Your Favourite Cooking Shows Past and Present

[launderess]

IIRC

From watching a PBS program on Julia Childs, after WWII, many American servicemen/women and others who have been overseas came back to the United States after tasting "different' food, and wanted the same here.

Housewives then were pressed into creating these dishes, and shows like Julia Child's helped them get on with the task at hand.

Then you had the growth of cookbooks like "Joy of Cooking" that brought regional meals such as fried chicken to everyone.

Finally you had a pent up demand for all the food rationed during the war. Things such as beef, lots of dairy (cream, butter, etc), sugar (for cakes and desserts), not to mention the fancy ways many restaurants featured such dishes. Rotisserie cooking is a huge one.

Think also where one lived and what your family *was* greatly influenced what one ate, and sometimes even the most traditional Italian, German, Polish, et al housewife/mother wanted to try something *new* for her family.

Far as "Big Daddy" went, dinner had to have three things, a meat, veggie and starch, all in a manner he could identify *LOL*. Oh and it better be hot and on time! *LOL*

 

[appnut]

Well, I completely forgot about this because they aren't "shows", but I see these more reminiscent of the spirit Hans was imparting. And doubt they've been mentioned here. I watch Mr. Food and Chef Walter.

 

[dogboy44]

Oh so many are terrific

The two fat ladies were my favorite, we have their cookbook. Julia Child of course. Guiada's recIpes are really great. Alton Brown is very in depth on ingredients and technique and explores the "why" in a lot of cooking - love it. Iron Chef is wonderful too.

 

[maytagbear]

The first edition of Joy

was privately printed in 1931, and is currently available in a great facsimile edition. Second edition was published in 1933, by Bobbs-Merrill of Indianapolis (now delightfully defunct--they screwed the Rombauer-Beckers over royally.)

The most recent edition is the 75th anniversary edition. It's very, very good.

However, I knew how to cook when I picked up the 1964 edition, which was the first paperback edition. The paperbacks were in two formats, and I got the "trade" edition, in the larger single volume, instead of the mass market edition, in two volumes. The 1964 edition is my all time favourite.

Irma Rombauer's husband committed suicide shortly after the stock market crash of 1929. She still had some money, but needed to make more money. When she died in 1962, she had succeeded quite well.

In an interesting (to me, anyway,) side note, the Rombauers are related to the Vonneguts. Yes, those Vonneguts.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[maytagbear]

I did not go into detail.

Most high schools that still offer "Family and Consumer Studies" DO have "Single Living" classes.

A good FCS program includes budgeting, life cycle learning-from child development to end of life, and so much more.

Yes, my Ma taught Home Economics for many years.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[lordkenmore]

Launderess--I also have heard that interest in French cooking was influenced by American's WWII experiences in Europe.

Another story that I heard--I think on Frugal Gourmet, but I may be wrong--was about the rise of Italian cooking. It started becoming popular, this story says, during Prohibition. During that time, Italians apparently kept drinking their wine. (Maybe they were even overlooked because Italians weren't "real" Americans back then.) People latched onto the idea they could get wine if they went to that nice Italian boarding house that served dinner. And then found they--shudder!--liked the cuisine.

"Far as 'Big Daddy' went, dinner had to have three things, a meat, veggie and starch, all in a manner he could identify *LOL*. Oh and it better be hot and on time! *LOL*"

I don't think he was alone. I think you can find many like him even now. A year or so back, a woman was complaining loudly to me about her boyfriend's limited range of tastes. She kept giving him the lecture that the foods are pretty much the same thing world wide, it's just assembled in different ways. He didn't buy that.

 

[lordkenmore]

I should possibly clarify--my complaints about home ec. lies entirely with the rigid thinking of past decades, not what programs are today or could be.

Although the past might have had good points. I remember doing a summer school program in elementary school. Kind of like a "day camp" of today, I guess, and one part of that was cooking. I was thinking about that earlier, and honestly wondering if in today's world they'd allow 3rd graders near a kitchen. The fear of a huge lawsuit would probably stop them cold.

I also remember having a cookbook for kids that included such gems as instructions on how to use a wood stove. And how to make a DIY oven. I bet if that book is still in print it's HEAVILY edited.

 

[neptunebob]

Maytag bear I am glad to hear that....

But our community is going to build (site preparation is going on now) a 100 million dollar new high school that has 2 little rooms for "Family and Consumer Education". Yet every sports coach has their own office and shower. The current high school, built in 1959 and now in very bad condition had a whole suite of Home Ec rooms, including ones for cooking and sewing. Doesn't seem like a priority for our schools, does it?

As for cooking shows, I like 30 minute meals and have made some of Rachel Rays recipes.

I had a problem with Jamie Oliver because the show was shot in a herky-jerky manner, probably using hand held cameras, and you would see Jamie's hands, his mouth, - But never the food! It was hard to watch. Something like this happened to the Guiding Light soap opera - I think they lost a lot of viewers when they went to jerky hand-held cameras and the show made one dizzy.

As for Martha, everything she does is overpriced and unrealistic.

