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| Good enough to eat? - pictures of food will be on display at the Bowes Museum | Good enough to eat? - pictures of food will be on display at the Bowes Museum |
| (30 days later) | |
| To accompany their latest exhibition, staff at the Bowes Museum have decided to publish a book of recipes rather than a catalogue. | To accompany their latest exhibition, staff at the Bowes Museum have decided to publish a book of recipes rather than a catalogue. |
| As the exhibition is called Feast for the Eyes: The Fashion of Food in Art, the decision is perfectly justified. | As the exhibition is called Feast for the Eyes: The Fashion of Food in Art, the decision is perfectly justified. |
| Alongside many works from the Bowes' own collection are a few important loans, including works from the Tate and the National Gallery. The earliest picture here is Southampton City Art Gallery's extraordinary Summer, by the seventeenth century painter Giuseppe Arcimbaldo, an anamorphic profile of a man made up entirely of seasonal fruit and crops. Arcimbaldo, a court painter to the Hapsburgs who specialised in allegorical figures and composite heads, was much admired by the early surrealists, especially Dali. Max Ernst, to whom Man Ray gave a version of Arcimboldo's Winter, warned: | Alongside many works from the Bowes' own collection are a few important loans, including works from the Tate and the National Gallery. The earliest picture here is Southampton City Art Gallery's extraordinary Summer, by the seventeenth century painter Giuseppe Arcimbaldo, an anamorphic profile of a man made up entirely of seasonal fruit and crops. Arcimbaldo, a court painter to the Hapsburgs who specialised in allegorical figures and composite heads, was much admired by the early surrealists, especially Dali. Max Ernst, to whom Man Ray gave a version of Arcimboldo's Winter, warned: |
| Beware: a mask can mask (or unmask) another one. | Beware: a mask can mask (or unmask) another one. |
| In the recipe book-cum-catalogue, the pictures in the exhibition are juxtaposed with recipes from dishes that are often available at the Bowes Café. So we have Lazergues' Still Life with Crabs and a Bottle, which shows a kitchen table with a pair of cooked whole crabs with a loaf of bread, a couple of hard boiled eggs, a bottle and a few cherries; the recipe that accompanies it is for a delicious-sounding salad of crab with potatoes and mayonnaise. Jacob van Hulsdonck's Breakfast Piece is perhaps almost too much of a good thing - a luscious ham, some mutton legs, rye bread, white bread, mustard, the remains of a herring, a tongue, wine, butter, cherries and some onions. | In the recipe book-cum-catalogue, the pictures in the exhibition are juxtaposed with recipes from dishes that are often available at the Bowes Café. So we have Lazergues' Still Life with Crabs and a Bottle, which shows a kitchen table with a pair of cooked whole crabs with a loaf of bread, a couple of hard boiled eggs, a bottle and a few cherries; the recipe that accompanies it is for a delicious-sounding salad of crab with potatoes and mayonnaise. Jacob van Hulsdonck's Breakfast Piece is perhaps almost too much of a good thing - a luscious ham, some mutton legs, rye bread, white bread, mustard, the remains of a herring, a tongue, wine, butter, cherries and some onions. |
| Most of the recipes are relatively easy to prepare for an enthusiastic amateur cook. What is often required is patience – the ox cheeks need brining overnight, simmering for six hours and then stewing for another four-six hours. It sounds a lot, but the actual amount of preparation time is no more than for any normal dish, simply spread over a couple of days. The illustration for this recipe is John Glover's massive Bull of 1810 from the Bowes' collection, which is 3.6 metres long and 2.5 high. If you do manage to find bull's cheeks (you can sometimes buy the meat after bull-fights in France and Spain), you'll probably need to double the cooking time recommended for ox cheeks in the recipe. | Most of the recipes are relatively easy to prepare for an enthusiastic amateur cook. What is often required is patience – the ox cheeks need brining overnight, simmering for six hours and then stewing for another four-six hours. It sounds a lot, but the actual amount of preparation time is no more than for any normal dish, simply spread over a couple of days. The illustration for this recipe is John Glover's massive Bull of 1810 from the Bowes' collection, which is 3.6 metres long and 2.5 high. If you do manage to find bull's cheeks (you can sometimes buy the meat after bull-fights in France and Spain), you'll probably need to double the cooking time recommended for ox cheeks in the recipe. |
| John Bowes, the museum's co-founder, was clearly keen on his food. In one letter of January 1867 he says that a pie arrived safely in Paris from Streathlam Castle in co Durham and was "very good" even though the crust "appears not to have been quite hard enough which caused damage". He adds that he'd like another one sent over for a dance in March – | John Bowes, the museum's co-founder, was clearly keen on his food. In one letter of January 1867 he says that a pie arrived safely in Paris from Streathlam Castle in co Durham and was "very good" even though the crust "appears not to have been quite hard enough which caused damage". He adds that he'd like another one sent over for a dance in March – |
| The Game Season will be over, but I suppose Geese, Turkies, Hares, Rabbits &c could be found to make one with at that time. | The Game Season will be over, but I suppose Geese, Turkies, Hares, Rabbits &c could be found to make one with at that time. |
| John and Joséphine Bowes were safely in England during the Franco-Prussian War and the siege of Paris, when food was often in very short supply. Indeed, over Christmas 1870, the inhabitants of the Paris zoo were eaten – one restaurant organised a feast that included bear ribs with a sauce poivrade, camel rôti à l'anglaise (no, I don't know how the English roast their camels either), jugged kangaroo and haunch of wolf. | John and Joséphine Bowes were safely in England during the Franco-Prussian War and the siege of Paris, when food was often in very short supply. Indeed, over Christmas 1870, the inhabitants of the Paris zoo were eaten – one restaurant organised a feast that included bear ribs with a sauce poivrade, camel rôti à l'anglaise (no, I don't know how the English roast their camels either), jugged kangaroo and haunch of wolf. |
| Fortunately most ingredients are a lot easier to source: throughout the book we are given advice on the best local produce to use for the dishes – heritage potatoes from Carroll's of Northumberland, mutton from Pikestone Farm near Bishop Auckland, butter from the Acorn Dairy near Darlington, Woodall's cured Cumberland Ham and so on. | Fortunately most ingredients are a lot easier to source: throughout the book we are given advice on the best local produce to use for the dishes – heritage potatoes from Carroll's of Northumberland, mutton from Pikestone Farm near Bishop Auckland, butter from the Acorn Dairy near Darlington, Woodall's cured Cumberland Ham and so on. |
| Hyper-local Cotherstone or next dale-but one Wensleydale cheese is recommended for the twice cooked soufflées. This is an excellent angst-free way of giving your guests an impressive soufflée to start with – they can be cooked first the day before, and only need re-heating for a few minutes just before eating. | Hyper-local Cotherstone or next dale-but one Wensleydale cheese is recommended for the twice cooked soufflées. This is an excellent angst-free way of giving your guests an impressive soufflée to start with – they can be cooked first the day before, and only need re-heating for a few minutes just before eating. |
| The Bowes Museum Cookbook is edited by Francesca Young with recipes from the Bowes Café's Ben Parnaby (who won the Teesdale Chef of the Year award in 2010) and Hazel Herworth with a selection of drinks by Charles Kirkbride. | The Bowes Museum Cookbook is edited by Francesca Young with recipes from the Bowes Café's Ben Parnaby (who won the Teesdale Chef of the Year award in 2010) and Hazel Herworth with a selection of drinks by Charles Kirkbride. |
| Feast Your Eyes: the Fashion of Food in Art is on at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, until January 6. | Feast Your Eyes: the Fashion of Food in Art is on at the Bowes Museum, Barnard Castle, County Durham, until January 6. |
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