0:00:03 > 0:00:07Nothing says traditional Christmas like a Victorian scene.
0:00:09 > 0:00:13And yet, many of the festive customs which we think of as essential
0:00:13 > 0:00:17didn't exist at all at the start of the 19th century.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21Christmas as we know it was largely invented by the Victorians,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25as four professional bakers are about to find out for themselves.
0:00:29 > 0:00:32They've already travelled through 19th-century history together,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35and experienced the tough realities of their trade
0:00:35 > 0:00:37during an era of seismic change.
0:00:38 > 0:00:42Now, they're cooking up a truly historic Christmas.
0:00:42 > 0:00:45This is the richest pudding I've ever tasted.
0:00:45 > 0:00:48They'll attempt long-lost recipes...
0:00:48 > 0:00:50That just looks like a shambles.
0:00:50 > 0:00:52It's rubbish, isn't it?
0:00:52 > 0:00:55..make festive favourites with surprising ingredients...
0:00:55 > 0:00:58Oh, my God, this smells like cat food!
0:00:58 > 0:01:03..and experience how the upper crust celebrated Christmas.
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Gluttony or what?
0:01:05 > 0:01:07- Oh...- My goodness!- Oh, oh, oh.
0:01:07 > 0:01:11By partying from the start of Victoria's reign...
0:01:11 > 0:01:14- Wassail! - ALL:- Drink ale!
0:01:14 > 0:01:15..right through to its end,
0:01:15 > 0:01:18they'll discover how our favourite holiday,
0:01:18 > 0:01:22like so much else in British life, was transformed forever.
0:01:22 > 0:01:26The Victorians are the ones that shaped Christmas.
0:01:42 > 0:01:45At Blists Hill Victorian Museum in Shropshire,
0:01:45 > 0:01:50four 21st-century professionals are heading back to Christmas past.
0:01:52 > 0:01:57Among them, artisan baker Duncan Glendinning.
0:01:57 > 0:02:00Christmas is the one time of year where people flood
0:02:00 > 0:02:03into bakeries around the country.
0:02:03 > 0:02:06It represents mince pies, it represents Christmas cake,
0:02:06 > 0:02:09Christmas pudding. All those things that you couldn't imagine
0:02:09 > 0:02:11British Christmas without.
0:02:13 > 0:02:18John Foster is escaping from the large modern factory he runs.
0:02:18 > 0:02:24We'll be making, this Christmas, about 300,000-400,000 mince pies.
0:02:24 > 0:02:28Harpreet Baura specialises in upscale cakes.
0:02:28 > 0:02:31Even though I'm a Sikh, I actually love Christmas.
0:02:31 > 0:02:33It's my favourite time of the year.
0:02:33 > 0:02:37And John Swift's family have been baking since Victorian times.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40The perfect Victorian Christmas...
0:02:40 > 0:02:44There's got to be massive amounts of baked goods and even more alcohol.
0:02:46 > 0:02:49To begin with, they'll experience what Christmas was like
0:02:49 > 0:02:52when young Queen Victoria began her reign.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55At that point, Yuletide rituals were much the same as they had been
0:02:55 > 0:03:01for centuries, though sweeping changes were just around the corner.
0:03:01 > 0:03:02Happy Christmas!
0:03:02 > 0:03:05Except it's not quite Christmas as we know it yet.
0:03:05 > 0:03:08In 1837, things were a little bit different.
0:03:08 > 0:03:10For example, there was no Christmas cake yet,
0:03:10 > 0:03:13Santa Claus was basically unheard of,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17and also very few people sat down to turkey for their Christmas dinner.
0:03:17 > 0:03:18And there were no Christmas cards,
0:03:18 > 0:03:21the Christmas cracker had yet to be invented
0:03:21 > 0:03:23and you wouldn't have found your early Victorian British family
0:03:23 > 0:03:26setting up a Christmas tree on Christmas Eve.
0:03:26 > 0:03:28No man down the chimney?
0:03:28 > 0:03:30- How depressing!- Must have a been right miserable set, then.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Look, don't get too depressed,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35because instead of celebrating their Christmas on Christmas Day
0:03:35 > 0:03:38and Boxing Day, as we do today, the early Victorians celebrated
0:03:38 > 0:03:41their Christmas over 12 days - the famous 12 days of Christmas.
0:03:41 > 0:03:45- Oh, brilliant.- Which means as bakers, you're going to be baking
0:03:45 > 0:03:47for the entire season.
0:03:47 > 0:03:49And you're going to be doing it in this shop here.
0:03:49 > 0:03:51So come and have a look around!
0:03:55 > 0:03:58'Over the whole 12 days, from December the 25th onwards,
0:03:58 > 0:04:01'food and drink were central to the celebrations.'
0:04:03 > 0:04:06Even poor families would treat themselves to things they usually
0:04:06 > 0:04:08couldn't afford, such as meat.
0:04:08 > 0:04:12So butchers did great business, as did grocers.
0:04:12 > 0:04:14But not every trade was in such demand.
0:04:14 > 0:04:17The business challenge for Victorian bakers at Christmas
0:04:17 > 0:04:21was that this was the one time of year when people were eating less
0:04:21 > 0:04:25of your staple - bread - and turning towards more speciality foods.
0:04:25 > 0:04:30So the real money in baked goods is in producing cakes and pies.
0:04:30 > 0:04:34One of the real money-spinners was a thing called Twelfth Cake,
0:04:34 > 0:04:35eaten on Twelfth Night.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37Now, today Twelfth Night's a fairly sad affair,
0:04:37 > 0:04:39where you take down the decorations and feel depressed
0:04:39 > 0:04:42about going back to work and being on a diet,
0:04:42 > 0:04:46but back in the early Victorian period, it was a wonderful occasion.
0:04:46 > 0:04:50Something which to many people was even more important and exciting
0:04:50 > 0:04:51than Christmas itself.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56Twelfth Night was notorious for lawless excess
0:04:56 > 0:04:58and was pagan in origin.
0:04:58 > 0:05:01The church had piggybacked on the popularity
0:05:01 > 0:05:04of the ancient midwinter rituals by linking them to
0:05:04 > 0:05:08the feast of Epiphany - the arrival of the Three Kings.
0:05:08 > 0:05:12That's why crowns sometimes decorated the massive Twelfth Cakes,
0:05:12 > 0:05:16which were eaten at parties across Britain well into the 19th century,
0:05:16 > 0:05:19but which are unknown to modern bakers.
0:05:19 > 0:05:24This whole Twelfth Night thing... I'll be honest, totally new on me.
0:05:24 > 0:05:25It's a new one on me.
0:05:25 > 0:05:26I've never made a Twelfth Cake.
0:05:26 > 0:05:28New one on me!
0:05:28 > 0:05:31- No, nothing.- Right, shall we get cracking?
0:05:31 > 0:05:34Let's do this.
0:05:34 > 0:05:3640lbs of fine flour.
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Yeah.
0:05:38 > 0:05:4012 nutmegs.
0:05:40 > 0:05:43As ever, the bakers are working to historic recipes.
0:05:43 > 0:05:46Have a smell of that. That's cloves.
0:05:46 > 0:05:48That's Christmas right there, isn't it?
0:05:48 > 0:05:52- That's mulled wine, isn't it? You can't drink that just yet.- No!
0:05:52 > 0:05:554lbs of raisins of the sun, stoned.
0:05:55 > 0:05:56Lovely.
0:05:57 > 0:06:01At a time when most British people still lived in the countryside,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04and agriculture was far more central to our economy,
0:06:04 > 0:06:07what we ate was more seasonal.
0:06:07 > 0:06:0932lbs of currants.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14Since fresh produce was scarce in midwinter,
0:06:14 > 0:06:18dried fruit was ideal for Christmas recipes.
0:06:18 > 0:06:20Is anyone else thinking this is a lot of currants?
0:06:20 > 0:06:23- It is a lot of currants. - That's a lot of currants.
0:06:23 > 0:06:26Victorian bakers, as well as cooking with dried fruits,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29sold them raw to customers at Christmas.
0:06:29 > 0:06:31For most Britons at that time,
0:06:31 > 0:06:35they'd have been a rare sweet treat compared to the usual diet of bread,
0:06:35 > 0:06:37potatoes and a little meat.
0:06:37 > 0:06:394lbs of fine sugar.
0:06:39 > 0:06:43Sugar, by contrast, was still relatively expensive,
0:06:43 > 0:06:47so is used much more sparingly in this recipe.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50To modern eyes, Victorian cake bakers sometimes look
0:06:50 > 0:06:54more like bread bakers, relying, for instance, on fresh yeast
0:06:54 > 0:06:56from the beer making process.
0:06:56 > 0:06:59Turning to our brewer friends to sort us out
0:06:59 > 0:07:01with the magic ingredient.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Oh, that is a lovely pint!
0:07:03 > 0:07:05Look how bubbly that is.
0:07:05 > 0:07:06And in you go. Are you ready?
0:07:09 > 0:07:12If you think about a cake, you wouldn't think about yeast.
0:07:12 > 0:07:15But I mean these days, the classic thing is we'd use baking powder.
0:07:15 > 0:07:17Think of the taste of the beer.
0:07:17 > 0:07:20- That...- Yeah. - That to me is a good idea.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27The recipe then calls for extensive hand mixing.
0:07:27 > 0:07:29This is...
0:07:29 > 0:07:31quite physical considering it's a cake, isn't it?
0:07:31 > 0:07:35I mean, it's back to our bread baking days, basically.
0:07:35 > 0:07:39To bake the size of cake Victorian customers would expect,
0:07:39 > 0:07:43we've custom-made special tins, or hoops, as they called them.
