A
HANDBOOK OF COOKERY
THE ART AND PRACTICE OF INNKEEPING.
By Alexander F. Part.
Demy 8vo. 10s. 6d. net.
A GUIDE TO MODERN COOKERY.
By A. Escoffier.
Demy 8vo. 21s. net.
THE COMPLETE INDIAN HOUSEKEEPER AND COOK.
By Flora Annie Steel and Grace Gardiner.
Cr. 8vo. 7s. 6d. net.
THE COOK’S DECAMERON.
By Mrs. W. J. Waters.
Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.
THE BELGIAN COOK BOOK
Edited by Mrs. Brian Luck.
Cr. 8vo. 2s. 6d. net.
London: WILLIAM HEINEMANN, Ltd.
A
HANDBOOK OF COOKERY
FOR A SMALL HOUSE
BY
JESSIE CONRAD
With a preface by
Joseph Conrad
London
WILLIAM HEINEMANN, Ltd.
First published, February, 1923.
Printed in Great Britain
[Pg v]
PREFACE
Of all the books produced since the most remote ages by human talentsand industry those only that treat of cooking are, from a moral pointof view, above suspicion. The intention of every other piece of prosemay be discussed and even mistrusted; but the purpose of a cookery bookis one and unmistakable. Its object can conceivably be no other than toincrease the happiness of mankind.
This general consideration, and also a feeling of affectionate interestwith which I am accustomed to view all the actions of the writer,prompt me to set down these few words of introduction for her book.Without making myself responsible for her teaching (I own that I findit impossible to read through a cookery book) I come forward modestlybut gratefully as a Living Example of her practice. That practice Idare pronounce most successful. It has been for many priceless yearsadding to the sum of my daily happiness.
Good cooking is a moral agent. By good cooking I mean the conscientiouspreparation of the simple food of every-day life, not the more or lessskillful [Pg vi]concoction of idle feasts and rare dishes. Conscientiouscooking is an enemy to gluttony. The trained delicacy of the palatelike a cultivated delicacy of sentiment stands in the way of unseemlyexcesses. The decency of our life is for a great part a matter of goodtaste, of the correct appreciation of what is fine in simplicity. Theintimate influence of conscient