My cover

My cover
Nell and her oranges

Sunday, June 2, 2013

Summer Banquet Hop! Enter to Win!


Summer Banquet Hop! Join me and thirty other historical novelists for a bounty of food-related posts and chances to win prizes!
I'm giving away two prizes: a copy of The Darling Strumpet, released in mass-market paperback on June 4, with a teaser chapter of Venus in Winter, or a copy of Venus in Winter, my novel based on the first forty years of the eventful life of the Tudor dynast Bess of Hardwick, coming July 2!

Enter by leaving a comment on this post. Get extra entries by following me on Twitter https://twitter.com/GillianBagwell and/or for liking my Facebook author page: https://www.facebook.com/gillianbagwell

The Darling Strumpet
“An absolute triumph as a debut novel . . . [It] is an absolutely brilliant addition to the historical fiction genre and might be the best novel on Nell Gwynn ever . . . Nell would have applauded in approval and probably done a little jig to celebrate her tribute.” — Pittsburgh Historical Fiction Examiner

Venus in Winter
“A wonderful portrait of one of Elizabethan England’s most fascinating—and most long-lived—women. A great read, rich with detail and story.”—Diana Gabaldon, author of the bestselling Outlander series

Nell Gwynn, the subject of my novel The Darling Strumpet, was born in the slums of London in the area of Covent Garden. At the age of thirteen, she was hired as an orange seller at the newly-built Theatre Royal in Bridges Street, which opened on May 7, 1663. The present Theatre Royal on Drury Lane is the third building on the same site.

Oranges were a delicacy, and sold for sixpence, as much as the cheapest seats in the theatre. Nell’s witty banter and likeable sex appeal got her noticed, and soon she was the lover and protégé of Charles Hart, one of the leading actors and shareholders of the King’s Company. She probably made her debut in Thomas Killigrew’s comedy Tomaso, in a small part as a saucy wench. Nell rapidly became a favorite of London audiences, and she and Hart appeared in a series of “gay couple” comedies featuring battling lovers, making them the Myrna Loy and William Powell of the Restoration theatre.
Here’s a delightful seventeenth-century recipe featuring oranges:

Orange Butter
Good with plain cookies, on ice cream, etc. From  A Taste of History: 10,000 Years of Food in Britain, which took the recipe from The Savile Recipe Book, 1683, quoted in The Gentlewoman’s Kitchen.

¼ pint (150 ml) fresh orange juice, and thinly peeled zest of the oranges
¼ point (150 ml) white wine
6 egg yolks
2 T. (30 ml) sugar
Soak the zest in the orange juice and white wine for 30 minutes to enrich the flavor, then remove. Beat the eggs yolks and sugar and add to the orange juice. Pour the mixture into a saucepan and stir continuously over a low heat until thick and creamy, but do not allow to bring to a boil. Allow the butter to cool and serve with wafers as a rich full-flavored fruit dip.

The original recipe:
R. a quarter of a Pint of cleared juice of Oranges, a quarter of a Pint of white wine, pare the Peel of your Oranges thinne, steep itt in the juice & white-wine halfe an hour, then put in when you have taken out the pill a little fine Sugar, to take away the sharpnesse. Then beat the yolks of six eggs very well, & put them into the liquor, & sett them over the fire, & keep itt continually stirring till you find it almost as thick as Butter then throw it about the dish or bason, & let itt stand all night, in the morning take itt off lightlie with a spoon, & serve itt as other Butter.

For more on my books and events, please visit my website, www.gillianbagwell.com!

