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Don’t fancy frogs’ legs? Then you could try Frog Soup, though it’s not for the faint-hearted. Nor is it restricted to French cuisine. It’s one of more than 2,000 recipes in ‘The Silver Spoon’, which is arguably the most influential Italian cookbook of the past 50 years.

‘The Silver Spoon’ was conceived and first published by ‘Domus’, the magazine founded by the architect/designer Giò Ponti and published from the 1920s to the 70s. 

A select group of cooking experts was commissioned to collect hundreds of traditional Italian recipes as well as recipes from some of the most famous Italian chefs.

It works on the principle of providing recipes based on ingredients. So you go to the index (from Aioli to Zabaglione) look for ‘Frogs’ and there are over half a dozen recipes, including the soup on page 256 (out of 1,505 pages).

How to cook frogs

First remove the legs from 24 frogs and set aside. Heat oil in a pan, add onion, carrot, celery and garlic and cook till lightly browned. Add the frogs’ bodies, mix well. Add tomatoes and 1 ½ litres of meat stock, season well. Bring to the boil and simmer till the frogs have almost disintegrated. 

Transfer to a food processor and process to a purée. Return the purée to the pan, add the frogs’ legs and cook for quarter of an hour. Ladle it out, add sprig of parsley, dunk some toast, close your eyes and think of England, as was said allegedly by Queen Victoria to her daughter on her wedding night. 

‘The Silver Spoon’ is published in English by Phaidon. £31.27 on Amazon.