What Did Working Class People Eat in the Victorian Era?
The Victorians were a peculiar bunch. Turns out, that could have something to do with what they ate. Though many of the dishes that landed on Victorian dinner tables may appear stomach-churning today, at the time they were commonly enjoyed or even regarded as delicacies.
The Victorians’ penchant for odd food and flavour combinations was especially pronounced since the finest and best quality foods were reserved for the wealthy: poorer Victorians were forced to come up with ingenious and sometimes bizarre recipes to make their ingredients go further. Not ones to waste any part of an animal, you might wash down a mouthful of cow brain with a cup of fresh blood.
In this video, Dan Snow experiences some of the food options that would have been on the menu for a member of the Victorian working-class.
First, he reluctantly tries some sheep's trotters. In the Victorian era, sheep's feet were usually boiled allowing you to just gnaw on the greasy, grisly appendage until you cleaned it down to the bone. There wasn't very much meat on one of these, and there was also the potential that it wasn't very clean either.
Next, Dan tastes some jellied eels. Exactly what it sounds like, the dish ‘jellied eels’ consists of eel chunks coated in their own ‘naturally produced gelatin’. Invented in London’s East End and sold directly from street food carts, the dish was often flavoured with a splash of vinegar or dollop of butter.
After a roast loin of mutton, Dan finishes off his Victorian eating experience with a good old fashioned Christmas pudding - which has become synonymous with the Victorian period thanks to the work of Charles Dickens and the character of Mrs Cratchit.
Do you think you could have got by on the diet of a working class Victorian? Let us know in the comments.
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Пікірлер: 370
'I'd only eat it if I was desperate' says a lot. They were.
@Cocklord911
9 ай бұрын
Lol skill issue
@SpiderPigggg
7 ай бұрын
why didn't they eat KFC
@jasonuren3479
7 ай бұрын
@@SpiderPiggggMaybe because KFC didn't come to the UK until 1965? 🤔
@michelles2299
6 ай бұрын
Probably really nutritious
@samanthasmith61
5 ай бұрын
i mean it doesn't taste nice but probably better than our junk food and sugary lmao
sheep trotters can be very delicious if prepared right, and literally fall of the bones tender. i'm quite certain whoever cooked for the show just have no idea how to cook it
@mariomaka9802
10 ай бұрын
I get the same idea for a lot of these videos, they give people such poorly cooked things to try, and then they overreact saying everything is disgusting.
@michelles2299
6 ай бұрын
Still cooked in some Asian cuisine the jelly is full of collagen
@charlieross4674
16 күн бұрын
Iranians and their neighbours eat head and hooves for breakfast, it's called Kaleh Pacheh. While I don't much like the jelly-like feet, I do like the head. Never ate the eye though. It's a very sustaining food and healthy indeed
@charlieross4674
16 күн бұрын
That trotter was hardly cooked- it should be cooked for several hours, preferably overnight!
The Victorian era ended with Queen Victoria's death in 1901, not 1914 as shown. In fact, I'm not sure where you got your dates from at all. She was born in 1819 and became queen in 1837.
@RixPayne
11 ай бұрын
Yeah, doesn't bode well when a 'History' channel cannot get basic dates right. According to that bizarre date range the Edwardian era didn't exist.
@nicolad8822
11 ай бұрын
The “Victorian era” in some definitions apparently corresponds roughly but not exactly to the period of her reign. I think they know the actual dates perfectly well.
@resnonverba137
11 ай бұрын
@@nicolad8822 Any definition that quotes the Victorian age as starting before she was even born is simply wrong. Quite aside from the point raised by Rix above.
@nicolad8822
11 ай бұрын
@@resnonverba137Well it seems to be an accepted thing.🤷🏻♀️ see Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Historical Association.
@resnonverba137
11 ай бұрын
@@nicolad8822 Some seem to think that men can be women. Common sense dictates otherwise in both cases.
The Victorian era saw a huge rise in cookbooks, experimentation in cuisine, and the consumption of liquor (hence the temperance movements that sprouted up throughout the period). Canned goods were on the rise, especially vegetables, with a number of prominent individuals during the period become vegetarians.
My dad used to bring home jellied eels from the fish market in Birmingham City centre. And he used to eat pigs trotters, although, with the smell they gave off you'd have thought they walked home by themselves
@barrelrolldog
10 ай бұрын
how did he prepare the trotters?