0:07:43 > 0:07:45I mean, that's a right big cake.
0:07:45 > 0:07:47You're not going to get much bigger than that, are you? Look.
0:07:47 > 0:07:49Come on.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52'Actually, John's wrong about that.'
0:07:52 > 0:07:54Don't forget the piece de resistance.
0:07:54 > 0:07:55Oh, my God.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Your recipe talks about a cake tin being half a yard over.
0:07:59 > 0:08:00Well, this is half a yard over.
0:08:00 > 0:08:02I've never make a cake that big in the entire time
0:08:02 > 0:08:05I've run my business. That is huge!
0:08:05 > 0:08:08You know, if you're a Victorian, bigger is always better.
0:08:08 > 0:08:11You want a huge cake in the window to bring in trade.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17One Victorian shop advertised a Twelfth Cake
0:08:17 > 0:08:2018 feet in circumference.
0:08:20 > 0:08:24Another sold a specimen that literally weighed a tonne.
0:08:27 > 0:08:28Ready? Oh, that's got some weight to it!
0:08:28 > 0:08:30It's a bit heavy, isn't it?
0:08:32 > 0:08:35Twelfth Cakes take days to complete.
0:08:35 > 0:08:40After baking and cooling, they'll need icing and decorating.
0:08:40 > 0:08:41But while they're in the oven,
0:08:41 > 0:08:45the bakers can make another centuries-old festive recipe,
0:08:45 > 0:08:49one which we're much more familiar with today.
0:08:49 > 0:08:52Back then, however, mince pies contained ingredients
0:08:52 > 0:08:53we no longer use.
0:08:56 > 0:08:59Oh, my lord. What is that?
0:08:59 > 0:09:01What we've got here is the whole range of meats
0:09:01 > 0:09:05that you might find in mincemeat pies in the Victorian period.
0:09:05 > 0:09:08- We've got our good old friend - the tongue.- Nice.- Oh!
0:09:08 > 0:09:11We've also got, here, another popular filling,
0:09:11 > 0:09:12was calves' feet as well.
0:09:12 > 0:09:15Boiled up and shredded down, put in your pie.
0:09:15 > 0:09:18Bone, sinew, gristle.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23What we'd quite like you to do is to experiment with recipes
0:09:23 > 0:09:26from the top and the bottom of society.
0:09:26 > 0:09:28Meet Charles Elme Francatelli -
0:09:28 > 0:09:31cook to Queen Victoria, celebrity chef of his day,
0:09:31 > 0:09:33author of cookbooks.
0:09:33 > 0:09:36This one, The Modern Cook, his high-end cookbook,
0:09:36 > 0:09:39has a recipe for royal mincemeat, which uses roast beef.
0:09:39 > 0:09:43And this, a plain cookery book for the working classes, uses tripe.
0:09:43 > 0:09:46Tripe, this is a cow's stomach lining.
0:09:46 > 0:09:48This really is bottom end of the market.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51Roast beef, right up there at the top of the market.
0:09:51 > 0:09:53So it's going to be really interesting for us to see
0:09:53 > 0:09:57if there's a difference in taste as well.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00Duncan and John Swift start on the premium product...
0:10:02 > 0:10:06..while John Foster and Harpreet tackle the budget mincemeat.
0:10:06 > 0:10:08Oh, my God, this is so disgusting!
0:10:08 > 0:10:11It's wobbling as I'm cutting it, look!
0:10:11 > 0:10:12It smells like cat food.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18What gave the pies their name was the need to mince the meat
0:10:18 > 0:10:20into tiny pieces.
0:10:21 > 0:10:23Basically, you just need to hack it, hack it to bits,
0:10:23 > 0:10:25as small as possible, really.
0:10:25 > 0:10:30You've got something to hack, but I'm trying to chop slime.
0:10:30 > 0:10:34The only animal-based products still used in some 21st-century mincemeat
0:10:34 > 0:10:37is suet, the hard fat from beef or mutton,
0:10:37 > 0:10:40often taken from around the kidneys.
0:10:40 > 0:10:44In our factory, it's all vegetarian, so we have vegetarian suet.
0:10:44 > 0:10:45This is the real thing.
0:10:45 > 0:10:48- This is the real deal. - What we're making is the modern...
0:10:48 > 0:10:49- Travesty.- ..travesty, isn't it?
0:10:49 > 0:10:51You know, so this is the genuine stuff.
0:10:51 > 0:10:54So, do you think this is going to taste better?
0:10:54 > 0:10:57Personally, I think this might not taste better,
0:10:57 > 0:10:58but, hey, I'm open-minded.
0:11:01 > 0:11:05The ingredients in the Royale recipe cost at least four times as much
0:11:05 > 0:11:07as the working man's mixture.
0:11:07 > 0:11:12As well as the finer meat, the posh version adds a pint of spirits.
0:11:14 > 0:11:15This is the port.
0:11:15 > 0:11:18I just can't believe the difference from the rich side
0:11:18 > 0:11:20to the poor side.
0:11:20 > 0:11:23We have a pauper's amount of alcohol.
0:11:23 > 0:11:26- Literally...- Zilcho!
0:11:26 > 0:11:28- Just that!- Outrageous.
0:11:28 > 0:11:30This one's brandy.
0:11:30 > 0:11:32LAUGHTER
0:11:32 > 0:11:34I tell you what, I'm starting to feel a bit...
0:11:34 > 0:11:37- I'm...- ..heady.- ..woozy from all this booze. Yeah, I mean...
0:11:37 > 0:11:39Go on, get some more in.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41We'll see whose is best. We'll see!
0:11:41 > 0:11:44- Oh! - THEY LAUGH
0:11:44 > 0:11:48The alcohol, sugar and spices act as preservatives for the meat.
0:11:48 > 0:11:51The dried fruit has a long life, too.
0:11:51 > 0:11:54That meant mincemeat was available when fresher produce
0:11:54 > 0:11:55was out of season.
0:11:55 > 0:11:58Which is why mince pies have been made at Christmas
0:11:58 > 0:12:00since medieval times.
0:12:00 > 0:12:03I want to be excited about this, but this is...
0:12:03 > 0:12:06- Oh, it's just the meat!- No. - Oh, the meat and the suet smells...
0:12:06 > 0:12:08- No, I don't think that...- Oh! - I don't...
0:12:08 > 0:12:09I think that's actually...
0:12:09 > 0:12:12- Oh! - THEY LAUGH
0:12:12 > 0:12:15A Victorian mince pie could sell for as little as a penny,
0:12:15 > 0:12:17or as much as 8p.
0:12:17 > 0:12:21That's about £1.50 today.
0:12:21 > 0:12:24For top whack, you'd expect butter-rich puff pastry,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27whilst poorer customers were served shortcrust.
0:12:30 > 0:12:32Mince pies were a strong seller for any baker,
0:12:32 > 0:12:36because they were in demand throughout the festive period.
0:12:36 > 0:12:40In Yorkshire, eating a mince pie on each of the 12 days of Christmas
0:12:40 > 0:12:43was believed to bring good luck for the coming year.
0:12:43 > 0:12:46These look amazing.
0:12:46 > 0:12:48'But which of ours will taste best?
0:12:48 > 0:12:51'We begin with the tripe-based budget range.'
0:12:55 > 0:12:57It's actually all right.
0:12:57 > 0:12:59- That's a mince pie. - I actually really like that.
0:12:59 > 0:13:02They're much tastier than I thought they would be.
0:13:02 > 0:13:04And the fact that we were putting that sloppy goo into this
0:13:04 > 0:13:06made me just think, "There's no way on Earth..."
0:13:06 > 0:13:09- That's tripe.- Yeah. But actually, there's no hint of tripe.
0:13:09 > 0:13:12Do you know what, it doesn't taste savoury.
0:13:12 > 0:13:14It tastes sweet.
0:13:14 > 0:13:20But are things going to get better with our Royale mince pies?
0:13:20 > 0:13:22Let's go for it then, shall we?
0:13:29 > 0:13:32You can taste the fact that these have got beef in them,
0:13:32 > 0:13:36and that they're a mince-MEAT pie.
0:13:36 > 0:13:41In actual fact, that is a very complex taste, but it works.
0:13:41 > 0:13:43There would be a percentage of people that love them.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45I mean, put gravy with that, I'm in heaven.
0:13:45 > 0:13:48It's... That... There's a richness to it, isn't there?
0:13:48 > 0:13:50There's definitely a richness to it
0:13:50 > 0:13:52- that comes in through the beef.- Yeah.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55- So it is a different pie... - Yeah, yeah.- ..to the modern pie.
0:13:55 > 0:13:58- And better. - It is far better than that.
0:13:58 > 0:14:00- Yeah.- I think there's something really nice that
0:14:00 > 0:14:02sends a bit of a shiver down your spine when you think,
0:14:02 > 0:14:05"I'm eating something that I know that the Queen of England
0:14:05 > 0:14:07"ate over 100 years ago."
0:14:07 > 0:14:10If Queen Victoria ate these, why did she look so bloody miserable
0:14:10 > 0:14:12all the time?
0:14:21 > 0:14:24The next day, the giant Twelfth Cakes have cooled
0:14:24 > 0:14:25after their time in the oven.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28- Wow.- Now that's... - Look at that for a beast.
0:14:28 > 0:14:29..the biggest one.
0:14:29 > 0:14:33Victorians did not do things by half measures, did they?
0:14:34 > 0:14:37Now they need icing.
