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The Pauper's Cookbook
Before culinary queen Delia Smith and star homemaker Kirstie Allsopp there was Jocasta Innes, a domestic goddess pioneer who taught the world that a great deal of imagination can make a little budget go surprisingly far in the kitchen and all around the home
(Daily Express)
There are tons of austerity cookbooks around, but if looking for one, my favourite is The Pauper's Cookbook by Jocasta Innes
(Observer)
From kedgeree to koulibiac (a Russian fish pie, since you ask) there are recipes to suit all and even to inspire
(Guardian)
‘43 years after it was first published, The Pauper's Cookbook should still have a place in every modern kitchen’
(The Independent)
(Daily Express)
There are tons of austerity cookbooks around, but if looking for one, my favourite is The Pauper's Cookbook by Jocasta Innes
(Observer)
From kedgeree to koulibiac (a Russian fish pie, since you ask) there are recipes to suit all and even to inspire
(Guardian)
‘43 years after it was first published, The Pauper's Cookbook should still have a place in every modern kitchen’
(The Independent)
288 pages, Paperback
First published July 30, 1972
89 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
March 8, 2011
I should rate it five star - my mum wrote it! I remember her working on it in a little terraced house in Swanage, Dorset. It's perfectly true,she didn't have two beans to rub together but she knew how to cook, alright. There's lots of good things in here, too, except for pasta, which wasn't in mum's repertoire, oddly. The book may be all the better for it.
Of course the trouble is that the real poor get bedazzled by junk food and ready meals and fads, instead of being taught books like this at school.
Of course the trouble is that the real poor get bedazzled by junk food and ready meals and fads, instead of being taught books like this at school.
August 11, 2021
Another adventure in my older cookbooks, this one I got from my father as a Christmas present; he bought it in September 1971, pretty soon after it was released in US. There are no pictures beyond the cover one. This book is for eating cheaply, and might have some useful tips and recipes even for us today. There’s clearly UK-centricness in the recipes, no change for the US print, and a picture of situation re: cooking cheap in early 1970s. Some shoutouts for another food writer, Elizabeth David, and one recipe mentions Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas as inspiration.
The recipes are arranged by cooking situation: the usuals, things to add to leftovers, quick ones, planning a week’s worth of dishes, extras, fancy stuff (slightly more expensive ingredients for entertaining), for dieters, and home-made extra stuff, including a recipe for your own ”yoghourt”.
There’s also how-to tips, essential ingredients, stock-ups, and equipment, plus guide on oven use. Some recipes have a short introduction; all ingredients are given in one light, not in list form.
A picture of the time: some recipes are ’international’, but clearly most are British (incl. one from Orkney: oatmeal gingerbread aka broonie…). Food prices obviously have changed. Some recipes use an ASBESTOS mat as one of the cooking tools (this is not the first older cookbook I’ve read to include a tool with asbestos in it). And of course one might not want to make ox’s brain fritters these days, because of the mad cow disease. Plenty of recipes including ingredients one might not feel like using nowadays, at least for many: hearts, tongue, liver, kidney, foot or trotter, brawn (half a head with chaps). Points out that not all people have fridges (with freezer). Pizza (plural: pizze hahah) seems to be still new enough by the way the author presents the recipes. No mozzarella here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patna_rice
that asbestos mat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatpro...
What is exotic ingredients here? Curry powder or paste (incl.Vindaloo), chutney, soya sauce, ginger (stems in a jar), sesame oil; some places may also have sweet potatoes, water chestnuts, Chinese radish, star aniseed, and chapattis. That’s the range of them in this book.
The kedgeree recipes is more plain than say, this one in BBC pages:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/re...
Dripping use here, dripping use there… the most used meats: bacon, beef, rabbit, pigeon (latter fancy though). A lot of fish. Rices are either Patna (long-grain) or Carolina (short grain)-named. Now I also know what junket is (not just a band name). And what sort of things can be called a pudding, not just what I picture it to be. No chopped tomatoes in a can, you do it yourself here.