@thisasiankidistrashfordram374
10 ай бұрын
In East & Southeast Asia, we put vegetables, spices & other strong flavorings & boil the trotters in it for a long time. So trotter dishes rarely smell bad.
@michelles2299
6 ай бұрын
And tripe now a delicacy only served in Michelin star restaurants
Great video thank you, not sure on the dates there though, 1837 - 1901 surely?
@erminedereims400
2 ай бұрын
No necessary, he got the 1914 date correct. The Edwardian period 1901-1914 is often referred to by historians as an extension of the Victorian period, there was no radical changes in those years from Victoria’s reign apart from it was under her son Edward (a complete Victorian) and hence renamed Edwardian. 1820 is a stretch however as 1820-1830 but also 1810-1830 is famously the ‘Regency Era’ of George 4th, and therefore not the Victorian era. 1830 is probably a better date for the start of the Victorian period as Victoria was heir to the throne and the centre of British life, her uncle William is a forgettable and unremarkable king who let his niece shine, hence why the 1830s have no particular name.
Pigs trotters, in our house in the 60s/70s, my Jamaican mother would cook what we call Pea Soup (made with Kidney Beans - we call all beans, peas) and either pig trotters or cow feet to bulk it out. Never had the stomach to eat the meat, but damn, the soup was incredibly tasty. If you had no money and were hungry, you'd eat it.. My poor dad never refused a meal until he got very ill in the last few months of his life with stomach cancer. He said he remembered being a child in Jamaica and seeing food and imagining what it would taste like. When a kindly cousin or aunt gave him food to eat, he ate it, no questions asked.
@dickhardpicard
10 ай бұрын
Pig feet is common for southern black Americans
I have never heard of people eating sheep's trotters, but pig's trotters were commonly eaten by my parents working class families and neighbours over a hundred years ago. The rest of the animal would be turned into pork joints, chops, bacon, sausages, and brawn. Cow heels were another working class "delicacy," and also tripe and tongue. I will be eternally thankful that being born shortly after the end of WW2, during rationing, I have never had to try any of these things apart from pressed cow's tongue, which is actually a rather nice cold meat.
@royfearn4345
11 ай бұрын
Tripe and onions is a favourite delicacy of mine!
@pigeonplucker01
11 ай бұрын
@@royfearn4345 and mine😍
@monicawarner4091
11 ай бұрын
@@royfearn4345 • It was my mother's favourite too. I only ever tried one tentative bite of tripe, decided that the feel in my mouth was what I would expect biting a slug would feel like. I wasn't brave enough to actually chew and swallow the piece though. 😬
@anthonykaiser974
11 ай бұрын
Pickled pig feet are common in the Southern US, Scandinavia, and China. Of course the Chinese eat things we would never touch.
@tattie278
10 ай бұрын
I was born in 1960’s and can remember eating tongue into the 1980’s. It was bought cooked and sliced; actually quite tasty.
While it is interesting to see some of the foods we would consider odd, this hardly represents the normal diet of average people in Victorian England. Copious amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits, fish, meat (quality and quantity according to wealth), and of course bread. Pottages and porridges were typical, and puddings were pretty common. (Not all puddings were Christmas pudding.) But it should be remembered that during that era, there was widespread disparity between the classes in England. (And most other places). What the poor saw as a rare treat, the middle class had weekly, and the wealthy had elaborate versions created for daily meals. While the poor made do with gruesome cuts of meat, some of the time, the middle class ate good meat at all meals. But the wealthy had the best cuts, and a variety of meats at every meal.
@leegosling
11 ай бұрын
Bread and vinegar on Sundays.
@recoil53
11 ай бұрын
It also depends on when in the Victorian era and where. The Victorian era spans 64 years, from the beginning of the industrial era into urban blight. Villagers and farm workers away from the industrialization probably had a healthier diet. An urban factory worker living in the slums was living mostly on adulterated bread, with very little meat and few vegetables.
@martinhoran9529
10 ай бұрын
In Peter Jackson's doc "They Shall Not Grow Old" it's pointed out that at the beginning of the Great War the average Englishman was in very poor health mostly due to diet, and it took months to get them battle-ready. That was at the end of the era, so per your observation they should have been in better shape. So, your opinion is that they ate better. I'll go with the historians that made this video and believe they ate like crap.
