We tried a 275-year-old dumpling recipe!
Vintage dishes for your next dinner party
You can’t beat a time-tested classic… or can you? Contact called on resident baking extraordinaire Hayley Lees to test a 275-year-old dumpling recipe and a 162-year-old snow cake recipe from some of the rare cookbooks on offer at this year’s UQ Alumni Rare Book Auction.
Do these centuries-old delicacies still hold up today? We’ve got the scoop.
The first cab off the rank was hard dumplings, from The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy published by Hannah Glasse in 1747 under the pseudonym 'a Lady'. According to author and culinary historian Anne Willan’s account in Great cooks and their recipes, it became one of the most successful publications of the 18th century, making Glasse one of the most famous cookbook authors of her time.
So how did Hayley go cooking Glasse’s hard dumpling recipe in a modern kitchen?
“The dumplings were actually simple to make, and the ingredients were super practical.” she said.
“The only thing that stumped me was that the recipe wanted me to roll the dumplings ‘as big as a turkies [sic] egg’, but I have no idea how big a turkey’s egg is! They’re not really a common unit of measurement in 2023.
“It also doesn’t tell you the actual flour or water measurements, so there’s a bit of guesswork involved and, I’d say, not a lot of room for error.
“They looked great but, unfortunately, they came out tasting like Clag glue.”
Watch Hayley's attempt at recreating hard dumplings from The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, published in 1747.
Watch Hayley's attempt at recreating hard dumplings from The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy, published in 1747.
Dr Natsuko Akagawa, a culinary heritage researcher and senior lecturer at UQ’s School of Languages and Cultures, said the anonymous publishing of the Glasse’s cookbook was typical of the era.
“This is the Georgian era – the age of Handel and Mozart – and was a time when it was inappropriate for women to seek public attention or commercial benefit,” Dr Akagawa said.
“Even 50 years later, Jane Austen, now recognised for her evocative portrayal of English society undergoing social change, published her novels anonymously.”
The book’s success is largely attributed to Glasse’s intended audience. She hoped to reach cooks of a ‘lower sort’, rather than the well-trained chefs in grand houses of the time.
The book asks for forgiveness for avoiding “high-polite” culinary terms in favour of more recognisable phrases, like “little pieces of bacon” instead of “lardoons” as her “intention is to instruct the lower sort,” and “if I should bid them lard with large lardoons, they would not know what I meant”.
“This is more than a cookbook; it is an invitation to sit at the dining table of mid-18th century families of a particular social class.” Dr Akagawa said.
“Its advice about how to select and prepare meals was clearly welcomed by generations of mistresses of the house, cooks, and homemakers,” she said.
“Glasse had a great insight into the needs of a changing society and that she desires no more than to ‘gain the good opinion of [her] own sex’. It was revolutionary in the sense that she intended the book to 'improve the servants’ and to ‘save the ladies a great deal of trouble’ while at the same time maintaining an elegant table.
“Her ‘plain and simple’ instructions on the art of cooking would enable less well to do families to also enjoy a sophisticated dish with the same international flair, whether it be Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Jewish or an exotic curry.”
Back in her own kitchen, Hayley also tried her hand at making snow cake from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in 1861.
“This snow cake took ages! We live in a world of instant pudding, online shopping, and fast cars instead of wagons, so mixing batter for 20 minutes was not how I envisioned my afternoon.”
“I won’t lie, I caved and brought out the electric beater, and with my electric oven I baked the cake in an hour and a half. If I had to use a wood stove, I think it would’ve taken the full 2 hours. I’m obviously not cut out to bake in an 1860’s kitchen.
“The cake turned out beautifully, though.”
Hayley admitted she also ran into some challenges when it came to sourcing the ingredients for these recipes.
“Some of the recipes call for lard and things we could technically still buy but rarely use – but the arrowroot flour in the snow cake was interesting,” she said.
“I took a trip to the health food aisle, which isn’t a frugal option these days, but who knew they were cooking gluten-free cake before “gluten-free” was a thing!”
“My final confession is that I have no idea how much a pound is and I had to Google it. Ah, the beauty of modern technology.”
Hayley's snow cake, baked following the recipe from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
Hayley's snow cake, baked following the recipe from Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management.
Hayley's snow cake was enjoyed in UQ's Great Court.
Hayley's snow cake was enjoyed in UQ's Great Court.
Final verdict after a Contact team taste test
The snow cake was surprisingly delicious, but tasted more like a textured friand than how we imagine moist fluffy cakes these days.
The dumplings, well, to be honest they were a little underwhelming. Hayley’s dog however, was thrilled to receive all the leftover snow cake egg yolks. Thanks Mrs Beeton!
Want to add some vintage dishes to your next dinner party?
Perhaps a rich apple pudding, or a gooseberry cream? You can get your hands on more than 1000 cookbooks at the upcoming UQ Alumni Book Fair from 28 April to 1 May.
The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse, and Mrs Beeton’s Book of Household Management will be auctioned as part of the UQ Alumni Book Fair’s Rare Book Auction on Friday 28 April.
There are more than 110,000 books, magazines, records, and more available for sale at this year’s book fair, with items available to purchase from $1.
All money raised from the UQ Alumni Book Fair and the Rare Book Auction go towards student scholarships, research grants, and supporting UQ educators.
Try a dish at home
Rich Sweet Apple Pudding
Mrs Beeton: The Book of Household Management… Also Sanitary, Medical and Legal Memoranda. With a History of the Origin, Properties and Uses of all Things connected with Home Life and Comfort.
Rice Pudding
Mrs Glasse: The Art of Cookery, Made Plain and Easy; Which far excels any Thing of the Kind yet publifhed. In which are included, One Hundred and Fifty new and ufeful Receipts, not inferted in any former Edition.
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