Charitable Cookery
- Year
- 1847
- Era
- 19th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English 19th C
Charitable Cookery, issued by Alexis Soyer in 1847, sets out economical recipes and methods intended to feed the destitute at minimal cost. It grew directly from Soyer's work establishing soup kitchens in Dublin during the Irish Famine, where his model kitchen fed thousands daily. Among the earliest cookery books explicitly devoted to philanthropic catering, it remains a key document in the history of public food relief and institutional cooking.
Cooking from this book
Soyer's Famine Soup
Signature dishThe dish most closely tied to this volume is the thin meat and vegetable broth Soyer devised during his time running soup kitchens in Dublin during the Irish Famine. Intended to nourish the destitute at the lowest possible cost per portion, it became both celebrated and controversial, a symbol of Victorian charitable feeding. Its inclusion here reflects Soyer's conviction that good cookery could be adapted to the meanest purse without sacrificing dignity at the 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.
