Is there a Chef in the Kitchen? ~ Mary Barnes

This book was published in 1968 and looks every day of it. In fact I'm certain it was looking dated the day it hit the shelves. Mary begins our culinary journey by titling her book "Is there a Chef in the Kitchen?". My hope is that if Mary was ever asked this question she answered with a resounding NO.

The introduction to the book makes for an interesting read, advising in no uncertain terms that "When women are able to assert their right to the domain of the kitchen, they too become chefs". Interesting. The introduction goes further to advise that the book describes every step and itemizes every ingredient, giving the novice cook the capacity to aspire to "the peaks of gourmet cooking". I'm not quite sure I'd put it that way myself.

Take for instance her recipe for Fish Head Soup which doesn't list the ingredients at the start, and takes a very blasé approach to the method. After boiling your fish heads with salt and pepper and straining the resulting stock you "add 3 large onions, and boil for a few minutes until these are almost cooked", add either a cup or two of milk, thicken with arrowroot and add parsley and a spoon of butter. Yummo (not). Despite not itemizing the ingredients at the beginning, and not describing to the novice how you thicken with arrowroot, or that you really ought to chop the onions or they'll take quite a while to cook, the result is still going to be fishy, cloying and just not what I would label gourmet by any stretch of the imagination - even for 1968.

If you are looking for a book that can help a novice cook aspire to become a gourmet then I'd look away now, however that said there are lots of recipes within the book that make what promises to be perfectly edible family food. The Hot rhubarb layer sponge looks promising, as does the Golden top steamed pudding, and there are also a few noteworthy preserves such as Tomato and lemon jam. Where the book has really failed is in describing and selling itself properly - in overreaching and overstating its claim. There is not a chef in that kitchen.

Recommended for descendants of Mary Barnes and those after a bit of a chuckle. While it's not a bad book for the average family cook, there are plenty of better examples.

- kath