0:14:37 > 0:14:40The historic recipe calls for egg whites to be whisked
0:14:40 > 0:14:42for two or three hours.
0:14:43 > 0:14:48Mmm... It's not peaked enough, really, is it?
0:14:48 > 0:14:50Not really.
0:14:50 > 0:14:52It's too sloppy.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Just here for my muscle.
0:14:54 > 0:14:56- Whip harder!- Yes.
0:15:02 > 0:15:06The resulting mixture is more like meringue than the Royal icing
0:15:06 > 0:15:07which we'd use in the modern world,
0:15:07 > 0:15:11but which wasn't known in early Victorian Britain.
0:15:11 > 0:15:13Instead of being laid onto marzipan,
0:15:13 > 0:15:16this icing was often put straight onto the cake.
0:15:18 > 0:15:20And it won't harden until it's baked in the oven.
0:15:20 > 0:15:23And sometimes, not even then.
0:15:23 > 0:15:25Oh, my God!
0:15:25 > 0:15:27The top's all right.
0:15:27 > 0:15:29That's hideous. How can you say this is all right?
0:15:29 > 0:15:31The top is fine.
0:15:31 > 0:15:34- But we've just had... - We'll sort it.- Yeah.
0:15:36 > 0:15:40- What the...?- Oh, my goodness.
0:15:40 > 0:15:43- Oh, my word.- Oh.
0:15:47 > 0:15:48- It's rubbish, isn't it?- Yeah.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51What not to do in Victorian baking!
0:15:51 > 0:15:52I'm so disappointed with this.
0:15:52 > 0:15:54I think that this is actually hideous,
0:15:54 > 0:15:57and I wish that we could figure out what we have done wrong
0:15:57 > 0:16:00so that we could try and do their cakes justice.
0:16:00 > 0:16:03So, do another layer of the meringue mix.
0:16:03 > 0:16:07- Yeah.- Get it back in the oven, baked off before we decorate it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:09Shh! Keep it a secret, don't tell anybody.
0:16:10 > 0:16:12Like many historic recipes,
0:16:12 > 0:16:14this one hadn't specified details
0:16:14 > 0:16:17such as the precise texture of the icing required,
0:16:17 > 0:16:20nor the length of time needed in the oven.
0:16:20 > 0:16:23So, when it comes to checking if their latest attempt is set,
0:16:23 > 0:16:26John's taking no chances.
0:16:28 > 0:16:29Is it warm in there?
0:16:29 > 0:16:31Yeah, a little bit.
0:16:33 > 0:16:34You got it?
0:16:38 > 0:16:40HE SIGHS
0:16:40 > 0:16:42- On the table?- Yeah.
0:16:45 > 0:16:48Well, it's a little coloured, isn't it?
0:16:48 > 0:16:51I think that looks like a royal mess, rather than a royal cake.
0:16:51 > 0:16:53That just looks like a shambles by our standards
0:16:53 > 0:16:55of what we consider to be a good cake now.
0:16:55 > 0:16:58But look at it from the Victorian point, and I think,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00personally speaking, that's Bob on.
0:17:00 > 0:17:03It's held together, you've got a nice edge.
0:17:03 > 0:17:05You've got a clean top.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10At the end of the day, yet again, new recipes, new techniques.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12- Or new to us, anyway.- New skills.
0:17:12 > 0:17:14And we only had one run at it.
0:17:14 > 0:17:17I think this is going to need a lot of decoration
0:17:17 > 0:17:19to jazz it up on the outside.
0:17:23 > 0:17:26Twelfth Cakes were often more elaborately decorated
0:17:26 > 0:17:28than anything we have today.
0:17:28 > 0:17:32This was the scene on top of Queen Victoria's in 1849.
0:17:32 > 0:17:35Everything here was made from a mixture of sugar and gum.
0:17:39 > 0:17:41Our bakers' sugar figurines
0:17:41 > 0:17:44have been cast from antique confectioner's moulds.
0:17:46 > 0:17:47And for design inspiration,
0:17:47 > 0:17:51they've turned to a historic account of Twelfth Cake favourites.
0:17:52 > 0:17:59"Dragons, trees, fish, palaces, cats and dogs, churches, milkmaids,
0:17:59 > 0:18:03"knights and innumerable other forms in snow-white confectionery,
0:18:03 > 0:18:05"painted with variegated colours."
0:18:05 > 0:18:09It's not very kind of Christmas decorations as we know it, is it?
0:18:09 > 0:18:11No. Milkmaids.
0:18:11 > 0:18:12There was a milkmaid in there, yeah?
0:18:12 > 0:18:15On the 12 days of Christmas.
0:18:15 > 0:18:17Maids a-milking.
0:18:20 > 0:18:23Cakes weren't put on sale until Twelfth Day itself,
0:18:23 > 0:18:26then generally held to be the 6th of January.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28It's chuffin' heavy, this cake, isn't it?
0:18:28 > 0:18:30It's the heaviest cake I've ever picked up.
0:18:30 > 0:18:32But that really does look magnificent.
0:18:32 > 0:18:33HE GROANS
0:18:33 > 0:18:37Be interesting to see, whoever buys it, how they get it home.
0:18:37 > 0:18:38Yeah!
0:18:42 > 0:18:44According to one contemporary account,
0:18:44 > 0:18:48"Scarcely a shop that offers a half-penny bun is without finery
0:18:48 > 0:18:50"in the windows on Twelfth Day."
0:18:50 > 0:18:54Even budget bakers would cash in by sprinkling sugar
0:18:54 > 0:18:55on top of their rolls.
0:18:57 > 0:18:58Start it from the back.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01Yes, yeah. The middle of the thing, to go round the back.
0:19:01 > 0:19:03I mean, that looks really quite good, that.
0:19:05 > 0:19:08Bakers were pioneers of the kind of Christmas window display
0:19:08 > 0:19:11we now expect from department stores.
0:19:11 > 0:19:16Crowds flocked to what was sometimes called All Cakes Day.
0:19:25 > 0:19:27And doesn't it make it feel so cosy in our bakery
0:19:27 > 0:19:31- when it's all cold and snowy outside?- It does. It's Christmas.
0:19:35 > 0:19:39Staff dressed up specially for the occasion - fine lace for the women,
0:19:39 > 0:19:40buttonholes for the men.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47As darkness fell in the mid-afternoon,
0:19:47 > 0:19:51the flickering candles and gaslight created a magical atmosphere.
0:19:57 > 0:19:59This looks fantastic!
0:19:59 > 0:20:00It looks so Victorian,
0:20:00 > 0:20:04with everything framed in the panes of the windows like this.
0:20:04 > 0:20:07- Looks pretty good, that! - It's a feast for the eyes.
0:20:07 > 0:20:09There's so much going on.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11Just imagine the faces of the children,
0:20:11 > 0:20:13pressed up against the window.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16We know from pictures that there used to be great crowds of people
0:20:16 > 0:20:18around windows like this, all gawping,
0:20:18 > 0:20:20even if they couldn't afford the cakes within.
0:20:20 > 0:20:22There's a serious point as well,
0:20:22 > 0:20:26because this is a day when bakers can really make a lot of money.
0:20:26 > 0:20:27In London, there was one confectioner
0:20:27 > 0:20:30whose cakes would retail at anything from half a guinea
0:20:30 > 0:20:32all the way up to £20.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37Now, £20 back then is more than the average baker would make in a year.
0:20:37 > 0:20:40So this really was a moneymaking opportunity.
0:20:40 > 0:20:42Gets my vote if you're going to earn that much money.
0:20:42 > 0:20:45It's also the fact that you can continue to indulge
0:20:45 > 0:20:48- well into the New Year.- Yeah.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53Whereas for us, at the moment, 1st of January, it means diet,
0:20:53 > 0:20:55budget, you know, you're cutting back on everything.
0:20:55 > 0:20:57Precisely the time in the modern world
0:20:57 > 0:20:59we're thinking about our gym subscription,
0:20:59 > 0:21:02the Victorians are thinking about a big blowout cake feast.
0:21:06 > 0:21:08When Britain was still predominantly rural,
0:21:08 > 0:21:11bakers would typically have lived in small country dwellings.
0:21:13 > 0:21:15So this is where the team will throw the kind of party
0:21:15 > 0:21:17at which their cakes would have been enjoyed.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22While some of them start decorating,
0:21:22 > 0:21:24the others set to work making
0:21:24 > 0:21:27the traditional Twelfth Night punch, wassail.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30One of the essential flavourings is nutmeg...
0:21:31 > 0:21:33..while the main ingredient is warmed ale.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Oh, that's smelling good!
0:21:36 > 0:21:39- Yeah?- It needs a bit of sweetness, though.
0:21:40 > 0:21:42- Hello!- Smells nice.
0:21:42 > 0:21:44I've got another ingredient for your drink.
0:21:44 > 0:21:46- This.- Something we haven't seen for a while.
0:21:46 > 0:21:48We're putting that in punch?
0:21:48 > 0:21:51Yes, you are. It will add flavour.
0:21:51 > 0:21:53- OK.- And a little bit of colour, and a little bit of texture.
0:21:56 > 0:21:57Bread in a drink?
0:21:57 > 0:21:59I'm confused.
0:21:59 > 0:22:01There are loads of variations of recipes for wassail.
0:22:01 > 0:22:03They've got a very long heritage.
0:22:03 > 0:22:05A lot of medieval recipes called for bread,
0:22:05 > 0:22:06so that's one of the reasons it's in there.
0:22:06 > 0:22:10Even different villages might have their own version of it.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14This particular wassail recipe was a favourite in Cumberland.
