Not Exactly Fast Food

Please give a warm Nineteen Teen welcome to Mandy Hubbard, author of the adorable Prada and Prejudice, which hit stores this week! Mandy offers us insight into some of the more interesting aspects of mealtime. Enjoy!

First of all, thanks so much to Regina and Marissa for hosting me! Research is never my favorite part of writing (unless it’s watching a movie like Pride and Prejudice and drooling over Colin Firth) so I love Nineteen Teen, because I can get a little research in at a time.

In Prada and Prejudice, Callie Montgomery is a modern girl who ends up in 1815. One of her biggest challenges is navigating meal times, because she’s never sure what it is on her plate! I myself am not a very adventurous person when it comes to food—I’d be out of place at a fine dining establishment, never mind 1815!

While writing, I saved a number of recipes that I thought might disgust Callie, so I thought I’d share one of the more, em, interesting ones. (Courtesy of: http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~awoodley/recipes/order.html)

A Calves Head Hash
Your calves head being slit and cleansed half boiled, cold cut one side into thin slices, fry it in a pan of brown butter then toss pan on the stove with a pt of gravy, as much strong broth, a quarter of a pt of claret, as much white wine, a handful of savory balls, 2 or 3 shivered pallats, a pt of oysters, cocks combs, lambstones, and sweet breads boiled and blanched, sliced with mushroom truffles, Murrells, 2 or 3 anchovies, as many shallots, and faggot of sweet herbs tossed up, stewed together. Season it with savory spice, then scotch. Ye other side cross, cross flour baste, and broil it.

The Hash being thickened with brown butter, put it in the dish. Lay over and about it fried balls of the tongue sliced, larded with bacon, lemon peel, and beetroot, then fry in batter of eggs sliced sweetbreads, sippets, and oysters and lay in the head and place these on and about the dish and garnish it with sliced orange and lemon.

Can you imagine a girl who is used to McDonald’s and pizza sitting down and seeing a calf’s head staring back at her? EWWW.

Another interesting thing to note is that wealthy households cooked far more than they could ever eat—at least at the main table. It wasn’t uncommon to have ten items in each course! Callie had to learn to pace herself throughout the meal, picking at each course as she waited for the next one to arrive.

Lastly, I found it interesting that the kitchen and the dining room were never adjacent. Aristocrats did not want to smell the scents wafting in from the kitchen or hear the clanging of pots and plates. Servants had to race from the kitchen to the table to ensure it didn’t get cold before they served it!

I never envied the poor footmen trying to keep things warm and still get there on time! Thanks for joining us, Mandy!

Introducing the Duke of Harksbury

Today we are joined by Miss Priscilla Tate, the most fashionable member of La Petite Four, who is interviewing a very special guest. Miss Tate, I shall leave things in your capable hands.

PT: Thank you. I am thrilled to be given this prestigious honor of interviewing Alexander Thornton-Hawke, Duke of Harksbury. Welcome to Nineteen Teen, Your Grace! I must say you are the most presentable gentleman we’ve had to visit. Lady Emily reminded me that you are the only gentleman who has visited, but that is beside the point. I have researched the aristocracy quite extensively, and I can safely say that no one has your unique set of credentials.

How exactly did you manage to be so handsome er so young and still be a duke?

ATH: I must thank you for your kindness, for not all are awed by my title. Miss Rebecca, an American visitor at Harksbury, was rather unmoved by my credentials. She seems to think inheriting a title is unimpressive. I have to confess I was flummoxed by her reaction.

PT: I should think so! Imagine not being impressed by your muscles, er title. And you have quite an estate too. Please tell us about Harksbury and what you love most it.

ATH: Harksbury is a grand estate of 12,000 acres. Much if it is rolling meadows, but there is also quite a bit of forested land ripe for hunting, a favorite pastime of mine.

The home itself is made of exquisite stonework, though much of the eastern wing is covered in ivy. It is nestled on a hill and centered around a large courtyard. My mother enjoys roses, and the courts are positively brimming with them. If you asked her, she would say her favorite part is the large ballroom, for she is constantly finding occasions to host a dance or ball. As for me, I prefer the grounds rather than the home, and I intend to ride every acre of the estate before I turn twenty.

