The author of A Catalan Cookery Book was Irving Davis, a connaisseur of priceless manuscripts and early printed books, a gourmet and a renowned cook.



An incomplete manuscript recovered after his death, it was edited by his friend Patience Gray, author of Honey from a Weed. Irving called his recipes ‘impossible’ because he despaired at substitution, or derogation from the original. His ‘Macaroni in the oven’ calls for the blood of a chicken, other dishes are equally demanding. However, in the time since it was first written, authentic provisions and materials have become more available to cooks in many countries, making the book much less " impossible".



As his friends and guests noted, at Irving's table, the mechanics that went into the creation of his dishes creation —forethought, selection, trouble, timing— were erased by the disarming simplicity of the outcome, which gave rise only to pleasure and delight. Irving's dishes were an invocation to the ideal; his method of presenting them celebrated his Mediterranean past.



There are eight main chapters covering soups; omelettes; pasta; snails; sea food; meat; salads and vegetables; and sweets presenting all-in-all, sixty receipes, taking in a summer and winter drink along the way. There are also eleven fine engravings by the artist Nicole Fenosa, at whose home in Vendrell Irving Davis spent many summers.

Irving Davis

Patience Gray