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Spices, Salt and Aromatics in the English Kitchen
Elizabeth David presents a collection of English recipes using spices, salt and aromatics. The book includes dishes such as briskets and spiced beef, smoked fish, cured pork and sweet fruit pickles. An emphasis is placed on the influence of the Orient on the English kitchen.
280 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1970
67 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
About the author
Elizabeth David
102 books100 followersBorn Elizabeth Gwynne, she was of mixed English and Irish ancestry, and came from a rather grand background, growing up in the 17th-century Sussex manor house, Wootton Manor. Her parents were Rupert Gwynne, Conservative MP for Eastbourne, and the Hon. Stella Ridley, who came from a distinguished Northumberland family. They had three other daughters.
She studied Literature and History at the Sorbonne, living with a French family for two years, which led to her love of France and of food. At the age of 19, she was given her first cookery book, The Gentle Art of Cookery by Hilda Leyel, who wrote of her love with the food of the East. "If I had been given a standard Mrs Beeton instead of Mrs Leyel's wonderful recipes," she said, "I would probably never have learned to cook."
Gwynne had an adventurous early life, leaving home to become an actress. She left England in 1939, when she was twenty-five, and bought a boat with her married lover Charles Gibson-Cowan intending to travel around the Mediterranean. The onset of World War II interrupted this plan, and they had to flee the German occupation of France. They left Antibes for Corsica and then on to Italy where the boat was impounded; they arrived on the day Italy declared war on Britain. Eventually deported to Greece, living on the Greek island of Syros for a period, Gwynne learnt about Greek food and spent time with high bohemians such as the writer Lawrence Durrell. When the Germans invaded Greece they fled to Crete where they were rescued by the British and evacuated to Egypt, where she lived firstly in Alexandria and later in Cairo. There Gwynne started work for the Ministry of Information, split from Gibson-Cowan, and eventually took on a marriage of convenience, more or less as her aunt, Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, had done. This gave her a measure of respectability but Lieutenant-Colonel Tony David was a man whom she did not ultimately respect, and their relationship ended soon after an eight month posting in India. She had many lovers in ensuing years.
On her return to London in 1946, David began to write articles on cooking, and in 1949 the publisher John Lehmann offered her a £100 advance for Book of Mediterranean Food, the start of a dazzling writing career. David spent eight months researching Italian food in Venice, Tuscany and Capri. This resulted in Italian Food in 1954, with illustrations by Renato Guttuso, which was famously described by Evelyn Waugh in The Sunday Times as one of the two books which had given him the most pleasure that year.
Many of the ingredients were unknown in England when the books were first published, as shortages and rationing continued for many years after the end of the war, and David had to suggest looking for olive oil in pharmacies where it was sold for treating earache. Within a decade, ingredients such as aubergines, saffron and pasta began to appear in shops, thanks in no small part to David's books. David gained fame, respect and high status and advised many chefs and companies. In November 1965, she opened her own shop devoted to cookery in Pimlico, London. She wrote articles for Vogue magazine, one of the first in the genre of food-travel.
In 1963, when she was 49, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, possibly related to her heavy drinking. Although she recovered, it affected her sense of taste and her libido.
She studied Literature and History at the Sorbonne, living with a French family for two years, which led to her love of France and of food. At the age of 19, she was given her first cookery book, The Gentle Art of Cookery by Hilda Leyel, who wrote of her love with the food of the East. "If I had been given a standard Mrs Beeton instead of Mrs Leyel's wonderful recipes," she said, "I would probably never have learned to cook."
Gwynne had an adventurous early life, leaving home to become an actress. She left England in 1939, when she was twenty-five, and bought a boat with her married lover Charles Gibson-Cowan intending to travel around the Mediterranean. The onset of World War II interrupted this plan, and they had to flee the German occupation of France. They left Antibes for Corsica and then on to Italy where the boat was impounded; they arrived on the day Italy declared war on Britain. Eventually deported to Greece, living on the Greek island of Syros for a period, Gwynne learnt about Greek food and spent time with high bohemians such as the writer Lawrence Durrell. When the Germans invaded Greece they fled to Crete where they were rescued by the British and evacuated to Egypt, where she lived firstly in Alexandria and later in Cairo. There Gwynne started work for the Ministry of Information, split from Gibson-Cowan, and eventually took on a marriage of convenience, more or less as her aunt, Violet Gordon-Woodhouse, had done. This gave her a measure of respectability but Lieutenant-Colonel Tony David was a man whom she did not ultimately respect, and their relationship ended soon after an eight month posting in India. She had many lovers in ensuing years.
