Kitchen Essays (Classic edition)

by Agnes Jekyll

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ISBN 9781906462031

'An enchanting period piece and, in its own quirky intelligent way, a culinary gem' (Nigella Lawson)

During 1921-2 (the now) Lady Jekyll wrote unsigned essays for The Times with titles such as 'Tray Food' and 'Sunday Supper', 'For the Two Fat' and 'For the Too Thin', all of which are contained in Kitchen Essays. Recipes are interspersed with her delightful comments, for example an excellent and very simple recipe for Caraway Tea Bread in 'Tea-Time and Some Cakes' is prefaced: "The true spiritual home of the teapot is surely in a softly-lighted room between a deep armchair and a sofa, two cups only, awaiting their fragrant infusion, whilst the clock points nearer to six than five, and a wood fire flickers sympathetically on the hearth."

The author of Kitchen Essays (1922) was sister-in-law to the great Gertrude Jekyll, whose biographer wrote that if she 'was an artist-gardener, then Agnes was an artist-housekeeper.' Agnes was a famous hostess (the guests at her first dinner party included Browning, Ruskin and Burne-Jones) and her home, Munstead House, 'was the apogee of opulent comfort and order without grandeur, smelling of pot-pourri, furniture polish and wood smoke'.

Also available as a Persephone Grey.

Read What Readers Say

BBC Food magazine

An exquisitely reprinted period piece.

India Knight (journalist)

Beautifully written, sparkling, witty and knowing, an absolute delight to read.

British Food in America (blog)

In 1921, Agnes Jekyll became the first food columnist for The Times of London. That in itself was remarkable, because women then seldom found employment with the press. During a span from the summer of 1921 until Easter 1922, she wrote 35 columns on an intriguing range of subjects. These columns were collected as KITCHEN ESSAYS and published later in 1922. Meatless meals, wedding breakfasts, tea-time and tray food attract her attention; she offers advice on “Food for Artists and Speakers” (“Musical and dramatic artists as well as public speakers and lecturers find that they cannot give out their best very soon after a substantial meal…. ”) and “Food for the Punctual and Unpunctual” (because they both “are always with us”)…. These essays are both timebound and timeless. They are timebound in their concern over the management of a dwindling pool of domestic servants and in their predilection for aspic in (or encasing) all things; Jekyll also assumes that her reader has a working knowledge of French and considers lobster a convenience food… Her writing is timeless in its humor, compassion, wit and, almost incidentally, good recipes… She also reminds us of the need “to forget for a while, if possible, the sordid limitations of a reduced income” and offers frugal recipes to enhance the effort, including an appealing creamed cabbage that will be “welcomed by many who have hitherto looked with hostility on its homely virtue.”

artfulreader via Instagram

A wonderful collection of short essays in cookery and recipes from the 1920s… I’m planning dinner for a few friends, and I want to try a few of the dishes from this (although not the Camembert in aspic: that’s a hard pass). What I also love about this are the essays themselves: Jekyll has this great no-nonsense voice that comes through and she is not afraid to share her opinions. Already in 1922 she complained that Christmas had become too commercial…

Categories: Classics