No comments about Porters English Cookery Bible: Ancient and Modern.

2 comments about Fresh From the Past: Recipes and Revelations from Moll Flanders Kitchen.

1. this book functions well as a regular cookbook, its nothing special really, but what makes it really shine are the pictures, namely the one on the front cover but also with the others spread through the book, it is just amazing, this photographer must have real talent!



2. Frankly, I found this to be a fun romp through history. The recipes have been accurately converted to today's cooking standards. It also provides the original recipes from years ago. It was fun reading about the origins of the dishes and the reasons they were created. I would recommend this book as a fun kitchen exercise.

3 comments about Scots Cooking: The Best Traditional and Contemporary Scottish Recipes.

1. Finally a book that successfully combines contemperory with the traditional.The recipes are beautifully presented with spectacular colour photographs. Unlike some cookery writer's books the recipes are usable for every day life covering such topics as breakfast, meats and baking. Being Scottish myself I know that this book genuinely reflects Scottish cooking and I love the way the author combines the recipes with anecdotes making the book not only a good cooking book but also a good read. I would highly suggest that everybody should buy this book as the recipes are the best things that have come out of Scotland since Sean Connery.



2. Over a hundred of the best traditional Scottish recipes have been collected for Scots Cooking by Scottish author Sue Lawrence from her home country, and uses the fresh and diverse local ingredients for which Scotland is so famous. Anticipate many dishes holding seafood and meats, and presenting flavor combinations not to be found in other cookbooks; such as the Orkney dish Clapshot.



3. If you like Scottish food, sweets in particular, this book is for you! We have made virtually all of the baking and sweet recipes in this book, and they are all delicious. Do you like Tiramisu? I did not think anything could top that, but then I tried the recipe in this book for Cranachan -- oh, my! Who'd of thought that cream and raspberries and honey could mix with some other delightful things and be so incredible?
   
   The breakfast pancakes, with lime juice flavored golden syrup as a topping -- amazing! Real maple syrup pales in comparison. And fresh from the oven Baps and eggs for breakfast -- yum!
   
   You'll need to buy some Lyle's Golden Syrup and some Lyle's Black Treacle for most of the baking recipes, but it is SO worth it!
   
   We've only made one meal recipe, to date, which is the Scotch Broth. For soup/stew lovers, this one is a hearty bunch of comfort food. Eaten with some warm, crusty wheat rolls, on a cold winter's evening, you are definitly feeling some endorphins flowing!
   
   Buy the book! :)

2 comments about Sallets, Humbles & Shrewsbery Cakes: A Collection of Elizabethan Recipes Adapted for the Modern Kitchen.

1. This book is very good it gives explict detail and very easy direction.



2. While the author of this work seems as if she means to be sincere, sincerity is not enough when your purported goal is to "adapt Elizabethan recipes for modern kitchens". More attention to accuracy in the redactions (conversion to modern recipes) and authenticity of the results would have been a better goal. The individual recipes quote "originals" with no notation as to where the original source came from (which book?), leaving no idea as to whether they have been quoted accurately. The adapted recipes not only jump to some pretty wild conclusions as to what the finished dish was intended to be, but in some cases contain wildly different ingredients than were quoted in the original recipe, with no explanation. There are also giant leaps from a baked dish (in the original) to a boiled one (in the adaptation), or vice versa. This might pass muster as a "popular" book for those who have no serious interest in authenticity in historical recreation of recipes, if it were not for the author's repeated claims as to scholarship and accuracy. Not recommended for the serious food history buff or re-enactor. I might give this to someone with a mild interest in the subject, but only with a warning about lack of historical accuracy. She even manages to perpetuate the tired, old myth of spices being used "to cover up the taste of bad meat". Nothing could be further from the truth.

2 comments about Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History (Victorian Life and Times).

1. College-level culinary libraries strong in Victorian history will appreciate Food and Cooking in Victorian England: A History, with its survey of Victorian times introduced by nine recipes detailing examples of food production, cooking and diet in early England. Discussions go far beyond the usual cookbook to include surveys of kitchen arrangement and duties, dining habits, social influences on food and wine choices, and much more. An excellent survey any college-level culinary collection specializing in food history will relish.
   
