This is based on one of the few recipes in which Mrs Beeton uses flowers; two marigolds to flavour and colour a tureen of eel soup. Whilst she does not acknowledge the recipe’s origins, elsewhere one sees references to Jersey eel soup, a virtually identical recipe. Because of its gelatinous quality, conger eel was considered to be highly nutritious, rather like calf’s foot soup. However, eel is no longer widely available, and I have substituted other fish. In fact, this is