About Historical Foods

Hi, and thank you for taking an interest in this site. I run Historical Foods with a talent and passion for cooking, photography and British History (both national and regional) – with an academic, practical and professional understanding of all three. I combined these professional talents and passions together to make this site happen – while some of the food history work and research I do (with a small dedicated team) is for T.V & Film production companies, filming dramas and documentaries etc., the other work I do is directly for this site, where I aim to inform, educate and enliven your knowledge of great regional, historical and classical dishes.

Hopefully here on Historical Foods I can inspire you to have a go at some of the wonderful and great tasting period and regional recipes featured. Cooking is about food of the moment, then and now, it is about using the natural flow of the cycles and seasons, and the regional availability of fresh produce – and eating them at the time of the year when it feels right – a Victorian Porter Cake in February, a Medieval Venison Pie in August, the Perfect Burger on a July weekend, Roast Pumpkin Soup in November, making sumptuous fruit Jams and Preserves in late Summer and Autumn, eating thick slices of Roast Goose and all the trimmings on Christmas Day … all these things we can relearn from our history, here all food comes with a story.

Regards. Conner.

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T.V. & FILM WORK

At Historical Foods we research and make authentic recipes from history, and even complete banquets or feasts, for films and television. Our team has many years experience in this field, working with top production companies, film makers, documentary directors and researchers.

Medieval Feast: BBC Documentary: ‘How We Built Britain’

AT HISTORICAL FOODS

TRADITIONAL COOKING METHODS AND AUTHENTIC HISTORIC RECIPES

Based in a seventeenth-century barn on the English-Welsh marches I am lucky enough to have the resources of an extensive library (of cookery and food history books from all periods) a large research kitchen, a small, organic market garden farm, and a collection of original antique kitchenalia, all in order for me to be able to research full or partial known recipes from a region or point in history until I can re-create it as authentically as possible for use in the modern kitchen. In my work I am attempting to bring out the essential character of the recipe, whilst respecting that it is a dish with history, oftentimes reflecting a regional or cultural significance.

Although my aim is authenticity, some of Britain’s oldest and greatest dishes were created by skillful cooks, using neither gas nor electricity, but open fires and later solid fuel range cookers, and, in translating and redacting them for the modern kitchen, all the faults therefore are mine, and all the great inspirational touches are theirs.

Like these great cooks of the past I also understand a recipe is there to inspire and remind us, helping shape and guide our results within the seasons and our locality, something even the earliest authors respected in their readers and fellow cooks, yet also trusting them to know what was right, and what was needed …

“…you may use what Herbs or Roots you please … and season it with what Spice you please … or if you will, what other Haut-goust (high flavour) you like,” Sir Kenelm Digby. 1669.

THE AIM OF HISTORICAL FOODS

Although there are a few dishes which are not suitable for modern tastes, the British culinary tradition is a noble one, full of good food and recipe treats, most of them now forgotten. At Historical Foods I aim to unearth these great dishes and bring them back into our lives – to research and archive Britain’s food heritage, those dishes which have been of greatest influence to our nation’s food history.

Authenticity is key. I focus on one recipe at a time, understanding it, cooking it and then posting those findings and results here. Most often my first stop is in my library, the next is in my kitchen and the third is online. You can keep up to date by joining me on the Historical Foods Facebook Page and Twitter Account.

COOKING FOOD OF THE MOMENT, THEN AND NOW.

From intimate Victorian dining and Feast Day celebratory recipes, to authentic Medieval dishes and Tudor banquets, these are the journeys worthy of discovery. On Historical Foods we bring you wonderful period and regional foods for you to try out at home; some of these recipes are simple, with straightforward, down to earth cooking, and some are more elaborate dishes, with clean, bright flavours.

The sharing of a meal with other people, by the simple act of making a bowl of stew, or a home-made loaf of bread, has always had a many-layered meaning, suggesting an act of generosity, contentment and intimacy, which has been right at the heart of British cooking all through the ages: food of the moment, then and now.