And to finish....

It is with a heart as heavy as the stodgy Corned Beef Fritters I cooked in entry 5 that I announce this to be my final entry on Marguerite and Me. Talking about Marguerite with my Mum in the video above has shown me that the reason her writing is so interesting to me - the easy methodology and simple language - is exactly why my Mum likes it too. Passing on the gift...

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Foods the Family need.

In the "Before you start to cook" section of Step by Step Cookery Marguerite Patten offers information to do with the basic rules of cookery, time management and, as in this chapter "Food the family need", instructions on how to stay healthy. These sections are reminiscent of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in that they aim to teach you just that - how to a manage...

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Bits and Bobs

Today I'm going to be blogging about the various clippings found inside my Mother's copy of Step by Step Cookery. When I started to pull the pieces of magazine, newspaper and strangely enough Christmas Card from the book I was struck by just how many there were. Why, if my family find Marguerite and her recipes so wonderful, would we need quite so many recipes from other...

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Corned Beef Fritters

Full Disclosure: I love Corned Beef. Love might even be too tame a term for it since I'm fairly sure I would be happy eating it straight from the can with a spoon if that wasn't completely socially unacceptable. My Mum's Corned Beef Pie (oddly not a Marguerite Patten recipe) with chips, peas and gravy is the best meal I could possibly think of, so when it came to WW2 food...

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'We'll Eat Again" - Marguerite Patten and WW2.

  I've been interested in the food of World War Two since my Year 6 project on rationing. I wasn't aware until the start of this blog, however, of how big an influence Marguerite Patten had been on the recipes and eating habits of WW2 Britain. In the introduction to We'll Eat Again, a nostalgic collection of recipes from the War, Marguerite Patten discusses her...

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What a difference 20 years makes.... or does it?

  When it comes to Step by Step Cookery I actually have two books to choose from if I want to find a recipe. The orange book, the one that's been in my life since I was small, is my Mum's, and the garish green and yellow one? That's mine.  The year is 2011 and I am moving into my room at Lee House on the Roehampton campus with boxes of new bedding, posters to...

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Let them eat cake.

As I mentioned in my last blog post; Marguerite Patten's recipe for "Rich queen cakes" has been the basis for every cake my family and I have made for as long as I can remember. It's a simple recipe but an effective one and even when I'm making a cake far more complicated than just flour, sugar, eggs, butter and some sultanas I always seem to come back to Marguerite to...

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