Title: Devonshire Flavour: A Cookery Book With A Difference

Author: Elizabeth Lothian

Publisher: David and Charles

Publication date: 1971 (originally; this edition 1989)

Bought: Secondhand… somewhere!

Type: Regional cookery

Pages: 120

Notes: Possibly compiled as a fund-raising book judging by some of the notes accompanying the recipes? Recipes appear to have been solicited from a wide variety of people with connections to Devon.

Fabulously-named dishes: Smugglers’ Lamb Chops, Burnt Grapes (doesn’t sound like the sort of thing you need a recipe for…), Lighthouse Flashers (mashed potato towers baked and topped with a glacé cherry)

Other useful information contained within: Plenty of anecdotes and tidbits about Devon life, plus conversion tables, fat contents of various dairy products, and approximate number of drinks per bottle for various alcoholic products.

Where can I get a copy?: Amazon have plenty of copies.

Title: Norway’s Delight: Dishes and Specialities

Author: Elise Sverdrup

Publisher: Johan Grundt Tanum Forlag (Oslo). Part of the “Tanum’s Tokens of Norway” series.

Publication date: 1957 originally – this is the eighth edition, published in 1972.

Bought: Wish I could remember! I think it was second-hand at our local book fair.

Type: National cuisine

Pages: 84

Notes: none

Fabulously-named dishes: Polar Bear’s Eye (beetroot, onion, raw egg yolk…), Dancing Master’s Soup (appears to be sweet), The Vet’s Nightcap (bread spread with dripping, liver paste and cured meat)

Other useful information contained within: Not much, sadly — it includes a couple of addresses for suppliers who provide Norwegian speciality food within the UK, but I suspect they will long since have changed or closed down.

Where can I get a copy?: There are plenty of editions available on Amazon (including a hardback version)

Title: Breton Cooking

Author: Simone Morand

Publisher: Éditions Jos

Publication date: 2006

Bought: Second-hand, at a National Trust property’s bookshop

Type: Country-specific recipes

Pages: 32

Notes: There’s a little bit of background about some of the more unusual dishes, and types of dishes, but sadly no real discussion of what differentiates Breton cooking from that of any other region.

Fabulously-named dishes: Betton Style Milk Soup, “Ninon” Maxi-Buckwheat Pancakes (not quite sure what’s “maxi” about it), and several versions of Farz which would appear to be something akin to a steamed pudding, existing in both sweet and savoury versions.

Other useful information contained within: not a lot beyond the recipes and the very brief notes about the types of recipes mentioned above.

Where can I get a copy?: Amazon are aware of its existence but have no copies at present.
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