 

[launderess]

Have To Look At My Edition of "Joy"

It was purchased and stashed in my "hope" chest before left home for college, so could be the 1970's hardcover editon.

Know it has recipes for as well as how to gut, prepare and dress all manner and sort of game from rabbits to (I think)squirrels, wild pig and so forth.

Always thought the Rombauers had money or at least came from it, as there are so many references to a life that an ordinary middle-class housewife does not fit. For instance the introduction to making strudel the author speaks of the family launderess (or was it maid), who apparently came from the "Old Country".

Many cookbooks got started a la Fanny Farmer, who collected recipes and after standarising the measurments and so forth, complied them into a book. Sort of like that scene in "I Remember Mama" where Mama goes to sweet talk a famous newspaper woman with her recipes.

Funny thing is so many of the dishes we Americans like from other countries are virtually unheard of on those shores. If they are found it is because some enterprising person got tired of Americans asking about it, and saw a chance to make money.

Pizza as Americans know it is a post WWII invention. Cherry and a few other types of strudel aren't really found on the other side of the pond either. Well at least that is what my German gf tells me.

 

[lordkenmore]

"Yet every sports coach has their own office and shower."

There is the popular PE teacher/coach lecture: "There is no reason to be embarrassed about the showers--we're all guys here!" Therefore, it seems to me that the coaches should practice what they preach.

"Doesn't seem like a priority for our schools, does it?"

No, it doesn't. But if your school is like others, I bet other programs are also getting short-changed, like arts.

 

[lordkenmore]

I can't really comment about Martha Stewart's cooking, which was why I asked about her above. But, from what I CAN remember, it seems like her lifestyle in general is expensive AND unrealistic.

Plus, I just recalled complaints about some of her books that have recipes that simply will not and cannot work.

Still, she's popular.

The Martha Stewart show I'm waiting for would be on finance. Specifically: investing in the stock market.

 

[rp2813]

Dan, thanks for the Cookin' Cheap link.

I wonder how delightfully awful that trash bag chicken turned out.

 

[launderess]

Personally

Think Martha Stewart owes more to hiring good assistants and such than her actual skills, especially in the kitchen.

Watching MS's cooking shows one always had the feeling she just learned whatever it was shortly before "teaching" it to TV land.

Martha Stewart's lifestyle fits the surburban "horsey" set. Beautiful blonde women with lovely homes and million dollar kitchens, but make no mistake it is as it always has been; the "staff" do much of the work. Ok, some of those women can cook but a majority have talents that stop at boiling water, using the microwave or dailing the number for take-away.

Now years ago, the same set would have had women like Mrs. Darrin Stephens, who would refer to cook-books and shows in order to turn out dishes not only for their family, but dinner parties and such. Some had help, others did it themselves. Of course Sam wanted (and god only knows why), to spend hours over a hot stove.

 

[angus]

Well, we have to remember that Martha is like Ralph Lauren - selling a bunch of impressionable people a "lifestyle" - when in reality it is unattainable. Most of the public, men and women alike are so overworked with ridiculous hours, commutes, etc.. that they do not have time for a personal life that includes normal mealtimes, wholesome yet economical foods, etc.. By watching Martha, they can pretend they have a life and become "armchair cooks" or craftspeople or whatever. True also, there are many young spoiled stay at homes whose kitchens are just trophy accoutrements and never prepare a meal. Then they do one thing from Martha and their lives are justified. I still don't fathom how Martha has become the world;s leading authority on everything from flowers to farming to home repair to decorating to food etc... I have no grudge against her - apparently a clever businesswoman. I guess I just have no patience for ridiculous hype.

Back to the 70's and stagflation, gas lines, etc.. Many "middle class" families had to struggle and live with a budget and figure how many times they could afford meat in a week. My mother worked full time but having been a child of the depression, knew how to stretch a buck in the market. We ate many meatless meals, but followed the Mediterranean diet she had as a kid with 10 siblings - lots of greens, escarole, broccoli rabe, beans, lentils, rice, other whole grains, potato and egg frittatas, and so forth. We were healthy and ate well. And probably a lot happier eating together as a family every night. Obviously everything wasn't idyllic, but we had time together every day - something sorely lacking in our electronic device and overtime driven world today. You have to wonder...

 

[launderess]

1970's "Stagflation"

Was so bad it made into almost every television sitcom of the period.

Remember watching "All in the Family" with Archie complaining to Edith about something she served for dinner, and her having to explain what it was, but also why she had to cut corners (prices at the supermarket versus her budget). Then there was the famous story about the "canned cling peaches", where Edith tells Archie a painfully slow, convoluted and odd story of how she came to ding someone's car all because of those canned peaches she purchased because they were on sale.

On "Mama's Family" skit on the "Carol Burnett Show", Eunice was talking about a spaghetti and meatballs dinner she made, and Mama cracks "those meatballs were rather dry as I recall", and Eunice defends herself with "that is because I had to add allot of bread-crumbs to stretch 1/2 pound of ground chuck to feed all of us). This joke probably was something every housewife/mother and or home cook got because adding extra bread-crumbs (and often eggs as well), is a time honored way to get more from less ground beef. I can remember recipes that called for simply added cubed bits of white bread instead of crumbs.

 

[lordkenmore]

The 70s hit my family hard, too

I remember when I was young, we'd actually go out to dinner every Saturday night without fail. That tradition ended rather abruptly, due to the cost.

Meat consumption also took a huge hit. The one example I clearly recall was my father grilling stuff on his charcoal grill. When young, steak of some sort was a regular. Years later, I don't think he ever did anything more exotic than hamburgers or sausages.

Certainly by about 1980, my mother was experimenting with vegetarian cooking. We never became vegetarian, but we had vegetarian meals pretty regularly. It was no more unusual to come to dinner and find that we were having lentils and rice than it was to find hamburger based chili or pork chops.

My mother once told me a heart warming anecdote about meat prices. Back in the 70s, prices started shooting up. My parents were alarmed, and decreed that, no matter what, "we will never, ever pay more than X per pound." I can't remember what X was. Frankly, I'm not sure it even sunk in at the time--I was laughing too hard. At that point in time, you'd be lucky to be able to buy a pound of cheap, greasy hamburger on sale for that price. My mother also said that when I was young, lamb was one of my favorite meals. I have honestly wondered sometimes what I'd think of lamb now--I haven't had since I was a small.

All my history has probably taken a toll. My entire adult life, I have eaten relatively little meat. What I have chosen to eate has tended to be meat cooked as part of a dish--like a stew. My idea of "high end meat eating" is something like boeuf bourguignon, which, I suppose, started out as a "low end" dish. The stuff people of my parent's generation dreamed of--the expensive steak--is something that doesn't even cross my radar.

 

[launderess]

Sad Comment On The 1970's & Meat/Food Prices

There was an episode on "Good Times" about an older woman who was found out to be eating canned dog food. Apparently because of rocketing food prices and her "fixed income" it was all she could manage. The issue came to a head because some sort of big party was being planned and everyone was worried this nice old lady would bring a dish made from "dog food". Sure enough she arrived with a meat loaf, but while admitting her current circumstances did often cause her to eat dog food, the dish in question was pure ground beef.

Asked several adults (family members, teachers etc), about the elderly eating dog food, and sadly found out it was true. IIRC, this was before SSI payments were indexed for inflation, and may have been the cause of new laws being passed to adjust senior's government payments to reflect price increases (inflation).

 

[lordkenmore]

I remember hearing plenty of stories about senior citizens eating dog food in the 80s. It's so nice that in that era of yuppies driving his&her BMW 5-series that we, as a nation, could provide so well for our senior citizens.

Although dog food might not be that bad. I can't say, never having tried it. Not that I'm much inclined to. But I do wonder. I get the sense that most brands are probably made up of meat that, for some reason, isn't salable to humans. I get that same exact impression with the ingredients of hot dogs, sausages, and other such products sold to humans.

 

[launderess]

Well There Is Offal and There Are Meat Scraps

Offal(brains, head, tounge, trotters,muscle and organ meat) is something one person won't touch, while another consider's good eats. Where it cannot be sold and or there is a surplus, offal often goes into pet food.

Meat scraps, say the left overs from a roast or whatever, are often put into sausage, but then again so is offal, you just have to know (or ask), what you are getting.

Mr. Armour (of Chicago meatpacking fame), got the idea to use "every part of an animal except the tail", and set his factories to work turning what was once discarded parts into everything from canned meats, pet food, sausages, to hair for brushes, buttons, gelatin, and god only knows what else.

Local butchers often were doing this already, that is one could purchase rendered fat, sheep, cow or pig heads, brains and or any other part of a slaughtered animal from just down the corner.

Once while at school for a "science day" our teacher brought in "offal". IIRC my group got brains, and soon as the thing was "dumped" onto a desk (covered with a cloth, IIRC), I was out like a light. Later when walking home one of my school mates couldn't understand what my problem was. Her family had been eating brains for long as she was around. That was it for me, and put me off my dinner that night! *LOL*

 

[lordkenmore]

I seem to recall the Frugal Gourmet whipping up some special treat using offal. He was very stern, telling those of us about to puke or pass out (which included your Lord Kenmore!) that these same ingredients could be found in hot dogs. Since that time, I have lost interest in hot dogs.

Another thought about pet food hit me after making my last post: the time my family regularly ate pet food!

No, we didn't dine on Alpo. But for many years, a grocery store where my mother shopped sold "bones for your dog" in the meat department at dirt cheap prices. Those worked quite well for making soup stock. We used a fair amount of stock--not as much as Julia Child, perhaps, but one common meal in winter was beef stock-based vegetable soup. These bones were a huge value--they were cheap, and worked for a dish we liked. Then, after cooking, it seems to me they went to the dog, as intended by the label. They just made a small side trip through the 5 qt Dutch oven! Now, all I ever see are "soup bones" with a price that--I'm guessing--is a lot higher than when the same product was sold for the family dog.