This week’s book is a belter filled with beautiful handwritten recipes. It was given to me years ago by my father, who had been given it by someone at the Fishers Hotel in Pitlochry where he worked in the late 1950s / early 60s. It has some age to it as 1860 is written in the first page. It really is a wonderful book. 

It has clearly been handed down through the generations (from around 1860 to the 1960s) and features lots of sweet recipes from toffee squares and sponge cake, to a Christmas plum cake in 1939 and a cake recipe from WWII.  Despite the fact that the handwriting is quite difficult to make out, the way it’s written is very special. I especially love the recipe for Irish stew using mutton chops.

My favourite page however—roughly halfway through, so possibly around 1900—shares a recipe for oven scones, crossed out with the words ‘very bad’ written below it. Brilliant. It shows how recipes aren’t always right, that people sometimes make mistakes, and how human we all are. A lot of these books exist and I wish they could be shared more widely—online perhaps?—as they’re a true account of what folk ate. 

You might not be able to add this particular book to your collection, but I do hope it inspires you to look out your old recipe book and have a flick through it, especially if it was passed down. It will put a smile on your face.