This volume contains three of Elizabeth David's most popular cookery books: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking".Publishers Grub Street are to be congratulated on re-issuing this single volume collection of Elizabeth David's first three books (A Book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking and Summer Cooking), which have too long been out of print in hardback. The paperbacks are useful but tend to fall to pieces with repeated use. Moreover, even at full price this represents something of a bargain. The charm of the originals, with the evocative drawings by John Minton and Adrian Daintrey, remains intact. Grub Street have discreetly changed page numbers in references and that appears to be about it. The lobster on the cover is as forbidding and jealous of its dignity as Mrs David, famously, was wont to be. (The changing cover illustrations of ED reprints over the years might make an interesting study. The 70s paperback of Mediterranean Food features a spectacularly boring photograph of a corner of a French market-meaningless, until you spot in the foreground a big bunch of garlic, a symbol even then of everything Mediterranean.

As for the books, what is there to say? They are what they are. Everybody knows about them. The fumes of historical myth ("grey post-war Britain ... sudden blaze of southern sunshine") rises from them like incense. It's difficult to recapture the effect they must have had in the 50s, and perhaps it's scarcely worth the effort. One returns to them periodically, wearied of the exertions of the gastro-pornographers, to refresh oneself at the spring of Elizabeth David's perfect taste. Or so the theory goes. However, it's important to remember, what seems in danger of being forgotten, that despite the telegraphic concision of some of the recipes, these are practical books, intended to be used over and over in the kitchen. Elizabeth David regarded herself first and foremost not as a writer but as a cook. These little volumes really are indispensable, imperishable classics of the kitchen. --Robin Davidson

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

Worth the dough!, 27 May 2007
If you bake bread, or intend doing so, this book is definately worth buying. No, it isn't full of pretty pictures . . . what it is packed with though is everything you will ever need to know about bread. It is a history book, a recipe book, an advice book . . . and more. After reading the book and following the advice given I have made the best bread I have ever produced, in a simple and straightforward way. It is useful to know what WON'T work for the home baker too. If you have an oven, a baking tray and a bowl, you can make fantastic bread - and you will never want to eat that soft, doughy stuff supermarkets call bread ever again!

Simply the best book on Yeast cooking - Elizabeth David!, 11 Apr 2006
`In this universally acclaimed book Elizabeth David deals with all aspects of flour milling, yeast, bread ovens and the different types of bread and flour available. The recipes cover yeast cookery of all kinds, and the many lovely, old-fashioned spiced breads, buns, pancakes and muffins, among others, are all described with her typical elegance and unrivalled knowledge.'

`Here is a real book, written with authority and enthusiasm - a collection of history, investigation, comment, recipes - Jane Grigson in the Observer.'

Dedicated to `Jill Norman`, an accomplished cookery writer in her own right, this is an exceptionally good price for this ED tome of 592 pages, split over two parts:-

Part I - History & Background
Part II - Recipes

Written with the typical ED flair, which is so popular with her readers and full of meticulously researched information, interspersed with the charming black and white illustrations (Wendy Jones) that so underline Elizabeth David books.

Part I
Chapters:-
Milling, Bread Flours and Meals, Yeast, Salt, Liquid and Fats used in Bread-making, Eggs, Dried Fruit, Sugar, Spices and Flavourings used in Yeast Cakes and Breads, Malt Extracts, Bread Ovens, The Bread Factories, Shapes and Names of English Loaves, Moulds and Tins for bread and Yeast Cakes, Storage of Meal and Flour, Weights of Loaves and the Assize of Bread, Weights, Measures and Temperatures, Weighing and Measuring Equipment and The Cost of Baking Your Own Bread.

Part II - RECIPES
Chapters:-
Bread, Baps and Rolls, Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn, Crumpets and Muffins, Notes on French Bread, The Pizza and the Pissaladiere, Quiches with Yeast Dough, Sausage in Brioche Crust, Yeast Leavened Pancakes and Oatcakes, Dumplings and Doughnuts, Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit Breads, Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes, French Yeast Cakes, Soda Breads, Bakestone Cakes or Breads, Toast, Biblio and Concise Index.

Over 300 pages packed full or all sorts of recipes that really do question 'what on earth they do to the bread in the shops........'.

`A tall, earthenware pancheon, glazed only on the inside, like a bread crock was always considered the best shape for mixing and raising yeast dough. From the 18th century until the mid 20th Century, bread pancheons were traditional products of many Welsh and English potteries.'

Page 252 starts with a recipe for `A Basic Loaf`, for a large loaf weighing 28 to 30 oz, or 800 to 850g.
`Potato Bread, usually associated with times of grain shortage or with a need for strict economy in the kitchen, is advocated by some 19th Century writers as being the best bread for toast. This is because a proportion of potato mixed with ordinary white flour makes a loaf, which retains its moisture and is also very light...........'

`Rice Bread is excellent for keeping since the rice remains moist and the texture is beautifully light and honey-combed. It is also a loaf which is very easy to mix and to bake.'

Scots Baps:-
`.....the bap is the breakfast roll of Scotland. Properly made and properly handled, it can justly be called `noble`...........'

`Aberdeen Rowies - a recipe for flaky buns, not unlike croissants although much less rich and consequently a great deal simpler and quicker to make. They don't look as showy a croissants but for all their homely appearance, I prefer them in some ways because they are light and small and ......surprising.'

Our overall favourite recipe is the variation on the `SALLY LUNN BUN' (Soleilune Cake)-
`My recipe for a Sally Lunn is simple, not very rich and relatively quick'.
11/04/06


A wonderfully enjoyable read., 13 Mar 2005
A real gem of a baking book that is filled with practical advice from a lady who had a great understanding of her subject.

Great recipies for classic breads and yeasted cakes, think "chelsea buns".

Amusing anecdotes and personal observations throughout, the writing style of this book has aged into a very warm read and adds greatly to it's charm.

More than just a list of recipies, an insight into an interesting and informative home-baker. A must for anyone with an interest in baking that goes beyond pushing the buttons on a bread maker.

