A 110-year-old cook book which includes a tongue-in-cheek recipe on 'How To Cook A Husband' has been uncovered during a house clearance after decades gathering dust.
The cooking manual called '250 Tried Recipes for Everyday Use' features numerous recipes supplied by housewives around the UK back in 1911, and was discovered in a kitchen of a property that had been left unused since the 1950s in South Derbyshire.
It will now be sold at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire, with an estimated price of £30 to £50.
The fascinating publication provides an insight into the basic ingredients and cooking methods used at the time and all instructions are boiled down to one paragraph.
It also includes a cheeky recipe on how best to 'cook a husband' as too many 'are utterly spoiled by mismanagement'.
A 110-year-old cook book which includes a tongue-in-cheek recipe on 'How To Cook A Husband' (pictured) has been uncovered during a house clearance after decades gathering dust
The cooking manual (pictured) called '250 Tried Recipes for Everyday Use' features numerous recipes supplied by housewives around the UK back in 1911
Comical descriptions include 'keeping them in hot water', 'roasting them' or keeping them 'in a stew with irritating ways and words.'
The housewife also suggests 'add a little sugar in the form of what confectioners call kisses' and that 'a little spice improves them'.
The recipe, written by a Mrs Perfect, of Highclere, Stapenhill, Staffordshire, adds: 'If he splutters and fusses do not be anxious - some husbands do this until they are "done".'
She wrote: 'A good many husbands are utterly spoiled in the cooking by mismanagement.
'Some women keep their husbands constantly in hot water, others let them freeze by indifference and carelessness, some keep them in a stew by irritating ways and words, others roast them, some keep them in pickle all their lives.
The book (pictured) was discovered in a kitchen of a property that had been left unused since the 1950s in South Derbyshire
The fascinating publication provides an insight into the basic ingredients and cooking methods used at the time and all instructions are boiled down to one paragraph (pictured)
'You cannot expect them tender and good if mismanaged in this way but they are really delicious when properly treated.'
She continued: 'In selecting a husband do not go to market for him, as the best are always brought to your door.
'See the linen in which you wrap him is properly washed and mended with the required number of buttons and strings tightly sewn on.
'Tie him in the kettle with a strong cord called "comfort" as the one called "duty" is apt to be weak. If he splutters and fusses do not be anxious - some husbands do this until they are "done".
'Add a little sugar in the form of what confectioners call 'kisses', but no vinegar or pepper on any account. A little spice improves them but it must be used with judgement.'
Many of the recipes (pictured) appear to be very basic and sometimes oven temperatures or timings are not deemed necessary
Many adverts (pictured) in the book feature businesses in Tutbury, a village in Staffordshire
The book was recently found in a kitchen during a house clearance at a property that had been left untouched since the 1950s in South Derbyshire.
It will now go under the hammer at Hansons Auctioneers in Etwall, Derbyshire, with a guide price of between £30-£50.
Charles Hanson, owner of Hansons Auctioneers, said: 'This really made me smile. A cheeky and fun culinary surprise to savour on the final page from Mrs Perfect. A recipe for a perfect marriage, perhaps.
'This recipe book is a quirky little discovery and one many keen cooks might like to add to their repertoire.'
The opening page is dominated by 'The Dowager Lady Burton's Recipes' - Gingerbread Cakes, Beef Cheek Pie and White Devil. Pictured, adverts in the book
The opening page is dominated by 'The Dowager Lady Burton's Recipes' - Gingerbread Cakes, Beef Cheek Pie and White Devil.
Many of the recipes appear to be very basic and sometimes oven temperatures or timings are not deemed necessary.
For example, to make Lady Burton's White Devil you simply: 'Cut up any sort of old game and make hot in oven, whip half a pint of cream, add teaspoon of mustard, a pinch of salt and pepper, one tablespoon of Worcester sauce, one also of Harvey sauce.
'Pour over the game and set in the oven until slightly browned.'
Pudding recipes dominate the pages such as Biscuit Pudding, Canary Pudding and Forget-Me-Not Pudding.
Other recipes include Cheese Custard from A E Johnson of Tutbury; Cheese Darioles from Mrs Booth of Foston Hall, Derby, and Milk Jelly from Miss Wharton of Manchester.
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