Fresh meat, bread, beer, vegetables and dairy products began to be bought rather than home produced. Domestic independence was replaced by reliance on tradesmen and towns. The brew house, bake house, laundry, and the dairy disappeared as it became more economical to buy these products due to the railways, increased commercialisation of dairy farms, and new hygiene laws. At Burghley House, products would have been purchased from Stamford, Peterborough and London.

Until the mid Nineteenth century the dinners of the richer classes retained the medieval style of large mixed courses. A meal usually had three courses, and each one consisted of meat, fish, poultry and game dishes, accompanied by vegetables, jellies, sweet tarts and other desserts. The last course was always more sweet-orientated, and included cake, fruit, sweets, puddings and tarts.

In the mid Nineteenth century, ‘Diner à la Russe’ gained popularity. This was a simpler system of four courses: soup, fish, meat and a sweet course. Grand dinners sometimes supplemented this arrangement with game and poultry, and an additional course of fruit, sweetmeats and nuts at the end. In between courses, sorbets could be eaten to clear the palate.

In poor households, the entire meal would have been cooked in one pot: broth and plain pudding followed by the boiled meat and vegetables, and finally a plain pudding sweetened or cooked with fruit. Tea became the national drink in the later part of the century.

The Victorians had a sweet tooth. Jellies were very popular, and elaborate china and metal moulds were being manufactured to mimic the decorative creations made by medieval cooks. Charlottes were also a common dish, which consisted of a wall of sponge fingers surrounding a cream filling. Ices also became much more elaborate: from simple frozen fruit juice or cream, to moulded puddings in the shape of fruit, flowers, vegetables and fish, even animals and birds. However, ices remained a privilege of the rich.