Bread is the stuff of life, 07 Jun 2003
Simply the best book ever written about the making of bread, scones, chelsea buns, croissants; you name it it's in this book. Not forgetting the history of bread making from exodus onwards, the iniquities of sliced bread and the dubious practices of flour millers and bread manufacturers in the UK & elsewhere. You will also find out how to make basic brown, white, wholemeal, malted, anything you like loaves. Using fresh or dried yeast. Dear god you even get told how to make your own yeast and keep it. You want to make bread - buy this book, you will never knead another. Why else do you think it's always on the verge of selling out.

Bread for Life, 08 May 2003
This is "faites simple" the best book you are ever going to get on the subject of baking. It contains an exhaustive collection of receipts, everything from plain Brown Wholemeal or Saffron Cake to Drop Scones and Croissants. In it you will find the history of baking; courteous, but firm, explanations about the uses for different types of flour. How to use yeast? What is Baking Powder? Enquire within on any point connected with baking and Miss David has the answer. You rail against the state of shop bought bread, well you won't find a better more thorough condemnation of the article than is written here. Any cookery writer unafraid to confess that after a while the making of croissants induces "combat fatigue" gets my vote.

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

Worth the dough!, 27 May 2007
If you bake bread, or intend doing so, this book is definately worth buying. No, it isn't full of pretty pictures . . . what it is packed with though is everything you will ever need to know about bread. It is a history book, a recipe book, an advice book . . . and more. After reading the book and following the advice given I have made the best bread I have ever produced, in a simple and straightforward way. It is useful to know what WON'T work for the home baker too. If you have an oven, a baking tray and a bowl, you can make fantastic bread - and you will never want to eat that soft, doughy stuff supermarkets call bread ever again!

Simply the best book on Yeast cooking - Elizabeth David!, 11 Apr 2006
`In this universally acclaimed book Elizabeth David deals with all aspects of flour milling, yeast, bread ovens and the different types of bread and flour available. The recipes cover yeast cookery of all kinds, and the many lovely, old-fashioned spiced breads, buns, pancakes and muffins, among others, are all described with her typical elegance and unrivalled knowledge.'

`Here is a real book, written with authority and enthusiasm - a collection of history, investigation, comment, recipes - Jane Grigson in the Observer.'

Dedicated to `Jill Norman`, an accomplished cookery writer in her own right, this is an exceptionally good price for this ED tome of 592 pages, split over two parts:-

Part I - History & Background
Part II - Recipes

Written with the typical ED flair, which is so popular with her readers and full of meticulously researched information, interspersed with the charming black and white illustrations (Wendy Jones) that so underline Elizabeth David books.

Part I
Chapters:-
Milling, Bread Flours and Meals, Yeast, Salt, Liquid and Fats used in Bread-making, Eggs, Dried Fruit, Sugar, Spices and Flavourings used in Yeast Cakes and Breads, Malt Extracts, Bread Ovens, The Bread Factories, Shapes and Names of English Loaves, Moulds and Tins for bread and Yeast Cakes, Storage of Meal and Flour, Weights of Loaves and the Assize of Bread, Weights, Measures and Temperatures, Weighing and Measuring Equipment and The Cost of Baking Your Own Bread.

Part II - RECIPES
Chapters:-
Bread, Baps and Rolls, Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn, Crumpets and Muffins, Notes on French Bread, The Pizza and the Pissaladiere, Quiches with Yeast Dough, Sausage in Brioche Crust, Yeast Leavened Pancakes and Oatcakes, Dumplings and Doughnuts, Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit Breads, Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes, French Yeast Cakes, Soda Breads, Bakestone Cakes or Breads, Toast, Biblio and Concise Index.

Over 300 pages packed full or all sorts of recipes that really do question 'what on earth they do to the bread in the shops........'.

`A tall, earthenware pancheon, glazed only on the inside, like a bread crock was always considered the best shape for mixing and raising yeast dough. From the 18th century until the mid 20th Century, bread pancheons were traditional products of many Welsh and English potteries.'

Page 252 starts with a recipe for `A Basic Loaf`, for a large loaf weighing 28 to 30 oz, or 800 to 850g.
`Potato Bread, usually associated with times of grain shortage or with a need for strict economy in the kitchen, is advocated by some 19th Century writers as being the best bread for toast. This is because a proportion of potato mixed with ordinary white flour makes a loaf, which retains its moisture and is also very light...........'

`Rice Bread is excellent for keeping since the rice remains moist and the texture is beautifully light and honey-combed. It is also a loaf which is very easy to mix and to bake.'

Scots Baps:-
`.....the bap is the breakfast roll of Scotland. Properly made and properly handled, it can justly be called `noble`...........'

`Aberdeen Rowies - a recipe for flaky buns, not unlike croissants although much less rich and consequently a great deal simpler and quicker to make. They don't look as showy a croissants but for all their homely appearance, I prefer them in some ways because they are light and small and ......surprising.'

Our overall favourite recipe is the variation on the `SALLY LUNN BUN' (Soleilune Cake)-
`My recipe for a Sally Lunn is simple, not very rich and relatively quick'.
11/04/06


A wonderfully enjoyable read., 13 Mar 2005
A real gem of a baking book that is filled with practical advice from a lady who had a great understanding of her subject.

Great recipies for classic breads and yeasted cakes, think "chelsea buns".

Amusing anecdotes and personal observations throughout, the writing style of this book has aged into a very warm read and adds greatly to it's charm.

More than just a list of recipies, an insight into an interesting and informative home-baker. A must for anyone with an interest in baking that goes beyond pushing the buttons on a bread maker.

Bread is the stuff of life, 07 Jun 2003
Simply the best book ever written about the making of bread, scones, chelsea buns, croissants; you name it it's in this book. Not forgetting the history of bread making from exodus onwards, the iniquities of sliced bread and the dubious practices of flour millers and bread manufacturers in the UK & elsewhere. You will also find out how to make basic brown, white, wholemeal, malted, anything you like loaves. Using fresh or dried yeast. Dear god you even get told how to make your own yeast and keep it. You want to make bread - buy this book, you will never knead another. Why else do you think it's always on the verge of selling out.

