 | |
07-04-2009, 06:46 AM
| |
#1 | | | | | | | Certified Executive Chef
Profile: Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Galena, IL
Posts: 4,557
| | Your first cookbooks
What was the earliest cookbook you learned from, how old were you, and what years (give or take)?
My father bought my mom Better Homes and Gardens, you know, with the red checked cover, as a wedding present since neither his mother nor my mom's could cook worth a darn (my parents were married in 1954). It was the only cookbook in our house for many years, until Mom subscribed to an encyclopedia of cooking through Woman's Day (or was it Family Circle?) magazine in the 70s.
I thought of this last weekend when a friend and I were perusing a store and saw the BH&G cookbook, and she (I'm 54, she's a few years younger) exclaimed that it was the first cookbook she learned from.
So what was yours?
| | |
| | | | | | |  | Join the #1 Cooking Community Today - It's Totally Free! DiscussCooking.com, The Friendliest Cooking Community on the Internet - Are you looking for a great recipe or planning a meal for friends and family? Looking for advice on cooking techniques or feedback from real people about cooking appliances and other kitchen supplies? Or maybe you can give others some advice? No matter where you fit in you'll find that Discuss Cooking is a great community to join. Best of all it's totally FREE! You are currently viewing our boards as a guest so you have limited access to our community. Please take the time to register and you will gain a lot of great new features including; the ability to participate in discussions, network with other cooks & Foodies, see fewer ads, upload photographs, create a cooking blog, send private messages and so much, much more! |
07-04-2009, 07:44 AM
| |
#2 | | | | | | | Certified Master Chef
Profile: Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Small Town Mississippi
Posts: 14,646
| |
The better Homes & Garden and two old books of my Mother's...The Searchlight Cook Book, and Everybody's Cook Book...The latter was along the lines of a text book for teaching as well a many recipes, and variations.
__________________ There is only one Quality worse than Hardness of Heart, and that is Softness of Head. | | |
| | | | | | |
07-04-2009, 09:22 AM
| |
#3 | | | | | | | Executive Chef
Profile: Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Bucerias, Nayarit, Mexico
Posts: 1,912
| |
Yep, that red and white checked cookbook was my first as well. I cooked my first meal out of that cookbook when I was ten years old - meatloaf!
__________________
Saludos, Karen
| | |
| | | | | | |
07-04-2009, 10:10 AM
| |
#4 | | | | | | | Sous Chef
Profile: Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Missouri
Posts: 623
| |
Better Homes and Gardens, of course. I still have it.
then there was "Basic Cooking Step by Step" and "The Complete Cook."
| | |
| | | | | | |
07-04-2009, 10:34 AM
| |
#5 | | | | | | | Executive Chef Site Administrator
Profile: Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 1,026
| |
The Fannie Farmer Cookbook. I think it was my grandmothers. It had great cake recipes!
| | |
| | | | | | |
07-04-2009, 11:38 AM
| |
#6 | | | | | | | Senior Cook
Profile: Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: SW Florida
Posts: 152
| |
I was given The Joy of Cooking a thousand years ago as a wedding present, I still use it often.
__________________ Is this RED sauce HOT ?? | | |
| | | | | | |
07-04-2009, 11:37 PM
| |
#7 | | | | | | | Certified Master Chef
Profile: Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: escondido, calif. near san diego
Posts: 8,102
| |
i had already learn some basics from my mom and a home ech. class, before i ever saw a cookbook. then it was betty crocker. still use it (not the same one) today. i have many many other cookbooks but that is my stand-by
__________________
"life isn't about how to survive the storm but how to dance in the rain" | | |
| | | | | | |
07-05-2009, 01:15 AM
| |
#8 | | | | | | | Certified Cake Maniac
Profile: Join Date: Feb 2007 Location: Home of the 2010 Olympics...Give or take a couple of kilometers!
Posts: 8,120
| |
I started to cook when I was 8 and at 12 my Mom gave me a paperback copy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I used that for years along with the recipes my mother showed me that weren't written down.
I still have the original one, though it is in three pieces, with no covers. I got a second one but "lost it in a divorce" and my wonderful DH saw me struggling with the paperback and bought me a new spiral bound red version a few years ago.
My collection is well over 300 books and still growing, and for most things I don't even use a recipe anymore, but I still use good old Betty for a lot of my baking, etc.
__________________ "Variety is not just the spice of life, it is the key to life" - Chef Michael Smith | | |
| | | | | | |
07-05-2009, 05:55 AM
| |
#9 | | | | | | | Sous Chef
Profile: Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: Michigan
Posts: 650
| | Quote:
Originally Posted by LPBeier I started to cook when I was 8 and at 12 my Mom gave me a paperback copy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. I used that for years along with the recipes my mother showed me that weren't written down.
I still have the original one, though it is in three pieces, with no covers. I got a second one but "lost it in a divorce" and my wonderful DH saw me struggling with the paperback and bought me a new spiral bound red version a few years ago.
My collection is well over 300 books and still growing, and for most things I don't even use a recipe anymore, but I still use good old Betty for a lot of my baking, etc. | That's so cool you have a collection like that.
I started at 8 yrs old with the picnic checkered binder cookbook Betty Crocker and that was a good thing as it had real pictures.
But the one I learned actual cook skills like how to draw and quarter (kidding) chickens, was "The Joy of Cooking". Notice I gave the second one a bit more reverence :-)
Since I had no teacher, I was self taught with such a good cookbook.
Bob
__________________
If eating tasty stuff is a sin, I am certainly going south. | | |
| | | | | | |
07-05-2009, 06:51 AM
| |
#10 | | | | | | | Certified Executive Chef
Profile: Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: southern Ohio
Posts: 3,103
| |
my first two coobooks have long since fallen apart and no longer exist; they were a 70's edition of Joy of Cooking, and one by Adele Davis, I think titled something like "Let's Cook it Right"...I was in my late teens
then a few years later I acquired and still have a Betty Crocker, and a Better Homes and Garden "All time Favorite Recipe" cookbook.
I have, but do not use, ny grandmothers plaid Betty Crocker and my mothers Good Housekeeping cookbook that she received as a wedding present.
__________________
If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. Dalai Lama
| | |
| | | | | | |  | | | Thread Tools | | | | Display Modes | Linear Mode |
Posting Rules
| You may not post new threads You may not post replies You may not post attachments You may not edit your posts HTML code is Off | | | | » Latest Forum Topics | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | » Recent Recipe Discussions | | | | | | | | | | | | | |