The classic sandwich that Jane Austen loved

Jane Austen, the great author whose works such as Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility still inspire various works of art, is not only known for her writing. One of the attractive ways to get closer to his world is to get to know his favorite foods. One of her favorite dishes was creamed cheese, the exact recipe of which is recorded in the notebook of her close friend, Martha Lloyd. This simple and delicious sandwich was prepared with a combination of grated cheese, egg, mustard and butter on toast.

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The idea of ​​tasting cheese dates back hundreds of years to the time of Jane Austen. One of the earliest references to “tested cheese” dates back to the late 1500s and is briefly mentioned in William Shakespeare’s play Henry VI, Part II. Shakespeare mentions cooking cheese over a fire, using a fork to test and collect the melted cheese on the bread.

Two centuries later, with dramatic improvements in kitchens, including the ubiquity of cast-iron stoves, Jane Austen liked a more sophisticated version of toasted cheese, which resembles a cross between a scrambled egg and a grilled cheese sandwich. The egg in this recipe is also similar to “Croque Madame”; Of course, this dish did not become popular until a century later.

Over time, recipes for this dish with cheese became more diverse and different terms were used for this dish. Tested cheese was also known by names such as “cheese sandwich” and finally in the 1960s in America it was called “grilled cheese sandwich”. Today, the version of this dish that Jane Austen loved is commonly called Tested Cheese.

Other favorite Jane Austen recipes

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From Austen’s letters and parts of Pride and Prejudice, as well as France‘s general dominance of the culinary world, we know that she was fond of French cuisine. For example, Austen mentions in one of her letters that she planned to prepare “mutton Hariko”, one of the French dishes available in Lloyd’s office.

In Pride and Prejudice, “white soup” is also mentioned; A strange order found in Lloyd’s office. Julian Gehr, a former member of the Jane Austen Society of North America, has theorized that this soup may have been one of Austen’s favorite dishes. Lloyd writes that this soup starts with a base of meat broth, and then hard-boiled and thoroughly beaten egg yolks are added, along with sweet almonds and cream.

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