FOLLOWING her stint on Channel 4’s My Kitchen Rules, food writer and historian Sam Bilton returns to her first passion of hosting historically themed supper clubs. Nick Mosley finds out more.

What’s the concept of your Repast supper club?

Repast takes inspiration from historical eras and vintage cookery books for its meals. It’s not so much culinary history re-enacted as historical food reimagined for the 21st century palate. You don’t have to dress up in period clothing to attend although some of our guests do, which is fun.

Where does your interest in food history come from?

I’ve always loved food and history although it took me some years to marry the two. My interest in food history really gelled when I studied for my culinary arts MA at Brighton University.

Where do you start with research?

Sometimes I theme the suppers around an important anniversary such as the birth or death of a famous person like William Shakespeare or a historical event like the signing of the Magna Carta in 1215. This year it will be 430 years since we defeated the Spanish Armada so I’m currently developing an Elizabethan menu to mark this occasion. Sometimes I take inspiration from a particular cookery book or writer like Charles Carter’s the Complete Practical Cook which was published in 1730.

Do you have to make tweaks for the modern palate?

Nose to tail eating was definitely de rigeur prior to the 20th century so I usually avoid dishes involving brains (which the Romans really liked) or too much offal. As far as possible I do try to replicate the tastes of the past in terms of spicing although I may use flour rather than breadcrumbs to thicken sauces for example as it creates a better texture. I’m intrigued by the original blanc manger which in its medieval form is a sweetened rice pudding which includes chicken or fish but I’m not sure it would appeal to our dinner guests.

I guess the main changes I make are in the way the food is presented and served. We obviously provide cutlery which wouldn’t always have been available and use real plates rather than bread trenchers.

What’s the most unusual dish you’ve prepared?

I usually try to avoid anything too challenging (like offal). A lot of the Roman recipes I make contain copious amounts of fish sauce which can be disconcerting when mixed with meat (although clearly not if you like Thai food) or in sweet dishes. For the audition for My Kitchen Rules we made a Roman honey nut omelette which contained fish sauce but was actually really nice (it can’t have been too bad as we got on the show). Most of the more unusual stuff I make is usually for the purposes of the articles I write on historical food. For example, I made a strawberry pottage for an English Heritage blog post which was a bright pink gloop, although it tasted much better than it looked.

Are there any ingredients you’ve come across in old recipes that aren’t any longer available?

Candied eringo (sea holly) roots crop up in a lot of recipes (which was reputedly an aphrodisiac) as does musk and ambergris, particularly in recipes for sweetmeats. Peacock was once widely eaten but I’ve yet to find a butcher who stocks it.

If you could travel back in time to a different era, what would it be and why?

That’s a tricky one to answer. If I had to choose I’d probably go for the medieval era as I loved their use of spices. Food from this era can be really exotic and extremely tasty.