Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Simply more than a recipe book - Jane Grigson`s `English Food`!, 30 Mar 2007
`In this classic work, Jane Grigson reveals the richness and surprising diversity of England's culinary heritage.
From modest dishes such as `Gloucestershire Cheese and Ale`, and `Toad-in-the-Hole', to grander ones using roast game, local fish and fresh vegetables, as well as traditional puddings, teatime cakes and preserves, this joyful celebration of our national cuisine is a pleasure to cook from and a delight to read.'

Penguin Cookery Library format - paperback with 384 pages, split over chapters:-

Soups
Cheese and egg dishes
Vegetables
Meat, poultry and game
Puddings
Teatime: - bread, cake, griddle cakes and pancakes, biscuits
Stuffings, sauces and preserves

sandwiched between a foreword, from daughter Sophie plus an introduction, and a concise index.
Interspersed with just the odd black and white line drawing this chunky paperback is serious reading material, with acknowledgements and endearing references to other great cooks and cookery writers including Elizabeth David and the reproduction of three of her famous recipes:-

Elizabeth David's Potted Crab
Elizabeth David's Prawn Paste
Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub

Each chapter opens with general information and observations, as does each recipe, e.g.

Soused Herrings:-
Herring cooked this way makes a good cold dish, so long as you don't overdo the vinegar. I recommend you follow the Scandinavian practice of serving them with a bowl of cream, beaten with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and flavoured with chives.

Other delicious recipes include:-

Roast Rack of Lamb with Laverbread
Isle of Man Herring Pie
Venison Pasty
Chilled Mange Tout Creams
Chicken with Leek Pie from Wales
Bloater and Potato Salad
Jellied Stock
Pork Pie Filling
English Game Pie
Raspberry Pie
Chocolate Pie
Mussel and Leek Roly Poly
Queen of Puddings
Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce
Sedgemoor Eel Stew
Mushrooms in Snuffboxes
Anchovy Matchsticks
Liver and Bacon Salad
Little Cheese Soufflé
Rice Bread
Cinnamon Toast
Oyster Sauce
Ginger Cake

Each recipe is clearly laid out with number of servings, ingredients lists and method.

Oh hooray for Jane Grigson, 01 Nov 2004
It is so good that Jane Grigson remains in print. Supremely unfussy, fabulously unpretentious, her books are invaluable. last night I decided to bone and stuff a chicken for roasting and sifted through piles of more contemporary cookbooks looking for an interesting stuffing recipe. They were few and far between - then I remembered the Sainted Jane and hooray a whole chapter of stuffing recipes. I plumped for a hazelnut stuffing and it was fabulous. Now she's been dusted off, I'm going to be using her a lot more again - perfect for the winter months!

Excellent book, with an honest, back to basics outlook., 14 Aug 2001
An excellent book, full of the author's own opinion regarding food preparation and ingredient suggestions. Having tried several of the recipees, they all have had excellent results; however, there is plenty of value added through the author's own "editorial" sections, which are available at the introduction of new chapters and often as a prelude to the recipees themselves.

A must for any kitchen/cooking lover.

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Simply more than a recipe book - Jane Grigson`s `English Food`!, 30 Mar 2007
`In this classic work, Jane Grigson reveals the richness and surprising diversity of England's culinary heritage.
From modest dishes such as `Gloucestershire Cheese and Ale`, and `Toad-in-the-Hole', to grander ones using roast game, local fish and fresh vegetables, as well as traditional puddings, teatime cakes and preserves, this joyful celebration of our national cuisine is a pleasure to cook from and a delight to read.'

Penguin Cookery Library format - paperback with 384 pages, split over chapters:-

Soups
Cheese and egg dishes
Vegetables
Meat, poultry and game
Puddings
Teatime: - bread, cake, griddle cakes and pancakes, biscuits
Stuffings, sauces and preserves

sandwiched between a foreword, from daughter Sophie plus an introduction, and a concise index.
Interspersed with just the odd black and white line drawing this chunky paperback is serious reading material, with acknowledgements and endearing references to other great cooks and cookery writers including Elizabeth David and the reproduction of three of her famous recipes:-

Elizabeth David's Potted Crab
Elizabeth David's Prawn Paste
Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub

Each chapter opens with general information and observations, as does each recipe, e.g.

Soused Herrings:-
Herring cooked this way makes a good cold dish, so long as you don't overdo the vinegar. I recommend you follow the Scandinavian practice of serving them with a bowl of cream, beaten with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and flavoured with chives.

Other delicious recipes include:-

Roast Rack of Lamb with Laverbread
Isle of Man Herring Pie
Venison Pasty
Chilled Mange Tout Creams
Chicken with Leek Pie from Wales
Bloater and Potato Salad
Jellied Stock
Pork Pie Filling
English Game Pie
Raspberry Pie
Chocolate Pie
Mussel and Leek Roly Poly
Queen of Puddings
Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce
Sedgemoor Eel Stew
Mushrooms in Snuffboxes
Anchovy Matchsticks
Liver and Bacon Salad
Little Cheese Soufflé
Rice Bread
Cinnamon Toast
Oyster Sauce
Ginger Cake

Each recipe is clearly laid out with number of servings, ingredients lists and method.

