I have a 1912 cookbook that was a promotional item distributed by Weidemann's Beer and a 1943 edition of The Joy of Cooking that has an insert providing substitution suggestions for wartime rationing.
Plus several 1950s/60s eras cookbooks from various companies that are absolutely fascinating reading with respect to the growing fascination with international travel coupled with the growing availability of packaged products, that made creating facsimiles easier for the American housewife.
But one of my favorites has to be the Treasury of Great Recipes by Vincent Price.
I've got a whole bunch of vintage cookbooks, but almost nothing from before the twentieth century. One from the thirties says that, even if you don't normally have servants, you simply must hire a few people when you're having a party, because it's just absurd for one woman to fill the three jobs of cook, server, and hostess. I've also got a vegetarian cookbook from about 1914 -- it seems there were two kinds of fake meat on the market then, both canned. One was made with peanuts.
I've also got a nifty Mexican cookbook from the fifties when it was clearly considered (to the target audience anyway) kind of scary and exotic.
Both resale shop finds. I need to get back into that.
I've also got a nifty Mexican cookbook from the fifties when it was clearly considered (to the target audience anyway) kind of scary and exotic.
In the vegetarian cookbook from 1914, there are a ton of recipes where there's one basic recipe for something, and then a "Mexican" version which is the exact same thing except with added tomatoes and onions. Sometimes there was also a "Spanish" version, which I think had tomatoes but no onions.
I've also got a nifty Mexican cookbook from the fifties when it was clearly considered (to the target audience anyway) kind of scary and exotic.
That's what I love about my 50s/60s cookbooks-- the idea of bringing the exotic home. One of the biggest fascinations was with Hawaii and the Far East-- roasting a pig was clearly too much work and really, who needed to be digging a hole in their yard-- what would the neighbors think? So just add some canned pineapple, so yummy!-- to your ham steak and voila! Easy Hawaiian flavor!
Dear (probably PMS-related) anxiety attack - Fuck you. No love, me.
One from the thirties says that, even if you don't normally have servants, you simply must hire a few people when you're having a party, because it's just absurd for one woman to fill the three jobs of cook, server, and hostess
My mother would absolutely agree.
I acquired a Home Economics text from 1920. At least I think that's what it is, "School and Home Cooking". Besides instructions on how to cook there are also instructions on setting tables, creating meal plans, serving with and without servants, experiments and "at home" assignments. The experiments sound neat, like putting different kinds of fat in test tubes, heating it, and observing changes. Or putting milk in a test tube and then adding acid and observing the results and then adding acid and soda and then milk to a test tube, observing those results and drawing conclusions between the two tests and the practical application for cooking.
The experiments sound neat, like putting different kinds of fat in test tubes, heating it, and observing changes. Or putting milk in a test tube and then adding acid and observing the results and then adding acid and soda and then milk to a test tube, observing those results and drawing conclusions between the two tests and the practical application for cooking.
That does sound nifty. I wish my 7th grade home ec class had done that.