@janerkenbrack3373
10 ай бұрын
@@martinhoran9529 I didn't say what you imply. There were far more poor in England than middle class or wealthy. What I did say was that diet varied based on income, and that the items featured were not the normal fare of the people.
@jowolf2187
10 ай бұрын
@@martinhoran9529 It takes months to get people today "battle ready"; it's more a function of mental and physical conditioning than poor health. Plus, the Victorian era saw numerous battles and skirmishes throughout the empire, and the British army was already packed with young men via the idea that was being pushed that it was noble and even glorious to fight and die for god, king, and country. The average English diet often contained more bread, porridge and meat than vegetables because the average Englishman was poor (and the Brits to this day seem to have an odd aversion to any vegetables other than root vegetables). The British empire also included Canada and numerous other territories right up to the first world war (and those territories were by and large not truly given up until after WWII). The Canadians, Indians, people of Hong Kong, and many of the other colonies had diets rich in vegetables and grains (because that's what was available in those areas). Documentaries that were made for commercial consumption (such as the one you're quoting) also gravely sacrifice evidence and the whole truth for commercial viability, that is to say they want to be entertaining as well as informative.
I've had sheeps trotters prepared and cooked in crispy parcels in France. It was lovely.
Dan seems to only have access to cold food. As far as "lighting the brandy" you have to heat it up to get some fumes which light very well. You use a ladle with brandy in it, heat it up a bit, catch the fumes on fire and thing pout it on the warm plum pudding.
My mother was born in 1924 Tottenham. She came over to States as a war bride. When we were growing up, she would tell us about these foods and more, so it wasn't just the Victorian Age.
@HVS-gk7oo
10 ай бұрын
Of course poor people kept eating cheap food years after a specific date. They couldn't afford to shop for newer trendier recipes.
Food and History facts go together so well . Love these videos ty .
Bread? Vegetables? Porridge? Eggs? Fish? I would have expected these to feature.
I have eaten both sheep and pigs trotters - and I love them! Don’t let your prejudices rule your lives.
@babuzzard6470
10 ай бұрын
🤮🤮each to their own! But, 🤮🤮
I think with the number of people in work houses and orphanages, and women selling themselves for food and a warm bed, it is safe to say that there were a lot of really desperate people in Victorian England. Cheers from the US.
Dan is the man. Love your work 👍
Lovely if cooked properly..... I'm doing pigs trotters for tea today...😊
Pickled pigs feet a delicacy here in the south. And I've had cow tongue many times.
@ishrendon6435
9 ай бұрын
Here in mexico cow tongue tacos are a delicacy. We put alot of oil when cooking. Nice and tender
@snowysnowyriver
9 ай бұрын
Absolutely delicious!
Jellied eels are still a London delicasy even today and you can get them in any Pie and Mash shop. I remember walking around the east end of London 20 years ago with my French girlfriend when we saw a jellied eel stall. I told her what they were and she was keen to try them and actualy, just like my father, loved them !
@raybod1775
11 ай бұрын
Spices and cooking makes all the difference.
firstly, those lamb trotters need to be cooked longer and highly seasoned, those ones where tough and cold. secondly, eels prefer clean water actually and are still enjoyed by many Londoners
@Tryingcounts
11 ай бұрын
Are eels really eaten given they are so rare? I am not from London (berks) but never ever saw eel.
@alexanderclaire
11 ай бұрын
@@Tryingcounts yes, though most are imported from the Netherlands
@Tryingcounts
11 ай бұрын
@@alexanderclaire wow, interesting. Thanks!
@simonh6371
10 ай бұрын
Have you tried smoked eel? That's delicious, really nice and oily and moist like mackerel or salmon.
When I was a small boy, my mother would tell me to go to the butcher and ask him for a sheep's head. She would also add, "And tell him to leave the legs on."
@duncanbryson1167
11 ай бұрын
😂
@charlieross4674
16 күн бұрын
Did you actually have to visit the butcher? I'd like to know more, if you would share
@oz1902
16 күн бұрын
@@charlieross4674 It's a very old joke I'm afraid.
I wonder sometimes if the food you eat has been prepared correctly or maybe should be eaten hot/warm. the first two items you were eaten seemed cold, maybe heating would improve them
Just a bit of Xmas pudding for me please 😋
You have to warm your brandy in a ladle before you light it and pour it on the pudding.
