Seven Centuries of English Cooking

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!

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.

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.