GENTLE ART OF COOKERY

First published in 1925, Hilda Leyel was acknowledged as a connoisseur of food and wine in London society, and her book is based on menus she served to her friends. It is a spirited, lively book full of ideas and recipes that were unlikely to be made by a conventional English cook of the time. The recipes are arranged in alphabetical order under the main ingredient because as she points out it is better to shop first, and buy what is best and then decide on dinner. Her recipes for vegetable and fruit cookery are imaginative and original and a chapter on children's cookery contains dishes that will still appeal today. Haricot beans are melted in brown butter, Brussel sprouts with lemon, fried beetroot, baked turnips, chestnuts braised with Maderia, broad beans stewed with wine, curried lentils and many soups and salads. She uses many herbs and is familiar with European and Middle Eastern, Mediterranean and North African cooking, and a menu for an exotic Arabian evening starts with a beautiful and simple salad of sliced oranges with finely chopped onions and black olives dressed with olive oil and red pepper. The Meat chapter focusses on smaller pieces - cutlets, minced meat and offal and she suggests the continental practice of serving meats with purees or compôtes. She suggests Cumberland Sauce and Stewed Prunes to accompany Braised Mutton and a rich Italian sauce of almonds and raisins to go with tongue. Apricot and Marrow Soup is intriguing and Lincoln's Inn Cherries are a perfect for a summer party. Her instructions vary from the detailed to the casual and occasionally frustrating, but this is a most imaginative and stimulating cookbook which Elizabeth David said was the first cookery book she ever owned and treated with 'affection, gratitude as well as respect.' This small classic of English culinary literature is a timeless understanding of good food and is now reprinted with all 750 original recipes and a new introduction in a very glamorous silver foil spined hardback of 431 pages with pagemarker and red page edges.