 The Beetons partly followed the layout of Acton 's recipes , although with a major alteration : whereas the earlier writer provided the method of cooking followed by a list of the required ingredients , the recipes in The Englishwoman 's Domestic Magazine listed the components before the cooking process . Isabella 's standardised layout used for the recipes also showed the approximate costs of each serving , the <unk> of the ingredients and the number of portions per dish . According to the twentieth @-@ century British cookery writer Elizabeth David , one of the strengths of Isabella 's writing was in the " clarity and details of her general instructions , her brisk comments , her no @-@ nonsense <unk> " . Margaret Beetham , the historian , sees that one of the strengths of the book was the " consistent principle of organisation which made its heterogeneous contents look uniform and orderly " , and brought a consistent style in presentation and layout . Whereas Daly and <unk> consider such an approach as " nothing if not formulaic " , Hughes sees it as " the thing most beloved by the mid <unk> , a system " . 
