What did the Duchess get up to in her wood-and-turf hut?

There are many odd tales behind the origins of classic gastronomic dishes. Who would have believed that the old Ipswich bruiser, Cardinal Wolsey, was responsible for that perfect combination, strawberries and cream? No one had thought of serving them together before. There is an even more curious history of that admirable side dish, pommes duchesse. It was not invented by Talleyrand’s chef or a three-star maestro from the Michelin, but by that earthy, not to say peat-stained, painter Sir Edwin Landseer (1803–72). How so?

He came from a fairly humble background. His father was an engraver who campaigned vigorously (as any student of the Farington Diary will know) for those of his trade to be admitted as full members of the Royal Academy. Young Edwin was a prodigy, specialising in animals, brought to notice by that sad enthusiast Benjamin Robert Haydon. By 16 he was exhibiting at the RA, was elected an associate at the earliest possible age (24), and then a full member.