As you probably know if you've been to my website,
Sugar Moon Brownies, I come from a long line of bakers...at least back to my 3 x great grandfather. Above is the original auction document, dating from 1880, when my great-great-grandfather Robert Adam Took bought the family bakehouse, shop & restaurant. He had rented it for some years before the sale, so was already established in business. The bakery remained in the family until my grandad decided to change careers in the 1960's and give up the 4am starts...understandable, but I often wish he'd just rented it out again so that our family still owned it! All that history...it had been a bakery right from the 1500s...and still is, of sorts (a well-known chain now..)
I was very close to my grandfather, and I learnt so much from him. Through the years he gave me many of his treasured books and baking equipment...and the rest came to me when he died. He was especially skilled at sugar work (which I am
not!) and made his own wedding cake in 1934...
which was probably almost as tall as my tiny grandma! I love to look through the books and paraphernalia that came from him and those before him...they are an insight into another world, and of course they bring him back to me too...
Can you imagine anyone now making...or paying for...a sugar omnibus?? An amazing piece of history, though...as are these...
beautiful line drawings of 'fancy ice moulds'....fancy doesn't really start to describe them, by our standards! Both these beauties are contained in this wonderful publication...
one of a series of 6 volumes that I own, they cover every aspect of the subjects...even down to equipping your own bakery and how to price the goods therein!
Grandad loved to collect recipes and wrote many of them down...
This is from his formal recipe book...he was very neat & meticulous...as you can see, he inscribed it to me the year before he died...
Remember that these were commercial bakery recipes, hence the huge quantities!
the book is full of scraps written on envelopes, torn from newspapers and magazines...
His other notebook is much smaller and scruffier...this was the one at his side in the bakehouse, to refer to and scribble in..
Stained by age, grease and the heat of the ovens...they are amongst my most prized possessions...
My most special & precious book is very beautiful, even though the binding is showing clearly the fact that it's now 206 years old...
At the front is a series of very detailed illustrated suggestions for laying out the dessert table...
a hundred years before 'Downton Abbey'....
they are an absolute testament to the skill of the cooks and bakers back then...working with rudimentary ovens where the temperature control consisted of moving items further from or closer to the fire...
and the 'Two Guinea Cake' has mesmerised me from childhood...some poor little kitchenmaid whisking 54 eggs for ten minutes! But still...it's really a historical document now, rather than a cookbook....I am very lucky.
I have used 'All about Gateaux' many times...it contains great ideas and templates for all sorts of fancy cakes...
and some brilliant adverts at the back...
This 1920s beauty is really comprehensive...
even if I think many of the recipes sound & look rather vile! And I have a good selection of pamphlets and booklets, mainly distributed by various ingredients salesmen...
Still beautiful, though! The last book I wanted to share with you wasn't my grandfathers, and isn't British at all...although this is the British edition, printed in 1938...
If you can search out a copy of 'The Country Kitchen'...( you could try
here )....you are in for a complete treat..
It's mainly a memoir of growing up in the USA in the countryside of the late 19th century...but there are recipes and some hilarious characters, too. It's beautifully written and utterly charming!
So, that's a little look at some of my vintage gems...I hope you've enjoyed it...there are more but I'll save them for another time! There is still nearly a week left to enter my two giveaways (details in the last post) and to do so just leave me a comment after either that one or this...
The afternoon is beautiful...time to grab a cup of coffee and plan the rest of the week! I hope that yours is wonderful and thanks for reading!
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