shadow of britain

Chapter 735: When you find a Hastings, it means his friends are all over Kensington

The noon bell rang from St. Mary's Church in the distance. Arthur put away his handouts and gently placed a stack of test questions with selected poems on the small desk in front of Victoria. "Your Highness, please refer to what I have said today and write a short comment on these poems. Talk about your understanding of the imagery in the poems."

Victoria nodded, lowered her head and began to write quickly. It was obvious that she had not yet recovered from the excitement of obtaining Tennyson's autographed poetry collection, and she was unwilling to waste even a minute to prepare for her enthusiasm for this new pastoral poet.

Arthur turned and came to the sofa opposite where the Duchess of Kent sat.

As soon as he sat down, he saw a gilt-edged porcelain plate placed steadily on the table in front of him by the servant. On the plate were a few freshly-baked scones that were still steaming. Cream and raspberry jam were served in two low-legged silver cups with small silver spoons.

Next to the teapot, a pot of jasmine and a pot of Qimen were already prepared, and even whether milk or lemon was added to the cup was obviously taken into consideration for his taste.

Arthur was not worried about the flavor of these lunch break snacks, because even if the kitchen at Kensington Palace was not ranked among the top three in London, it was at least a keeper in the top five.

As all gentlemen and ladies in upper society know, the dinners hosted by the Duchess of Kent are always known for their grandeur and splendor.

Although the kitchen at Kensington Palace is not as big as those in St. James's Palace, Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle, it is well-equipped. Moreover, since the Duchess of Kent moved here, she has applied for special funds to renovate the kitchen almost every year.

However, the opportunity to truly transform the kitchen at Kensington Palace did not come until 1830, when Victoria was officially confirmed as the heir to the throne.

In the same month that George IV died, William IV ascended to the throne, and Victoria was established by Parliament as the presumptive heir to the throne, the Duchess of Kent realized her dream after marrying into the UK. She successfully got a stylish and novel kitchen with a cast iron stove, hot water, and a warming cabinet to keep food warm.

Before this, her culinary team's workspace was not far from the 17th century when William III and Mary II were in power. Although that was indeed the royal standard 200 years ago, from the perspective of the 19th century, the dilapidated old kitchen was indeed very outdated.

In the following three years, a dessert room and a distillery specializing in preserves, jams and wine were added. Equipment for making ice cream, cake molds, jellies and various dessert molds were also introduced into Kensington Palace.

The kitchen here is fully equipped, and the Duchess of Kent's selection of chefs can be described as strict.

The Duchess of Kent's only requirement for the chef is that he must have the belief that he must win, and every dish produced by Kensington must be better than the food brought by the Duchess's aristocratic guests. To achieve this, the dishes provided by Kensington Palace must work hard on complex flavors and all-encompassing ingredients.

But the interesting thing is that according to the information Arthur heard from the maid Lizzie, although the dinner menu provided by Kensington Palace was extremely luxurious, the family dinner attended by the Duchess, Conroy and his family, and a few close ministers was much more shabby.

As for the reason, it is not particularly difficult to guess, because the Duchess of Kent and her family did not actually have a good few years, and the time they really had plenty of money was only three years at most.

Holding grand banquets for external parties is not only to maintain decency, but also to win people's hearts.

As for our own family, we should of course save what we can.

Of course, Kensington Palace's frugality is compared to that of other royal family members. If compared with the two meals that the Stinky Foot Patrol Hastings had back then, it is obviously still quite luxurious.

At noon, have a glass of cold beer, put a piece of pork skin jelly in your mouth, and then take a bite of the fried meat patty made of offal mixed with batter. Oh my, that is simply the ultimate enjoyment!
Although life became much better later on, when it came to food, I simply switched from eating on the street to eating in restaurants.

The turning point that made this Yorkshire terrier really enjoy the good life was the rescue of Alexandre Dumas on the high seas.

Since the French chef moved into 15 Lancaster Gate, Arthur's recipe book has finally grown to more than two pages.

Mary Best, Our Restaurant in York, 1838

As Arthur took a bite of his scone, which was slathered with jam, the Duchess of Kent spoke with a hint of concern.

"Are the refreshments to your liking?"

Arthur smiled and replied, "I've often heard people say that the desserts at Kensington Palace are the best in London. In terms of cooking and seasoning, even the French bakery near Trafalgar Square, which is known as 'where Napoleon comes to buy bread', can only bow down to it."

The Duchess chuckled and said, "I really don't deserve the title of the best in London. But if Kensington desserts have advantages over other places, I think it should be the selection of the right ingredients and the good handling of the details. For example, this raspberry jam comes from Herefordshire, where there is not much sunshine but the climate is humid, so the raspberries produced there are rich in aroma."

