Based on lessons taught at her cooking school by Mrs. John Elder, widow of a well-known ship-builder, to women of working men in Govan, Scotland, a large ship-building town adjoining Glasgow, the recipes in this 1890 volume are designed to allow women to provide their husbands with filling, nutritious meals at the smallest possible cost. The work was published under the auspices of United States Consul to Glasgow, F.H. Underwood, after he observed a cooking demonstration by Miss Martha H. Gordon, which made use of Mrs. Elder's recipes and methods, wherein he observed "a good, palatable, and nutritious meal for six persons prepared at a cost of 1s (24 cents)."