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Time Life "Foods of the World" series


Kim WB

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I have virtually the entire series and they are an indispensible resource for serious cooks. When you read through the Chinese volume you realize how ground-breaking it must have been in the 1960's for American's to read about exotic ingredients like preserved vegetables, black beans and dark soy sauce. These cookbooks are actually more relevant today than they were over 50 years ago.

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I have virtually the entire series and they are an indispensible resource for serious cooks. When you read through the Chinese volume you realize how ground-breaking it must have been in the 1960's for American's to read about exotic ingredients like preserved vegetables, black beans and dark soy sauce. These cookbooks are actually more relevant today than they were over 50 years ago.

I agree - today we can get the ingredients rather than having to resort to substitutes and we also have the luxury of often being able to taste the dishes authentically made in restaurants. I gave the Japan volume to a friend of my son's who is a student of Japanese culture. He found it enormously relevant and helpful in giving him a cultural base.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Is anyone else having issues getting JUST the spiral and not the hardbound book together?

I ordered the American Cooking FOTW and only got the Spiral...

Who'd you order from? If it was from Amazon, you have to be very careful and be sure to read the description from the individual seller you're actually buying from. When sellers upload their wares to Amazon, the system slots things with the matching Amazon item without noting that only part of the set is there, or it's a different edition, etc. If you thought you were buying both, you should be able to get your money back.
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  • 1 month later...

I made the mistake of going to the thrift store today...

Discovered a new Time-Life cooking series I knew nothing about. Its 24 books, I bought 8.

Its called "Healthy Home Cooking"

Here is some info http://www.volumelists.com/detail.php?ser=Healthy Home Cooking

Edited by GlorifiedRice (log)

Wawa Sizzli FTW!

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  • 8 months later...

I seem to have exhausted the Strand and Kitchen Arts & Letters as sources for these books, so now must turn to Amazon and eBay for the rest of the collection.

I was hoping to get the Spain/Portugal volume without having to resort to the Internet. Poo.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Nice scores Soba. I like the British Isles volume.

 

Just spent some time browsing the New England volume, which interestingly has a section on Quebecois cooking as well.

Yes, because of the large French Candadian emigration; you will also notice a number of Scottish dishes (e.g., Finnan Haddie), for similar reasons: extensive emigration of Scots via Prince Edward Isle and Nova Scotia in particular ( including my Buchanan relatives).

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Hi janeer! Coincidentally I'm soaking some butterscotch beans tonight to make your awesome baked beans recipe again (always a 2-3 day process). I have real confidence in my current batch of salt pork.

 

I was thinking I'd try making the brown bread this time, though it looks a little daunting - I won't be able to source the jonnycake flour that fast in NYC.

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Hi janeer! Coincidentally I'm soaking some butterscotch beans tonight to make your awesome baked beans recipe again (always a 2-3 day process). I have real confidence in my current batch of salt pork.

 

I was thinking I'd try making the brown bread this time, though it looks a little daunting - I won't be able to source the jonnycake flour that fast in NYC.

Great! I will send you some johnnycake meal when I get back to RiI in June. The bread is easy. Enjoy the beans. It is too hot here to even think about baked beans.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Just a note of caution, and it might not pertain to everyone, but still...

 

I have the complete set.  Because I've moved a lot, the books were packed away in a box.  After reading this thread, got very interested and eager again about these wonderful books, so I opened the box and started pulling them out.

 

Unfortunately, the covers and backs had stuck to one another.  So, as I pulled them apart, they tore.

 

Wish I had put some sort of wax or parchment paper between them when I packed them away.

 

And I'd suggest that all y'all consider that if you need to store them for some reason.

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I don't understand why rappers have to hunch over while they stomp around the stage hollering.  It hurts my back to watch them. On the other hand, I've been thinking that perhaps I should start a rap group here at the Old Folks' Home.  Most of us already walk like that.

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Managed to source the Caribbean volume this weekend.

14190380203_b5088bd462_o.jpg

Wow, thanks for posting.  I didn't realize there was this edition so now I'll be on the lookout.

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My friends in food all know how much I cherish these cookbooks and yet again they haven't disappointed.  I've been on a search for a good, no great, pizza dough recipe for about 3 years.  In fact, this past weekend I made 3 different recipes, all with marginal results.  A Batali recipe was too gooey, a recipe from "Extra Virgin" on Cooking Channel was too gummy.  Then on a lark I went into my library to turn to a trusted source--The Foods of Italiy.  Success!  Pizza dough that gifted me with a thin, chewy, crispy crust full of mountains of bubbles.  And imagine, these books debuted some 60 years ago.  If only the "artisanal" pizza crafters today knew that a great recipe could be found in a Time-Life book.

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14175658891_8284053289_o.jpg

This is a predecessor to the Time-Life FOTW series. This particular volume was published in 1958; B's parents recently gave him their copy. (The one you're looking at is from B's sister who lives in Pennsylvania. We were at her place for Thanksgiving last year. I meant to take more pix of the inside. It has a very "50's" feel to it.)

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I trust everyone here is aware that one can get the complete set of the books (the main books, the spiral-bound recipe books, the additional books etc) from various places, yes?  eBay for one... And the write-up for them is readily available on the internet listing every volume of the series...

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My friends in food all know how much I cherish these cookbooks and yet again they haven't disappointed.  I've been on a search for a good, no great, pizza dough recipe for about 3 years.  In fact, this past weekend I made 3 different recipes, all with marginal results.  A Batali recipe was too gooey, a recipe from "Extra Virgin" on Cooking Channel was too gummy.  Then on a lark I went into my library to turn to a trusted source--The Foods of Italiy.  Success!  Pizza dough that gifted me with a thin, chewy, crispy crust full of mountains of bubbles.  And imagine, these books debuted some 60 years ago.  If only the "artisanal" pizza crafters today knew that a great recipe could be found in a Time-Life book.

Here are a couple of photos of the delicious crust--

110.JPG

 

113.JPG

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Thanks, nearly identical to my favorite all-time crust from "Pietro's Pizza Parlor"  in Salem, Oregon.  One trick I use is to brush the entire, (to the edge), dough circle with a coating of olive oil just before garnishing and baking.  Gosh, I think I'll have pizza now every other day.

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