Schott's Food & Drink Miscellany

Somewhere between a cookbook, a wine list, a household guide and a culinary history, 'Schott's food & drink miscellany' is a snapper up of unconsidered trifles (in both senses of the word) - from food history to cooking terms; cocktail recipes to dining etiquette; grace before meals to after-dinner toasts. No other book will tell you the accepted procedure when drinking from a Loving Cup; which potatoes are best for mashing; how to fold your napkins into a variety of pleasing shapes; the correct technique for lighting a cigar, or a Christmas pudding; how to cook a swan (and why you aren't allowed to); the best way to blow smoke rings; how Hemingway liked to mix his Martinis; themost sensible way to order popcorn at the cinema; what Harold Wilson thought about tinned food; why Zeus slept on a bed of saffron; or how to make the legendary 'Monster Egg'? 'Schott's food & drink miscellany' offers all this - and more. It will inform you of the King who served foie gras to his dog; the feast where guests ate in fear of their lives; the socialite who spiked his punch with benzedrine; and the dining club whose members ate their meals in reverse.