She should also come up to my country to taste what proper strawberry tastes like (intense; the long days of summer really make a difference). The dieting section is not bad, but is not perfect, clearly missing some things that might be useful.
In conclusion, I think this is an amusing window into the past, to see what ’cheap eating’ books could be like, with some recipes one really might like to try, including some one might not have found elsewhere. I do think some photos would've been nice; you do get a lot of recipes within this slim-ish book (less than 230 pages). And if you’re into some British-style recipes, or are used to it, you might enjoy it a bit more than me.
The recipes are arranged by cooking situation: the usuals, things to add to leftovers, quick ones, planning a week’s worth of dishes, extras, fancy stuff (slightly more expensive ingredients for entertaining), for dieters, and home-made extra stuff, including a recipe for your own ”yoghourt”.
There’s also how-to tips, essential ingredients, stock-ups, and equipment, plus guide on oven use. Some recipes have a short introduction; all ingredients are given in one light, not in list form.
A picture of the time: some recipes are ’international’, but clearly most are British (incl. one from Orkney: oatmeal gingerbread aka broonie…). Food prices obviously have changed. Some recipes use an ASBESTOS mat as one of the cooking tools (this is not the first older cookbook I’ve read to include a tool with asbestos in it). And of course one might not want to make ox’s brain fritters these days, because of the mad cow disease. Plenty of recipes including ingredients one might not feel like using nowadays, at least for many: hearts, tongue, liver, kidney, foot or trotter, brawn (half a head with chaps). Points out that not all people have fridges (with freezer). Pizza (plural: pizze hahah) seems to be still new enough by the way the author presents the recipes. No mozzarella here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patna_rice
that asbestos mat: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heatpro...
What is exotic ingredients here? Curry powder or paste (incl.Vindaloo), chutney, soya sauce, ginger (stems in a jar), sesame oil; some places may also have sweet potatoes, water chestnuts, Chinese radish, star aniseed, and chapattis. That’s the range of them in this book.
The kedgeree recipes is more plain than say, this one in BBC pages:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/re...
Dripping use here, dripping use there… the most used meats: bacon, beef, rabbit, pigeon (latter fancy though). A lot of fish. Rices are either Patna (long-grain) or Carolina (short grain)-named. Now I also know what junket is (not just a band name). And what sort of things can be called a pudding, not just what I picture it to be. No chopped tomatoes in a can, you do it yourself here.
She should also come up to my country to taste what proper strawberry tastes like (intense; the long days of summer really make a difference). The dieting section is not bad, but is not perfect, clearly missing some things that might be useful.
In conclusion, I think this is an amusing window into the past, to see what ’cheap eating’ books could be like, with some recipes one really might like to try, including some one might not have found elsewhere. I do think some photos would've been nice; you do get a lot of recipes within this slim-ish book (less than 230 pages). And if you’re into some British-style recipes, or are used to it, you might enjoy it a bit more than me.
November 2, 2021
Though I am personally too squeamish to fancy kidneys and tongue, and generally do not enjoy much seafood, this is one of my favorite cookbooks. Jocasta makes “poor man’s food” sound fancy in the best ways, not to mention being healthier, easier, and quicker than its wealthier counterpart. She has some brilliant ideas for stretching small amounts of food, using leftovers and odd bits, and making a simple dish as memorable as possible. She also focuses on teaching techniques and methods, which are probably more helpful than the recipes themselves. And though I won’t be enjoying internal organs anytime soon, I applaud her use of the whole animal, because paupers can’t afford to be picky. Five stars, despite/because of the offal.
February 14, 2014
I can't do better than reproduce the piece Sam Muston wrote in The Independent, Feb 6th 2014:
It was the gravy that did it. Dribbling lazily down the pot on the front cover, it looked so slovenly. So unlike the other cookbooks on my parents shelves. Elizabeth David and the other heavyweights of the kitchen bookcase wouldn't have stood for that gravy.
