Almost 4000 Recipes - Some Involve Brain

I love old fashioned murder mysteries. When I have a bit of time and want to read something that isn't too taxing they are my go to. It was reading Phryne Fisher Mysteries by Kerry Greenwood that I first encountered reference to Mrs. Beeton. So when I found the voluminous tome sitting among the books on my grandmother's shelf I knew I had found something special. Like the character Ruth who was using Mrs. Beeton as a guide to prepare meals for her family, I too love cooking. I pulled the book off the shelf and carefully opened it up (it is over 100 years old after all). As soon as I did I was enthralled by the wealth of information contained within the covers. There are 1997 pages in the edition I have and there is such a wide variety of information on all subjects. Need an idea of how much to pay your servant's, Mrs. Beeton has you covered. Need a menu for a shooting party, advice on teething, how to clean and store your bicycle, it is in there too.

I have read little bits and pieces of Mrs. Beeton here and there but never attempted to try any of the recipes, but where to start? With almost 4000 different recipes, using unfamiliar measures I have been stuck on my starting place. At least I know what I'm not going to cook first - BRAINS.

You read that right, there are in fact 2 separate recipes for cooking Sheep's Brain. Sheep's Brain with Parsley Sauce and Sheep's Brain with Matelote Sauce. Our modern sensibilities keep me from wanting to try brain due to concerns of prion diseases.

There are many other recipes using various offal. As I progress through this project I am hoping to become more adventurous and attempt some of these. Currently though cooking tripe, kidneys and liver are just not my cup of tea.

With brain and other offal off my list of starting places I still had an abundance of choice in where to start.

Not all the meat dishes are strange to today's palette. There are many dishes with curry as well as other flavourful herbs and spices that I am excited to try. There are pages and pages of puddings, including a treacle pudding that sounds fabulous. I will have to space out the testing of the pudding recipes for the benefit of my waistline.

I have decided to approach this project of Cooking Mrs. Beeton simply. I am going to cook what we need to eat, and cook what I can find the ingredients for. Join me as I work through this adventure. I can't wait to dive into the past and bring a bit of it back to enjoy.