Bread for Life, 08 May 2003
This is "faites simple" the best book you are ever going to get on the subject of baking. It contains an exhaustive collection of receipts, everything from plain Brown Wholemeal or Saffron Cake to Drop Scones and Croissants. In it you will find the history of baking; courteous, but firm, explanations about the uses for different types of flour. How to use yeast? What is Baking Powder? Enquire within on any point connected with baking and Miss David has the answer. You rail against the state of shop bought bread, well you won't find a better more thorough condemnation of the article than is written here. Any cookery writer unafraid to confess that after a while the making of croissants induces "combat fatigue" gets my vote.

Interesting slice of culinary history, 18 Mar 2008
What I found most interesting about this book was not so much the recipes, but more what it revealed about the conditions and attitudes to food of the post-war years, when this was first published. So much has changed, partly thanks to Elizabeth David herself - thank God we no longer have to use Primula as a substitute for mascarpone, as she grudgingly suggests! And I cannot imagine a time when pasta was a speciality to be tracked down in a couple of London shops.

If you're used to the more verbose, food-porn style of Nigella and Jamie Oliver, the recipes here may seem a bit spare - an ounce of this, two ounces of that, and fry. However, this format means that she can pack a lot into this little book. I don't think I've ever attempted one of her recipes - being a product of my time, I prefer the metric measurements and enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Italy" - but I still keep Elizabeth David's book in the kitchen as an interesting snapshot of its time, and I'm sure its time will come when I fancy something back-to-basics!

Beautifully written, in the typical ED style, this is simply the best book about Italian Food!, 27 Feb 2007
If your budget won't stretch to the hardback edition, highly recommended for its superb photography and sumptuous presentation, this is the next best thing!

`Elizabeth David discovered her taste for good food and wine when she lived with a French family while studying history and literature at the Sorbonne.
A few years after her return to England, she made up her mind to learn how to cook so that she could reproduce for herself and her friends some of the food that she had come to appreciate in France. Subsequently Mrs David lived and kept house in France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and India, as well as in England ....'

Fresh lemons enhance the plain white cover which opens to 376 matt pages, packed full of information and recipes, written in the typical Elizabeth David style.
The book opens with an introduction, notes about the previous editions and finishes with a 37 page index.
Sandwiched in between are the recipes, titles in both Italian and English( if applicable), split over the following chapters:-

Italian Dishes in Foreign Kitchens
The Italian Store Cupboard
Kitchen Equipment
Hors d'Oeuvre and Salads
Soups
Pasta Asciutta
Ravioli, Gnocchi etc
Rice
Haricot Beans, Chick Peas, Polenta etc
Eggs, Cheese Dishes ,Pizza etc
Fish Soups
Fish
Meat
Poultry & Game
Vegetables
Sweets, sectioned into `Fruit' and `Ices'
Sauces
Preserves
Cheeses
Notes and Nooks on Italian Wines
Some Italian Cookery Books
Guides to Food & Wine in Italy

A scattering of black and white illustrations break up the text, which is simple in places and more complex where it needs to be:-.

`Dentice' (Dentex)
A Mediterranean fish of which there is no equivalent in northern waters. At its best grilled or roasted.

`Orata'
The Daurade of Provence. A large Mediterranean fish with, in spite of its name - which implies gold-fish - silvery scales. The nearest approach to it to be found in England, is the sea bream, which can be used for the recipe below.
There are two good ways of cooking this fish, in `cartoccio' (fish cooked in paper cases), page 146, and with a sauce of white wine and sultanas, which can be applied very successfully to carp and also to fresh haddock.'
Then follows the recipe for `Orata al Vino Bianco' (Orata cooked in white wine).


`When it was first published, `Italian Food', Elizabeth David's magnificent survey of the varied food and cookery of Italy's many regions, proved an inspiration to British cooks. In it, she conveyed all the richness, the colour and variety of this remarkable cooking tradition. The popularity of Italian food today and the ready availability of ingredients means that even the busiest cook can re-create such tempting dishes as 'roasted red peppers',' Piedmontese cheese fondue`, `fettuccine with fresh tomato sauce' and' chicken breasts with ham and cheese'.

'This edition of Italian Food differs from several of its predecessors chiefly in that revisions made over many years in the form of footnotes have now been incorporated into the main body of the text...........References to numerous shops, at one time sources of supply of imported Italian foodstuffs, but now vanished, have been eliminated. When it came to my original chapter on the wines of Italy I found that almost everything I wrote in 1954 had receded into history......'.


multo bene!, 18 Mar 2003
Since i bought this last year, I have used it incessantly - unlike modern cookbooks, which are merely compendiums of gastroporn with the name of a celebrity chef or plush restaurant attached, this is an enthralling guide to Italian food for the simple reason that it is about the ingredients, not the end result - it matters less how it looks, which seems to be the sole criteria for so many cookbooks these days, and more about how it iwill ultimately taste. Furthermore, David was a brilliant food-writer. She understood so much more about the historic, cultural and social importance of food - how many other cookbooks would have a simple recipe for pasta with garlic and olive oil, whith the explanation that (at least when the book was first written in the 1950s) many Italians can't afford the ingredients for more extravagant dishes? none, I expect. My only quibble is that there is little by way of Sicilian delicacies - and having been to that Island, I know there are many - also, the ediiton I bought didn't have the original illustrations by Renato Guttuso; fortunately, I manged to pick-up in a secondhand bookshop recenty the Penguin paperback edition from 1979 (I think) which does have them. Guttuso was the greatest Italian artist of the 20th century, admittedly painting in the idion of Social Realism, and the illustrations add an authentic air of Italiana to the book. A must buy - and a must read.

A classic and a must for any serious cook., 31 May 2001
Elizabeth's groundbreaking book is every bit as readable as Nigella and rather than listing fashionable recipies with "ideas" from all over Europe it concentrates on Italian food from risotto to tiramasu and everything in between. The research for this book is outstanding and for anyone who doesn't know the Italian culinary world beyond pizza/pasta this book will show you (and for those that do it will entertain, interest and educate you). It is every bit as relevant as whenit was first published and extremely affordable. A classic and a must for any serious cook.

