Described as the "queen of the dinner party," and hailed as the author of The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, Hannah Glasse would have been 310 on March 28.
In her honour, Google is changing its logo in more than 16 countries to a doodle of her work.
But, Glasse was not recognised for her achievements during her lifetime. Her identity as the author of one of the most popular cookery books was challenged until 1938.
This is her story:
Illegitimate child
Hannah Glasse was born on March 28, 1708, in St Andrews, Holborn, London. Her mother is said to have been Hannah Reynolds, a widow, and her father, Isaac Allgood, was a landowner who was married to another woman, Hannah Clark.
Glasse was brought up in Allgood's home at Simonburn near Hexham. During her education, in spite of being an unwelcome presence in her father's home, she witnessed good living and tasted the foods of the upper class.
Allgood and his wife died of illness by 1725, when Glasse was 16 years old. She later married a soldier of fortune, John Glasse.
a soldier of fortune, John Glasse. Together they had 10 children, of whom only five survived. Needing to raise money to feed her family, Hannah set to writing The Art of Cookery.
Art of Cookery
She began work on The Art of Cookery in 1746, and her ambition was to teach simple, straightforward recipes with the very minimum of expenditure and technical complication.
"I believe I have attempted a Branch of Cookery which nobody has yet thought worth their while to write upon ..." she wrote as her introductory line. The book was first published in 1747.
Her cookbook was a bestseller with the British public due to its conversational style. Preceding cookbooks were written for the chefs of royal and aristocratic households.
The book did not reveal its authorship, except with the signature 'By a Lady'. It included 972 recipes, covering everything from puddings and soups, to what to serve at Lent, to preparing food for the sick.
In her own words, she aimed to accomplish a work "which far exceeds anything of the kind ever yet published."
Bankruptcy
For centuries, residents of the British Isles have found culinary comfort in the mysterious golden chemistry of the Yorkshire pudding.
The versatile doughy pockets have been used as an accompaniment to a variety of dishes, but they are best known as a vital component of the traditional Sunday roast.
With their deep puffy hollows and gilded crenellations, the Yorkshire pudding’s success lies in its simple magic - wrought from nothing more than flour, eggs and milk, the batter is bunged into the oven and what emerges is a lumpen, crispy beacon of British cookery.
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They first became popular after wheat flour began to become commonly used in the production of cakes and puddings and there were various recipes from the 18th century that advised on how to create them at home. Early variations included a 1737 recipe for “dripping pudding”.
But the Yorkshire pudding surged to fame and gained its name ten years later, with the 1747 publication of the book The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy by Hannah Glasse, the subject of today's Google Doodle.
Glasse, who has previously been described as “the first domestic goddess” and even “the mother of the modern dinner party”, saw immediate success upon the publication of her book, which was reprinted in its first year and then remained in print for almost a century in over 20 editions.
The book’s cover did not reveal Glasse as the author, but instead mysteriously stated it was “By a Lady”.
Despite the success of the work, Glasse did not prosper for long after the initial publication.
In 1754, she became bankrupt and was forced to auction her most prized asset - the copyright to the book.
In 1757, she was consigned to debtors’ prison but released later that year, whereupon she registered shares in a new book she had written in 1755, The Compleat Confectioner - it was also reprinted several times, but did not enjoy the same levels of success as The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.
Glasse died in September 1770 aged 62, her contribution to the British Sunday assured.
British cookery writer Hannah Glasse (1708-1770) was born 310 years ago today, an anniversary acknowledged in the latest Google Doodle.
Glasse remains best known for her 1747 recipe collection The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy, which was published anonymously and remained a best-seller for a century.
One of the work's key innovations was the author's pledge to democratise the business of cookery, promising in an introductory note to readers that the language contained within was intended so that domestic servants could understand it.
