Constance Spry + Rosemary Hume

[curlywurlyfi]

A couple of weeks ago in a secondhand bookshop in Derbyshire I picked up a copy of the 1956 Constance Spry + Rosemary Hume cookbook for the giant sum of £3. Was leafing through it last night (the very first chapter is 'Cocktail Parties' - women after my own heart!) and not 10 pages in came upon a recipe calling for large Brussels sprouts, blanched, hollowed, stuffed with egg mayonnaise + pickle, then battered and deep-fried, to be served as a part of Mixed Hors d'Oeuvres.

this was closely followed, in Fruit First Courses, by a 1934 recipe from 'Pin' Baglioni for a whole pomegranate stuffed with its own seeds scooped out and mixed with two chopped gherkins, hard boiled egg yolk, redcurrant jelly, French mustard, vinegar and 'a suspicion' of Worcester sauce.

I am afraid to read any further. did people in the 1950s really eat this sort of thing??

Fi

PS was then thrilled to my little Scottish tight-fisted core to discover whilst prowling round Waterstone's last week that Grub Street have just brought out a new edition of this book. Am now going to have to go back and see if Pomegranate Gherkin Surprise has made it into the new version.

[MobyP]

More Fi - give they beying crowds more!

[Adam Balic]

No need to go back to the '50's, Delia's first book "How to Cheat at Cooking" (1971) has a few such gems. But by and large most books have these types of recipes, things that seem good at the time, but with changing tastes look revolting or just naff.

How many English cook books 1950-1980 had recipes for pigs trotters and sweetbreads? Not many I would guess, yet now these are un-surprising, if not common, ingredients.

Pomegranate Gherkin Surprise could be marketed as a modern-chutney and if it were photographed on a white bistro plate next to a slab of middle-eastern influenced terrine with a few select micro-greens and a swirl of beetroot coulis it would no doubt be quite popular even now.

edit: marketing deep fried brussel-sprouts is beyond me though

Edited November 9, 2004 by Adam Balic (log)

[Hallie]

Pomegranate Gherkin Surprise could be marketed as a modern-chutney and if it were photographed on a white bistro plate next to a slab of middle-eastern influenced terrine with a few select micro-greens and a swirl of beetroot coulis it would no doubt be quite popular even now.

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You are so right. I guess its all about context.

Having said that, I'm a huge fan of outdated cookery books. Not so long ago I started collecting 18th century ones (mostly reprints). The idea was to create a Georgian meal for a number of my fellow nerdy historian friends. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't manage to squeeze a decent meal out of the first book I bought. Somehow inviting people round to eat Dry Devils (the first line of the recipe reads: 'These are usually composed of the broiled legs and gizzards of poultry, fish bones, or biscuits and sauce piquante') did not seem very hospitable of me. I've since purchased a few others with slightly more edible recipes.

Apparently the Imperial War museum sells a replica second world war cook book. I'd like to have a look through that. Imagine the 'make due and mend' mentality in application to food.

It seems that British cusine in 1956 was still very much labouring under the aftermath of what happened to food, taste and the concepts of eating during the second world war. I suppose people just got used to spam and powdered eggs. How else could stuffed deep fried brussel sprouts be consumed - and undoubtedly with such relish?

[circeplum]

this is absolutely mesmerising.

hilariously written, too. don't miss 'meat, meat, meat!'

but impossible to imagine that people put some of this stuff in their mouths...

x

[Andy Lynes]

large Brussels sprouts, blanched, hollowed, stuffed with egg mayonnaise + pickle, then battered and deep-fried

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That sounds awesome. What sort of pickle was it? If I can lay my hands on some large brussels I'll cook this and post a photo.

[Hallie]

this is absolutely mesmerising.

hilariously written, too. don't miss 'meat, meat, meat!'

but impossible to imagine that people put some of this stuff in their mouths...

x

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This is unbearably, disgustingly hilarious. I especially liked the 'decline and fall of western civilization via the medium of jello'.

[circeplum]

this is absolutely mesmerising.

hilariously written, too. don't miss 'meat, meat, meat!'

but impossible to imagine that people put some of this stuff in their mouths...

x

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This is unbearably, disgustingly hilarious. I especially liked the 'decline and fall of western civilization via the medium of jello'.

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gorgeous, isn't it

[Adam Balic]

Pomegranate Gherkin Surprise could be marketed as a modern-chutney and if it were photographed on a white bistro plate next to a slab of middle-eastern influenced terrine with a few select micro-greens and a swirl of beetroot coulis it would no doubt be quite popular even now.

←

You are so right. I guess its all about context.

Having said that, I'm a huge fan of outdated cookery books. Not so long ago I started collecting 18th century ones (mostly reprints). The idea was to create a Georgian meal for a number of my fellow nerdy historian friends. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't manage to squeeze a decent meal out of the first book I bought. Somehow inviting people round to eat Dry Devils (the first line of the recipe reads: 'These are usually composed of the broiled legs and gizzards of poultry, fish bones, or biscuits and sauce piquante') did not seem very hospitable of me. I've since purchased a few others with slightly more edible recipes.

Bad books are written in every age unfortunately. The dry devils I have seen are ribs or chops, mixed with spice and then grilled.

The problem with serving Devils and other savoury courses now is that the women have to be sent from the room. In general I have noticed that this practice does in fact piss off these women and they tend to complain a lot. Somthing to do with them being seperated from the port.

