What Did Working Class People Eat in the Victorian Era?

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  • čas přidán 18. 06. 2024
  • The Victorians were a peculiar bunch. Turns out, that could have something to do with what they ate. Though many of the dishes that landed on Victorian dinner tables may appear stomach-churning today, at the time they were commonly enjoyed or even regarded as delicacies.
    The Victorians’ penchant for odd food and flavour combinations was especially pronounced since the finest and best quality foods were reserved for the wealthy: poorer Victorians were forced to come up with ingenious and sometimes bizarre recipes to make their ingredients go further. Not ones to waste any part of an animal, you might wash down a mouthful of cow brain with a cup of fresh blood.
    In this video, Dan Snow experiences some of the food options that would have been on the menu for a member of the Victorian working-class.
    First, he reluctantly tries some sheep's trotters. In the Victorian era, sheep's feet were usually boiled allowing you to just gnaw on the greasy, grisly appendage until you cleaned it down to the bone. There wasn't very much meat on one of these, and there was also the potential that it wasn't very clean either.
    Next, Dan tastes some jellied eels. Exactly what it sounds like, the dish ‘jellied eels’ consists of eel chunks coated in their own ‘naturally produced gelatin’. Invented in London’s East End and sold directly from street food carts, the dish was often flavoured with a splash of vinegar or dollop of butter.
    After a roast loin of mutton, Dan finishes off his Victorian eating experience with a good old fashioned Christmas pudding - which has become synonymous with the Victorian period thanks to the work of Charles Dickens and the character of Mrs Cratchit.
    Do you think you could have got by on the diet of a working class Victorian? Let us know in the comments.
    Discover the past on History Hit with ad-free exclusive podcasts and documentaries released weekly presented by world renowned historians Dan Snow, Suzannah Lipscomb, Lucy Worsely, Mary Beard and more. Watch, listen and read history wherever you are, whenever you want it. Available on all devices: Apple TV, Amazon Prime Video, Android TV, Samsung Smart TV, Roku, Xbox, Chromecast, and iOs & Android.
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Komentáře • 372

  • @jasonuren3479
    @jasonuren3479 Před 11 měsíci +250

    'I'd only eat it if I was desperate' says a lot. They were.

    • @Cocklord911
      @Cocklord911 Před 10 měsíci +2

      Lol skill issue

    • @SpiderPigggg
      @SpiderPigggg Před 7 měsíci +1

      why didn't they eat KFC

    • @jasonuren3479
      @jasonuren3479 Před 7 měsíci +1

      ​@@SpiderPiggggMaybe because KFC didn't come to the UK until 1965? 🤔

    • @michelles2299
      @michelles2299 Před 6 měsíci +1

      Probably really nutritious

    • @samanthasmith61
      @samanthasmith61 Před 5 měsíci +3

      i mean it doesn't taste nice but probably better than our junk food and sugary lmao

  • @duded2281
    @duded2281 Před 11 měsíci +91

    sheep trotters can be very delicious if prepared right, and literally fall of the bones tender. i'm quite certain whoever cooked for the show just have no idea how to cook it

    • @mariomaka9802
      @mariomaka9802 Před 10 měsíci +22

      I get the same idea for a lot of these videos, they give people such poorly cooked things to try, and then they overreact saying everything is disgusting.

    • @michelles2299
      @michelles2299 Před 6 měsíci +4

      Still cooked in some Asian cuisine the jelly is full of collagen

    • @charlieross4674
      @charlieross4674 Před měsícem

      Iranians and their neighbours eat head and hooves for breakfast, it's called Kaleh Pacheh. While I don't much like the jelly-like feet, I do like the head. Never ate the eye though. It's a very sustaining food and healthy indeed

    • @charlieross4674
      @charlieross4674 Před měsícem

      That trotter was hardly cooked- it should be cooked for several hours, preferably overnight!

    • @Adolphification
      @Adolphification Před 4 dny +1

      @@charlieross4674 cow trotters are common delicacy here in indonesia, sheep/goat trotters are a bit less common ....it's only disgusting because they had no idea of how to properly make a nice dish out of it....
      an american friend of mine (she's from lincoln, nebraska) who visited me years ago loved surabaya style cow trotter curry very much....

  • @ladymeghenderson9337
    @ladymeghenderson9337 Před 11 měsíci +70

    My dad used to bring home jellied eels from the fish market in Birmingham City centre. And he used to eat pigs trotters, although, with the smell they gave off you'd have thought they walked home by themselves

    • @barrelrolldog
      @barrelrolldog Před 11 měsíci +2

      how did he prepare the trotters?

    • @thisasiankidistrashfordram374
      @thisasiankidistrashfordram374 Před 11 měsíci +4

      In East & Southeast Asia, we put vegetables, spices & other strong flavorings & boil the trotters in it for a long time. So trotter dishes rarely smell bad.

    • @michelles2299
      @michelles2299 Před 6 měsíci

      And tripe now a delicacy only served in Michelin star restaurants

  • @janerkenbrack3373
    @janerkenbrack3373 Před 11 měsíci +118

    While it is interesting to see some of the foods we would consider odd, this hardly represents the normal diet of average people in Victorian England. Copious amounts of fresh vegetables and fruits, fish, meat (quality and quantity according to wealth), and of course bread.
    Pottages and porridges were typical, and puddings were pretty common. (Not all puddings were Christmas pudding.)
    But it should be remembered that during that era, there was widespread disparity between the classes in England. (And most other places). What the poor saw as a rare treat, the middle class had weekly, and the wealthy had elaborate versions created for daily meals. While the poor made do with gruesome cuts of meat, some of the time, the middle class ate good meat at all meals. But the wealthy had the best cuts, and a variety of meats at every meal.