Growing up in the United States, Montana to be specific, we raised sheep for wool and meat but we NEVER did the trotters! We’d cook trotters (sheep or pig) down for the protein and then use it as a base for bean or lentil soups, I thought that was pretty extreme. Dan, you are seriously an OG! ❤
Everything apart from jellied eels I'd just take as an acquired taste. A lot of people these days can't stand liver pate but I've always enjoyed it.
@keithjones9546
10 ай бұрын
My hillbilly ancestors ate every part of the pigs they slaughtered on their farm, even making head cheese (souse). I'm 58. All 4 grandparents born in the 1800's. Sometime ca. 1970's, they started becoming snobby about eating nasty pigs, and they certainly wouldn't keep, let alone eat or milk, goats -- it was just too hillbilly even for them. They were, after all, sending their youngest kids to college and moving up. I'm kind of grossed out by things like braunschweiger but still sneak a package of it home and share it (sparingly) with my dog while trying not to think what it really is.
Great video
The Victorian era actually ended in 1901 following Queen Victoria's death. The era between her death and WWI is called the Edwardian era, after King Edward VII who succeeded her on the throne.
@anne-sophiekuentz6875
10 ай бұрын
It also didn't start in 1820 but in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the throne...
@lipstickblue5193
10 ай бұрын
I'm glad I wasn't the only one that noticed the error.
Sheep trotters same as pork trotters if prepared correctly are really nice, they just look gross. I recommend The best food review show, it shows a lot of food like this.
The thing is, when there's nothing else available, you'll eat just about anything to satisfy your hunger. You didn't waste any part of the animal. Re: the Christmas pudding, you have to warm the alcohol before it will ignite.
@rustomkanishka
10 ай бұрын
The Christmas pudding seems to be the only place anyone used any of the spices the empire conquered.
@patriciagerresheim2500
10 ай бұрын
@@rustomkanishka If you look at medieval recipes, you'll see that spices were used quite a lot by the upper classes. Peasants would save up in order to buy a little bit of spice, especially cinnamon and ginger, to use in their holiday baking, which is why gingerbread is traditional at Christmastime. By the time you get to the 18th century, spices were more available to average people all through the year. Eighteenth-century people were quite fond of nutmeg, and you find it in a lot of recipes from that time. The very poor in the Victorian era still had trouble affording spices, even though they were widely available for all sorts of dishes, which is why Dickens waxed so lyrical about the Cratchits' pudding.
@babuzzard6470
10 ай бұрын
Trouble is, when you Light it, you lose all the booze.
@patriciagerresheim2500
10 ай бұрын
@@babuzzard6470 True, but you use so little, it really doesn't matter. It's mostly for effect.
@catgladwell5684
10 ай бұрын
I was amazed that Dan tried to set cold brandy alight. He must have seen someone doing it before now.
I'm sure mutton shoulder browned and braised in stock and ale till falling apart would be quite good. Much like a beef pot roast.
@robanderson473
11 ай бұрын
The Donnybrook pub do the best lamb shanks, you just have to look at them and the meat falls off the bone!
Those trotters weren't cooked anywhere near long enough. They should have been braised/slow cooked until the collagen and connective tissue were meltingly tender
I have had smoked eel and mutton stew and spit roast mutton spiked with garlic. I had veal and beef tongue. I had German Blutwurst ( kinda like bloodsausage/pudding)
@anthonykaiser974
11 ай бұрын
Mutton barbecued with a good peppery vinegar baste, Kentucky style, is really good!
@simonh6371
10 ай бұрын
We still like our black pudding (blood sausage) here in the UK as part of an English breakfast. The German Blutwurst, Polish one (I've forgotten the name) and Spanish morcilla are pretty good too. But the Dutch black pudding is so full of sweet spices like cinnamon it's revolting, I bought some once when I lived there and chucked it in the bin as it was so overspiced it was inedible.
The problem is not only being trotters. It’s how you cook them. In Portugal we eat pig’s trotters (“pézinhos de coentrada”). Traditionally poor man’s food, today a delicacy. Of course not everyone eats them (especially the younger generations that are only used to eating clean cuts of meat). But well done and well seasoned (with lots of garlic and coriander leaves) they’re quite a treat!!
