In Britain the tradition of farmhouse cooking has never died out; from the West Country to Scotland, from Wales to East Anglia the same simple ingredients have been transformed by inventiveness into local specialities which retain their subtle differences from generation to generation. The Farmhouse Kitchen offers a range of recipes and includes both the traditional country occupations such as breadmaking, home brewing, food preservation - salting, drying, smoking, pickling - and an array of delicious main dishes of meat and fish with their sauces and accompanying vegetables, as well as puddings, cakes and sweets. Hot breakfast dishes, nourishing soups, tasty pies and spicy savoury puddings all reveal the richness of country fare and Mary Norwak adds singular interest to the local recipes by explaining their historical backgrouns. Extracts from manuscript sources and old cookery books have all been translated by the author into modern terms with easy-to-follow instructions, and a final selection gives farmhouse recipes from the Continent and America.