Old vs. New: Cookbooks

[sakon76]

A few weekends ago I picked up a bunch of (mostly) old books at estate sales. Which included Pickles the Fire Cat, which I haven't read since I was like six. Oh, the memories....

But I digress. Included in my purchases was a 1944 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. Now, mind, this is not one of those paltry thin pamphlets. Just shy of a thousand pages, it would make a respectable doorstop. But why I bought it (for $1.50) was for the cultural insight. This was published during WWII. It has instructions for stretching those things which were rationed (butter, oil, sugar, meat, etc.) There are sections that start with sentences like "Plucking should be done promptly and quickly after bird has stopped fluttering and is still warm."

I find this a heartening contrast to the modern slow-cooker cookbook I have also been perusing, wherein (for instance) ~75% of the chicken recipes start with "take X boneless skinless chicken breast halves"....

Comments

[femme4jack.livejournal.com]

Or the slow cooker recipes that all involve putting in a variety or prepackaged or store bought canned items.

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Yep. Exactly. Though I do admit finding the 1944 recipe for Mock Turtle Soup that started with "two cans of concentrated mock turtle soup" was a trifle disappointing. Especially since I don't think any of the stores near me carry it. :)

[spiderlove.livejournal.com]

Ahh, I love those. It's postwar, but I prize these mp3s of a PET Milk sponsored show that was all about stretching your dollar - with their product, of course. XD

Some of the things they did back then were ingenious, like using the syrup from canned fruit to replace a portion of the sugar in a recipe, or using the 'water' from canned veggies to add a hint of flavor to a rice dish. I don't mind saying those recipes saved me a few times when I was down to flour, cornstarch, and rice with only five bucks to buy the week's groceries. >.>

[racerxmachina.livejournal.com]

This cookbook would have been on my grandmother's shelf in Pennsylvania.
They lived in the Mount Lebanon area. One of our family treasures is her partially-used ration stamp book (these are rarities, apparently, because unused books were supposed to be returned to the authorities). The instructions on how to pluck birds would have served her well, as my grandfather would take my father out as a child and hunt for game to put on the dinner table (an acceptable way to round out rationed meat).

[sakon76.livejournal.com]

Any idea what a hazel hen is? It's the only one in the "game and rabbit" section that I'm drawing a blank on.

OMG, the fish section has a subsection on frog's legs! Though that always makes me think of Kermit and "All I can see are millions of frogs with tiny crutches." :/ I think I'd feel incredibly guilty or something if I ever actually had the chance to try frog's legs.

[cazcatharsis.livejournal.com]

Nice! Another good book to check out is... well, pretty much anything by Adelle Davis. Cow Brain recipes. things like that. We're all pretty damn spoiled these days aren't we?