Myra's cookery book

From the librarian's dossier · AI-generated, grounded in the scanned text

Myra's Cookery Book (1883) is a Victorian household cookery manual presenting itself as a practical, concise reference for home cooks preparing English middle-class meals alongside French, German, and Italian dishes. Structured as a systematic culinary reference, it moves from fundamental cooking methods (roasting, boiling, steaming, braising) through soups, fish, and a lengthy procession of meats organized by animal (beef, veal, mutton, lamb, pork, poultry, game), then into vegetables, eggs, sauces, pastries, pies, puddings, preserves, and pickles, closing with an alphabetical index. Recipes are rendered in a consistent numbered, tabular format listing ingredients, quantities, and stepwise methods, reflecting the professionalized, methodical approach to home cookery that characterized the period. The book draws heavily on French culinary terminology and technique even while addressing an English domestic audience, suggesting aspirational or genteel household cookery rather than plain fare. Readers will find an enormous range of dishes, from simple broths and boiled eggs to elaborate game pies, sauces like Espagnole and Hollandaise, and preserved fruits and marmalades. The book ends with practical pickling advice, an index, and period advertisements, including for cornflour and a fashion magazine, that root it firmly in its commercial and domestic context. This dossier draws only on the catalog record and the mechanically generated section summaries supplied.

The book opens with a preface and instructional matter on basic cooking methods (section 1), then proceeds through numbered sections organized by food category: soups (sections 1-2), fish (sections 3-4), beef (sections 4-5), veal (section 5), mutton and lamb (sections 6-7), pork and poultry (section 7), game and poultry continued (section 8), vegetables, salads, eggs, omelets, and sauces (section 11), further sauces, forcemeats, and pastry basics (section 12), pies, pastries, and puddings (section 13), fruit compotes and preserves (section 16), and pickling with a closing alphabetical index (section 18), followed by publisher advertisements (section 19). Each recipe follows a standardized numbered format giving ingredients, quantities, and methodical steps, consistent across all sections summarized here.