The book is compiled from handwritten or typewritten recipes from Maclean's family and friends on their own stationery, some including the sender's letterhead, as well as her own recipes, many of which came from her travels around the world in the wake of her husband, diplomat Fitzroy Maclean.

[3] The section headings were the work of Avril Veronica Gibb, a prominent artist.

She notes that some of the recipes are very complicated or extravagant when considered for everyday use, and they should be used for special occasions.

Her desire was to represent family (or country-house) cooking at its best, as opposed to classical, restaurant or grand London food.

The books is divided into the following chapters: Recipes include the Duchess of Devonshire's fish soup, Lady Diana Cooper's blackcurrant leaf ice, Lady Lovat's oxtail, and Fitz's "plov from Samarkand".