In this extra helping of the Comfortably Hungry podcast I chat to chef Jago Rackham and author of To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Party about the complexities (or not) of hosting a dinner party. We chat about stuffy Victorian etiquette manuals (which Jago’s book most definitely isn’t), his Grandmother’s account book and why plating up à la Russe is overrated.
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Useful Links
To Entertain: Instructions for a Dinner Partyis available now from lots of great independent booksellers (and the other usual suspects).
You can find Jago on Substack and Instagram.
I will be appearing at the Ludlow Food Festival (as will Jago) and the Gloucester History Festival later this month and will be one of the hosts of the Serve It Forth Food History Festival on 17 October 2026.
Suggested Reading
There are lots of Victorian etiquette manuals available online at Internet Archive if you want to see examples of the advice that used to be dished out, such as:
* The Habits of Good Society(1859)
* Host And Guest : A Book About Dinners, Dinner-Giving, Wines, And Desserts by A. V. Kirwan (1864)
* Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (1864) - not an etiquette book but his characters Mr & Mrs Veneering are perfect examples of the sort of people that these books were aimed at.
Don’t forget you can follow me on Instagram or Bluesky @mrssbilton or find out more about my work on sambilton.com.
A huge thank you to Thomas Ntinas of The Delicious Legacy for doing the sound mixing on this season of the podcast. Sound effects and music provided by Zapsplat and Pond5.
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