Witty and useful essays about cooking, with recipes, published
in The Times and reprinted as a book in 1922.
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
in The Times and reprinted as a book in 1922.
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'Full of good observation... wit and comfort...the theme is that cooking should always be fitted to the occasion and temperament.' -- The New Statesman 5 November 2001 Bee Wilson
Agnes Jekyll tells us how it's done crisply and precisely, with humour but without trickery.' -- The Oldie November 2001 Elizabeth Luard
This is one of the best reads outside Elizabeth David. -- gastropodo.com
Three cheers to Persephone Books for publishing this witty , sharp writer, nostalgic but unsentimental, humorous but precise, erudite and always elegant. -- Country Living May 2002 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
Agnes Jekyll tells us how it's done crisply and precisely, with humour but without trickery.' -- The Oldie November 2001 Elizabeth Luard
This is one of the best reads outside Elizabeth David. -- gastropodo.com
Three cheers to Persephone Books for publishing this witty , sharp writer, nostalgic but unsentimental, humorous but precise, erudite and always elegant. -- Country Living May 2002 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
35 of 35 people found the following review helpful
By Lynette Baines
VINE™ VOICE
Format:Paperback
"God made the first Christmas, and man has ever since been busy spoiling it. Year by year the propaganda of the shops grows increasingly active; and their suggestions for the keeping of that high feast...appear annually more elaborate and incongrous than ever before." Agnes Jekyll wrote this in 1922 but few of us would disagree with her today. Kitchen essays is a delightful collection of pieces written for the Times (the first recipes ever printed in the newspaper) around 1920. Jekyll's style has a period flavour which I found fascinating. Her topics include recipes "For the too thin" and "For the too fat", "Bachelors entertaining", "A little dinner before the play" and "A little supper after the play". It's obvious that a cook and kitchenmaids were never too far away, aspic and cream are the preferred ingrediants for every dish whether sweet or savoury, and dinners of six courses were only just beginning to disappear as the done thing. Jekyll was obviously a clever and considerate hostess, and her suggested menus for every occasion are interspersed with literary quotations and sensible advice. Her recipes are a little short on quantities and she is fond of instructing us to make a sauce "in the usual way", but the essays are a wonderful illustration of life in England for a certain class of people just after the First World War. This is a facsimile edition beautifully produced by Persephone with the usual gorgeous endpapers.
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a book that can be picked up put down picked up and reread. There are two levels to this, an insight into the Kingdom at the turn of the century, into the food of the time and a fine book of recipes, some I have tried and enjoyed. Mrs Beeton with flash
Well worth a read and a try
Well worth a read and a try
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
Agnes Jekyll wrote this collection of pieces on cookery for The Times in 1920, and they are a perfect picture of upper class life at that time. Very few of the recipes which are included in the collection would be appealing to the average cook today as tastes have changed so much, but they are a wonderful historical snapshot of a way of life that has long gone.
Each chapter deals with a different social time or issue to be dealt with. There are chapters on wedding food, on what to serve for a married couple's first dinner party, what to eat while travelling and how to provide delicious food without meat. Jekyll comments extensively on social changes that have been brought about by the Great War and general food shortages, and how to overcome them.
She refers to extensively to economy and the cook on a budget, although so many of her recipes include things like lobster, oysters, foie gras, truffles and cream I am not entirely sure what kind of economy she has in mind. It is also clear that these recipes were not intended to be cooked by the reader, but by the staff of the reader, as she is always referring to domestic servants, and even includes simple recipes that the parlour maid can manage on the cook's day off.
The main thing that fascinated me about this book was the fashion for cooking and serving almost anything you care to mention in aspic and/or jelly. It is something we hardly ever do these days and I can think of very few foods that include it, with the exception of pork pie, yet it is clear that during these years there was a mania for it in fashionable circles.
It would be wonderful to know what she would make of the diet of today.
Each chapter deals with a different social time or issue to be dealt with. There are chapters on wedding food, on what to serve for a married couple's first dinner party, what to eat while travelling and how to provide delicious food without meat. Jekyll comments extensively on social changes that have been brought about by the Great War and general food shortages, and how to overcome them.
She refers to extensively to economy and the cook on a budget, although so many of her recipes include things like lobster, oysters, foie gras, truffles and cream I am not entirely sure what kind of economy she has in mind. It is also clear that these recipes were not intended to be cooked by the reader, but by the staff of the reader, as she is always referring to domestic servants, and even includes simple recipes that the parlour maid can manage on the cook's day off.
The main thing that fascinated me about this book was the fashion for cooking and serving almost anything you care to mention in aspic and/or jelly. It is something we hardly ever do these days and I can think of very few foods that include it, with the exception of pork pie, yet it is clear that during these years there was a mania for it in fashionable circles.
It would be wonderful to know what she would make of the diet of today.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Traveller
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
An amusing little book telling you about 'lifestyle' particularly cooking, in the first quarter of the 20th century. An enjoyable little read.
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
A typical Persephone book. Witty enjoyable and with a beautiful . Was bought as a present for my daughter, who enjoyed it as much as I did.
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