Tuesday, September 11, 2007

The Premise

The whole idea of my blog came from a conversation I had with my boyf about a woman who decided to cook every recipe in a cook book she found. I'm quite an enthusiastic cook and thought it would be a great idea to give it a try too.

I've chosen to use Jane Grigson's English Food for a variety of reasons. First, I enjoy cooking all sorts of world dishes but have never really concentrated on English/British cuisine apart from the odd dish here and there; second Grigson is a great writer; and third, although it was published in 1974, it very much concentrates on traditional dishes and many ingredients are no longer widely used (or perhaps not at all!).

That's the serious bit done - the main reason I'm doing the whole thing is to become a better cook by concentrating on it as my hobby and to have some fun - although I don't know where on Earth I'm going to get some of the ingredients from, i.e. brains!!

So this is it. I have to cook every dish in the book as written by Jane - even if it contains something I don't like, e.g. whiskey and salmon. I'm sure I can find someone who'll eat it! I may need help with finding some ingredients. If I can't get hold of something, I'll use the best alternative as a last resort. Many of the recipes contain foods that I've never tried myself so I'll be giving feedback on everything as I go along!

I'd also like help from you too - hints and tips, good suppliers, whatever - all help will be greatly recieved! Also if you'd like to suggest the next recipe or even try cooking the recipes along with me to start discussions about the best way to devil a kidney or whatever we might be attempting!

All I need to decide on is what I'm going to cook first...

4 comments:

Manhattanchester said...

I don't know where you'll get brains from either. Haha! I'm v excited, though as you know I refuse to eat rhubarb . . .

MimsyS said...

Delighted to have found this blog. And wow - there are years and years of entries to enjoy!

If you're wondering; I was searching for a traditional mincemeat recipe. As a big fan of Heston, Fergus and Jane herself, I'm rather pleased and have added you to my RSS feed. Excellent!

Neil Buttery said...

Thanks Mimsy!

It's always good to know that people read it and like it! Mrs Beeton's mincemeat is the best in the world. I've written some more on mincemeat and mince pies in my other new blog, British Food: A History.

Laura Mitchell said...

Hi Neil,

My name's Laura and I'm currently working on an exciting new food series for ITV1 called Food, Glorious, Food.

I read that you've recently moved back to Manchester so would love to have a chat with you, you can reach me on: laura.mitchell@optomen.com

I look forward to hopefully hearing from you soon!

Best Wishes,
Laura