For the first time in over two decades the Edmonds Cookery Book has undergone a revamp - soused trout is out and bliss balls are in!

Alexa Johnston talks with Jesse Mulligan about a job her stepson likened to "rewriting the Bible".

(Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) Edmond's classic model factory and garden 1952 (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) Edmonds loaves (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) Edmonds candy (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) Edmond's Ginger Nuts 1955 (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition) Edmond's food layout imagery 1976 (Reproduced with permission from the Edmonds Cookery Book 2016 Edition)

Alexa says that over the years New Zealand’s favourite cookbook has changed a lot and she wanted to make this issue “the best of the best”.

So what is out?

“There were big international sections which – to be honest- really didn’t work anymore because people know if they go to a Japanese restaurant they're going to get tempura - and it’s Japanese, it’s not chinese, which it was [described as] in one of the early editions.”

And what’s in?

Of course plenty of baking (including gluten-free).

“Baking is a treat, baking is an occasional thing. We don’t have to live on biscuits. Also I think things can be small. We’ve got a bit of a gigantism problem.”

Ignoring the two-tiered slab that ginger crunch has evolved into, Alexa included the recipe she grew up using, for “a very thin biscuit with a very thin layer of icing”.

Also included are some recipes she says have ‘drifted out of the limelight’ - Elsie’s fingers, Dad’s cherry cake, a coconut loaf that appeared in the ‘50s and was dropped in the ‘70s, and mock whitebait fritters (made out of grated potato, egg and cheese - with poppy seeds for eyes!).

Previous editions have assumed quite a lot of prior knowledge about cooking and baking and the 2016 edition is more user-friendly with detailed instructions, numbered stages and an introductory description of each dish as found in most other cookbooks.

Alexa shares a 1923 recipe for Elsie's fingers and a new recipe for bliss balls.