New Acquisition. Robert Carrier - Cookery Cards

One of the best things about going to the Recycling Centre is having a look for old recipe books.  There are the usual mountains of Microwave Cookery books, stuff with pages stuck together and now and again you find a gem.

Pristene and un-used I found a set of Robert Carrier Cookery Cards!  Bargain at 50p

The Cakes, Sweets and Puddings cards have such classics as Summer Pudding, Bavarian Cream, Rice A La Royal, Fruit Medley and more.  I am dating this to the 60's as that is when he was most active with publishing books etc.

Who was Robert Carrier? I am far too lazy to write his obituary, which has been helpfully written here.  Thanks Telegraph!  To summarise though, he was one of the first celebrity chefs although known more for his flamboyant nature and dubbed one of London's Gayest Gourmet's.

He had a couple of Michelin Starred restaurants to his name, a cookery school and other interests which he gave up completely in 1982.  Later lived in Provence and painted. Alright for some?

Treacle Scones - 1930's

This comes from Farmhouse Fare, a book first published in 1935 and revised over the years.  I have the 1971 edition which contains lots of great recipes from over the years.  Some of these are older than the thirties, but for the sake of cataloging I am sticking to the date of first publication.
The ease of this dish would make a great little starter for beginners, or something quick to whip up at the last minute.  Again, with many of these recipes, timings are not exact and one has to use ones own instinct when it comes to how quickly they will take to cook.  This recipe also calls for a vintage ingredient, Cream of Tartar.  It is still available from supermarkets or online.  If you don't have it to hand, then white vinegar will be a good substitute.

8 oz Flour
1 oz sugar
1 oz treacle
1 oz margarine
1 teaspoonful of cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoonful of bicarbonate of soda
Buttermilk or ordinary milk

1. Rub the margarine into the flour, add the sugar, cream of tartar and soda and mix to a rather soft dough with the treacle which has been been dissolved in half a cupful of buttermilk.

2. Turn out on to a lightly floured board, stamp quickly into rounds and bake in a fairly hot oven.