I love these so much
If you’re Caribbean, African or South Asian English you’d be very familiar with mutton. I had curried mutton (cheaper replacement for goat) a few days ago. Had cow foot recently too.
@rustomkanishka
10 ай бұрын
As an Indian with Iranain ancestry I never understood why Americans tended to shit on British mutton. I tried some. It's like the cooks are going out of their way to insult the poor bugger's memory. I hope the immigrants have shared wisdom from back home.
@KC-gy5xw
10 ай бұрын
@@rustomkanishka Yep, when it's cooked well, it's delicious! Love a nice bit of mutton, but goat is so easy to get these days, and damn, they even cut out the evil bones for you!!
We used to get sheep's trotters and cow heel from the local market in the Fifties and sixties. As well as tripe Ox tongue was a favourite as well and of course sheep and pigs' heads.
@KC-gy5xw
10 ай бұрын
I remember growing up in the 60's/70's and kids at school being amazed that we had a whole chicken to roast on Sunday lunch.. Remember they were not so cheap and popular back then, until farming methods made them so cheap..
It takes a special kind of person to go back for a second bite. Respect!
Not only has mutton itself fallen out of fashion but also the saying ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ referring to a woman ‘past her prime’ who is overly made-up and wearing clothes that perhaps she shouldn’t be wearing ‘at her age’. Not heard anyone say it for years.
@JayM-wg7dd
11 ай бұрын
Maybe in Britain and America, but everywhere else in Europe, as well as much of the rest of the world, eat mutton happily. People in other countries are less inclined towards our relatively bland food so what's in and out of 'fashion' is relatively subjective.
I'm pushing 71 years old. When i was a child my grandmother used to serve up pig's trotters, lamb's feet and calf's feet. All were very delicious. She used to serve them with suet dumplings and the veg cooked in the pot such as whole onions, whole carrots etc. I think the problem with these type of videos is that they don't cook the food properly. The trotters and feet used to be left on the banked up fire overnight to slowly stew. The cooking had to be started the day before you want to eat it. The meat should fall off the bone the way meat does on ox-tails. This man is behaving like a 21st century spoiled brat. He's trying to eat something that is undercooked.....and then complaining about it. Perhaps a nice Big Mac is more his speed.
He should check out the fermented viking era food Icelanders eat in February 😅
"I'm going in..." 🤣🤣🤣🤣
It's curious how historical cultural practices can overlap the generations.. I mean, I'm not THAT old, but I can remember my grandmother eating (with apparent relish) tripe, a thing so disgusting in appearance and smell that I could not countenance even trying it. Well done on the trotters there Dan. You are a braver man than I. Nice one team! 🌟👍
@royfearn4345
11 ай бұрын
Tripe is yummy, cold with salt, Pepper and vinegar or hot in tripe and onions!
@wkcia
9 ай бұрын
Cook with onions, vinegar, and ginger. It’s surprisingly easy to make delicious.
Jack London wrote about a fellow on his way to the work house who picked up a discarded grape stem from the spit covered sidewalk and ate it.
@robanderson473
11 ай бұрын
Thanks very much, you just put me off my jellied eels!
@simonh6371
10 ай бұрын
From his book ''People of the abyss'' where he came to London and lived amongst the poor in the East End of London around 1900ish. Really good book. Orwell did the same thing about 20-30 years later which he describes in ''Down and out in Paris and London'', and in northern England which he wrote about in ''The road to Wigan Pier''. The mainstay of the working class diet in England then was bread and margarine, and tea.
Great content!
I'm in my late 40's (so not THAT old). I loved calvesfoot jelly as a kid, with vinegar and white pepper!!
I’m sorry to be laughing at you, Dan.. but your responses to the first two are hilarious! You are the bravest man I know- I am sure of , I saw you eat sweetbreads!
Jellied eels reminds me of the braun my mother and grandparents ate. It was some sort of meat (pork?) in a jelly like substance. It was cut in slices and they’d put it on a sandwich.
@thexbigxgreen
11 ай бұрын
It's called aspic
@python27au
11 ай бұрын
@@thexbigxgreen yeah sounds right 👍
@aparrotformrpoirot8906
11 ай бұрын
its made from a pigs head i think
@python27au
11 ай бұрын
@@aparrotformrpoirot8906 about as appetising as trotters and eels too😬
@aparrotformrpoirot8906
11 ай бұрын
@@python27au i tried it once it was not to bad ill leave the eels and trotters well alone tho
Jellied eels amazing😊
Amazng how dan wouldnt even know what the working class eat today!
