Lady Arundel's Manchet

Lady Arundel's Manchet
Sweet bread
Place of origin:
England
Region or state:
Sussex
Recipes at Wikibooks:
Lady Arundel's Manchet
Media at Wikimedia Commons:
Lady Arundel's Manchet

Lady Arundel's Manchet is a traditional version of a manchet, a traditional English yeast bread from Sussex.

The recipe for Lady Arundel's Manchet was first published in 1653 according to Elizabeth David.^[1] It was a luxurious bread eaten by the medieval aristocracy and remained popular into the Restoration period. A recipe appears in A True Gentlewoman's Delight (1653) printed for the Countess of Kent.^[2]

Lady Arundel's Manchets crossed the Atlantic to Virginia with the early colonists according to Katherine E Harbury.^[3]

Florence White also references Lady Arundel's Manchet's in her 1932 English Cookery book Good Things in England,^[4] publishing a description of a 1676 recipe and updating it for a contemporary readership.

Manchets were often used as part of other dishes. For example, a recipe for a baked pudding that incorporates manchet is included in "Things Not Generally Known, Familiarly Explained," citing The Queene's Royal Cookbook of 1713. This is a rich pudding that includes double cream, the addition of beef suet and added aromatics such as nutmeg, cinnamon and rose water.^[5]

Lady Arundel's Manchets are rarely made today. Manchets generally ceased to appear in English cookery books after 1800. The closest similar yeast bread is probably a Bath bun or a Sally Lunn bun.

References

Wikibooks Cookbook has a recipe/module on Lady Arundel's Manchet