Public-domain ebook
The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined
by John Mollard
English1,012 downloads on Project GutenbergDownload EPUB
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #41352.
About this book
The Art of Cookery Made Easy and Refined is a practical kitchen manual first published in 1802 by John Mollard. Rather than beginning with elaborate theories of menu planning, the work opens with a declaration of its purpose: to strip away the “useless receipts” that clutter other cookbooks and to present a collection of recipes that are both economical and straightforward. Mollard explicitly eschews detailed guidance on selecting seasonal produce, urging readers instead to learn from market visits, while still offering a concise “Bill of Fare” for each month and an extensive index to locate dishes quickly. The table of contents alone reveals a sweeping range, from stocks, soups, and sauces to roasts, pies, and confectionery, each promised in modest portions and with an eye toward simplicity.
The voice is that of an early‑nineteenth‑century English gentleman‑chef, confident and instructional, yet modest in tone. Its language reflects the period’s formal diction, peppered with terms like “cullis,” “benshamelle,” and “glaize,” which will appeal to readers who enjoy historical culinary literature and the challenge of interpreting older terminology. Those with an interest in the evolution of British cooking, collectors of vintage recipe books, or home cooks who relish a methodical, season‑aware approach will find Mollard’s emphasis on practical technique and frugal preparation both engaging and instructive.
The opening · free to read
THE mode of cookery which the author of the following sheets has pursued for a series of years having obtained the most distinguished approbation of the public, has induced him to commit his practice to paper; in doing which, a deviation has been made from the usual introductory methods of other treatises of the kind, in omitting to give particular directions for the choice of fish, meats, poultry, and vegetables, and at what times they respectively might be in season, &c. &c. the author conceiving the simpler method to be the most acceptable: and, therefore, as actual knowledge must ever supersede written forms, he would advise a frequent attendance at the different markets, fully assured that experience will convey greater instruction in marketing than all the theories which could be advanced. There are, nevertheless, some useful observations interspersed in the course of the work for that purpose; the author having confined himself chiefly to the practical part of cookery; he has also given some directions in a branch of the confectionary business: in both of which it has been his constant endeavour that they might be rendered as simple and easy as possible, and that economy might pervade the whole.
The receipts are written for the least possible quantities in the different made-dishes and sauces, it being a frequent error in most of the books that they are too expensive and too long; by which means the art has been rendered intricate in the extreme, both in theory and practice.
Independent, also, of a close adherence to any given rules, there are other qualities essential to the completion of a thorough cook; such as, an acute taste, a fertile invention, and a rigid attention to cleanliness.
The preceding hints and subsequent directions, it is hoped, will prove fully adequate to perfection in cookery; the work being entirely divested of the many useless receipts from other professions, (which have been uniformly introduced in books of the like nature,) and nothing inserted but what has an immediate reference to the art itself.
There is prefixed a Bill of Fare for each month in the year, as a specimen of the seasons, which may be altered as judgment directs. There is annexed, also, at the end of the volume, an Index, by which, from the first letter or word of the different articles, will be found their respective receipts.
February 2d, 1802.
CONTENTS.
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