Written in 1999, this book embodies the sense of both time and place from the Victorian era book that inspired it: Frances Hodgson Burnett’s “The Secret Garden.” Following Burnett’s theme of good food nourishing mind and body, author Amy Cotler excerpts activities from “The Secret Garden’s” plot and writes a series of Victorian era recipes to suit each situation. All of these recipes can be prepared in a modern kitchen.

The book format includes not only recipes but quotes from “The Secret Garden” and short descriptions of relevant Victorian activities such as the first use of tea in the UK, the invention of baking powder, the Victorian garden, the shifting of the breakfast hour due to industrialization, the influence of Indian foods, and changes in eating habits inspired by Queen Victoria. Hand-drawn illustrations by Prudence See lend a Victorian authenticity and help organize the material into a useful format for both reading and cooking. Throughout, a theme of contrast in diet between rich manor residents and poor cottage dwellers is prevalent and points up the romanticization of this contrast in Burnett’s book, gently giving readers a more realistic view of food distribution during Victorian times.

Like the book on which it is based, this cookbook will appeal to both children and adults. Some of the recipes, like coddled eggs, fruit lassi, spring peas with mint, dough cakes, Welsh rabbit, cocoa, and cucumber sandwiches can be easily prepared by children. Others, such as Cornish pasties, crumpets, currant buns, and Yorkshire pudding, are more appropriate for adults. Older children may want to prepare such recipes as scones, parkin (old fashioned gingerbread), little sausage cakes, and jam roly-poly. Other recipes are of historical significance and perhaps better imagined than made, for example pease porridge, roasted fowl with bread sauce, kedgeree, and cabinet pudding. I’ve prepared the scones, fresh mango chutney, coddled eggs, glazed carrots, and spring peas with mint, and all are excellent.

This book is fairly hard to find. I located it in my local library’s juvenile section.

I love The Secret Garden, particularly for its descriptions of food and the range of gardens full of produce, so when I saw this book title I was keen to read it.

This was a charming book full of facts about traditional Yorkshire fare and very short snippets from the original novel amongst wonderful homely recipes to reflect life at the time of writing.

Split into chapters around different themes such as breakfast, summer picnics and a taste of India, we are taken back to the well known story and the foods that would have been so familiar to the children. Each chapter begins with an explanation of the traditions and available produce during the 19th Century and the recipes are accompanied by photographs of delicious looking food and drink. I can't wait to find the time to give some of these recipes a go!

I received an eARC of this book from the publishers via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Originally published on my blog: Nonstop Reader.

n  The Secret Garden Cookbookn is a recipe collection and cookbook tie-in to Burnett's classic story. Originally published in 1999 this reformat and re-release, due out 14 Jan 2020 from Quarto on their Harvard Common Press imprint, it's 112 pages and will be available in hardcover format.

This is a beautifully illustrated homage to good food and the settings and characters from the book.

The recipes are grouped by category: Yorkshire breakfasts, manor lunches, English tea, kitchen garden, Dickon's cottage food, taste of India, and garden picnics. The book is lavishly and appealingly illustrated with large clear recipe and serving photographs. Each of the recipes includes yields, prep and cooking time, ingredients (including metric measurements, yay!), a short description, and step by step instructions.

There's a comprehensive index at the end with cross-linked recipes. The author's writing style is homey and friendly and for readers who like some culture with their cookbooks, this one has a very classic and nostalgic feeling. There's a lot of comfort and hospitality as well as quotes from The Secret Garden in hand illustrated whimsical sidebars scattered throughout.

Five stars for lovers of Victorian English cooking and for lovers of the original book. The recipes are not overly fancy or difficult, they're heirloom recipes.

Disclosure: I received an ARC at no cost from the author/publisher for review purposes.

I read Francis Hodgson Burnett's The Secret Garden after my mother told me she had read it as a girl, and that her mother had read it as a girl. It was the only book my mother ever mentioned having read as a child.

The beloved children's classic story tells the story of Mary Lennox who had lived a life of ease in India; after cholera takes her family, she is sent to live in England. Adjusting to her new life, the lonely girl meets local boy Dickson and together they discover and revive a neglected garden. Although rife with dated colonialist and racist attitudes, the basic story of regeneration is timeless.

Food plays an important role in the book, and cookbook author Amy Colter shares recipes inspired by the story, newly revised and updated to appear with the release of the new The Secret Garden movie. Quotations from the novel regarding food are interspersed.

Colter's chapter introductions informs readers on many subjects from the typical Victorian meals to what was in a kitchen garden to the history of tea.

So many of these recipes are homely and wholesome and nostalgic.

