Product Description

This book is a revelation to Americans who have never tasted real Cornish Pasties, Scotch Woodcock (a splendid version of scrambled eggs) or Brown Bread Ice Cream.From the sumptuous breakfasts that made England famous to the steamed puddings, trifles, meringues and syllabubs that are still renowned, no aspect of British cooking is overlooked.Soups, fish, meat and game, vegetables, sauces, high teas, scones, crumpets, hot cross buns, savories, preserves and sweets of all kinds are here in clear, precise recipes with ingredients and utensils translated into American terms. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Fun and Informative
This book is a pleasure to read and use!It is filled with interesting facts and history about the origin of the recipes.The recipes are easy to follow and having tried out a few I can say that they are delicious as well.It's a great book and would make an excellent addition to any cookbook collection...

Traditional English Cooking At Its (Truly) Best
People who have read my other reviews of cookbooks will know that I grew up around restaurants (my grandfather's)and that I am an avocational home cook and avid but selective cookbook collector.My wife and I grew up in the Northeastern United States and much of our childhood cooking was in the British tradition.For an upcoming return tour of England we wanted to learn more about this cuisine, particularly its iconic dishes.Based upon earlier reviews, this book came at the top of my list and I was not disappointed.So many of the recipes made my mouth water and seemed familiar in a comfortable way.Even before our American interest in local ingredients and local foods, British cooking led the movement.The dishes in this book are just the ones to recreate using quality ingredients produced close to home.

Persons who have ever wondered what "pease porridge" was in the old nursery rhyme will find a tasty recipe here.Travellers who might be put off by a dish like "Cullen skink" will find that they are facing a soup of haddock in creamy milk that is quite appealing.There is a whole chapter devoted to "teatime" and its foundation dishes such as cucumber sandwiches, sweet quick breads, scones and so on.Scotch eggs (eggs wrapped in ground sausage bound up with flour and deep-fried) are one of our great picnic foods and one of England's classic pub offerings.How about sweets like lemon curd and real mincedmeat pie filling?There are great "pickles" like orange chutney.If these dishes appeal to you, do buy the book.

My hardcover purchase dates from 1981 and there are no photos to whet the appetite but the food itself does enough of that.This book is a keeper, even after our tour is over.

Not for those with little time
I like to cook but don't have as much time for it as I'd like. I can do the recipes in this book on the weekends, but on workdays, they just take too long.

That's too bad, because the food is very good.

Recipes that the English really eat daily
Although the book has no pictures, the recipes taste and look like authentic British foods.The measures have been converted to standard American measures and sometraditional British ingredients have been changed to easier to find American ingredients such as sour cream instead of creme fraiche; however, this book would be easy to use in any country.A good basic 'What the English really eat' cookbook!

One is sure to be pleased with the inside joke
The delight in this book is not only in the recipes, which I have enjoyed immensely. Jane Garmey's wit in the presentation makes one sense a wink at the poor reputation British food generally holds, just as her recipes give it the lie. Generally, British food at its best is wonderful... trouble is that finding it 'at its best' often requires a journey.

The volume is not exhaustive, but presents many classic dishes, most easily prepared (and some which would appeal to, for example, one so avidly traditional as to spend the two months it takes for genuine plum pudding.) It is a pleasant sampler of varied main dish, savoury, pudding, and tea favourites.

I would highly recommend this book to those who enjoy cooking. There are many items here which do not require unusual effort or odd ingredients, and can have wonderful results. ... Read more

Product Description
Sample the best of British with this one-stop guide to traditional British fare. Pies, roasts, casseroles, and teatime treats--all the old favorites are here. Take inspiration from Soups, Appetizers, and Snacks, and make a Leek and Potato Soup to warm you up on a cold winter's day. Tuck into an authentic Fish Supper from the Fish chapter or create a hearty entree from Poultry and Game. For an unbeatable Meat dinner, devote some time to making Rolled Pork Roast. No wholesome meal would be complete without something On the Side, such as crunchy Roast Potatoes or Yorkshire Puddings. End your authentic dinner with a comforting Bread and Butter Pudding from the Desserts chapter. Then for Teatime--the epitome of British culinary tradition--make some Scones with Clotted Cream and Strawberry Jam.*Simple recipes for classic British comfort food-a style of foood that's definitely back in fashion.*Includes recipes for Pantry essentials, such as Plum Chutney and Lemon Curd. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not-so-Traditional British Cooking
I grew up in London, and have a very traditional English mother, so if there's one thing I know, it's British food.If you've never made British food before, I don't suggest that you start with this cookbook.The introduction states, "Traditional British Cooking brings you . . . British-inspired gems."And that's my main grumble with this cookbook.Many of the recipes aren't really traditional, but they might have British elements to them.For example, cheese and onion bread is a quite common recipe in British cookbooks.The authors call for leeks in their recipe, nothing wrong with that, but they also call for Asiago cheese.Note to authors:Asiago is an Italian cheese, and is definitely not a feature of traditional British cooking.The mashed potato recipe calls for two heads of garlic.If a British cook were feeling daring, she might toss in a clove or two, not two heads.

