Dining with the Delaval Family
BOOK OF DAILY BILL OF FARES, 14TH & 15TH SEPTEMBER 1794, REFERENCE: 2DE/30/11
THE DELAVAL FAMILY
The Delaval family lived at Seaton Delaval in south east Northumberland but also had estates in the late 18th century at Ford (North Northumberland) and Doddington (Lincolnshire). At this time the 1st Baron Delaval, John Hussey Delaval was living at Seaton Delaval Hall. He was involved in politics and for various periods between 1754 and 1786, he was an MP for Berwick. The family were renowned for their parties and lavish entertaining at Seaton Delaval Hall.
The family relationships can be seen in the Delaval family pedigree.
💡What kind of parties do you think the Delaval family hosted?
💡How different do you think they were from parties today?
💡How often do you host guests for meals and overnight? How often do you think the Delavals hosted guests?
🌍 Did you know, you can visit Seaton Delaval Hall. What could you find out about their notorious parties and pranks?
DINING AT SEATON DELAVAL HALL
These documents tell us what the family ate on a daily basis. The books may have been written up by the housekeeper or butler and are divided into menus for the Dining Room (the family), Steward’s Room (the upper servants) and Servants Hall (the other servants). They didn’t all eat the same thing.
Two meals a day are listed – dinner which was probably in the middle of the day and supper. The menu for dinner in the Dining Room often indicates who was eating with the family. On Sunday 14th September 1794, 15 people had dinner at Seaton Delaval – seven family members and eight other people – Mr B Stow and Son; Mr Constable; Mr Stephenson; Mr Collingwood; Mr Bell; Mr Todd and Mrs Grey.
The menu was very lavish and consisted of several courses of numerous dishes. This page shows what was served and how it was set out. Following soup, there was a first course choice of boiled chicken or ham, rabbit, mutton and sirloin beef with croquettes. The dishes offered in the second course included cutlets in crumbs, scotch collops; omelettes; Spanish puffs and ribs of lamb. Dessert is not mentioned.
The Stewards room were served the same as the Dining Room whilst the Servant’s Hall ate Round Beef and some unidentified dishes. The food eaten at dinner sounds a lot, but supper was also served in the Dining Room later on and included spinach and eggs; roasted rabbit; fried fish; partridges and macaroni. Only five of the guests stayed for supper.
The five guests must have stayed overnight as their names are listed as guests the next day – Monday 15th September. The menu that day is less lavish, but dinner still consists of a number of courses with various choices including roasted venison, stewed partridge with cabbage, ragout, omelette and macaroni. Again, the Stewards Room ate the same food as those in the Dining Room whilst the Servants Hall ate Boiled Beef and rabbits. The guests also stayed to supper and could eat hashed venison, cold beef and cutlets of veal in crumbs.
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💡Are these dishes similar to what you eat at mealtimes?
💡Dinner? Tea? Supper? What do you call the different meals of the day and what time do you have them?
💡Does everyone in your household eat the same meal or are there different meals made for different people?
💡How many courses do your meals have?
✏️Plan your own dinner party menu, you could make menu cards and recipes for each dish.
👩🍳Have a go at making the dishes for your dinner party and serve them to your friends or family.
👩🍳You could ask your friends or family to come up with their own dinner menus and host each other.
SCOTCH COLLOPS
On Monday 15th September 1794 the Delavals and their guests ate Scotch collops. This is a traditional Scottish dish with sliced meat such as bacon.
Hannah Glasse (1708-1770), the daughter of Northumbrian landowner Isaac Allgood, was a cookbook author. In 1747 she published the cookery book ‘The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy’. One of the recipes in her book is Scotch collops larded.
✏Have a go at writing your own recipe for Scotch collops. Could you modernise it or add different ingredients?
👩🍳Have a go at making your modernised Scotch collops dish.