Choice Cookery

Metadata

Gutenberg ID

26311

Title

Choice Cookery

Language

en

Book source

Project Gutenberg

Description max 80 words

Choice Cookery by Catherine Owen offers elegant, modern recipes for the home cook, focusing on fine sauces and elaborate dishes that do not necessarily require expensive ingredients. Designed for those wishing to master 'Delmonico cooking' at home, the book emphasizes that intelligence and care in preparation, rather than cost, create luxury meals. It serves as a practical guide for housekeepers aiming to elevate their culinary skills and entertain with confidence.

Summary up to 500 words

Published in 1889, *Choice Cookery* by Catherine Owen serves as a definitive guide for housewives aspiring to master sophisticated domestic cooking without relying on caterers. Owen argues that fine dining is not inherently expensive but rather a result of using the best materials and executing precise techniques. The book demystifies complex culinary arts, asserting that any earnest cook can become their own chef by understanding fundamental principles. Owen reverses traditional recipe organization, prioritizing sauces as the foundation of all dishes. She identifies white and brown sauces as the essential 'mother sauces' from which others derive. A significant portion of the text is dedicated to creating a versatile glaze from beef and ham, which acts as a concentrated stock substitute, allowing cooks to maintain independence from daily stock pots. The work provides extensive instructions for cold entrées, chaudfroids, and intricate savories, including detailed recipes for canapés such as the Savage Club and Prince of Wales varieties. The text also covers advanced techniques like boning birds for galantines and ballotines, offering methods for both whole-boning and simpler approaches. A major section is devoted to jellies, aspics, and frozen desserts, demonstrating how simple ingredients like crab or chicken can be transformed into elegant soufflés. Throughout the book, Owen maintains a tone of encouraging authority, validating the amateur's ability to achieve professional results through attention to detail. The volume concludes with a wide array of sweets, cakes, and vegetable preparations, reinforcing the idea that intelligence and care about details, rather than complexity, are the keys to high-end cooking.

LLM editorial rating

4.2/5

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https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/26311.epub.noimages

Local file path

data/epubs/pg26311.epub

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2026-07-04 18:18 UTC

Categories

• Cooking