(1799–1859) regarded by some as the most accomplished cookery writer in the English language, spent her early life in Suffolk, the county where her father's family belonged, and also spent some time in France. As an adult she lived in Tonbridge (in Kent) and Hampstead (in London). She never married and for much of her life her household consisted of her mother and herself.
Her book Modern Cookery for Private Families was published in 1845, revised by her in 1855, and stayed in print until almost the end of the century. It then had to wait almost 100 years before being reprinted in full (1994), although a generous selection of her recipes had been republished in 1986, accompanied by admirable essays from Elizabeth Ray and Elizabeth David. A separate book, The English Bread Book, appeared in 1857.
The high praise which her work has attracted has been due to a combination of elegant, precise, and lucid writing on the one hand with meticulous and observant activity in the kitchen on the other. The ‘Obs.’ appended to many of her recipes constitute exactly the kind of comment which is invaluable to the cook.
Elizabeth Ray (Acton, 1986) points out that ‘although she is basically a very English cook, many of her receipts are labelled “French”, and appear as a matter of course in the main body of [her] book’. Other foreign recipes, in contrast, appear in a separate chapter on ‘foreign and Jewish cookery’ (Eliza Acton mentions more than once ‘a certain Jewish lady’ who gave her recipes; and it is interesting that these are Ashkenazi rather than Sephardic). Among Elizabeth Ray's further comments are the following:
Eliza Acton's muse had once flown further than the kitchen: the story has often been written of how the maiden lady of the eighteen-thirties, already a poet with a modest reputation, took ‘further fugitive verses’ to her publishers—to be told that they would rather have a cookery book instead. Modern Cookery for Private Families was the result, and posterity has agreed with her publishers: the cookery book survives, but not the verses.
Nevertheless, an unmistakable literary talent appears even in her receipts, in the style itself, and in the engaging titles she bestows on some of her dishes. ‘The Elegant Economist's Pudding’ for example, is an appetising name indeed for what is, in fact, a way of using up left-over Christmas pudding. ‘Poor Author's Pudding’ is contrasted with ‘The Publisher's Pudding’, which ‘can scarcely be made too rich’. The italics are her own, the poor author's.
It is tempting to compare Eliza Acton to Jane Austen, at least for elegance of style and quiet wit. However, although Eliza Acton was the product of that period of English history which Jane Austen so charmingly described in her novels, she was writing at a time when the nature of English society was undergoing radical changes, largely because of the Industrial Revolution; and the beneficial innovations which she introduced into the art of recipe-writing were especially appropriate in that they heralded many new developments in food distribution (the railways) and kitchen technology as well as in other aspects of Victorian life.
Elizabeth David (1984) drew attention to Miss Acton's ‘singleness of purpose … and meticulous honesty’; and (Acton, 1986) described her book as ‘the greatest cookery book in our language’.
Alan Davidson was a distinguished author and publisher, and one of the world's best-known writers on fish and fish cookery. In 1975 he retired early from the diplomatic service—after serving in, among other places, Washington, Egypt, Tunisia, and Laos, where he was British Ambassador—to pursue a fruitful second career as a food historian and food writer extraordinaire. Among his popular books are Seafood of South-East Asia, North Atlantic Seafood, and Mediterranean Seafood. In 2003, shortly before his death, he was awarded the Erasmus Prize for his contribution to European culture.
Acton, Eliza (1845), Modern Cookery for Private Families, London: Longmans.
Acton, Eliza (1855), Modern Cookery for Private Families, rev edn, London: Longmans.
Acton, Eliza (1986), The Best of Eliza Acton, ed Elizabeth Ray, London: Penguin.
David, Elizabeth (1984), An Omelette and a Glass of Wine, London: Robert Hale.
