Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking: Amazon.co.uk: Marguerite Patten: Books

Amazon.co.uk Review

Marguerite Patten is eminently qualified to write about the last Century of British Cooking. Now in her 80s she has experienced first hand the trends and changes of British cooking and eating habits since the 1920s, while by proxy through her mother's generation she is au fait with the Edwardian era. She says in the introduction that she decided if each recipe warranted being included if it had "hit the culinary headlines" or was "outstandingly good". This means that each of the 20-odd recipes for each decade is likely to be familiar, whether the potential cook or food historian reading this volume is 20 or 80. So, the old favourites of Prawn Cocktail, Coq au Vin and Cheese Fondue are included for the 1960s, while dishes seen nowadays as typical British fare make their entrance in the first decade, such as Devilled Kidneys and Victoria Sandwich. However, Patten makes clear that the growth in different foods available, and the British public's willingness to experiment, whether from the effects of hardship in the world wars or from the influences of foreign travel and immigrant populations, results in no one food being resoundingly representative of British tastes.

For modern cooks today a large proportion of the recipes in the first half of the book may seem more an exercise in nostalgia than a useful and inspiring collection of dishes to cook for their friends or family. Some of them would be quite fun if you're hosting a decade-themed party or dinner party--perhaps serve a three-course meal of a light soup, Quail Pudding and Steamed Lemon Pudding if you want to re-live the 1920s. Or maybe remind children of how thankful they should be for the variety of "world" foods available today by giving them the inventive dishes of 1940s and 1950s rationing. Marguerite Patten's personal anecdotes, about working for the Ministry of Food in the war, and then demonstrating new kitchen devices and recipes for TV and radio from the mid-1940s onwards, make great reading for those with little sense of how quickly (or slowly) such appliances as fridges, electric ovens or ice-cream makers were adopted in the typical home. Her record also serves well as a reminder of how money has always affected how people eat; though she can remove the division in eating habits between those "with money" and the "poor" after the 1930s and 1940s, she still alludes to the industrial upheavals and unemployment that still affects us (and therefore our nutrition) nowadays.

Marguerite Patten's Century of British Cooking is not the most inspiring collection of recipes, but is wonderful as a historical culinary record. Her style is at times abrupt, so that random food and non-food facts are thrown together, giving odd overviews of each decade, but the recipes themselves are well laid out and easily executed. Probably the best way to enjoy these recipes is to remove them from their historical context and use the book as a cookery encyclopedia; few recipe books stretch from Thick Windsor Soup to Thai Green Curry.--Olivia Dickinson

Amazon.co.uk 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 --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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28 of 28 people found the following review helpful

Superb 5 Nov 2007

By zztopbanana

Format:Paperback

Marguerite Patten, the doyen of British Cookery, surpasses herself here.

Split into decades, this book gives a brief history of the times, an indication of the foods at that time, likely meals for the different classes, prevailing culinary influences and a little information about the applicances in use and methods employed at the time.

So what has this got to do with making good food now, you may ask ? Well, the answer is nothing, but it is still fascinating information nonetheless.

Then we come to the recipes.

She is no different to any other perfectionist in that she leaves no stone unturned - imperial as well as metric measures are given and fan ovens are catered for too ( this last point about fan ovens is sadly lacking in most other books ).

The actual recipes themselves are nothing other than you would expect of a Marguerite Patten book - outstanding.

The book itself is just less than A4 size and almost 1" thick. It looks and feels like a book, a 'proper book' and is awash with colour illustrations.

My only neg is it should have been hardback. That said, this is a superb publication and would still be a bargain were it not discounted.

Buy with confidence - you will not be disappointed with this.

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16 of 16 people found the following review helpful

This book is an indespensible guide to 20th Century cookery. 19 Sep 2000

By A Customer

Format:Hardcover

This is Marguerite Pattern's 160 book and it is a real tour de force. The author introduces the book by illustrating the typical diet of a working class, a middle class and an upper class family at the turn of the century. The main body of the book is divided into ten sections, each one accounting for a decade. Pattern chooses to call the years 1900-1910 "the Victorian Years" even though she acknowledges the death of Victoria in 1901. The years are called "Victorian" rather because the influence of that formidable monarch was still perceivable even once the earmarks the sixties as her favorite decade. It came after the dreary fifties, when the country was still recovering from the war and rationing. The sixties was the decade of peach melba and the prawn cocktail! This book's merits come from the fact that it is not only interesting about the history of food during the last hundred years but also illustrates every point it makes by a carefully selected recipe.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

great recipies 10 April 2009

By Melanie Barlow

I bought this for a present for my mum. she had been looking for a Marguerite Patten cookbook which had basic recipies. (she had one years ago and was well used)This cookbook shows you recipies through a century from food like your gran used to make to more recent introductions and influences from different countries. A great cookbook!