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LBB
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
The Joy of Cooking 1975 edition is pretty much the most awesome thing of all time. I like reading it just for fun, even when I'm not looking for something to make for dinner. I also have the New Basics Cookbook and a recent edition of BH&G... in addition to at least half-a-dozen other cookbooks. Which makes me wonder WHY I keep making the same six recipes over and over again...
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Rare Affinity
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
As someone who loves cooking and trying out new recipes, the internet has been a real boon. I still buy or get given the occasional cookbook, but I am just as likely to use search engines to find recipes from across the world.
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NotChoinski
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Some of it is changes in basic ingredients (such as corn syrup replacing sugar).

To wit: A freind of mine collects various editions of Joy and made a Chineese Peanut Noodle recipie from the 50's. It called for peanut butter, as asian peanut sauces weren't readily avaialble to Miss Daisy at the Piggy Wiggly. What we got was a gloppy mess, likely because today's peanut butter contains more additives, sweetners and thickeners than the 50's counterparts. It was awful.
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Alessar
02/18/09

@NotChoinski: One edition of Joy has as an ingredient in ginger snaps, cayenne pepper. However, I've never been able to find that exact edition again and I want that exact recipe. : (
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NotChoinski
02/18/09

@Alessar: My grandma, a legendarily terrible cook, once made apple pie but mistook cayenne pepper for cinnamon.
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LBB
02/18/09

@NotChoinski: This is why I only buy "natural" peanut butter, that contains only peanuts and salt. Peanut butter should not have HFCS in it!
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tscheese
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Y'know, between this, the worrisomely skinny starlets in the tabloids, the Mike and Juliet thing about being "confident" at "any size", the delightful thread about how to just order some damn cake if you like it, and the thing about pins that cover food spills on your shirt, I feel REALLY conflicted about knowing that my cookbook contains too many calories.

I am all kinds of confused today.
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stealthird
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
I just got the latest edition for Christmas. It's awesome. But the portion size theory makes sense; my grandma often says that when she was young, they didn't have "a big hunk of meat" with every meal, and one pot roast fed her entire family--her parents, her and her seven siblings. They ate a lot of corn though, sometimes they'd eat for ears of corn each, because it was what was available and no one was going "OMG! Not corn! Carbs! Carbs!" And my grandma had a 22 inch waist. So chew on that.
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Rare Affinity
02/18/09

@stealthird:

A programme on eating habits in the UK in the 1970s showed that on average they consumed MORE daily calories than today. The difference was that people were more physically active in terms of using stairs because there were not as many lifts as today for example. I ate TWO cream cakes a day but was skinny because I also walked several miles a day to and from school. No nonsense about being ferried everywhere by car.
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The Queen of No
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
The version I have is pretty old, because there's a recipe for turtle soup in it. Oh my!
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Whiskey and Popcorn
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Anyone else here who was raised on Good Housekeeping? I have the Good Housekeeping Complete Book of Deserts and it is my bible, y'all!
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AthertonMerriweather
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Then Paula Deen gets ahold of the recipe and it goes up another 1,000 calories. All of which I will eat.
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BabyJane
02/18/09

@AthertonMerriweather: There's a gal who likes her butter!
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funnyface
02/18/09

@AthertonMerriweather: God I love Paula. My MIL and I were like two little kids when we got to go to The Lady and Sons.
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Laulau
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
It has to be portion size, since I have a fair number of 50s/60s cookbooks in the house, and most start with something like a stick of butter, a jar of mayo, and a package of sliced deli meat. (I must add, as a vegetarian, these are kitsch not for use.)

On an aside, I also love Bittman.
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stealthird
02/18/09

@Laulau: I'm not a vegetarian, and I still wouldn't eat something made of an entire jar of mayo and package of deli meat. Unless it were served to me at a friend's house, I would gladly pass. Bleah.
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SansoneDamputer
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
ZOMG! I LOVE old cookbooks! After my grandma passed away, I got her near-original print of Better Homes and Gardens general cookbook. Calories didn't even exist back then - only food energy units!
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Plum-Pie
02/18/09

@SansoneDamputer: I love old cookbooks too and treasure the ones I inherited from my late grandmother and great-aunt.
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stealthird
02/18/09

@SansoneDamputer: I love cookbooks of any kind, old or new, but my mom has this McCall's cookbook from the eighties (or seventies, i forget) and it is all kinds of awesome. We used recipes from it at Christmas dinner and I made Finnish Bread Dolls. Awesome.
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Shelwood
02/19/09

@SansoneDamputer: My favorite old cookbook is The Settlement Cookbook. Every recipe starts with lard. (Like the JOC and others, you need to find an older edition.)
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jurisenpai
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
My mom's old Joy of Cooking ('72 edition) has instructions on how to skin a squirrel and make green walnut ketchup. I love finding the weirdest recipes in there, but I so rarely consult it for anything.

