Old cookbooks

[fifi]

Funny you should mention the Time-Life series on foods around the world. We think that the set my mother had is a complete one with all of the spiral bound recipe books. (Well, almost. We chan't find the one for Chinese.) I looked all over the place with google help to see if I could get a complete list of the series. No luck. Even the pamphlet like index is no help. We are not sure when it came out and if there were any additional books produced after that index.

Those are really amazing books. Especially considering when they were written. The US hadn't gotten into the food thing yet. Well... except for mother and dad. That Chinese book caused my dad to buy us all woks. I still have mine... good practical steel that he got at the restaurant supply store. I now realize that was almost 30 years ago.

[ned]

Bonnie Slotnick Books, also in NYC, often has the full run of the Time Life books. Bonnie had something to do with Time Life and knows lots about the series. If you want to know anything about them, I'd get in touch with her.

www.bonnieslotnickcookbooks.com/

[fifi]

Cool tip, ned. Thanks. Glad you are here.

[Moopheus]

How does "Steamed Fig Pudding with Foamy Sauce" sound? (Campbell's, 1951--take that, Gordon Elliot!)

And you really don't want to see the photo of "Tuna-Lima Bake" in Good Housekeeping's Casserole Book (1958)

Quick Dishes for the Woman in a Hurry by the Culinary Arts Institute of Chicago (1955) has a 'cultural clue' in the form a drawing of a giant kettle on an open fire labeled 'soups', surrounded by what I suppose are intended to represent canninbals, beating on drums and featuring very, very wide white lips. (322 recipes in 30 minutes or less--guess some things don't change!)

And I will have to try the Molded Potato Salad from The New Joys of Jell-O (1974, of course). Lemon Jell-O mixed with Good Seasons Italian salad dressing? Yum, yum.

Can I have some more, mom, please?

[helenjp]

Thanks everybody for the interesting reading! I have (somewhere) the recipe books of my grandmother and her legion sisters. It took me a while to realize that they were not just "family cooking" but typical Edwardian food. Gotta drag them out...

My mother had one of those Betty Crocker books -- in New Zealand, it took some getting, and some of the dishes (exactly the same type of thing as the "figgy pudding with foamy sauce" recipe) wowed the neighbors! Cinnamon fluff with clear lemon sauce...what! a sweet dessert with a sweet sauce?! My mother discovered European yeast baking through Betty Crocker -- New Zealand yeast cookery is strictly Brit.

My two faves -- a reprint 18th century book I bought for my mother (who threw it out some years later) which contained recipes for things like cock ale -- pound up the raw cock until the bones are broken and the blood runs, add ale, and ferment...or something similar. That was certainly a change from the London coffee-house image!

And the second, a book on New Orleans cookery by Lafcadio Hearn, who was on the bones of his knees at the time and hit upon the idea of publishing the recipes of his boarding-house housekeeper. However, he seems to have been genuinely interested in the idea of good homely cooking. He went from there to Japan, where he spent the rest of his life, changing his name to Koizumi Yakumo, and gaining fame for a collection of stories based on the kind of grotesque folktales that were then being discarded by Japan's literary set as old-fashioned and ludicrously parochial. The recipes are the more interesting because they belong so strongly to their period.

[Pan]

My two faves -- a reprint 18th century book I bought for my mother (who threw it out some years later) which contained recipes for things like cock ale -- pound up the raw cock until the bones are broken and the blood runs, add ale, and ferment...or something similar. That was certainly a change from the London coffee-house image!

Yeah, but your mother threw it away? That must have burned you up! And did she realize how much money she was throwing away?!

[denise_jer]

I love a cookbook called" A Treasure for My Daughter", originally written in 1950 by the Ethel Epstein Ein Chapter of  Hadassah  in Montreal; my copy dates from 1975. The book is organized into chapters according to different Jewish holidays and family occasions, and the text reads like a mother explaining the religious and cultural traditions and the appropriate recipes to her daughter. The recipes are easy to follow and quite delicious. I wish I could buy new copies for my 2 daughters, but I haven't found out if it's still in print.

Roz

Is this the book? Treasure for My Daughter. It's hard to tell from the description - there really isn't one!