Pigs trotters used to be quite popular in Ireland, sold as 'cruíbíns' which is the gaelic word for trotters. I imagine mutton would be too gamey but apparently pigs feet is still popular in some southern states in america
@davidhookway514
9 ай бұрын
My Grandmother who was Irish, tried Pigs Trotters and Tripe on me ' NO ' - I did like Oxtail Stew.
The class system is alive and kicking the working classes. Revolution of thought and compassion is desperately needed..
How sad thay you feel that way about pigs feet. They are a delicacy in my culture! When slow cooked and seasoned correctly😊
Yep, they must have been very hungry to eat these things. Thanks for illuminating this little known bit of British history. It was certainly “interesting”!
@michelles2299
6 ай бұрын
Little known I don't think so some of these foods are still eaten and extremely nutritious most offal is now put into dog food and it's the most nutritious part of an animal very good for the gut micro biome which is largely over looked it's all protein powder and ultra processed food and they wonder why there is so much depression and poor health
People were eating jellied eels when I was a schoolchild. We eat pigs trotters at home - horrible, but if you’re hungry, you eat them…
Yes to the triggers and jellies eels!
Fair play to Dan for eating some of these things. I certainly couldn't hahaha.
Sheeps feet are not even cooked fully. How could you possibly get a real comparison?
8:01 and something to stamp out the taste of the trotters and eels😋
I disagree about the jellied eels. Get rid of the jelly - although great for a fish sauce or such - and the eel meat is amazing without any little bones. I wish Tesco would bring them back.
@federicocatelli8785
10 ай бұрын
Very true fatty but tasty.Had them roasted in Comacchio (Italy) where it's traditional
When he ate the eels all I could think of was the mighty boosh song eels!
Mutton and Christmas Pudding are things I like. The other things sound awful! I remember on the Supersizers series that on the Victorian episode they had a roast calf's head.
Roast mutton was the only roast we had growing up.
Went around the world... for SPICES..still didnt season the TROTS. Needed to be cooked tender in a stew, quite nice.
I had boiled goat feet made by some friends from Afghanistan and my reaction was pretty much the same as you eating the sheep trotters
I love jellied eels and don’t care who knows it!
Used to go fishing down the old coal wharfs in Brisbane, caught a lot of Eels, The old Italian guy a bit up the hill from me used to buy 'em off me. My mate and I were delighted at the money he gave us for them. never tried them myself.My mum thought they were disgusting and would have nothing to do with them.
There's a line in a Dorothy L Sayers novel in which someone makes the disparaging comment about another woman "Mutton dressed as lamb"
I've never heard of sheep Trotters. 😂 I seriously thought it was going to be a sheep turd.
The Victorian era was until 1901, and it was the Edwardian era after that. She didn’t take the throne until 1837 as well.
You need to heat the Brandy if you want it to flambe
I remember both sheep and pig trotters my mum boiled in the 70’s. I used to get a wallop if I didn’t eat them all up. My grandmother loved her jellied eels. Boiled sheep tongues was another favourite of my mum and dad. 🤮
I'm Moroccan and I think mutton feet are quite tasty. You just need to prepare them right and with the right seasoning. :)
Mutton is still big in Australia today. Nothing here looks inedible, just acquired tastes.
You Need to boil the pig feet untill it fall of the bone, after a first boil in salt water, than a second boil in clean water with spice like five spice and bay leaf, pepper corn, and soysauce
There is nothing wrong with jellies eels with vinegar and pepper. I still love them these days at 63 years old😊
@Colbato.
7 ай бұрын
yes the young lad is a whiner and puts on a show like it's undrinkable.
Mutton isn't that bad. It's actually pretty nice
@rustomkanishka
10 ай бұрын
Mutton is amazing if you know how to cook it.
