''The Cooks and Confectioners Dictionary: or, the Accomplish'd Housewives Companion'' was a cookery book written by John Nott and first published in London in 1723.
Context
Nott had been the chief cook for a string of aristocrats, named on the title page of his book as the Dukes of Somerset, Ormond, and Bolton, and the Lords Lansdown and Ashburnham.
Book
Contents
The book describes how to make savoury dishes including "Bisks, Farces, forc'd Meats, Marinades, Olio's, Puptons, Ragoos, Sauces, Soops, Pottages". Pastries include biscuits, cakes, custards, puddings, pies and tarts. Confectionery includes candying and conserving flowers, fruits, and roots, as well as jellies, marmalades and decorative "sugar-works". Drinks include the making of beer, cider, mead, perry and English wines, as well as cordials. The book ends with a list of suggested bills of fare for every month of the year.
The book is prefaced with a four-page Introduction "To All Good Housewives", beginning "Worthy Dames, Were it not for the sake of Custom, which has made it as unfashionable for a Book to come abroad without an Introduction, as for a Man to appear at Church without a Neckcloth, or a Lady without a Hoop-petticoat, I should not have troubled you with this." The introduction ends with "Your humble Servant, The Compiler". There follows "Some Divertisements in Cookery, us'd at Festival-Times, as Twelfth-Day, &c."
The main text is laid out as a dictionary from
Al to
Zest
Zest may refer to:
Common usage
* Zest (ingredient), the outer peel of a citrus fruit
** Zester, a tool for preparing zest
** Twist (cocktail garnish), a piece of zest
* Zest (positive psychology), a component of character
Brands
* Zest (brand ...
. It included items now unfamiliar, such as
Battalia Pye of Fish, a "very large Pye, and cut with
Battlements
A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interva ...
... with as many Towers as will contain your several sorts of Fish", which included
salmon
Salmon () is the common name for several list of commercially important fish species, commercially important species of euryhaline ray-finned fish from the family (biology), family Salmonidae, which are native to tributary, tributaries of the ...
,
cockles,
prawn
Prawn is a common name for small aquatic crustaceans with an exoskeleton and ten legs (which is a member of the order decapoda), some of which can be eaten.
The term "prawn"Mortenson, Philip B (2010''This is not a weasel: a close look at nature ...
s,
oyster
Oyster is the common name for a number of different families of salt-water bivalve molluscs that live in marine or brackish habitats. In some species, the valves are highly calcified, and many are somewhat irregular in shape. Many, but not al ...
s, and
periwinkles.
This is followed by Bills of Fare, Terms of Art for Carving, Instructions for Carving, The Manner of Setting out a Desert of Fruits and Sweet-meats, and the Alphabetical Index.
Approach
![To make an Amlet of Asparagus Nott 1723](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2a/To_make_an_Amlet_of_Asparagus_Nott_1723.jpg)
Since the main text is an alphabetical list, there are no sections, and the recipes stand alone without instructions on kitchen equipment or general comments on types of dish.
The entries are named, either like "Asparagus with Butter" as dishes, or like "To make an Amlet of Asparagus" as goals to be attained. The ingredients are not listed. Quantities, if mentioned at all, are simply included in the text, as "an Egg or two", relying on the cook's judgement as to the exact quantity needed. Cooking conditions are similarly mentioned only in passing, as "over a gentle Fire". For example:
[
::To make an Amlet of Asparagus
:: Blanch your ]Asparagus
Asparagus, or garden asparagus, folk name sparrow grass, scientific name ''Asparagus officinalis'', is a perennial flowering plant species in the genus ''Asparagus''. Its young shoots are used as a spring vegetable.
It was once classified in ...
, cut them in short Pieces, fry them in fresh Butter, with a little Parsley and Chibols ; then pur in some Cream, season them well, and let them boil over a gentle Fire: In the mean time make an Amlet with new laid Eggs, Cream, and Salt ; when it is enough, dress it on a Dish ; thicken the Asparagus with the Yolk of an Egg or two, turn the Asparagus on the Amlet, and serve it up hot.[Nott, 1723, page 130.]
Editions
* First edition
1723, C. Rivington, London
::--- reprinted 1980, Lawrence Rivington, London. Introduction and glossary by Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...
::--- reprinted 2012, Rare Books Club.
* Second edition, 1724, C. Rivington, London. With additions[
* Third edition, 1726, C. Rivington, London. With additions][
::--- reprinted 2005, Thomson Gale, Farmington Hills, Michigan][
* Fourth edition, 1733. C. Rivington, London.][
]
Reception
Nott's recipe for hot chocolate is said to be delicious. The bibliographer William Carew Hazlitt
William Carew Hazlitt (22 August 18348 September 1913), known professionally as W. Carew Hazlitt, was an English lawyer, bibliographer, editor and writer. He was the son of the barrister and registrar William Hazlitt, a grandson of the essayist a ...
, in his 1902 ''Old Cookery Books'', considered Nott well-read and intelligent as he drew his recipes from many sources at home and abroad, including "to dress mutton the Turkish way".
Nott's "Queen's Pottage" is recreated at ''The Gilbert Scott'' restaurant, though ''The Telegraph
''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include:
Australia
* ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...
'' notes that the chef, Marcus Wareing
Marcus Wareing (born 29 June 1970) is an English celebrity chef who is currently Chef-Owner of the one-Michelin-starred restaurant Marcus (formerly Marcus Wareing at the Berkeley) in Knightsbridge. Since 2014, Wareing has been a judge on '' Maste ...
, omits the original cockscomb
A comb is a fleshy growth or crest on the top of the head of some gallinaceous birds, such as domestic chickens. The alternative name cockscomb (with several spelling variations) reflects the fact that combs are generally larger on cock birds t ...
s. Nott's Salmagundy is likewise reworked by Heston Blumenthal
Heston Marc Blumenthal (; born 27 May 1966) is a British celebrity chef, TV personality and food writer. Blumenthal is regarded as a pioneer of multi-sensory cooking, food pairing and flavour encapsulation. He came to public attention with un ...
in his ''Dinner'' restaurant.
''The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets'' notes that the "ubiquitous" crème brûlée
''Crème brûlée'' or ''crème brulée'' (; ), also known as burnt cream or Trinity cream, and virtually identical to the original crema catalana, is a dessert consisting of a rich custard base topped with a layer of hardened caramelized sugar ...
appeared in the ''Dictionary'', but that Elizabeth David
Elizabeth David CBE (born Elizabeth Gwynne, 26 December 1913 – 22 May 1992) was a British cookery writer. In the mid-20th century she strongly influenced the revitalisation of home cookery in her native country and beyond with articles and bo ...
had traced Nott's version to François Massialot's recipe in his 1691 ''Cuisinier royal et bourgeois'', rendered as "Burnt Cream" in the English translation of his book, ''The Court and Country Cook'' of 1702. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation comments that Nott seems to have plagiarized "heavily" from Robert May as well as Massialot, without explanation.
Notes
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooks And Confectioners Dictionary
1723 books
English cuisine
Early Modern cookbooks
Books involved in plagiarism controversies