by Neil Buttery, Food Historian and Author.

Join food historian Neil Buttery in exploring the life, times and legend of the great Elizabeth Raffald of Manchester. Elizabeth was once a household name, and her list of accomplishments would make even the highest of achievers feel suddenly impotent. After becoming the housekeeper at Arley Hall in Cheshire at age twenty-five, she married and moved to Manchester, transforming the Manchester food scene and business community, writing the first A to Z directory and creating the first domestic servant’s registry office, the first temping agency if you will. Not only that, she set up a cookery school and ran a high-class tavern attracting both gentry and nobility. She reputedly gave birth to sixteen daughters, wrote a book on midwifery and was an effective exorciser of evil spirits.

These achievements gave her notoriety and standing in Manchester, but they all pale in comparison to her biggest achievement: her cookery book The Experienced English Housekeeper. Published in 1769, it ran to over twenty editions and brought her fame and fortune. But her great rise was followed by a tumultuous fall, dying at the age of 47. Her book, however, lived on. Influential and often imitated (but never bettered), it became the must-have volume for any kitchen, shaping our modern food culture.

Neil Buttery is an award-winning food historian, chef and author, specialising in the history of British food. He is the author of four books, including Before Mrs Beeton: Elizabeth Raffald, England’s Most Influential Housekeeper, about 18th century Manchester legend Elizabeth Raffald and The Philosophy of Puddings. He is also the host of the popular British Food History Podcast and co-host of A is for Apple: An Encyclopaedia of Food & Drink. Much of his research, as well as his recipes, can be found on his blog British Food: A History.