Poor Cook
At Christmas my parents were both delighted – and possibly slightly amused – to see me draw down this recipe book from the shelf. It was theirs originally, and at some point at university I nicked it. I’ve used it as my default recipe book ever since.
Poor Cook is a classic. Published in 1971, it’s all about eating well from good but cheap ingredients. It was written by Susan Campbell and Caroline Conran, one of whom had lived in Sicily. The other one was married to Habitat founder and ‘the man who invented France’, Terence. A European influence is obvious, but there is nothing exotic about the book – except recipes rendered exotic by time. Tripe and Onions anyone? Three different recipes for rabbit?
I use it for simple classic recipes – it’s great for all the things I ought to know how to cook by now, but don’t. At Christmas I turned to it for making the bread sauce. And I always get distracted with the book’s homely oddities, like dandelion salad, ‘Pretend cream’ (bananas, egg white and sugar, of course) and this excellent entry:
“Babies’ Rusks
Cut stale bread into fingers and dry in the oven. Babies will never guess they didn’t come out of a packet.”
Well that sums up a 70s childhood, don’t you think? The book is sadly out of print, but you can read more about it here. Someone is selling a copy on Amazon for £144. And no Mum, you can’t have it back.
I love old cookery books. My Dad inherited the classic ‘Cooking in a Bedsit’ with his caravan. It includes a host of delicious ideas for cooking offal using only a kettle and recipes for a first date when your single-burner cooker is balanced on top of your headboard.
Hours of fun!
Ps – when can I come to dinner?
What a fantastic book, great graphics. I love how the rabbit looks so cuddly and cute, yet he is about to be eaten! No nonsense cooking.
Thanks Vanessa, yes the illustrations are really lovely, and there’s a whole section of detailed pictures of how to cut up various animals, butcher-style.
144 quid, blimey! Just consider it your inheritance, early. If you’re lucky you may also inherit another gem from the same era (1968) which is amongst the cookery books….”The Strange Story of False Teeth” by John Woodforde. Of course you won’t be needing any false teeth having been brought up on home made stale bread rusks.
In 1971 I was awarded a copy of this book as a school prize. I adore it and still use it.