Chapters include:

Yorkshire Breakfasts; Coddled Eggs are so simple--why don't we made them every week? I do make my own cocoa mix--this recipe has a dash of cinnamon!
A Manor Lunch; this casual meal could include Potato Snow, Roasted Chicken with Bread Sauce, or Welsh Rabbit.
An English Tea; I am now dreaming of Warm Cranberry Scones with Orange Glaze and Fruit Tea Loaf!
From the Kitchen Garden; Wholesome fresh food including Sweet Glazed Carrots and easy Summer Berry Pudding.
Dickon's Cottage Food; Tattie Broth, Pease Pudding, Yorkshire Oatcakes--this is my idea of comfort food!
A Taste of India; Exotic recipes from Colonial India includes Fruit Lassi, Mulligatawny Soup (which I make frequently!), and Fresh Magno Chutney.
Garden Picnics; Including the easy to transport Cornish Pasties, brought to my home state of Michigan by immigrants working in the copper mines--a complete meal.
This is a delightful book.

I was given access to a free egalley by the publisher through NetGalley. My review is fair and unbiased.

Fun, good elementary school level reading. Mostly laughing at the confirmation of everything I heard about English cooking and how curry is the British national dish.

OOOOOO I just love it even though i am not finished it!!!

Amy Cotler’s The Secret Garden Cookbook is a charming themed cookbook filled with easy and yummy recipes. The book’s lovely layout is great and I love the well-written historical and cultural information about the Victorian era. I like the full-colour pictures but I wish there were more and that they were more relevant to the theme.

What a fun cookbook! The book is divided into seven chapters: Yorkshire Breakfasts, A Manor Lunch, An English Tea, From the Kitchen Garden, Dickon’s Cottage Food, A Taste of India, and Garden Picnics. I love the variety of dishes! There are recipes for dinner, breakfast, drinks, snacks, condiments, lunch, and teatime. Cotler shows us how to make currant buns and fruit lassi as well as a proper pot of tea. I cannot wait to try making brandy snap lace cookies, bacon and cilantro pancakes, and Yorkshire pudding! The recipes are clearly written and feature familiar and accessible ingredients. I especially like that the dishes seem easy and that they do not feature an extensive ingredient list.

The cute page designs are fun and colourful. But, I really wish they had featured throughout. I like the beautiful and bright full-colour pictures but they are a little generic. They are also very modern and seem as if they could belong to any contemporary cookbook. I wish the pictures were more interesting and more relevant to the theme. Furthermore, a few more pictures of the dishes would really enhance this book.

I love the little snippets from The Secret Garden book that are included throughout. I loved reading about the culture and food of Victorian England. It is especially fascinating to learn about the eating habits and daily activities of the rich and poor people of that era. Cotler’s writing is presented in a brief, easy-to-read, and interesting format. Her style is so simple and approachable that I learned a lot of information very quickly and without feeling overwhelmed.

The Secret Garden Cookbook is a wonderful recipe collection. This is a perfect gift for fans of The Secret Garden, those who love literary cookbooks, or simply anyone who loves food! I love literary cookbooks and I cannot wait to get my own copy of this lovely collection!

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group – Harvard Common Press for this book in exchange for an honest review.

couldnt put it down.... i read it in 5th grade

This cookbook is a delight and inspired our menu for our book club discussion. If you're a fan of cooking or The Secret Garden, you'll love it.

What an absolutely charming cookbook and companion to the Secret Garden! The recipes are simple and good. We made the mulligatawny soup and enjoyed it. Although people make fun of English cooking, I like it, but so often the recipes are in English measurements which are not the same as American measurements. Here are simple, doable dishes along with quotes from the book and interesting facts. I like the poppy decorations too. They are appropriate to the WW1 era of the novel. I received a free edition of this book from Net Galley in exchange for an honest review, then I bought my own hard copy edition of the book.

This is a beautiful cookbook that is centered around the book "The Secret Garden". The book contains snippets from the "The Secret Garden" and has history from those times. The recipes are explained by the history of the era. There was a lot of information about the food of the time. The recipes were quite interesting and often for food I have only read about in books. It was quite interesting to see the actual food.
The recipes seemed quite labor intensive to me and I know understand why they had cooking staffs. They needed them to make the food. There are only a few recipes I will even try. The gingerbread looks quite tasty and manageable. The lemon tarts look good but seemed to take more work than I am willing or able to do. I need a kitchen staff. A lot of the recipes require stuff that I don't have on hand like rings to make crumpets.
The book is still lovely and quite interesting to read. I really enjoyed it and will keep it as one of those special books and hope that I find a kitchen staff to make it for me.

A wonderful read for those who loved this book as a young person or for those whom “The Great British Baking Show” has become an addiction!!