Three Receipts for Domestic Cookery explained

What happens

Themes in this chapter

• Nonsense and Absurdity

  The entire chapter is a parody of cookery books, with impossible ingredients and instructions that mock the genre.

• Social Absurdity and Conformity

  The recipes satirize the rigid, elaborate conventions of domestic cookery and social expectations.

Key passages

• “Take 4 pounds (say 4½ pounds) of fresh Amblongusses, and put them in a small pipkin. Cover them with water, and boil them for 8 hours incessantly; after which add 2 pints of new milk, and proceed to boil for 4 hours more.”

  Boil 4 to 4.5 pounds of Amblongusses in water for 8 hours, then add milk and boil another 4 hours.

  The recipe begins with a straightforward instruction that quickly becomes absurd.

• “Serve up in a clean dish, and throw the whole out of window as fast as possible.”

  Present the dish and then immediately discard it out the window.

  The final instruction for Amblongus Pie is deliberately ridiculous, mocking the purpose of a recipe.

• “Procure some strips of beef, and, having cut them into the smallest possible slices, proceed to cut them still smaller—eight, or perhaps nine times.”

  Take beef strips and mince them repeatedly, eight or nine times.

  The excessive mincing highlights the absurdity of the recipe.

• “If he squeals, beat him again. Visit the paste and beat the pig alternately for some days, and ascertain if, at the end of that period, the whole is about to turn into Gosky Patties.”

  Alternate between beating the pig and checking the paste for several days to see if it becomes Gosky Patties.

  The recipe for Gosky Patties involves cruelty and nonsensical steps, parodying the precision of cookery.