    • @leegosling
      @leegosling Před 11 měsíci +4

      Bread and vinegar on Sundays.

    • @recoil53
      @recoil53 Před 11 měsíci +16

      It also depends on when in the Victorian era and where.
      The Victorian era spans 64 years, from the beginning of the industrial era into urban blight.
      Villagers and farm workers away from the industrialization probably had a healthier diet.
      An urban factory worker living in the slums was living mostly on adulterated bread, with very little meat and few vegetables.

    • @martinhoran9529
      @martinhoran9529 Před 11 měsíci +15

      In Peter Jackson's doc "They Shall Not Grow Old" it's pointed out that at the beginning of the Great War the average Englishman was in very poor health mostly due to diet, and it took months to get them battle-ready. That was at the end of the era, so per your observation they should have been in better shape.
      So, your opinion is that they ate better. I'll go with the historians that made this video and believe they ate like crap.

    • @janerkenbrack3373
      @janerkenbrack3373 Před 11 měsíci +4

      @@martinhoran9529 I didn't say what you imply. There were far more poor in England than middle class or wealthy. What I did say was that diet varied based on income, and that the items featured were not the normal fare of the people.

    • @jowolf2187
      @jowolf2187 Před 11 měsíci +3

      @@martinhoran9529 It takes months to get people today "battle ready"; it's more a function of mental and physical conditioning than poor health. Plus, the Victorian era saw numerous battles and skirmishes throughout the empire, and the British army was already packed with young men via the idea that was being pushed that it was noble and even glorious to fight and die for god, king, and country. The average English diet often contained more bread, porridge and meat than vegetables because the average Englishman was poor (and the Brits to this day seem to have an odd aversion to any vegetables other than root vegetables). The British empire also included Canada and numerous other territories right up to the first world war (and those territories were by and large not truly given up until after WWII). The Canadians, Indians, people of Hong Kong, and many of the other colonies had diets rich in vegetables and grains (because that's what was available in those areas). Documentaries that were made for commercial consumption (such as the one you're quoting) also gravely sacrifice evidence and the whole truth for commercial viability, that is to say they want to be entertaining as well as informative.

  • @jowolf2187
    @jowolf2187 Před 11 měsíci +19

    The Victorian era saw a huge rise in cookbooks, experimentation in cuisine, and the consumption of liquor (hence the temperance movements that sprouted up throughout the period). Canned goods were on the rise, especially vegetables, with a number of prominent individuals during the period become vegetarians.

  • @monicawarner4091
    @monicawarner4091 Před 11 měsíci +33

    I have never heard of people eating sheep's trotters, but pig's trotters were commonly eaten by my parents working class families and neighbours over a hundred years ago. The rest of the animal would be turned into pork joints, chops, bacon, sausages, and brawn. Cow heels were another working class "delicacy," and also tripe and tongue. I will be eternally thankful that being born shortly after the end of WW2, during rationing, I have never had to try any of these things apart from pressed cow's tongue, which is actually a rather nice cold meat.

    • @royfearn4345
      @royfearn4345 Před 11 měsíci +6

      Tripe and onions is a favourite delicacy of mine!

    • @pigeonplucker01
      @pigeonplucker01 Před 11 měsíci +3

      @@royfearn4345 and mine😍

    • @monicawarner4091
      @monicawarner4091 Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@royfearn4345 • It was my mother's favourite too. I only ever tried one tentative bite of tripe, decided that the feel in my mouth was what I would expect biting a slug would feel like. I wasn't brave enough to actually chew and swallow the piece though. 😬

    • @anthonykaiser974
      @anthonykaiser974 Před 11 měsíci

      Pickled pig feet are common in the Southern US, Scandinavia, and China. Of course the Chinese eat things we would never touch.

    • @tattie278
      @tattie278 Před 11 měsíci +5

      I was born in 1960’s and can remember eating tongue into the 1980’s. It was bought cooked and sliced; actually quite tasty.

  • @wot1fan885
    @wot1fan885 Před 11 měsíci +2

    Food and History facts go together so well . Love these videos ty .

  • @KC-gy5xw
    @KC-gy5xw Před 11 měsíci +6

    Pigs trotters, in our house in the 60s/70s, my Jamaican mother would cook what we call Pea Soup (made with Kidney Beans - we call all beans, peas) and either pig trotters or cow feet to bulk it out. Never had the stomach to eat the meat, but damn, the soup was incredibly tasty. If you had no money and were hungry, you'd eat it.. My poor dad never refused a meal until he got very ill in the last few months of his life with stomach cancer. He said he remembered being a child in Jamaica and seeing food and imagining what it would taste like. When a kindly cousin or aunt gave him food to eat, he ate it, no questions asked.

    • @dickhardpicard
      @dickhardpicard Před 10 měsíci

      Pig feet is common for southern black Americans

  • @emom358
    @emom358 Před 11 měsíci +34

    My mother was born in 1924 Tottenham. She came over to States as a war bride. When we were growing up, she would tell us about these foods and more, so it wasn't just the Victorian Age.

