S2 E4: B is for Bakestone, Béchamel and Barbecue

A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink

Cooking is essentially a series of techniques. In Episode 4 Neil, Sam and Allie explore an ancient form of hearth cookery; find out why being called Béchamel could merit a kick in the posterior and get sizzling on the barbie. (No cakes or dolls were harmed in the making of this podcast 😉).

Useful Links

Neil’s recipes:

• https://britishfoodhistory.com/2012/02/21/pancake-day/
• https://britishfoodhistory.com/2020/12/03/to-make-crumpets/
• https://britishfoodhistory.com/2024/10/29/singin-hinnies/
• https://neilcooksgrigson.com/2015/07/13/411-brains-with-curry-and-grape-sauce/
• Delicious Legacy Podcast- A Short History of Barbecue
• Motherland Pig Episode: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p07rsphm
• The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover - Peter Greenaway (1989)
• Goodfellas BBQ Scene
• Saint Lawrence Patron Saint of Cooks
• First Catch Your Gingerbread - Sam Bilton (2020) Perkins recipe
• Mark Meltonville - https://www.meltonville.uk/
• The Culinary Triangle Claude Lévi-Strauss (1966)
• Sumario de la historia general de las indias - Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés (1526)
• A New Voyage Round the World - William Dampier(1697)
• Dictionary of the English Language - Samuel Johnson (1755)

Suggested Reading

• French cookery: comprising L'art de la cuisine francaise, Le patissier royal, Le cuisinier parisien - Marie Antoine Carême (1836 edition)
• Kettner’s Book of Table - E. S. Dallas (1877)
• English Bread and Yeast Cookery - Elizabeth David (1977)
• A Book of Bakestone Cookery - Bobby Freeman (1984)
• The Scots Kitchen: It’s Lore and Recipes - F Marian McNeill (1929)
• Cooked - Michael Pollan (2013)
• The Saucier’s Apprentice - Raymond Sokolov (1976)
• Le cuisinier françois - François Pierre de la Varenne (1651)
• Food & Cooking in Sixteenth-Century Britain: History and Recipes - Peter Brears (1985)

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and Bluesky

Sam Bilton also hosts the Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron and The Philosophy of Chocolate. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar, Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeperas well as Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Allie Pino hosts the Fear Feasts Podcast with Vanessa Baca and is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky