Thacker's book is that very rare thing, a cookery book of the English
18th century that has his own recipes throughout: nothing seems to have
been plagiarized or borrowed from other writers. It is also the only
book of its kind to have come out of an English religious community. The
Dean of Durham had a lavish grant for entertaining, and his generous
hospitality meant that Thacker had to cook for all levels of society,
from canons of the Cathedral with sophisticated tastes such as the
gourmand Dr Jacques Sterne, to tradesmen, poor widows and those of even
more modest status. Thacker's book keeps many pre-Reformation recipes
and thus shows the gradual transition in the Cathedral's eating habits.
He also ran a cookery school in Durham. Food historian Ivan Day examines
the recipes, and his researches reveal the remarkable tradition of
ecclesiastical hospitality that survived at Durham for more than 800
years.