Sheeps trotters are full of collagen, good for your skin and joints, and a cheap equivalent of meat, so of course they were popular - But I believe they taste much better served hot rather than cold and cooked to the point when everything falls off the bone. If you have to struggle with the chewiness of every bite, I bet it is not pleasant from modern point of view. A bit of salt would improve the taste too, but salt was an expensive commodity, so perhaps not for everyone. I grew up eating pigs trotters and chicken feet, and I appreciate how available they were back then (not anymore, not so much), that gives you a brilliant gelatine based savoury dishes full of nutrition. I would love to try sheeps trotters, but I would cook them my way, as I am not a fan of animal tissue being too chewy - I would have cooked them longer.😃
That xmas pudding looks dry as dirt. It says a lot about a food when you have to dous it in alcohol.
Dan will not die of of a surfeit of eels! 😂😂😂
Dan Snow should do these historical food review videos together with James May.
@dannygallaghermisc7593
11 ай бұрын
Im no fan of the show but id pay to watch him do a bush tucka trial😂
it worries (and sort of annoys me) that offal is just dumped now into whatever pet food will take it. There is nothing wrong with liver, beef, pig, sheep or chicken liver is lovely and each has a different taste, you just have to know the best ways to cook it. There are still cultures where the offal are relished, why is this not so in the world in general?
@simonh6371
10 ай бұрын
It is the case in the world in general. In all continental European countries people still eat offal, like pig's liver and chicken livers, tripe, and outside Europe people hearts and gizzards, even lungs. I know dozens of ways to cook them from all over. Pate is eaten a lot more in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, probably more than once a week as a staple in peoples' fridges, and that's made from liver. It's only really in the anglosphere - UK and USA particularly - that we don't eat it so much nowadays as most people live off ultra processed food, ''artificial'' food as a Jamaican guy I knew used to call it. That's less than half a billion out of a planet of 7-8 billion so it's just us that's in the minority. But these ingredients are easy to get hold of, they even sell chicken livers in my local small Tesco, and easy to cook, and very nutritious. Halal butchers are everywhere in cities nowadays and they sell lots of offal.
@barrelrolldog
10 ай бұрын
I agree, i live in asia and its not even weird at all to eat offal. Its a shame really how we find this stuff weird in england, if most people tried it they would change their mind.
@JameaJimea1175
9 ай бұрын
Well for one it has an awful name
Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, 1820 was the Georgian period… 🙄 She died in 1901.
Goat trotters (paya), simmered for hours in a spicy broth, is quite popular in Bangladesh.
@abhikghosh6110
11 ай бұрын
And in India too among Muslims
@rustomkanishka
10 ай бұрын
Aye, excellent for anyone recovering from a long bout of illness. Then again, the only time I saw a dish in this video with spices was the Christmas pudding. Also, I'm a home cook and I've seen enough westerners salivating at the moglai stock.
This is why I strongly opposed time travel.
@HistoryHit
11 ай бұрын
🤣
Even as of today…. Most people around the world still eating trotters: pork, lamb, veal… and tripe …. I was luck to tried these dishes in Marocco, Turkey, Singapore, Italy, Romania, France, Munich, Poland … and they were delicious… so the taste is not depends on the main ingredient but on how you prepare and on how you cook it…. The British was never knows for their cooking were they?
You would eat all of these if it was all you could afford.
You need the heat the brandy if you want it to flame!!
You should have tried the Upper class food instead.
Is anyone cooking these properly for you ? Trotters and eels are delicious….if done properly
Remember my brother having a clip around the ear for making a noise when eating.
Rock and roll tuna pants
PLEASE tell me you washed your hands before handling that book, Dan!! 😱
ive eaten tons of pigs feet they actually taste good and are popular in soups from mexico.... and most of the world i cant go to the grocery store and grab some right now.
I must be weird. I love jellied eels. 🤣😂
This channel and Dan's shows in particular are somewhat a reflection of class> He talks about things like jellied eels and mutton being uncommon - trust me in several parts London TODAY, they are not. Curry Mutton. Trotters of all types. It's actually funny and slightly sad, it's like the old saying - the more things change, the more they stay the same. The class divide has remained, it's just the some of food that may have moved across. Good shows despite that
If you douse your Christmas pudding in tequila, it goes up real quick!
🤢 Good on you mate. Brilliant series. ..Rather you than me though 😅
Beats starving to death. In Australia in the 1980's, my dad would use the fat from a Sunday roast to have bread and dripping. His parents went thru the great depression and he learnt his lessons well. In todays cost of living crisis, beggars cant be chooses.