A few years ago, a family friend slipped us a copy of A Taste of the Somerset Club Cookbook, an unintentionally hilarious peak into the veal demi-glace and pungent lobster-stocked kitchen of Boston's venerable old-boys club (Planning to pair your sauce poivrade with venison? "See if you can obtain some venison stock from the club"). In The WASP Cookbook, dyed-in-the-wool prepster Alexandra Wentworth goes further, giving us the stories behind the nummies, the eggnog, and the Easter ham -indeed, the recipes themselves are often somewhat of an afterthought.

Wentworth has divided the cookbook into seasons, and the seasons into subsections like Head-of-the-Charles Picnic, Raquetball Brunch, Opening-Up-the-Summer-House Dinner, and Blessing of the Hounds.

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