0:22:14 > 0:22:17The spiced ale needs to be mixed with bread
0:22:17 > 0:22:18that's been soaked in milk.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23I'm a lager man generally, and I'm a little bit, you know...
0:22:23 > 0:22:25- Bit concerned.- Is this something like eggnog,
0:22:25 > 0:22:26or something like nowadays?
0:22:26 > 0:22:31Do you know what? This reminds me more of bread and butter pudding.
0:22:31 > 0:22:33Actually, by the end of the Victorian period,
0:22:33 > 0:22:34this kind of recipe evolves into
0:22:34 > 0:22:37thickened egg custards, almost trifle.
0:22:37 > 0:22:40So exactly this, booze, milk, you know...
0:22:40 > 0:22:45What I like about this as well, is having done a long day's graft,
0:22:45 > 0:22:47this isn't only going to make us merry,
0:22:47 > 0:22:49it's also going to fill us up a bit.
0:22:49 > 0:22:52- Yeah. You've got to fend off the cold somehow.- Yeah.
0:22:57 > 0:22:59You know what's missing, John, is the Christmas tree
0:22:59 > 0:23:02- twinkling in the corner.- I know.
0:23:02 > 0:23:04And that's what's really lacking here.
0:23:04 > 0:23:05It should be right there.
0:23:06 > 0:23:10While no ordinary British family had Christmas trees at this time,
0:23:10 > 0:23:12hanging up evergreens like holly and ivy
0:23:12 > 0:23:15had been a winter ritual since pagan times.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18I think it looks quite classy.
0:23:18 > 0:23:21- Yeah.- Compared to the Technicolor kitsch that you can get these days,
0:23:21 > 0:23:23maybe this is the way forward.
0:23:23 > 0:23:25Yeah. And being a Yorkshireman, I'm very, very frugal.
0:23:25 > 0:23:28If I could convince the family not to buy any decorations
0:23:28 > 0:23:32but to just gather it from around, I could save a fortune!
0:23:38 > 0:23:39- Mm!- Looks like porridge.
0:23:40 > 0:23:45- Eurgh!- That is a curdley kind of mush.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47It is a very strange combination.
0:23:47 > 0:23:49It looks strange.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52You first.
0:23:52 > 0:23:55Make sure you get a bit of everything!
0:23:56 > 0:23:58- Cheers.- Merry Christmas.
0:23:58 > 0:23:59Good times.
0:24:05 > 0:24:08Every sense is going, "That's not...
0:24:08 > 0:24:10"That's not right in my mouth."
0:24:10 > 0:24:11But in actual fact, it's...
0:24:11 > 0:24:13- Yeah, it is sweet.- Very sweet.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15And it tastes like a...
0:24:15 > 0:24:16It tastes like breakfast.
0:24:16 > 0:24:18- I don't know... - It tastes like the milk
0:24:18 > 0:24:21- of a really sweet breakfast cereal. - Yeah.- But with beer.
0:24:21 > 0:24:23Yeah.
0:24:23 > 0:24:24It's a bit odd, though.
0:24:24 > 0:24:27It is odd, isn't it? But it's nice, actually.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Sometimes, the bread was grilled before being added to punch.
0:24:33 > 0:24:36Its presence in party drinks is what gives us the phrase,
0:24:36 > 0:24:38"to raise a toast".
0:24:38 > 0:24:41- Wassail! - ALL:- Drink ale!
0:24:41 > 0:24:43In the early years of Victoria's reign,
0:24:43 > 0:24:46many people still practised this call and response drinking ritual,
0:24:46 > 0:24:48which dated back to Saxon times.
0:24:48 > 0:24:50- Wassail! - ALL:- Drink ale!
0:24:50 > 0:24:53"Wassail" means "be healthy" in old English.
0:24:53 > 0:24:56- Wassail! - ALL:- Drink ale!
0:24:56 > 0:24:59- I got a bit of bread.- There we are, you're the "toast" of the party.
0:24:59 > 0:25:00Hey!
0:25:01 > 0:25:02Actually very traditionally,
0:25:02 > 0:25:04certainly in the south-west of the country,
0:25:04 > 0:25:07which is an apple-growing area, it's a cider-producing area,
0:25:07 > 0:25:10we would actually be doing this out in the orchard
0:25:10 > 0:25:13to banish the evil spirits from our apple trees.
0:25:13 > 0:25:15It is a lingering pagan practice
0:25:15 > 0:25:18that we see right up into the 19th century,
0:25:18 > 0:25:21and that's really what the sort of Twelfth Night festivities
0:25:21 > 0:25:25were all about, about looking back to our pagan past.
0:25:25 > 0:25:27- Ah, the cake.- Oh, wow!
0:25:27 > 0:25:30Hey! Look at that, that looks absolutely delicious.
0:25:30 > 0:25:32My word, I am hungry.
0:25:32 > 0:25:34- That's a feast.- Look at that.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36This is a proper treat cake.
0:25:36 > 0:25:38I mean, look at the size of this as well.
0:25:38 > 0:25:40- And the smell. - It does smell lovely.
0:25:40 > 0:25:42- It's really good, doesn't it? - It smells good to us.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44- Imagine what it must have smelled... - I know.
0:25:44 > 0:25:48- ..you know, to kids back in 1830 to have smelled that.- Yeah, yeah.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52It is just a little bit dry, which is why
0:25:52 > 0:25:55I think the punch is the perfect accompaniment.
0:25:55 > 0:26:00But this is absolutely the cake we have in Yorkshire at Christmas,
0:26:00 > 0:26:04with this texture, with this density of fruit.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07This is Yorkshire Christmas spice cake.
0:26:07 > 0:26:09This is it. Exactly as I remember it,
0:26:09 > 0:26:11except it's a bit more powerful than I remember it.
0:26:11 > 0:26:12This is it.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19After the cake, people would play parlour games.
0:26:19 > 0:26:21Though the bakers enter into the Victorian spirit,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25some of them are missing the festivities we're so familiar with.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Squeak, piggy, squeak!
0:26:28 > 0:26:31If it wasn't actually for the holly and the decorations,
0:26:31 > 0:26:33we wouldn't have even known that that was Christmas.
0:26:33 > 0:26:34Eee!
0:26:34 > 0:26:37'I had this preconception of Victorian Christmas,'
0:26:37 > 0:26:41and it's nothing like what it's supposed to be in my head.
0:26:41 > 0:26:44THEY LAUGH
0:26:44 > 0:26:46'There were still elements that I thought were really positive.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48'It was more about enjoying yourself
0:26:48 > 0:26:50'with the people that were close to you,'
0:26:50 > 0:26:52rather than the commercialisation
0:26:52 > 0:26:55of what Christmas came to be like later,
0:26:55 > 0:26:57and what it's actually like now.
0:26:57 > 0:26:58Whoo!
0:26:58 > 0:27:00'It was a lot less dressed up,
0:27:00 > 0:27:03'and it was more about getting a bit raucous,'
0:27:03 > 0:27:06having a few drinks and having a whole lot of fun.
0:27:06 > 0:27:07That's Duncan, isn't it?
0:27:08 > 0:27:09No!
0:27:09 > 0:27:12LAUGHTER
0:27:12 > 0:27:14'What I did like was the fact that the festivities went on
0:27:14 > 0:27:17'for the 12 days of Christmas.'
0:27:17 > 0:27:20These days, it's a little bit "Wham, bam, thank you, ma'am,"
0:27:20 > 0:27:21and it's over.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25And I'd actually like to see it go on for 12 days!
0:27:25 > 0:27:28That would be a good tradition to revive, I think.
0:27:28 > 0:27:30- I'll drink to that.- Wahey!
0:27:31 > 0:27:34So why did we give up celebrating Twelfth Night?
0:27:34 > 0:27:38Parties like this were widespread at the start of Victoria's reign,
0:27:38 > 0:27:41but a couple of generations later were just a memory.
0:27:54 > 0:27:57Christmas was caught up in the same revolution which transformed
0:27:57 > 0:28:00so many other aspects of British life -
0:28:00 > 0:28:02industrialisation.
0:28:04 > 0:28:06Barely a decade after Victoria became queen,
0:28:06 > 0:28:09Britain became the world's first urban economy,
0:28:09 > 0:28:12where more of the population lived in towns than in the countryside.
0:28:15 > 0:28:19The traditional 12 days of Christmas made sense for a rural winter.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22The ground was too hard to work, the days were too short
0:28:22 > 0:28:25and you needed that time to relax
0:28:25 > 0:28:28after the hardships of the agricultural year.
0:28:28 > 0:28:32But this clashed with the work patterns of a fast industrialising
0:28:32 > 0:28:33and factory-based economy.
0:28:34 > 0:28:38In 1761, there were no less than 47 bank holidays,
0:28:38 > 0:28:41days when the Bank of England was closed.
0:28:41 > 0:28:45But by 1830, that number had diminished to a mere four.
0:28:48 > 0:28:50As people moved to new jobs in towns,
0:28:50 > 0:28:53families and communities were split across the country,
0:28:53 > 0:28:57making it much harder to come together for a 12-day celebration.
0:28:59 > 0:29:03And the new urban Christmas could be very bleak indeed,
0:29:03 > 0:29:04something dramatised
0:29:04 > 0:29:07by Hans Christian Andersen's 1840s bestseller,
0:29:07 > 0:29:09The Little Match Girl.
0:29:09 > 0:29:13It ends with her dying in the snow, ignored by the merrymaking rich.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19The Industrial Revolution created opportunities
0:29:19 > 0:29:20for people to make lots of money,
0:29:20 > 0:29:22but it also created lots of opportunities
0:29:22 > 0:29:24for people to be exploited.
