How to Make a Travel Picnic — The Victorian Way

Lady Braybrooke's son-in-law, Mr Strutt, is to go to London on the train, so Mrs Crocombe is busy preparing him a picnic basket for his travels. These handmade sausage rolls, accompanied by refreshing raspberryade, will keep him sustained on the journey — and will make an unusual addition to your own summer picnic, too.

INGREDIENTS
For the sausage rolls:
• 350g sausage meat
• Bread dough to make around 12–13 rolls
For the raspberryade:
• 115g brown sugar
• 100g redcurrants
• 125g raspberries
• 4pt water
• 1tsp cream of tartar
• Heated water

METHOD
Sausage rolls:
1. Divide your bread dough into a baker's dozen (13) rolls
2. Make a dimple in the centre of each roll and fill with sausage meat, enclosing the dough around the meat to make a parcel
3. Bake in a fast oven (200–220°C) for 20 minutes
Raspberryade:
1. Place your raspberries and redcurrants in a mixing bowl
2. Add the sugar and bruise together with a pestle or wooden spoon
3. Add enough hot water to dissolve the sugar
4. Leave to infuse for several hours
5. When the fruit flavour has sufficiently infused, add a teaspoon of cream of tartar to create fizz
6. Ladel into bottles using a funnel and seize or muslin to remove the bits, making sure to use bottles that are safe for fizzy drinks

CHAPTERS
00:00 Introduction
00:42 For these recipes, you will need...
01:10 Sausage rolls
03:42 Raspberryade
08:25 Putting it all together

[EnglishHeritage]

We hope you enjoy the latest episode of The Victorian Way! Here are the answers to some questions you might have about this recipe...

What's brewer's yeast?
In 1881 there were two types of commonly used yeast. One was brewer’s yeast, sometimes called barm, which was the froth taken from the top of beer when it was brewed. It was quite weak and not very reliable. By the 1850s a new type of processed yeast was available, known as German yeast or compressed yeast. It came in blocks and is usually sold as fresh yeast today. You could use a sourdough bread dough, but it was rare in Victorian Britain and regarded as 'poverty food.'

What is lardy cake?
Lardy cake is a bread dough based cake which was very popular in the Midlands and western East Anglia.

What's a baker's dozen?
A dozen is of course 12 of something, but a 'baker's dozen' refers to 13. A leading theory for this is to do with the size of loaves. In Medieval England, bakers found to be selling undersized loaves could face fines or even flogging. So it's thought that many bakers supplied an extra 13th loaf with their dozen, just to be on the safe side — hence, Baker's Dozen.

How did Mary-Ann glaze the rolls?
A common way to get a nice glaze on bread rolls is with an egg-wash. Just brush on a mixture of egg and water before baking. Alternatively you could use milk or cream, butter (or margarine) or simply a brush of oil.

Can I visit Audley End House for myself?

[fennecfox]

“You could of course get refreshments at the station...”
SHADE ALERT! SHADE ALERT!
“...but it won’t be as good”
Hooray for Mrs Crocombe 😄

[Centman]

The Victorian Way staring Mrs Crocombe is the cooking show I never knew so needed and can’t live without.
I wanna be just like her when I grow up.

[princevesperal]

"Since this basket is for one person, I'll put two bottles, six sausage buns, sandwiches, biscuits, strawberries and cream, fruits... Of course, as for the man servant in Second Class, he can just starve."

[princevesperal]

Mrs Crocomb: "You could, of course, get refreshments at the station..."
Me: "Say it! Say it!!!"
Mrs Crocomb: "... but it won't be as good!"
Me: I knew it!"

[salaltschul]

I love the idea of Mrs Crocombe having her half-day...sitting in the sun, adding some gin to her raspberryade. Lovely.

[cglenn]

Mrs. Crocombe is returning just in time to cool us off from the heat of summer with her elitist shade. Yay!

[Galifay]

Mrs. Crocombe: "...he could even put them in his pocket!"

Mrs. Warwick: *stern glare*

[johnyarbrough]

I enjoy the extra notes of social change and continuity. We get bread from the baker now and no longer use brewer's yeast.
However, Mr. Strutt's man servant travels second class, so Mr. Strutt won't have anyone at hand to slice or prepare his food for him and thus needs ready to eat vittles.

[paraboo]

Okay, now I want, nay, NEED to know what Mrs Crocombe does on her half day off!

[henrikhyrup]

"You could get refreshments at the station....**but it won't be as good** "

Never change, Mrs. Crocombe - never change!

[squishymex]

Who would dare to get refreshments at the station when you have Mrs. Crocombe's cooking? 🙀

[kevinbyrne]

Mr. Strutt is making a short train journey to his townhouse in London. He is expected to avoid starvation during the journey with only 6 sausage rolls, a plate of sandwiches, a plate of cream drop biscuits, raspberries and cream, 2 bottles of raspberry-ade, and a bottle of claret. I doubt that he'll survive the journey on such meagre rations.

[azure-sparrow]

I have the pleasure of teaching my third graders the story The Wind in the Willows right now, and I plan on using this to show them a visual representation of what the main characters' picnic might've looked like. 😊 They'll be so excited! We have loved learning lots about the UK and we love Mrs. Crocombe! ❤

[jacquelyn_hagen]

You know that “not quite full” bottle was on purpose. Clever Mrs. Crocombe.

[Kinglystateof]

“It’s good to have a good relationship with other your suppliers”- Mrs. Crocombe
(She was from the hood so she knows lol)
Highlight of my day is seeing Mrs. Crocombe work, love from the states 🇺🇸

[israelquezada]

Here in México we make something like the raspberryade but with mangoes, papayas and pineapples, you can also add wine... it's very delicious with wine if it's very cold.

[matesafranka]

Oh my god I just noticed the easter egg/foreshadowing! At 4:44 you see a bunch of recipes from Mrs C's cookbook. The one on top is the vegetable salad, which was the previous episode; the two under that are the sausage rolls and raspberryade from this one; and then at the very bottom is cherry pie, which was in the episode after this one! Dangit, now I'm going to look for hints like this in all videos from now on

[deoxyplasmic]

She's back! I never thought I'd find such joy watching someone strain liquid into a bottle, but here we are. I hadn't imagined that historically-based fiction could be so charmingly entertaining.

[crescentlady]

I’m sure it’s been suggested before but I’d love a mini-episode series with the actors of Audley End House around Christmas or Easter (with Mrs. Cromcombe’s cooking saving the day) sorry for misspelling her name. I eagerly look forward to these historical cooking episodes and the medieval story time ones. Thank you so much to all the people that work so hard making these! We love them and you all 💗