Cookbooks and recipes

[norgeway]

I was asked if I still used cookbooks now since recipes were on line well. It's easier to find in a book for me and my old fashioned brain. Here are a few of my cookbooks. These are my most used and are the ones in the kitchen. I have about 4 times this many in all

 

[leefree]

Neat collection

I bought a few cookbooks in college at a used book store that were filled with decades of handwritten notes, remedies for everything, and various recipe clippings. One in particular I couldn't believe a family threw out. Mary B. Perry of Hayward, CA was either a real witch or a terrible cook. Though by her taste in recipes I have a hard time believing the latter. Something a little sad about it but I've sure gotten a lot of mileage out of it. Great collection you have - thanks for sharing!

 

[leefree]

Forgot to mention

Nice Radarange!

 

[johnrk]

Sustenance

I agree--what a beautiful Radarange!

I enjoy reading cookbooks; I have an awful lot of cookbooks from which I've never cooked a recipe. I see that old Encyclopaedia of Cooking there! The books that I've tended to keep over the years are those pertaining to breads and whole grain cooking, to seitan, to cakes. They're the ones that I will actually use.

As I know you know, those vintage cookbooks can be fun but ingredients have changed over time, particularly yeasts and flours. They can be fun to try and modify if there's time. Some of those vintage general cookbooks tell us how much more restricted our eating has grown, particularly with regard to different meats and vegetables that were common then, not so now.

My mother loved reading cookbooks; a friend of mine died recently, leaving over 2K cookbooks for her husband to deal with.

I prefer cookbooks with photos; the British make some really beautiful cookbooks with color photos of every recipe.

 

[rp2813]

First off, add me to the list of those lusting after that Radarange!

 

I do pull my share of recipes from on-line sites and keep them in ever-thickening Pee-Chee type folders alongside cookbooks in the kitchen, but I still have so many books that I don't have space for all of them there.  The ones I keep in the kitchen I tend to actually use, whereas the ones kept in the den are primarily for reference, technique or inspiration. 

 

Some books belonged to my mom, like the Encyclopedic, The Pope School (Mom just called it "Mrs. Pope's), James Beard's American Cookery, Sebastiani Family (aka Mangiamo!) and nearly all of the spiral bound ones.  The bulk of them were my own thrift store finds or free discards, and I've had to start getting rid of some that I've never touched.  Kind of a one-in, one-or-more-out rule now.  I'm still waiting to see something by Lidia Bastianich show up at a thrift store.  I'd snap it up in an instant.

 

A couple I bought because I liked how they looked:  Elizabeth David's Mediterranean and French Country Food, and a first edition of The Sunset Cook Book from 1960, and the Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook because it's autographed by Alice Waters.

 

[polkanut]

I still like to see the recipe in print myself.  My wife is a cookbook collector, and I've also inherited some family recipe boxes filled with great memories over the years.  I've found that local cookbooks from churches, civic groups etc. are some of the best because the recipes are most often tried & true family favorites.

 

[frigilux]

Great seeing members' cookbook collections!

All of my cookbooks went to the local library in the major downsizing of this past summer. Nearly every recipe I used from those books is in a cloud-based app called Pepperplate; also have a printout of each in manila file folders in a filing cabinet. I usually keep the iPad on the counter to view whatever recipe I'm making; or I tape the printout to a kitchen cabinet.

The cookbooks are gone but still available via the library.

 

[norgeway]

I would spend more time

Trying to access them on the Ipad than just getting the book and looking them up..LOL

 

[foraloysius]

I have around 60 cookbooks. I know how to find some recipes, but from others I don't know in which book they are. I find it's very easy to find a recipe on the internet. Fill in the ingredients and if necessary the cook and it brings you fast to the recipe.

My favourite websites are from the BBC. BBC Food and BBC Good Food:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com

 

[imperial70]

flipbook

Samsung has a feature with their "droid" phones called flipbook. It is a magazine with daily articles. One of the categories is food. The recipes are great and widely varied. Comfort style foods, vegetarian, vegan, ethnic, rich desserts, light desserts.

 

[vacerator]

A book sales person

used to call where one of us worked years ago, so he bought a Christmas cook book, a BBQ cook book, and a Mexican cook book. What we tried and liked, along with recipe's from our Cooking Light subscription, and Food Network, we printed, sleeved, and put in a large ring binder.
My sister gave us one called "The best recipe". It's loaded with good tips on roasting meats, poultry, baking, plus recipes.
Mom got us one of Paula Deen's small books one year, and we bough one of Rachel Ray's small books.
Do Kitchen Aid mixers still come with a cook book? Cusinart used to include a small one by James Beard.
There is just everything available online for printing of course.
You can learn so much from youtube also.
If you can temper eggs, blanch vegetables, make a roux, sear, and know how different proteins react you can cook.
I liked the 2 fat ladies, Julia Child, and Ina Gartin, Alissa Di Arabian, Sunny Anderson, Mario Battali, Sarah Moultin, Bobby Flay, Nick Mauer, Jeffry Zakarian, Michael Lamonico, the chef who ran Windows on the World in NY before 2001, Bibba Cigiano, the Italian lady from Boston who's son owns Eatily with Mario Batali and the gal from Louisville too, but at the moment, their names escape me.

 

[vacerator]

Just came to me

Lydia Bastianich, and Damrius Phillips.