0:29:24 > 0:29:26And what we see in the mid-Victorian period
0:29:26 > 0:29:30is the gap between the rich and the poor widen.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32It's time for our bakers to experience
0:29:32 > 0:29:34something of those extremes.
0:29:34 > 0:29:37BELL TINKLES
0:29:37 > 0:29:38Get your muffins!
0:29:38 > 0:29:40The unluckiest Victorian bakers
0:29:40 > 0:29:43spent their Christmases out on the freezing streets.
0:29:45 > 0:29:46If they were too old or weak
0:29:46 > 0:29:49for the arduous business of kneading dough by hand,
0:29:49 > 0:29:52they'd instead buy cheap products wholesale
0:29:52 > 0:29:54and attempt to sell them on for a small profit.
0:29:56 > 0:30:00Muffins were only in demand during the coldest months of winter.
0:30:00 > 0:30:03Get your muffins!
0:30:03 > 0:30:05When I were younger, cold, it didn't bother me.
0:30:05 > 0:30:08But now as I'm getting a bit older, it does bother me.
0:30:08 > 0:30:10Me back's hurting, me arms are aching.
0:30:10 > 0:30:14I keep swapping it like this, and even that one's aching.
0:30:14 > 0:30:16My head is starting to ache.
0:30:16 > 0:30:18I'd rather be in the bakery with an oven.
0:30:20 > 0:30:23The muffin man was such a familiar figure on Victorian streets
0:30:23 > 0:30:26that he turns up in a popular nursery rhyme.
0:30:27 > 0:30:30But his life was far from child's play.
0:30:30 > 0:30:33A street trader typically earned a mere four shillings a week,
0:30:33 > 0:30:36a third of what even the lowest paid indoor baker would make.
0:30:41 > 0:30:42Duncan and John, meanwhile,
0:30:42 > 0:30:45are sampling life at the other end of the social scale.
0:30:47 > 0:30:50Some bakers found work in grand country houses.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54Charlecote Park near Warwick
0:30:54 > 0:30:57still has a working Victorian kitchen wing -
0:30:57 > 0:31:00the perfect place to bake what was known as a Yorkshire Christmas pie.
0:31:02 > 0:31:04Just put these ones in here.
0:31:04 > 0:31:07Queen Victoria had one of these every Christmas.
0:31:08 > 0:31:09Look at the volume.
0:31:09 > 0:31:11I mean, gluttony or what?
0:31:11 > 0:31:12I mean, it's just...!
0:31:15 > 0:31:19The dish was an opportunity to show off your estate's game reserves.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23Duncan and John are using goose, partridge, pheasants, grouse,
0:31:23 > 0:31:26woodcocks, turkey, pigeons and widgeons.
0:31:26 > 0:31:28What's a widgeon when it's at home?
0:31:28 > 0:31:30It's a type of duck.
0:31:30 > 0:31:33I mean, can you imagine the cost of this today?
0:31:33 > 0:31:36- It's obscene.- And then look what I'm chucking in!
0:31:36 > 0:31:38Three or four sliced truffles.
0:31:38 > 0:31:40It is insane.
0:31:41 > 0:31:44There's so much poverty in Victorian Britain
0:31:44 > 0:31:47and you've got enough meat on the table for a family of ten
0:31:47 > 0:31:50to probably live for about six months.
0:31:51 > 0:31:55The recipe's author, royal chef Francatelli again,
0:31:55 > 0:31:58admits that the quantities may appear extravagant,
0:31:58 > 0:32:00but says they're necessary for
0:32:00 > 0:32:03"Wealthy epicures who keep up the good old English style
0:32:03 > 0:32:05"at this season of good cheer."
0:32:07 > 0:32:09It wasn't even a main dish.
0:32:09 > 0:32:11It's a buffet item for the sideboard,
0:32:11 > 0:32:14in case people got peckish between their seven-course meals.
0:32:20 > 0:32:21Harpreet, meanwhile,
0:32:21 > 0:32:25has less appetising pastries for a pauper's Christmas.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29Flayer cakes were made from the cheapest fat
0:32:29 > 0:32:33that could be flayed from a pig or sheep.
0:32:33 > 0:32:35Oh, dear.
0:32:35 > 0:32:37So there is basically no taste to this at all.
0:32:37 > 0:32:39It's really basic.
0:32:39 > 0:32:42There is no sugar, there are a few currants in there for flavour,
0:32:42 > 0:32:44but even they don't have much flavour to them.
0:32:45 > 0:32:48And so, to me, this is almost the antithesis of Christmas.
0:32:48 > 0:32:49They're so basic.
0:32:51 > 0:32:53According to historic accounts,
0:32:53 > 0:32:56sometimes the lard wasn't even cooked.
0:32:56 > 0:33:00Given how cold it is, maybe the lard in this would keep you warm.
0:33:00 > 0:33:01And if you were quite down and out yourself,
0:33:01 > 0:33:04you'd need a bit of energy. But other than that,
0:33:04 > 0:33:07there isn't much of a selling point to these in any way.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12After their very different Christmases,
0:33:12 > 0:33:15the bakers return to base to compare notes.
0:33:17 > 0:33:20This is what John and I have been off doing.
0:33:20 > 0:33:22- Wow.- That looks amazing.
0:33:22 > 0:33:27I'm just so glad that when the oven door was opened, you didn't see...
0:33:27 > 0:33:29- Meat.- ..birds spilled out onto the oven floor.
0:33:29 > 0:33:31Trying to escape.
0:33:31 > 0:33:32Let's do this.
0:33:34 > 0:33:36Good grief!
0:33:36 > 0:33:37You'd need a sword!
0:33:39 > 0:33:41- Oh!- My goodness.
0:33:43 > 0:33:44Look at the layers.
0:33:44 > 0:33:48You can actually still see all the different layers of birds,
0:33:48 > 0:33:52with their sausage meat around the outside.
0:33:52 > 0:33:54You know, for bakers like us of the era,
0:33:54 > 0:33:57this is a privilege actually cutting into it,
0:33:57 > 0:34:00because the reality is that we wouldn't have had the chance
0:34:00 > 0:34:03- to really eat any of it. - Too good for the likes of us.
0:34:03 > 0:34:06This is a different world from what we were doing,
0:34:06 > 0:34:07because this seems so opulent.
0:34:07 > 0:34:09And what we were doing today was pushing out
0:34:09 > 0:34:11some really cruddy products.
0:34:11 > 0:34:13But that's the extremes of Victorian, isn't it?
0:34:13 > 0:34:16It is the super-rich can do whatever they like,
0:34:16 > 0:34:20and the super-poor hang on to life by their fingernails.
0:34:26 > 0:34:29In the harsh economic realities of the new industrial age,
0:34:29 > 0:34:32many people began to fear that Christmas had no place.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35It was indulgent, unproductive and inefficient.
0:34:35 > 0:34:38As one famous businessmen notoriously put it,
0:34:38 > 0:34:40"I can't afford to pay to make idle men merry."
0:34:44 > 0:34:47But others were determined to save Christmas,
0:34:47 > 0:34:49and helped reinvent it for the new industrial age.
0:34:52 > 0:34:53This is where Charles Dickens lived
0:34:53 > 0:34:56during the first years of Victoria's reign,
0:34:56 > 0:34:58and wrote some of his most successful novels.
0:35:01 > 0:35:03In this room, the children's nursery,
0:35:03 > 0:35:07Dickens held Twelfth Night parties for family and friends.
0:35:07 > 0:35:09Now, Dickens loved Christmas.
0:35:09 > 0:35:11He loved the games, he loved the food,
0:35:11 > 0:35:13the drink and the good cheer.
0:35:13 > 0:35:15And he poured much of the love that he created here
0:35:15 > 0:35:17into his Christmas stories.
0:35:20 > 0:35:22The most famous of these was an immediate bestseller
0:35:22 > 0:35:25when it was published in 1843.
0:35:27 > 0:35:30For Dickens and his readers, Christmas represented an escape,
0:35:30 > 0:35:33an antidote to the horrors of Victorian urban life,
0:35:33 > 0:35:36and the kind of squalor that he documented so movingly
0:35:36 > 0:35:38in his other publications.
0:35:38 > 0:35:41But it also represented, in a rapidly changing world,
0:35:41 > 0:35:43a sense of tradition and stability.
0:35:46 > 0:35:49Literacy rates improved throughout the Victorian era
0:35:49 > 0:35:52and then, as now, books made popular presents,
0:35:52 > 0:35:55so publishers increasingly targeted the Christmas market
0:35:55 > 0:35:57with all sorts of publications.
0:35:59 > 0:36:04Periodicals and magazines were the mass media sensation of their day.
0:36:04 > 0:36:06And a little bit like television today,
0:36:06 > 0:36:09people looked out for the Christmas special.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11The Illustrated London News was
0:36:11 > 0:36:13the Victorian equivalent of "Hello!" magazine
0:36:13 > 0:36:18and in 1848, it published a glimpse into royal life at Windsor,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21including one picture that was to prove to be
0:36:21 > 0:36:22extraordinarily influential.
0:36:24 > 0:36:26It showed the family with a Christmas tree,
0:36:26 > 0:36:28long common in Prince Albert's native Germany,
0:36:28 > 0:36:30but largely unknown here,
0:36:30 > 0:36:33except among immigrants and the aristocracy.
0:36:33 > 0:36:36The image sparked a national craze for trees,
0:36:36 > 0:36:38especially among the middle classes,
0:36:38 > 0:36:40who bought magazines and aspired to the ideal
0:36:40 > 0:36:43of respectable family life.