On her return to London in 1946, David began to write articles on cooking, and in 1949 the publisher John Lehmann offered her a £100 advance for Book of Mediterranean Food, the start of a dazzling writing career. David spent eight months researching Italian food in Venice, Tuscany and Capri. This resulted in Italian Food in 1954, with illustrations by Renato Guttuso, which was famously described by Evelyn Waugh in The Sunday Times as one of the two books which had given him the most pleasure that year.
Many of the ingredients were unknown in England when the books were first published, as shortages and rationing continued for many years after the end of the war, and David had to suggest looking for olive oil in pharmacies where it was sold for treating earache. Within a decade, ingredients such as aubergines, saffron and pasta began to appear in shops, thanks in no small part to David's books. David gained fame, respect and high status and advised many chefs and companies. In November 1965, she opened her own shop devoted to cookery in Pimlico, London. She wrote articles for Vogue magazine, one of the first in the genre of food-travel.
In 1963, when she was 49, she suffered a cerebral hemorrhage, possibly related to her heavy drinking. Although she recovered, it affected her sense of taste and her libido.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 6, 2021
Interesting sauces and salads.
January 22, 2015
There is a significant danger in spending longer in reading this book than cooking from it. It’s a VERY good read; especially for acquiring essential culinary thinking skills that, with time and experience, become second-nature to every good cook. As such, this is a cookbook for those who take pleasure from an intangible sense of living history shared across the generations.
In making fresh Tomato Sauce (pp.84-85), the flavour is far superior, as with almost any tomato recipe nowadays, if home-grown tomatoes of flavourful varieties are used, and NOT commercial hydroponically-nourished ones. Elizabeth David uses Mrs Rundell’s 1806 recipe to draw attention to how the method of baking the tomatoes simplifies the practical work of this recipe. That neatly exemplifies the strength of this book. Nearly forty years on, it’s even more important for any cook to not overlook thinking about which, and how, ingredients, preparation and cooking methods have altered over the years.
Domestic kitchens are equipped very differently according to the food preferences, technical skills, and interests of their owners. Because David actively invites her reader into a background knowledge (the history and making of Cumberland sauce (pp.70-71), anyone?); the required thinking skills for good cooking are acquired surprisingly quickly, becoming second nature. Nothing harder is asked other than to think ahead about how a recipe becomes a dish to share and enjoy, whilst maintaining the unflappability and serenity of the cook, and as the candles burn down, conversation at the dining table grows animated, enriched, and deeply memorable.
In making fresh Tomato Sauce (pp.84-85), the flavour is far superior, as with almost any tomato recipe nowadays, if home-grown tomatoes of flavourful varieties are used, and NOT commercial hydroponically-nourished ones. Elizabeth David uses Mrs Rundell’s 1806 recipe to draw attention to how the method of baking the tomatoes simplifies the practical work of this recipe. That neatly exemplifies the strength of this book. Nearly forty years on, it’s even more important for any cook to not overlook thinking about which, and how, ingredients, preparation and cooking methods have altered over the years.
Domestic kitchens are equipped very differently according to the food preferences, technical skills, and interests of their owners. Because David actively invites her reader into a background knowledge (the history and making of Cumberland sauce (pp.70-71), anyone?); the required thinking skills for good cooking are acquired surprisingly quickly, becoming second nature. Nothing harder is asked other than to think ahead about how a recipe becomes a dish to share and enjoy, whilst maintaining the unflappability and serenity of the cook, and as the candles burn down, conversation at the dining table grows animated, enriched, and deeply memorable.
November 16, 2008
E. David is easily my favorite food writer. David's triumph was bringing fresh, simple, truly excellent ideas about food to post-war England from the Mediterranean, the French provinces (as opposed to elite Parisian haute cuisine), and even the middle East. She is a terrific food historian and antiquarian, and she has a strong preference for fresh, lively flavors. She emphasized quality and variety of ingredients over elaborate techniques, and delighted in popular culinary traditions. Like most of her books, this is more a miscellany than a cookbook. You'll find excerpts from cookbooks hundreds of years old, recipes that seem very vague by our standards, lots of memoir... it's a hodgepodge, but incredibly illuminating. I'm not sure why I chose to review this one in particular, but it's a sentimental favorite that is less often read than some others. And don't get me wrong - these books are crammed with wonderful advice about food and cooking. Alice Waters says that she learned to cook from reading Elizabeth David, which means she deserves an honored place in the history of the modern US food movement.
January 29, 2025
I love Elizabeth David’s books and have reread more than one. This is not my favourite but I enjoyed reading the spice anthology and there are a few vegetable dish and salad recipes scattered in the book which appealed.
May 2, 2016
Thank you, Mrs. David! I now know the capacities of the breakfast cup (7-8oz) and the coffee cup (2.5oz).
January 3, 2025
Chock full of interesting facts and advice about food and cooking and recipes. This is a little treasure of reading if you love foods and love cooking.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews