This is a sweet little book — another passed down from my dad. It is ‘Hors D’Oeuvres and How to Make Them’ by Mollie Stanley-Wrench, who was quite an accomplished author and cookery book writer. There are some fabulous recipes in this small, pocket-sized book, and many of these dishes and recipes we still use today.

This is a book from 1952 and was probably bought new by a relative and handed over to my father when he started cooking in the ’50s in Fishers Hotel, Pitlochry. It was quite a tough life then; some months there simply wasn’t enough work to go round, so you were sent home until business picked up a bit. I still find the extent of knowledge back then amazing. Folk must have travelled far and wide to compile books like this.

Influences from all over the world are in this little book — Chinese dishes, Scandic herring dishes and American ideas — but it almost always comes back to France, where the majority of folk, even today, look for inspiration in the kitchen. I can’t quite imagine a place like Coupar Angus in rural Scotland, just after the war, having much need for a book of appetisers or hors d’oeuvres. Was there even a need for dinner parties? I shall find out.

It crossed my mind — where on earth in rural Scotland in the ’50s would you find aubergines, anchovies, crayfish, cumin, even olives? Remember, there was still rationing in place for many food items. Nonetheless, I like this book a lot. The section on savoury butters is brilliant, and the recipe for kabobbed oysters is interesting. It is just a kebab with fatty bacon and oysters, baked and served with cayenne and lemon. I shall keep dipping in and out of this book and wonder where they found Roquefort in 1950s Scotland.