0:36:43 > 0:36:45The growing mass media and commerce
0:36:45 > 0:36:48were now shaping the British experience of Christmas.
0:36:55 > 0:36:56A'wight, treacle?
0:36:57 > 0:37:00Oh, my God, this is getting quite tough now.
0:37:00 > 0:37:05Enterprising bakers were also quick to cash in on new Christmas trends.
0:37:06 > 0:37:08Ours are making gingerbread ornaments
0:37:08 > 0:37:12because Queen Victoria was known to hang them on the royal tree.
0:37:14 > 0:37:16There you are, it's snowing into our gingerbread.
0:37:21 > 0:37:25They're using gingerbread moulds from the 19th century.
0:37:25 > 0:37:26I mean, these are beautiful,
0:37:26 > 0:37:28but they're a little bit different to what we use now.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32And I don't think they're all that practical, to be honest.
0:37:32 > 0:37:39Urgh, OK, so we don't actually have any of his features on this one.
0:37:39 > 0:37:41These do take a bit of practice.
0:37:42 > 0:37:44It's not really working.
0:37:45 > 0:37:47But persistence pays off.
0:37:49 > 0:37:51Let's see if this comes out.
0:37:51 > 0:37:53Yeah, it worked.
0:37:53 > 0:37:55That looks good. Excellent.
0:37:55 > 0:37:57I would love it if someone gave me this for Christmas.
0:37:57 > 0:38:00- Yeah.- There's so much in Victorian food that's art.
0:38:00 > 0:38:03I think that the shapes that we make now as modern-day
0:38:03 > 0:38:06really don't do these justice at all.
0:38:06 > 0:38:10We've got really cartoony ones like reindeer's heads and Mrs Santa.
0:38:10 > 0:38:13We've got a little naughty Santa with body parts showing.
0:38:13 > 0:38:17- LAUGHTER - But they are more comedy value.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Fully in the spirit of Christmas, yeah? Naughty Santa.
0:38:21 > 0:38:24Gingerbread had long been eaten throughout the year in Britain
0:38:24 > 0:38:27but was seen as a particularly festive food in Germany.
0:38:27 > 0:38:31Thousands of German bakers migrated to work here in the 19th century
0:38:31 > 0:38:33and may, like Prince Albert,
0:38:33 > 0:38:36have brought their Christmas tastes with them.
0:38:36 > 0:38:39Doesn't it seem odd that all of the things we associate with Christmas
0:38:39 > 0:38:42that weren't there before, aren't actually the British influence?
0:38:42 > 0:38:45They seem to be more typically German.
0:38:45 > 0:38:49Yeah. I mean, the royal family is massively important at this point,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52isn't it? And they're setting the trend.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56This does start to mirror image the vision I have in my head
0:38:56 > 0:39:00of Victorian Christmas. This is actually starting to get exciting.
0:39:03 > 0:39:06A small bakery like ours could sell freshly made Christmas gingerbread
0:39:06 > 0:39:08to its local customers.
0:39:09 > 0:39:11But as the Victorian era progressed,
0:39:11 > 0:39:14they increasingly had to compete with much bigger businesses.
0:39:16 > 0:39:20Biscuits were particularly suited to factory production
0:39:20 > 0:39:23and the Victorian period saw the creation of mass-produced brands
0:39:23 > 0:39:26such as McVitie's and Peek Frean.
0:39:27 > 0:39:30These new national firms could invest in marketing
0:39:30 > 0:39:35on an unprecedented scale, which is how biscuits,
0:39:35 > 0:39:38which had no particular history of festive associations,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41came to be promoted as a Christmas essential.
0:39:43 > 0:39:47- So here we've got the list of Christmas biscuits.- Mmm.
0:39:47 > 0:39:50I just can't get over how many different varieties
0:39:50 > 0:39:51of biscuits there are.
0:39:51 > 0:39:56They sound quite grand and there's a lot of mention of overseas places,
0:39:56 > 0:39:57Naples, Nice.
0:39:57 > 0:40:00- Some of these are biscuits that we can buy today.- Nice.- Biarritz.
0:40:00 > 0:40:02And, of course, the issue is that
0:40:02 > 0:40:04they've gone into mass production now.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06That means the price is coming down.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11They can get the professionalism that you can't get on a small scale.
0:40:11 > 0:40:12And that's the problem.
0:40:12 > 0:40:15We cannot compete with biscuits like this.
0:40:17 > 0:40:21The biggest and most pioneering of the biscuit manufacturers
0:40:21 > 0:40:22were Huntley & Palmers.
0:40:22 > 0:40:26Their factory employed 5,000 people by the 1890s.
0:40:27 > 0:40:29Not all of them were bakers.
0:40:30 > 0:40:31Some of them made tins.
0:40:33 > 0:40:36The Victorians invented the tradition, still with us today,
0:40:36 > 0:40:38of the Christmas selection box.
0:40:39 > 0:40:41These tins held the key to the success
0:40:41 > 0:40:43of the Huntley & Palmers business
0:40:43 > 0:40:45and they're an example, par excellence,
0:40:45 > 0:40:48of the way in which technology was changing
0:40:48 > 0:40:49not only the way we produced food,
0:40:49 > 0:40:52but the way we packaged, distributed and marketed it.
0:40:54 > 0:40:56Each year, a brand-new range of Christmas tins
0:40:56 > 0:40:59was unveiled to stimulate demand.
0:41:01 > 0:41:04They weren't just airtight containers to keep food fresh.
0:41:04 > 0:41:06They were desirable in their own right,
0:41:06 > 0:41:08and were kept in homes for years
0:41:08 > 0:41:10after the contents had been devoured.
0:41:12 > 0:41:14It was developments in tin plating and moulding
0:41:14 > 0:41:17that allowed these tins to be mass produced.
0:41:17 > 0:41:18And also in the 1870s,
0:41:18 > 0:41:22developments in lithography allowed for these multicoloured designs
0:41:22 > 0:41:24to be printed onto the tins.
0:41:26 > 0:41:28The ability to produce objects of this quality
0:41:28 > 0:41:32at an affordable price was wondrous for the Victorians.
0:41:32 > 0:41:34Mass production of designs this complex
0:41:34 > 0:41:36would still be challenging today.
0:41:38 > 0:41:40Buying a Huntley & Palmers biscuit at Christmas
0:41:40 > 0:41:42was about more than buying a foodstuff.
0:41:42 > 0:41:45It was about buying into the late-Victorian fashion
0:41:45 > 0:41:47for mass-manufactured goods.
0:41:50 > 0:41:53There was one other crucial factor in the firm's success.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57TRAIN WHISTLE TOOTS
0:42:02 > 0:42:03In 1841,
0:42:03 > 0:42:06Isambard Kingdom Brunel's famous Great Western Railway
0:42:06 > 0:42:10started running through Huntley & Palmers' hometown of Reading.
0:42:12 > 0:42:15The railways not only delivered coal, iron and passengers,
0:42:15 > 0:42:17they also conveyed the humble biscuit.
0:42:17 > 0:42:20And in time, they were to deliver to Britain
0:42:20 > 0:42:22an altogether new type of Christmas.
0:42:23 > 0:42:25Huntley & Palmers built their factory
0:42:25 > 0:42:27right on the new railway line,
0:42:27 > 0:42:31and used their private sidings and rolling stock to send their products
0:42:31 > 0:42:32all over the empire.
0:42:34 > 0:42:37The portability and long life of biscuits
0:42:37 > 0:42:39also made them an ideal gift for people taking the train back
0:42:39 > 0:42:41to see their families at Christmas.
0:42:43 > 0:42:46And if you weren't able to make it home in person,
0:42:46 > 0:42:48you could now rely on the postal train...
0:42:48 > 0:42:50WHISTLE TOOTS
0:42:50 > 0:42:54..to deliver another great Christmas custom invented by the Victorians.
0:42:57 > 0:43:01This is something very rare indeed.
0:43:01 > 0:43:05It's the very first commercially produced Christmas card.
0:43:05 > 0:43:08It's one of a thousand printed in 1843,
0:43:08 > 0:43:12the time at which Dickens was publishing his Christmas Carol.
0:43:12 > 0:43:15Three, maybe even four generations of a family
0:43:15 > 0:43:18sat round all enjoying a glass of port or sherry.
0:43:18 > 0:43:21There's even a little girl there being allowed her first sip.
0:43:21 > 0:43:23This new concept of sending a Christmas card
0:43:23 > 0:43:25didn't take off immediately.
0:43:25 > 0:43:29And that's partly because, whilst these cards were being printed,
0:43:29 > 0:43:31all of the colour was being added by hand.
0:43:31 > 0:43:35This made them unaffordable to most people.
0:43:35 > 0:43:38But in the passing decades, the costs were to come down,
0:43:38 > 0:43:42thanks partly due to the innovations in colour printing technology
0:43:42 > 0:43:44used by Huntley & Palmers.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47As a consequence, the Christmas card, like the biscuit tin,
0:43:47 > 0:43:48went from being a novelty
0:43:48 > 0:43:51to being more of a widespread Christmas tradition.
0:43:51 > 0:43:53WHISTLE TOOTS
0:43:54 > 0:43:58However rapidly Britain and its landscape was changing,
0:43:58 > 0:44:01at least the new railways could be relied upon to bring us cards,
0:44:01 > 0:44:03presents and loved ones at Christmas.
0:44:13 > 0:44:17It's the bakers' final day in the 19th century.
0:44:17 > 0:44:19By the end of Queen Victoria's reign,
0:44:19 > 0:44:22the Christmas we know and love today has essentially taken shape.
