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Eliza Acton 1799 – 1859
“Modern Cookery for Private Families”
Eliza Acton was not a chef or cook, but a moderately successful author having had 2 volumes of poetry and numerous articles for periodicals published, but around 1835 her publisher advised her to write a cookery book to increase her income, as cookery books were becoming very popular.
She spent the next ten years testing and improving recipes and in 1845 her cookery book “Modern Cooking for Private Families” was published and she became the first modern cookery author. Her book sold well for she was a pioneer, developing a new style intended for ordinary people presenting a mix of traditional, homely and more adventurous dishes that pleased a broad audience and what is more, these recipes worked every time.
Over the years her book was printed and re-printed with the final edition appearing in 1914, but its influence is still continuing to this day amongst many of today’s modern chefs and cooks, while that most well-known of Victorian cookery writers Mrs Beeton, used 150 of Eliza’s recipes in her book of Household Management.
Eliza was the first cookery writer to lay out a recipe in the format now used, listing ingredients, mixing, cooking temperatures and times precisely so that the dish turned out successfully each time it was made.
Eliza Acton’s “ White Cream Dessert garnished with sliced strawberries” reproduced in 1:12th scale.
Eliza Acton’s “ Dressed Crab with Red Imperial Sauce” reproduced in 1:12th scale.
Dressed white crab meat in shell, garnished with lemon, served with red imperial sauce.