    • @HVS-gk7oo
      @HVS-gk7oo Před 11 měsíci +2

      Of course poor people kept eating cheap food years after a specific date. They couldn't afford to shop for newer trendier recipes.

  • @alexanderclaire
    @alexanderclaire Před 11 měsíci +19

    firstly, those lamb trotters need to be cooked longer and highly seasoned, those ones where tough and cold. secondly, eels prefer clean water actually and are still enjoyed by many Londoners

    • @Tryingcounts
      @Tryingcounts Před 11 měsíci

      Are eels really eaten given they are so rare? I am not from London (berks) but never ever saw eel.

    • @alexanderclaire
      @alexanderclaire Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@Tryingcounts yes, though most are imported from the Netherlands

    • @Tryingcounts
      @Tryingcounts Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@alexanderclaire wow, interesting. Thanks!

    • @simonh6371
      @simonh6371 Před 11 měsíci +1

      Have you tried smoked eel? That's delicious, really nice and oily and moist like mackerel or salmon.

  • @rattiegirl5
    @rattiegirl5 Před 11 měsíci +18

    I think with the number of people in work houses and orphanages, and women selling themselves for food and a warm bed, it is safe to say that there were a lot of really desperate people in Victorian England. Cheers from the US.

  • @54mgtf22
    @54mgtf22 Před 11 měsíci +2

    Dan is the man.
    Love your work 👍

  • @resnonverba137
    @resnonverba137 Před 11 měsíci +20

    The Victorian era ended with Queen Victoria's death in 1901, not 1914 as shown. In fact, I'm not sure where you got your dates from at all. She was born in 1819 and became queen in 1837.

    • @RixPayne
      @RixPayne Před 11 měsíci +10

      Yeah, doesn't bode well when a 'History' channel cannot get basic dates right. According to that bizarre date range the Edwardian era didn't exist.

    • @nicolad8822
      @nicolad8822 Před 11 měsíci

      The “Victorian era” in some definitions apparently corresponds roughly but not exactly to the period of her reign. I think they know the actual dates perfectly well.

    • @resnonverba137
      @resnonverba137 Před 11 měsíci +4

      @@nicolad8822 Any definition that quotes the Victorian age as starting before she was even born is simply wrong. Quite aside from the point raised by Rix above.

    • @nicolad8822
      @nicolad8822 Před 11 měsíci

      @@resnonverba137Well it seems to be an accepted thing.🤷🏻‍♀️ see Encyclopaedia Britannica, the Historical Association.

    • @resnonverba137
      @resnonverba137 Před 11 měsíci +6

      @@nicolad8822 Some seem to think that men can be women. Common sense dictates otherwise in both cases.

  • @oz1902
    @oz1902 Před 11 měsíci +6

    When I was a small boy, my mother would tell me to go to the butcher and ask him for a sheep's head. She would also add, "And tell him to leave the legs on."

    • @duncanbryson1167
      @duncanbryson1167 Před 11 měsíci +1

      😂

    • @charlieross4674
      @charlieross4674 Před měsícem

      Did you actually have to visit the butcher? I'd like to know more, if you would share

    • @oz1902
      @oz1902 Před měsícem

      @@charlieross4674 It's a very old joke I'm afraid.

  • @paulmaryon9088
    @paulmaryon9088 Před 7 měsíci +4

    Great video thank you, not sure on the dates there though, 1837 - 1901 surely?

    • @erminedereims400
      @erminedereims400 Před 3 měsíci

      No necessary, he got the 1914 date correct. The Edwardian period 1901-1914 is often referred to by historians as an extension of the Victorian period, there was no radical changes in those years from Victoria’s reign apart from it was under her son Edward (a complete Victorian) and hence renamed Edwardian.
      1820 is a stretch however as 1820-1830 but also 1810-1830 is famously the ‘Regency Era’ of George 4th, and therefore not the Victorian era.
      1830 is probably a better date for the start of the Victorian period as Victoria was heir to the throne and the centre of British life, her uncle William is a forgettable and unremarkable king who let his niece shine, hence why the 1830s have no particular name.

  • @neilfleming2787
    @neilfleming2787 Před 11 měsíci +14

    I wonder sometimes if the food you eat has been prepared correctly or maybe should be eaten hot/warm. the first two items you were eaten seemed cold, maybe heating would improve them

  • @sawahtb
    @sawahtb Před 7 měsíci +2

    Dan seems to only have access to cold food. As far as "lighting the brandy" you have to heat it up to get some fumes which light very well. You use a ladle with brandy in it, heat it up a bit, catch the fumes on fire and thing pout it on the warm plum pudding.

  • @draoi99
    @draoi99 Před 11 měsíci +7

    Bread? Vegetables? Porridge? Eggs? Fish? I would have expected these to feature.

  • @Arkantos117
    @Arkantos117 Před 11 měsíci +18

    Everything apart from jellied eels I'd just take as an acquired taste.
    A lot of people these days can't stand liver pate but I've always enjoyed it.

    • @keithjones9546
      @keithjones9546 Před 10 měsíci +1

      My hillbilly ancestors ate every part of the pigs they slaughtered on their farm, even making head cheese (souse). I'm 58. All 4 grandparents born in the 1800's. Sometime ca. 1970's, they started becoming snobby about eating nasty pigs, and they certainly wouldn't keep, let alone eat or milk, goats -- it was just too hillbilly even for them. They were, after all, sending their youngest kids to college and moving up. I'm kind of grossed out by things like braunschweiger but still sneak a package of it home and share it (sparingly) with my dog while trying not to think what it really is.

  • @johnbrereton5229
    @johnbrereton5229 Před 11 měsíci +25

    Jellied eels are still a London delicasy even today and you can get them in any Pie and Mash shop.
    I remember walking around the east end of London 20 years ago with my French girlfriend when we saw a jellied eel stall. I told her what they were and she was keen to try them and actualy, just like my father, loved them !

    • @raybod1775
      @raybod1775 Před 11 měsíci +8

      Spices and cooking makes all the difference.

  • @danielmoran9902
    @danielmoran9902 Před 7 měsíci +2

    I've had sheeps trotters prepared and cooked in crispy parcels in France. It was lovely.

  • @katherinecollins4685
    @katherinecollins4685 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Great video

  • @williamswindle5445
    @williamswindle5445 Před 11 měsíci +6

    Pickled pigs feet a delicacy here in the south. And I've had cow tongue many times.

    • @ishrendon6435
      @ishrendon6435 Před 10 měsíci +1

      Here in mexico cow tongue tacos are a delicacy. We put alot of oil when cooking. Nice and tender

    • @snowysnowyriver
      @snowysnowyriver Před 10 měsíci +1

      Absolutely delicious!

  • @baldF
    @baldF Před 11 měsíci +3

    I have eaten both sheep and pigs trotters - and I love them! Don’t let your prejudices rule your lives.

    • @babuzzard6470
      @babuzzard6470 Před 10 měsíci

      🤮🤮each to their own! But, 🤮🤮

  • @Sjs1-9
    @Sjs1-9 Před 11 měsíci +3

    Sheep trotters same as pork trotters if prepared correctly are really nice, they just look gross. I recommend The best food review show, it shows a lot of food like this.

  • @anne-sophiekuentz6875
    @anne-sophiekuentz6875 Před 11 měsíci +20

    The Victorian era actually ended in 1901 following Queen Victoria's death. The era between her death and WWI is called the Edwardian era, after King Edward VII who succeeded her on the throne.

    • @anne-sophiekuentz6875
      @anne-sophiekuentz6875 Před 11 měsíci +8

      It also didn't start in 1820 but in 1837 when Queen Victoria came to the throne...

    • @lipstickblue5193
      @lipstickblue5193 Před 11 měsíci +3

      I'm glad I wasn't the only one that noticed the error.

  • @patriciagerresheim2500
    @patriciagerresheim2500 Před 11 měsíci +8

    The thing is, when there's nothing else available, you'll eat just about anything to satisfy your hunger. You didn't waste any part of the animal.
    Re: the Christmas pudding, you have to warm the alcohol before it will ignite.

    • @rustomkanishka
      @rustomkanishka Před 11 měsíci +1

      The Christmas pudding seems to be the only place anyone used any of the spices the empire conquered.

    • @patriciagerresheim2500
      @patriciagerresheim2500 Před 11 měsíci +3

      @@rustomkanishka If you look at medieval recipes, you'll see that spices were used quite a lot by the upper classes. Peasants would save up in order to buy a little bit of spice, especially cinnamon and ginger, to use in their holiday baking, which is why gingerbread is traditional at Christmastime. By the time you get to the 18th century, spices were more available to average people all through the year. Eighteenth-century people were quite fond of nutmeg, and you find it in a lot of recipes from that time. The very poor in the Victorian era still had trouble affording spices, even though they were widely available for all sorts of dishes, which is why Dickens waxed so lyrical about the Cratchits' pudding.

    • @babuzzard6470
      @babuzzard6470 Před 10 měsíci +1

      Trouble is, when you Light it, you lose all the booze.

    • @patriciagerresheim2500
      @patriciagerresheim2500 Před 10 měsíci +1

      @@babuzzard6470 True, but you use so little, it really doesn't matter. It's mostly for effect.

    • @catgladwell5684
      @catgladwell5684 Před 10 měsíci +3

      I was amazed that Dan tried to set cold brandy alight. He must have seen someone doing it before now.

  • @morefiction3264
    @morefiction3264 Před 11 měsíci +6

    I'm sure mutton shoulder browned and braised in stock and ale till falling apart would be quite good. Much like a beef pot roast.

    • @robanderson473
      @robanderson473 Před 11 měsíci +1

      The Donnybrook pub do the best lamb shanks, you just have to look at them and the meat falls off the bone!

  • @spaceinyourface
    @spaceinyourface Před 11 měsíci +8

    Just a bit of Xmas pudding for me please 😋

  • @stephensmith2601
    @stephensmith2601 Před 11 měsíci +4

    You have to warm your brandy in a ladle before you light it and pour it on the pudding.

  • @williamrobinson7435
    @williamrobinson7435 Před 11 měsíci +15

    It's curious how historical cultural practices can overlap the generations.. I mean, I'm not THAT old, but I can remember my grandmother eating (with apparent relish) tripe, a thing so disgusting in appearance and smell that I could not countenance even trying it. Well done on the trotters there Dan. You are a braver man than I.
    Nice one team! 🌟👍

    • @royfearn4345
      @royfearn4345 Před 11 měsíci +4

      Tripe is yummy, cold with salt, Pepper and vinegar or hot in tripe and onions!

