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Máire Uí Mhaicín | all galleries >> Galleries >> Books I will remember > The old cookery scrapbook
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22-MAR-2010

The old cookery scrapbook


This is the scrapbook I started some decades ago when I was a penniless student
and unable to afford the lovely glossy cookbooks in the bookshops.
I read and tried and then cut out and kept recipes that worked for me.
The much battered and abused scrapbook was recently found
at the back of a cupboard.
Here it is open at a page that holds Constance Spry's recipe for a chocolate roulade.
She was the founder of the Cordon Bleu School, and legend has it that she
paid £100 to a Paris chef for this recipe.

Nikon D300S
1/320s f/2.8 at 55.0mm iso320 full exif

other sizes: small medium large original auto
Alan K03-Oct-2010 04:48
Gives a good feel for the age of the book; newspaper clippings which are slightly stained, for instance. I don't need a recipe books since there's only about a dozen dishes I can cook without making a meal (in the metaphorical sense) of them. Speaking of which, time to go make one of them now...
William Barletta31-Mar-2010 02:36
The new glossy books are nothing in comparison with the recipes that you have selected, modified, and learned to love for years.
Ali Majdfar30-Mar-2010 08:22
Creative idea; it is now something precious. ~V
Victoria28-Mar-2010 06:16
Awesome, what a wonderful work, i love it , cheers
bill friedlander27-Mar-2010 18:53
Glad to see your recipes are kept near and tidy. Perhaps you can post the one for the chocolate roulade.
slhoornstra25-Mar-2010 17:44
Our scrapbooks are filled with memory and transport us quickly into the past, very special. V
Frank Brault25-Mar-2010 02:28
I thought I had posted a comment on this, but for some reason it did not get through. I really like the sense of personal history in this photo.
lisamidi24-Mar-2010 19:59
I love this image, and I love your cookery book!
I kept the first one I started as a poor student too and still love it! There are so many memories in these collection of recipes. v
Steve Sharp23-Mar-2010 17:28
The proof is in the pudding (or something like that!), so I look forward to seeing a photo of the chocolate roulade!
Yvonne23-Mar-2010 01:23
This is really lovely to see, and it brings back some fond memories of books I made in
our early days of marriage. Unfortunately I think mine are lost with all the shifts we
did as teachers.
Ray :)23-Mar-2010 00:58
I still have a selection of recipe books from the late 1940s inherited from my mother!
laine22-Mar-2010 22:24
We had a waterpipe leak & unbeknown my recipe books were soaking in it...lost my old dear Mother In Law's handwritten ones.
There are 2 great books out by Alexa Johnson, Ladies, a plate & A Second Helping...both have traditional old recipes in them.

I like the simplicity of how we did things!!
Mairéad22-Mar-2010 21:00
My mother had a scarp book just like this one, a collection of recipes cut from newspapers, leaflets
and hand-written favourites.
It's got a special recipe for a rich fruit cake which I used for my wedding cake.
I'd be suprised if you haven't recipes for Breda Costigan who, if I remember correctly,
wrote for a Sunday paper.
Chris22-Mar-2010 19:20
That's a page for a 'sweet tooth' like me! Super to rediscover this again.
Peter Sussex22-Mar-2010 19:15
It's a shame that due to changing flats several times I have no choice to find gems like this.
Johnny JAG22-Mar-2010 18:42
I wonder how much she made from that £100 investment? Nice rediscovery.
Faye White22-Mar-2010 18:02
It's so wonderful that you kept this!
Ann...22-Mar-2010 17:59
What a lovely "find" It's good that you kept it. How many of the recipes are still favourites today I wonder?!