This fictional novel based on real characters was hailed as the best cookbook in the UK after its publication, and also had a profound impact on many subsequent cooking writers. The chapter titles of the book
are very interesting, including turnip soup, roasted beef liver, rice pudding, quino jelly... all of them are delicious dishes made by the protagonist Eliza and her assistant An.
The female poet Miss Eliza, who is full of talent but has no way to contribute, was bankrupt in her father. In order to make a living, she could only succumb to the publisher's request and "write a cookbook that is as concise and elegant as a poem." And before, she had never been involved in cooking.
An dreams of becoming a chef, but she was turned away by the private kitchen because she had to take care of her mentally ill mother. Even so, she did not give up her love for cooking.
Then, Eliza's family became the owner of the hotel rental. She had a hard time living a life of meager income. She volunteered to be the chef of the hotel.
However, she has no cooking experience and needs to find a helper. So, two women who wanted to learn cooking met like this.
In the process of continuous learning, communication and running-in, Eliza gradually got rid of her poet's halo, and An also became more and more confident.
With the efforts of the two, the hotel is filled with the sweet fragrance of the farmhouse yard, various dried vanilla , broken skin apples, and the happy taste of currant , lamb oil, nutmeg , brandy and cream rolling out in the pot.
And the cookbook that the two worked together is also quietly taking shape. But why did An Ryn leave after 15 years of struggle, and why didn’t her name be in the cookbook?
Firewood crackled in the stove, tender peas were spinning in the butter, and the air was filled with the smoke of roasted pigeons, the fragrance of fried onions and the smell of stewed plums. Let us follow this wonderful feeling and solve the friendship mystery between the two women.