    • @wkcia
      @wkcia Před 9 měsíci

      Cook with onions, vinegar, and ginger. It’s surprisingly easy to make delicious.

  • @Mrdresden
    @Mrdresden Před 11 měsíci +5

    He should check out the fermented viking era food Icelanders eat in February 😅

  • @steveb1972
    @steveb1972 Před 11 měsíci +7

    If you’re Caribbean, African or South Asian English you’d be very familiar with mutton. I had curried mutton (cheaper replacement for goat) a few days ago. Had cow foot recently too.

    • @rustomkanishka
      @rustomkanishka Před 11 měsíci +1

      As an Indian with Iranain ancestry I never understood why Americans tended to shit on British mutton.
      I tried some. It's like the cooks are going out of their way to insult the poor bugger's memory. I hope the immigrants have shared wisdom from back home.

    • @KC-gy5xw
      @KC-gy5xw Před 11 měsíci

      @@rustomkanishka Yep, when it's cooked well, it's delicious! Love a nice bit of mutton, but goat is so easy to get these days, and damn, they even cut out the evil bones for you!!

  • @theresasmith8533
    @theresasmith8533 Před 11 měsíci +3

    Lovely if cooked properly.....
    I'm doing pigs trotters for tea today...😊

  • @joegill3612
    @joegill3612 Před 11 měsíci +1

    We used to get sheep's trotters and cow heel from the local market in the Fifties and sixties. As well as tripe Ox tongue was a favourite as well and of course sheep and pigs' heads.

    • @KC-gy5xw
      @KC-gy5xw Před 11 měsíci

      I remember growing up in the 60's/70's and kids at school being amazed that we had a whole chicken to roast on Sunday lunch.. Remember they were not so cheap and popular back then, until farming methods made them so cheap..

  • @brooklynnchick
    @brooklynnchick Před 3 měsíci +1

    Growing up in the United States, Montana to be specific, we raised sheep for wool and meat but we NEVER did the trotters! We’d cook trotters (sheep or pig) down for the protein and then use it as a base for bean or lentil soups, I thought that was pretty extreme.
    Dan, you are seriously an OG! ❤

  • @ChooRoo
    @ChooRoo Před 10 měsíci +1

    It takes a special kind of person to go back for a second bite. Respect!

  • @ethanmagdaleno5332
    @ethanmagdaleno5332 Před 11 měsíci

    I love these so much

  • @thexbigxgreen
    @thexbigxgreen Před 11 měsíci +3

    Those trotters weren't cooked anywhere near long enough. They should have been braised/slow cooked until the collagen and connective tissue were meltingly tender

  • @ande100
    @ande100 Před 11 měsíci +5

    I have had smoked eel and mutton stew and spit roast mutton spiked with garlic. I had veal and beef tongue. I had German Blutwurst ( kinda like bloodsausage/pudding)

    • @anthonykaiser974
      @anthonykaiser974 Před 11 měsíci +1

      Mutton barbecued with a good peppery vinegar baste, Kentucky style, is really good!

    • @simonh6371
      @simonh6371 Před 11 měsíci +1

      We still like our black pudding (blood sausage) here in the UK as part of an English breakfast. The German Blutwurst, Polish one (I've forgotten the name) and Spanish morcilla are pretty good too. But the Dutch black pudding is so full of sweet spices like cinnamon it's revolting, I bought some once when I lived there and chucked it in the bin as it was so overspiced it was inedible.

  • @ricardodias8384
    @ricardodias8384 Před 10 měsíci +2

    The problem is not only being trotters. It’s how you cook them. In Portugal we eat pig’s trotters (“pézinhos de coentrada”). Traditionally poor man’s food, today a delicacy. Of course not everyone eats them (especially the younger generations that are only used to eating clean cuts of meat). But well done and well seasoned (with lots of garlic and coriander leaves) they’re quite a treat!!

  • @snowysnowyriver
    @snowysnowyriver Před 10 měsíci +5

    I'm pushing 71 years old. When i was a child my grandmother used to serve up pig's trotters, lamb's feet and calf's feet. All were very delicious. She used to serve them with suet dumplings and the veg cooked in the pot such as whole onions, whole carrots etc.
    I think the problem with these type of videos is that they don't cook the food properly. The trotters and feet used to be left on the banked up fire overnight to slowly stew. The cooking had to be started the day before you want to eat it. The meat should fall off the bone the way meat does on ox-tails.
    This man is behaving like a 21st century spoiled brat. He's trying to eat something that is undercooked.....and then complaining about it. Perhaps a nice Big Mac is more his speed.

  • @peterregan8691
    @peterregan8691 Před 11 měsíci +3

    Not only has mutton itself fallen out of fashion but also the saying ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ referring to a woman ‘past her prime’ who is overly made-up and wearing clothes that perhaps she shouldn’t be wearing ‘at her age’. Not heard anyone say it for years.

    • @JayM-wg7dd
      @JayM-wg7dd Před 11 měsíci +1

      Maybe in Britain and America, but everywhere else in Europe, as well as much of the rest of the world, eat mutton happily. People in other countries are less inclined towards our relatively bland food so what's in and out of 'fashion' is relatively subjective.