I once read that the beauty of British cookery lies in its simplicity; it's the quality of the ingredients that carries it through.The authors don't emphasise that you really need to buy proper British ingredients to make British food work.A Welsh rabbit (cheese sauce on toast) made with American cheddar and beer will be ghastly.I make mine with English cheddar and Bass ale, and it's heavenly.

Nevertheless, the recipes are quite good if you want to take British cooking beyond its roots.For a good starter cookbook, I'd recommend Hilaire Walden's Traditional British Cooking.It's the cookbook I reach for most often when I fancy having the things that I grew up with (which is almost every day).There are a few typos/omissions in that book, which have perhaps been corrected, as I have an early edition, and a couple of things that need to be changed (omit the lemon juice from the sticky toffee pudding sauce - it's horrible with it; roll the scones out to one-inch thick - scones don't rise all that much and will be too flat if not rolled out thick enough), but you can usually puzzle out what's missing and, overall, it's a splendid introduction to the glories of British food.Just remember: for success, top-notch ingredients, British wherever possible. ... Read more

Product Description
A truly comprehensive guide to the very best of British traditional cooking, with over 200 recipes drawn from all over the British Isles. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

English Pub Food
I was hosting a couples shower and they requested "Pub Food"I knew they had never been to England but wanted to expose them to new sensations so I fixed both English and American Pub Grub.
The recipes were easy to follow and ingredients easy to obtain in the Los Angeles area.Good Book!!

Gorgeous!
This big, beautiful book is glossy and lush.It has full color photos throughout, showing each delightful recipe in all its glory.All the traditional favorites are in here, and several more that you will want to try.This is the kinds of recipe book that makes you hungry, and it inspires you to get in the kitchen.Enjoy!

Traditional British Cooking
Some of the recipes are from my childhood days which I had forgotten.
The rest of the recipes are great. This cook book combines the old and the new of British cooking. I would recommend this cook book for anybody home sick for your mothers cooking.
... Read more

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Product Description
A classic kitchen reference to a classic cuisine: the perfect introduction to the traditional country dishes of the British Isles, with a wonderful collection of 360 recipes that make the most of natural produce, simple flavors and comfort eating. ... Read more

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Product Description
Fergus Henderson caused something of a sensation when he opened his restaurant St John in London in 1995. Set in a former smokehouse near Smithfield meat market, its striking, high-ceilinged white interior provides a dramatic setting for food of dazzling boldness and simplicity. As signalled by the restaurant's logo of a pig (reproduced on the cover of "Nose to Tail Eating") and appropriately given the location, at St John the emphasis is firmly on meat. And not the noisettes, fillets, magrets and so forth of standard restaurant portion-control, all piled up into little towers in the middle of the plate: Henderson serves up the inner organs of beasts and fowls in big, exhilarating dishes that combine high sophistication with peasant roughness."Nose to Tail Eating" is a collection of these recipes, celebrating, as the title implies, the thrifty rural British tradition of making a delicious virtue of using every part of the animal. This new edition, beautifully redesigned, comes with an introduction by Anthony Bourdain. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Offal Bible
Fergus Henderson is a Master! A must have for any fan of nose to tail cookery!

