Tennyson entertained many famous Victorians from the children’s author Lewis Carroll to the Pre-Raphaelite painter William Holman Hunt. The dining room at Farringford was always therefore a sociable space.
On the sideboard is a printed dinner menu dated 30th June 1866, based on a description by Archbishop Trench. It reflects the practice adopted at Farringford, known as service a la francaise – a traditional custom of serving many dishes at the same time, with people helping themselves and their neighbours to food. Meals were informal, unpretentious, and generous – as Tennyson once declared: “all fine natured men are greedy.”
Mutton from sheep grazed on the Farringford estate was frequently served and, according to the poet’s grandson Sir Charles, there was always an apple pie at his side for lunch and dinner.
Mock Turtle soup is an English soup which, as the name suggests, is an imitation of green turtle soup created in the mid 18th century after the green turtle used to make the original was almost hunted to extinction. The calf brains and organ meats, of which it largely consisted, were said to duplicate the texture and flavour of the original. It became popular in its own right. Heinz later made a commercial version.
Also seldom encountered today is Cabinet pudding. Also known as Chancellor’s pudding or Newcastle pudding, it is a traditional English steamed and moulded pudding made from bread or sponge cake, sometimes with gelatine or whipped cream included, and decorated with fruit pieces such as cherries or raisons and served with a sweet sauce of some kind. So, rather like bread-and-butter pudding!
Often the party would take pudding in the anteroom, where Alfred and Emily often dined when alone, or in the drawing room with its large bay window overlooking High Down. The Farringford biscuit was clearly a biscuit particular to Farringford, but its ingredients remain a mystery.
