Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking - Hardcover

Patten OBE, Marguerite

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1902304144 ISBN 13: 9781902304144

Publisher: Grub Street Publishing, 1999

Synopsis

As well as containing recipes, this book looks back over the 20th century to provide both a culinary and social history. Marguerite Patten describes the events which have shaped British life and examines the effect that they have had on our eating and cooking habits.

About this title

Review:

Who, in 1899, could have predicted Gary Rhodes or the Two Fat Ladies? As the century draws to a close, the doyenne of British cookery writing returns with a fascinating survey of the enormous changes that have taken place in British cooking and eating habits during its course. Marguerite Patten has spent more than 50 years observing the British at table and teaching us how to cook. Starting with the conservative (and on occasion frankly dispiriting) cuisine of the turn of the century, Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking charts, decade by decade, the wholly unpredictable course subsequently taken by the national tastebuds. The late Victorian and Edwardian eras are conjured up with dishes such as "Devilled Kidneys", "Stuffed Shoulder of Mutton" and "Pulled Rabbit". Marguerite Patten even manages to make a good case for the dreaded "Brown Windsor Soup", which, it appears, came in thick and clear versions. The twenties prove to have been less exciting, foodwise, than one might have imagined; while a strenuous plainness characterises the food of the thirties and paves the way for wartime austerity. Recognisably modern tastes in food arrive in the sixties, in recipes such as the totemic "Prawn Cocktail", "Sole Veronique", "Pavlova" and "Black Forest Gateau". From then on, things grow more familiar, until the century ends with "Thai Green Curry", "Polenta au Gratin" and "Sticky Toffee Pudding". A brisk historical introduction to each chapter puts the recipes into context (the seventies: "Bananas more and more popular"). --Robin Davidson

Review:

"If you only buy one cookery book this year it has to be Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking." Women "Elegantly presented... for those who enjoy a taste for nostalgia or love curious culinary snippets." --Sybil Kapoor, The Independent

Patten's book offers a fascinating insight into how the British pallette has shifted from the Victorian era to the present day - I am addicted to Empress Rice thanks to this book. --John Lewis, Waterstones

About this edition

• Publisher: Grub Street Publishing
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 1902304144
• ISBN 13: 9781902304144
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 336