Spry, Constance

Spry, Constance (1886–1960) the first British food writer since Mesdames Beeton and Marshall to provide the nation with a comprehensive cookery book. Known as ‘the bible’, The Constance Spry Cookery Book (1956) was on the wedding list of every middle-class bride. This practical guide to everything from frying an egg to throwing a cocktail party was the result of a collaboration between Spry and Rosemary Hume. ‘I was the amateur with homely ideas,’ wrote Constance, ‘she was the professional.’ The recipes are a marriage of basic English ingredients and French methods devised with the novice in mind. The book presumes no prior knowledge of what goes on in the kitchen be it identifying a bain-marie, using a refrigerator, or doing the washing up.