Modern Cookery For Private Families

Several years ago my daughter gave me a copy of Eliza Acton’s Modern Cookery For Private Families, which was first published in 1845. I had only skimmed through as I didn’t have a lot of spare time when I was working and it does have over 600 pages! Now I am retired I have been able to study it in more detail and I found it fascinating.

Eliza Acton

Eliza Acton has been described by Delia Smith as the best cookery writer in the English language an other 20th century cookery writers such as Elizabeth David and Jane Grigson have acknowledged her influence on their work. Her book was the first cookery book aimed at the domestic market and she was the first cookery writer to list exact quantities of ingredients and exact cooking times.

The controversy surrounding Mrs. Beeton

Modern Cookery For Private Families continued in print until 1918, although it has been overshadowed by Mrs. Beeton’s Book of Household Management, published in 1861 two years after Eliza’s death. Mrs Beeton was guilty of stealing many recipes from ‘Modern Cookery’ and passing them off as her own. Indeed Sheila Hardy called her biography of Eliza ‘The Real Mrs Beeton.

My version of Eliza Acton’s Apple Charlotte

One of my favourite recipes is her recipe for Apple Charlotte. I found the original recipe made a rather large charlotte suitable for a Victorian family, not the smaller families of today. Using half the quantities made six individual charlottes using a six hole jumbo muffin tray.

Eliza Acton’s Apple Charlotte – My Way

Recipe by Scones Plus More

0.0 from 0 votes

Course: DessertCuisine: BritishDifficulty: Easy

Servings

Adjust servings

+

–

6

servings

Prep time

30

minutes

Cooking time

35

minutes

Ingredients

• Filling

• 1 ½ pounds prepared, peeled and cored apples – cut small. (You will need about 2 ½ pounds of apples to make the required 1 ½ pounds)

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 3 ounces butter

• 6 ounces sugar

• juice of ½ lemon

• Crust

• 1 small stale white loaf or about ½ a large one.

• 8 ounces butter

Directions

• Cook the apples, butter, sugar, cinnamon and lemon juice over a gentle heat until the apples soften and you have a thick apple puree.
• Allow the puree to become completely cold. I usually cook my apples the day before I make the charlotte.
• When the puree is cold pre-heat your oven to 190°C / 170°C Fan / 375°F / Gas Mark 5.
• Slice the bread thinly and remove the crusts.
• Grease the six cups in your jumbo muffin tray generously with butter.
• Melt the remaining butter.
• Cut six small rounds of bread to fit the bottom of the muffin cups and six larger ones to fit the tops.
• Cut the rest of the bread into strips to fit around the sides of the cups.
• Dip the smaller rounds of bread into the melted butter and place in the bottom of the muffin cups.
• Dip strips of bread into the melted butter to line the sides of the muffin cups so that you have six open topped round cases of bread.
• Fill the six open topped round cases of bread with the apple puree.
• Dip the larger rounds of bread into the melted butter and press these onto the top of the cases, sealing the edges gently.
• Cover the muffin tray with an ovenproof tray or plate and place a weight on top (I used the metal weights from my scales).
• Stand the muffin tin in a roasting tray or similar. The butter tends to leak during cooking and will make a mess of your oven, as I found out the first time I cooked a charlotte.
• Cook for about 35-45 minutes until the bread is golden brown.
• Remove from the oven and allow to stand for about 10 minutes or so before turning out.
• Serve warm with cream, ice cream or custard. I think they are especially delicious with custard.

Notes

• If you want to make a large apple charlotte, Eliza’s recipe can be made in a 9 inch round cake tin and will take about an hour or so to cook. It will serve at least 10 people.

Where to find the original Modern Cookery for Private Families

Modern Cookery for Private Families came back into print in the 1990s when there was a revival of interest in her work. My copy was printed in 2011 by Quadrille Publishing. If you are like me, interested in old cookery books and vintage recipes do try to get hold of a copy. You can get a copy at Amazon – Modern Cookery for Private Families at Amazon.

I have also noticed that it is now available online for free at Project Gutenberg – the following link will take you straight to her original An Apple Charlotte, or Charlotte De Pommes recipe.

I will also be reviewing some more of her recipes in future blogs.

Until next time..

Happy Baking!

Tanya