Mrs Beeton has provided practical help and inspiration to generations of cooks. This collection brings together a selection of reliable, delicious recipes, fully updated, that will both encourage beginners and inspire more experienced cooks. Whether you are hosting an informal brunch or a grand dinner, you will find easy-to-assemble recipes that will leave you plenty of energy for your guests. Here are meals you can happily leave for hours in the oven or prepare well in advance, basic dishes made special with deceptively simple sauces, or menus built around one star dish.

Author Biography

Isabella Mary Beeton was born in London is 1836, where she grew up in a household of twenty-one children. It took Isabella four years to compile her masterwork, publishing Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management in 1861. It contains an enormous amount of information to help people live, in Isabella Beeton's own words, 'economically, tastefully and well'. Her style, imparting information as clearly and simply as possible, was hugely influential. The book sold 60,000 copies in its first year, but Isabella Beeton died four years later, in 1865, aged just twenty-eight. The enduring popularity of Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management is testament to the quality of her advice.