A selection of recent cookery books
Jennifer Paterson
Arabella Boxer's Book of English Food (Hodder & Stoughton, £17.99, pp. 270) is a very welcome arrival in the midst of mostly foreign cuisine books. The collected receipts from a magnificent array of sources have all been carefully tried out and presented in clear modern measure- ments and cooking times, very different from the jottings of many a famous hostess who had little or no knowledge of actual cooking but had the ability to impart what they wanted to their cooks or take them to Marcel Boulestin for. inspiring lessons. The introduction is a treasury of social gossip about the great British country house parties, the most successful hostesses vying for the top guests, Lady Cunard and Lady Colefax neck and neck, Mrs Ronnie Greville at Polesden Lacey, Chips Channon at Belgrave Square and the author's own account of the more austere but neverthe- less very good quality food at home in the north-east of Scotland, where they seemed to live mainly on cold roast beef, rather rare, cut from a fine sirloin with the fillet still attached, salmon, lots of salads, and no cream, as her father detested it.
`Mrs Anderson's Fish Cakes' in the breakfast section are my favourite sort, being made with a thick bechamel sauce rather than mashed potato; the sloppy tex- ture inside, when bitten into through the crisp coating, is most delicious. Mrs Ander- son, God bless her, was cook to Kathleen, Duchess of Rutland before and during the last unpleasantness. The first courses include a great many egg dishes seldom seen nowadays, egg cutlets, cold baked eggs, eggs cendrillon served in baked potatoes, a speciality of the Traveller's Club. An interesting and now unknown main course is Roman Pie which is made from chicken or rabbit with additions of tongue or bacon and finished off with a topping of macaroni cheese, hence the `Roman', I suppose. It sounds very good for a change from pastry. There are sections on vegetables, and there are pud- dings for all tastes— 'Tete de Negre' is a must, very rich cream rice pudding encased in a turban of hardened chocolate or good old 'Gentleman's Pudding'. 'Picnics', `Shooting Lunches', 'Tea', 'Savouries', vari- ous drinks, not to mention all the fascinat- ing social history make this an immensely enjoyable and useful cook book, beautifully written, as one would expect from Arabella Boxer, often very funny and just the thing to have up your sleeve when visiting for- eigners want proper English food.
From France we have a real gutsy collection from the south west, taking in the valley of the Dordogne, the hills of Limousin and the pastures of Cantal (Goose Fat and Garlic by Jeanne Strang, (Kyle Cathie, £17.99. pp. 342). This is the land which produces all the French goodies you dream of. The soups and broths, meals in themselves, the geese and their foie gras, the preserved goose, le confit d'oie, resting in its own fat waiting for use, the fat itself for frying potatoes. The rillettes of goose or duck. The traditional poule au pot, the galantine of truffled chicken, rabbit with prunes and all the dishes from the pig. Toulouse sausage, preserved pork, pigs trotters, country ham and all the produce from the charcuterie. This is a wonderfully evocative and hearty book of sumptuous receipts, especially good for the coming months.
Entertaining All'Italiana by Anna Del Conte (Bantam Press, £15.99, pp. 393). Another of Anna Del Conte's excellent books on the food from Italy. This time she has given us collections of suitable menus for different times of the year and seasons or for special occasions such as Christmas, Easter or St Valentine (sweetbreads glazed with marsala — enough to melt the sternest heart). I see she has the famous macaroni pie from The Leopard in the Sicilian dinner. There is an amazing pudding in a Futurist Dinner called Tragolamammella' (Strawberry Breasts). A pink plate, with two erect female breasts made with ricotta shaded pink with Cam- pari and with nipples of candied straw- berries. Other fresh strawberries under the ricotta surface, so as to bite into an imag- ined multiplicity of breasts. (Filippo Marinetti). Apart from this bit of fantasy, which actually sounds most delectable in the mak- ing, there is a wealth of first-class informa- tion and lesser known dishes. How about the cotechino sausage with zabaglione, a traditional combination from Modena? Anna Del Conte assures us it is a perfect match and I believe her. Lovely book, and a useful addition to your kitchen library. Leslie Forbes has produced another of her charmingly self-illustrated books, this time in real print rather than her Own handwriting and so easier to assimilate, Remarkable Feasts (Bloomsbury, £16.99, pp. 224). Here you will find the more exotic foods of the world as she travels from Baton Rouge to Old Peking, taking in Thailand, A Feast of Alms on the North West Frontier and Days of the Dead in Oaxaca, to mention but a few. Fascinat- ing receipts and exciting stories told with wit and vigour. Christmas: A Cook's Tour by Ingeborg Relph & Penny Stanway (Lion, E17.99, pp. 320) is a fine, handsome book obviouslY intended for the Christmas-present stakes. Again, it has receipts from around the world but this time they are all Noel Fare. There is a huge book for chocoholics, The International Chocolate Book by NarleY Baggett (Little Brown & Co. L19.99,, pp. 287). From truffles to 'Tulip Cups,' `Devil's Food' to 'Chocolate C
h_ers `Fudge Chunk' ice cream and more an ia more. Have a good wallow.
A really nice present would be the hard- back reprint of the late Jane Grigson s Food with the Famous with a foreword hY Claudia Roden (Grub Street, £16.95, PP. 220 ). Full of tales and treasures.
Previous page