[crinoidgirl]

This should give a better idea re: Treasure. Read the review...

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/store...1825748-1780020

V

[rshorens]

Yes- sounds like the same book I have. Mine is from 1975(7th printing of the 2nd edition)for which I paid $3.75. The "Collector's" version on Amazon.com, going for $50, is also a paperback but may be an older copy printed in Canada. Maybe I should have invested in cookbooks in 1975- it would have done better than the stocks in my pension account!

Thanks for locating the only other copy!

Roz

Edited January 15, 2004 by rshorens (log)

[Thanks for the Crepes]

Host's note: this post, and several responses, were split from Anybody know of any serious blogs or websites that recreate weird vintage recipes?

 

On 9/1/2017 at 6:15 AM, Shelby said:

I don't know how much actual food testing gets done, but I love this site (you're probably already familiar with it).

 

http://www.lileks.com/institute/gallery/

 

Yes Shelby,

 

lots of fun to be had there.  I don't think it's very serious, though. 

 

I will ask @frigidlizard at this point if you would like some recipes, I have tried and still make in regular rotation from the Better Homes Cookbook 1968 and the Betty Crocker Cook Book 1969. I also have some recipes that are pretty old in my copy of Joy of Cooking. None of them are like the gelatin salads that get the laughs. 

 

I'm sort of a retro cook at times, and so is @Kim Shook, who might be another resource. There was also a poster from down under that was intensely interested in food history @The Old Foodie, but they haven't posted since 2009 so they probably lost interest here. You might want to search for some of the old posts though, as they always caught my interest.

Edited September 7, 2017 by Smithy
Added host's note (log)

[Kim Shook]

I do like retro cooking and cookbooks, and have often thought of trying to cook my way through some of the old books ala Julie Powell.  There are a couple of sets that I own that would suit your purpose, I think.  Better Homes & Gardens put out a series called the "Creative Cooking Library" in the 1960's and The Family Circle Illustrated Library of Cooking (1970's) is another good one.  I think  that the Family Circle set was available in grocery stores - one of those things that the first book cost like $.99 and you could buy the rest a week at a time.  Both series are featured in the hilarious Lileks book and website.

[chromedome]

I have a few of the old Pillsbury contest cookbooks, in all their dump & stir glory. I look through them periodically with morbid fascination. 

[gfweb]

The Joy of Cooking.

[BetD]

For your consideration, a couple of mid-century " classics"  

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, BetD said:

For your consideration, a couple of mid-century " classics"  

 I once owned and used Peg Bracken!  

[andiesenji]

I have quite a few old cookbooks and I have tried quite a few recipes.  I don't consider them particularly odd so did not comment before.

Also, I have "modernized" several family recipes handed down in my family, some from several generations back.

 

I posted about "Pork Cake"  made with pork mincemeat in THIS THREAD back in 2004, at the request of viva, who subsequently made the mincemeat and the cake.   

I made a batch of the mincemeat that year and  again in 2009.  

 

The "Fruited Cocoa Cake"  is another that I posted about. (Originally here in 2004)  It is from a very old "receipt" that my great grandmother found mentioned in a journal kept by an ancestor and she "brought it up to date" in the late 1800s and a century later I modernized it and cut it down to a reasonable size.  

Cocoa had not yet been invented when the recipe was first mentioned, chocolate was in blocks, unsweetened and with much of the coco butter rendered out so the unsweetened chocolate available in the late 1800s was not a good substitute.  My great grandmother recorded that her cook had suggested using Dutched cocoa powder and it was a success.  When I was a child, this cake was baked in a large rectangular cake pan that was about 4 inches deep and took forever to bake.  

I cut it down to a manageable size for one of the large Bundt pans (15 cup) which is about 1/4 of the "receipt" my grandparent's cook used.  She cut it into three pieces, a large base, smaller 2nd layer and even smaller top, covering each with fondant and decorating it with glazed cherries and candied peel "ornaments" - I simplified it and made a glaze or just used powdered sugar sifted on.  

 

I also modernized a "biscuit" cookie made with cocoa, also from another ancestor.  Many of my antecedents kept journals, which was common in those days, and recorded notes about foods as well as events of daily life.  

