Mrs. Beeton Couldn't Cook?

Public Television's Masterpiece Theatre debuts The Secret Life of Mrs. Beeton this Sunday, and the writeup on line sounds more like an upcoming series on Mystery. 

We will be glued to the tale of the Victorian era young woman, Isabella Mary Mayson, who did not cook, yet is famous still as the author of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management, often considered the most famous English cookery book. She died young, after giving birth to her fourth child---as yet we have no clue as to her "secret life."

Here's her recipe for, of all things, "Pineapple Chips."

PINEAPPLE CHIPS.

1577. INGREDIENTS. -- Pineapples; sugar to taste.

Mode. -- Pare and slice the fruit thinly, put it on dishes, and strew over it plenty of pounded sugar. Keep it in a hot closet, or very slow oven, 8 or 10 days, and turn the fruit every day until dry; then put the pieces of pine on tins, and place them in a quick oven for 10 minutes. Let them cool, and store them away in dry boxes, with paper between each layer.

Time. -- 8 to 10 days.

Seasonable. -- Foreign pines, in July and August.

Comments

[Foodie]

Well---Mrs Beeton's lively and engaging husband had untreated syphilis and thus, so did she...thus accounting for her stillborn baby,plus two others dying very young....Tragic losses for the Martha Stewart of her day--but her book established the presentation of recipes, ingredients listed separately, that continues today.
( Many were plagiarized, however..)

[Cynthia]

I'd say that the only problem with the program, which was otherwise fascinating, is that having a rather matter-of-fact, slightly hip Mrs. Beeton narrate the whole thing, even after she had died and been buried, diminished the sense of tragedy. It ended with a feeling of, "Oh, well. On to other things. By the way, hubby went mad from the disease. The neighbors talked, but those things happen." However, the show did make both Mrs. Beeton and her volatile husband seem very appealing, and I loved knowing the history of the book (a copy of which I have).

I will say that, seeing Mrs. Beeton's mother pregnant with her 17th child at age 47 made me glad I wasn't living then.

[Foodie]

17 pregnancies does seem a bit beyond the call of duty, doesn't it? ( Yet all those years free of the monthlies in the era before tampons wasn't all bad, probably.)

I think the Mrs. Beeton tale would make a terrific documentary piece but as a Masterpiece Theatre entry, not so appropriate. For one thing, I had thought MP's presentations were usually based on actual novels, no?