Master's & Commanders - Aubrey/Maturin series cookbook

Hi,

Last night I had a dining companion who publishes military history books. In a passing note, he commented he had a friend who wrote a companion cookbook for Patrick O'Brian's acclaimed Aubrey/Maturin series of books, called:

Lobscouse and Spotted Dog
Anne Chotzinoff Grossman and Lisa Grossman Thomas
2000 / paperback / ISBN 0-393-32094-4
1997 / hardcover / ISBN 0-393-04559-5
6" x 8" / 304 pages / Patrick O'Brian/Cooking

This Mother and daughter team researched the recipes refered to in the books, then made them workable for contemporary cooks.

Some years ago, there was a guest speaker to Culinary Historians who compared baroque music to recipes recorded in the same era. Baroque music if played as originally transcribed is very flat and dull. However, in the Baroque era it was understood the person playing had broad skills and talent in music. It was expected the musician would interpret the music by adding the necessary trills and flourishes expected for this style of music.

Recipes recorded in earlier eras also had an abbreviated style, which contemporary cooks blithely understand as simple. Again, they expected the recipes were in the hands of skilled and experience cooks who needed a bare outline to understand and replicate a dish. Most cookbooks today pretty much hand feed us with their endless detail.

An interesting gift to consider for fans of this book series.

Cathy2 wrote:Recipes recorded in earlier eras also had an abbreviated style, which contemporary cooks blithely understand as simple. Again, they expected the recipes were in the hands of skilled and experience cooks who needed a bare outline to understand and replicate a dish. Most cookbooks today pretty much hand feed us with their endless detail.

Cathy2:

You're quite right on both counts (regarding recipes of old and recipes of late). Your comments reminded me of one of my favourite cookbook authors, namely, Elizabeth David. I have three books by her written between 1950 and 1960-- Mediterranean Food, Italian Food and French Provincial Cooking-- and I learned much from each of them. Most of the recipes she gives in a very simple manner and only rarely does she spell everything out (though often a recipe builds on one or more of those preceding it).

I got these books many moons ago, when I first moved away from kith and kin to Belgium and had to start cooking for myself on a regular basis. Though I had a certain knowledge of basics learned from my mother and grandmother, as well as some from watching Julia Childs, David's recipes were sometimes a little daunting on account of the lack of detail. But her books were well written and engaging, and I think the fact that everything wasn't completely spelt out actually helped me to learn to cook, insofar as it forced me to think through what I intended to do and to rely on building up my own knowledge through experience. I made some bad meals, I guess, but then I was the only one subjected to them for the most part.

Concerning recipes from more or less historically remote periods, I especially enjoy reading those we have from classical antiquity but they are for the most part the most stream-lined recipes imaginable and, alas, much of what was then assumed knowledge is now unknown and the object of speculation for us moderns (or postmoderns).

Antonius

Antonius,

I absolutely adore Elizabeth David. The first book I bought was Spices, Salts and Aromatics in the English Kitchen in 1977 during a visit to Europe. I have all her books including a very detailed book on bread. She was a frequent columnist in Gourmet magazine. There is a collection of her articles in the book, An Omelet and a Glass of Wine. She died several years ago. Since her death there was a book published of her life, which I have not yet acquired.

From the same school of cookery book writers is Jane Grigson, who was a friend of Elizabeth David. She wrote more topical books: Fruit Book, Vegetable Book, Mushrooms, Charcuteries, plus some historical cookbooks.

An American of similar ilk is M.F.K. Fisher (Mary Frances Kennedy) whose books are simply a fine read of taste, memories and discrimination.

Regards,

I located an NPR interview with the authors of Lobscouse and Spotted Dog.

Proof that you listened to it or perhaps read the series, can you tell me what a "Miller" is?

Regards,

For those interested, Lisa Grossman was a member for a while at egullet and did one of their food blogs under the name balmagowry


http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=41457

Which I read the series about 10 years ago, and got the cookbook when it first came out. It is very interesting to read, though I dont think that I would really want to eat many of the things in there unless I was starving after many months at sea, though the Strasburg pie is tempting. There are lots of ideas for you guys to use all your extra leaf lard, even more if you substitute it for suet. I think that I could eat millers in a pinch, though I draw the line at "Boiled Shit."

-Will

My brother and some of his friends once did an Aubrey-Matrin dinner party, using recipes from the book. Goose and truffle pie, roast lamb, suckling pig, steamed pudding, and rum punch were abundant that night. Sure, the hard tack and rat are not appealing, but there are some wonderful items in this book, and it's fun if you enjoy a bit of history, as well, or perhaps literature, because O'Brian was not the only English writer to speak of these dishes.

And bashed neeps (whipped rutabaga), which are in the book, are actually familiar to me from my childhood, as my grandmother made -- and, in fact, I still make them -- they're one of my favorite winter dishes.

So if you're undecided, do check out the book. History and literature are both well served by this volume, and of course, there is that recipe for Strasbourg Pie.