My go-to cookbooks are Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" and "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian". They give solid basic recipes and a million variations and suggestions on how to tweak dishes. Even my husband -who is not much of a cook- loves Bittman's books.
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belle TL
02/18/09

@jurisenpai: My go-to book is The Silver Spoon--1263 pages of Italian classics, all broken down by primary ingredient.
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Spaceman Bill Leah
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Foll-owing rec-ipes?

Can someone please explain this to me? I thought everyone just cooked by opening up the fridge and cabinet and mixing together whatever it was they found there. No?
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BabyJane
02/18/09

@Spaceman Bill Leah: Zombie Fighting Dinosaur: I do both!
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belle TL
02/18/09

@Spaceman Bill Leah: Zombie Fighting Dinosaur: Our kitchen employs a combination of both strategies--we have a whole host of books to understand how flavors work together, but then we'll also work with what we have at our disposal as well. And we always maintain a solid pantry and freezer selection so we're not stuck for dinner.
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The Queen of No
02/18/09

@Spaceman Bill Leah: Zombie Fighting Dinosaur: I love doing that! That's how my Dad cooks and his weird recipes are always magically the most delicious..
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Spaceman Bill Leah
02/18/09

@BabyJane: @bellethellama: Weirdly I do own a lot of books and obsessive print out and save recipes from the interwebs but for some reason I never seem to have all the right ingedients so usually my process is:

1.Purchase cut of meat

2.research methods for preparing cut of meat

3.replace all other ingredients in recipe other than meat with we have on hand

4.Success?
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Rare Affinity
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
When I worked in the British Libary, I came across one recipe from an original seventeenth century cook book, whose first ingredient was 50 GALLONS of boiling water.
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clonie
02/18/09

@Rare Affinity: What were they trying to boil?
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stealthird
02/18/09

@clonie: The French?
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Rare Affinity
02/18/09

@clonie: They were brewing beer for the whole household, which would have included both the family and the household servants.

I use quite a few recipes from seventeenth century cookbooks, such as for rice pudding and syllabub. I often find old recipes that have been adapted for modern measurements and portion sizes. There have been quite a lot of historical menu reconstructions on the television, including a recipe book for King Richard II dating from the 14th century. One of the recipes for pears poached in wine is very similar to modern recipes.When it comes to presentation, I can also make a mean serving wench should the need arise.
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syneblue
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
My family has been using the Better Homes and Garden's Cookbook since time began. I've noticed a decided shift in editions as the years go on; the newer versions are full of whole-wheat and tofu recipies, my mom's seventies version is full of quick-fix dinners (for the working woman). My grandma's sixties version can sum up every recipie with the following: take food, add one pound butter, salt generously, serve.
AWESOME.
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Red-headed bookworm
02/18/09

@syneblue: That's why I make the cornbread out of the old one my mom has instead of the new one I have.
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HoooooooT
02/18/09

@syneblue: My grandmother gave me one when I was like 14...come to think of it, I think it's somewhere at my mom's house and should DEFINITELY be found...
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southernbelle
02/18/09

@syneblue: My mom has an 80's version that has lots of entertaining recipes. It's awesome because there is this great picture of these people in huge glasses gathered around a big pot and they are just guffawing. I imagine that they are coked up.
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Failsafe
02/18/09

In reply to Joy Of More
Their latest version taught me to cook - 63 degrees and all. It's absolutely my first resource, because I've never made anything--and I've tested out many, many recipes during the past few years--that turned out bad.

What is particularly telling is that the book automatically opens to the blondies page. It's a crinkly page and there's a little brown sugar stuck deep in the center of the book. Best recipe for blondies I've found.
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Red-headed bookworm
02/18/09

@Failsafe: That's how you tell the good recipes. :) The pages that are stained with ingredients are like a bookmark.
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GirlFailer
02/18/09

@Failsafe: That's funny, the bread recipe in my cookbook is stained with tears and sweat. Maybe a little bit of flour too.
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