Customer Reviews

The Jane Austen Cookbook

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This is a lovely and shortish introduction to cooking and culture of eating and entertaining for the late Georgian period when Austen was alive. I loved the fact that this was about cooking and eating rather than some of the less universally approachable subjects (letters, literary criticism). Maggie Black and Deidre Le Faye have both written Jane Austen style and culture type books before so both understand the period and are able to draw on a large resource of appropriate information.

The introduction is very much about how people ate - what was available, how it got to houses, and why this was so. There is some division by class (upper class, middle class and lower class are all discussed) but also the divisions by Geography - whether coastal with access to fresh fish, or inland - how food was transported, and even in terms of access to market towns. Even 5 miles away was almost impossible for those trying to get up a dinner from 'scratch' so to speak if someone was coming around.

The introduction also talks about the types of food and dishes which were eaten, and that the whole culture of dining was completely different. Not only were meal times different, but how they dined. The explanations are simple and there is good use of quoted material throughout, the diaries and letters of the time providing a strong and occassionally humourous voice.

Where possible leFaye and Black have used diaries and 'receipts' from Austen's friends and family and point out that in the days before recipe books were published these books of receipts would be handed down from mother to daughter and one family's speciality would be renowned - they were truly heirlooms.

The last section of the book is a collection of recipes - these are taken from books of reciepts. The original receipt is usually fairly interpretative, that is the measurements are not generally noted, nor how to put them together or cook them. So there has been experimentation and the recipe is re-written with the details put in. These essentail details would have been handed down in a practical manner, but in the days before temperature gauges you would have needed to rely on simple temperature variations, quick, moderate and slow oven to dictate just when to cook it.

Most of these recipes are actually very useable for today - they don't have many potted meats, but mostly roasted meats, cakes, egg dishes and still room crafts. There are some things we dont' see these days like Syllabub - which is quite tasty

There are other books of this kind around - Margeretta Ackworth's cookbook for instance, which is interesting too - but I would recommend this is a good modern cookbook and an interesting historical look at the culture of food in this period.

While this cookbook may not be exactly suited to the demands of every day dinner making, it does serve as a great lesson in early 19th century custom and way of life. The recipes it contains are fun as well as elegant, and many of them are taken right from the pages of EMMA, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE and the rest of the Austen classics. Most of the ingredients are simple and relatively easy to find, and you'll find that making Mrs. Norris' Strawberry Creme Pudding is worth every effort. So, put on some Madrigal music, don a linen frock and your best English country accent and fall into the real world of Austen-- as only food can create it!

If you call yourself a Janeite then you must have this book! It is a great recipe book from the period with many that can be easily reproduced in your own kitchen! (How better to experience the times than to try to recreate a touch of it?) The commentary is interesting and useful and each author, I find, sheds some light on the life and times of Jane in a way that no one else has quite managed, and Ms. Black is no exception. I am just beginning my culinary jaunts using recipes from this book, and I have already highlighted a great deal of "Must tries". If you like cooking, experimenting in your kitchen, vintage recipes, or JA herself, you will truly appreciate this book!
Linore Rose Burkard
Author, Before the Season Ends
(A Regency Romance)

Any fan of Jane Austen's novels would do well to read, or at least sample, this book. Austen's work is the story of domestic life of her time, and this book provides a lot of useful information about an important context of her novels: food, meals, and dining. What is a nuncheon? How do cooks cope without refrigeration? And how, specifically, does one prepare many of the foods familiar to Austen's world? This book addresses these questions, in a well-written and well-researched style. It is physically attractive, and soundly based on contemporaneous records and recipes ('receipts') of the time, although these were recorded in ways foreign to us.

This cookbook is charming. It has useful recipes in it, along with modern-day interpretations of the recipes, and interesting stories about food. It even explains how people preserved and bought food in Jane Austen's day. That is quite interesting, I love to learn more about lifestyles in different historical eras. It's not only a cookbook, it's a history book. It's worth it, you won't be disappointed!

WOW. This cookbook is so much more than a cutsie tribute to Austen and her works. The author, a culinary historian, thoroughly outlines the eating habits and customs of the day and provides recipes in the language of the era. So if you're looking for something both academic and entertaining, this is the perfect book. It's NOT just a quickly produced theme-based cookbook; it's the real deal!

