I have a small collection of cookery books, old and newish. There was nothing by Patience Gray until I was given The Centaur’s Kitchen on Friday.
“This book was written in 1964 as a manual of instruction for the cooks of the Blue Funnel Line’s latest addition to its fleet, the Centaur. A cargo ship of handsome lines, equipped with every comfort, it carried 200 passengers and more than 4,000 sheep across the southern seas from Western Australia to Singapore. But the owners, enlightened people, realised that they could do better than reheating dreadful frozen food or unzipping another thousand cans. They appealed to Patience Gray, then a journalist and author of the brilliant cookery book Plats du Jour, or Foreign Food one of the best-sellers of the fifties, to write them a set of recipes that their Chinese cooks could execute. This is the consequence, and will appeal to those who enjoy their food with bags of flavour and richness, and who respond to the firm yet inspired guidance of a writer who knows what’s what.
Its compact contents supply the wherewithal for the happy feeding of every household in the land. No cook needs another book: an infinity of perfect meals can be constructed from this essential culinary toolbox.”
That’s the blurb and it’s spot on. All you need is a Chinese cook and if at sea calm weather. Civet of hare or ox tongue with cherry might be unsettling. One of the easiest receipts is chicken sauté ‘Castelpoggio’.
”Joint the chicken and season with salt and pepper. Sauté in a heavy pan with 2 chopped shallots in 2 or 3 tablespoons of olive oil. When the chicken is well browned and tender remove it onto a serving dish, pour two wineglasses of red wine into the pan , reduce by 1/3, add a tablespoon of tomato purée and the juice of a garlic clove, stir to amalgamate this sauce and strain over the chicken.”
I was given this addition to my kitchen toolbox by the publisher and the farmer. They live on the west coast of the US, not Connaught, where folk are often faddy about food. They killed this canard; they had roast grouse and venison sausages – bravi!