Jane Austen, Southampton and baking
This year marks the 250th anniversary of Jane Austen’s birth and Southampton has some very strong links to this hugely famous Regency novelist.
In the late 1700s, early 1800s, Jane visited and then briefly lived in the city and even danced at the Dolphin Hotel.
One of our regular customers as well as one of Communicare’s Trustees and volunteers, Lenka Fremerova, is a walking guide for See Southampton.
They are running walking tours around Southampton so people can explore its hidden history including hearing all about Jane’s relationship with the city.
Sophie Irwin
Back in 2023, we hosted a competition for ideas for a cake or bread-based product that we don’t already make that would be suitable as a mid-morning or afternoon snack.
The best two suggestions each won two novels by Sunday Times Bestselling novelist, Sophie Irwin, who sets her books in the Regency era too.
Nuncheon
Sophie who has her third book ‘How to lose a lord in 10 days’ coming out this summer told us all about the Regency meal of ‘nuncheon’ and ever since we’ve been celebrating it.
Nuncheon is an old Anglo-Saxon word, which means, in today’s terms, a quick snack between main meals that you can hold in your hands.
It was also used in Regency times, before lunch was popularised. It’s thought it comes from the word ‘nuch’, which was used in the 16th and 17th centuries and meant a piece of bread.
What Jane enjoyed
While we’re not sure if Jane partook of nuncheon, we’ve done some research to see what sort of baked items she did enjoy.
Jane’s household chores were fewer than of her sister Cassandra and it’s believed that this was because she was allowed to devote time to her writing instead.
Breakfast
However, she made her family’s breakfast at 9am every day. It was either toast, rolls or English muffins with butter and tea.
This was considered a relatively new concept, according to the writer Kim Wilson in her book ‘Tea with Jane Austen’, astraditionally, British breakfasts at the time consisted of more hearty options including beef and ale. Jane would have toasted the bread over a fire using a long-handled fork or a metal rack to hold the bread in place.
Toasted cheese
In 1805, Jane wrote: “We were greatly surprised by Edward Bridge’s company…; he made a point of ordering toasted cheese for supper, entirely on my account.”
Jane’s close friend, Martha Lloyd, lived with her and her mother and sister at Chawton in Hampshire from around 1809. It was here that Jane wrote six of her novels.
Martha kept a recipe book and Jane’s favourite toasted cheese is included in this. She wrote: “Grate the cheese and add it to one egg, a teaspoonful of mustard, and a little butter. Send it up on toast, or in paper trays.
Bread pudding
Meanwhile, another popular recipe in the household was Jane’s mother’s bread pudding. It was contributed to Martha’s collection of recipes and is humorously in rhyme, showing the family’s fondness for word play.