The Compleat Cook

W. M.Project Gutenberg · United StatesDec 2019

2.8

Word count: 148K words
Chapters: 15

Summary

Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books, or eBooks. Michael Hart, founder of Project Gutenberg, invented eBooks in 1971 and his memory continues to inspire the creation of eBooks and related technologies today.The Compleat Cook by W. M.Author: W. M.,Language: English, Class: TX: Technology: Home economics, Release Date: Dec 1, 2003

Editor's review

The Compleat Cook is an English-language culinary text in the household-technique category, released free of charge by Project Gutenberg. Its title preserves the early modern spelling “compleat,” suggesting the flavor of an old-style recipe collection or household manual. For today’s readers its main value lies not in following it dish by dish but at the documentary and linguistic level: one can observe how ingredients, measures, and culinary expressions were handled in earlier times, sense the conventions and tone of household writing, and treat it as comparatively light English-language nonfiction. The Gutenberg edition is easy to obtain and convenient to consult on an e-reader. Note that the available materials give no specific recipes, date of composition, or author background, so it should not be taken as a practical cookbook checked against modern standards. Overall it is a freely available public-domain household and culinary text, suited to readers interested in food history, old-style English recipes, and household literature.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers interested in old-style English recipes and food writing
General readers curious about the conventions of early household manuals
Those who need public-domain English nonfiction for reading practice
Readers collecting Gutenberg e-books on household management and cookery

Not a good fit for

Home cooks who want to follow modern measures and hygiene standards
Readers who need a Chinese translation or a modern annotated recipe edition
Those expecting a modern cookbook with illustrations and clear steps

Reading tips

Start by skimming the table of contents or section titles, and pick entries with familiar ingredients to ease the difficulty of old-style phrasing.
Jot down old measures and ingredient names separately and compare them with modern terms as a small language exercise.
No need to cook from it; read it as food writing and pay attention to conventions and tone.
Read just one or two pieces at a time and take notes on interesting expressions, so you don’t spend too long grinding through old spellings.

About the publisher

Project Gutenberg United States · Founded in 1971

Project Gutenberg is a digital publishing project focused on public-domain ebooks. Its publishing direction centers on classic literary works whose copyright has expired, covering genres such as poetry, drama, fiction, and epic. Representative books include Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge, Proust's Du côté de chez Swann, Shakespeare's Macbeth and The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Homer's The Iliad, Dante's La Divina Comèdia: Purgatòri, Cervantes's The History of Don Quixote, Volume 2, and Grahame's The Wind in the Willows. Its author resources consist mainly of classic Western writers such as Wordsworth, Proust, Shakespeare, Homer, Dante, Cervantes, Grahame, and Tolstoy. Its publishing feature is the provision of freely accessible ebooks in EPUB and Kindle formats; it is not a traditional publisher, and publicly available information is limited.

FAQ

Can I cook directly from this book?

Not advisable. The materials do not say whether its measures and cooking conditions have been modernized, and old recipes often differ from today’s in measures, heat, and ingredient descriptions. The safer use is to read it as food writing; if you want to cook, convert the measures yourself and judge hygiene and safety conditions.

Why is the title spelled Compleat?

“Compleat” is a common early modern spelling of “complete,” often used in old book titles and bearing the mark of its era. This spelling suggests the text may date from an early period, so you will encounter old spellings and expressions in reading, which is normal.

Can I read it without any cooking background?

Yes, but focus on browsing and learning about old food writing rather than learning to cook. If you have limited English reading experience, start with short entries and read slowly with a dictionary; treating it as a cultural document rather than a beginner’s guide will make it much less demanding.

Comments

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This site is an index: you start “Search all sources” in your browser, and the entries it lists all point to third-party sites; please judge their availability yourself.

About the author

W. M. Author

W. M. is the name credited as the author of The Compleat Cook. Beyond this, little is recorded in publicly available sources about the author's real name, nationality, dates of birth and death, or other biographical details, and verifiable information remains very limited. Judging from the surviving work, W. M.'s writing centers on cookery and household food practice, belonging to the tradition of early English practical cookery manuals. The Compleat Cook consists mainly of collected recipes, step-by-step instructions, and methods for handling ingredients; its language is direct and clearly organized, serving the daily needs of housewives and kitchen managers rather than aiming at literary polish. Works of this kind often preserve information about the eating habits, kitchen organization, and local flavors of a particular period, making them important sources for the history of everyday food. The abbreviated form of the signature itself reflects a common convention in early practical books, in which authorship tended to remain hidden behind the text. Although only this one work is currently known, its contents still offer a useful sample for understanding how cookery knowledge was compiled and circulated at the time.