Game of Holmes

The one question that I am asked most often is 'What do you think Fanny Cradock would be doing now, if she were still around?' Even more often than 'Do you dress up as Fanny Cradock when you cook?' All I can say is that what happens in the kitchen, stays in the kitchen. It's harder to answer what Fanny would be doing now, primarily because she did it all. First. So, would she have a blog? Well, she did a weekly magazine where she wrote all the recipes, cooked them, photographed them (in her own style) and shared her top tips for techniques. Would she be on YouTube? Well, she changed the way television cooking shows were filmed for ever with her brand of entertainment. Would she be on Reality TV? Well, some claim that Simon Cowell drew his inspiration from her appearance on The Big Time. The truth is, if someone's thought of it, Fanny has done it, and it was probably her idea. Or, she'd tell you it was.

All throughout her career her 'big thing' was shouting loudly about historical recipes, historical techniques and presenting them in what seem like hysterical ways to today's eyes. She had her own hashtag before hashtags were invented, #BringingRetroBack, which I have adopted on her behalf now that she herself is seen as 'retro'. Later in her career, after the television work had come to an end, she resumed her life as an author. She didn't abandon food altogether of course, and found a way to combine history, food and fiction when she released the Sherlock Holmes Cookbook. The marketeer in her claimed to simply compile it, as it was written by Mrs Hudson, who for reasons unknown (apart from the *amazing* coincidence that she was Fanny's heroine) adopted some of the old recipes from Mrs Agnes B Marshall to serve to Sherlock, Watson and Mycroft.

Flash forward forty-odd years, and perhaps these types of food, history and popular culture mash-ups are more common. As well as Sherlock being a huge television revival in it's own right, Game of Thrones is, of course, massive. Back in 2012 a couple of savvy and sassy bloggers, Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, turned their massively successful Game of Thrones inspired blog into a book as a 'unique combination of artistry, historical knowledge and love of food', A Feast of Ice and Fire - The Official Companion Cookbook. It's quite striking how, accidentally, similar in style it is to The Sherlock Holmes Cookbook. Fanny would've loved it, if she hadn't thought of it first. Swans feature heavily, as they do throughout Fanny's works too, and even in the same beloved 'template' style of instruction Fanny favoured.

Both books really are a celebration of long lost historical recipes, presented in different ways. A Feast of Fire and Ice has glorious photographs to tempt you to try either the Medieval or the Modern version of each recipe. Fanny, or sorry, Mrs Hudson, relies on sketches to transport you back in time. The Game of Thrones cookbook is divided into different geographical regions from the books, Sherlock Holmes is more traditional in it's 'menu' set-up, but is littered with quotes from, and references to, Arthur Conan Doyle.  Fanny even manages to sneak in a few of her very favourite recipes (would Mrs Hudson really make Doughnuts I wonder?) shamelessly pretending they were cooked up in Baker Street.

Fanny wrote the introduction to the Sherlock Holmes book, outlining her idea. George R. R. Martin wrote the introduction to A Feast of Fire and Ice. He has a shameful secret to confess however. Something he has to get off his chest. He can't cook. I also have an equally shameful secret to share. I've never seen a single episode of Game of Thrones. Not a one. Never read any of the books. Not a line. I'm not sure which is more shocking. I'm more Knots Landing than Kings Landing. There I've said it. I was however very fortunate to have the chance to get to know Sariann when she lived in Edinburgh. We studied together. We never managed to cook and style a Fanny Cradock and Game of Thrones collaboration though. Maybe that's something for the future. Come back Sariann! Meantime, I'm on the look-out for the next big thing... Any ideas?

How to Jug a Bon Viveur

I'm not sure how Fanny Cradock would feel about sharing the page with others, even other food writers. Especially other food writers? Were there other food writers? After all, why would one need to read anyone else's words when her own guidance, knowledge and expertise was freely available to be absorbed and put into action in exactly the way she describes? Fanny, and Johnnie, wrote regular columns in The Telegraph under the moniker of Bon Viveur to reassure, and inadvertently perhaps, reprimand, housewives across the land with their words. They were not alone however. There were other food writers. Many of those also wrote for The Telegraph. Do you think Fanny knew that at the time?

I practically ran down to my local booksellers on publication day when a collection of food writings originally published in The Telegraph were recently collected together and republished in one volume. I couldn't wait to snap up a copy. How To Jug A Hare has been compiled and edited by Sarah Rainey, with a foreword by Bee Wilson. What a lovely job it must have been to dive into those archives and discover the delights of culinary craftsmanship to share again with us hungry foodies. And what a lovely job they have done!

Fanny features heavily throughout, naturally, which is a real treat for us all. A selection of sixteen sublime articles, scooped up from storage and presented again for us to chortle along with. Let's not forget though, it's not all Fanny, many other fantastic food writers from history are expertly laid side by side. Fanny sits comfortably, almost dizzyingly, beside Egon Ronay, Clement Freud, Elizabeth David, Elizabeth Craig, Claudia Roden, Robert Carrier, Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, Josceline Dimbleby and many others. All brilliant names from through the years, and all brilliant pieces of food writing to show off. Fanny arches proudly across them all, she even receives the ultimate accolade from the editor - a whole chapter dedicated to 'Cranky Cradock'.

Whether Fanny is telling readers how to plan for 'the years most indigestible meal' (Christmas Dinner), how to 'put a wronged casserole to rights' or sharing the delights of Aunt Meg's flower-pot loaves, she does it with her usual humour and forthrightness in equal measure. Food writing columns are uber-seasonal but the skill of the editor in this collection is to position writing from 1899 alongside selections from 1959 and the more modern day, arranged by season not chronology. As a reader you often have to turn back to the given date to check - some themes seem so very modern. I guess food fads come and go, but it's fascinating to read about fashionable issues that seem like trends in this way. It provides a very pleasing perspective.

Fannys final entry in this collection is her 'Pet Hates of 1971' (although later columns do appear earlier) which so easily could've been published today. Fanny is cross about the endless cellophane 'over-wrapping' which often results in her struggling and breaking her nails trying to gain access to various products. She's fuming that manufacturers are disguising less product in larger packets. She's raging at marketing speak misusing the English language with frightful phrases like 'Fresh Frozen'. 'Fresh is one thing, Frozen is another, both can be very good but like male and female, they cannot be the same', Fanny tells us. The whole collection is a magnificently enjoyable read, wisely combined and wonderfully compelling. Whether or not Fanny would have preferred the whole volume to be dedicated to her and her alone remains unknown. Fanny Cradock can so often be overlooked in culinary history as simply a figure of fun. She undoubtedly was, but for me to see her re-placed in history as one of the great food writers is as reassuring and reprimanding as she herself was back in the day.