SECOND
HELPINGS
When she was given a relative’s recipe book, Lia Leendertz
found the joy of rediscovering old favourites and learning
more about the women in her family that she only got
to meet through the dishes they passed down»
Photography: KIRSTIE YOUNGA
bout a year ago I was
given two pieces of family
treasure; both cook books,
and as different from each
other as a Delia is from a Heston.
Compiled by the cooks themselves,
and cooks in my family no less, the
first belonged to my Nana. A bright
red plastic folder stuffed with recipes
written on scraps of paper or pulled
out of 1960s and 70s magazines and
Be-Ro catalogues, many of which I
recognise from my childhood (hello
again, chocolate and coffee mousse!).
The second is older and more sedate.
It belonged to a distant relative
called Ellen Turner, an ancestor
of my step dad, the unmarried sister
of his great-great grandfather. Ellen’s
family were farmers in Ditchling,
West Sussex, and lived at a farm called
Newland for 200 years, next to the
Oldland windmill, which is still there.
Her cookbook is a thing of beauty. A
brown marbled paper cover with deep
green spine and the whole thing has
a sepia tinge to it, including the ornate
name plate: Ellen Turner, Newland,
April 1858. The recipes written out as
sentences (‘Rub into a pound of dried
f lour four ounces of butter’), before
the convention of ingredients list and
method came along that we are now
so familiar with. It revisits the same
basic ingredients again and again, but
the recipes are surprisingly modern,
in a way far more so than Nana’s. We
seem to have leapfrogged over peanutand raisin coleslaw and California
chicken and landed right back in
gooseberry fool, quince marmalade
and treacle pudding. It is a treat
to make these recipes (albeit with
updates for modern tastes) through
Ellen’s eyes, and close that circle.PASSING DOWN RECIPES
Until really recently it was common
for cooks to create their own book of
favourite recipes. These are exactly
the sort of books that are overlooked
in the family home: we get so used
to them being around they end up
shoved to the back of a cupboard.
Ask members of your family and see
if any exist. Even those put together
relatively recently offer fascinating
glimpses of the past, often including
clippings from the time that will
give you an understanding of your
relative’s life and how things have
changed. Most importantly they
may reveal wonderful recipes, some
from your own childhood, perhaps.
It might be that you have to tweak
the recipes to make them to your
taste, but that is all a part of the
age-old process of recipe evolution.
If you don’t have any family
recipe books, start your own. Buy
a notebook, set aside a few pages for
contents, and start writing. Record
dishes you use often from books
and cut out recipes from magazines,
adding your own little tweaks as you
BACKGROUND: FLOW MARBLE EFFECT BLUSH & WHITE WALLPAPER, go. Someone one day will treasure it.WOODCHIPANDMAGNOLIA.CO.UKSECOND
HELPINGS
When she was given a relative’s recipe book, Lia Leendertz
found the joy of rediscovering old favourites and learning
more about the women in her family that she only got
to meet through the dishes they passed down»
Photography: KIRSTIE YOUNGA
bout a year ago I was
given two pieces of family
treasure; both cook books,
and as different from each
other as a Delia is from a Heston.
Compiled by the cooks themselves,
and cooks in my family no less, the
first belonged to my Nana. A bright
red plastic folder stuffed with recipes
written on scraps of paper or pulled
out of 1960s and 70s magazines and
Be-Ro catalogues, many of which I
recognise from my childhood (hello
again, chocolate and coffee mousse!).
The second is older and more sedate.
It belonged to a distant relative
called Ellen Turner, an ancestor
of my step dad, the unmarried sister
of his great-great grandfather. Ellen’s
family were farmers in Ditchling,
West Sussex, and lived at a farm called
Newland for 200 years, next to the
Oldland windmill, which is still there.
Her cookbook is a thing of beauty. A
brown marbled paper cover with deep
green spine and the whole thing has
a sepia tinge to it, including the ornate
name plate: Ellen Turner, Newland,
April 1858. The recipes written out as
sentences (‘Rub into a pound of dried
f lour four ounces of butter’), before
the convention of ingredients list and
method came along that we are now
so familiar with. It revisits the same
basic ingredients again and again, but
the recipes are surprisingly modern,
in a way far more so than Nana’s. We
seem to have leapfrogged over peanutand raisin coleslaw and California
chicken and landed right back in
gooseberry fool, quince marmalade
and treacle pudding. It is a treat
to make these recipes (albeit with
updates for modern tastes) through
Ellen’s eyes, and close that circle.PASSING DOWN RECIPES
Until really recently it was common
for cooks to create their own book of
favourite recipes. These are exactly
the sort of books that are overlooked
in the family home: we get so used
to them being around they end up
shoved to the back of a cupboard.
Ask members of your family and see
if any exist. Even those put together
relatively recently offer fascinating
glimpses of the past, often including
clippings from the time that will
give you an understanding of your
relative’s life and how things have
changed. Most importantly they
may reveal wonderful recipes, some
from your own childhood, perhaps.
It might be that you have to tweak
the recipes to make them to your
taste, but that is all a part of the
age-old process of recipe evolution.
If you don’t have any family
recipe books, start your own. Buy
a notebook, set aside a few pages for
contents, and start writing. Record
dishes you use often from books
and cut out recipes from magazines,
adding your own little tweaks as you
BACKGROUND: FLOW MARBLE EFFECT BLUSH & WHITE WALLPAPER, go. Someone one day will treasure it.
WOODCHIPANDMAGNOLIA.CO.UK