0:44:22 > 0:44:25Instead of being 12 days, it's now focused on the two days
0:44:25 > 0:44:28we know today, so Christmas Day and Boxing Day,
0:44:28 > 0:44:31the two public holidays when most people would get the day off.
0:44:31 > 0:44:35And family members who may have been working far away could,
0:44:35 > 0:44:38through the railways, get back to their family home.
0:44:38 > 0:44:41The Christmas of this time becomes very much a family affair.
0:44:41 > 0:44:45Except, as bakers, you're going to be working on Christmas Day,
0:44:45 > 0:44:48open because you're going to be providing crucial elements
0:44:48 > 0:44:50for many people's Christmas dinners.
0:44:50 > 0:44:52But don't worry, later on in the evening
0:44:52 > 0:44:55you will get a chance to let your hair down and enjoy what to us
0:44:55 > 0:44:57has become a traditional Christmas.
0:44:57 > 0:45:02Although to the Victorians, many elements were very modern indeed.
0:45:02 > 0:45:03Better get on, then.
0:45:05 > 0:45:07Instead of a Twelfth Cake in January,
0:45:07 > 0:45:11now customers demanded Christmas cakes in December.
0:45:12 > 0:45:14These were smaller, sweeter and moister
0:45:14 > 0:45:16than their old-fashioned predecessors.
0:45:20 > 0:45:23They were also differently decorated.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26A layer of marzipan was now the norm,
0:45:26 > 0:45:27topped with royal icing,
0:45:27 > 0:45:30a technique which German bakers had popularised
0:45:30 > 0:45:32from the mid-century onwards.
0:45:34 > 0:45:36If you compare this white, glossy,
0:45:36 > 0:45:41sheeny cake to those meringuey Twelfth Cakes, they're worlds apart.
0:45:41 > 0:45:45This is more like a cake as I know it.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47Made with much finer sugar,
0:45:47 > 0:45:49the new icing hardened without baking
0:45:49 > 0:45:52and could be used for all the decorating.
0:45:52 > 0:45:55Moulded sugar ornaments fell out of favour.
0:45:55 > 0:46:01Now the fashion was for abstract patterns and piped-on text.
0:46:01 > 0:46:05These are the Christmas greetings of Victorian times, which...
0:46:05 > 0:46:07It's not "Merry Christmas", is it?
0:46:07 > 0:46:08No. So here we've got
0:46:08 > 0:46:11"God's blessings make thy Christmas bright."
0:46:11 > 0:46:13- That's kind of important. - And here we've got
0:46:13 > 0:46:15"May Christmas joys fill your heart today."
0:46:15 > 0:46:17They are a bit of a mouthful,
0:46:17 > 0:46:21but then it would allow the confectioner
0:46:21 > 0:46:23to show off their piping prowess.
0:46:23 > 0:46:25And nowadays you might have 20 cakes in a shop
0:46:25 > 0:46:28that would all say "Merry Christmas" or "Season's Greetings"...
0:46:28 > 0:46:30- Exactly.- ..whereas if you had a variety of messages,
0:46:30 > 0:46:32you could potentially choose the greeting
0:46:32 > 0:46:35that you felt was appropriate for that relationship.
0:46:35 > 0:46:37It's a little bit like a Christmas card.
0:46:37 > 0:46:38I think I prefer these messages.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42They're a little bit more sort of heart and soul, aren't they?
0:46:44 > 0:46:46There was another Christmas essential many families bought
0:46:46 > 0:46:49ready-made in late Victorian times,
0:46:49 > 0:46:53one that used the baker's staple product as a key ingredient.
0:46:54 > 0:46:58For the first time this Christmas, I've got some bread in my hand.
0:46:58 > 0:47:01Not that I'm eating it - we're putting it in a pudding.
0:47:01 > 0:47:05In earlier times, the word "plum" could refer to any dried fruit,
0:47:05 > 0:47:08which is why this dish had long been known as plum pudding.
0:47:10 > 0:47:13As with mincemeat, suet is crucial, plus booze,
0:47:13 > 0:47:16in this case, rum and maraschino.
0:47:16 > 0:47:19Putting the Christmas into the pudding.
0:47:19 > 0:47:23It was the Victorians who rebranded the centuries-old recipe
0:47:23 > 0:47:27- as Christmas pudding. - It smells amazing.
0:47:27 > 0:47:30It had once been eaten throughout the winter,
0:47:30 > 0:47:32but it began to be seen as something
0:47:32 > 0:47:34which was only appropriate on December the 25th,
0:47:34 > 0:47:36fixed there in the public imagination
0:47:36 > 0:47:40partly by its frequent appearances on newfangled Christmas cards.
0:47:41 > 0:47:44Some customers - and canines, apparently -
0:47:44 > 0:47:46demanded round puddings.
0:47:47 > 0:47:50To attain the perfect sphere, bakers might use a pudding basin.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52Or, more traditionally,
0:47:52 > 0:47:56the cloth-wrapped mix would simply be hand moulded.
0:47:59 > 0:48:02That's one mighty pudding, that, isn't it?
0:48:02 > 0:48:05It looks a bit like a little bomb, but it looks very good.
0:48:05 > 0:48:08Well, that's right. They said cannonballs.
0:48:08 > 0:48:09Awesome.
0:48:10 > 0:48:13Other Victorian customers demanded fancier forms.
0:48:15 > 0:48:17This is the shape Mrs Beeton calls for
0:48:17 > 0:48:20in her best-selling Book Of Household Management.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25To get a perfect pudding out of a mould like this
0:48:25 > 0:48:27will be a challenge.
0:48:27 > 0:48:29It depends on both careful preparation
0:48:29 > 0:48:32and the right consistency of mix.
0:48:37 > 0:48:39If you get this wrong, it's a disaster.
0:48:39 > 0:48:41Yeah, it'll be my fault if it does.
0:48:41 > 0:48:43- Yeah, your fault, John! - I've got confidence.
0:48:43 > 0:48:46This is proper Victorian bling, this is.
0:48:47 > 0:48:49It's a beautiful shape, isn't it?
0:48:49 > 0:48:53- I can't wait to turn this pudding out and see what it's like.- I know.
0:48:59 > 0:49:03The puddings need to be boiled, not steamed, for several hours.
0:49:03 > 0:49:07Once cooled, they will be sold to customers to reheat at home
0:49:07 > 0:49:08on the big day.
0:49:11 > 0:49:13Right, we need some good string.
0:49:14 > 0:49:17For their own Christmas lunch, the bakers are preparing turkey,
0:49:17 > 0:49:18a choice which became more popular
0:49:18 > 0:49:20towards the end of the Victorian era.
0:49:21 > 0:49:24- I mean, this will make the fat nice and crispy, this.- Oh!
0:49:26 > 0:49:28But it wouldn't have been alone in their oven.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34Bakeries threw open their doors on Christmas Day
0:49:34 > 0:49:37for customers to bring along their meals for roasting too.
0:49:37 > 0:49:40That's because many people were too poor to have an oven at home,
0:49:40 > 0:49:43while others simply didn't have one big enough.
0:49:46 > 0:49:48So these are the meats that the local community
0:49:48 > 0:49:51would have brought to be baked in your ovens.
0:49:51 > 0:49:54Turkey is not the only meat that people like to sit down to.
0:49:54 > 0:49:56Beef is very traditional.
0:49:56 > 0:49:57Goose is quite cheap.
0:49:57 > 0:49:59Your ovens, they'll be well stocked.
0:49:59 > 0:50:01Well, this is really a custom
0:50:01 > 0:50:04that has only died out in the last few decades, really.
0:50:04 > 0:50:05I mean, I remember it.
0:50:05 > 0:50:08Yeah, I remember it well from when I was a kid.
0:50:08 > 0:50:11All the villagers would bring their turkeys
0:50:11 > 0:50:12for my father to cook in the ovens
0:50:12 > 0:50:15and beef joints would come and we'd put them in the oven.
0:50:15 > 0:50:19Then all the blokes would sit around drinking lots of beer
0:50:19 > 0:50:22while the turkeys cooked.
0:50:22 > 0:50:25It's the community coming together and all of us helping each other
0:50:25 > 0:50:27to have a very special day.
0:50:27 > 0:50:29Sounds like a grand thing to do.
0:50:29 > 0:50:30I'll start it again, then.
0:50:30 > 0:50:33I quite fancy taking my Christmas joint down to the baker's.
0:50:33 > 0:50:35"Excuse me, could you put this in your oven?"
0:50:35 > 0:50:37Yeah, with everybody else and having a nice party
0:50:37 > 0:50:39for the few hours that it cooked. Great stuff.
0:50:39 > 0:50:44- Reinstating that sense of Victorian community in local areas.- Yeah.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53The bakers are celebrating their last Christmas
0:50:53 > 0:50:55in a more middle-class setting than before
0:50:55 > 0:50:57because the status of their profession
0:50:57 > 0:50:59had improved by the end of Victoria's reign.
0:51:02 > 0:51:05The gingerbread decorations find their home.
0:51:07 > 0:51:09Stick him in right in the middle.
0:51:10 > 0:51:12They look good, don't they?
0:51:12 > 0:51:14Oh!
0:51:14 > 0:51:17Don't break them now we've gone to so much trouble to make them.
0:51:17 > 0:51:19THEY LAUGH
0:51:19 > 0:51:22Crackers were also often hung on the tree.
0:51:22 > 0:51:25They're another new Victorian Christmas tradition -
0:51:25 > 0:51:28the invention of confectioner Tom Smith.
