Lobster patties -- Pickled salmon -- Betsey Prig's Twopenny salad -- Roast goose -- Roast fowl -- Mashed and brown potatoes -- Cauliflower with parmesan -- A Yorkshire Christmas pie -- Pickled pork -- Leicestershire pork pie -- Chestnut and apple mince pies -- Christmas pudding -- Punch sauce -- Mr. Dick's gingerbread -- Twelfth cake -- Ladies fingers -- Orange and redcurrant jellies -- Charlotte Russe -- French plums -- Wassail -- Punch -- Smoking bishop

No author is more closely associated with the food of Christmas than Charles Dickens, and with this collection you will be able to recreate classic Victorian dishes and drinks of the season, as featured in the writings of "the man who invented Christmas." From Mrs Cratchit's plum pudding to Mr Pickwick's "mighty bowl of wassail," Charles Dickens's novels and other writings are alive with examples of good food being enjoyed in good company. In this selection of Victorian classics, updated for modern cooks, you will find old favorites for Christmas dinner such as roast fowl with tarragon, plus recipes for entertaining, such as lobster patties and a Charlotte Russe. There's even a recipe for a hand-raised pork pie to keep in the pantry for unexpected visitors (or escaped convicts.)