Arthur put down his teacup and said, "You are a real connoisseur of gourmet food. You remind me of a friend of mine."

"You mean Mr. Dumas?" The Duchess of Kent was quite complacent. As one of the loyal readers of "The Brit", she had heard a little about the authors' temperaments.

"Mr. Dumas is certainly a gourmet, but when it comes to his pursuit of ingredients, the one who is more similar to you is Mr. Darwin."

The Duchess was stunned when she heard this. The silver spoon in her hand paused for a moment, and a confused smile appeared on her face: "Mr. Darwin? I thought he was a scholar who studied animals and plants. He also pays attention to ingredients?"

Arthur nodded slightly, with a smile in the corner of his eyes. "It's not necessarily entirely for the sake of appetite, but out of an almost fanatical desire for knowledge. According to Charles himself, 'If I have never put them into my mouth, how can I truly understand their existence?' He has studied crocodiles, mice, flying squirrels and pangolins, and has eaten them, some of which he even dissected himself."

"This... is really unheard of."

The Duchess chuckled and shook her head, but she didn't show any particular surprise.

Perhaps it is because of the legends of alchemists passed down from the Middle Ages, or because novelists such as Mrs. Shelley created novels such as "Frankenstein". Therefore, in this era, the general public always has an inexplicable tolerance for the strange hobbies of researchers in natural philosophy.

Whether it's a bad temper, an introverted personality, or some weird habits, everyone thinks it's normal.

A scientist should be a weirdo. In other words, if he is not a weirdo, how can he become a scientist?
Compared to Darwin's tasting of all the biological creatures, the Duchess of Kent is more concerned about what Darwin thought was the most delicious.

"I am a little girl from Germany. Before I came to England, I had never been abroad, so I can't say that I have a wide range of knowledge." The Duchess of Kent asked curiously, "But what do you think Mr. Darwin would choose if he were to help enrich the menu of Kensington Palace?"

"Hmm..." Arthur was really stumped for a moment. "It's hard to say... Because since Charles started his voyage around the world, almost every time he wrote back, he would share with me some delicious animals that I had never heard of or seen before."

"For example?"

Arthur rubbed his temples. "For example, in the Falkland Islands, they hunted a cow and cut off several large pieces of meat with the skin and meat, and took them away directly. Charles told me that their dinner that day was roasted meat with the skin on. He also said that it was much better than ordinary beef. The texture of the meat is closer to venison and tastier than lamb."

Victoria, who was concentrating on doing the test paper, couldn't help turning her head when she heard this. Unexpectedly, her little action was immediately discovered by Mrs. Leizen beside her.

The ordained female teacher, who usually only loved potatoes, shook her head slightly and whispered something, which made Victoria focus again. The Duchess of Kent also noticed her daughter's little action, but because of the presence of guests, she couldn't scold her out loud, so she had to say helplessly: "You'd better not mention mutton, that is Delina's favorite food, it will easily distract her."

Arthur chuckled and said, "If that's the case, maybe I can write to Charles and ask him if he can bring a bison back to England. If Her Royal Highness passes the test, the bison will be my gift to her."

The Duchess of Kent couldn't help but laugh when she heard this: "Then I guess we'll have to wait for several years, right?"

"It may not take that long. It only takes 22 days to travel from London to the United States. If the Beagle did not need to carry out the round-the-world voyage and returned along the original route, they should have returned to Plymouth last year."

At this point, Arthur slapped his head and said, "I think I've gone too far. Let's get back to animal ingredients. By the way, do you know Elder Carter?"

"Mr. Carter? Of course I know."

The Duchess of Kent half-jokingly replied: "He is a very talented young man. Two years ago, when Sir Walter Scott was still alive, I asked him for recommended books. He said to me at that time, 'Your Highness, read Carter's book.' But why are you mentioning Mr. Carter now? Is he an edible animal?"

"Mr. Carter is of course not edible, but he does have a connection with animals." Arthur replied calmly, "There are a large number of wild animals in the Pampas of South America, some of which are local and some are introduced species. You should know this, right?"

The Duchess of Kent suppressed her laughter: "Are you suggesting that Mr. Carter is an alien species?"

"That's not what I meant at all, but if you insist, Mr. Carter is biologically an animal."

Arthur cleared his throat. "I forgot to tell you that Mr. Carter was also in the global scientific expedition team. Once, he and Mr. Darwin rode in a circle on horseback to approach a group of ostriches. When they were close enough, Mr. Carter jumped off his horse, took out the butt of his gun and hit the ostrich on the head. According to his original words, ostriches are one of the stupidest animals he has ever seen, and you can hit them as much as you want. However, ostrich meat is not very delicious, so he and Darwin lost interest in them after tasting them once."