Best British Food Writer Since Elizabeth David
Architecture's loss was the UK food scene's greatest win in nearly 60 years when Fergus Henderson became a cook. Now chef at St Johns restaurant in London, Nose To Tail Eating is a truly ground breaking work of exquisite simplicity, just as every dish in the book is in itself.
Having lived and worked in the UK, I, as a former cook, was of the opinion that modern British cooking left much to be desired. How wrong I was. Fergus takes the now rare simplicities of basic English cooking to amazing heights. His roasted quail dish couldn't be simpler: quail, salt, pepper, good oil and a hot oven for around 20 minutes. If you begin with good quail you will, I PROMISE YOU, have one of the best dining experiences of your life. I've cooked this dish for other chefs who refused to believe me when I said it was his recipe and that it only contained those four ingredients. His roasted marrow bone, in-bone, is exceptional and astounding in its simplicity and quality. He cares naught for precise measurements or detailed recipes. How can any cook book writer KNOW what YOUR oven is like, or what your skill levels are... a great and ignored flaw in all cook books. Fergus sweeps all this trivia aside and presents basic elements and instructions and leaves the rest to you... if you love food as much as he, obviously does, then the rest is up to you. How else can it be. This is what makes this cook book (guide) so special. There are some recipes that may be daunting or downright off-putting, like pig's head or cheek. But so well was this book written that, even after 25 years of commercial cooking, I was so inspired that I went out and got myself a whole pig's head and gave it a go. It was scary, but in the end result... heavenly!
Fergus Henderson, along with Tony Bourdain is one of my 'cooking gods'. I'm in Tasmania and probably will never, sadly, get to his St Johns but I've got the next best thing; his book and the inspriation Nose To Tail gave me.
I urge you to buy this book. (No, I'm not Fergus Henderson) I just wish I was.
William Kenneth Halliwell
Hobart, Tasmania, Australia ... Read more

Product Description
Marguerite Patten is one of Britain's best known and best loved cookery writers.She is the author of over 170 books and numerous newspaper and magazine articles.Her Cookery in Color was first published in 1960 and with sales of over 2 million copies has broken all records in cookery book publishing. She was awarded an OBE in 1991 for 'services to the art of cookery' and in addition she received Lifetime Achievement Awards in 1995 from the Guild of Food Writers, in 1996 from the Trustees of the Andre' Simon Award, in 1998 from the BBC Good Food Awards and in 2007 Woman of the Year Lifetime Achievement Award.

Customer Reviews (1)

Marguerite Patten's Best British Dishes
It took a long time to receive the book, but it was well worth the wait.I come from the UK and have lived in the US for several years. My mother boughta cook book by Marguerite Pattern in 1965 which I aquired after her death. I did some research and was surprised to find she is still alive, I even saw her on YouTube! She has written about 170 books. This book has nice thick pages and indeed the recipes are certainly the best. It has a lot of the familiar traditional recipes I grew up with. It actually has most of them, Cornish pasties, Victoria sponge, Eccles cakes, Flapjacks, Almond Macaroons, Brandy snaps, Christmas pudding, Yorkshire pudding, Mincemeat, Brandy butter, toffee apples, Steak & Kidney pie and Trifle just to name a few. My first recipe will probably be Flaky pastry and Hot Cross buns, Yum! The cover is also nice and thick, there are about a dozen or more pictures. I love the fact that it encludes U.K and U.S measurements. I can't wait to get started. A great book. ... Read more

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Famed for his mouth-watering variations on traditional British favourites, Gary Rhodes sets out on a quest to modernize and enhance many classic dishes, updating them for the millennium with a host of ideas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

One of the few indespensible cook books
I have collected many cook books over the years - most of them end up being dust collectors. However this book has made the list of "must haves" that I refer to when deciding what or how to cook. The introduction to sections is well thought out and the recipes clear and concise to follow. It's so essential that it cross the atlantic with me when i moved to the US. Still used to this day.

I personally have had little time for Gary on his various TV appearances, preferring the Ramseys and Steins of this world, but he's golden with this one.

I am not a great fan of this man on TV...
...I have always found his TV style to be irksome and irritating. But I have to give it to him with this well researched and mouth watering book. He has done Britian a huge favour here by celebrating all that is great about British cooking and reviving it. Certainly he seems to have had an effect, I have noticed how many British restuarants, cafe bars and grub pubs have sneeked in Cream Teas, Big Breakfasts, Toad in the Holes and Bread and Butter puddings; and they are all the better for it. If you have ever pondered at the sadness of lost food items from the British landscape, food which made Britain. Then I urge you to buy this book!

Best Cookbook I�ve Seen in 20 Years
I am an American who owns over 300 cookbooks, and I consider myself a gourmet cook. On a recent trip to Britain, I scoured bookstores and chose this book over all the others.I�m glad I did. I have to say, this is absolutely the BEST cookbook I have come across in the past 20 years.

This book is not as comprehensive as The Joy of Cooking, which tries to tell you how to cook absolutely everything under the sun.But this book IS inclusive ofeverything that�s important in classic British Cooking (and in traditional American cooking, as well)�soups, sauces, cheese and eggs, vegetables, fish, meat, poultry, picnics, puddings, cakes and baking, and preserves and pickles.In addition, it has chapters on The Great British Breakfast, Savories and Snacks,Sunday Lunch Roasts, A Festive Christmas, and Afternoon and High Tea.

