Julia Altshuler > wrote in
:

> I saw Mrs. Beeton on Masterpiece Theatre last night. As Masterpiece
> Theatre productions go, that one wasn't the best, but it did bring up a
> question. You know when you see a recipe in a cookbook or when you
> write one yourself, the standard way is to list the ingredients first,
> then the method in numbered steps? The show suggested that that was an
> innovation of Isabella Beeton. I'm wondering if it was. (As is usual
> for television and movie biopics, they take liberties with the real
> story. I got interested and looked for more information on the web
> after turning off the t.v.)
>
>
> I'm thinking about old cookbooks and the quaint way they have of writing
> the recipe in paragraph form with the steps, ingredients, explanation,
> and equipment all mixed together. Newer cookbooks keep the ingredients
> and method separate. (Joy of Cooking is an exception, and I found it
> confusing until I got used to it.)
>
>
> Mrs. Beeton's "The Book of Household Management" came out in 1858, I
> think. The show suggested and web sources agree, that she took most of
> the recipes from other sources available at the time. It could be that
> her real contribution was the way she formatted recipes.
>
>
> --Lia
>
>

I enjoy the newer method better. It allows me to see what I need before I
start more readily, that could just be me. But it can determine if I'll do
that recipe if I'm missing an ingredient or see a dispised ingredient i'll
need to sub for. Having to read the entire recipe before I decide to make
it isn't a good thing in my books.

Of course you need to read the recipe completely before you start it at
least once....But deciding to cook it depends on more on ingredients than
when you add this or stir that.

--

The house of the burning beet-Alan

It'll be a sunny day in August, when the Moon will shine that night-
Elbonian Folklore