I have used this book for 35 yrs. Finally I must replace it!, 01 Apr 2000
Elizabeth David has done more for good food than anyone. She virtually invented the cookbook. I have been using our copy of this Italian food classic for the last 35 years. Finally I must replace it because page 228 has gone missing with a favourite pork recipe!

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

Worth the dough!, 27 May 2007
If you bake bread, or intend doing so, this book is definately worth buying. No, it isn't full of pretty pictures . . . what it is packed with though is everything you will ever need to know about bread. It is a history book, a recipe book, an advice book . . . and more. After reading the book and following the advice given I have made the best bread I have ever produced, in a simple and straightforward way. It is useful to know what WON'T work for the home baker too. If you have an oven, a baking tray and a bowl, you can make fantastic bread - and you will never want to eat that soft, doughy stuff supermarkets call bread ever again!

Simply the best book on Yeast cooking - Elizabeth David!, 11 Apr 2006
`In this universally acclaimed book Elizabeth David deals with all aspects of flour milling, yeast, bread ovens and the different types of bread and flour available. The recipes cover yeast cookery of all kinds, and the many lovely, old-fashioned spiced breads, buns, pancakes and muffins, among others, are all described with her typical elegance and unrivalled knowledge.'

`Here is a real book, written with authority and enthusiasm - a collection of history, investigation, comment, recipes - Jane Grigson in the Observer.'

Dedicated to `Jill Norman`, an accomplished cookery writer in her own right, this is an exceptionally good price for this ED tome of 592 pages, split over two parts:-

Part I - History & Background
Part II - Recipes

Written with the typical ED flair, which is so popular with her readers and full of meticulously researched information, interspersed with the charming black and white illustrations (Wendy Jones) that so underline Elizabeth David books.

Part I
Chapters:-
Milling, Bread Flours and Meals, Yeast, Salt, Liquid and Fats used in Bread-making, Eggs, Dried Fruit, Sugar, Spices and Flavourings used in Yeast Cakes and Breads, Malt Extracts, Bread Ovens, The Bread Factories, Shapes and Names of English Loaves, Moulds and Tins for bread and Yeast Cakes, Storage of Meal and Flour, Weights of Loaves and the Assize of Bread, Weights, Measures and Temperatures, Weighing and Measuring Equipment and The Cost of Baking Your Own Bread.

Part II - RECIPES
Chapters:-
Bread, Baps and Rolls, Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn, Crumpets and Muffins, Notes on French Bread, The Pizza and the Pissaladiere, Quiches with Yeast Dough, Sausage in Brioche Crust, Yeast Leavened Pancakes and Oatcakes, Dumplings and Doughnuts, Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit Breads, Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes, French Yeast Cakes, Soda Breads, Bakestone Cakes or Breads, Toast, Biblio and Concise Index.

Over 300 pages packed full or all sorts of recipes that really do question 'what on earth they do to the bread in the shops........'.

`A tall, earthenware pancheon, glazed only on the inside, like a bread crock was always considered the best shape for mixing and raising yeast dough. From the 18th century until the mid 20th Century, bread pancheons were traditional products of many Welsh and English potteries.'

Page 252 starts with a recipe for `A Basic Loaf`, for a large loaf weighing 28 to 30 oz, or 800 to 850g.
`Potato Bread, usually associated with times of grain shortage or with a need for strict economy in the kitchen, is advocated by some 19th Century writers as being the best bread for toast. This is because a proportion of potato mixed with ordinary white flour makes a loaf, which retains its moisture and is also very light...........'

`Rice Bread is excellent for keeping since the rice remains moist and the texture is beautifully light and honey-combed. It is also a loaf which is very easy to mix and to bake.'

Scots Baps:-
`.....the bap is the breakfast roll of Scotland. Properly made and properly handled, it can justly be called `noble`...........'

`Aberdeen Rowies - a recipe for flaky buns, not unlike croissants although much less rich and consequently a great deal simpler and quicker to make. They don't look as showy a croissants but for all their homely appearance, I prefer them in some ways because they are light and small and ......surprising.'

Our overall favourite recipe is the variation on the `SALLY LUNN BUN' (Soleilune Cake)-
`My recipe for a Sally Lunn is simple, not very rich and relatively quick'.
11/04/06


A wonderfully enjoyable read., 13 Mar 2005
A real gem of a baking book that is filled with practical advice from a lady who had a great understanding of her subject.

Great recipies for classic breads and yeasted cakes, think "chelsea buns".

Amusing anecdotes and personal observations throughout, the writing style of this book has aged into a very warm read and adds greatly to it's charm.

More than just a list of recipies, an insight into an interesting and informative home-baker. A must for anyone with an interest in baking that goes beyond pushing the buttons on a bread maker.

Bread is the stuff of life, 07 Jun 2003
Simply the best book ever written about the making of bread, scones, chelsea buns, croissants; you name it it's in this book. Not forgetting the history of bread making from exodus onwards, the iniquities of sliced bread and the dubious practices of flour millers and bread manufacturers in the UK & elsewhere. You will also find out how to make basic brown, white, wholemeal, malted, anything you like loaves. Using fresh or dried yeast. Dear god you even get told how to make your own yeast and keep it. You want to make bread - buy this book, you will never knead another. Why else do you think it's always on the verge of selling out.

Bread for Life, 08 May 2003
This is "faites simple" the best book you are ever going to get on the subject of baking. It contains an exhaustive collection of receipts, everything from plain Brown Wholemeal or Saffron Cake to Drop Scones and Croissants. In it you will find the history of baking; courteous, but firm, explanations about the uses for different types of flour. How to use yeast? What is Baking Powder? Enquire within on any point connected with baking and Miss David has the answer. You rail against the state of shop bought bread, well you won't find a better more thorough condemnation of the article than is written here. Any cookery writer unafraid to confess that after a while the making of croissants induces "combat fatigue" gets my vote.

