Title: Devonshire Flavour: A Cookery Book With A Difference
Author: Elizabeth Lothian
Publisher: David and Charles
Publication date: 1971 (originally; this edition 1989)
Bought: Secondhand… somewhere!
Type: Regional cookery
Pages: 120
Notes: Possibly compiled as a fund-raising book judging by some of the notes accompanying the recipes? Recipes appear to have been solicited from a wide variety of people with connections to Devon.
Fabulously-named dishes: Smugglers’ Lamb Chops, Burnt Grapes (doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you need a recipe for…), Lighthouse Flashers (mashed potato towers baked and topped with a glacé cherry)
Other useful information contained within: Plenty of anecdotes and tidbits about Devon life, plus conversion tables, fat contents of various dairy products, and approximate number of drinks per bottle for various alcoholic products.
Where can I get a copy?: Amazon
Title: Norway’s Delight: Dishes and Specialities
Author: Elise Sverdrup
Publisher: Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag (Oslo). Part of the “Tanum’s Tokens of Norway” series.
Publication date: 1957 originally – this is the eighth edition, published in 1972.
Bought: Wish I could remember! I think it was second-hand at our local book fair.
Type: National cuisine
Pages: 84
Notes: none
Fabulously-named dishes: Polar Bear’s Eye (beetroot, onion, raw egg yolk…), Dancing Master’s Soup (appears to be sweet), The Vet’s Nightcap (bread spread with dripping, liver paste and cured meat)
Other useful information contained within: Not much, sadly — it includes a couple of addresses for suppliers who provide Norwegian speciality food within the UK, but I suspect they will long since have changed or closed down.
Where can I get a copy?: There are plenty of editions available on Amazon (including a hardback version)
Title: Breton Cooking
Author: Simone Morand
Publisher: Éditions Jos
Publication date: 2006
Bought: Second-hand, at a National Trust property’s bookshop
Type: Country-specific recipes
Pages: 32
Notes: There’s a little bit of background about some of the more unusual dishes, and types of dishes, but sadly no real discussion of what differentiates Breton cooking from that of any other region.
Fabulously-named dishes: Betton Style Milk Soup, “Ninon” Maxi-Buckwheat Pancakes (not quite sure what’s “maxi” about it), and several versions of Farz which would appear to be something akin to a steamed pudding, existing in both sweet and savoury versions.
Other useful information contained within: not a lot beyond the recipes and the very brief notes about the types of recipes mentioned above.
Where can I get a copy?: Amazon
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Title: The Pooh Cook Book
Author: Katie Stewart
Publisher: Methuen Children’s Books
Publication date: 1971
Bought: New — although not by me!
Type: Media tie-in
Pages: 128
Notes: This is primarily a cookbook aimed at children, and I remember it very fondly from my childhood. My favourite recipe was definitely French Toast With Honey (in this incarnation, bread dipped in egg and fried). It should be noted that this book is nothing to do with this similarly-named one.
Fabulously-named dishes: The recipes tend to be named in the Winnie-the-Pooh tradition, so there are sections entitled “Smackerels, Elevenses and Teas” and “Provisions for Picnics and Expotitions [sic]”. Possibly the best recipe name is “Hot Chocolate for a very Blusterous Day“.
Other useful information contained within: There are some very basic cooking hints (as this is aimed at the inexperienced, young, cook) but also plenty of illustrations and quotes from Winnie-the-Pooh and The House At Pooh Corner.
Where can I get a copy?: There are various editions
Title: Bean Cuisine – a culinary guide for the ecogourmet
Author: Beverly White
Publisher: Beacon Press, Boston
Publication date: 1977
Bought: Second-hand, but no idea where
Type: Ingredient-specific recipes
Pages: 144
Notes: This being an American book, the names for some of the types of bean differ to what we might expect in the UK, but usually both names are given.
Fabulously-named dishes: American Herbal Feast sounds as though it might not be too filling; Gentle Lentil Salad — have you ever met any aggressive lentils? No, me neither; Minnehaha baked beans. But there are a lot of very descriptive names in here.
Other useful information contained within: There’s a lot of useful information for people who are planning to use dried beans in their cookery, including how to soak them (and how long for), how to cook them in a pressure cooker and some tips for doing so if you don’t happen to have such an item available.
Where can I get a copy?: Plenty of copies available for not much money on Amazon
Title: The Best Of British Bacon Recipes
Author: Mary Norwak
Publisher: The Sales Machine (on behalf of British Bacon)
Publication date: 1979
Bought: Second-hand, at a National Trust property’s bookshop
Type: Ingredient-specific recipes
Pages: 96
Notes: There is some brief discussion of what one might serve with bacon. Nonetheless, as the title implies, just about all of the actual recipes within this book feature bacon as an ingredient, and usually as the main ingredient. (I was hoping for “Bacon Surprise” which didn’t…) The exceptions are the recipes for sauces and garnishes.
Fabulously-named dishes: Not so many within this book, although Huntington Fidget Pie sounds interesting and I was a little disappointed that Bacon Fraize doesn’t involve strawberries. And Soaking Bacon, mentioned in the index, turns out to be a method rather than a dish. There are some monumentally unhealthy-sounding options, though; Bacon In Beer, Crusty Baked Bacon, Spiced Cider Bacon Bake…
Other useful information contained within: types of bacon cure, nutritional information and the like. Oddly enough they’re quick to trumpet bacon as a high-protein food and to mention its near-total lack of carbohydrates, but are remarkably quiet on its fat content.
Where can I get a copy?: Plenty of copies available for not much money on Amazon
Title: South Pacific Cookbook
Author: none given
Publisher: none given
Publication date: none given
Bought: Second-hand, at book fair
Type: Country-specific recipes
Pages: 120
Notes: Recipes from a variety of locations; categories are Maori, New Caledonia, Tahiti, Samoa, Cook Islands & Tonga, Hawaii, Fiji and one solitary page of recipes from Pitcairn Island including “Pelki” which is listed as “an acquired taste”. I shall have to investigate what “kumara” is, as the main ingredient of that dish.
Fabulously-named dishes: Blue Cod with Almonds, Favourite Brown Stew and Kumara Topping (not one of the Pitcairn dishes…), Ate Mango (Shark’s Liver), Groper Kebabs (seems like an appropriate punishment), Scraped Kaanga Pudding
Other useful information contained within: how to run a hangi – cooking the Maori way in a pit. I particularly enjoyed “SUCCESS OR FAILURE: If steam emerges from the hangi after the first spitful of soil is removed, the hangi will be successful. If no steam appears, cover it up and buy fish and chips.”
Where can I get a copy?: I’ve not found any for sale online, although I’ll update if I do. Note that this is not the book by Victor Bennett found on Amazon.
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