Oh hooray for Jane Grigson, 01 Nov 2004
It is so good that Jane Grigson remains in print. Supremely unfussy, fabulously unpretentious, her books are invaluable. last night I decided to bone and stuff a chicken for roasting and sifted through piles of more contemporary cookbooks looking for an interesting stuffing recipe. They were few and far between - then I remembered the Sainted Jane and hooray a whole chapter of stuffing recipes. I plumped for a hazelnut stuffing and it was fabulous. Now she's been dusted off, I'm going to be using her a lot more again - perfect for the winter months!

Excellent book, with an honest, back to basics outlook., 14 Aug 2001
An excellent book, full of the author's own opinion regarding food preparation and ingredient suggestions. Having tried several of the recipees, they all have had excellent results; however, there is plenty of value added through the author's own "editorial" sections, which are available at the introduction of new chapters and often as a prelude to the recipees themselves.

A must for any kitchen/cooking lover.

Simply the best book on FRUIT - Jane Grigson!, 01 Sep 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.
In fact in this book she acknowledges Elizabeth David (ED), 'whose taste in the matter of fruit is unequalled' and other cute references such as in the article about 'pickled cherries', followed by a recipe for 'Cherry Brandy', `ED's Black Fruit Fool' - `a recipe for devotees of prunes and dried fruit and `ED`s Sweet Flan Pastry` - `easy to remember and efficient in practice'.

`It is from a love of fruit that Jane wrote her book, the much awaited companion volume to the enormously popular and successful `Jane Grigson Vegetable Book' . The author deals with both the homely and the less familiar fruits of our orchards with known and recently imported tropical fruits.'

`Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' is a 508 high quality, matt page alphabetical guide to selecting and using fruit, with practically *everything from apple to water melon, including the less popular `medlar` and `sapodilla`.
*'Fruit that is eaten principally as a vegetable - e.g. `the tomato`, came into an earlier book. `Olives' seemed out of the scheme of this book and there was no room to deal properly with `nuts`.`

This invaluable reference includes delicious dishes and useful appendices, entitled:-

Fruit Preserves
Pastry
Biscuits, Bread etc
Creams, Sugars etc:- including useful recipes for `Custard Sauce', `Coeur á la Créme' (soft and hard versions) and Vanilla Ice Cream
Preserving Fruit
`Edward Bunyard's Marriages of Fruit & Wine', which leads on to a section on, mixed fruit recipes
Notes on Quantities
and finishes with a concise index.


Interspersed with useful hints such as one for an `Emergency Cream`, 'without the need of a special machine for turning butter and milk into a form of cream that is acceptable in an emergency' and poetic references, e.g. POMEGRANATE - with the poem `Ronde de la Grenade' by André Gide.

Favourite Recipes:-
Pomegranate Soup
Orange Halva Cake
Redcurrant Water
Lazy Wild Duck with Orange Pineapple Upside-Down Pudding Cake
Old Fashioned Apple Tart
Kiwi Meringue Pudding
Ossi Buchi with Gooseberries
Pheasant Grenadine
Grouse with Wild Raspberries

A useful note:- when preparing fruit, always use stainless steel knives.


one of my favourite books of all times, 24 Jul 2001
Confession time - I don't read cookery books just for the recipes. I read them because food and cookery is important to me, and all sorts of related issues like culture, history and science are involved. I don't really want to know how to feed 4 for £2.50 or 58 interesting things to do with chicken, I want to enjoy the seductive qualities of good writing and delicious food. I read this book again and again til it fell apart. It was for a long time the book I kept by the side of my bed so when I couldn't sleep I could open it and read about oranges or guavas or persimmons. And there are some great recipes too, like orange syrup cake, my family's all time favourite cake. She's a great, intelligent writer, and I really recommend this book.

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Simply more than a recipe book - Jane Grigson`s `English Food`!, 30 Mar 2007
`In this classic work, Jane Grigson reveals the richness and surprising diversity of England's culinary heritage.
From modest dishes such as `Gloucestershire Cheese and Ale`, and `Toad-in-the-Hole', to grander ones using roast game, local fish and fresh vegetables, as well as traditional puddings, teatime cakes and preserves, this joyful celebration of our national cuisine is a pleasure to cook from and a delight to read.'

Penguin Cookery Library format - paperback with 384 pages, split over chapters:-

Soups
Cheese and egg dishes
Vegetables
Meat, poultry and game
Puddings
Teatime: - bread, cake, griddle cakes and pancakes, biscuits
Stuffings, sauces and preserves

sandwiched between a foreword, from daughter Sophie plus an introduction, and a concise index.
Interspersed with just the odd black and white line drawing this chunky paperback is serious reading material, with acknowledgements and endearing references to other great cooks and cookery writers including Elizabeth David and the reproduction of three of her famous recipes:-

Elizabeth David's Potted Crab
Elizabeth David's Prawn Paste
Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub

Each chapter opens with general information and observations, as does each recipe, e.g.

Soused Herrings:-
Herring cooked this way makes a good cold dish, so long as you don't overdo the vinegar. I recommend you follow the Scandinavian practice of serving them with a bowl of cream, beaten with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and flavoured with chives.

Other delicious recipes include:-

Roast Rack of Lamb with Laverbread
Isle of Man Herring Pie
Venison Pasty
Chilled Mange Tout Creams
Chicken with Leek Pie from Wales
Bloater and Potato Salad
Jellied Stock
Pork Pie Filling
English Game Pie
Raspberry Pie
Chocolate Pie
Mussel and Leek Roly Poly
Queen of Puddings
Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce
Sedgemoor Eel Stew
Mushrooms in Snuffboxes
Anchovy Matchsticks
Liver and Bacon Salad
Little Cheese Soufflé
Rice Bread
Cinnamon Toast
Oyster Sauce
Ginger Cake

Each recipe is clearly laid out with number of servings, ingredients lists and method.

Oh hooray for Jane Grigson, 01 Nov 2004
It is so good that Jane Grigson remains in print. Supremely unfussy, fabulously unpretentious, her books are invaluable. last night I decided to bone and stuff a chicken for roasting and sifted through piles of more contemporary cookbooks looking for an interesting stuffing recipe. They were few and far between - then I remembered the Sainted Jane and hooray a whole chapter of stuffing recipes. I plumped for a hazelnut stuffing and it was fabulous. Now she's been dusted off, I'm going to be using her a lot more again - perfect for the winter months!

Excellent book, with an honest, back to basics outlook., 14 Aug 2001
An excellent book, full of the author's own opinion regarding food preparation and ingredient suggestions. Having tried several of the recipees, they all have had excellent results; however, there is plenty of value added through the author's own "editorial" sections, which are available at the introduction of new chapters and often as a prelude to the recipees themselves.

A must for any kitchen/cooking lover.

Simply the best book on FRUIT - Jane Grigson!, 01 Sep 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.
In fact in this book she acknowledges Elizabeth David (ED), 'whose taste in the matter of fruit is unequalled' and other cute references such as in the article about 'pickled cherries', followed by a recipe for 'Cherry Brandy', `ED's Black Fruit Fool' - `a recipe for devotees of prunes and dried fruit and `ED`s Sweet Flan Pastry` - `easy to remember and efficient in practice'.

`It is from a love of fruit that Jane wrote her book, the much awaited companion volume to the enormously popular and successful `Jane Grigson Vegetable Book' . The author deals with both the homely and the less familiar fruits of our orchards with known and recently imported tropical fruits.'

`Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' is a 508 high quality, matt page alphabetical guide to selecting and using fruit, with practically *everything from apple to water melon, including the less popular `medlar` and `sapodilla`.
*'Fruit that is eaten principally as a vegetable - e.g. `the tomato`, came into an earlier book. `Olives' seemed out of the scheme of this book and there was no room to deal properly with `nuts`.`

This invaluable reference includes delicious dishes and useful appendices, entitled:-

Fruit Preserves
Pastry
Biscuits, Bread etc
Creams, Sugars etc:- including useful recipes for `Custard Sauce', `Coeur á la Créme' (soft and hard versions) and Vanilla Ice Cream
Preserving Fruit
`Edward Bunyard's Marriages of Fruit & Wine', which leads on to a section on, mixed fruit recipes
Notes on Quantities
and finishes with a concise index.


Interspersed with useful hints such as one for an `Emergency Cream`, 'without the need of a special machine for turning butter and milk into a form of cream that is acceptable in an emergency' and poetic references, e.g. POMEGRANATE - with the poem `Ronde de la Grenade' by André Gide.

Favourite Recipes:-
Pomegranate Soup
Orange Halva Cake
Redcurrant Water
Lazy Wild Duck with Orange Pineapple Upside-Down Pudding Cake
Old Fashioned Apple Tart
Kiwi Meringue Pudding
Ossi Buchi with Gooseberries
Pheasant Grenadine
Grouse with Wild Raspberries

A useful note:- when preparing fruit, always use stainless steel knives.


one of my favourite books of all times, 24 Jul 2001
Confession time - I don't read cookery books just for the recipes. I read them because food and cookery is important to me, and all sorts of related issues like culture, history and science are involved. I don't really want to know how to feed 4 for £2.50 or 58 interesting things to do with chicken, I want to enjoy the seductive qualities of good writing and delicious food. I read this book again and again til it fell apart. It was for a long time the book I kept by the side of my bed so when I couldn't sleep I could open it and read about oranges or guavas or persimmons. And there are some great recipes too, like orange syrup cake, my family's all time favourite cake. She's a great, intelligent writer, and I really recommend this book.

A treasury of ideas, 11 Nov 2001
This wonderful little book contains a treasury of ideas for experienced cooks and for beginners. The late, great Jane Grigson's enthusiasm for food shows on every page as she explores a selected range of her favourite foods. Each section begins with a short essay, which sets the scene. The range within a relatively short book is enormous; from asparagus to venison and mussels and scallops to walnuts. This is a book I go back to time after time, for inspiration and ideas as well as for the recipes themselves.

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Simply more than a recipe book - Jane Grigson`s `English Food`!, 30 Mar 2007
`In this classic work, Jane Grigson reveals the richness and surprising diversity of England's culinary heritage.
From modest dishes such as `Gloucestershire Cheese and Ale`, and `Toad-in-the-Hole', to grander ones using roast game, local fish and fresh vegetables, as well as traditional puddings, teatime cakes and preserves, this joyful celebration of our national cuisine is a pleasure to cook from and a delight to read.'