Interesting slice of culinary history, 18 Mar 2008
What I found most interesting about this book was not so much the recipes, but more what it revealed about the conditions and attitudes to food of the post-war years, when this was first published. So much has changed, partly thanks to Elizabeth David herself - thank God we no longer have to use Primula as a substitute for mascarpone, as she grudgingly suggests! And I cannot imagine a time when pasta was a speciality to be tracked down in a couple of London shops.

If you're used to the more verbose, food-porn style of Nigella and Jamie Oliver, the recipes here may seem a bit spare - an ounce of this, two ounces of that, and fry. However, this format means that she can pack a lot into this little book. I don't think I've ever attempted one of her recipes - being a product of my time, I prefer the metric measurements and enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Italy" - but I still keep Elizabeth David's book in the kitchen as an interesting snapshot of its time, and I'm sure its time will come when I fancy something back-to-basics!

Beautifully written, in the typical ED style, this is simply the best book about Italian Food!, 27 Feb 2007
If your budget won't stretch to the hardback edition, highly recommended for its superb photography and sumptuous presentation, this is the next best thing!

`Elizabeth David discovered her taste for good food and wine when she lived with a French family while studying history and literature at the Sorbonne.
A few years after her return to England, she made up her mind to learn how to cook so that she could reproduce for herself and her friends some of the food that she had come to appreciate in France. Subsequently Mrs David lived and kept house in France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and India, as well as in England ....'

Fresh lemons enhance the plain white cover which opens to 376 matt pages, packed full of information and recipes, written in the typical Elizabeth David style.
The book opens with an introduction, notes about the previous editions and finishes with a 37 page index.
Sandwiched in between are the recipes, titles in both Italian and English( if applicable), split over the following chapters:-

Italian Dishes in Foreign Kitchens
The Italian Store Cupboard
Kitchen Equipment
Hors d'Oeuvre and Salads
Soups
Pasta Asciutta
Ravioli, Gnocchi etc
Rice
Haricot Beans, Chick Peas, Polenta etc
Eggs, Cheese Dishes ,Pizza etc
Fish Soups
Fish
Meat
Poultry & Game
Vegetables
Sweets, sectioned into `Fruit' and `Ices'
Sauces
Preserves
Cheeses
Notes and Nooks on Italian Wines
Some Italian Cookery Books
Guides to Food & Wine in Italy

A scattering of black and white illustrations break up the text, which is simple in places and more complex where it needs to be:-.

`Dentice' (Dentex)
A Mediterranean fish of which there is no equivalent in northern waters. At its best grilled or roasted.

`Orata'
The Daurade of Provence. A large Mediterranean fish with, in spite of its name - which implies gold-fish - silvery scales. The nearest approach to it to be found in England, is the sea bream, which can be used for the recipe below.
There are two good ways of cooking this fish, in `cartoccio' (fish cooked in paper cases), page 146, and with a sauce of white wine and sultanas, which can be applied very successfully to carp and also to fresh haddock.'
Then follows the recipe for `Orata al Vino Bianco' (Orata cooked in white wine).


`When it was first published, `Italian Food', Elizabeth David's magnificent survey of the varied food and cookery of Italy's many regions, proved an inspiration to British cooks. In it, she conveyed all the richness, the colour and variety of this remarkable cooking tradition. The popularity of Italian food today and the ready availability of ingredients means that even the busiest cook can re-create such tempting dishes as 'roasted red peppers',' Piedmontese cheese fondue`, `fettuccine with fresh tomato sauce' and' chicken breasts with ham and cheese'.

'This edition of Italian Food differs from several of its predecessors chiefly in that revisions made over many years in the form of footnotes have now been incorporated into the main body of the text...........References to numerous shops, at one time sources of supply of imported Italian foodstuffs, but now vanished, have been eliminated. When it came to my original chapter on the wines of Italy I found that almost everything I wrote in 1954 had receded into history......'.


multo bene!, 18 Mar 2003
Since i bought this last year, I have used it incessantly - unlike modern cookbooks, which are merely compendiums of gastroporn with the name of a celebrity chef or plush restaurant attached, this is an enthralling guide to Italian food for the simple reason that it is about the ingredients, not the end result - it matters less how it looks, which seems to be the sole criteria for so many cookbooks these days, and more about how it iwill ultimately taste. Furthermore, David was a brilliant food-writer. She understood so much more about the historic, cultural and social importance of food - how many other cookbooks would have a simple recipe for pasta with garlic and olive oil, whith the explanation that (at least when the book was first written in the 1950s) many Italians can't afford the ingredients for more extravagant dishes? none, I expect. My only quibble is that there is little by way of Sicilian delicacies - and having been to that Island, I know there are many - also, the ediiton I bought didn't have the original illustrations by Renato Guttuso; fortunately, I manged to pick-up in a secondhand bookshop recenty the Penguin paperback edition from 1979 (I think) which does have them. Guttuso was the greatest Italian artist of the 20th century, admittedly painting in the idion of Social Realism, and the illustrations add an authentic air of Italiana to the book. A must buy - and a must read.

A classic and a must for any serious cook., 31 May 2001
Elizabeth's groundbreaking book is every bit as readable as Nigella and rather than listing fashionable recipies with "ideas" from all over Europe it concentrates on Italian food from risotto to tiramasu and everything in between. The research for this book is outstanding and for anyone who doesn't know the Italian culinary world beyond pizza/pasta this book will show you (and for those that do it will entertain, interest and educate you). It is every bit as relevant as whenit was first published and extremely affordable. A classic and a must for any serious cook.

I have used this book for 35 yrs. Finally I must replace it!, 01 Apr 2000
Elizabeth David has done more for good food than anyone. She virtually invented the cookbook. I have been using our copy of this Italian food classic for the last 35 years. Finally I must replace it because page 228 has gone missing with a favourite pork recipe!