Google Doodles
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1/89 Hannah Glasse Google Doodle celebrating Hannah Glasse Google
2/89 Katsuko Saruhashi Google Doodle celebrating Katsuko Saruhashi Google
3/89 Guillermo Haro Google Doodle celebrating Guillermo Haro Google
4/89 Sir William Henry Perkin Google Doodle celebrating Sir William Henry Perkin Google
5/89 Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google Doodle celebrating Gabriel Garcia Marquez Google
6/89 Holi Google Doodle celebrating Holi Google
7/89 St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google
8/89 Carter G Woodson Google Doodle celebrating Carter G Woodson Google
9/89 Wilder Penfield Google Doodle celebrating Wilder Penfield Google
10/89 Virginia Woolf Google Doodle celebrating Virginia Woolf Google
11/89 Sergei Eisenstein Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Eisenstein Google
12/89 Winter Solstice Google Doodle celebrating Winter Solstice Google
13/89 St Andrew's Day Google Doodle celebrating St Andrew's Day Google
14/89 Gertrude Jekyll Google Doodle celebrating Gertrude Jekyll Google
15/89 Children's Day 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Children's Day 2017 Google
16/89 Cornelia Sorabji Google Doodle celebrating Cornelia Sorabji Google
17/89 Pad Thai Google Doodle celebrating Pad Thai Google
18/89 Jackie Forster Google Doodle celebrating Jackie Forster Google
19/89 Halloween 2017 Google Doodle celebrating Halloween 2017 Google
20/89 Studio for Electronic Music Google Doodle celebrating the Studio for Electronic Music Google
21/89 Selena Quintanilla Google Doodle celebrating Selena Quintanilla Google
22/89 Olaudah Equiano Google Doodle celebrating Olaudah Equiano Google
23/89 Fridtjof Nansen Google Doodle celebrating Fridtjof Nansen Google
24/89 Amalia Hernandez Google Doodle celebrating Amalia Hernandez Google
25/89 Dr Samuel Johnson Google Doodle celebrating Dr Samuel Johnson Google
26/89 Sir John Cornforth Google Doodle celebrating Sir John Cornforth Google
27/89 British Sign Language Google Doodle celebrating British Sign Language Google
28/89 Eduard Khil Google Doodle celebrating Eduard Khil Google
29/89 James Wong Howe Google Doodle celebrating James Wong Howe Google
30/89 Eiko Ishioka Google Doodle celebrating Eiko Ishioka Google
31/89 Eva Ekeblad Google Doodle celebrating Eva Ekeblad Google
32/89 Fourth of July Google Doodle celebrating Fourth of July Google
33/89 Wimbledon Championship Google Doodle celebrating Wimbledon Google
34/89 Victor Hugo Google Doodle celebrating Victor Hugo Google
35/89 Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google Doodle celebrating Oskar Fischinger Google
36/89 UK General Election 2017 Google celebrates the UK General Election Google
37/89 Zaha Hadid Google celebrates the acclaimed architect for becoming the first woman to win the Pritzker Architecture Prize on this day in 2004 Google
38/89 Richard Oakes Google Doodle celebrating Richard Oakes' 75 birthday Google
39/89 Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google Doodle celebrating the Antikythera Mechanism Google
40/89 Ferdinand Monoyer The famous French ophthalmologist, who invented the eye test, would have celebrated his 181st birthday today Google
41/89 Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google Doodle celebrating Giro d'Italia's 100th Anniversary Google
42/89 Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google Doodle celebrating Nasa's Cassini probe Google
43/89 Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google Doodle celebrating Fazlur Rahman Khan Google
44/89 Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google Doodle celebrating Sergei Diaghilev Google
45/89 Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. Patrick's Day Google
46/89 Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google Doodle celebrating Holi Festival Google
47/89 Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google Doodle celebrating St. David's Day Google
48/89 Abdul Sattar Edhi Google Doodle of Abdul Sattar Edhi on February 28 2017 Google
49/89 Seven earth-sized exoplanets discovered Google Doodle celebrates Nasa's discovery of seven earth-sized exoplanets in new solar system Google
50/89 Bessie Coleman Google Doodle honours the first African American woman to get an international pilot licence on her 125th birthday Google
51/89 Caroling Google Doodle celebrates Christmas caroling Google
52/89 Today's Google Doodle features activist Steve Biko Google
53/89 Walter Cronkite Google celebrates Walter Cronkite's 100th birthday
54/89 Ladislao José Biro Google celebrates Ladislao José Biro 117th birthday
55/89 Google Google celebrates its 18th birthday
56/89 The history of tea in Britain Google celebrates the 385th anniversary of tea in the UK
57/89 Autumnal equinox 2016 Google marks the start of fall
58/89 Paralympics 2016 Google marks the start of the Paralympic Games 2016
59/89 Nettie Stevens Google celebrates Nettie Stevens 155th birthday
60/89 Father's Day 2016 Google celebrates Father's Day
61/89 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Google celebrates Elizabeth Garrett Anderson 180th birthday
62/89 Earth Day 2016 Google celebrates Earth Day
63/89 Ravi Shankar Google marks Pandit Ravi Shankar's 96th birthday
64/89 Olympic Games in 1896 Google are celebrates the 120th anniversary of the modern Olympic Games in 1896
65/89 World Twenty20 final Google celebrates the 2016 World Twenty20 cricket final between the West Indies and England with a doodle Google
66/89 William Morris Google celebrates William Morris' 182 birthday with a doodle showcasing his most famous designs Google
67/89 St Patrick's Day 2016 Googlle celebrates St Patrick's Day on 17 March
68/89 Caroline Herschel Google marks Caroline Herschel's 266th birthday Google
69/89 Clara Rockmore Google celebrates Clara Rockmore's 105th birthday
70/89 International Women's Day 2016 #OneDayIWill video marks International Woman's Day on 8 March
71/89 St David's Day 2016 Google marks St David's Day Google
72/89 Leap Year 2016 Google celebrates Leap Day on 28 February 2 Google
