But is has taken her to the age of 82 to write her first book on the subject.

Vienna-born Rosl's Oma Goodness! Austrian Magic in an English Kitchen was released last week, and contains around 200 sumptuous recipes, as well as anecdotes.

But the story behind the book is tinged with heartbreak.

Fourteen years ago, Rosl and husband Marc's nine-year-old granddaughter Jessica died from a brain tumour.

Before she died, Jessica's prognosis was very poor, but there was some hope offered by complementary treatment available in America.

Jessie's Fund was established to meet the cost of the treatment, but she died in May, 1994, before the treatment could be undertaken.

Her parents, musicians Lesley Schatzberger and Alan George, decided that Jessie's Fund should become a charity dedicated to helping seriously ill and disabled children through the creative and therapeutic use of music.

Rosl recalled: "It was a dreadful time. All the funds from the book will be going to the fund.

"The recipes in the book are dishes I have cooked throughout my married life.

"Although I have lived in England for most of my adult years, my roots are definitely Austrian."

Rosl, nee Fried, arrived in Britain with her family in 1940, after escaping Austria on the eve of the Second World War.

They went to Prague first, but the Nazis invaded Czechoslovakia soon after and the family moved to England, where Rosl's parents worked as domestic servants, near Cambridge.

They ended up at a hostel in Whalley Range, before moving to Oldham, where Rosl's father was given a job in a factory by a textile merchant who was a fellow Viennese Jew.

Rosl recalled: "I met my husband Marc, who had arrived in Britain on the Kindertransport in May, 1939, at the Young Austria Club in Manchester.

"We married in 1947 and I worked in a mill in Oldham and then as a dental receptionist and secretary before I enrolled at night school to train in cooking.

"I had always had a keen interest in it and used to watch my mother and auntie cook."

She became a home economist and was a cookery teacher at the Whitefield Centre and Club in the mid-1960s.

Rosl explained: "We had quite a lot of men in the class - widowers and retired people - who wanted to learn.

"I know it is popular for men to cook these days, but it was not like that in those days."

Rosl and Marc moved from Manchester to York 17 years ago in order to be close to Lesley.

The couple also have a son, retired doctor Paul.

"There are not many Jews here in York, about 200 on the electoral role, I think, but some of us get together on a regular basis," she continued.

The recipes in her book are primarily Austrian and Jewish dishes, including chopped fish, chicken soup, schnitzels, dumplings and strudels, as well as famous Austrian cakes and pastries.

Rosl said: "I love feeding my family and friends and entertaining them for dinner.

"I have five grandchildren and they all love cooking too, especially my 12-year-old grandson Jacob."

Rosl no longer runs cookery classes, but she volunteers at a primary school in York, teaching potential future chefs of the future.

She used to return regularly to Manchester to visit her sister Erica Cohen until her death five years ago.

However, Rosl and Marc spent erev Rosh Hashana at the Heywood home of fellow Viennese Hertha Elkin.

The title for the book came when a friend of her daughter's tucked into some chopped liver.

Rosl recalled: "The friend is not Jewish, but she loved it so much, she said, 'Oh my goodness'.

"The book was already three-quarters done, but I had not come up with a title until then.

"Coincidentally, oma is also the German word for grandma."

Jessie's Fund's patron is Prestwich-born actress and comedienne Victoria Wood, who was a pupil at Bury Grammar School for Girls along with Rosl's daughter Lesley.

And Wood has written a foreword to the book.

Rosl said: "I remember Victoria coming round to the family home when she was younger.

"I used to give her my chopped meat balls, which she enjoyed - she is a really nice lady."

Many Austrian refugees who escaped before the Holocaust do not like to talk or think about their country, but Rosl and Marc have been back numerous times.

A couple of years ago, Austrian schools started to teach the horrors of the Shoah and Rosl became the pen-friend of a schoolgirl.

They exchanged letters in German and English, with Rosl explaining her past.

She said: "For many years, the Austrian government refused to acknowledge their part in the Holocaust - they claimed they were victims too.

"But things have changed and the impact of what Nazism and fascism did is being taught."

"I am not bitter any more. You must look to the future."

But Rosl is disappointed with the surge in support for the Far-Right in Austria.

She added: "I hate it, but there is nothing one can do - it seems to be the way things are going across Europe. It is the way the pendulum swings."

Oma Goodness! Austrian Magic in an English Kitchen is available now, priced £12.95 from major bookshops