The Nine Ages Of Justerini’s

Written two decades before the book was finally published, in 1998

Justerini & Brooks had grown and grown until it had become the largest distributor of wines and spirits in the world. In addition to having bought Charlie Richards, W & A Gilbey and Porter and Norris under its wing in Britain, the firm had become the sole agents for Hennessey’s Brandy, Smirnoff Vodka, Heidsieck Dry Monopole Champagne, Pedro Domecq’s sherries, Croft’s ports, and the owner of Chateau Loudon near Bordeaux.

But its greatest asset was J&B Rare Scotch Whisky. The brand had become the biggest seller in the United States and could be obtained in every bar of any standing in the world. In Scotland a plant covering many acres had been constructed to make it and there were three hundred and eighty-five hogsheads in which it was matured. From it, no less than seventy-two thousand bottles are dispatched every working day throughout the year.

As Export Manager, this had long been Dorrien Belson’s baby; so it was very proper that on Ralph Cobbold’s retirement, Dorrien should have been appointed Chairman of Directors. Very naturally, having for two years running won the Queen’s Award to Industry for the maximum export of spirits, he wanted a third edition of J & B’s Ages with a final chapter recording the firm’s amazing expansion, and he asked me to write it.

I did, and with it mention, that I was required to put in, of all sorts of people who had run various departments – about whom no customer could have cared less – it would have made very dreary reading but for a suggestion of Joan’s. In the Seventh and Eighth Age I had inserted recipes for home-made liqueurs, syllabubs cups and cocktails. Now, she said: “Why not put in a chapter about the use of wine in cooking.”

It was a brilliant idea and I adopted it enthusiastically, but alas the book (1977) has not yet been published. In the sixties J&B had been absorbed into a vast combine named Grand Metropolitan. In 1973 poor old Britain was already on the downward slope. Dorrien Belson received instructions that no more money was to be spent on special advertising. So my manuscript of the Ninth Age still languishes on a shelf and may never now be put into print.

But I feel those tips about the use of wines and spirits in cooking may prove useful to gourmets, and the dishes made from my recipes will delight many a dinner party; so I give them here.

I am no cook, but I have always maintained that butter and cream and wine are the three essentials for producing fine dishes, and that given these – plus time – one could make even an old boot taste palatable.

One golden rule is that when wine, spirit or liqueur is used for a dish it should be added as the last ingredient and the contents of the cooking utensil never allowed to boil; for if it does, the virtue of the alcohol becomes lost.