As an American, I learned SO much from this book.I learned about the ORIGIN of bacon and eggs for breakfasts, about the histories of many different vegetables (quite different information than is included in The Joy of Cooking), HOW and WHY British cuisine got a reputation for being bland (it wasn�t always so), and many things about the history of eating which have just been plainly lost to us in America.For example, I did not know before that the origin of certain foods sometimes being served on a piece of toast was from the �trenchers� used in medieval times--�trenchers� being big slabs of bread which were laid directly on the table, and food put on top. The reason for the use of trenchers was that plates were too expensive for ordinary people to use.Not only are so many interesting discussions about the origins of different foods and customs included in this book, but ALL the recipies are interesting and FANTASTIC!

British readers will enjoy the depth and style of this book, while American readers will really learn a lot about the origin of our own traditional cuisine. I will treasure this book for many years. I am buying four more copies to give as gifts this Christmas.I bought the paperback edition.This book is so wonderful and will be used for so many years, that I highly recommend to other readers to spend the extra money and get a hardcover edition, if it is available. ... Read more

Product Description
Rationing was introduced in Britain in the early years of the Second World War and lasted for nearly a decade after it finished. During that extraordinary period, when the nation had to rely on its own resources to produce its food, recipes reflected the shortages and restrictions that were an inevitable result. This book reproduces some of the many ingenious recipes which were developed to provide nutritious and tasty meals with the foodstuffs available such as Lord Woolton Pie, Mock Marzipan (made with haricot beans!), Sardine Fritters, Poor Man's Goose and Passion Dock Pudding (a 'square meal' made with dock leaves!) As well as the recipes, the book describes the history behind rationing and reveals how Britain coped - and benefited - from it. Illustrated with colour and black & white photographs as well as many contemporary advertisements, this book provides a true taste of the time! ... Read more

Product Description
This book is Grub Street's lead cookery title for 1999 and is a major publishing event since Marguerite Patten is one of Britain's best known and loved cookery writers and often described as England's Cookery Queen.

Customer Reviews (2)

very boring
sorry to say that, but this is a relatively boring book, not as excited as it topic implies.

Simply the best -of British!
This is so much more than a cookbook.From a writer with over 160 titles to her credit you may expect same old, same old - but you'd be wrong.There's something to offer to everyone, young and old, coupled with the lessons on British culinary history.Its almost like a novel with recipes.A bonus here is that the recipes actually work!So if you are fed up with the sleek tomes of recent years, you could do worse than have a peek at Marguerite.You'll be in for a real treat. ... Read more

Product Description
Includes a guide to British ingredients and a fascinating introduction to the culinary traditions of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Beautifully illustrated with more than 250 stunning images, including a photograph of each finished dish. ... Read more

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Chef James Martin offers simple-to-prepare recipes for classic British meals, from the humble pork pie to roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, battered cod and chips and steak and kidney pie. Also included are some of the best dishes we have adopted from overseas, such as chicken tikka masala and spaghetti bolognaise. The recipes are divided into eight chapters: all-day breakfasts; soups, tarts and terrines; roasts, pies and bakes; stews, pots and spicy foods; fish and seafood; extras; puds; and cakes. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (1)

Seasonal recipes with a few surprises
I really wanted to get "Cooking with Mummyji" by the same author but it was out of stock (or print, apparently) when I tried placing the order.So I ordered this book instead.Overall I was quite pleased with the recipes and enjoyed seeing many old favorites done more home-style.Nearly everything I've cooked from this book turned out great.

The only criticism I have of the book is that the text is rather difficult to read on certain pages due to a very heavy background color (for instance, black text on a very dark purple background).Otherwise I'm quite happy with the book. ... Read more

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Nine recipes serve as entry points for detailing the history of food production, cooking, and diet throughout Queen Victoria's reign in England.More than that, however, Broomfield offers an introduction to the world of everyday dining, food preparation, and nutrition during one of the most interesting periods of English history. Food procurement, kitchen duties, and dining conventions were almost always dictated by one's socioeconomic status and one's gender, but questions still remain.Who was most likely to dine out? Who was most likely to be in charge of the family flatware and fine china?Who washed the dishes? Who could afford a fine piece of meat once a week, once a month, or never? How much did one's profession dictate which meal times were observed and when?All these questions and more are answered in this illuminating history of food and cooking in Victorian England.

Customer Reviews (2)

Like a good pasta dinner--satisfying & filling!
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.

An excellent survey any college-level culinary collection specializing in food history will relish.
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 ... Read more

Product Description
With more than 30 recipes covering the whole range of Victorian society, this book gives a fascinating insight into the way food was prepared and enjoyed by our ancestors. ... Read more