Penguin Cookery Library format - paperback with 384 pages, split over chapters:-

Soups
Cheese and egg dishes
Vegetables
Meat, poultry and game
Puddings
Teatime: - bread, cake, griddle cakes and pancakes, biscuits
Stuffings, sauces and preserves

sandwiched between a foreword, from daughter Sophie plus an introduction, and a concise index.
Interspersed with just the odd black and white line drawing this chunky paperback is serious reading material, with acknowledgements and endearing references to other great cooks and cookery writers including Elizabeth David and the reproduction of three of her famous recipes:-

Elizabeth David's Potted Crab
Elizabeth David's Prawn Paste
Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub

Each chapter opens with general information and observations, as does each recipe, e.g.

Soused Herrings:-
Herring cooked this way makes a good cold dish, so long as you don't overdo the vinegar. I recommend you follow the Scandinavian practice of serving them with a bowl of cream, beaten with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and flavoured with chives.

Other delicious recipes include:-

Roast Rack of Lamb with Laverbread
Isle of Man Herring Pie
Venison Pasty
Chilled Mange Tout Creams
Chicken with Leek Pie from Wales
Bloater and Potato Salad
Jellied Stock
Pork Pie Filling
English Game Pie
Raspberry Pie
Chocolate Pie
Mussel and Leek Roly Poly
Queen of Puddings
Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce
Sedgemoor Eel Stew
Mushrooms in Snuffboxes
Anchovy Matchsticks
Liver and Bacon Salad
Little Cheese Soufflé
Rice Bread
Cinnamon Toast
Oyster Sauce
Ginger Cake

Each recipe is clearly laid out with number of servings, ingredients lists and method.

Oh hooray for Jane Grigson, 01 Nov 2004
It is so good that Jane Grigson remains in print. Supremely unfussy, fabulously unpretentious, her books are invaluable. last night I decided to bone and stuff a chicken for roasting and sifted through piles of more contemporary cookbooks looking for an interesting stuffing recipe. They were few and far between - then I remembered the Sainted Jane and hooray a whole chapter of stuffing recipes. I plumped for a hazelnut stuffing and it was fabulous. Now she's been dusted off, I'm going to be using her a lot more again - perfect for the winter months!

Excellent book, with an honest, back to basics outlook., 14 Aug 2001
An excellent book, full of the author's own opinion regarding food preparation and ingredient suggestions. Having tried several of the recipees, they all have had excellent results; however, there is plenty of value added through the author's own "editorial" sections, which are available at the introduction of new chapters and often as a prelude to the recipees themselves.

A must for any kitchen/cooking lover.

Simply the best book on FRUIT - Jane Grigson!, 01 Sep 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.
In fact in this book she acknowledges Elizabeth David (ED), 'whose taste in the matter of fruit is unequalled' and other cute references such as in the article about 'pickled cherries', followed by a recipe for 'Cherry Brandy', `ED's Black Fruit Fool' - `a recipe for devotees of prunes and dried fruit and `ED`s Sweet Flan Pastry` - `easy to remember and efficient in practice'.

`It is from a love of fruit that Jane wrote her book, the much awaited companion volume to the enormously popular and successful `Jane Grigson Vegetable Book' . The author deals with both the homely and the less familiar fruits of our orchards with known and recently imported tropical fruits.'

`Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' is a 508 high quality, matt page alphabetical guide to selecting and using fruit, with practically *everything from apple to water melon, including the less popular `medlar` and `sapodilla`.
*'Fruit that is eaten principally as a vegetable - e.g. `the tomato`, came into an earlier book. `Olives' seemed out of the scheme of this book and there was no room to deal properly with `nuts`.`

This invaluable reference includes delicious dishes and useful appendices, entitled:-

Fruit Preserves
Pastry
Biscuits, Bread etc
Creams, Sugars etc:- including useful recipes for `Custard Sauce', `Coeur á la Créme' (soft and hard versions) and Vanilla Ice Cream
Preserving Fruit
`Edward Bunyard's Marriages of Fruit & Wine', which leads on to a section on, mixed fruit recipes
Notes on Quantities
and finishes with a concise index.


Interspersed with useful hints such as one for an `Emergency Cream`, 'without the need of a special machine for turning butter and milk into a form of cream that is acceptable in an emergency' and poetic references, e.g. POMEGRANATE - with the poem `Ronde de la Grenade' by André Gide.

Favourite Recipes:-
Pomegranate Soup
Orange Halva Cake
Redcurrant Water
Lazy Wild Duck with Orange Pineapple Upside-Down Pudding Cake
Old Fashioned Apple Tart
Kiwi Meringue Pudding
Ossi Buchi with Gooseberries
Pheasant Grenadine
Grouse with Wild Raspberries

A useful note:- when preparing fruit, always use stainless steel knives.


one of my favourite books of all times, 24 Jul 2001
Confession time - I don't read cookery books just for the recipes. I read them because food and cookery is important to me, and all sorts of related issues like culture, history and science are involved. I don't really want to know how to feed 4 for £2.50 or 58 interesting things to do with chicken, I want to enjoy the seductive qualities of good writing and delicious food. I read this book again and again til it fell apart. It was for a long time the book I kept by the side of my bed so when I couldn't sleep I could open it and read about oranges or guavas or persimmons. And there are some great recipes too, like orange syrup cake, my family's all time favourite cake. She's a great, intelligent writer, and I really recommend this book.

A treasury of ideas, 11 Nov 2001
This wonderful little book contains a treasury of ideas for experienced cooks and for beginners. The late, great Jane Grigson's enthusiasm for food shows on every page as she explores a selected range of her favourite foods. Each section begins with a short essay, which sets the scene. The range within a relatively short book is enormous; from asparagus to venison and mussels and scallops to walnuts. This is a book I go back to time after time, for inspiration and ideas as well as for the recipes themselves.

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
Here is a book for dedicated mushroom hunters who want to make the most of their gastronomic treasures and for the discriminating cooks who value the ineffable flavor that any fine mushroom imparts, be it cultivated or wild. Edible fungi of all kinds have been the inspiration since the seventeenth century for the finest recipes in every important cuisine. Cooking her way through this rich heritage, Jane Grigson, an inveterate mushroom hunter who has always enjoyed the feast that follows the pleasures of a splendid day's pickings, now shares the best of the recipes she herself has perfected as she has borrowed, recreated, invented dishes designed to make use of mushrooms in subtle, surprising ways, and to feature different delectable varieties to their best advantage.

Drawings of the twenty-one most common species and information about each one (physical characteristics, habitat, culinary properties) prepare the reader for the heart of the book- Grigson's choice array of recipes for mushrooms in soups, sauces, stuffings; dishes in which the mushroom is the main ingredient; meat, poultry, and fish dishes in which it is the essential flavoring; and, finally, a sampling of Japanese and Chinese recipes calling for the lovely, luxurious shiitake or the crunchy wood ear (both available here, dried).

One of the particular joys of this book is Jane Grigson's infectious enthusiasm for her Subject. Having pursued the mushroom for more than twenty years and being, blessed with a superb palate, she is able to describe the precise taste and texture of a particular species. And she is not a snob she appreciates the fresh cultivated, store bought variety or the common field mushroom at the same time as she delights in a prized truffle, because she knows the properties of each. She understands the affinities that certain mushrooms have for other ingredients, when they act as a foil, give their all to a dish, or create a perfect marriage She tells us about the best ways of preserving mushrooms drying and freezing (Only up to a point ), as well as storing away the miraculous French duxelles, which can then be spooned out like gold to enhance almost any dish. The bits of history about mushroom cultivation, the tore behind a recipe, the lure of a hushed woods when girolles have sprung up these are among the many delights that make this book so deliciously tempting.

Jane Grigson. is the author of The Art of Charcuterie (1968). and Good Things ( 1971), which are published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Try: Mushroom Sauce (from Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery, 1747), Careme's sauce hachee, Boletus Soup, Mussel soup with mushrooms, Mushroom fritters with tomato sauce, Mushroom cake with a cream sauce, Creamed mushroom puffs, Mushrooms in Madeira sauce, Mushroom caps filled with chopped olives, Mushroom caviare from Russia, Mushroom sandwiches, Basic mushroom salad, Smoked salmon and mushrooms, Potatoes gratin with mushrooms, Eggplant with mushrooms, Eggs in cocotte with truffles, Tree mushroom recipes (from Apicius), Truffle recipes (from Apicius), Fish baked in foil with mushrooms, Lamb cutlets with puree soubise and mushrooms, Chicken with a cream and ceps sauce, Quails with a truffle and port stuffing, Steamed egg custard with chicken and fish, Vinegared rice and seaweed rolls, Steamed chicken with padi-straw (grass) mushrooms, etc.

Not as good as it could be, 04 Jan 2008
This book is well informed and an excellent source of traditional French charcuterie recipes. However it only gets three stars for the following reasons. Firstly this edition suffers from sloppy editing. Some recipes and passages of text appear to have words and sentences missing which render those sections useless.

Secondly things have moved on in the use of salpetre and cure mixtures that are better covered in e.g. "Charcuterie: The Craft of Salting, Smoking and Curing", particularly because we now recognise health implications in their use.

This book is good for reference but there are better books (see above) for the uninitiated

Essential for home curing & charcuterie, 24 Nov 2007
As smallholders we are always trying to maximise the use of our pigs when they meet with their fate. The River Cottage books helped at the start, but there is plenty more to be done - and with fantastic results. Grigson's book is informative (although you do have to read around each of the recipes, because they do not follow the conventional self-contained instructions. The reading around is not a hardship, and you will invariably find other hints/tips/wyas of processing the animal that distract you from your orignal thoughts).

There are recipes here for using all the pig - and, once you get over our pre-conceived ideas about what is edible, you will find a wide range of flavours opening up to you.

Superb, 09 Jun 2005
This book is superb: a real classic. It is an essential book for anyone interested in pork cookery.

Best sausages you'll ever taste :-), 14 Mar 2005
This is an absolutely superb book, but I wouldn't have expected anything less from Jane Grigson. The background to the recipes makes it a joy to read, and the recipes are easy to follow and invariably delicious. Some of the recipes use ingredients which require an understanding butcher, but most are readily available - and when you've tried some of them (such as the magnificent saucisse de campagne and boudin noir), you'll never want to see the insipid supermarket versions again. The perfect introduction to French charcuterie!

French Charcuterie explained at last!, 07 Mar 2004
At last I have the book to give me the confidence to approach my local Charcuterie here in France! For some time I have not entered being afraid to make a foolish mistake with the weird and extraordinary goods on sale, but now armed with Jane Grigson's excellent guide I am able to understand exactly what I am buying and how to eat it.( As well as having knowledge of what it is made from!)
The book is clear and detailed and is a real asset in the country charcuterie where English is not a common language. It is also really useful in the Hypermarkets to explain the entire "Pork" section and encourages one to experiment!
So, dont be afraid try those odd looking saussicon sec and boudin noir - you wont regret it!

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
In Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book, American readers, gardeners and food lovers will find everything they've always wanted to know about the history and romance of 75 different vegetables, from artichokes to yams, and learn how to use them in hundreds of different recipes, from the exquisitely simple Broccoli Salad to the engagingly esoteric Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce.
Jane Grigson gives basic preparation and cooking instructions for every one of the vegetables discussed, and recipes for eating them in every style from least adulterated to most adorned, but this is by no means a book intended for vegetarians alone. There are recipes for Cassoulet, Chicken Gumbo and even Dr. William Kitchiner's 1817 version of Bubble and Squeak (fried beef and cabbage.)
Try: Eliza Acton's Salad of Young Vegetables, Fricasse of Artichoke Bottoms, Asparagus and Chicken Gratin, Aubergine Kuku, Avocado Pancakes, Greek Stewed Beans, Scandinavian Beetroot and Herring Salad, Goose and Sauerkraut, Italian Carrot and Almond Cake, Chayote Creole, Chicken with Cucumber Cream Sauce, Apicius' Lentil and Mussel Dish, Cypriot Lamb Stew, Potatoes and Pears from Lucerne, Turkish Candied Pumpkin, Spinach Souffle, Fried Chicken Maryland with Corn Fritters, etc.

Simply the best book on vegetables - Jane Grigson!, 25 Jul 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.

`Jane Grigson's Vegetable Book' is a 618 page alphabetical guide to selecting and cooking vegetables, with everything from artichokes to yams.
Tempting recipes from all over the world bring out the flavour and texture of each vegetable and turn the most modest ingredients into delightful dishes.'
This invaluable reference includes an introduction, and appendices, entitled:-

Cutting Up Vegetables
Steaming and Blanching Vegetables
Stocks
Savoury Butters
Sauces
Stuffings
Batters

and finishes with a concise index, an Introduction to the American edition, a glossary and a table of equivalent weights and measures.
In between are all the vegetables you can think of, and on pages 322/323 is a copy of `John Evelyn's Salad Calendar`.

Bearing in mind that this is a book from the early 90s, glossy colour reproduction was not yet the 'in-thing' in cookery writing.
Strangely, however, the subtle black and white illustrations, by Yvonne Skargon, at the top of each vegetable section are all that is required in this, a timeless kitchen bookshelf classic.

As 'The Scotsman' declare on the rear cover:-
`The best cookbooks stimulate your imagination so that the freshest flavours come across as tempting as if they were on a plate in front of you. This is that kind of book.'


From the vegetable gardener's point of view, this book is an invaluable reference for those days when you just have one or two too many pounds (can you say that these days?!) of eg home-grown tomatoes and the novelty factor has worn off a month ago!
Just refer to the vegetable and find a variety of recipes to inspire a new way of presenting the superfluous veg, e.g. `Tomato and Mussel Soup', `Tomato Tart (1) or (2)', `Tomato Mousse', `Game with Tomato and Chocolate Sauce' , `Shaker Tomato Custard' or `Robin McDouall`s Tomato Ice Cream`!
How about `Lettuce Soup', `a good recipe for outside lettuce leaves' or `Braised Lettuce' if you have `a glut of firm, well-flavoured cabbage or cos lettuces`?
In addition, check out the pumpkin recipes for what to do with the leftovers at Hallowe'en!

From my point of view, it reminded me that there is serious life outside the confines of the supermarket, with their limited selections, totally defined by green basket display width and depth! A `potato' is not just a `potato`!
In the 24 page chapter entitled 'Potatoes', is a section on `Potato Varieties and Their Uses', splitting them into `Main-Crop All-Rounders', Floury, Mashed, Potato Cakes etc, Baked, Boiled, Irish Stew, Salad and Frying.
There at the top is `Golden Wonder' - and, I do wonder what did happen to the crisp of the same name?

nb This text refers to the Michael Joseph produced hardback edition, from 1991.

A Classic Work, 01 Nov 2002
Really, you can't call this a cookbook. It's a reference book, a work of scholarship that also contains a collection of wonderful recipes.

Jane Grigson was one of the great foodie writers, up there in the pantheon with Elizabeth David and M. F. K. Fisher. Her books combine superb writing with impeccably researched information. If you just want to know the history of the cabbage, she'll tell you. On the other hand, if somebody has just presented you with a couple of kilos of chokos, she'll bale you out.

And I am pleased to report that Jane Grigson hated swedes, so there can be no questioning her culinary judgment...

probably my most refered to cook book, 06 Feb 2002
Perfect if you're a gardener and have gluts every now and then - look up the veg in question and there you have 10-20 recipes on average. She also gives basic info on choosing, including varieties in some cases, and basic recipes too. Her Fruit book is equally excellent.

A book to read as much to cook from., 01 Mar 1999
Jane Grigson's books are always well written wonderfully erudite and full of great recipes. She is the rare food writer who even if he recipe looks a little strange can be entirely trusted without having to have been tested five thousand times by a gang of television assistants A la Delia.

Buy it and all her work. They are as great to have on the bedside table as the cookshelf.

Simply more than a recipe book - Jane Grigson`s `English Food`!, 30 Mar 2007
`In this classic work, Jane Grigson reveals the richness and surprising diversity of England's culinary heritage.
From modest dishes such as `Gloucestershire Cheese and Ale`, and `Toad-in-the-Hole', to grander ones using roast game, local fish and fresh vegetables, as well as traditional puddings, teatime cakes and preserves, this joyful celebration of our national cuisine is a pleasure to cook from and a delight to read.'

Penguin Cookery Library format - paperback with 384 pages, split over chapters:-

Soups
Cheese and egg dishes
Vegetables
Meat, poultry and game
Puddings
Teatime: - bread, cake, griddle cakes and pancakes, biscuits
Stuffings, sauces and preserves

sandwiched between a foreword, from daughter Sophie plus an introduction, and a concise index.
Interspersed with just the odd black and white line drawing this chunky paperback is serious reading material, with acknowledgements and endearing references to other great cooks and cookery writers including Elizabeth David and the reproduction of three of her famous recipes:-

Elizabeth David's Potted Crab
Elizabeth David's Prawn Paste
Elizabeth David's Everlasting Syllabub

Each chapter opens with general information and observations, as does each recipe, e.g.

Soused Herrings:-
Herring cooked this way makes a good cold dish, so long as you don't overdo the vinegar. I recommend you follow the Scandinavian practice of serving them with a bowl of cream, beaten with lemon juice, salt and pepper, and flavoured with chives.

Other delicious recipes include:-

Roast Rack of Lamb with Laverbread
Isle of Man Herring Pie
Venison Pasty
Chilled Mange Tout Creams
Chicken with Leek Pie from Wales
Bloater and Potato Salad
Jellied Stock
Pork Pie Filling
English Game Pie
Raspberry Pie
Chocolate Pie
Mussel and Leek Roly Poly
Queen of Puddings
Salmon in Pastry with a Herb Sauce
Sedgemoor Eel Stew
Mushrooms in Snuffboxes
Anchovy Matchsticks
Liver and Bacon Salad
Little Cheese Soufflé
Rice Bread
Cinnamon Toast
Oyster Sauce
Ginger Cake

Each recipe is clearly laid out with number of servings, ingredients lists and method.

Oh hooray for Jane Grigson, 01 Nov 2004
It is so good that Jane Grigson remains in print. Supremely unfussy, fabulously unpretentious, her books are invaluable. last night I decided to bone and stuff a chicken for roasting and sifted through piles of more contemporary cookbooks looking for an interesting stuffing recipe. They were few and far between - then I remembered the Sainted Jane and hooray a whole chapter of stuffing recipes. I plumped for a hazelnut stuffing and it was fabulous. Now she's been dusted off, I'm going to be using her a lot more again - perfect for the winter months!

Excellent book, with an honest, back to basics outlook., 14 Aug 2001
An excellent book, full of the author's own opinion regarding food preparation and ingredient suggestions. Having tried several of the recipees, they all have had excellent results; however, there is plenty of value added through the author's own "editorial" sections, which are available at the introduction of new chapters and often as a prelude to the recipees themselves.

A must for any kitchen/cooking lover.

Simply the best book on FRUIT - Jane Grigson!, 01 Sep 2006
Jane Grigson was one of the leading cookery writers of her generation with some similarity to the writing talents of the great Elizabeth David, in that her books combine superb writing with impeccable research.
In fact in this book she acknowledges Elizabeth David (ED), 'whose taste in the matter of fruit is unequalled' and other cute references such as in the article about 'pickled cherries', followed by a recipe for 'Cherry Brandy', `ED's Black Fruit Fool' - `a recipe for devotees of prunes and dried fruit and `ED`s Sweet Flan Pastry` - `easy to remember and efficient in practice'.

`It is from a love of fruit that Jane wrote her book, the much awaited companion volume to the enormously popular and successful `Jane Grigson Vegetable Book' . The author deals with both the homely and the less familiar fruits of our orchards with known and recently imported tropical fruits.'

`Jane Grigson's Fruit Book' is a 508 high quality, matt page alphabetical guide to selecting and using fruit, with practically *everything from apple to water melon, including the less popular `medlar` and `sapodilla`.
*'Fruit that is eaten principally as a vegetable - e.g. `the tomato`, came into an earlier book. `Olives' seemed out of the scheme of this book and there was no room to deal properly with `nuts`.`

This invaluable reference includes delicious dishes and useful appendices, entitled:-

Fruit Preserves
Pastry
Biscuits, Bread etc
Creams, Sugars etc:- including useful recipes for `Custard Sauce', `Coeur á la Créme' (soft and hard versions) and Vanilla Ice Cream
Preserving Fruit
`Edward Bunyard's Marriages of Fruit & Wine', which leads on to a section on, mixed fruit recipes
Notes on Quantities
and finishes with a concise index.


Interspersed with useful hints such as one for an `Emergency Cream`, 'without the need of a special machine for turning butter and milk into a form of cream that is acceptable in an emergency' and poetic references, e.g. POMEGRANATE - with the poem `Ronde de la Grenade' by André Gide.

Favourite Recipes:-
Pomegranate Soup
Orange Halva Cake
Redcurrant Water
Lazy Wild Duck with Orange Pineapple Upside-Down Pudding Cake
Old Fashioned Apple Tart
Kiwi Meringue Pudding
Ossi Buchi with Gooseberries
Pheasant Grenadine
Grouse with Wild Raspberries

A useful note:- when preparing fruit, always use stainless steel knives.


one of my favourite books of all times, 24 Jul 2001
Confession time - I don't read cookery books just for the recipes. I read them because food and cookery is important to me, and all sorts of related issues like culture, history and science are involved. I don't really want to know how to feed 4 for £2.50 or 58 interesting things to do with chicken, I want to enjoy the seductive qualities of good writing and delicious food. I read this book again and again til it fell apart. It was for a long time the book I kept by the side of my bed so when I couldn't sleep I could open it and read about oranges or guavas or persimmons. And there are some great recipes too, like orange syrup cake, my family's all time favourite cake. She's a great, intelligent writer, and I really recommend this book.

A treasury of ideas, 11 Nov 2001
This wonderful little book contains a treasury of ideas for experienced cooks and for beginners. The late, great Jane Grigson's enthusiasm for food shows on every page as she explores a selected range of her favourite foods. Each section begins with a short essay, which sets the scene. The range within a relatively short book is enormous; from asparagus to venison and mussels and scallops to walnuts. This is a book I go back to time after time, for inspiration and ideas as well as for the recipes themselves.

from the dustjacket, 22 Apr 2008
Here is a book for dedicated mushroom hunters who want to make the most of their gastronomic treasures and for the discriminating cooks who value the ineffable flavor that any fine mushroom imparts, be it cultivated or wild. Edible fungi of all kinds have been the inspiration since the seventeenth century for the finest recipes in every important cuisine. Cooking her way through this rich heritage, Jane Grigson, an inveterate mushroom hunter who has always enjoyed the feast that follows the pleasures of a splendid day's pickings, now shares the best of the recipes she herself has perfected as she has borrowed, recreated, invented dishes designed to make use of mushrooms in subtle, surprising ways, and to feature different delectable varieties to their best advantage.

Drawings of the twenty-one most common species and information about each one (physical characteristics, habitat, culinary properties) prepare the reader for the heart of the book- Grigson's choice array of recipes for mushrooms in soups, sauces, stuffings; dishes in which the mushroom is the main ingredient; meat, poultry, and fish dishes in which it is the essential flavoring; and, finally, a sampling of Japanese and Chinese recipes calling for the lovely, luxurious shiitake or the crunchy wood ear (both available here, dried).

One of the particular joys of this book is Jane Grigson's infectious enthusiasm for her Subject. Having pursued the mushroom for more than twenty years and being, blessed with a superb palate, she is able to describe the precise taste and texture of a particular species. And she is not a snob she appreciates the fresh cultivated, store bought variety or the common field mushroom at the same time as she delights in a prized truffle, because she knows the properties of each. She understands the affinities that certain mushrooms have for other ingredients, when they act as a foil, give their all to a dish, or create a perfect marriage She tells us about the best ways of preserving mushrooms drying and freezing (Only up to a point ), as well as storing away the miraculous French duxelles, which can then be spooned out like gold to enhance almost any dish. The bits of history about mushroom cultivation, the tore behind a recipe, the lure of a hushed woods when girolles have sprung up these are among the many delights that make this book so deliciously tempting.

Jane Grigson. is the author of The Art of Charcuterie (1968). and Good Things ( 1971), which are published by Alfred A. Knopf.

Try: Mushroom Sauce (from Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery, 1747), Careme's sauce hachee, Boletus Soup, Mussel soup with mushrooms, Mushroom fritters with tomato sauce, Mushroom cake with a cream sauce, Creamed mushroom puffs, Mushrooms in Madeira sauce, Mushroom caps filled with chopped olives, Mushroom caviare from Russia, Mushroom sandwiches, Basic mushroom salad, Smoked salmon and mushrooms, Potatoes gratin with mushrooms, Eggplant with mushrooms, Eggs in cocotte with truffles, Tree mushroom recipes (from Apicius), Truffle recipes (from Apicius), Fish baked in foil with mushrooms, Lamb cutlets with puree soubise and mushrooms, Chicken with a cream and ceps sauce, Quails with a truffle and port stuffing, Steamed egg custard with chicken and fish, Vinegared rice and seaweed rolls, Steamed chicken with padi-straw (grass) mushrooms, etc.

The best fish cookery book, 03 Nov 2007
Ignore the "it's too stuffy" comment about this book--it really is a wonderful, intelligent and practical book. With this and Alan Davidson's terrific book on North Atlantic seafood, you don't need much if any more.

And yes, herbs do play an important part in the recipes--it's just not nuovo Italiano of the Jamie Oliver school.

depends what you're looking for, 06 Oct 2005
I had read so much about what an absolute bible this is and, having worked my way through most of Jamie's et al recipes for fish, I thought I'd branch out a bit. This isn't what I had in mind at all. The recipes seem very old-fashioned. For example, I was looking for advice on what herbs go with what fish, but herbs don't appear to have been around when this was written. All the dishes seem to be the kind you would find in a creaky old gentlemen's club in the 1970's, with sauces. I accept that she's an acnowledged genius, but it's not my cup of tea.

What to do with cod, 07 Jan 2000
This is a wonderful book, scholarly, beautifully written yet full of practical recipes. Her writing shows up so much cookery writing as desperately pedestrian just go and read some terrible