The British Cookbook

Featured in Travel + Leisure's Best Fall Food Books

Featured in Eater's Top 10 Best Cookbooks of Fall 2022

Featured in Food & Wine's Best Fall 2022 Cookbook

'Oh what a perfect book. It makes me want to take a year off and stand in a kitchen, all day every day trying to bring these wonderful dishes to life … without a hint of jingoistic grandstanding it reminds us what a rich, varied and proud cuisines we have in Britain … so grateful to have this.' – Stephen Fry

'Staggeringly comprehensive and deeply researched, it's a big, greedy, engrossing banquet of a book.' – Marina O'Loughlin, British journalist, writer and restaurant critic

'A fascinating dive into the historic underbelly of British cuisine … required reading for any person interested in food.' – René Redzepi, head chef and owner of restaurant noma in Copenhagen

'Just what the doctor ordered: a thoughtful, intelligent, tried-and-true compendium ... lovely stuff, and timely.' – Elisabeth Luard, food writer, artist and broadcaster

'A great compendium of traditional recipes, and an excellent introduction for home and professional cooks alike; I greatly enjoyed learning about many regional recipes I'd never heard of before.' – Pierre Koffmann, internationally acclaimed chef

'A wonderfully rich book' – Diana Henry, The Telegraph

'A treasure trove of splendidly named delicacies … This is one of those cookbooks that works as well for reference as it does for actual cooking, though the wealth of griddle cakes, crumpets, loaves, and buns alone makes a compelling case for the latter.' – Eater

'The reader comes away with a newfound understanding and appreciation of the wonderful nuances of good British fare' – Delicious

'Mervis masterfully moves between the sublime and the scrumptious ... Pure poetry' – Monocle

'Ready for a culinary tour of England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland? Author and food historian Ben Mervis is your guide answering your questions on British cooking.' – Philadelphia Inquirer

'This cookbook celebrates both traditional British cuisine as well as the multi-faceted cuisine it has evolved into with the influences of migration and immigration - truly representing the essence of Britain as a country that embraces change and integration.' – Sumayya Usmani, author Summers Under the Tamarind Tree

'Nothing goes to waste in this bountiful feast. Anglophiles and hungry history buffs will find much to explore.' – Publishers Weekly

'Looking for your meat pies and puddings? [The British Cookbook] has 'em, along with roasts, trifles, all manner of cakes and breads, and much more.' – Stained Page News

'This 464-page, fire-engine-red tome is a once-in-a-generation anthology containing hundreds of British recipes both familiar … and more obscure.' – Saveur

'The tide is finally turning on the outdated notion that British food isn't crave-worthy. Ben Mervis showcases the variety of British cooking with a robust collection of favored staples like the Full Breakfast, Mince and Tatties, and the Scotch Egg (a dish I've yet to master), as well as many, many more. The book is laid out with an easily navigable index and punctuated by dreamy images of the English countryside. For those who love a good British dish and want some inspiration in between trips across the pond, this cookbook is for you.' – Sean Flynn, Food & Wine