Handbook of practical cookery : with an introduction on the philosophy of cookery.

  • Lees-Dods, Matilda.
Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Handbook of practical cookery : with an introduction on the philosophy of cookery. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Leeds Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Leeds Library.

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    results of failures too grave. It requires and demands care- ful, persistent study, and should utilize also all possible in- genuity and creative power that can be pressed into service. Originality of conception, thoroughness of knowledge, and precision of method may be said to be as important for the practice of cookery as for the practice of medicine; and it is very evident that the more fully these are called into play for the former, the greater the prospect of getting rid altogether of the latter. The due recognition, during the past decade, of the proper position of this branch of human knowledge has led to the establishment of institutions planned to give instruction in the principles of cooking, and to further its higher develop- ment as a fine art; and during the next few years we hope to see the number of such institutions largely increased. Having obtained a first class diploma from the Kensington School of Cookery, with this in my possession, and a defi- nite purpose before me of doing what was in my power to further the knowledge of my fellow-women and the comfort of my fellow-men, I could no longer feel that my life was aimless, even though my work should have no higher “range” than that of the kitchen. In course of my work with classes I have found that there was quite a general demand for a book that should embody, with somewhat more comprehensiveness and completeness of detail than was possible in any single course of lectures, the whole range of instruction, and should give the particular application of the general principles,—a book that should be, not a mere stereo- typed schedule of dinners, suppers, and breakfasts, nor a depressing list of semi-intelligible recipes, but one that should present a comprehensive insight into the general rules for the intelligent preparation of food, and at the same time clearly describe the several means and processes of