By the time I came across it in the 1990s, my parents' copy of Jocasta Innes's The Pauper's Cookbook was in the evening of its days – stained, torn and singed at the edges – but it drew me in like a bowl of cake mix. It was perfect for a child, assuming little prior knowledge and not aiming for an ethereal, Frenchified vision of perfection. It was a good friend to my family, that book.
I must admit, though, I had quite forgotten it: it had long ago slipped into that pit in my brain where my knowledge of GCSE chemistry and pure maths lives. This week, though, Frances Lincoln publishes an updated version of Innes's 1971 classic (below). The cover may have changed, though there is still a touch of the flaired trouser about it, but the contents are largely untouched. And that's a boon.
It was, in its day, quietly revolutionary. The book's conceit was both simple and attractive: it aimed to help indigent cooks produce "good home food at Joe's Café prices". The 150 recipes were spread across chapters with uncompromising titles, such as "Padding", "Fast Work", "Fancy Work", "Dieting on the Cheap" (this last one has been removed from the new version). It showed people how to take creative possession of modest circumstances.
The recipes themselves were diffuse. A "meal in a potato" – which requires a large spud, butter, cheese, nutmeg and egg – rubbed up against the rather grander "stuffed mussels". There were outliers like the "British Rail Salad", which takes in quail eggs, black pudding, garlic and leaves, and familiars like bread and butter pudding. What drew them together was the fact that you could knock up any of these dishes on a budget of two and sixpence per person per meal (about 60p today) which, incidentally, was what Innes was living off while writing it, having left her husband, the producer Richard Goodwin, for a life of bohemian penury in Swanage with the novelist Joe Potts. She was, in some senses, the Jack Monroe of her day.
While some of the recipes in the book seem a little dated today, others are as fresh as ever. But half the fun of the 280-page book is to luxuriate in Innes's style. Her style of writing is not unlike the previously mentioned Elizabeth David and, like her, she pulls no punches. But I always used to think of her as a counterweight to the blessed David, whose recipes can be so know-it-all and who certainly never lived impecuniously in Swanage.Writers like David are so skilled at evoking flavours and places, which are so far away – it makes their work timeless – whereas Innes and, indeed, Jack Monroe write practically for the here and now. David might be a culinary god but Innes has her place too.
Perhaps my parents thought as much, too, for I remember Elizabeth David's books lived on the top shelf in our kitchen – like some holy text. The Pauper's Cookbook, however, lived two storeys down. They are books of different status, certainly, but 43 years after it was first published, The Pauper's Cookbook should still have a place in every modern kitchen.
It was the gravy that did it. Dribbling lazily down the pot on the front cover, it looked so slovenly. So unlike the other cookbooks on my parents shelves. Elizabeth David and the other heavyweights of the kitchen bookcase wouldn't have stood for that gravy.
By the time I came across it in the 1990s, my parents' copy of Jocasta Innes's The Pauper's Cookbook was in the evening of its days – stained, torn and singed at the edges – but it drew me in like a bowl of cake mix. It was perfect for a child, assuming little prior knowledge and not aiming for an ethereal, Frenchified vision of perfection. It was a good friend to my family, that book.
I must admit, though, I had quite forgotten it: it had long ago slipped into that pit in my brain where my knowledge of GCSE chemistry and pure maths lives. This week, though, Frances Lincoln publishes an updated version of Innes's 1971 classic (below). The cover may have changed, though there is still a touch of the flaired trouser about it, but the contents are largely untouched. And that's a boon.
It was, in its day, quietly revolutionary. The book's conceit was both simple and attractive: it aimed to help indigent cooks produce "good home food at Joe's Café prices". The 150 recipes were spread across chapters with uncompromising titles, such as "Padding", "Fast Work", "Fancy Work", "Dieting on the Cheap" (this last one has been removed from the new version). It showed people how to take creative possession of modest circumstances.
