Cooking And Dining With The Wordsworth - Peter Brears

This detailed account of the Wordsworths' domestic life takes the reader into the home of the great poet in the Lake District during the early 19th Century. Including over 100 recipes of the best Lakeland fare taken from manuscript recipe books of the Wordsworth/ Hutchinson and Coleridge/ Fricker families, it exposes the truth behind Wordsworth's claim to be a simple water-drinking bard.

Here then is food from the poet's board and from the inns of the area: it includes Coleridge's all-purpose 'Utopia Stew', the chicken casserole that comforted his pangs of love for Sara Hutchinson, pickles and preserves, hot and cold desserts, cakes, soups and remedies, in all a precious insight for anyone interested in Wordsworth's life and times. All of this is bound together with wonderful colour photographs showing items such as: the beautifully decorated pace eggs by James Dixon — handyman, gardener and butler to the Wordsworth's at Rydal Mount, and pages from the very recipe book of Joanna Hutchinson.

• Portuguese Vegetable Soup
• Blanc Mange with Islinglass
• Plum Cake
• Macaroons
• "Meranghes"
• Toffee
• Ginger Beer