A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink

Things get wet and wild in this episode as the team explore fish and seafood. Allie explores the world of caviar, bumps and all. Sam introduces the gang to cockle bread and Neil asks whether there is any real point to cod?
Don’t forget to email us at [email protected] or tag us on Instagram or BlueSky if you have any suggestions for future episodes. You may also want to subscribe to the A is for Apple Substack where we publish recipes and extra audio content.
Sources/Useful Links
Cockles
North Atlantic Seafood by Alan Davidson (1980)
First Catch Your Peacock: The Classical Guide to Welsh Food by Bobby Freeman (1996)
In Search of Wales by H. V. Morton (1944)
Domestic Life in Wales by S. Minwel Tibbott (2002)
Welsh Fare by S. Minwel Tibbott
Cockle gathering at Penclawdd in the 1930s on YouTube
Remembering the Cockle Women
Marine Stewardship Council information on cockles

Caviar
Inga Saffron, Caviar: The Strange History and Uncertain Future of the World’s Most Coveted Delicacy (2002) –https://archive.org/details/caviarstrangehis00saff
IUCN Red List – Sturgeon (Acipenseridae) species accounts –
https://www.iucnredlist.org
World Sturgeon Conservation Society – https://www.wscs.info
NOAA Fisheries – Sturgeon species overview – https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov
Adam Olearius, The Voyages and Travels of the Ambassadors (1647) –https://archive.org/details/voyagestravellso00olea
Jonas Hanway, An Historical Account of the British Trade over the Caspian Sea (1753) –https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.31214
John Perry, The State of Russia under the Present Czar (1716) –https://archive.org/details/bim_eighteenth-century_the-state-of-russia-und_perry-john_1716
Cavi-Art (official site) – https://caviart.com/
Daniel Pauly et al., “Fishing Down Marine Food Webs,” Science (1998) –https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.279.5352.860
Stanley Tucci eats caviar: https://fb.watch/FA1F4UtvRf/
What is a Caviar Bump?

Cod
English Seafood Cookery by Rick Stein (1988)
Jane Grigson’s Fish Book (1986)
The River Cottage Fish Book by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Nick Fisher (2007)
French Provincial Cookery by Elizabeth David (1960)

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and Bluesky

Sam Bilton also hosts the award winning Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron The Philosophy of Chocolate and Much Ado About Cooking: Delicious Shakesperean Feasts for Every Occasion (written in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe). You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar, Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper as well as Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding with another book in progress. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Allie Pino produces and hosts the Curious Appetite Podcast and the Fear Feasts Podcast with Vanessa Baca. She is also the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook and is currently working on a new book. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Today’s theme is PEOPLE! Allie, Neil and Sam bring some guests with them to this episode (metaphorically speaking). One is renowned for her flamboyancy; another is an avid champion of fruit and veg and the last has a very large bone to pick with one of history’s most renowned cookbook authors. But can you guess who they are?
(Well of course you can because their names are in the title, but indulge us by playing along!)
Don’t forget to email us at [email protected] or tag us on Instagram or BlueSky if you have any suggestions for future episodes. You may also want to subscribe to the A is for Apple Substack where we publish recipes and extra audio content.
Sources/Useful Links
Fanny Cradock
Fear of Fanny - BBC 2006
Keep Calm and Fanny On! By Kevin Geddes
British Food History Podcast Episode
Fanny Cradock with Kevin Geddes - The British Food History Podcast
Gwen Troake and Fanny Cradock (1976)
Fanny Cradock Cooks for Christmas (1975) | BBC

Ann Cook
Professed Cookery by Ann Cook
A Cook’s Perspective byClarissa F. Dillon & Deborah J. Peterson
The Art of Cookery Made Plain & Easy by Hannah Glasse
Book review of A. Cook’s Perspective by Neil on British Food: a History
Neil’s disastrous attempt at cooking Hannah Glasse’s Christmas Pie on Neil Cooks Grigson
Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper by Neil Buttery
Ivan Day’s 22-stone Yorkshire Christmas Pye

Giacomo Castelvetro
The Fruit, Herbs & Vegetables of Italy by Giacomo Castelvetro (1614)
Profitable insructions [sic] for the manuring, sowing, and planting of kitchin gardens Very profitable for the common wealth and greatly for the helpe and comfort of poore people. Gathered by Richard Gardiner of Shrewsberie. (1603)

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and Bluesky

Sam Bilton also hosts the award winning Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron The Philosophy of Chocolate and Much Ado About Cooking: Delicious Shakesperean Feasts for Every Occasion (written in collaboration with Shakespeare’s Globe). You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar, Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper as well as Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding with another book in progress. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Allie Pino produces and hosts the Curious Appetite Podcast and the Fear Feasts Podcast with Vanessa Baca. She is also the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook and is currently working on a new book. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Sam Bilton Allie Pino and Neil Buttery are back with a brand new season exploring the culinary alphabet. This time it’s the letter ‘C’. In the first episode of this season our team had free reign to explore whatever took their fancy.
Sam opens with carbonado, diving into its rich history and cultural associations. Allie follows with carrots, exploring their meanings, myths, and surprising journeys through food history. Neil brings things to a close with cabinet pudding, a comforting and curious dish that rounds the conversation off rather nicely.
Don’t forget to email us at [email protected] or tag us on Instagram or BlueSky if you have any suggestions for future episodes. You may also want to subscribe to the A is for Apple Substack where we publish recipes and extra audio content.
Sources/Useful Links
Carbonado
Modern Cookery for Private Families - Eliza Acton (1845)
Cooking and Dining in Tudor and Early Stuart England by Peter Brears (2015)
Mots de table, mots de bouche: dictionnaire étymologique et historique du vocabulaire classique de la cuisine et de la gastronomie by Claudine Brécourt-Villars (1996)
Kettner’s Book of the Table - E. S. Dallas (1877)
Gargantua And His Son Pantagruel by Rabelais (1534)

