Elizabeth David Classics

Mary Berry Last year my husband and I finally bought our own home in the British countryside and in it was an AGA stove. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s an old-fashioned cooker which is always on. That’s useful in the cold, damp British climate. Many people turn theirs off in summer, but we found we didn’t need to—it was still cold enough in July for it to be nice to have a warm kitchen hearth. (Source)

Helena Frith Powell Eating is fundamental to life and to some extent defines you. You don’t look good if you live off McDonald’s and Diet Coke. (Source)

Jojo Tulloh French Country Cooking has got briefly written recipes that are encouraging but also kind of improving. It makes you feel like you need to try harder, which is a good thing, but then Elizabeth David says something like, ‘The merit of food, all different kinds of food, is less important than the spirit with which cooking is approached.’ As opposed to being determined to do it in a spirit of martyrdom, you see? (Source)

Clare Morpurgo Lots of cookery books, I find, are concerned with all manner of measurements and making sauces very carefully in double saucepans – and all that kind of stuff. Elizabeth David never talks about that, she just talks about the basic things that you need to make things delicious. (Source)