Elizabeth Marshall (cook) facts for kids
Elizabeth Marshall was a talented cook who ran a special cooking school and a pastry shop in Newcastle upon Tyne from about 1770 to 1790. She wrote a famous cookbook called The Young Ladies' Guide in the Art of Cookery. The book was made to help the young women who attended her school. It was printed by Thomas Saint, who also printed pictures by Thomas Bewick and a local newspaper called the Newcastle Courant.
Marshall was born in 1738 in a place called Swarland or Felton in Northumberland. She was christened (a type of naming ceremony) at St. Michael & All Angels Church on February 15th of that year. Her cooking school was located on Mosley Street in Newcastle upon Tyne. Interestingly, the printer Thomas Saint also had his printing press on the same street!
A Special Cookbook
Marshall's book, The Art of Cookery, is quite special because it includes recipes that use expensive ingredients from other countries. These include things like truffles, morels, pineapples, and lemons. She used a lot of these ingredients! For example, her recipe for "The Power of Lemons" starts with "Take 100 Lemons." This recipe was very advanced for its time. It showed that she understood how lemons could help prevent scurvy, a sickness caused by not getting enough vitamin C. This particular lemon recipe wasn't found in other cookbooks from the 1700s.
Rare Ingredients
Using truffles in recipes was very unusual in the late 1700s. Only a few other famous chefs, like Patrick Lamb in 1710 and Alexis Soyer much later in 1846, included them. A famous writer, Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, wrote in 1815 that truffles were usually only found on the tables of very rich people. This shows how special Marshall's recipes were.
Old Cooking Tricks
Her book also teaches us about how people cooked in the 1700s. For example, Marshall suggested washing butter in Rose water to remove its saltiness. This made the butter taste better for sweet dishes like cheesecakes, puddings, and pastries. She also used a clever trick to remove seeds from jellies: she would use a feather! This method is still used today for a special type of jam called Bar-le-duc jelly.
What's in the Book?
The book has many chapters covering different types of food. It includes recipes for:
- Cakes and puddings
- Pies and pastries
- Pickles and preserves
- Creams and custards
- Fish and seafood (like salmon, lobster, and oysters)
- Meats (like veal, beef, and venison)
- Soups and sauces
- Poultry (like chicken, goose, and turkey)
- Wines and essences
The book also has an index, which helps readers find recipes easily.
Meal Ideas
Marshall's cookbook even includes suggestions for how to plan meals. It has diagrams that show how the dishes should be placed on the table, helping her students learn how to present a beautiful meal.
