Round the table : notes on cookery & plain recipes; with a selection of bills of fare for every month

Preface To The Second Edition

The fact that the first edition of “ Round the Table ” has been so soon exhausted is a gratifying proof that the labours of the writer have been appreciated by the public, who have thus confirmed the favourable verdict of the Press.

The Author ventures to hope that the Second Edition will meet with as cordial a reception -as that granted to the first, and that his humble efforts may continue to aid the improvement of that important part of social economy, the art of good cookery, on which depend, in so great a measure, health, good temper and contentment.

The G. C.

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Preface To Tpie First Edition

Without claiming for this little book the merit of being a complete treatise on Cookery, I yet hope that in it the cardinal principles of the art are plainly set forth. All the recipes are derived from experience, and will be found on trial to be practical : they are in daily use in my own kitchen ; and the Bills of Fare appended have also borne the test of actual experiment at my table.

Some of these papers have appeared during the last few years in the form of articles in the Queen newspaper, and the favour accorded to them by the readers of that journal has induced me to publish them in a collected form, with such emendations and additions as later experience has suggested to

The G. C.

OPINIONS OF THE PRESS

From the Bath Chronicle, June 27, 1872.

“ Hound the Table ” is a cookery book which will be of great service to the mistress or housekeeper, and to her cook, and which it is not unpleasant or unprofitable to read, as one reads ordinary books.

From the Mark Lame Express, July 1, 1872.

This is something more than a mere cookery book, the opening chapter, "Table Talk,” being especially good, as abounding in ethics, on serving a dinner, and sorting your company. 1

From the Birmingham Daily Gazette, July 2, 1872.

The recipes are plain, and easily comprehended. No better book could be placed in the hands of a young lady on her start in life as mistress of a household.

From the Edinburgh Coura/nt, July 8, 1872.

It is simply one of the most practical and useful cookery books we have seen.

From the Essex Standard, July 12, 1872.

Many of the remarks strike us as original, and yet at the same time abounding in good sense and observation ; the recipes are thoroughly clear, practical, and not obscured by the technical terms with which authors of cookery books are too mdch accustomed to interlard their directions.

From the Nottingham Guardian, July 19, 1872.

The book can hardly be called a mere collection of recipes, as it contains so many hints on the general management and arrangement of a dinner ; and is consequently a great improvement on the ordinary cookery book. Anyone who would not be satisfied with a dinner chosen according to the bills of fare inserted at the end of the book, and cooked and served up according to the directions given in the earlier part, must indeed be hard to please.

From Vanity Fair, July 20, 1872.

Nothing can be more simply described than the recipes in the book before us, nor more easy to be carried out. They have also another groat merit, which is that they are not in the least extravagant, which is the fault of so many of the fashionable cookery books. The chapter on the various ways of treating eggs is excellent ; also that on salads and vegetables.

From the Lancet, July 20, 1872.

“ The G. C.” makes a tour of the dining table, and dwells artistically on all the methods by which food is made pleasing to the senses, and conducive to social entertainment. . . . . “ The G. 0.” presents us with one of the best treatises on the art of dining that

we have met with “ The G. 0.” supplies a full, intelligible, and vivacious

exposition of the various steps in cookery ; of how to mako broths, lor instance, for the healthy and for the invalid ; of the mysteries of boiling, frying, and roasting j of the proper treatment of vegetables

From the Graphic, July 27, 1872.

• .. • ■ A collection of maxims and instructions for preparing good food and properly serving it, and is chiefly to be commended, because the dishes spoken of aro such as people, with ordinary means, are likely to present to their guests ; whereas cookery books generally are too apt to assume that everybody has £10,000 a year and a French cook.

From the Knife and Fork, July 27, 1872.

Th® book will be a valuable one to housekeepers of modest means who havo epicurean proclivities. It is written in an easy, pleasant style, that is amusing as well as instructive.

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OPINIONS OP THE PRESS, and we advise all who are interested in such matters, particularly the young and inexperienced housewife, to obtain it. She will profit greatly by the clear, intelligible recipes it contains. There are many valuable hints, both “ in the scientific branch of cookery, the devising of sauces and dishes, and also in the artistic branch, the art of garnishing,” also as to the training of servants, the making of stock, &c. The directions for cooking are so plain they might be understood by anyone, however ignorant of the art of cookery, and, unlike the old cookery books, which told you what to do, but scarcely ever explained 7(oro to do it, the present work goes into the minutest details of preparation, and she must be a bungler indeed who could not prepare a fairly good dinner from the information gained in the pages of “ Round the Table.”

From the Echo, Aug. 13, 1872.

.... Alternately teaching and advising, with an amusing word or anecdote here and there, we find valuable recipes on almost every branch of cookery; none of the practical difficulties are passed without some explanation. The chapters on vegetables and frying are especially edifying, and, after alluding to almost every part of the science he tries to diffuse, the writer gives a series of bills of fare for every month, which would render the famous Baron Brisse jealous. On the whole, “ Round the Table ” is a decidedly valuable hook, written with good taste and no small ability, and contains in 300 pages all that could be said on a subject which is so much the more interesting that it is all but unknown.

From the Bradford Observer, Aug. 15, 1872.

This book is a serviceable contribution to the literature of the kitchen, presenting the reader with many very valuable suggestions with regard to the art of cookery, all of which

• seem to be the result of practical experience The duties of host and hostess, the

method of managing servants on special occasions, the way to manage a dinner party, and all the other et-ceteras of custom which polite dinner-giving and dinner-taking society are expected to conform to, are laid down with as much precision as the rules of Hoyle’s games.

From the Spectator, Aug. 24, 1872.

It treats the subject rationally, does not overwhelm the reader with multitudes of recipes, most of them hopelessly expensive and complicated, but tells him how the table may be economically and elegantly served. The prefatory chapter, entitled “Table Talk,” is full of good sense.

From The Field, Aug. 31, 1872.

Persons of moderate income who do not keep a professed cook, but who nevertheless desire to live on dainty meats, and are tired of the sameness of the roast and boiled, alternating only with chops and steaks, will find this book a perfect treasure of practical suggestions.

From the Observer, Sept. 22, 1872.

A little vol. of 300 pages does not profess to be exhaustive. Nor is “ Round the Table” a cookery book in the ordinary sense of the word ; it is rather a book for the unstress of the household to read and ponder. Apart from the recipes, many of which are new and original — all of which are so carefully explained, that nothing but deliberate perversity can make the cook go wrong, and each one of which has been used in “ The G. C.’s own kitchen— the value of the work is in its "wrinkles.” .... And there are also a hundred little bits of advice of which the British cook is in sore need, and which, trivial as they may appear, are yet very valuable.

From the Morning Advertiser, Nov. 2, 1872.

We have found in “ Round the Table ” much which is commendable. .... "The G. C.’s ” gastronomical notions are based on the soundest principles.

From the Gardener’ s Chronicle, Nov. 9, 1872.

“ Round the Table ” consists of a series of chatty, sensible articles, which may emphatically be recommended to every housekeeper as deserving her serious attention.

From the Nottingham and Midland Counties Daily Express,

.... The most useful, cleverly and cheerily written, and withal the most economical, household director.

From tho Daily Neivs, Dec. 25, lSf2.

A very practicable handbook of the ark and one deserving every commendation. To youiig housewives with exacting husbands and young cooks we cannot do better than recommend this painstaking little manual ; while even devotees accomplished in tnc culinary art will be able to gather many useful hints from these clear, concise, ’and wenwritten pages.