The book English Food by Jane Grigson was published 50 years ago this year. It’s a book that has completely changed my life and I wanted to celebrate it with a three-part special. This is part three.
I am going back to my roots here talking with three good friends of mine Nicola Aldren, Simone Blagg and Anthea Craig, all of whom were there at the inception of my idea to cook every recipe in English Food.
We talk about memorable recipes, the large amounts of offal that were consumed, sous cheffing, pudding clubs and portion sizes, the horrorshow that was the stewed eel recipe, and many other things.
I also give you my top 10 recipes to try (& a few to avoid)
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Neil’s new book The Philosophy of Puddings is out now and published by the British Library.
Books and other things mentioned in today’s episode:
English Food by Jane Grigson
Charcuterie and French Pork Cookery by Jane Grigson
Previous episodes pertinent to today’s episode:
50 Years of English Food by Jane Grigson
Jane Grigson with Sophie Grigson
18th Century Tavern Cooking with Marc Meltonville
Previous blog posts pertinent to today’s episode:
Read Neil Cooks Grigson here
Upcoming events:
Monsters & their Meals Hallowe’en event
Find out about upcoming events on the website here.
Neil’s blogs:
‘British Food: a History’
‘Neil Cooks Grigson’
Neil’s books:
Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper
A Dark History of Sugar
Knead to Know: a History of Baking
The Philosophy of Puddings
Don’t forget, there will be postbag episodes in the future, so if you have any questions or queries about today’s episode, or indeed any episode, or have a question about the history of British food please email me at
[email protected], or on twitter and BlueSky @neilbuttery, or Instagram and Threads dr_neil_buttery. My DMs are open.
You can also join the British Food: a History Facebook discussion page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/britishfoodhistory
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