Image: Carter, Charles · Public domain
The Complete Practical Cook
- Year
- 1730
- Era
- 18th century
- Origin
- England · Europe
- Language
- English
- Category
- English pre-1800
The Complete Practical Cook, issued by Charles Carter in 1730, is an English cookery folio drawing on the author's experience as cook to several noble households. Carter sets out receipts for elaborate dishes alongside instructions for the dressing of grand tables. Particularly prized are the folding plates illustrating bills of fare and table layouts, which document the conventions of aristocratic service in early Georgian England.
Cooking from this book
Grand Roast Pike Dressed in the Royal Manner
Signature dishA whole pike, larded and stuffed, then spit roasted and presented on a silver dish with a rich anchovy and oyster sauce. As cook to several noble households, Charles Carter favoured showpiece centrepieces of this kind, and the dish typifies the grand ambassadorial style his book sets out to teach. It also corresponds neatly to the celebrated folding plates, where such a pike would crown the second course on a symmetrical table plan.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