The Duchess of Kent was very disappointed and said, "I thought you had laid so much groundwork, and ostrich meat would probably be delicious."

"Don't worry, Your Highness." Arthur said, "Ostrich meat is not delicious, but ostrich eggs taste very good. There are a lot of ostrich eggs, more than 20 in each nest, and each ostrich egg weighs the same as eleven chicken eggs. So you can imagine that you won't starve in South America just by eating ostrich eggs."

"Oh?" The Duchess was really interested now, and raised her eyebrows slightly: "What do ostrich eggs taste like?"

Arthur paused deliberately, as if to whet the audience's appetite. "Ostrich eggs, of course, taste good. But Mr. Carter once wrote to me to complain that he had no experience in roasting this kind of eggs on the fire for the first time, so he threw the whole egg into the fire. As a result, the eggshell exploded and the yolk sprayed all over his face. It was quite hot. Later, they learned their lesson. They knocked a hole in the top of the eggshell, and then slowly roasted it with branches, sprinkling some dried herbs from Buenos Aires while roasting. After it was roasted, it actually had a unique flavor similar to a mixture of cheese and nuts."

"A mixture of cheese and nuts?" the Duchess repeated. "That's a little unexpected. Unfortunately, even if we have ostriches here, we may not be able to collect their eggs. There are twenty eggs in a nest. How big a pot do we need?"

"If you want to eat them, you can always find a way. If you want to handle twenty at once, I think you can imitate the cooking methods of Native Americans."

“What do the Aboriginals usually do?”

“Dig a hole in the sand, put the egg in, cover it with charcoal fire, and then wait for an hour. Then uncover it and you will have ostrich egg pudding.”

Upon hearing this, the Duchess regretted not reading the "Diary of the Voyage of the Beagle" carefully. She thought it was just a boring science book, but she didn't expect that it actually contained recipes.

Arthur was about to add another paragraph about the dietary wonders of the people of Tierra del Fuego when he heard a light cough.

He turned his head and saw that Victoria had put down her quill.

She raised her head and looked at her mother expectantly but cautiously: "Mom... I've finished writing."

"very good."

The Duchess of Kent nodded slightly and was about to ask Leizen to bring the test paper, but she saw Victoria suddenly clench the answer sheet in her hand and mustered up the courage to add: "I... I have a request."

She spoke in a very light tone, but from the way she pinched the edge of her skirt, it was clear that she hoped her mother would agree to her request. "I would like to ask if Sir Arthur can...stay with us for lunch today? I also want to hear him talk about the Beagle. There are also ostrich eggs, gophers, bison meat... and the Mr. Darwin and Mr. Carter he mentioned."

As soon as these words came out, the hall fell silent for a moment.

Mrs. Letzen frowned slightly; it was obviously not on her daily schedule.

Arthur's expression remained unchanged, he just smiled gently.

This plot was a little beyond his expectations, but now it seems that Victoria really likes eating lamb.

The Duchess of Kent looked at her daughter with a little surprise at first, but did not express her opinion immediately.

She withdrew her gaze and turned sideways to cast a questioning look at Sir John Conroy at the door.

Conroy was standing by the fireplace, with his hands clasped in front of him, as if ready to see the guest off at any time.

Being called by the Duchess, he had no choice but to take two steps forward and whispered, "There are not many plans this afternoon. If Sir Arthur is willing to stay, I think it's okay. It's still early now, and the food in the kitchen can be re-prepared."

The Duchess of Kent then turned to Arthur and gave him a gentle and dignified smile. "If you don't have any special plans for lunch today, why don't you stay for a while? In fact, it's not just Delina who is interested in your story. I also like to hear about the legendary experiences of gentlemen at sea."

Arthur nodded slightly, and half-jokingly said, "I am honored to be invited by Your Highness. If you and Your Highness the Princess want to hear, I would be happy to tell you a few more stories about the Beagle. However, I must warn you in advance that sometimes dinner at sea is not as clean and delicious as the meals at Kensington Palace."

"That would be great." Victoria finally smiled. "Mom and Leizen always say that I should eat more moderately. If these stories can help me eat less, then I think it is a beneficial medicine for the body and mind."

The Duchess of Kent was amused by this. She turned around and told her maid, "Inform the kitchen to add a meat dish, a cream of asparagus soup, and two desserts to lunch, and prepare them according to Sir Arthur's taste."

Then she looked at Arthur again: "I hope Kensington's meal is suitable for your stomach."

Arthur bowed slightly and said, "It's all up to you."

(End of this chapter)