The Noble Origins of Afternoon Tea

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RECIPE
4 eggs
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (225g) caster sugar
2 sticks (225g) softened salted butter
A little less than 2 cups (225g) flour
2 teaspoons baking powder (Optional)
A Pinch of salt
Jam

1. Beat the butter until fluffy, then cream together with the sugar. Whisk the salt (and baking powder if using) into the flour and mix together with the butter mixture until somewhat combined.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until very frothy, then mix with the butter/flour until well combined. If it is not a stiff but pourable batter, add milk in, one tablespoon at a time, until it is.
3. Spread the mixture in a well buttered rectangular pan and bake at 350°F/175°C for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
4. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and let cool completely.
5. Cut the cake into small finger then slice each finger in half to form a sandwich. Spread jam on one half and replace the other half on top. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve with tea.

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Subtitles: Jose Mendoza | IG @worldagainstjose

PHOTOS
Crumpets - Iain Farrel vis Flickr

#tastinghistory #afternoontea #victoriaspongecake

[DragongodZenos]

Max: "I want to keep this history light." Also Max: "The poor lady was shamed and died from a tumor."

[TastingHistory]

This cake was one of the first things I ever saw on The Great British Bake Off and that’s what inspired me to start baking. So in a way, Tasting History owes it all to the Victoria Sponge. 😁

[CallieCrossroad]

She really said "You can make Jam with strawberries grown in your own garden, but store bought is fine."

[musiclover]

Making the cake denser surely made it easier to cut it into thin fingers and spread jam on it without creating a mound of crumbs, not to mention easier to pick it up and eat it as a sandwich without raining crumbs all over. So maybe there was method to their madness!

[dearyvettetn]

I had a similar tumor at 9-months old. It was called Wilms tumor. My grandmother was a nurse and demanded that my parents take me to the pediatrician and I was admitted to the hospital immediately for surgery. My abdomen was enlarged and my dad just thought I ate too much. I am forever greatful to my grandmother who could be a bit of a mean girl herself, but her insistence and determination saved my life 🙏🏽 🥰 RIP Nana ❤

[ItsYaBoiV]

When I was a child, my mom read Beatrix Potter to me, and the Hobbit, and both instilled in me this love of a fantasy version of historical England. We used to make a lunch of tea, cucumber sandwiches, and scones with cream, along with a blanket out in to the yard and "picnic" while reading in the shade.

[Bpaynee]

Yes please to the tea history!

If anyone wants to make the strawberry jam but can't find pectin/jam sugar, you can put the peel of a Granny Smith apple in when you're cooking everything and then just take it out. It's a natural source of pectin and doesn't affect the flavor.

[tando]

I like to think that as max takes a bite he thinks back to episodes like the hard tack or the blood ones and thinks "I have earned this"

[stGruhn]

Older varieties of wheat were 'softer' than what is generally available as all purpose today. You'd have to get a soft wheat similar to cake flour to begin to get close to some of those varieties. Plus, hand mixing isn't as rigorous as electric... so less gluten development from the softer wheat and lesser mixing might have formed a softer cake.

[HarryFlashmanVC]

As a boy growing up in Scotland, even in the 1970s an idea days menu was:
Breakfast 7am
Elevenses 11am
Lunch 1pm
Afternoon Tea 3.00pm
High Tea 5pm
Supper 9pm

This, or some variation of it, was a traditional Scottish form. Afternoon tea: cucumber sanwiches and small cakes with tea.
High Tea.. this was a brilliant meal.and you still find it in Scotland and the North of England especially in institutions.
Breakfast:
Porage
Bacon
Sausage
Eggs
Toast
Marmalade
Etc.

Elevenses
Bacon rolls
Aberdeen Butteries
Tattie scones
Cheese or fruit scones and butter

Lunch: the main meal of the day

So High Tea is a savory main dish: Cottage Pie, Fish and Chips, Pie and Chips, this wouldn't be a large portion
Folllowed by sandwiches, scones, and jam, potato scones and cakes in large quantities.

You then had supper before bed: bread, cheese, ham, cold raised pie like a Pork Pie, pickles and chutneys.. washed down with beer or a sweetish wine.

Eat this for 30 years... die of gout or a hear attack

[babablacksheepdog]

The part about the Flora Hastings story that wasn't mentioned, was that Flora, as well as her alleged lover, Sir John Conroy, were members of the inner circle of Queen Victoria's mother, the Duchess of Kent. The Duchess was a rather domineering mother, and she and Conroy (he was also alleged to have been the Duchess's lover), implemented a very strict system of rules called the Kensington System, ostensibly to keep the then-Princess Victoria safe, but the result was the complete alienation of Victoria from the outside world. Victoria grew to hate the system (she was lonely, extremely restricted in what she could do and essentially bullied by her mother and her circle), and by extension her mother, John Conroy and everyone else associated with them (which included Lady Flora, who was her mother's lady-in-waiting). When she ascended to the throne, the Duchess and Conroy even tried to argue that she was too young and too "unstable" to rule on her own, and tried to make the Duchess her Regent, but Victoria was strong-willed and held firm against them. The moment she became Queen, she abolished the Kensington System, ordered that her mother's chambers be as far as possible from her own, and fired Conroy (he had been appointed Comptroller of Victoria's Household - by her mum, of course - if I remember correctly). When the Flora Hastings scandal happened, Victoria jumped on the chance to avenge herself against both Conroy and Hastings (and indirectly, her mother too). It explains why she was so harsh against Flora (it wasn't just that she was a "mean girl, " she had her reasons), although it doesn't excuse her, of course.

[MononokeLynn]

I’d love to see a video on cucumber sandwiches. “Importance of Being Ernest” mentions them so often, I’d like to know the original idea of it - I like white bread, butter and thinly sliced cucumber. However, many recipes are crazy overboard these days.

[sonder]

Just wanted to compliment you: you combine two of my favorite things: preparing food and history!

[spectre]

I'm so glad you talked about the whole "meat tea" thing and how it replaced the evening meal cos my British boyfriend kept talking about having tea in the evenings and I was shocked that he wouldn't be having a proper meal. He explained that he referred to dinner as "tea", not to be confused with "afternoon tea".

Glad to know there was actually some history behind it and it wasn't just his town being weird with their terminologies.

[Finsirith]

14:48 -- The tea gown "could be put on without the help of a maid." I have read that that was an advantage if a lady had a secret "gentleman caller", as she could get herself dressed afterwards without the servants finding out and spreading gossip!

[thedorikorner]

Your show is literally being watched by three generations of my family now. We discovered it like last week and we can't get enough history eats. Never thought we'd all be learning and discussing ancient Roman foods and the like. We're going to make a few of these recipes for our family Samhain dinner this year. Awesome stuff.

[kevinbyrne]

Dear Max: Consider doing an episode about Claude Monet (1840 - 1926), the French Impressionist painter who was also a gourmet. There are several cookbooks (in English) that feature collections of his recipes.

[dragonflyfirefly]

A whole series on tea? That sounds delightful!

[meganechan]

Making your own strawberry jam is so worth it! But if you can't find good berries, frozen works fine, because they are picked when they're perfectly ripe.

[lilasiansquat]

I can’t help but notice that Max enunciates his consonances so clearly, especially the T’s, D’s. My speech teacher would’ve loved him