Bird's Custard Cookery Books
- Year
- 1900-1960
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- Trade/Advertising
Bird's Custard Cookery Books form a long-running series of promotional recipe pamphlets issued by Alfred Bird & Sons of Birmingham, manufacturers of the eggless custard powder invented in the 1830s. Distributed cheaply or freely across roughly six decades, the booklets show how a single branded product was woven into British domestic cookery, with recipes for puddings, trifles, sauces and baked goods built around the firm's powders and blancmanges.
Cooking from this book
Custard Tart
Signature dishThe humble custard tart became almost synonymous with the Bird's promotional booklets that appeared in countless editions across the first half of the twentieth century. Aimed at home cooks who relied on the famous yellow tin of egg-free custard powder, these pamphlets championed the tart as a thrifty teatime classic. Its smooth, pale filling set in a crisp pastry shell came to embody the brand's promise of dependable, everyday English baking for the family table.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.