A Day as a Victorian Cook in a Great London House, 1853 | History for Sleep

Ad-free on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/episode/4C3G... A quiet history for sleep: nearly three hours of one summer day in the kitchen of a great London house, in 1853 - slow second-person narration to fall asleep to, no music and no sudden sounds. It is a summer day in London in 1853, and you are the cook of a large town house. The kitchen is below stairs, with a kitchen-maid and a scullery-maid under you. It is a year in which the duty on soap has just come off, from the fifth of July. Tonight a dinner goes up in two courses, and every dish of it must reach the table hot. The fire is not yet lit, and you are the first one down. This is one day in the kitchen, in order. The cold grate and the first fire. Rising not later than six in summer, and breakfast at eight. The range, the oven and the scullery. A bill of fare for July: green-peas soup, whitebait and salmon. The area door and the tradesmen. Billingsgate between three and six in the morning, and Leadenhall for poultry. What the journals printed about alum in the bread and chicory in the coffee. The quartern loaf. The stock-pot at the side of the stove. The cool of the larder. The spit before the fire. Jellies, and cream frozen in rough ice. The dishes sent up, and the fire put to bed. Victorian history and Victorian life at the pace it was actually lived: Victorian England, Victorian London, the Victorian kitchen and the Victorian cook, for anyone who falls asleep better to a warm range than to silence. Nothing goes wrong - the day is the work. A sleep story in the second person, no music, no sudden sounds. Made to be slept through - you are not supposed to reach the end. If you fall asleep to this, tell me in the comments where you are listening from - I read every one. Subscribe if you would like another day like this. Chapters 0:00 The kitchen before the fire 11:18 Rising and the first fire 22:37 The range, the oven and the scullery 35:11 The morning work 45:23 The orders and the bill of fare 54:53 The area door 1:06:19 The markets 1:13:09 What was in the food 1:25:03 Bread and the year 1:37:21 The stock-pot 1:47:59 The larder 2:00:20 The fire and the spit 2:12:57 Sweets and ices 2:25:40 Sending up 2:37:25 After the dinner 2:49:22 The fire put to bed All days:    / @onesleepyday   Subscribe:    / @onesleepyday