A delightful `cookbook' with a beginning of history and interesting bits of Austen, family, friends, and her life of the times, not to mention books and their characters and names and places. The 42 BW illustrations are often old woodcuts, photos, drawings, and sometimes paintings. It all reflects the period of Austen, complete with the recipes, which is the primary focus of this book. But Jane Austen lovers will enjoy the 38 pages prior to the `receipts' equally. It is enough of a treasure; I'd recommend buying the HC version, as I did. It is worthy of placing on the buffet for display, or in the living room for a `tea' gathering.

Recipes are converted to modern needs, like oven temps and volume & weight measurements. But terms are intact making the reading fun. Curry Soup used a `Knuckle of Veal', parching before a fire, beating in a Mortar, passing through a Sawn Sieve, Chyan pepper, and even so, turns out a delightful man-pleasing soup. A book for cooks, Austen readers, & men wanting to surprise the lady with a gift, or the lady wanting to surprise her gentleman with a fine meal.

RECIPES (spelled as in the book):
__A Curraway Cake; Herb Pudding; Pyramid Creams; Apple Pie; Solid Custard; A Receipt for a Pudding (Bread Pudding); Mrs Perrot's Heart or Pound Cake; Jaune Mange; Solid Syllabubs; A Fine Cake; Martha's Gingerbread `Cakes'; Ice-cream; A Trifle; Little Iced Cakes; Martha's Almond Cheesecakes; Rout Drop Cakes; Ratafia Cakes
__Swiss Soup Meager; Curry Soup; Summer Pease Soup; Onion Soup; White Soup
__Gravy and Glaze; Macaroni; Broiled Eggs; Salmagundy; A Pretty dish of Eggs; Dr Kitchiner's Caper Sauce; Curree Powder; gooseberry Vinegar; Fruit Butters and Cheeses; Marmalett of Aprecoks; Orange Peel `Straws' in Syrup; Raspberry `Vinegar' (Cordial); Mrs Fowle's Orange Wine; Negus; Spruce Beer; Ginger Beer
__Salmon, Pike, Carps, or Fresh Cod in Corbullion; Plaice and Flounders; Broiled Salmon; Sole with Wine and Mushrooms; Mock Oyster Sauce; Oysters, Stewed and in Loaves; Jemeca `Trouts'; Buttered Prawns; Chickens with Tongues
__A Harrico of Mutton; Jugged Steaks with Potatoes; Beef-steak Pudding; A Receipt to Curry after the Indian Manner; Butchers' Meats and Game; Roast Ribs of Beef; Fricandos of Veal; Forcemeat Balls; Dressed Breast of Lamb; To Roast Geese, Turkies, &c; Pheasant a la Braise; Wine-roasted Gammon; Veal or Venison `Cake'; Pigeon Pie; Chicken Baskets; Lemon Mincemeat
__Vegetable Pie; Fricassee of Turnips; Ragoo of Celery with Wine; How to Dress Salads; Eggs and Onions, commonly called the Onion Dish; Broccoli, Hot or Cold; Asparagus Dressed the Italian Way
__Lady Williams's Muffins; Mrs Dundas's Biscuits; A Nice Whet Before Dinner; White Mushroom Fricassee; Apple Puffs; Naples Biskets; Petit Pasties

Finishes with "Mr Darcy's Dinner or the Dinner Which Never Happened" menu. It appears all the `receipts' are in the book if you want to try preparing the entire menu for poor Mr. Darcy.

The Jane Austen Cookbook offers some interesting preliminary pages with descriptions of meals, menus and manners of the era. After that it does an adequate job of giving the recipes for specific dishes along with the modern eqivalents for anyone who might want to tackle a late 18th or early 19th century recipe. It should be of interest to collectors of old cook books or fans of Jane Austen or the Regency period. In my opinion it is a bit short on information for the price; however I am glad I bought it.

Love the look of this book in my kitchen on a cookbook stand. It adds warmth, color and interest to an otherwise dull corner of the counter. I paired it with the scone book and I enjoy both

lovely thank you. The was informative and just what I was looking for. I represents the ear I was interested in.