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

amazing, 03 Jan 2009
this is the best cookery book i have ever read, having been brought up on ready meals and fish and chips cooking was not something i excelled at. this book has turned me into a good home cook. one person even said that i had "a real skill in the kitchen". it is in fact not my ability but that of Elizabeth David. oh and my french friend who gave this book to me as a gift.Elizabeth David Classics: "Mediterranean Food", "French Country Cooking" and "Summer Cooking"

the tv chefs secret weapon, 25 Oct 2002
elizabeth david comes from another era. In the post war period food was for eating, there was no celebrity cooking, however the drought of rationing had been lifted,and she helped those who were interested discover fabulous ingredients from the meditteranean. This book along with An omlette and a glass of Wine will give anyone who wants to cook competently and honestly, a great grounding in good food, fairly easy techniques, the use of fresh ingredients and spectacular results,with amusing anecdotes to accompany the receipes, I wouldn't be without her in my kitchen, and having used everyone from Micheal Smith and The Galloping gourmet to jamie oliver, gorden ramsey and paul rankin, I still find myself cooking with elizabeth at least once a week. This is a wonderful version of her work I thoroughly recommend it and please remember you have to eat everyday to be healthy, so you might as well do it well and have some fun.

a classic every serious cook should have., 12 Dec 2001
I am very fortunate to own one or two original books by this most famous of cooks.
Elizbeth David was the Delia of her day, and her recipes reflect an in-depth knowledge of food.
As a historian, she writes from her own research.
Elizabeth David's Classics first appeared in 1950 when almost every essential ingredient of good cooking was either rationed or unobtainable; to cook the simplest of meals required devotion and ingenuity.
Revised only a few years later, after rationing, and on the brink of a new renaissance of cookery in Britain, Elizabeth David's book of Mediterranean Food, French Country Cooking, and Summer Cooking was a best seller.
Ingredients such as Calamata olives, Tahina paste, Olive oil, stuffed vine leaves, and other Mediterranean delicacies made their way into the Delicatessens of Soho and Tottenham Court Road, much as Chorizo Sausage was in every branch of Sainsbury's after Delia Smith introduced it in her now famous "Basque Chicken" recipe.
Written a half centaury ago, this book was ahead of its time, we have only now begun to discover the exotic flavours of oil, saffron, olives, garlic, wild marjoram and basil, pungent pimentos, aubergines, figs and limes.
Top Chefs use Elizabeth David's work as their bible, their inspiration, and their teacher, she was unique among woman, and her work will live on in history.
In 1976 Elizabeth David was awarded the O.B.E. in 1977 she was made a chevalier of the French Ordre du Merite Agricole and in 1979 an honorary doctor of the University of Essex. In 1986 she was awarded a C.B.E.
Elizabeth died in 1992.

Wonderful!, 17 Jan 2001
One book containing 3 of the most essential cookery books available today. Elizabeth David does not just deal out recipes, but information and tips as well. A God send for anybody wishing to improve their cooking.

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

Worth the dough!, 27 May 2007
If you bake bread, or intend doing so, this book is definately worth buying. No, it isn't full of pretty pictures . . . what it is packed with though is everything you will ever need to know about bread. It is a history book, a recipe book, an advice book . . . and more. After reading the book and following the advice given I have made the best bread I have ever produced, in a simple and straightforward way. It is useful to know what WON'T work for the home baker too. If you have an oven, a baking tray and a bowl, you can make fantastic bread - and you will never want to eat that soft, doughy stuff supermarkets call bread ever again!

Simply the best book on Yeast cooking - Elizabeth David!, 11 Apr 2006
`In this universally acclaimed book Elizabeth David deals with all aspects of flour milling, yeast, bread ovens and the different types of bread and flour available. The recipes cover yeast cookery of all kinds, and the many lovely, old-fashioned spiced breads, buns, pancakes and muffins, among others, are all described with her typical elegance and unrivalled knowledge.'

`Here is a real book, written with authority and enthusiasm - a collection of history, investigation, comment, recipes - Jane Grigson in the Observer.'

Dedicated to `Jill Norman`, an accomplished cookery writer in her own right, this is an exceptionally good price for this ED tome of 592 pages, split over two parts:-

Part I - History & Background
Part II - Recipes

Written with the typical ED flair, which is so popular with her readers and full of meticulously researched information, interspersed with the charming black and white illustrations (Wendy Jones) that so underline Elizabeth David books.

Part I
Chapters:-
Milling, Bread Flours and Meals, Yeast, Salt, Liquid and Fats used in Bread-making, Eggs, Dried Fruit, Sugar, Spices and Flavourings used in Yeast Cakes and Breads, Malt Extracts, Bread Ovens, The Bread Factories, Shapes and Names of English Loaves, Moulds and Tins for bread and Yeast Cakes, Storage of Meal and Flour, Weights of Loaves and the Assize of Bread, Weights, Measures and Temperatures, Weighing and Measuring Equipment and The Cost of Baking Your Own Bread.

Part II - RECIPES
Chapters:-
Bread, Baps and Rolls, Manchets and Mayn and Payndemayn, Crumpets and Muffins, Notes on French Bread, The Pizza and the Pissaladiere, Quiches with Yeast Dough, Sausage in Brioche Crust, Yeast Leavened Pancakes and Oatcakes, Dumplings and Doughnuts, Regional and Festival Yeast Cakes and Fruit Breads, Yeast Buns and Small Tea Cakes, French Yeast Cakes, Soda Breads, Bakestone Cakes or Breads, Toast, Biblio and Concise Index.

Over 300 pages packed full or all sorts of recipes that really do question 'what on earth they do to the bread in the shops........'.

`A tall, earthenware pancheon, glazed only on the inside, like a bread crock was always considered the best shape for mixing and raising yeast dough. From the 18th century until the mid 20th Century, bread pancheons were traditional products of many Welsh and English potteries.'

Page 252 starts with a recipe for `A Basic Loaf`, for a large loaf weighing 28 to 30 oz, or 800 to 850g.
`Potato Bread, usually associated with times of grain shortage or with a need for strict economy in the kitchen, is advocated by some 19th Century writers as being the best bread for toast. This is because a proportion of potato mixed with ordinary white flour makes a loaf, which retains its moisture and is also very light...........'

