchart Beeton,
0:52:17 > 0:52:20author, editor, publisher,
0:52:20 > 0:52:25and his wife and fellow worker in many of his literary enterprises,
0:52:25 > 0:52:27Isabella Mary, (Mayson)
0:52:27 > 0:52:31born 1836 - died 1865".
0:52:33 > 0:52:35Well,
0:52:35 > 0:52:38it's quite surprising, because when I began,
0:52:38 > 0:52:42I saw "author, editor, publisher", and I thought, "Oh, fantastic!"
0:52:42 > 0:52:45"She's been properly acknowledged."
0:52:45 > 0:52:49But it would seem that she's not properly acknowledged.
0:52:49 > 0:52:54She's...simply Sam's wife and fellow worker
0:52:54 > 0:52:56in many of HIS literary enterprises.
0:52:56 > 0:53:00There's something very sad about that to me.
0:53:01 > 0:53:0428's so young. So young.
0:53:04 > 0:53:06Um, five years younger than me,
0:53:06 > 0:53:10but she was the mother of four children.
0:53:10 > 0:53:14Edited this book. She was a journalist,
0:53:14 > 0:53:17she was a wife, and there's something particularly sad
0:53:17 > 0:53:21when you look back, this book, this sort of manual of how to live.
0:53:23 > 0:53:25And she...she didn't get to live.
0:53:25 > 0:53:28She had all of that snatched away from her.
0:53:28 > 0:53:31So, you know, how to rear your babies,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33how to...
0:53:33 > 0:53:36how to set the table, how to throw a party -
0:53:36 > 0:53:39those were not things she got to do.
0:53:56 > 0:54:00At the end of my journey, a dinner party seems like a fitting way
0:54:00 > 0:54:03to celebrate Isabella.
0:54:09 > 0:54:12"The half hour before dinner has always been considered
0:54:12 > 0:54:17the great ordeal through which the mistress, in giving a dinner party,
0:54:17 > 0:54:21will either pass with flying colours or lose many of her laurels."
0:54:25 > 0:54:29'The menu features all the dishes I've been experimenting with...
0:54:30 > 0:54:34'..and I've invited all those who have helped me get to know Isabella
0:54:34 > 0:54:36'to share the celebration and find out what they make
0:54:36 > 0:54:39'of her original recipes.'
0:54:39 > 0:54:43- So, what have we got here? - We've got Mrs Beeton's apple soup.
0:54:43 > 0:54:45- Apple soup?- Mm.
0:54:45 > 0:54:48It's slightly tart. It's not sweet,
0:54:48 > 0:54:50- which I'd assumed an apple soup would be.- Yeah.
0:54:50 > 0:54:53It's actually quite interesting.
0:54:53 > 0:54:56Is it basically apple sauce diluted with stock?
0:54:56 > 0:54:59- Kind of. - THEY LAUGH
0:54:59 > 0:55:03The Victorians loved thin soups. It was their favourite thing,
0:55:03 > 0:55:06because you were preparing for the big courses to come.
0:55:06 > 0:55:10- You don't want to be too full before the main thing.- Exactly.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13It was like the warm-up for a culinary marathon.
0:55:13 > 0:55:15In that case, this serves its purpose very well.
0:55:15 > 0:55:20- So this is our second course of five.- Sensational!
0:55:20 > 0:55:22- Aha!- Oh, no! Claws!
0:55:22 > 0:55:26- Jurassic Park meets Alien, isn't it? - That's what it is.
0:55:26 > 0:55:30- Jurassic Park in pastry. En croute. - Astonishing!
0:55:30 > 0:55:32- What, no claw?- Oh, you want a claw?
0:55:32 > 0:55:34That can be arranged!
0:55:34 > 0:55:37The lobster's great.
0:55:37 > 0:55:40'It may be that many of the original recipes are too bland
0:55:40 > 0:55:42'or foot-ridden for the modern palate,
0:55:42 > 0:55:44'but Household Management endures,
0:55:44 > 0:55:48'because at its heart is an idea that has been imprinted
0:55:48 > 0:55:49'on our national DNA.'
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Unless you actually live nowadays in a house like this,
0:55:52 > 0:55:55you don't really have a household. You have a flat.
0:55:55 > 0:55:58But I think actually it's "household" as an idea,
0:55:58 > 0:56:02so it transcends where you live. It's about family.
0:56:02 > 0:56:05It's about who your house consists of.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08So it could be a tiny flat. It could be an enormous house.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10But I think what Mrs Beeton represents
0:56:10 > 0:56:14is the idea of the hearthstone of family,
0:56:14 > 0:56:18and that's what her enduring appeal has been.
0:56:18 > 0:56:21That's a serious trifle. How heavy was that, James?
0:56:21 > 0:56:25That's a good seven or eight kilos of trifle.
0:56:25 > 0:56:28- So you reckons Mrs Beeton had a bit of muscle about her?- Yeah!
0:56:28 > 0:56:31'I believe Isabella was both Renaissance woman
0:56:31 > 0:56:35'and a culinary fairy godmother, who earned her place in history.'
0:56:35 > 0:56:37It's only about perspective,
0:56:37 > 0:56:40whether you consider domesticity inferior to a professional life
0:56:40 > 0:56:43outside the home. I kind of like the idea
0:56:43 > 0:56:45of making trifle all day.
0:56:45 > 0:56:48SHE LAUGHS You like it, or your wife doing it?
0:56:48 > 0:56:51I like the idea of doing that all day
0:56:51 > 0:56:53rather than going to a bank and sitting on a train.
0:56:53 > 0:56:56I think it's an awful lot more rewarding.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58- It just depends on what you want to do.- Yeah.
0:56:58 > 0:57:01'We and our relationship to the kitchen may have changed,
0:57:01 > 0:57:03'but one message of Isabella's persists.
0:57:03 > 0:57:06'Regardless of class or budget,
0:57:06 > 0:57:09'Mrs Beeton recognised that the true heartbeat of a home
0:57:09 > 0:57:11'was the happiness of the family that lived in it.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14'This was her best recipe by far -
0:57:14 > 0:57:17'that thoroughly modern, marvellous Mrs Beeton.
0:57:17 > 0:57:19THEY LAUGH AND CHATTER
0:57:39 > 0:57:43Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
0:57:43 > 0:57:47E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk