The Complete Cook:
TEACHING THE Art of Cookery In All Its Branches; And To Spread A TABLE, In A Useful, Substantial And Splendid Manner, At All Seasons In The Year. With Practical instructions To Choose, Buy, Dress and Carve all Sorts of PROVISIONS. Far exceeding any Thing of the Kind yet Published. CONTAINING The greatest Variety of Aproved Receipts in COOKERY, PASTRY, CONFECTIONARY (a perpendicular double line) PRESEERVING, PICKLING, COLLARING &cc. AND Dishes for Lent and Fast-Days. A Variety of Made Dishes. And to Dress both the Real and Mock TURTLE. With an APPENDIX Teaching the Art of Making WINE, MEAD, CYDER, SHRUB, STRONG, CORDIAL and MEDICINE WATERS. Brewing Malt Liquors. The Management and Breeding of Poultry and Bees AND RECEIPTS for Preserving and Restoring Health and Relieving Pain, and for Taking out Stains, Preserving Furniture, Cleaning Plate &c. (a single line) The Use of Families. (a single line) By JAMES JENKS, Cook. (a single line) LONDON: Printed for E, and C. DILLY in the Poultry. MDCLXV111.
FIRST EDITION. 1768. Duodecimo. 166 x 98 mm. 1 fep. Title page. (1)iv-x Introduction. (1)xii-xx Contents. (1)2-5 Market Tables. [1] (1)8-314. (1)316-364 Appendix. 1fep. Recent tan half calf, marbled paper boards, black morocco label to spine. Partially erased contemporary ownership inscription to the verso of the title page. Book stamp of I. A. Farrer on p.314. Text block a little shaken but sound, edges and tips occasionally nicked. Rubbing to extremities. Some slight foxing to contents, spot of grease to upper margin of a couple of leaves of gathering L, upper margin quite closely trimmed; a good copy of an oft-handled book.
- The rare first edition of this practical book of recipes and domestic management. As with many cookbooks of the period this work combines traditional English recipes with French cuisine dishes replicated "in the French manner", as well as introducing more exotic dishes, such as "Turtle the West-Indian way" (p. 117). The work also contains medicinal recipes, a number of which are accompanied by the instruction that they must be taken "at the changes of the moon" for full efficacy. Also in the appendix it has an unusual guide for keeping bees. Showing signs on page 204 of a previous owner's practical use of this copy, they have in the recipe for "A Poor Man's Pudding", highlighted the ingredients "nutmeg grated" and "some rose water or sack" by neatly drawing a line through them in ink: Thereby making sure this really is a poor man's dish. This edition is uncommon institutionally and in public, with just six copies traced in the UK, and seven copies appearing at auction. Bitting 245; Cagle 780; A. W. Oxford, English Cookery Books to the year 1850, p. 97-8.
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