How to Run a Stuart Household

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 24 February 2025

⏱️ 37 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Professor Suzannah Lipscomb delves into the world of Stuart-era recipe books, in which medicine, cookery and women's roles combine in fascinating ways. She discovers how these volumes were far more than just cookbooks, offering a window into how women collected and shared knowledge, and how female identity was shaped within the domestic sphere.

Suzannah's guest Dr. Kimberley Connor introduces the intriguing 1675 recipe book of Margaret Baker, which includes everything from plague preventatives to culinary delights, for example a simple spiced eggy bread that was both a tasty breakfast and a remedy for back pain.

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, the editor and producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

Theme music from All3Media. Other music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.4	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes,
0:08.4	sign up to History Hit.
0:09.9	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:15.2	including my own, on Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn, Brilliant Rivals.
0:19.3	And enjoy a new release every week.
0:22.0	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:27.6	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit,
0:33.3	the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,
0:37.7	from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise.
0:43.1	Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
0:47.6	Not in other words just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:10.2	In the 16th and 17th centuries, recipe or receipt books were far more than manuals of food preparation, though they were also that.
1:15.3	There were collections of knowledge from beautifying potions to remedies for illness and pain relief,
1:18.3	from conduct guides to experiments with herbal medicines.
1:24.1	With their roots in medieval books of secrets, writers and compilers of these all-purpose guides grouped together instructions for domestic cooking, the art of distillation,
1:28.2	health elixas and sugarcraft, as well as laundry notes and techniques of starching.
1:33.8	They document changing habits, innovation and adaptation in times of scarcity and the influence
1:40.1	of the emerging spice trade.
1:42.2	Today we'll be talking about Margaret Baker. One of her receipt books
1:45.9	from around 1675, now at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C., includes a
1:51.4	preservative against the plague, a medicine for one that cannot hold their water in their sleep,
	...

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