`Rice Bread is excellent for keeping since the rice remains moist and the texture is beautifully light and honey-combed. It is also a loaf which is very easy to mix and to bake.'

Scots Baps:-
`.....the bap is the breakfast roll of Scotland. Properly made and properly handled, it can justly be called `noble`...........'

`Aberdeen Rowies - a recipe for flaky buns, not unlike croissants although much less rich and consequently a great deal simpler and quicker to make. They don't look as showy a croissants but for all their homely appearance, I prefer them in some ways because they are light and small and ......surprising.'

Our overall favourite recipe is the variation on the `SALLY LUNN BUN' (Soleilune Cake)-
`My recipe for a Sally Lunn is simple, not very rich and relatively quick'.
11/04/06


A wonderfully enjoyable read., 13 Mar 2005
A real gem of a baking book that is filled with practical advice from a lady who had a great understanding of her subject.

Great recipies for classic breads and yeasted cakes, think "chelsea buns".

Amusing anecdotes and personal observations throughout, the writing style of this book has aged into a very warm read and adds greatly to it's charm.

More than just a list of recipies, an insight into an interesting and informative home-baker. A must for anyone with an interest in baking that goes beyond pushing the buttons on a bread maker.

Bread is the stuff of life, 07 Jun 2003
Simply the best book ever written about the making of bread, scones, chelsea buns, croissants; you name it it's in this book. Not forgetting the history of bread making from exodus onwards, the iniquities of sliced bread and the dubious practices of flour millers and bread manufacturers in the UK & elsewhere. You will also find out how to make basic brown, white, wholemeal, malted, anything you like loaves. Using fresh or dried yeast. Dear god you even get told how to make your own yeast and keep it. You want to make bread - buy this book, you will never knead another. Why else do you think it's always on the verge of selling out.

Bread for Life, 08 May 2003
This is "faites simple" the best book you are ever going to get on the subject of baking. It contains an exhaustive collection of receipts, everything from plain Brown Wholemeal or Saffron Cake to Drop Scones and Croissants. In it you will find the history of baking; courteous, but firm, explanations about the uses for different types of flour. How to use yeast? What is Baking Powder? Enquire within on any point connected with baking and Miss David has the answer. You rail against the state of shop bought bread, well you won't find a better more thorough condemnation of the article than is written here. Any cookery writer unafraid to confess that after a while the making of croissants induces "combat fatigue" gets my vote.

Interesting slice of culinary history, 18 Mar 2008
What I found most interesting about this book was not so much the recipes, but more what it revealed about the conditions and attitudes to food of the post-war years, when this was first published. So much has changed, partly thanks to Elizabeth David herself - thank God we no longer have to use Primula as a substitute for mascarpone, as she grudgingly suggests! And I cannot imagine a time when pasta was a speciality to be tracked down in a couple of London shops.

If you're used to the more verbose, food-porn style of Nigella and Jamie Oliver, the recipes here may seem a bit spare - an ounce of this, two ounces of that, and fry. However, this format means that she can pack a lot into this little book. I don't think I've ever attempted one of her recipes - being a product of my time, I prefer the metric measurements and enthusiasm of Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Italy" - but I still keep Elizabeth David's book in the kitchen as an interesting snapshot of its time, and I'm sure its time will come when I fancy something back-to-basics!

Beautifully written, in the typical ED style, this is simply the best book about Italian Food!, 27 Feb 2007
If your budget won't stretch to the hardback edition, highly recommended for its superb photography and sumptuous presentation, this is the next best thing!

`Elizabeth David discovered her taste for good food and wine when she lived with a French family while studying history and literature at the Sorbonne.
A few years after her return to England, she made up her mind to learn how to cook so that she could reproduce for herself and her friends some of the food that she had come to appreciate in France. Subsequently Mrs David lived and kept house in France, Italy, Greece, Egypt and India, as well as in England ....'

Fresh lemons enhance the plain white cover which opens to 376 matt pages, packed full of information and recipes, written in the typical Elizabeth David style.
The book opens with an introduction, notes about the previous editions and finishes with a 37 page index.
Sandwiched in between are the recipes, titles in both Italian and English( if applicable), split over the following chapters:-

Italian Dishes in Foreign Kitchens
The Italian Store Cupboard
Kitchen Equipment
Hors d'Oeuvre and Salads
Soups
Pasta Asciutta
Ravioli, Gnocchi etc
Rice
Haricot Beans, Chick Peas, Polenta etc
Eggs, Cheese Dishes ,Pizza etc
Fish Soups
Fish
Meat
Poultry & Game
Vegetables
Sweets, sectioned into `Fruit' and `Ices'
Sauces
Preserves
Cheeses
Notes and Nooks on Italian Wines
Some Italian Cookery Books
Guides to Food & Wine in Italy

A scattering of black and white illustrations break up the text, which is simple in places and more complex where it needs to be:-.

`Dentice' (Dentex)
A Mediterranean fish of which there is no equivalent in northern waters. At its best grilled or roasted.

`Orata'
The Daurade of Provence. A large Mediterranean fish with, in spite of its name - which implies gold-fish - silvery scales. The nearest approach to it to be found in England, is the sea bream, which can be used for the recipe below.
There are two good ways of cooking this fish, in `cartoccio' (fish cooked in paper cases), page 146, and with a sauce of white wine and sultanas, which can be applied very successfully to carp and also to fresh haddock.'
Then follows the recipe for `Orata al Vino Bianco' (Orata cooked in white wine).


`When it was first published, `Italian Food', Elizabeth David's magnificent survey of the varied food and cookery of Italy's many regions, proved an inspiration to British cooks. In it, she conveyed all the richness, the colour and variety of this remarkable cooking tradition. The popularity of Italian food today and the ready availability of ingredients means that even the busiest cook can re-create such tempting dishes as 'roasted red peppers',' Piedmontese cheese fondue`, `fettuccine with fresh tomato sauce' and' chicken breasts with ham and cheese'.