  • @TrooBlud34
    @TrooBlud34 Před 11 měsíci +4

    "I'm going in..." 🤣🤣🤣🤣

  • @neilfleming2787
    @neilfleming2787 Před 11 měsíci +7

    it worries (and sort of annoys me) that offal is just dumped now into whatever pet food will take it. There is nothing wrong with liver, beef, pig, sheep or chicken liver is lovely and each has a different taste, you just have to know the best ways to cook it. There are still cultures where the offal are relished, why is this not so in the world in general?

    • @simonh6371
      @simonh6371 Před 11 měsíci +1

      It is the case in the world in general. In all continental European countries people still eat offal, like pig's liver and chicken livers, tripe, and outside Europe people hearts and gizzards, even lungs. I know dozens of ways to cook them from all over. Pate is eaten a lot more in the Netherlands, Belgium and France, probably more than once a week as a staple in peoples' fridges, and that's made from liver.
      It's only really in the anglosphere - UK and USA particularly - that we don't eat it so much nowadays as most people live off ultra processed food, ''artificial'' food as a Jamaican guy I knew used to call it. That's less than half a billion out of a planet of 7-8 billion so it's just us that's in the minority.
      But these ingredients are easy to get hold of, they even sell chicken livers in my local small Tesco, and easy to cook, and very nutritious. Halal butchers are everywhere in cities nowadays and they sell lots of offal.

    • @barrelrolldog
      @barrelrolldog Před 11 měsíci +1

      I agree, i live in asia and its not even weird at all to eat offal. Its a shame really how we find this stuff weird in england, if most people tried it they would change their mind.

    • @JameaJimea1175
      @JameaJimea1175 Před 9 měsíci

      Well for one it has an awful name

  • @bigtex4058
    @bigtex4058 Před 11 měsíci +5

    Jack London wrote about a fellow on his way to the work house who picked up a discarded grape stem from the spit covered sidewalk and ate it.

    • @robanderson473
      @robanderson473 Před 11 měsíci +1

      Thanks very much, you just put me off my jellied eels!

    • @simonh6371
      @simonh6371 Před 11 měsíci

      From his book ''People of the abyss'' where he came to London and lived amongst the poor in the East End of London around 1900ish. Really good book. Orwell did the same thing about 20-30 years later which he describes in ''Down and out in Paris and London'', and in northern England which he wrote about in ''The road to Wigan Pier''. The mainstay of the working class diet in England then was bread and margarine, and tea.

  • @kimberlypatton205
    @kimberlypatton205 Před 11 měsíci +1

    I’m sorry to be laughing at you, Dan.. but your responses to the first two are hilarious! You are the bravest man I know- I am sure of , I saw you eat sweetbreads!

  • @MoniiChanTheUnicorn
    @MoniiChanTheUnicorn Před 11 měsíci +2

    Pigs trotters used to be quite popular in Ireland, sold as 'cruíbíns' which is the gaelic word for trotters. I imagine mutton would be too gamey but apparently pigs feet is still popular in some southern states in america

    • @davidhookway514
      @davidhookway514 Před 10 měsíci

      My Grandmother who was Irish, tried Pigs Trotters and Tripe on me ' NO ' - I did like Oxtail Stew.

  • @tomfoulds2604
    @tomfoulds2604 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Amazng how dan wouldnt even know what the working class eat today!

  • @FuncleB
    @FuncleB Před 10 měsíci +1

    Fair play to Dan for eating some of these things. I certainly couldn't hahaha.

  • @WifeMamaArtist
    @WifeMamaArtist Před 11 měsíci

    I'm in my late 40's (so not THAT old). I loved calvesfoot jelly as a kid, with vinegar and white pepper!!

  • @aundrapalmer517
    @aundrapalmer517 Před 10 měsíci +2

    How sad thay you feel that way about pigs feet. They are a delicacy in my culture! When slow cooked and seasoned correctly😊

  • @frederickherring2284
    @frederickherring2284 Před 10 měsíci +1

    Used to go fishing down the old coal wharfs in Brisbane, caught a lot of Eels, The old Italian guy a bit up the hill from me used to buy 'em off me. My mate and I were delighted at the money he gave us for them. never tried them myself.My mum thought they were disgusting and would have nothing to do with them.

  • @PaigeA6741
    @PaigeA6741 Před 10 měsíci +1

    I had boiled goat feet made by some friends from Afghanistan and my reaction was pretty much the same as you eating the sheep trotters

  • @0HARE
    @0HARE Před 8 měsíci

    Yep, they must have been very hungry to eat these things.
    Thanks for illuminating this little known bit of British history.
    It was certainly “interesting”!

    • @michelles2299
      @michelles2299 Před 6 měsíci +1

      Little known I don't think so some of these foods are still eaten and extremely nutritious most offal is now put into dog food and it's the most nutritious part of an animal very good for the gut micro biome which is largely over looked it's all protein powder and ultra processed food and they wonder why there is so much depression and poor health

  • @martingardener
    @martingardener Před 11 měsíci +2

    I disagree about the jellied eels. Get rid of the jelly - although great for a fish sauce or such - and the eel meat is amazing without any little bones. I wish Tesco would bring them back.

    • @federicocatelli8785
      @federicocatelli8785 Před 11 měsíci

      Very true fatty but tasty.Had them roasted in Comacchio (Italy) where it's traditional

  • @python27au
    @python27au Před 11 měsíci +1

    Jellied eels reminds me of the braun my mother and grandparents ate. It was some sort of meat (pork?) in a jelly like substance. It was cut in slices and they’d put it on a sandwich.

    • @thexbigxgreen
      @thexbigxgreen Před 11 měsíci +1

      It's called aspic

    • @python27au
      @python27au Před 11 měsíci

      @@thexbigxgreen yeah sounds right 👍

    • @aparrotformrpoirot8906
      @aparrotformrpoirot8906 Před 11 měsíci

      its made from a pigs head i think

    • @python27au
      @python27au Před 11 měsíci +1

      @@aparrotformrpoirot8906 about as appetising as trotters and eels too😬

    • @aparrotformrpoirot8906
      @aparrotformrpoirot8906 Před 11 měsíci

      @@python27au i tried it once it was not to bad ill leave the eels and trotters well alone tho

  • @ILOVEBACONBOY2018
    @ILOVEBACONBOY2018 Před 11 měsíci +2

    Great content!

  • @annasahlstrom6109
    @annasahlstrom6109 Před 11 měsíci

    Mutton and Christmas Pudding are things I like. The other things sound awful! I remember on the Supersizers series that on the Victorian episode they had a roast calf's head.

  • @jaywalker3087
    @jaywalker3087 Před 10 měsíci +1

    The class system is alive and kicking the working classes.
    Revolution of thought and compassion is desperately needed..

  • @cmcb7230
    @cmcb7230 Před 10 měsíci

    When he ate the eels all I could think of was the mighty boosh song eels!

  • @petekadenz9465
    @petekadenz9465 Před 5 měsíci

    People were eating jellied eels when I was a schoolchild. We eat pigs trotters at home - horrible, but if you’re hungry, you eat them…

  • @HardyBunster
    @HardyBunster Před 10 měsíci

    I remember both sheep and pig trotters my mum boiled in the 70’s. I used to get a wallop if I didn’t eat them all up. My grandmother loved her jellied eels. Boiled sheep tongues was another favourite of my mum and dad.
    🤮

  • @natwooding9394
    @natwooding9394 Před 3 měsíci

    There's a line in a Dorothy L Sayers novel in which someone makes the disparaging comment about another woman "Mutton dressed as lamb"

  • @eugeniasyro5774
    @eugeniasyro5774 Před 11 měsíci

    Yes to the triggers and jellies eels!

  • @duncannok
    @duncannok Před 5 měsíci +1

    Sheeps feet are not even cooked fully. How could you possibly get a real comparison?

  • @patrickbush9526
    @patrickbush9526 Před měsícem

    I've never heard of sheep Trotters. 😂 I seriously thought it was going to be a sheep turd.

  • @madderhat5852
    @madderhat5852 Před 11 měsíci +1

    Roast mutton was the only roast we had growing up.

  • @froggirl96
    @froggirl96 Před 11 měsíci +1

    historical fear factor...i hate this, i feel bad for dan 😭

  • @sophiabali3854
    @sophiabali3854 Před 6 měsíci

    Went around the world... for SPICES..still didnt season the TROTS. Needed to be cooked tender in a stew, quite nice.

  • @python27au
    @python27au Před 11 měsíci

    8:01 and something to stamp out the taste of the trotters and eels😋

  • @user-xh3lz9xt4l
    @user-xh3lz9xt4l Před 10 měsíci +6

    There is nothing wrong with jellies eels with vinegar and pepper. I still love them these days at 63 years old😊

    • @Colbato.
      @Colbato. Před 8 měsíci

      yes the young lad is a whiner and puts on a show like it's undrinkable.

  • @laurieleannie
    @laurieleannie Před 10 měsíci

    Dan will not die of of a surfeit of eels! 😂😂😂

  • @MsOriantal
    @MsOriantal Před 11 měsíci

    PLEASE tell me you washed your hands before handling that book, Dan!! 😱

  • @michaelstevens1085
    @michaelstevens1085 Před 11 měsíci +1

    You need to heat the Brandy if you want it to flambe

  • @iangarrett741
    @iangarrett741 Před 11 měsíci +2

    I love jellied eels and don’t care who knows it!

  • @kerrysnow9153
    @kerrysnow9153 Před 11 měsíci +2

    Jellied eels amazing😊

  • @britpopification
    @britpopification Před 11 měsíci +2

    Is anyone cooking these properly for you ? Trotters and eels are delicious….if done properly

  • @waltersickinger263
    @waltersickinger263 Před 11 měsíci +3

    You would eat all of these if it was all you could afford.

  • @annakalicka3430
    @annakalicka3430 Před 5 měsíci

    Sheeps trotters are full of collagen, good for your skin and joints, and a cheap equivalent of meat, so of course they were popular - But I believe they taste much better served hot rather than cold and cooked to the point when everything falls off the bone. If you have to struggle with the chewiness of every bite, I bet it is not pleasant from modern point of view. A bit of salt would improve the taste too, but salt was an expensive commodity, so perhaps not for everyone.
    I grew up eating pigs trotters and chicken feet, and I appreciate how available they were back then (not anymore, not so much), that gives you a brilliant gelatine based savoury dishes full of nutrition. I would love to try sheeps trotters, but I would cook them my way, as I am not a fan of animal tissue being too chewy - I would have cooked them longer.😃

  • @pheart2381
    @pheart2381 Před 11 měsíci +3

    I think most people ate a very plain boring diet. Not always healthy. There was a lot of food adulteration.
    My dad loves jellied eels for some reason,and welks. From the East End.

