Eliza Acton

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Page from "Modern Cookery for Private Families" by Eliza Acton (London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1871, p. 48)

Eliza (Elizabeth) Acton ( April 17, 1799 - February 13, 1859 ) was an English cook who wrote one of the first English cookbooks that was aimed at private households, Modern Cookery for Private Families . Eliza Acton was also a romantic poet.

Life

Eliza Acton grew up in Suffolk , where her father's family lived, and later spent time in France. As a grown woman, she lived in Tonbridge and Hampstead . She did not get married and lived with her mother in a household for most of her life.

Modern Cookery for Private Families first appeared in 1845 and in a revised edition in 1855. The English Bread Book followed in 1857 . Acton's Modern Cookery for Private Families stayed in print until the late 19th century. It was reprinted in 1994 .

In this book, she first used the form of listing all the ingredients at the beginning of a recipe that later became universally accepted. In addition, for the first time, specific dimensions were given about the quantities to be used and the exact cooking and baking times. The book served, among other things, as a source for Isabella Beeton , who adopted numerous recipes from Acton's cookbook and from the bread baking book for her famous book Book of Household Management .

"The great praise that her work drew is based on a combination of elegant, precise and clear writing style on the one hand and meticulous and attentive work in the kitchen on the other."

Many of Acton's recipes in the main body of the book are recognizably French in origin. There is also a section entitled “Foreign and Jewish Cookery”.

Works

  • Poems , Ipswich 1826.
  • Modern Cookery for Private Families , London 1845.
  • The English Bread Book , 1857

swell

  1. ↑ Bill Bryson: A Brief History of Everyday Things , Goldmann, Munich, 2011, p. 106.
  2. ↑ Original quote: "The high praise which her work has attracted has been due to a combination of elegant, precise, and lucide writing on the one hand with meticulous and observant activity in the kitchen on the other." Alan Davidson: The Oxford Companion to Food , 2nd. ed. Oxford 2006, p. 3.

literature

  • Alan Davidson: The Oxford Companion to Food , 2nd. ed. Oxford 2006, p. 3 f.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Acton, Eliza
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Acton, Elizabeth
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English cook and cookbook author
DATE OF BIRTH April 17, 1799
DATE OF DEATH February 13, 1859