'This edition of Italian Food differs from several of its predecessors chiefly in that revisions made over many years in the form of footnotes have now been incorporated into the main body of the text...........References to numerous shops, at one time sources of supply of imported Italian foodstuffs, but now vanished, have been eliminated. When it came to my original chapter on the wines of Italy I found that almost everything I wrote in 1954 had receded into history......'.


multo bene!, 18 Mar 2003
Since i bought this last year, I have used it incessantly - unlike modern cookbooks, which are merely compendiums of gastroporn with the name of a celebrity chef or plush restaurant attached, this is an enthralling guide to Italian food for the simple reason that it is about the ingredients, not the end result - it matters less how it looks, which seems to be the sole criteria for so many cookbooks these days, and more about how it iwill ultimately taste. Furthermore, David was a brilliant food-writer. She understood so much more about the historic, cultural and social importance of food - how many other cookbooks would have a simple recipe for pasta with garlic and olive oil, whith the explanation that (at least when the book was first written in the 1950s) many Italians can't afford the ingredients for more extravagant dishes? none, I expect. My only quibble is that there is little by way of Sicilian delicacies - and having been to that Island, I know there are many - also, the ediiton I bought didn't have the original illustrations by Renato Guttuso; fortunately, I manged to pick-up in a secondhand bookshop recenty the Penguin paperback edition from 1979 (I think) which does have them. Guttuso was the greatest Italian artist of the 20th century, admittedly painting in the idion of Social Realism, and the illustrations add an authentic air of Italiana to the book. A must buy - and a must read.

A classic and a must for any serious cook., 31 May 2001
Elizabeth's groundbreaking book is every bit as readable as Nigella and rather than listing fashionable recipies with "ideas" from all over Europe it concentrates on Italian food from risotto to tiramasu and everything in between. The research for this book is outstanding and for anyone who doesn't know the Italian culinary world beyond pizza/pasta this book will show you (and for those that do it will entertain, interest and educate you). It is every bit as relevant as whenit was first published and extremely affordable. A classic and a must for any serious cook.

I have used this book for 35 yrs. Finally I must replace it!, 01 Apr 2000
Elizabeth David has done more for good food than anyone. She virtually invented the cookbook. I have been using our copy of this Italian food classic for the last 35 years. Finally I must replace it because page 228 has gone missing with a favourite pork recipe!

"Cut a cockrerel into joints"...., 05 Aug 2007
I bought this book on eBay and found myself in proud possession of a hardcover `second edition' reprint from 1965. (I have no idea if the current version is updated or even converted to metric, sorry).
Elizabeth is a darling ! and definitely the first English Domestic Goddess, long before Nigella et al came onto the scene. Her delivery of these many, many regional recipes is neither as school madam-ish as early Delia, nor as infuriatingly chummy as Jamie-the-mockeny-Oliver. She engages us in such a way as to make one really believe that nobody cooks like the French, but at the same time that anyone can recreate this culinary wonderland here in grey old England.
This book is so much more than a list of recipes, it is an adventure in France. Given that, when it was written, France was somewhere most of us had only heard of, this book takes us on a fascinating tour into the psyche of a foreign people.
Buy this book today. Even if you have absolutely no interest in cooking. It really is that rip-roaring a read !

A perfect pot of memories , 14 Dec 2006
I still have my first copy given me in 1975. Its very well thumbed! A great read, written like a recipe journal, in an easy flowing style, with a no nonesense approach to ingredients - only the best and freshest is tolerated, cooked to bring out the best in the ingredients- you get out what you put in - and a ton of butter! A palpable feeling of nostalgia pervades these recipes. Having cooked with fresh ingredients in many countries, I understand completely why ED warns us against attempts to recreate authenticity. It cannot be done. All we can do is turn the pages and let her memories guide us through all our yesterdays....our tongues savouring the memory of perfect carrot soup or pot au feu cooked up 27 years ago on the camping stove in a field in the Dordogne as we watched the sun set,sniffed the dew in the air and.....Ahhh, those were the days.....

Penguin degrades the experience, 11 Apr 2006
I bought this edition to replace our Penguin book from 1964 which had gradually worn into a pile of disconnected pages over decades of loving use. All the inspiring writing is still there, of course, all the no-nonsense, no compromise common sense of Elizabeth David that makes this book an essential for anyone who loves to eat well, cook well, or both. But oh, Penguin, you have chosen the cheapest of thick paper, and the print is woefully smaller than the old edition, on pages that are larger! This looks like a scan of a hardback edition. Juliet Renny's delicate line drawings now appear coarsened. Once upon a time, French Provincial Cooking was mostly for browsing -- you simply could not find all the ingredients. Today you can get everything, so you have the pleasure of cooking authentic French dishes with Elizabeth David's unparalleled expert guidance. Nevertheless, you will still want to settle down and read your way through recipes you plan to make some day and learn what makes them so good, and you might just want to do it with a rather nicer edition than this one. So 4 stars out of 4 for the content and 0 stars out of 1 for the production.

Simply the best, 20 Jan 2006
This is undoubtedly the greatest cookery book ever published in the UK.

Mrs David's passion and knowledge just comes through on every page. The background essays are fascinating, as are the various chapter introductions.

The style is authoritative, even authoritarian in places, but with writing as lucid as this there is hardly any room to quibble about Mrs David's somewhat didactic tone.

This book has been my constant reference point ever since the mid 1980s and it is the basis for virtually everything I cook.

The best cookery book!, 09 Aug 2005
Provided you have a few basic skills, this book is excellent.

The recipes are authentic, imaginative and always go down well with guests. The techniques suggested bring out the flavour of the ingredients to a tee and are transferrable with application of one's own imagination.

The recipes are also not fussy or predicated on knowing your butcher on first name terms.

You could cook from this book for ever.

For a deeper insight..., 07 May 2007
...read Peter Robb's Midnight in Sicily which will surely sell it to you. He met the author at home and sampled her cooking. No review could improve on his.

A MUST-HAVE in Hard-Back!, 08 Aug 2004