 

[johnrk]

Brand-Name Cookbooks

For reading, even if not cooking, I've always enjoyed those slim cookbooks put out in the past by brand-name companies. Our thriftier mothers and grandmothers used to get those volumes for very little money and they tended to have great recipes in them. Why? Because the companies were going to put recipes in them that showed the best side of what they were selling. I have a few dozen of them and enjoy reading them regardless of whether I'm using them. I keep them in the same clear sleeves that I do for sheet music.

 

[gyrafoam]

Now, Hans, you know we can nevah,evah have enough cookbooks!
I've only got about 250 and I think your collection must be twice that. Maybe we should set up a website for people looking for obscure recipies.

 

[appnut]

I love that idea!! And any of Betty Feezor's are at the top of my list. 

 

[frigilux]

Hans, Pepperplate is so easy to use even I can do it. The best feature is that you can go to any of the supported recipe-oriented websites and import recipes to your heart's content with just a couple of clicks. You don't have to type a single word!

1. Photo #1 lists the websites it will automatically import recipes from. I'm going to choose allrecipes.com.

2. Oh, look! I found a recipe for Cake Mix Cookies.

3. Copy the URL (just as we do to add links here at AW). Paste the URL into the box.

4. Press ADD.

5. Nothin' up my sleeve...presto! Recipe with photo magically appears in my Pepperplate app. [this post was last edited: 10/31/2017-20:10]

 

[jamiel]

I had fun this weekend reading online a tri-lingual (English/German/Hebrew) cookbook from 1938 or so from Palestine (i.e. Israel before it was Israel). It was intended to help German/European women moving to Palestine with how to cook in the desert; with things like oils rather than animal fats, and with fresh vegetables/fruits most of the year. I saw it referred to in the Netflix Discovering Israeli Cooking, and looked it up on the internet. It was sponsored by some of the local vendors (oil, cookstoves, tomato canners, LP gas, etc) so read a little like some of the sponsored cookbooks you see in the same era and into the 50s here.

 

[frigilux]

Bob-- Here is one of my favorite Betty Feezor recipes.

 

[appnut]

Thanks Eugene!!!

 

[rp2813]

OH NO She Didn't!

Ketchup, white vinegar, worcestershire, chili powder, beef broth?   In pasta sauce?  Never in a million years!

 

[norgeway]

Try it

It's the best thing you ever tasted

 

[petek]

Betty's spaghetti..

That's more of a light chili sauce minus the beans.  But it's probably good regardless.  I actually like spaghetti with a hearty/spicy chili for the sauce.  

 

[frigilux]

My Italian mother undoubtedly spins in her grave every time I make Feezor's meat sauce...but, damn, it's really good. I was very skeptical the first time---especially given the amount of chili powder---but it doesn't taste at all like chili. It's a very American spaghetti sauce. It isn't my 'daily driver' sauce, but Hans is right: It's awesome.

 

[twintubdexter]

<span style="font-size: 14pt; color: #008000;">A nice table radio is always a good addition to your kitchen counter like the one next to your toaster. A little music always makes the recipe turn out better. </span>

 

[Ultramatic]

What a collection Hans!

 

 

I have that very same light-up Jack-O-lantern. My dad bought it for me when I was 7 or so. I still use it every year.

 

Hans, I noticed you have a cook book titled The Basic Cook Book. I had a very similar looking book when I was a kid that was lost. It was my very first cook book. I've been wanting to find it for years. By any chance, does that book you have have photos of a woman demonstrating how to cook the recipes? I remember the pictures were in black and white, they were printed on shiny paper. Some of the images showed an antique gas stove from the late 20's or early 30's. There were recipes for no egg cake, 1 egg cake and so on. There was a delicious recipe for nutmeg doughnuts (my very first try in making doughnuts). Can you check if that is the book you have? Thanks in advance!

 

[Ultramatic]

 

 

 

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[tolivac]

I have a collection of cookbooks,too-bought many from yard sales and second hand bookstores.Mostly read them.My Mom had 4 large bookcase full of cookbooks-she gave me a few of them that I wanted-but still the 4 huge cases still left.Since she now lives in a retirement home-don't know what happened to her cookbook and kitchen stuff.

 

[norgeway]

Re basic cookbook

Hi Louie see if this is it

 

[circlew]

I have several cookbooks that belonged to my mom (40's - 80's), and some that had belonged to my dad's Aunt Hazel (20's - 50's).

As for Betty Feezor's spaghetti sauce, I've made it and like it very well. It is similiar to the sauce my mom always made. It is NOT an Italian spaghetti sauce, but rather what is referred to as "American" spaghetti.

 

[ea56]

That looks like a great little cookbook Hans. I’ve never seen this one before.

I have quit a few old cook books myself, and have learned a lot of what I know from them. Now, when I hit on something I’ve made that we like, I write it down. I have a great big stack of these scraps of paper going back over 40 years. See, I’ll check out several recipes for something I want to make, and pick and choose what I like from them and then make my own composit version. And after I’ve made something a few times its all in my head and I seldom even need to refer to the recipe.

Here are some photos of just the few of my old cookbooks that I use the most and my stacks of recipes. Only I know where these are filed, no rhyme or reason to my method, LOL. I especially like the 1939 Westinghouse Electric Range Cookbook. Their method for making Apple Pie is the simplest and the best.
Eddie