richyvk

An update - went to see the cookbook - it was rather lovely - from around 1860, written by the lady of a farmstead on the Darling Downs in Queensland. Had all sorts of interesting stuff in - very English influenced. They also had a record of what fruit and flowers were being grown in the Darling Downs around that time - there were over 80 varieties of apple being drown in Queensland back then - now we are lucky if we get 5 in the supermarkets - progress!

I'm sure you are correct - it is a curiosity these days I guess - but I still think there are some great recipes in there. Funny you should mention Jamie Oliver too, I'm glad to see he didn't get too many mentions in this list - I'm not really a fan. I loathed him in his early days, but had sort of warmed to him with the later stuff. Then I recently watched most of a Jamie at Home marathon on TV and after a few hours I found I was totally bored with his food - it is almost all the same - very formulaic. I also recall seeing Jamie Oliver branded salt when I was in Sainbury's in the UK last time I was home - it was twice the price of Maldon - that's just ridiculous to me!

For anyone in Brisbane, there's an opportunity to look at some very old cookbooks at the State Library this Sunday: http://www.slq.qld.gov.au/whats-on/events/talks#recipes Not sure if there's any Qlder's on eGullet, but if so, might see you there

Hi, I'm new here - well, been lurking for ages, but this is my first post This thread prompted me to sign up properly. Some great suggestions, and I guess you're looking for more modern stuff, but unless I missed it I couldn't see anyone mentioning Mrs Beeton: http://www.mrsbeeton.com/