PT: And where do you get those stunningly handsome jackets of yours made?

ATH: I employ a very talented tailor, of course. He is in high demand but worth his exorbitant prices.

PT: I am rather impressed with how seriously you take your duties. What do you think a duke’s most important duty might be?

ATH: I must take my duties seriously, for it is my responsibility to see that Harksbury prospers. It is vital that I make the correct investments and choices. I am the seventh Duke of Harksbury, and I must ensure that there will be a eighth and ninth.

PT: Your dear cousin, I believe, was recently threatened with an arranged marriage. Do you have an idea of the young lady you would see as your duchess? And is she by any chance blond?

ATH: Oh, I am far too busy to think of such matters, though my mother would like to disagree. Perhaps in another few years I’ll enter the marriage mart. For now, I indulge her whims by dancing with an eligible lady or two, but I do not intend to settle just yet.

PT: [Grumbling is heard in the background, something to the effect of the good ones being unwilling to commit.] Ahem, well, I understand you are considered an expert horseman. What is your favorite mount and why?

ATH: I have a new and spirited thoroughbred stallion named Ghost. He is a challenge, but faster than any other horse at Harksbury. I’ll be taking him on his first hunt soon.

PT: Now, I must know, when Rebecca returned to Harksbury for the first time in years, what did you think?

ATH: She seemed quite out of place! Her English accent had disappeared. I’ve not had the chance to meet many Americans, but I have to wonder if the rest are like her. She’s quite outspoken. Is that the way of Americans? I must confess that the two of us did not get along well in the beginning.

PT: No, no, no. What did you think of her shoes? I understand they were amazing!

ATH: She does have odd taste in shoes, does she not? I’d never seen anything like them.

PT: Neither had I! Ah, well, our time has gone all too quickly. Thank you so much for this interview. If you, dear reader, would like to know more about our delightful duke and the shoes that brought a certain young lady to his attention, please look for him in Mandy Hubbard’s Prada and Prejudice, out this week from Penguin Razorbill!

Getting an Education

The school year is drawing to a close in the states. Most students I know can’t wait for the freedom of summer vacation. But schooling was a very different animal in nineteenth century England, especially if you were a girl.

Marissa has talked about how things changed through the century when it comes to etiquette and knowing who was in your class and who wasn’t. At the beginning of the century, life was also more predictable. You were born in a location, you took up your father’s occupation or became a wife like your mother, you married someone else who lived nearby, your children took up your occupation, and you died in the same location, sometimes never even having seen the next village two miles away! The most education you needed was the ability to read the Bible (or have someone read it to you), and you could get that in Sunday School.

But the Industrial Revolution and the rise of a middle class changed all that. People who could read and write and speak intelligently had opportunities, so the middle class mamas and papas wanted to invest in education. Private schools, especially for young ladies, sprang up to accommodate them. The government realized that people needed to read and write to work in the new economy, so they sponsored schools too. Whole “teaching colleges” arose where people of all walks of life could apprentice to become teachers of the next generation.

So, if you were a young lady in a family of some means, your education might include

• Instruction from your mother on how to behave as a young lady


• A private school with other young ladies to learn the basics and fit you for an occupation as a shop keeper or seamstress


• A governess trained in reading, writing, math, perhaps a foreign language, and definitely needlepoint


• A select academy or finishing school to “finish” you for your debut in society.

Early in the century, most families opted for the first; the second wasn’t much available and you were more likely to be apprenticed into a trade, if you were lucky; and only the most wealthy took advantage of the last two. By the end of the century, many of the middle class were taking advantage of the select academy, and duke’s daughters were rubbing elbows with the daughters of wealthy merchants. And life was never quite the same again!

So, for all those who are graduating this year, here’s to the Class of 2009, especially Ted and Nathaniel! Your lives are changing too. May the future be yours! Carpe Diem!

Please come back next week, when we have a special set of guest posts by up-and-coming YA author, Mandy Hubbard, whose Prada and Prejudice hits stores June 12! Boy, does her heroine get an education when she’s transported back to the nineteenth century!