Our new 150th Christmas Cookery Special is available now from the DC Thomson Shop, and we couldn’t be happier with it!
Little did we know last year how much gold weekly rummages in our Archives would yield . . .
It was whilst digging through all the back issues (researching our original 150th Special Edition) that our Marion — who looks after the cookery — noticed all the incredible festive recipes within.
Cookery has been as much an indicator of the changes in society as anything else.
Available ingredients, changing tastes, rationing — all have had a huge impact on what we associate with good eating.
Festive foodstuffs
This is especially true at Christmas time. For example, mincemeat is no longer meaty and oysters are no longer the cheap filler ingredient they once were!
It occurred to Marion that 150 years of our Christmas cookery history might make a great wee book. So that’s exactly what we set about compiling.
Digging out the recipes was a fascinating process. But that’s not all you’ll find inside!
In addition to more than 300 recipes, we’ve also got tips from a Victorian Kitchen, adverts from all eras of our past, and ration book recipes.
All of this is liberally scattered with some of our lovely vintage illustrations.
Our Designer Wendy laid out the pages, while former Illustrations Ed Sarah added colour to some of these incredible old drawings.
Photograph by Alex Corlett.
Between Wendy’s artful layout and Sarah’s incredible colour work, it gives a real taste of times gone by.
The recipes were chosen by Marion and the rest of us in the Features team, to provide as broad a selection as possible.
Conversions for some of the more antiquated measures are provided (does anyone remember a “gill”?).
But while some of the recipes are sublime, others are perhaps best consigned to gastronomic history!
As with our 150th Anniversary Special and our 150th Fiction Special, it was a true labour of love from all of us.
Alex Corlett I am the "Friend's" Features Editor, working with the talented Features Team to bring you everything from cryptic crosswords to financial advice, knitting patterns to international travel and inspirational real life stories. Always on the hunt for a new feature idea, I also enjoy cycling and love a good tea room.
