Eating at 221B

Just wanted to note that while I remember a handful of pleasant things - including morning curry - from my reading of Conan Doyle, there's an item of moment to me (namely, tea) which I should mention to all of you.

While I have not yet ordered it, Upton's (and here I nod gratefully to kukkurovaca) carries a 'Baker Street Afternoon Blend' which I think I have to try.

See more at: http://uptontea.com/. It's item# TB75. (One of these days, I'll learn how to do the links properly.)

I guess I'll have to tune in to Upton's more often, though the Baker Street Afternoon blend probably has too much caffeine for me (sigh).

Tea would certainly have been an important element of Holmes' and Watson's lives.
On the subject of eating at 221B, I have an interesting book published in 1976 called the Sherlock Holmes Cookbook, by Sean Wright and John Farrell. (I know there are other Sherlock Holmes cookbooks, as well, and probably some that are better than mine.) In the introduction, the authors assert: "We know from the Canon some of the things Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson ate. Several meals are mentioned. . . . .But beyond that, no one has really ventured, except in pleasant speculation. What we really know of the meals consumed on Baker Street boils down to a roast goose, a pate de fois gras pie, and a couple bottles of something choice (and tinned peaches on Dartmoor). . . . The Master and his faithful amenuensis (sic - that doesn't seem to be spelled right, but maybe it's just one of those words that looks wrong) typify the age in which they lived. They ate and drank like men of their era. . . . We can only glimpse the gaslight, only smell the foul, oppressive fog in our imaginations. But we can taste the food much as it was. We can sit down to meals that would have satisfied Watson after a long day following Holmes and Toby on the scent of a murderer. We can cook a meal that would have done Mrs. Hudson's reputation for breakfast proud. We can recreate a high tea in front of a roaring coal fire on an afternoon when the wind moans in the chimney pots at Baker Street."

I think I remember more allusions to food in the Canon (like the morning curry, Eurydice) than these authors note in the intro. But the book is interesting anyway. The recipes sound Victorian enough - Cold Woodcock, Kidney Toast, Celery and Chestnut Salad, Fish and Oyster Pie. (Yuck!)

Does anyone have any other Holmes cookbooks they can recommend? Any recipes that would be appropriate to "that place where it is always 1895"? Any information on the menu at the Criterion?

If they do, I should love to hear it! It's a problem with our beloved fictional characters, that their taste and ours sometimes refuse to overlap. There are unpalatable recipes in The Nero Wolfe Cookbook, likewise - the only one I have - or the generally charming Narnia Cookbook. But both do have lovely recipes, as well. Anything I could make (besides the Celery and Chestnut Salad) for a Holmesian breakfast or tea would be welcome. I do love the Baker St. Afternoon Blend (and I'm sure you can decaffeinate it yourself, if minimal amounts are ok). Actually, I have one tea cookbook with legitimate vintage recipes in it. One of these afternoons, when nothing much is happening, I'll have a look and see whether anything distinctly Victorian, and adequately masculine, survives.

I haven't gone through the Lord Peter cookbook (later) or the Regency Era Lobscouse and Spotted Dog (earlier, sigh) - though I know there're curry recipes in each. The Lord Peter in particular has some dishes which may suit - and at the least, both are solidly English.

I have an earlier one still, Take a buttock of beefe...

What about consulting Mrs. Beeton? She was first published in 1861, when Holmes and Watson would have been young men, and the book remained popular into the early 20th century (albeit in new editions that eventually bore little resemblance to the popular first edition). There's full and free access on www.mrsbeeton.com; the site provides an index, which the original book did not. I just opened my facsimilie edition to Tea-Cakes (page 869). Here's how TO TOAST TEACAKES:

"Cut each tea-cake into three or four slices, according to its thickness; toast them on both sides before a nice clear fire, and as each slice is done, spread it with butter on both sides. When a cake is toasted, pile the slices one on the top of the other, cut them into quarters, put them on a very hot plate, and send the cake immediately to table..."

If you aren't slavering by now, there's no help for you.

Mrs B. also admonishes her readers that "Muffins and crumpets must always be served on separate dishes" but doesn't tell us why.

What an excellent suggestion! I remember seeing many references to Mrs. Beeton before, but it hadn't occured to me to see if she was online. Thank you!

Stringcat, I am slavering, I assure you. Oh, for toasted teacakes and butter (and jam or honey?) and a pot of smoky tea...

Funny about the muffins/crumpets but I shall not argue. I never serve them at the same time, anyway. And thank you for the link to Mrs. B. online!

In addition to John Farrell's Sherlock Holmes cookbook I have a couple more, of which I'll wager the best would be "Dining with Sherlock Holmes : a Baker Street Cookbook" by Julia Carlson Rosenblatt and Frederic (Fritz) Sonnenschmidt. Fritz was one of the professors at the Culinary Institute of America (the other CIA) and he and Julia planned and put on several Sherlockian dinners over the years. The 2nd edition came out in 1990. A recent one (1997) is "Sherlock Holmes Victorian Cookbook: Favourite Recipes of the Great Detective & Dr Watson" by William Bonnell. I have to admit that I haven't cooked anything from either of them (concentrating too hard on Weight Watchers lately).