Unrivalled Cookery For The Middle Classes

I took myself to the British Library to browse through a 1911 cookbook:

Coombs' Cookery

Unrivalled Cookery for the Middle Classes

(3rd Edition)

Special Chapter on Vegetarian Cookery

Useful Hints on Gas Stove Cooking

 - Edited by - 

Miss H.H. Tuxford, M.C.A.

Dimlomée, Board of Education

One Shilling Nett

I was looking for a recipe for mutton stew - but more on that another day. The ads seemed worth a post of their own.

"Pure food for the family table - Reynolds' Wheatmeal Bread. Awarded 75 Gold Medals. Has stood every test for quality and now a recognised standard article. The Lancet says: "Excellent to the taste." Your baker can supply your orders - ask for Reynolds' Pure Wheatmeal Bread, and refuse substitutes. Postcards addressed to - J Reynolds and Co Ltd., 61 Albert Flour Mills, Gloucester."

Coombs' Eureka! Self-raising Flour, Sold in 3d., 6d., 1/- and 2/6 Bags. Is the Best and Absolutely Pure. 21 Gold Medals. Recommended by Chefs and the Medical Faculty."

"Variety in your weekly menu is easily maintained by using Winter's NUTTON. It is a delightful flesh meat substitute made from nuts, is exceedingly tasty, and just the thing to relieve the dull mootony arising from a constant use of Beef and Mutton and Mutton and Beef."

Which proves that I was right to choose mutton for the focus of my 1911 cooking experiment. I think Nutton may have died out. It didn't get any gold medals, so sounds as if it deserved to.