#ivan day

[aerosour]

it’s my birthday whores

[now-winter-comes-slowly]

Towards A True Twelfth Cake

A group of sugar cavalry officers parade round the Prince of Wales Feathers on top of a Regency period twelfth cake It seems ages sin...

It’s interesting to see how often figurines (whether of sugar or something a bit more permanent) and crowns are part of Twelfth Night cake decorations traditionally. Another of Ivan Day’s posts shows the charms that were hidden in a Twelfth Night cake to dictate the finder’s fortune for the year - again, some of them came premade and could be re-used from year to year. (Compare with Christmas pudding charms.) Over on Regina Ysewijn’s blog, Miss Foodwise, there’s also a photo of a whole antique set of Nativity scene figures designed to sit on a Twelfth Night cake.

[toytheatre]

Figure One - artificial fruits made from almond paste 

Figure Two - artificial flowers made from sugar paste

from a 1766 French dessert recreation by Ivan Day and Selma Schwartz 

[desimonewayland]

Pickled Radish Pods and the Archduchess of Austria

‘Silver tureen and stand. Ignaz Joseph Würth. 1779-1782. (photo Met Museum) Made for for Duke Albert Casimir of Sachsen-Teschen (1738-1822) and his consort, Archduchess Maria Christina of Austria (1742-1798), daughter of Empress Maria Theresa.

It has a lid heavily ornamented with a finial in the form of a plant with small pods looking rather like peas, but the leaves are not those of a member of the pea family. It is the rat tailed radish (Raphanus sativus), a form of radish cultivated not only for its roots, but for its delicious pods, which are marvellous eaten fresh, or pickled. They were once a common vegetable grown all over Europe and are making a bit of a comeback.

Another mystery about this object was its gilt lining, which can be seen clearly in the photo below. The probable explanation for this, was that this small tureen was actually designed for serving pickled radish pods. The vinegar in the pickle would chemically attack silver, but not neutral gold, so the Archduchess's pickled radish pods would be untainted! This a nice example of how food history studies can inform decorative arts scholars about the forgotten purpose of an item of table equipage.’

- Ivan Day

recipe from John Farley's The London Art of Cookery. London: 1789.

via: Ivan Day’s Food History Jottings

[toytheatre]

“Two 'cut-laid tarts' from the Earl of Carlisle's ambigu, made from designs in Robert May's The Accomplisht Cook (London: 1660)”

[toytheatre]

Victorian Jellies 

[toytheatre]

Recreation of an 1880s ball supper dessert buffet made by Ivan Day for his new six-part television series, Hungry For The Past.

[toytheatre]

“A 1770s sweetmeat glass containing a carved candied orange”