England without Chips

It is easy to give a case of Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle 1964, or a drugstore bottle of aftershave lotion, but how to choose a nice, middle-range Christmas present? Mind you, I am saying present, not gift, least of all the sort of gift that clutters up one’s life. There are always books—not general books, where you never know if the recipient would not have preferred a volume printed in Ceylon in 1901 (as my husband does), but books you can have opinions and feelings about; books which won’t make people sore at you, but which will impress them with your savoir faire. In other words, cookbooks.

Cookbooks are like people: They serve different purposes. The best ones are those which entertain you, instruct you (to the extent you wish to be instructed), and are simply good to cook from. There is one in this year’s avalanche of cookbooks that fits this description—The Seven Centuries Cookbook: From Richard II to Elizabeth II, by Maxime McKendry (McGraw-Hill, 240 pages, $10.95). The author, whom I have long admired for her delightful approach to food in Vogue, gives us a literate and very entertaining account of English food and how it developed. The book is divided into five chronological sections, each one preceded by an introduction about the food and drink of the time, followed by historical recipes and their modern versions (with both English and American measurements).

NH

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Nika Hazelton

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It is easy to give a case of Laurent Perrier Grand Siècle 1964, or a drugstore bottle of aftershave lotion, but how to choose a nice, middle-range Christmas present? Mind you, I am saying present, not gift, least of all the sort of gift that clutters up one’s life. There are always books—not general books, where you never know if the recipient would not have preferred a volume printed in Ceylon in 1901 (as my husband does), but books you can have opinions and feelings about; books which won’t make people sore at you, but which will impress them with your savoir faire. In other words, cookbooks.

Cookbooks are like people: They serve different purposes. The best ones are those which entertain you, instruct you (to the extent you wish to be instructed), and are simply good to cook from. There is one in this year’s avalanche of cookbooks that fits this description—The Seven Centuries Cookbook: From Richard II to Elizabeth II, by Maxime McKendry (McGraw-Hill, 240 pages, $10.95). The author, whom I have long admired for her delightful approach to food in Vogue, gives us a literate and very entertaining account of English food and how it developed. The book is divided into five chronological sections, each one preceded by an introduction about the food and drink of the time, followed by historical recipes and their modern versions (with both English and American measurements).