[Hallie]

Pomegranate Gherkin Surprise could be marketed as a modern-chutney and if it were photographed on a white bistro plate next to a slab of middle-eastern influenced terrine with a few select micro-greens and a swirl of beetroot coulis it would no doubt be quite popular even now.

←

You are so right. I guess its all about context.

Having said that, I'm a huge fan of outdated cookery books. Not so long ago I started collecting 18th century ones (mostly reprints). The idea was to create a Georgian meal for a number of my fellow nerdy historian friends. Unfortunately, try as I might, I couldn't manage to squeeze a decent meal out of the first book I bought. Somehow inviting people round to eat Dry Devils (the first line of the recipe reads: 'These are usually composed of the broiled legs and gizzards of poultry, fish bones, or biscuits and sauce piquante') did not seem very hospitable of me. I've since purchased a few others with slightly more edible recipes.

Bad books are written in every age unfortunately. The dry devils I have seen are ribs or chops, mixed with spice and then grilled.

The problem with serving Devils and other savoury courses now is that the women have to be sent from the room. In general I have noticed that this practice does in fact piss off these women and they tend to complain a lot. Somthing to do with them being seperated from the port.

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In fact its not the port that we miss but rather the opportunity to piss into the chamberpot that's circulated under the table on such fraternal occasions.

[curlywurlyfi]

What sort of pickle was it? If I can lay my hands on some large brussels I'll cook this and post a photo.

careful what you wish for Lynes, we may hold you to that. I'll go home this evening and report back tomorrow.

I do have somewhere else on the bookshelf a cookbook which came with the New World cooker in my parents' house, installed circa 1945. talks about things cooking at Regulo 5, for example. I dread to think what horrors lurk therein. Pickled Lung with Bechamel + Pineapple Bake?

[Adam Balic]

Would you really like to stay in the same room as a bunch of drunken men pissing under the table into a small pot using one hand to pass the port and the other (no doubt covered in cayenne pepper from the Devils) to aim? If so, my tip would be to not wear suede shoes.

[Andy Lynes]

What sort of pickle was it? If I can lay my hands on some large brussels I'll cook this and post a photo.

careful what you wish for Lynes, we may hold you to that. I'll go home this evening and report back tomorrow.

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No need to hold me to anything, I'm going to do it, with or without big sprouts God damn it!

[Hallie]

Would you really like to stay in the same room as a bunch of drunken men pissing under the table into a small pot using one hand to pass the port and the other (no doubt covered in cayenne pepper from the Devils) to aim? If so, my tip would be to not wear suede shoes.

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A serious error of judgement there - shouldn't the hand with the cayenne pepper on it be used exclusively to hold the pot (not the other way around)?

...must be all that port - got you muddled my dear boy...

[tony h]

Would you really like to stay in the same room as a bunch of drunken men pissing under the table into a small pot using one hand to pass the port and the other (no doubt covered in cayenne pepper from the Devils) to aim? If so, my tip would be to not wear suede shoes.

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would consider paying good money for that...

[Adam Balic]

Would you really like to stay in the same room as a bunch of drunken men pissing under the table into a small pot using one hand to pass the port and the other (no doubt covered in cayenne pepper from the Devils) to aim? If so, my tip would be to not wear suede shoes.

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A serious error of judgement there - shouldn't the hand with the cayenne pepper on it be used exclusively to hold the pot (not the other way around)?

...must be all that port - got you muddled my dear boy...

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Obviously you don't go to the right sort of 18th century recreationist parties. Consider it as a poor-mans cantharide. Which on reflection would make pissing into a pot on the ground even more of a challenge....

[Chef Shogun]

this is absolutely mesmerising.

hilariously written, too. don't miss 'meat, meat, meat!'

but impossible to imagine that people put some of this stuff in their mouths...

x

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That site is pushing the boundaries of "If you're laughing at something, you're probably not working." Excellent!

[Gareth]

Remind me again, which of these 1950's cookery books includes the recipe for snail porridge ?

My, they cooked some funny things back then.

[Hallie]

Would you really like to stay in the same room as a bunch of drunken men pissing under the table into a small pot using one hand to pass the port and the other (no doubt covered in cayenne pepper from the Devils) to aim? If so, my tip would be to not wear suede shoes.

←

A serious error of judgement there - shouldn't the hand with the cayenne pepper on it be used exclusively to hold the pot (not the other way around)?

...must be all that port - got you muddled my dear boy...

←

Obviously you don't go to the right sort of 18th century recreationist parties. Consider it as a poor-mans cantharide. Which on reflection would make pissing into a pot on the ground even more of a challenge....

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Ooooh, not quite sure about the cantharidic effects - perhaps yet another hair-brained 18th century scheme for warding off the pox. I seem to recall Boswell once tried something like this...or was that with mercury??

[Adam Balic]

Considering how frequently he "plunge[d] into the fountain of love " it is quite surprising that he never got the [great] pox (syphilis). What he did get was "The malady with which Venus not

infrequently repays those who worship at her Shrine", the Clap (gonorrhea).

He tried various treatments for this, mostly trying to sleep with 'clean' women, rather then mercury or chili .

[Hallie]

Considering how frequently he "plunge[d] into the fountain of love " it is quite surprising that he never got the [great] pox (syphilis). What he did get was "The malady with which Venus not

infrequently repays those who worship at her Shrine", the Clap (gonorrhea).

He tried various treatments for this, mostly trying to sleep with 'clean' women, rather then mercury or chili .

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It brings to mind a good old Georgian saying, 'One night with Venus and a lifetime with Mercury'.