 

 

 

[Shelby]

I saved a lot of old cookbooks from both of my great-grandmothers.  Some of them I get quite a kick out of.  I'll go through and take pictures of some of the more "interesting" ones

 

"The Way to a Man's Heart"--distributed by The Gas Service Co.

 

So, men, listen up.  This book will make you fall in love with whomever cooks from it.

 

 

 

Women, we must stay slim.  Apparently, the men must not have to......

 

A taste of Scandinavia?

 

If you don't bake your own bread, you have a dead soul.

 

 

To impress, I am going to make a frankfurter crown.......

 

[BetD]

8 minutes ago, Shelby said:

To impress, I am going to make a frankfurter crown.......

 

 

A Google image search of the same makes that seem like an excellent idea!  

 

 

 

[Shelby]

Many of the cookbooks are big advertisements.  This one, for example, is all about "cooking without water"--which is a fancy way of saying they steam their stuff lol.  Oh, and you have to buy all of your cooking vessels from Wear-Ever.  They are the mark of a modern kitchen.

 

 

[andiesenji]

Here are some that might be of interest.

The one on the left was published in 1913,

The one on the right is the FIRST EDITION of the Good Housekeeping Cookbook published in 1922.

 

The next two are:

The "International Cookbook Illustrated" which has absolutely no publication date anywhere but I believe was published in the 1920s.

It includes recipes from "famous chefs" and there are photos of the chefs and a list of their names and where they worked.  I have to scan those pages because they do not photograph well.

The other was published in 1922 (First in 1913) and is the Twenty-First Edition, Price 50 cents. Published by The Proctor and Gamble Company, Cincinnati. It includes "The Story of Crisco" 

 

And there is this pair from much later.

Out of This World published in 1973 by the ladies of Cocoa Beach   and as one would expect there are a lot of seafood recipes.

Then there is "12-Can Casserole"  which uses canned shrimp and at that point I stopped reading.

The Russian Tea Room cookbook has the favorite recipes served at that iconic restaurant.  As you might guess, many of the recipes are "a la russe" and I have prepared the Mushrooms a la russe and it is an excellent dish.

 

[Shelby]

Here's another advertisement type cookbook.  Knox Gelatine.

 

 

Lots of creations that jiggle

 

And a special kid's section...because what kid doesn't crave spinach suspended in gelatine?

 

[Shelby]

I realize this one isn't politically correct.  But I can't part with Aunt Jemima  Can't find a date as to when this was printed.

 

 

This one I saved because who doesn't like recipes in the form of paper dolls????  No date on this one either.

 

 

[Shelby]

And yet more advertising types.....

 

Reliable Recipes --no printing date.  All about baking with Calumet Baking Powder.

The dancing vegetables--dated 1924.  Making salads using Wesson Oil

Good Things to Eat--dated 1933.  Baking with Arm & Hammer Baking Soda.

 

[Shelby]

And, when you've made your way into a man's heart...but you've exhausted all of those recipes....here is

 

Around the clock with...Menus Men Prefer 

 

 

Just think of him first, plan to please him, and you will be the apple of his eye.

 

 

 

Guess what?  MEN like meals with FLAVOR.  Sorry ladies.  No flavor for you.

 

 

Make a perfect dinner.....we want our men soothed and refreshed.

 

Look how happy he is!

 

Ohhhh and ladies....let him have some fun rustling up his own grub *wink wink* ...even though you've already done all the work, he'll think he's a chef!

 

 

All of this is sponsored by Bond...the bread men prefer!  If you're married to a soulless woman who does not bake......

 

 

[andiesenji]

9 hours ago, BetD said:

For your consideration, a couple of mid-century " classics"  

I have all of Peg Bracken's cookbooks & etc.  The humor was outstanding and they were for reading as much as for ideas about cooking.  

I bought this book when it was first published in 1960 and enjoyed the quips and jokes.  I tried several of the recipes and still prepare "Pedro's Special" occasionally because it is a very tasty dish.  

I used to belong to a book club, all elderly folks like me, and we had a potluck meal every 6 months or so. We make dishes from this book because it turned out we all owned it.