Be sure to visit the blogs of the other authors participating in the Summer Banquet Hop! Hop Participants
  1. Random Bits of Fascination (Maria Grace)
  2. Pillings Writing Corner (David Pilling)
  3. Anna Belfrage
  4. Debra Brown
  5. Lauren Gilbert
  6. Gillian Bagwell
  7. Julie K. Rose
  8. Donna Russo Morin
  9. Regina Jeffers
  10. Shauna Roberts
  11. Tinney S. Heath
  12. Grace Elliot
  13. Diane Scott Lewis
  14. Ginger Myrick
  15. Helen Hollick
  16. Heather Domin
  17. Margaret Skea
  18. Yves Fey
  19. JL Oakley
  20. Shannon Winslow
  21. Evangeline Holland
  22. Cora Lee
  23. Laura Purcell
  24. P. O. Dixon
  25. E.M. Powell
  26. Sharon Lathan
  27. Sally Smith O'Rourke
  28. Allison Bruning
  29. Violet Bedford
  30. Sue Millard
  31. Kim Rendfeld

22 comments:

Riv said...

This looks like a perfectly doable recipe. Thank you for the chance!

geriths(at)gmail(dot)com

Shauna Roberts said...

Interesting recipe. Thanks.

I liked your Facebook author page as well.

Unknown said...

Wow, both of your books sound amazing. I've not read either but after reading the description and giving them a look at Amazon I have added them to my to read list. They really sound interesting and I love learning about people and places I really (I have to admit my ignorance here) never knew about. Well, I knew about the place but just not the person!

The recipe sounds interesting. I'm just not sure how the sound of orange butter works for me but I really need to work on my picky old self and try some new things! This would be a great new thing so to try and orange is always good.

I followed by twitter (@ShellyHammond14) and also liked the Facebook page (Shelly Hammond).

Thank you again and I hope everyone has a great day!

Shelly H.
booski24@hotmail.com

Helen Hollick said...

I've read your books Gillian - and they are thorough delicious (well I have to use a food-releted word seeing as this is a summer banquet blog hop!)
No need to enter me for the comp - just wanted to support the Blog Hop - there are some fascinating articles, I urge everyone to visit the sites on the list above!

Unknown said...

Sounds delicious. Enjoyed reading about Nell. Thank you for the chance to win your book. I have liked your facebook page. jman1985@yahoo.com

Vesper said...

Would not of thought that oranges would be widely available especially to the poor and I am not sure I would like my butter to me messed with

meikleblog at gmail dot com

Heather said...

I am totally trying that orange butter. It's like lemon curd with even more awesome. mmm.

Heather said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Sophia Rose said...

I love cinnamon or apple butter so I'll definitely try your orange butter recipe. Thanks. Thanks for the chance to win your book.

sophiarose1816 at gmail dot com
following on Twitter as sophiarose1816
liked on FB as Sophia rose

cyn209 said...

the orange butter recipe sounds interesting!! definitely will give it a try!!!

i'm a 'liker' of your FB page, as Cyn209......

cyn209 at juno dot com

Denise said...

Love the recipe! Hard to choose between Nell Gwynn and Bess Hardwick! Thank you for the giveaway! denannduvall@gmail.com

Susan Heim said...

Thank you for the great giveaway!
Susan Heim
smhparent [at] hotmail [dot] com

Susan Heim said...

I follow you on Twitter! @ParentingAuthor

Susan Heim said...

I'm a Facebook fan!
Susan M. Heim

historywriter said...

Strumpets and oranges. Sounds like a great combination. Actually, this is a period I haven't read in a while. Will have to look up Nell.

timelinelady at gmail dot com

Anonymous said...

I just love oranges - interesting to see if I can do an alcohol free version - any suggestions for substitute anyone?

Pippa Elliott said...

Orange butter sounds scrumptuous, my mouth is watering.
What beautiful covers your novels have - outstanding.
Grace x

Regina Jeffers said...

I have an orange each day. I love the taste and the flavor.

Mer said...

That sounds delicious! It's so interesting to see 'translations' of old fashioned recipes for the modern cook. How perfect for snacking while reading some historical fiction.

Unknown said...

It sure sounds interesting and different. I twitter followed and liked on facebook Thanks

Debra Brown said...

Looks fabulous!

Gillian Bagwell said...

Congratulations Grace Elliot and History Writer - you're the winners! Email me your mailing addresses please, and whether you'd like the mass market paperback of "The Darling Strumpet" (with excerpt from "Venus in Winter") or "Venus in Winter" (which I will have in a week or two!)