Michelin Star menu awaits for Reckitt's 150-year-old biscuits

Biscuits originally produced more than 150 years ago by a company known for such household-name brands as Dettol, Nurofen, Vanish and Harpic are likely to find their way onto the menu of a Michelin Star pub as part of a remarkable research project.

“Curiosity”, which encourages people to ask about and explore things which they find puzzling or intriguing, was launched to commemorate the centenary earlier this year of the death of Sir James Reckitt.

But literally buried in the history of the Hull firm, which became a global leader in the manufacture of cleaning and health products, was evidence of a short-lived sideline. A bakery fire put paid to any long-term ambitions Reckitt & Co might have held of becoming big in biscuits, but some of the recipes have now been recreated at the Pipe & Glass in South Dalton.

The James Reckitt Library Trust, which is leading “Curiosity” in partnership with Hull Libraries, became aware of the Kingston Biscuit Works after liaising with Grace Chapman, employed by the modern day Reckitt business to research the life and work of Sir James.

Their curiosity deepened when they were told that the bakery, which stood on the current Reckitt site, burned down in 1867 but some of the old biscuits were recovered by workers digging the foundations of a new building in the early 20th century.

Grace, Reckitt’s Heritage and Stakeholder Engagement Advisor, said: “They had become carbonised but we still have them in our archive, along with a book of recipes, handwritten by one of the chefs, and company literature from the time revealing details of the manufacturing process.”

The find instantly triggered a key question from experienced broadcaster David “Burnsy” Burns, who is part of the Curiosity team: “What do 150-year-old biscuits taste like?”

To find out, Burnsy took the recipes to James Mackenzie, Chef/Owner of the Pipe & Glass, the only Michelin Star pub in East Yorkshire, to see if he had the appetite for a challenge. Two weeks later, Burnsy and Grace went along to taste the results.

James said: “It was indeed a challenge. We struggled to decipher the historic handwriting and we also ran into problems with some of the original recipe ingredient quantities, but we decided to give it a go and we did our best.”

The archive indicated that the names of much of the Reckitt & Co biscuit range were inspired by royalty and battles – Prince Alfred, Prince of Wales, Queen Drops, Waterloo, Trafalgar – as well as something called “Mangle-Strangles”.

It’s a sign of the times that the marketing team were proud to reveal the products were mixed by machine, kneaded by a powerful roller, then cut, stamped, and baked in an oven, all using steam power.

In the days when 30 eggs cost a shilling, the biscuits were going out at anything from ten shillings for a 1lb tin of “dessert, imperial, rich varieties” to 140 shillings for an 8 to 10lb tin of English or Italian macaroons.

Chef James decided to keep it relatively simple, and he experienced mixed results.

He said: “We chose a York bun, which seems to be a currant bun, and a ginger biscuit. We also tried the vanilla biscuit recipe but that seemed to use a lot of liquid.

“The bun and the ginger biscuit worked very well but the vanilla biscuit was a bit of a disaster. It came out more like a tuille or a brandy snap so we altered the recipe a bit and came up with what I think a vanilla biscuit should be.

“Why they taste so good is because of the ingredients – we’ve got unrefined sugar, lard, treacle, baking powder, ginger, flour. It’s the makings of some great biscuits. I think we need to adapt some of the recipes and get them on our menu.”

Grace admitted to being surprised by the success of the culinary challenge.

She said: “It’s not what I expected. I didn’t think they would be very nice but the biscuits are amazing! They look great. It’s very exciting.

“It’s not the sort of thing I have ever done before, reinventing recipes from the archives which have been stuck in a dusty room. It really is Reckitt Heritage in action – making use of something that we thought had been consigned to history.

“We always pride ourselves on the quality of our products and it’s interesting to see that we were operating to those ideals more than 150 years ago, even though it was a completely different industry then.”

The biscuit story features in a series of videos and podcasts presented by Burnsy as he explores some of the Curiosity questions and answers on the official website at https://curiosityhull.co.uk/

Spoiler alert – Burnsy said: “The vanilla biscuit looks like a Hull Fair brandy snap that’s had an unfortunate accident. As for the other vanilla biscuits – I feel like standing and applauding. They are amazing!

“What do 150-year-old biscuits taste like? We’ve answered the question!”

Picture details

Biscuits 1

Tasting and testing the 150-year-old recipes at the Pipe & Glass. From left, James Mackenzie, David “Burnsy” Burns and Grace Chapman.

Biscuits 2

James and Grace with some of the finished products.

Biscuits 3

Grace Chapman of Reckitt with the original recipe book, an old company handbook, a promotional board for Reckitt & Co’s Biscuits, and the biscuits which were unearthed around 50 years after the bakery was destroyed by fire.

Biscuits 4

The carbonised biscuits and the 150-year-old recipe book.

Biscuits 5

The 150-year-old recipe books with traditional ingredients and quantities which proved a challenge for James.