Carrot
Vegetable Gardening the Colonial Williamsburg Way: 18th-Century Methods for Today’s Organic Gardeners - Wesley Greene (2012)
Do carrots help you see in the dark? - Dr Emma Davies BBC Science Focus Magazine (2026)
Step by Step. London: Thornton Butterworth - Churchill, W. S. (1939)
Originally published as a collection of Churchill’s newspaper articles and speeches from the late 1930s, including his commentary on Nazi Germany and the use of reward and punishment, encapsulated in his metaphor of “the carrot and the stick.”
Good Things - Jane Grigson (2006)
The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy - Hannah Glasse (1747) Recipe: To Make a Carrot Pudding
An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook of the 13th Century Translated by Charles Perry et al Recipe: Carrot Paste

Cabinet pudding
Neil’s Cabinet pudding recipe
The Philosophy of Puddings by Neil Buttery (2024)
The Pudding Book by Helen Thomas (1980)
Pride and Pudding by Regula Ysewijn (2015)
Eleanor Fettiplace’s Receipt Book by Hilary Spurling - my Lord Devonshire’s Pudding (1986)
Neil’s Spotted Dick recipe from his blog
Neil’s How to Steam a Pudding post on his blog
Neil on the BBC Travel Show talking about the history of puddings and sugar (UK only)

Welcome to Episode 7 of Season B. This is a Listener’s Choice ep, and things get hot, messy and monstrous as Sam, Neil and Alessandra look at Boiling, Bloody Mary and bay leaves.
Things mentioned in this episode
Sam Bilton wins at the Fortum & Mason Awards
Museum of Royal Worcester project wins at the British Library Food Season Awards
Sam’s black pudding episode on Comfortably Hungry
Neil is appearing at the Chalke Festival on 27 June
Follow Serve it Forth History Festival 18 October on Instagram @serveitforthfest

Links & Further Reading

Boiling
Acton, E. (1845). Modern Cookery For Private Families. Quadrille.
Beeton, I. (1861). The Book of Household Management. Lightning Source.
Davidson, A. (1999). The Oxford Companion to Food. Oxford University Press.
Grigson, J. (1992). English Food (Third Edit). Penguin.
McGee, H. (1984). On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen (1st ed.). Allen and Unwin.
Smith, D. (1998). Delia’s How to Cook Book 1. BBC Books.

Bayleaf:
Culpeper’s Herbal (I’ll find a link late)
What Is a Bay Leaf, Exactly? – Atlas Obscura https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/what-is-a-bay-leaf
Pliny Natural History iv: Books 12-16 https://archive.org/details/L370PlinyNaturalHistoryIV1216/page/n391/mode/2up?q=laurel
Ovid Metamorphosis https://www.gutenberg.org/files/21765/21765-h/21765-h.htm

Bloody Mary:
Why Is There an Entire Fried Chicken on My Bloody Mary?: An exploration of outrageous garnishes and the drink’s over-the-top evolution. The Spruce Eats
The Tomato in America by Andrew F. Smith (1994): A rich history of the tomato- from suspicion to Bloody Mary staple. Essential reading for any cocktail historian.
James Bond’s Other Drink: Long before Vesper, Bond was sipping Bloody Marys- shaken, not stirred, of course. Bormioli Luigi
Bloody Mina Gothtail: A Gothic twist on the classic- dark, dramatic, and dangerously drinkable. Instagram Recipe

Welcome to this bonus episode of A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink.
Last episode the theme was Meat, and as usual, the three of us nattered away for a bit too long and some of our conversation was edited out for time. One of these things was the part of Neil’s section on brains and the BSE crisis.
We’re busy behind the scenes getting the listener's choice episode ready for you, but hopefully this little snackette will keep you going.

You can follow the A is for Apple Podcast on Instagram and Bluesky

Sam Bilton also hosts the Comfortably Hungry Podcast and is the author of First Catch Your Gingerbread, Fool’s Gold: A History of British Saffron and The Philosophy of Chocolate. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Neil Buttery also hosts the British Food History Podcast and is the author of A Dark History of Sugar, Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald Britain’s Most Influential Housekeeper as well as Knead to Know: A History of Baking and The Philosophy of Pudding. You can find him on Instagram and Bluesky

Dr Allie Pino hosts the Fear Feasts Podcast with Vanessa Baca and is the co-author of A Gothic Cookbook. You can find her on Instagram and Bluesky