The recipes themselves were diffuse. A "meal in a potato" – which requires a large spud, butter, cheese, nutmeg and egg – rubbed up against the rather grander "stuffed mussels". There were outliers like the "British Rail Salad", which takes in quail eggs, black pudding, garlic and leaves, and familiars like bread and butter pudding. What drew them together was the fact that you could knock up any of these dishes on a budget of two and sixpence per person per meal (about 60p today) which, incidentally, was what Innes was living off while writing it, having left her husband, the producer Richard Goodwin, for a life of bohemian penury in Swanage with the novelist Joe Potts. She was, in some senses, the Jack Monroe of her day.
While some of the recipes in the book seem a little dated today, others are as fresh as ever. But half the fun of the 280-page book is to luxuriate in Innes's style. Her style of writing is not unlike the previously mentioned Elizabeth David and, like her, she pulls no punches. But I always used to think of her as a counterweight to the blessed David, whose recipes can be so know-it-all and who certainly never lived impecuniously in Swanage.Writers like David are so skilled at evoking flavours and places, which are so far away – it makes their work timeless – whereas Innes and, indeed, Jack Monroe write practically for the here and now. David might be a culinary god but Innes has her place too.
Perhaps my parents thought as much, too, for I remember Elizabeth David's books lived on the top shelf in our kitchen – like some holy text. The Pauper's Cookbook, however, lived two storeys down. They are books of different status, certainly, but 43 years after it was first published, The Pauper's Cookbook should still have a place in every modern kitchen.
Read
March 31, 2015Found, after attempting several recipes, that this book is dated enough as to be a hindrance to modern budget cooks. In a changing culinary climate, these weird cuts of meat are now more expensive and desirable, and the ingredients aren't always seasonal or affordable at my local grocery. Would revisit, should I ever find myself on a Brighton seaside with a craving for orange-glazed carrots.
February 11, 2019
I am a sucker for cookbooks like these and I wish I had the original 1971 edition. I'll be trying Lentils and Anchovies this week (Pg.104).
October 8, 2022
As a young chef in a wasteful hospitality industry, Jocasta Innes' The Pauper's Cookbook really influenced me when I read the original 1970s Penguin handbook.
This revised edition published in 2003 has not aged well, despite a lot more recipes added.....Jocasta seems hell bent on pushing offal at every opportunity - agreeable to me certainly but not to most ordinary people, small details like recipes for leg of lamb, guinea fowl, fresh crab and rabbit smacks of Waitrose customers slumming it at J Sainsbury rather than Jack Monroe's recipe ideas for today's real paupers.
Jocasta is no longer with us and I thank her for her frugal gastro proposals which I live by, but I'm an old, affluent and culinarily adept bloke, this is a entertaining cookbook curio - not for paupers anymore!
This revised edition published in 2003 has not aged well, despite a lot more recipes added.....Jocasta seems hell bent on pushing offal at every opportunity - agreeable to me certainly but not to most ordinary people, small details like recipes for leg of lamb, guinea fowl, fresh crab and rabbit smacks of Waitrose customers slumming it at J Sainsbury rather than Jack Monroe's recipe ideas for today's real paupers.
Jocasta is no longer with us and I thank her for her frugal gastro proposals which I live by, but I'm an old, affluent and culinarily adept bloke, this is a entertaining cookbook curio - not for paupers anymore!
February 29, 2016
I just love this cookbook. I have had it for more than 30 years, acquired from a British significant other. It was as good an introduction to the normal person's England as any.
Read
January 15, 2010One of the most awesome cookbooks I own: I got it in England and although it is a little regional, the principles it describes are essential everywhere.
October 27, 2012
Got my first copy in about 1972 & have been using it since.
March 1, 2016
This is a gem of a little book - first purchased a copy in the 1970s - always have it handy in the kitchen
April 30, 2017
Plain and frugal -a lovely book. It reminds me of my mother's bookshelves and her generation's cooking philosophy (the myriad uses of potato water etc) and the importance of leftovers. With titles like Programmed Eating and Fancy Work, and my favourite, Wherewithal, it speaks of a time when cooks were writers too. She was also a Spitalfields resident, revamping her home from scratch in the late 70s when the East End was rough and ready and the real thing.
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews