136 pages; 187 x 135mm; illustrations?

ISBN 1903018 099 Paperback £8.99

Trifle is the first in the series and comes from the pens of Helen Saberi, author of Afghan Food and Cookery and Alan Davidson, author of The Oxford Companion to Food and other classics of the kitchen, particularly relating to fish.

Trifles have been a perennial of English summer lunches, tennis parties, and schoolboy dreams. The authors trace their origins to the earliest recipe for trifle of 1596 and its gradual transformation from a mere cooked cream to the many layered custardy extravagance that we know today. The stages on its journey, described with the lightest of touch, are illustrated by recipes extracted from classic English cookery books. The authors thereafter range far and wide in search of the perfect trifle, from Zuppa Inglese to American aphrodisiac trifle to a fruit and tapioca trifle from Laos. As may be imagined from these authors, the material presented is scholarly, yet trips the light fantastic in a way that should appeal the all those curious about the development of our national cuisine.

A puff for Trifle, when Glen Baxter choses his books of the year for The Observer, November 2001

Do Not Bend (Redstone Press £11.95) by David Shrigley is dark, eerie and disturbingly hilarious, like the work of all the very best surrealists. Trifle (Prospect Books £8.99) by Helen Saberi and Alan Davidson, which sparkles with anecdote, generous whippings of erudition and the candied stem of the biznaga cactus. Hugely enjoyable.

There is a trifle, too, of course, but the last word on trifles goes to the learned Alan Davidson and Helen Saberi, their little gem Trifle (Prospect Books £11.99). Having completed their work on the mammoth Oxford Companion to Food Davidson and Saberi turned to the emotional and intellectual comforts of a pudding. Trifle is a knees-up romp through jelly, custard, whipped cream and nuts as the authors dig greedily through layers of culinary archaeology to reveal trifles from "Excellent" to "Aphrodisiac".

In the Companion, Davidson suggests puddings may be claimed as a British invention, and that puddings in all their varieties may be seen as the descendants of botellus, the Latin word for sausage. Two contributing factors to the happy evolution of the pudding in Great Britain, he suggests, were the use of small ovens built into the chimney that allowed the slow baking of a pastry-topped pottage; and the invention of the pudding-cloth, which freed puddings from the need to be encased in animal gut (a haggis and black pudding). Sponge puddings joined suet puddings in the 18th century, and sweet milk pottages embracing new imports such as sago or tapioca joined those made with rice and barley.

The disappearance of the cook from the kitchen means we must now get to grips with basins, bains maries. foil and string to create the puddings to which we are devoted.

In this exhaustive examination of the trifle - and with that paradox always in mind - Helen Saberi and Alan Davidson have concocted something as "light and frothy" as their subject. The introduction to this monograph on the British dessert states that during their long years of labor on The Oxford Companion to Food, the authors contemplated just such a project. Here it is, their delight evident, "a smile on every page." Recipes are provided for readers to do further research on their own. Along with their accustomed erudition, Saberi and Davidson write with wit and humor, indeed, with playfulness: "Ah, happy days when we had two trifles a week to sample and discuss over lunch!"

The book begins with a consideration of the trifle's architecture, and the authors apply its structural principles to their writing, from firm foundation to decorative topping. This awareness keeps the book from sinking under its own weight. Trifle is a miniature tour through British culinary history. First stop is its initial appearance in print, in 1596. Further along the itinerary, the authors hail Hannah Glasse who, a century and a half later, invented a dish herself, for once, apparently, rather than plagiarizing her trifle recipe from another cookery writer. She seems to have found the "missing link" between the floating island and the fool, thus publishing the first authentic modern trifle on a base of biscuit, macaroon, and cake, with custard, fruit jelly, syllabub, and flowers above.

The retrospective journey proceeds through British trifles up to the present, including one very much like the one Davidson's Scottish grandmother made. The trifle's flowering outside of Britain, in the New World and beyond, ever further afield, is explored in depth. This "biodiversity" includes variations such as the Norwegian Veiled Maidens with a pumpernickel base, a South African Zulu version with green figs, and an Italian Zuppa Inglese with grenadine and pistachios. Among the sampling of Oddities, most are curiosities rather than temptations. But the Kabul Quince and Yoghurt Trifle, a hybrid of eastern flavors that Saberi created for her Afghan husband, sounds quite delicious. Davidson's Vientiane Coconut Jelly Trifle, with two separate extractions of coconut milk thickened with agar agar, tapioca pudding, and mango, sounds more exotic still.

The Glossary adds nuggets. The boudoir biscuit, for instance, is derived from the French word bouder, to pout; hence "a woman's private room where she would receive only her intimate friends - who could pout and nibble sponge fingers as much as they wished in this cloistered environment." On the final page, a "Valedictory Verse" on the trifle, "where custard and macaroons meet," from Punch, circa 1860, ensures that this book is the last word on trifle.

Acknowledgements 5
Fast Track Guide 6
Introduction 11
Using the Recipes 13
Trifle Architecture 14

Chapter One - The Early Years 15-18
Thomas Dawson + Jos Cooper + Hannah Woolley + John Evelyn + Robert May + Mrs Mary Eales

Chapter Two - British Trifles 1750 to 1800 19-28
First appearance of Trifle as we know it + Hannah Glasse; Floating Island, Trifle of 1751 + Mrs Powell + Sister Nanny + The Lady's Companion (2 recipes) + Hannah Glasse, A grand trifle + Mrs Cleland + Martha Bradley + Elizabeth Raffald + Sarah Mason + Mrs Maciver + Mrs Frazer

Chapter Three - Trifles in Nineteenth Century Britain 29-38
Mrs Rundell; An excellent trifle, Indian Trifle, Chantilly Cake, or Cake Trifle + Family Receipt Book, A Grand Trifle + Meg Dods, An Elegant Trifle + Eliza Acton, An Excellent Trifle and Very Superior Whipped Syllabubs + A Steeped Cake + Cre-Fyyd, Gooseberry Trifle + Theodore Francis Garrett, Queen of Trifles + Mrs Roundell, Trifle (Family Recipe)

Chapter Four - British Trifles in the First Half of the
Twentieth Century 39-48
Mrs de Salis, Trifle â la Old Century + May Byron; Countess Trifle, Pear Trifle, Lemon Trifle + Violet Farebrother, An Easter Trifle + "Angostura" Trifle + Mrs Leyel and Olga Hartley, the writer's Special Trifle + Apple Snow Trifle + More Favourite Puddings of Rural England, Ratafia Trifle + Irene Veal with a trifle recipe from Reginald Foort + Mrs Kirk, Trifle

Chapter Five - British Trifles from 1950 Onwards 49-64
Views of Elizabeth David + Marguerite Patten; Trifle, Jelly Trifle + Helen Cox, English Trifle + Marian McNeill, Scots Trifle + Comments by Myrtle Allen + Monica Sheridan, Visitors' Trifle + Jane Grigson, Banana Trifle + Summer Syllabub Trifle + Trifle Belle Hél�ne + Caramelised Orange Trifle + PPC Celebration Trifle

Chapter Six - Trifle in the New Worlds 65-78
Mary Randolph's Trifle (USA) + Mrs Hill's Trifle and Gipsy Squire (USA) + Marion Harland's Peach Trifle (USA) + 200 Years of Charleston Cooking, Trifle (USA) + Ida Lupino as a trifle maker (USA) + Quotation from M.F.K. Fisher (USA) + Ladies of Toronto's Fig Trifle with Almond Custard (Canada) + Lemon Trifle (Australia) + Tango Trifle (Australia) + Trini Tropical Trifle (Trinidad) + Ante de Yemas ('Mexican Trifle') + Viceroy's Dessert (Mexico) + Sopa Inglesa (Argentina)

Chapter Seven - Trifles Elsewhere 79-94
Jules Gouffé's Mousse â L'Anglaise (France) + Plettenpudding (Germany) + Hindb¾rskum med Frugtliker (Raspberry Foam - Denmark) + Tilsl¿rte Bondepiker (Veiled Maidens - Norway) + Ommutriffli (Grandmother's Trifle -ÊIceland) + Any—storta (Mother-in-Law's Torte - Hungary) + Dr Riddell's Trifle (Anglo-Indian) + Snow Eggs forTrifles + Egg-Snow Trifle + The Gulf and the Horn of Africa + Eritrean Trifle + South African Trifles + Hildagonda J. Duckitt's trifle (and pencil)

Chapter Eight - Trifling Relations 95-104
Whim-Wham - Hannah Glasse + Whim-wham - Mrs Dalgairns + Tipsy Cake, or Brandy Trifle (Eliza Acton) + Hedgehog Tipsy Cake (Florence White) + Tipsy Cake Pudding (Lucy Jones) + Tipsy Pudding (Wyvern) + Wassail Bowl (Meg Dods) + Swiss Cream, or Trifle (Eliza Acton) + The Dean's Cream (Florence White) + White Grape and Ginger Syllabub

Chapter Nine - Italy: Zuppa Inglese and Tiramisu 105-110
Zuppa Inglese + A Sicilian Zuppa Inglese + Tirami S�

Chapter Ten - Oddities 111-117
Cold Savoury Trifle (Theodore Francis Garrett) + Beef Trifle (The 'Pudding Lady') + Kabul Quince and Yoghurt Trifle + Vientiane Coconut Jelly Trifle + London Trifle + Soufflé (Maltese Trifle) + Aphrodisiac Trifle

Glossary of Trifling Terms 118-126
Bibliography 127-131
Measures: Tables of Equivalence 132-133

There can be no doubt about savoury trifles being oddities. So 
we start this chapter with two of them.

We met Theodore Francis Garrett and his monumental Encyclopaedia of Practical Cookery (c. 1895) on page 36, and reproduced his Queen of Trifles, a regal dessert. Here we offer one of his two savoury trifles.

Firstly, Helen writes: this recipe has been inspired by my Afghan husband, who asked me to devise a trifle recipe with an eastern flavour, and to name it after the city in which he was born and brought up. The second reason for including this recipe is that the results are really good. An alternative to the yoghurt topping could be an Afghan firni, a sort of custard made with milk and cornflour flavoured with rosewater and cardamon. There is a recipe for this in my book Noshe Djan - Afghan Food and Cookery.

Alan's recipe is inspired directly by his experience of living in Laos and exploring the Traditional Dishes of Laos (the title of an extraordinary book on the subject by Phia Sing) including several desserts which have evolved there on the basis of the coconut, most versatile of foodstuffs. It is accompanied by one of only a large number of potential variations. Marry the English trifle to an Asian cuisine and you will be astonished by the number of progeny which this coupling produces.

The ingredients include first and second extractions of coconut milk. To produce these you would need one large or two smaller fresh ripe coconuts and a knowledge of the technique. It is easier for most people to use desiccated coconut, following the instructions on the packet to produce the right amount.

In the recipe which follows, since the versatile coconut can also be used to produce coconut custard, you could substitute this for the tapioca. This would be made with, for example, 4 eggs (lightly beaten), half a cup of sugar and a cup of thick coconut milk. Set over a low heat and stir frequently until you have a custard consistency.

Stage One - The Jelly

Ann Semple writes: 'Peg Bracken was a woman who made a career in the 1960s of doing as little in and about the house as possible. Her first book, The I Hate To Cook Book, was published in 1960 and was, as I recall, a runaway success. It was quickly followed by several other volumes, all delightful to read and often to emulate: The I Hate to Housekeep Book, (1962); I Try to Behave Myself; The I Hate to Cook Almanack (A Book of Days); and Appendix to The I Hate to Cook Book among others. Of the volumes listed, I now possess every one, including the Appendix in whichI found Peg Bracken's take on trifle.' Her recipe follows: