The World Book of Egg and Cheese Dishes ~ Nina Froud

This cookbook is nothing if not comprehensive, and given Froud's extensive published works (including as English editor of Larousse Gastronomique) this is somewhat expected. Published in 1967 it is a little hardcover book with 160-odd pages of recipes, but without illustrations and with up to eight recipes on a single page it is certainly packed with information.

Many of the recipes are very basic, and serve as much to provide a definition of what the dish is as to give comprehensive instruction. Take for instance the Eggs with aubergines, which requires you to "line a baking dish with sliced aubergines fried in butter. Break the eggs on these and bake in the usual way". There are of course plenty more complex recipes written in the standard manner, and these run the gamut with chapters on sauces and dressings, soufflé's, ice creams and even egg beverages amongst the more typical egg and cheese chapters (hot cheese dishes, omelettes, cold egg dishes etc). As I mentioned above, the book is very comprehensive, though I suspect that most of the recipes are simply no longer in currency.

I cannot write about this cookbook though without including a recipe especially for my little sister ~ Carmen eggs:

Fry the eggs, then cut with a round biscuit-cutter so as to leave only a narrow edging of white round the yolk. Cut round croûtons and deep fry them in oil. Cover with Tomato sauce [recipe on p.39 of the book] seasoned with paprika, sprinkle with melted butter and serve.

Recommended for those planning a career in providing hotel breakfasts for overly fussy older patrons whose tastes run to dishes from the golden age of hotel breakfasts, which I'd imagine was sometime in the 1920's. Also recommended for those interested in food history. Not a book I'd recommend to the average cook.

- Kath