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Elizabeth David's Christmas
Edited by Jill Norman
Illustrated by Mary Ross
#UC8932
Hardcover, 209 pages; 2008 (2003)
$25.95
 Members' Price: $22.06
If here and there in my account of a cookery journalist's Christmases a note of desperation is clearly audible, I don't make apologies. Christmas, at any rate the way we are supposed to celebrate it nowadays, does tend to unbalance people, particularly those people responsible for the catering, the cooking, the presents, the tree, the decorations. There are times indeed when it's difficult not to regret the failure of the Cromwell regime's bid to suppress the whole thing.
After the death in 1992 of renowned British food writer Elizabeth David, her friend and editor Jill Norman found a file of hers filled with articles, recipes, notes, and quotations related to Christmas intended for a book. Posthumously published in this handsome hardcover edition, Elizabeth David's Christmas consists of close to 150 recipes for the holiday season—including the inevitable classics (turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce), particularly British fare (potted meats and Christmas puddings), and delicious alternatives to the traditional (pork or veal loaf, homemade chocolate ice cream). But the real charm of this uncommon collection lies in David's frank and delightful commentary, which binds the recipes together, as well as her engaging anecdotes about different cultural traditions. She's certainly sympathetic to the stress of the season for the overworked home chef, and offers many suggestions for advance preparation, cooking with leftovers, and cutting corners. More than just a holiday cookbook, Elizabeth David's Christmas makes a wonderfully engaging read for literary cooks, especially Anglophiles.
(AG)
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