0:51:29 > 0:51:31At his London shop in the 1850s,
0:51:31 > 0:51:36the former baker's assistant started wrapping bonbons in tissue paper.
0:51:36 > 0:51:39When he threw in a motto and added a snap,
0:51:39 > 0:51:41he created a vast business empire.
0:51:43 > 0:51:46It does really show the entrepreneurial kind of spirit,
0:51:46 > 0:51:49because it's not like these guys and girls didn't have enough
0:51:49 > 0:51:52on their plate, enough to do as it is.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56Yet they're going and diversifying any way to make a few extra quid.
0:51:56 > 0:51:58And not only diversifying,
0:51:58 > 0:52:01but creating something that is... it signifies Christmas for us.
0:52:01 > 0:52:04- It's still on our tables every year. - Yeah, it's still around today.
0:52:06 > 0:52:09And another Christmas favourite finally turned up
0:52:09 > 0:52:12in the late 19th century.
0:52:12 > 0:52:15Ho-ho-ho, Merry Christmas!
0:52:15 > 0:52:19Merry Christmas, everybody!
0:52:19 > 0:52:22We'd had a British version of Father Christmas for centuries,
0:52:22 > 0:52:25but he didn't give out gifts.
0:52:25 > 0:52:27He didn't look like we'd expect today, either.
0:52:27 > 0:52:31Sometimes he'd be portrayed as a thin figure dressed in green.
0:52:32 > 0:52:36But later Victorians imported a new look from the United States
0:52:36 > 0:52:39where he was now called Santa Claus,
0:52:39 > 0:52:41their pronunciation of the continental St Nicholas.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46American artists began to depict Santa as plus-sized
0:52:46 > 0:52:49and dressed in red. Contrary to popular myth,
0:52:49 > 0:52:53this was decades before a certain cola drink was even invented.
0:52:53 > 0:52:55Have you been a good boy, Duncan?
0:52:55 > 0:52:59Britons used to exchange presents at the start of the New Year.
0:52:59 > 0:53:02But later, in the 19th century, we again copied the Americans,
0:53:02 > 0:53:05and also the Germans, by making the custom part of our new,
0:53:05 > 0:53:08super-sized Christmas Day.
0:53:08 > 0:53:10Oh, presents for everybody!
0:53:15 > 0:53:17Mrs Beeton declared that a Christmas dinner
0:53:17 > 0:53:20with the middle classes of this empire would scarcely be
0:53:20 > 0:53:23a Christmas dinner without a portly pater familias
0:53:23 > 0:53:25carving his own fat turkey.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29Oh, look at that. Oh.
0:53:29 > 0:53:31That is...
0:53:31 > 0:53:33That is nice. Thank you very much.
0:53:35 > 0:53:38- I love bread sauce. - Yeah.- It's great to...
0:53:38 > 0:53:40It's the best part of the meal.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44The bread is only really featured as part of a bread sauce...
0:53:44 > 0:53:47- Or stuffing... - ..crumbed into the puddings.- Yeah.
0:53:47 > 0:53:50But it's still a nice little reminder that...
0:53:50 > 0:53:52- The baker's important. - Yeah, exactly.
0:53:52 > 0:53:54The baker can make Christmas.
0:53:54 > 0:53:56I actually really enjoyed this,
0:53:56 > 0:53:58because it's finally been a chance for you to see
0:53:58 > 0:54:02a time when cake-makers take the lead.
0:54:02 > 0:54:04Cakes should come first at certain times of the year.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06Yeah, it's all part of the baking industry, isn't it?
0:54:06 > 0:54:08Be it bread, be it cakes, be it mince pies,
0:54:08 > 0:54:13if it's a product that needs baking, we can do it.
0:54:18 > 0:54:21This is the very picture of a middle-class,
0:54:21 > 0:54:23late Victorian Christmas, isn't it?
0:54:23 > 0:54:26Yes, I mean, this is the rise of the respectable society
0:54:26 > 0:54:27at Christmas time.
0:54:27 > 0:54:31Yeah, I mean, the Victorians almost gave Christmas rules.
0:54:31 > 0:54:33There were certain things that people had to do,
0:54:33 > 0:54:36so, you can't imagine a table, either then or indeed now,
0:54:36 > 0:54:39without the crackers, without the cards, without the tree.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42It's almost like we have a set pattern that we have to fit
0:54:42 > 0:54:46which certainly wasn't the case in the early Victorian period.
0:54:46 > 0:54:51The Victorians are the ones that shaped Christmas to what it is now.
0:54:51 > 0:54:54You have Santa Claus, you have the Christmas tree,
0:54:54 > 0:54:56you've got the gifts.
0:54:56 > 0:54:59And what has really surprised me is that all of those changes came in
0:54:59 > 0:55:01in such a short period of time.
0:55:03 > 0:55:05We think of the traditional Christmas and, of course,
0:55:05 > 0:55:07those traditions were not traditions.
0:55:07 > 0:55:10Every tradition, somebody had to invent it.
0:55:10 > 0:55:14Through the Victorian era, more things have been introduced
0:55:14 > 0:55:18and it feels to me like Christmas is being commercialised.
0:55:19 > 0:55:23As a baker, it seems like they made a big opportunity
0:55:23 > 0:55:26of making profit out of Christmas.
0:55:28 > 0:55:32So much of what's here relies upon the baker.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35From the cake, which would've been bought,
0:55:35 > 0:55:38to the turkey that's been put into the baker's oven.
0:55:38 > 0:55:40It's fascinating to see how you can journey throughout
0:55:40 > 0:55:43a whole period of 70 years.
0:55:43 > 0:55:47But these people, this idea of baking, is still so crucial
0:55:47 > 0:55:50to our idea of a proper traditional British Christmas.
0:55:50 > 0:55:51# Now bring us a figgy pudding
0:55:51 > 0:55:53# Now bring us a figgy pudding... #
0:55:53 > 0:55:55- Wahey!- Hello.
0:55:59 > 0:56:01Oh, that's a nice colour. Look at that.
0:56:01 > 0:56:02That looks rich, look at it.
0:56:02 > 0:56:04- Wow. Look at that. - That looks fantastic.
0:56:04 > 0:56:06Let's take this off.
0:56:07 > 0:56:10It's the first time any of the bakers have attempted
0:56:10 > 0:56:12to make Christmas pudding in a mould like this
0:56:12 > 0:56:15so they're not sure if it's going to come out in one piece.
0:56:17 > 0:56:19- Did you feel it drop? - Yeah, I did, actually.
0:56:19 > 0:56:21All right, here we go.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22Here goes.
0:56:22 > 0:56:24Merry Christmas.
0:56:25 > 0:56:27Oh, no!
0:56:27 > 0:56:29THEY LAUGH
0:56:29 > 0:56:31Gutted!
0:56:31 > 0:56:33Oh, that's such a shame!
0:56:33 > 0:56:35But look, yeah, look at the detail.
0:56:35 > 0:56:38- And it's... Actually... - If we'd known what we were doing...
0:56:38 > 0:56:39LAUGHTER
0:56:39 > 0:56:42It's not going to take away from the enjoying, you know,
0:56:42 > 0:56:43the eating pleasure of it.
0:56:43 > 0:56:45Yeah. Have we got some brandy?
0:56:45 > 0:56:47Right. Let's do this.
0:56:51 > 0:56:54Oh! Wow!
0:56:54 > 0:56:56- Beautiful. - Doesn't that look wonderful?
0:56:56 > 0:56:57It does, doesn't it?
0:57:02 > 0:57:05This is fantastic.
0:57:05 > 0:57:07Isn't it good, yeah?
0:57:07 > 0:57:09It's all the rich things in one bundle.
0:57:09 > 0:57:11It's such indulgence.
0:57:11 > 0:57:13Has everyone forgotten about the suet?
0:57:13 > 0:57:15Yeah, I'm just trying not to think about it.
0:57:15 > 0:57:20It does add flavour, it must do, because it's a really nice pudding.
0:57:20 > 0:57:22When we make Christmas puddings,
0:57:22 > 0:57:25we age them for months to get the richness coming through.
0:57:25 > 0:57:26- And this...- This, you don't have to. - No.
0:57:26 > 0:57:29This is the richest pudding I've ever tasted,
0:57:29 > 0:57:32to say that it was only made just a few hours ago.
0:57:32 > 0:57:33Wonderful.
0:57:33 > 0:57:35I'm going in for more!
0:57:36 > 0:57:39I tucked into an awful lot of that, I have to say.
0:57:39 > 0:57:42And I shall be using the recipe to make it for myself.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49I thought that Victorian Christmas would be very reverent
0:57:49 > 0:57:54and religious and I've discovered most of the people having drink,
0:57:54 > 0:57:57being merry and it was actually just the same as today.
0:57:59 > 0:58:02I'd happily celebrate a Christmas like that over and over,
0:58:02 > 0:58:04because we had a lot of fun.
0:58:04 > 0:58:06It's been great to get together,
0:58:06 > 0:58:09and it's so interesting to go back in time
0:58:09 > 0:58:12and to understand where the traditions came from.
0:58:13 > 0:58:18'Christmas, at the end of Victoria's reign, is just so idyllic.
0:58:18 > 0:58:19'It's just beautiful.'
0:58:19 > 0:58:23And I've just lived it. It's amazing.
0:58:23 > 0:58:26- We should raise a toast.- To bakers and confectioners everywhere.
0:58:26 > 0:58:28- In every age.- Cheers.- Cheers.
0:58:28 > 0:58:30- Happy Christmas.- Happy Christmas. - Happy Christmas.