73/89 Lantern Festival 2016 Google celebrates the last day of the Chinese New Year celebrations with a doodle of the Lantern Festival Google
74/89 Stethoscope Inventor, René Laennec Google celebrate's René Laennec's 235th birthday
75/89 Valentine's Day 2016 Google celebrates Valentine's Day with a romantic Doodle
76/89 Dmitri Mendeleev Google celebrate Dmitri Mendeleev's 182nd birthday
77/89 "The televisor" demonstartion Google Doodle celebrates 90 years since the first demonstration of television or "the televisor" to the public
78/89 Professor Scoville Google marks Professor Scoville’s 151st birthday
79/89 Sophie Taeuber-Arp Google marks Sophie Taeuber-Arp's 127th birthday
80/89 Charles Perrault Google celebrates author Charles Perrault's 388th birthday
81/89 Mountain of Butterflies discovery Google celebrates the 41st anniversary of the discovery of the Mountain of Butterflies
82/89 Winter Solstice 2015 Google celebrate the Winter Solstice
83/89 St Andrew's Day 2015 Google marks St Andrew's Day with doodle featuring Scotland's flag and Loch Ness monster
84/89 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy' Google marks the 41st anniversary of the discovery of 'Lucy', the name given to a collection of fossilised bones that once made up the skeleton of a hominid from the Australopithecus afarensis species, who lived in Ethiopia 3.2 million years ago
85/89 George Boole Google marks George Boole's 200th birthday
86/89 Halloween 2015 Google celebrates Halloween using an interactive doodle game "Global Candy Cup"
87/89 Prague Astronomical Clock Google celebrates the 605th anniversary of the Prague Astronomical Clock, one of the oldest functioning timepieces in the world
88/89 Autumnal Equinox 2015 Google marks the autumnal equinox on 23 September
89/89 International Women's Day 2018 Google marks IWD with a doodle featuring a dozen female artists from 12 different countries
"My intention is to instruct the lower Sort", she wrote, expressing a preference for "pieces of bacon" over "large Lardoons" so as not to confuse the common reader, a commitment to inclusive, democratic language George Orwell might have approved of.
"The great Cooks have such a high way of expressing themselves, that the poor Girls are at a Loss to know what they mean," she said.
This no-nonsense approach sought to demystify the culinary arts, dispelling the myth that gourmet cookery was the exclusive preserve of temperamental continental chefs and could instead be attempted with confidence within the confines of the ordinary British home, paving the way for the popular cooks that followed.
Everyone from Mrs Beeton and Fanny Craddock to Delia Smith, Jamie Oliver and Mary Berry owe a debt to this modest and unassuming author - Hannah Glasse proving Dr Johnson's doubts that a woman could have written such a work profoundly wrong.
The popularity of her book, which was hit by several accusations of plagiary, was such that its fame reached the New World and survived the abiding anti-British sentiment of the American War of Independence: Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington were all said to own copies.
Glasse's culinary innovations included the first recorded use of jelly in trifle and the first mentions of "Hamburgh sausages" and piccalilli. It even included one of the first English language recipes for making "currey the Indian way".
While the author was dismissive of the contemporary British reverence for French cuisine, she harboured no prejudice:
"I have indeed given some of my Dishes French Names to distinguish them, because they are known by those names; And where there is great Variety of Dishes, and a large Table to cover, so there must be Variety of Names for them; and it matters not whether they be called by a French, Dutch, or English Name, so they are good, and done with as little Expence as the Dish will allow of."
Glasse was by no means afraid to experiment with exotic ingredients and saw the opportunities global trade represented for the British kitchen, her book anticipating the advent of Nigella Lawson and "fusion cooking", advocating the use of cinnamon, cardamon, cocoa, pistachios, nutmeg, truffles, ambergris, "Naples biscuits" and, er, larks (ideally served with bread sauce).
But she valued economy as much as simplicity, worrying that, "some Things [are] so extravagant, that it would be almost a Shame to make Use of them, when a Dish can be made full as good, or better, without them."
For more on Hannah Glasse and her contribution to the British dining table, you can't do better than read The Independent's own Harry Cockburn, that Wordsworth of food writing, on the "deep puffy hollows and gilded crenellations" of the Yorkshire pudding and her immortal recipe for the "beguiling main course merangue."
Matthew Cruickshank/Google
Modern English cooking would be nothing without sausages and jelly and trifle (just like American cooking would be nothing with hotdogs and Jell-O and sponge cake).
But before Hannah Glasse, English cooking was little more than cabbage soup and mutton (and the occasional eel pie, if you were lucky!). The woman behind one of Britain's most popular early cookbooks, "The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy" brought simple and accessible cooking to the masses, both in Glasse's homeland of England as well as in America.
Google paid tribute to Glasse's 310th birthday in its doodle on Wednesday, celebrating her contribution to modern cookery, long before Julia Child was on our TV screens.
First published in England in 1747 (and later in America in 1805), "The Art of Cookery" was notable for its conversational language and its "plain and easy" recipes. The book brought cookery within the reach of all classes (not just those fortunate enough to have a cook to do the work for them).
The impressive list of 972 recipes in her book also included some of the first known mentions of now-famous foods, including jelly and Yorkshire Pudding.
Google's doodle, illustrated by Matthew Cruickshank, shows Glasse baking a batch of Yorkshire puddings, ready for the Sunday roast. Very British indeeed.
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