The Mayfair Cook

By Tyne O'Connell

Mayfair is the spiritual if not literal home of every girl, woman, lady or chap who loves to entertain, but on whom the crown of domesticity sits on more of a jaunty rather than a regal angle.

The Mayfair Cook is a guide to entertainment for chaps and chapesses who while confident they have a kitchen in their flat, penthouse, palace, chateau or villa, are not entirely sure where it is situated.

When we invite people into our homes for dinner or cocktail parties, the aim is about making memories with the people you love.

Think of the lobster scene from Annie Hall. Did they even get to eat those lobsters? Did they even care?

So if you are convinced your refrigerator is an extension of your wardrobe; another place for storing cosmetics and lingerie in the summer. Or if like me you have turned it into your library, this is the cook book for you.

The Mayfair Cook will guide you through the culinary history of Mayfair where entertaining is the alchemy of bringing people and food together with the focus on the people. That’s not to suggest that the food you serve won’t be delicious, but if a dinner party was just about the food, your guests would probably prefer you took them to The Ivy.

Most of these recipes can be thrown together in under three minutes. Many of the recipes don’t even require you getting off your chaise longue. Such is the brilliance of the Mayfair Cook.

Everything quite simply tastes better with a dash of insouciance.

“She is the Queen Bee Incarnate.” The Telegraph UK

“Mayfair author Tyne O’Connell knows a thing or two about marketing. People ask me who is your PR and I say “Wills and Harry.” Mayfair Times

‘O’Connell herself is every bit as glamorous as her fictional heroines.’ Style Magazine UK

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tyne O'Connell
• Release date: Jan 20, 2014
• ISBN: 9781311374219

Tyne O'Connell

Tyne O'Connell is the author of several romantic comedies including True Love, The Sphinx, and Other Unsolvable Riddles and the four Calypso Chronicles. She has written for newspapers and magazines such as Vogue, Marie Claire, and Elle. She lives in London, England.

Book preview

The Mayfair Cook

by Tyne O’Connell 

The Mayfair Cook

by Tyne O'Connell

Copyright 2011 Tyne O’Connell

Published at Smashwords by Tyne O'Connell

ISBN: 978-1-3113-7421-9

This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

INDEX

Acknowledgements

Biographical Details

Introduction

Dandies and Dandizettes

Amuse-Bouche - The History of Mayfair Dining

1. Syrupy Sharabs from the Ottoman Empire. The secret weapon of the Mayfair Cook

2. Cocktails: Eccentrics, Dandies, Dimples & Murders - all before the main course!

3. The Glamour of The Granny Trolley: your carbon tippy-toe print transport

4. Emergency Entertaining - always be prepared. Essential groceries for your trolly

5. Discovering your signature Champagne

6. Mayfair Kitchen Essentials - Glass Saucepans and Glass Casserole Dishes 

7. Aubergines: As Splendid as A Vermeer at a Fraction Of The Cost

8. Artichoke - Queen Of The Thistles.

9. The Fig Salon- The Queen of Fruits

10. Love in the Afternoon. An atmosphere of French dishabille:an unmade bed, memories of the night before

11. Seasonal Fruits; The Dutch Masters and Caravaggio all did a good line in fruit. 

12. The Dadaist Movement: Tearing up the Rules...

13. Mayfair Shisha Salon

14. Kick Off Your Heels & Run:  a pre-theatre supper-party for friends

15. Jewels; The Botox Of Bling

16. Hosting An Enlightenment Salon in Your Mayfair Boudoir.

17. Girl's Night Sin:Just for your girlfriends

18. Perfume: you’re never naked in Mea Culpa

19. Double D-Cup: (no silicone required)

20. Shoes: The Podium Upon Which The Mayfair Cook lives her life.

21. The Boy, The Fame & The Money (Saucy!)

22. How To Empty Your Table: Politics & Strident Opinions. 

23. Sunglasses - adding an air of mystery to any occasion

24. International Girl of Mystery

25. Remembering Your Biogropher

26. Oysters: Goddesses on the Half-Shell

27. Making The A-List? A supper for friends and your latest squeeze

28. Hats & Tiaras

29. Pearls & Swine

30. Clams Do It, a recipe so easy it prepares itself.

31. Ooops! Remedies for small disasters

32. The Tiffin Party.  Bringing The Exotic Glamour of The Raj & Exotic Travel To Your Home

33. You're Unbelievable! A Mischievous Mayfair Party

34. Espresso, Single Sourced from a Mayfair Hothouse roof garden or Blended Italian?

35. Heavy Lead Crystal Wine Glasses & Champagne glasses 

36. Can't Be Shagged: When you want to be just that! 

37. Perfectly Pedicured. 

38. Into Every Party a Little Bore Must Fall. 

39. It's The Little Things In Life That Give Me Away...(A Dinner Party for couples)

40. Waspish Humour & The Sting In The Tail - a dinner party to show off.

41. Nettle Crepes & Sharab

42. Floriography; The Language of Flowers

43. Madeleine Cakes - For Those Proustian Boudoir Salons 

44. Candles & Candle Snuffers

45. Mayfair Marmalade 

46. Here's Looking at You

47. The Spirit Of Mayfair

Acknowledgements

This book is dedicated to Mayfair, that last bastion of English Village life in the heart of London, figurative and literal home for eccentrics for hundreds of years. 

Inspired by my mother Veronica O’Connell Queen of the bon mot and a phenomenal cook, she bequeathed me her cookbook, an ancient tome added to over generations by my Irish Matriarchal ancestors. Through the beauty of their careful sloping script I glean the humour and heart of the women behind the recipes.  

I would also like to acknowledge the great debt I owe the Belgian nuns of Sisters of Charity and The Order of The Sacre Coeur, who were responsible for twelve years of my education, during which I obtained a Diploma of Culinary Arts.  I feel truly privileged to have been educated by these sisters, each of them were extraordinary women.  

During the Second World War, my nuns, The Sisters of Charity at great risk to themselves, sheltered Jewish children in their Convents, successfully shielding them from the German Holocaust Machine. 

As the Sisters immersed us in the history of food, both as culinary art and as nutrition, we learnt of the suffering, fear and deprivation they had endured in sheltering and caring for these children.  Keeping everyone fed and clothed and safe was a daily battle. Their stories were like Grimm’s Fairy Tales to us in the comfort of our middle class worlds.  

They impressed upon me that every moment of opportunity and joy must be seized upon in life. I still have a vivid image of little nuns dashing across Flemish fields in their wooden soled shoes and long habits, scissors at the ready to snip off the silken parachutes of fallen airmen to cloth the children.  

Their wisdom and savoir faire gave me