Trifle

by Alan Davidson, Helen Saberi

The English Kitchen is a series published by Prospect Books to explore and explain the course of English cookery over the last 300 years. Some of the series delves into historic cookery books to find the origins of particular dishes, other titles concentrate on modern favourites and the ways in which they have been interpreted today and in the recent past. Trifle is the first in the series and comes from the pens of Helen Saberi, author of Afghan Food and Cookery and Alan Davidson, author of The Oxford Companion to Food and other classics of the kitchen, particularly relating to fish. Trifles have been a perennial of English summer lunches, tennis parties, and schoolboy dreams. The authors trace their origins to the earliest recipe for trifle of 1596 and its gradual transformation from a mere cooked cream to the many layered custardy extravagance that we know today. The stages on its journey, described with the lightest of touch, are illustrated by recipes extracted from classic English cookery books. The authors thereafter range far and wide in search of the perfect trifle, from Zuppa Inglese to American aphrodisiac trifle to a fruit and tapioca trifle from Laos.

Hardcover

First published September 1, 2001

About the author

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Reviews

[Suzanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Over the winter I became suddenly curious about trifles, and wanted to know everything I could about them- where and when and why they originated, how they've changed over the years, and as many recipes as possible. I first bought a little book put out by the Australian Women's League, but it only included a few trifle recipes and they all contained fruity gelatine, which I do not like in trifles. Then I bought this gem of a book! Wow, it has all the information I was looking for, is wryly and wittily written, and includes many, many unusual, normal, supreme and delicious trifle recipes, none of which contain jello. This book is so well written someone might read it just for pleasure, without any thought of ever making a trifle, but for people who love trifles and love making them, the history and writing style are wonderful plusses to the excellent recipes. This week I plan to make the Belle Helene trifle with pears and chocolate- yum!