A Brief History of Curry

[Peripatetic Phil]

I have cited Hannah Glasse and Mrs Beeton before when discussing the history of curry, but I came across a very interesting chronology today which also includes those two key figures.  A brief extract follows, with the URL from which it was taken.  IMHO, it is well worth reading the rest.

The first curry recipe in Britain appeared in The Art of Cookery made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse in 1747. The first edition of her book used only pepper and coriander seeds for seasoning of 'currey'. By the fourth edition of the book other relatively common ingredients of turmeric and ginger were used. The use of hot spices was not mentioned, which reflected the limited use of chilli in India

[beachbum]

Great reading, I note they don't mention what I refer to as "British Works Canteen Curry" which we used to be assaulted with in the past, you know the stuff that had to have sultanas and chopped apple and onions in it, and flavoured with "curry powder". In Cardiff as a student my landlady used to do a particularly awful version and my fellow lodger Chandra Singh would dread curry night as she presented it to him as a great favour  ;D

Can still taste it now