  • @Grumszy
    @Grumszy Před 11 měsíci

    Remember my brother having a clip around the ear for making a noise when eating.

  • @Thefrugalgal
    @Thefrugalgal Před 9 měsíci

    That xmas pudding looks dry as dirt. It says a lot about a food when you have to dous it in alcohol.

  • @mwrkhan
    @mwrkhan Před 11 měsíci

    Goat trotters (paya), simmered for hours in a spicy broth, is quite popular in Bangladesh.

    • @abhikghosh6110
      @abhikghosh6110 Před 11 měsíci

      And in India too among Muslims

    • @rustomkanishka
      @rustomkanishka Před 11 měsíci

      Aye, excellent for anyone recovering from a long bout of illness.
      Then again, the only time I saw a dish in this video with spices was the Christmas pudding. Also, I'm a home cook and I've seen enough westerners salivating at the moglai stock.

  • @flintandball6093
    @flintandball6093 Před 11 měsíci

    Mutton is still big in Australia today.
    Nothing here looks inedible, just acquired tastes.

  • @fosterfuchs
    @fosterfuchs Před 11 měsíci +5

    Dan Snow should do these historical food review videos together with James May.

    • @dannygallaghermisc7593
      @dannygallaghermisc7593 Před 11 měsíci +1

      Im no fan of the show but id pay to watch him do a bush tucka trial😂

  • @user-dw2on7ju3o
    @user-dw2on7ju3o Před 7 měsíci

    Even as of today…. Most people around the world still eating trotters: pork, lamb, veal… and tripe …. I was luck to tried these dishes in Marocco, Turkey, Singapore, Italy, Romania, France, Munich, Poland … and they were delicious… so the taste is not depends on the main ingredient but on how you prepare and on how you cook it…. The British was never knows for their cooking were they?

  • @D_XDC
    @D_XDC Před 10 měsíci

    🤢 Good on you mate. Brilliant series. ..Rather you than me though 😅

  • @salimaelmusalima559
    @salimaelmusalima559 Před 5 měsíci

    I'm Moroccan and I think mutton feet are quite tasty. You just need to prepare them right and with the right seasoning. :)

  • @ToriLyn_
    @ToriLyn_ Před 11 měsíci

    I didn’t know you could eat the feet lol the one meat I don’t like is lamb, it tastes the way sheep smell lol

  • @francisyn7584
    @francisyn7584 Před 10 měsíci

    You Need to boil the pig feet untill it fall of the bone, after a first boil in salt water, than a second boil in clean water with spice like five spice and bay leaf, pepper corn, and soysauce

  • @reidakted4416
    @reidakted4416 Před 11 měsíci +1

    This is why I strongly opposed time travel.

  • @temptemp4174
    @temptemp4174 Před 11 měsíci +3

    Mutton isn't that bad. It's actually pretty nice

    • @rustomkanishka
      @rustomkanishka Před 11 měsíci

      Mutton is amazing if you know how to cook it.

  • @davidcomtedeherstal
    @davidcomtedeherstal Před 11 měsíci +3

    You should have tried the Upper class food instead.

  • @Bethikathebunny
    @Bethikathebunny Před 4 měsíci

    The Victorian era was until 1901, and it was the Edwardian era after that. She didn’t take the throne until 1837 as well.

  • @Sabatta
    @Sabatta Před 2 měsíci

    This channel and Dan's shows in particular are somewhat a reflection of class> He talks about things like jellied eels and mutton being uncommon - trust me in several parts London TODAY, they are not. Curry Mutton. Trotters of all types. It's actually funny and slightly sad, it's like the old saying - the more things change, the more they stay the same. The class divide has remained, it's just the some of food that may have moved across. Good shows despite that

  • @andrewflores17
    @andrewflores17 Před 8 měsíci

    ive eaten tons of pigs feet they actually taste good and are popular in soups from mexico.... and most of the world i cant go to the grocery store and grab some right now.

  • @Shoshana-xh6hc
    @Shoshana-xh6hc Před 11 měsíci +1

    Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837, 1820 was the Georgian period… 🙄 She died in 1901.

  • @SRV2013
    @SRV2013 Před 10 měsíci

    You sir, are braver than me.

  • @InstrumentalSpeak
    @InstrumentalSpeak Před 9 měsíci +2

    I feel so frustrated when historians leave out the gigantic part of British history which is....colonisation. Dan says 'Under Queen Victoria, Britain became the richest country'... yeah, so don't you want to explain how that was possible? Due to the forced labour of tens of thousands of people in the global south maybe? It's such an important part of British history and it should not be omitted from even lighter videos like this

    • @billiejoemcallisterwaspushed
      @billiejoemcallisterwaspushed Před 6 měsíci

      If you could be bothered to research then you will discover that in the Victorian era Great Britain manufactured 60% of global goods. Yes, that’s over half of everything manufactured worldwide. A vast amounts of goods were exported via the long established London, Liverpool and Bristol docks. Railways were built all over the world using British built locomotives & infrastructure expertise. Maybe it was the ‘forced labour’ of the British working classes that made the country so wealthy?

    • @InstrumentalSpeak
      @InstrumentalSpeak Před 6 měsíci

      @@billiejoemcallisterwaspushed Hi, I have a master's degree in this, but thanks for the mansplain, and thanks for the completely irrelevant response to the point I was making. I have lots of books to recommend if you decide to do some further research! Let me know.