   Diane C. Donovan
   California Bookwatch



2. I do NOT work for any book company that's trying to pump sales of a book & I found this book to be very interesting & informative. The small print & close lines might make some put it back on the shelf, but it's so interesting to see how the socioeconomic forces in Victorian England influenced the foods that were consumed, which eventually led to some of the traditional foods we eat. It is slow reading--you won't whip throught this in an evening, but it's funny how people are so nostalgic about the homey environments that seem to typify the fond attachments to anything Victorian, but nobody thinks about all the grunt work involved in producing the big, elaborate meals or how much effort was involved in the cleanup. This book isn't for everyone, but if you want to educate yourself as well as learn why we eat some of the foods we eat today, you'll probably enjoy it.

No comments about Delia's How to Cook: Book Three.

No comments about Glasgow on a Plate.

2 comments about Dinner at Buckingham Palace.

1. I did not buy this book for the recipes. I thought, and was correct, that perhaps this book might offer photographs of the Royal Family I had never seen in print before. The story of how this book came about is a wonderful story by itself. Read it and find out who the man was behind it's creation. There are private photos of the Queen Mother, the Queen, and a young Prince Charles that are ready for framing. And that is what I plan on doing this weekend. While I must purchase another copy to keep, I am going through my copy to remove the wonderful shots and frame them. My kitchen is decorated with numerous photos of the Royal Family. And yes, I have Union Jack rugs on the floors as well. The recipes are wonderful, but the photographs and stories are worth buying the book for. If you are an Anglophile as I am, or a huge fan of the Royals, this is the book for you.



2. This is a wonderful book, full of history from Queen Victoria to the present, with lovely photos of the Royal Family- A MUST for Anglophiles, and cooks alike! Included are dinner services for Royal Formal dinners, and all the dishes served. There is also a food glossary- very helpful.
   This book is from the diaries of a former Butler, a man who grew up in service with his father under the reign of Queen Victoria. A very interesting read- I loved it!

3 comments about Seven Centuries of English Cooking: A Collection of Recipes.

1. This book is a very well put together cookbook, that I have throughly enjoyed. This book deals with some period recipes as well as more modern ones. The recipe book is simply filled with tons of recipes, she does an excelling job of incorporating a wide variety of recipes into this book. There are no pictures, but she does offer some background info on many recipes.
   This book is worth its price for its Apple Orange Tart, which makes up the best apple pie recipe that I have had the pleasure of enjoying. I would highly recommend this book if you are looking to flesh out your British collection of recipes, or if you are looking for a cookbook that offers a good selection of very good tasting period recipes.



2. Even if you never make a single recipe out of it, just the information and the wording of some of the older recipies makes it a worthwhile and delightful read.



3. This wonderful book is a history of English cooking from the fourteenth century to today, complete with recipes! Each of the five chapters examines how English cooking developed during that time, and is then followed by a great number of recipes organized into: soups, eggs, fish, poultry and game, meat, vegetables, desserts, sauces, breads and cakes, pickles and preserves, and forcemeats and garnishes (though not always in that order). The text is very well written and interesting, and the recipes are very good.

   My one complaint against this book (1973 edition, but purchased here) is that the text runs so close to the binding that you have to stretch the book to read everything, and a paperback will not stand up to that for too long. But, that complaint aside, this is a great book, and I am very glad that I bought it (the Toad in the Hole was great, and I look forward to trying many other recipes). I highly recommend this book!

2 comments about Jennifer Paterson's Seasonal Receipts.

1. Classic Paterson from the Spectator. The Elizabeth David (but with more humour) from the back of the magazine



2. Jennifer Paterson has written more than a cookbook. Her chatty, slightly dotty style makes this book worth more than a passing look. The recipes are without doubt simple and delicious. They are useable by any cook of any skill level. What caught my attention was the references to Saints Days. While it intially struck me as odd, when I considered it a bit further it seemed to be appropriate to include Feast days in a cook book. All in all well worth buying if you have any interest in good food.