Old cookbooks

[BetD]

3 hours ago, andiesenji said:

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 totally agree with you on this... great fun reading, and the recipes are not all goop and glop.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

This is great for laughs, but I just looked up the Hawaiian cheese pie and Pedro's special to see what they were, and both sound like something I would like to eat. I never heard of making a cooked sweetened flaked coconut and butter crust and pre-baking it, but it sounds pretty good to me. Then they fill it with cream cheese, pineapple and other stuff and chill. The Pedro's is a casserole with some Mexicanish ingredients and I don't see what could go wrong with that one either.

 

I also still cook recipes from my old Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens and Joy of Cooking. Sure, some of the old ideas about food and recipes are funny in retrospect, but that's no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater. 

[andiesenji]

9 hours ago, Thanks for the Crepes said:

This is great for laughs, but I just looked up the Hawaiian cheese pie and Pedro's special to see what they were, and both sound like something I would like to eat. I never heard of making a cooked sweetened flaked coconut and butter crust and pre-baking it, but it sounds pretty good to me. Then they fill it with cream cheese, pineapple and other stuff and chill. The Pedro's is a casserole with some Mexicanish ingredients and I don't see what could go wrong with that one either.

 

I also still cook recipes from my old Betty Crocker, Better Homes and Gardens and Joy of Cooking. Sure, some of the old ideas about food and recipes are funny in retrospect, but that's no reason to throw out the baby with the bathwater. 

Pedro's special is a simplified version of tamale pie, using corn chips instead of mixing cornmeal with ingredients. It works.

[cakewalk]

Not as old as some of the beauties up-thread, but I bought this on a whim several years ago. I vaguely remember watching his show as a kid, and it was usually just to laugh at his antics. But the book is actually quite serious. (And, in fact, way out of my league.)

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, cakewalk said:

Not as old as some of the beauties up-thread, but I bought this on a whim several years ago. I vaguely remember watching his show as a kid, and it was usually just to laugh at his antics. But the book is actually quite serious. (And, in fact, way out of my league.)

 Loved him. Loved him. Loved him.  Even my husband who had no interest in what happened in the kitchen watched him. I think my first small step into serious cooking was his prune stuffed pork roast. Doesn't sound revolutionary now but it did to me back then.

 

I liked him better as a  drunk than as a goody-two-shoes also. 

[CantCookStillTry]

I absolutely adore older cook books. I love learning and reading about history and culture changing through the medium of food. 

Some recent discoveries. 

 

Florence Greenbergs Cookery Book - 1947                                                                     Stork Cookery Service (margarine) Recipe Booklets -1950 onward 

Radiation "Regulo-Controlled" Cookery Book - 1927                                                      

 

 

While they are brilliantly informative, I tend not to follow many of the recipes in the older books, sometimes because times and tastes have changed (The "Regulo" would have me boil asparagus for 45 minutes before serving ) and sometimes because well.... 

 

     

 

It appears to be a recipe for hotdogs, wrapped in ham, baked alongside some cheesy mashed parsnip and served with hot tomato ketchup for dipping. 
I'm sorry 1960 'Stork Around The Shows', I don't think that would be too appealing then or now. 

 

 

Edited October 14, 2017 by CantCookStillTry (log)

[cakewalk]

@CantCookStillTry: That Stork Cookery looks wonderful. I don't think I've ever seen a series of children's books that revolves around food and recipes. Can you possibly show us a photo of one of the recipes? 

[CantCookStillTry]

I think they were more aimed at the mothers, the 50's house wives in particular, trying to convert the masses away from Butter and to use Margarine - although I'm sure that path had been made easier with post war rationing. These were in a folder with 'Stork Wives Club' on the front.  

 

 

 

[Smithy]

It's an interesting commentary on different cultural influences to see a 1950's cookbook referring to curry!  In Central California where I grew up, I doubt curry hit public consciousness until the 1970's. 

 

What is Radiation "Regulo-Controlled" Cookery?  Coming as it does from 1927, it can't be a microwave book. 

[andiesenji]

On 9/10/2017 at 9:00 AM, Anna N said:

 Loved him. Loved him. Loved him.  Even my husband who had no interest in what happened in the kitchen watched him. I think my first small step into serious cooking was his prune stuffed pork roast. Doesn't sound revolutionary now but it did to me back then.

 

I liked him better as a  drunk than as a goody-two-shoes also. 

I have a VHS video of Graham Kerr and Julia Child "Cooking in Concert" and you can tell they are having a lot of fun as they cook three ducks.

 

[CantCookStillTry]

It seems to have accompanied the release of the first ovens that you could set the temperature automatically on. "Gas Mark #" etc... and the oven watched the temp for you - sort of! I think 'radiation' just referred to the heat aspect. 

There is a section on salads in there as well so they did try to branch out from just the oven! And I had a browse, there's a recipe in there for a Brit style curry too!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

[blbst36]

Oh man, I have so many older cookbooks.  They come from my grandmothers and mother.  I love looking through them.  Some of the ones from my mother's side have hand-written recipes in them.  Nothing like trying to figure out how long to cook a list of ingredients!!

[CantCookStillTry]

On 17/10/2017 at 1:47 AM, blbst36 said:

Oh man, I have so many older cookbooks.  They come from my grandmothers and mother.  I love looking through them.  Some of the ones from my mother's side have hand-written recipes in them.  Nothing like trying to figure out how long to cook a list of ingredients!!

 

Exactly! I love the personality you usually find in the older cookbooks, inherited or discovered, clipped out recipes from news papers, really random bookmarks... trying to decipher beautiful flowing handwriting that doesn't seem to make any real letters... I doubt anyone is going to find quite the sense of nostalgia when (if they even can) they find my google 'book marked' folder! 

[andiesenji]

I have several facsimile reprints of very old cookbooks purchased from Acanthus Books

Some of them were written very seriously but the way they sound today is often hilarious.

 

One that was reprinted again in 1994 is  The Cookery Book of Lady Clark of Tillypronie

 

 

You have to think that some of these cooks were very adventurous because they were taking things that sounded really odd 

and were preparing extraordinary dishes from them.  

One British friend who is about my age, born just before WWII, said that when she began reading old cookbooks from the 19th century, she wondered, "what the hell happened?" because ordinary homemakers a hundred years earlier were cooking much more interesting dishes than when she was a girl.  Of course she was growing up during a time of strict rationing in the British Isles.  Still, she said it seemed to carry on for much longer afterward than was necessary.  People had gotten used to canned foods and were suspicious of many "foreign" foods.  

 

Edited October 18, 2017 by andiesenji (log)

[blbst36]

I can take pictures of some of the cookbooks and post them if y'all would like.    

[blbst36]

 

From the top: Meta Given's Encyclopedia of Cooking Vol 1&2 - 1956 - These are not the exact ones that my Grandmother and Mother used.  My mom bought me a set from the exact same publication date so that she could keep her set.

Luchow's - 1952

The American Girl cookbook - 1966 - not my Grandmother's obviously

lessons in Gourmet Cooking - 1963

Menus for Entertaining - 1960

Cheese and Cheese Cookery - 1967

Ladies Home Journal Dessert Cookbook - 1964

The Household Searchlight Recipe Cookbook - 1941

The Dinner Party Cookbook - 1962

 

Found a couple more!

From the Top

Electric Refrigerator Recipes and Menus - 1927

The Delectable Past - 1964 - I've never read this and I can't imagine why!  I am putting it on my list immediately

 

Some mystery recipes from the searchlight cookbook in the first stack

 

The original that my mother didn't want anymore (!) - 1963

 

My copy for comparison - Same version, but newer

 

Of course some hand written recipes

 

I love looking through all the old recipes.  The Meta Given's ones are especially interesting.  I learned how to skin a rabbit by reading them -   I love the fact that if I use the bread recipe from them, I will be making the same one my grandmother made all those years ago.  I've never made a cookie out of the cooky book that was bad.  I even found my now favorite cookie there!  My mother told me that anything made out of the ladies home journal dessert cookbook will be delicious.  I've only made one recipe, but it was great!

 

I hope you enjoyed my cookbooks!

[David Ross]

I have a large collection of old cookbooks, but these are my two favorites.  The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Farmer, 1913 Edition-

 

 

Black and white photos were included in cookbooks in 1913, including these photos of "Chaud-Froid of Eggs" and "Capon in Aspic with Cooked Yolks and Whites of Eggs

cut in Fancy Shapes, Pistachio Nuts and Truffles."

 

The 1921 Edition-

 

The Game chapter included recipes for Venison with Port Wine Sauce, Rabbit 'a la Southern, Pigeon Pie, Squabs en Casserole, Sauteed Quail 'a la Moquin,

Larded Stuffed English Partridge with Cold Orange Sauce and Game Mousse with Sauce Bigarde.

[Jacksoup]

From my now deceased mothers collection.  The Buckskin Cookery is really interesting.  Their advice on mushrooms is to watch the squirrels and take what they take.  

Edited November 2, 2017 by Jacksoup
Continuity (log)

[Jacksoup]

These did not upload in the proper order but hopefully you can match them

[heidih]

Jacksoup- I got a reprint of Housekeeping in Old Virginia from a cookbook club I joined as a young teen. I love it. Made the taffy once - oh my what an adventure! I got all the cousins out on the back lawn (after mom banished us from the kitchen) and we pulled and pulled and pulled. After all that hard work we of course had to declare it the best candy ever. Luckily no fillings were lost in the aftermath.

[David Ross]

I've been going through old trunks and found this gem-the "Home Comfort Cook Book" published by the Wrought Iron Range Co., St. Louis, U.S.A.  There isn't a date, but it's probably in the timeframe of 1900-1915.  It was from my Great Grandmother Jennie Pink's home in Twin Falls, Idaho.  What's so interesting is that the book was published for folks buying one of the company's iron stoves.  Included were recipes, comments from other customers, and the proper ways to light the stove and cook with it.  A rare find indeed.

 

 

My Great Grandmother marked this stove in the book with two X's, so that's they one they bought.  I remember their kitchen, and a stove, but imagine over 100 years later I find the book that they used when deciding which stove to buy.

[haresfur]

On 9/11/2017 at 12:25 AM, cakewalk said:

Not as old as some of the beauties up-thread, but I bought this on a whim several years ago. I vaguely remember watching his show as a kid, and it was usually just to laugh at his antics. But the book is actually quite serious. (And, in fact, way out of my league.)

 

 

IIRC, he got special dispensation from Canadian regulations to use wine on television, then made the most of it by drinking out of the bottle on screen.

[Thanks for the Crepes]

I'm linking to this post in the Dinner thread because it will be easier to find here and is all about a sandwich cookbook from 1909! You can actually flip through all the pages which I did, skimming. Some stuff is weird or scary, but there is a lot of stuff I would eat in there. 400 different ideas for sandwiches and canapes from back then. Thanks @liuzhou.

[gfweb]

Not all that old, but not new either, is James Villas' The Glory of Southern Cooking. A reliable compendium of tested recipes that covers the variations of southern cooking nicely. There must be 5 cornbread recipes at least.  Good cookbook to  read and ponder and incorporate.

[JohnT]

Over the years my mother, who openly admitted that she hated cooking, gifted me a few of her old cookbooks - some a bit scary with the methods used! She recently passed away and I have brought her remaining handwritten and newspaper recipe clippings home to slowly go through. One small booklet I have found was a Royal Baking Powder booklet, in both Dutch and English, printed in the USA in 1904. Why she had it remains a head scratching mystery on my side. She hated baking and, to be truthful, she never baked anything except some biscuits (cookies to those in the Americas) made out of flour, sugar, desicated coconut, raisins, some egg and some form of raising agent. Sometimes they turned out "okay" (in other words just edible), but mostly our Basset Hound would ensure they were removed from sight and never spoken about and about the only time the poor hound was told "good dog". I have scanned it into a PDF file and if anybody wants a copy of it, send me a PM with your email address and I will email it to you.