Cookery Books.
This completes the list of books, so far
as they have fallen in my way, or been
pointed out by the kindness of friends,
down to the middle of the last century.
It was probably Charles, Duke of Bolton
(1698-1722), who was at one time Lord-
Lieutenant of Ireland, and who in the begin-
ning of his ducal career, at all events, re-
sided in St. James’s Street, that possessed
successively as head-cooks John Nott and
John Middleton. To each of these artists
we owe a volume of considerable pretensions,
and the “ Cook’s and Confectioner’s Diction-
ary,” 1723, by the former, is positively a very
entertaining and cyclopedic publication. Nott
inscribes his book “To all Good House-
wives,” and declares that he placed an Intro-
duction before it merely because fashion had
made it as strange for a book to appear with-
out one as for a man to be seen in church
without a neckcloth or a lady without a hoop-
petticoat. He congratulates himself and his
readers on living in a land flowing with milk
and honey, quotes the saw about God send-
ing meat and somebody else sending cooks.
Cookery Books.
33
and accounts for his omission of pigments by
saying, like a gallant man, that his country-
women little needed such things. Nott
opens with Some JDivertisements in Cookery ,
us'd at Festival-Times , as Twelfth-Day , etc.,
which are highly curious, and his dictionary
itself presents the novelty of being arranged,
lexicon-wise, alphabetically. He seems to
have been a fairly-read and intelligent man,
and cites, in the course of his work, many
celebrated names and receipts. Thus we
have : — To brew ale Sir Jonas Moore’s way ;
to make Dr. Butler’s purging ale ; ale of
health and strength, by the Viscount St.
Albans ; almond butter the Cambridge way ;
to dress a leg of mutton d la Dauphine ; to
dress mutton the Turkish way; to stew a
pike the City way. Dr. Twin’s, Dr. Black-
smith’s, and Dr. Atkin’s almond butter; an
amber pudding, according to the Lord
Conway’s receipt ; the Countess of Rutland’s
Banbury cake; to make Oxford cake; to
make Portugal cakes ; and so on. Nott
embraces every branch of his subject, and fur-
nishes us with bills of fare for every month
84
Cookery Books.
of the year, terms and rules of carving,
and the manner of setting out a dessert of
fruits and sweetmeats. There is a singular
process explained for making China broth,
into which an ounce of china is to enter.
Many new ways had been gradually found
of utilising the materials for food, and vege-
tables were growing more plentiful. The
carrot was used in soups, puddings, and
tarts. Asparagus and spinach, which are
wanting in all the earlier authorities, were com-
mon, and the barberry had come into favour.
We now begin to notice more frequent men-
tion of marmalades, blanc-manges, creams,
biscuits, and sweet cakes. There is a receipt
for a carraway cake, for a cabbage pudding,
and for a chocolate tart.
The production by his Grace of Bolton’s
other chef, John Middleton, is “Five Hun-
dred New Receipts in Cookery, Confection-
ary, Pastry, Preserving, Conserving, Pickling,”
and the date is 1734. Middleton doubtless
borrowed a good deal from his predecessor ;
but he also appears to have made some im-
provements in the science. We have here
Cookery Books.
85
Page 26
Presented as published in 1886. Historical recipes may not meet modern food-safety standards. Cook from the modern interpretation, not the original instructions.
AI-modernized reading of the original text
Cookery Books.
This completes the list of books, so far as they have fallen in my way, or been pointed out by the kindness of friends, down to the middle of the last century.
It was probably Charles, Duke of Bolton (1698-1722), who was at one time Lord- Lieutenant of Ireland, and who in the beginning of his ducal career, at all events, resided in St. James’s Street, that possessed successively as head-cooks John Nott and John Middleton. To each of these artists we owe a volume of considerable pretensions, and the “ Cook’s and Confectioner’s Dictionary,” 1723, by the former, is positively a very entertaining and cyclopedic publication. Nott inscribes his book “To all Good Housewives,” and declares that he placed an Introduction before it merely because fashion had made it as strange for a book to appear without one as for a man to be seen in church without a neckcloth or a lady without a hoop-petticoat. He congratulates himself and his readers on living in a land flowing with milk and honey, quotes the saw about God sending meat and somebody else sending cooks.
Cookery Books.
and accounts for his omission of pigments by saying, like a gallant man, that his countrywomen little needed such things. Nott opens with Some Divertisements in Cookery , us'd at Festival-Times , as Twelfth-Day , etc., which are highly curious, and his dictionary itself presents the novelty of being arranged, lexicon-wise, alphabetically. He seems to have been a fairly-read and intelligent man, and cites, in the course of his work, many celebrated names and receipts. Thus we have : — To brew ale Sir Jonas Moore’s way ; to make Dr. Butler’s purging ale ; ale of health and strength, by the Viscount St. Albans ; almond butter the Cambridge way ; to dress a leg of mutton d la Dauphine ; to dress mutton the Turkish way; to stew a pike the City way. Dr. Twin’s, Dr. Blacksmith’s, and Dr. Atkin’s almond butter; an amber pudding, according to the Lord Conway’s receipt ; the Countess of Rutland’s Banbury cake; to make Oxford cake; to make Portugal cakes ; and so on. Nott embraces every branch of his subject, and furnishes us with bills of fare for every month
Cookery Books.
of the year, terms and rules of carving, and the manner of setting out a dessert of fruits and sweetmeats. There is a singular process explained for making China broth, into which an ounce of china is to enter. Many new ways had been gradually found of utilising the materials for food, and vegetables were growing more plentiful. The carrot was used in soups, puddings, and tarts. Asparagus and spinach, which are wanting in all the earlier authorities, were common, and the barberry had come into favour. We now begin to notice more frequent mention of marmalades, blanc-manges, creams, biscuits, and sweet cakes. There is a receipt for a carraway cake, for a cabbage pudding, and for a chocolate tart.
The production by his Grace of Bolton’s other chef, John Middleton, is “Five Hundred New Receipts in Cookery, Confectionary, Pastry, Preserving, Conserving, Pickling,” and the date is 1734. Middleton doubtless borrowed a good deal from his predecessor ; but he also appears to have made some improvements in the science. We have here
Cookery Books.