The Beatrix Potter's Country Cooking

by Sara Paston-Williams

Inspired by the work of Beatrix Potter, the recipes in this cookbook represent the cuisine of the turn-of-the-century English countryside

Genres: Cookbooks

176 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1991

Reviews

[Miranda Reads · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.2 stars

So, I am of the firm belief that all literary cookbooks need these five criteria in order to truly be amazing: Connection to literature, Context to the recipes, Appetizing Recipes, Practicality of Dishes, and Layout of book (Aesthetics & Usability), so allow me to present:

The Checklist for Literary Cookbooks:

→ Connection to Literature: ★★★★★

So, this one isn't a true literary cookbook because it focuses more on the author's life than recipes from the book BUT all of the recipes did have some strong connection to the author's life.

I thought it was really neat to learn about the recipes that she may have eaten as a child, her absolute favorites to make and ones that appear in her books.

→ Context Given to the Recipes: ★★★★★

One of my absolute pet peeves is when someone creates a literary cookbook and just plops down vague recipes without telling us WHY they are put in here.

I am so happy to announce that this isn't the case with the Beatrix Potter Cookbook. Every single recipe is accompanied by a full paragraph explaining the historical context or personal connection that led it to be included in this cookbook.

→ Appetizing Recipes: ★★★★☆

The recipes in here are chosen based on Potter's childhood and the popular dishes of the day. While some of them are a bit strange to me but that is definitely due to the time period and how tastes change over the years.

Of the stranger recipes, they definitely weren't unappetizing...just more like they wouldn't be my first thought for a pairing or they'd use techniques that I'm unfamiliar with.

→ Practicality of Dishes: ★★★☆☆

The main difference between this category and the one above is how easy it is to make the recipes in this day and age. Personally, a lot of these recipes seemed to rely a niche ingredients and techniques. Ones that might not necessarily be available for modern era. But ultimately it isn't too terrible of a difference.

→ Aesthetics and Usability of Book: ★★★★☆

The layout of the book was pretty good - double columns throughout the book. Each recipe started with a title, the context, ingredients and the instructions. They didn't seem to be SUPER organized by the recipes were grouped by type, which I appreciated.

The pictures included did have an older style - darker colors, bit dated of a layout but this book was created in 1991 so it makes sense that the photos were like this. There was a fair amount of photographs scattered throughout so I did like that.

Overall Thoughts

This is definitely a solid historical cookbook. The recipes were definitely appealing, if not wholly practical which makes this cookbook a bit more of a special-event kind rather than every-day cookery.

I did love the context to the recipes and I really feel like I got to know the author - which was super cool. I would definitely recommend it if you are interested!

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cookery, true, but the illustrations and original Potter photographs are wonderful.