New/old cookbook

[Claire]

MFtW, obviously we are on the same wave length! I love it that this line made me take the cookbook out and look at it again! One of these days maybe I'll actually cook a recipe from it, just from curiousity! Maybe one of those cocktails! (NO, they look like headaches waiting for a head to move into!).

Some cookbooks ARE just for entertainment. And yes, both this one and the old "Joy" I have do have some things in common. Cookbooks to a collector shouldn't always have the cook-a-bility of the recipes as the raison d'etre. Even my new-ish reproduction of things like the White House cookbook or a few reproduction "receipts" collections and even a reproduction of home remedies have a lot of fun and interest value. For example, I keep a patch of mint in whitch I grow a few kinds of mint. The first year I grew pennyroyal in it. It all died out the first freeze after I moved here. THEN I read in a reproduction of an herbal guide that it was considered (in that era) to be an abortion agent! I looked further, and it was considered poisonous. I was growing it because in modern books it was considered a good, "natural" insecticide (and to some degree it does work. Pick some and rub it on your skin). BUT ... once it died off, I decided not to replace it. The chances of me feeding it to someone along with the spearmint, peppermint, and lemon balm I grow in the area are miniscule, but I don't want to think about it! (and yes, I know that at various times in history, tomatoes and even potatoes were considered poisonous. But I wasn't growning pennyroyal for food, so ....)

 

[Half Baked]

Some cookbooks ARE just for entertainment.

I really try to make at least 2 recipes from each book that I purchase. In my warped mind, that ligitimizes spending all that money. I can't believe how expensive some of them are but when I make a couple of recipes, I feel they have paid for themselves when I have a special meal w/o going out to dinner.

 

[bethzaring]

While I found the stories of the origins of certain dishes somewhat impressive, rather than oppressive like Beth, I must admit that sometimes I thought there was more "Bull" than historical fact

Michael, this was not what I found oppressive about Mr. Herters' writings, he seemed to have a rather "unenlightened" view of women .

 

[Claire]

Beth, you'd have to quit reading anything written before the 70s, especially by a man, to escape the attitude about women (and let's not forget some women in there who are still stomping around telling us to stay at home and make it a life's work to look cute when hubby gets home at 5, and how he should never walk into a home that is less than spotless or actually see that it takes work to put a meal on the table. Gee, when hubby sees me after fixing a a particularly great meal, he sees a blob of sweat!). We'd also have to quit reading Mark Twain for his vocabulary describing people of the un-white persuasion. I know where you're coming from, but you have to take it with a grain of salt and laugh at people's unenlightened views. Especially since they're probably dead.

 

[Claire]

Every year I swear I'm going to go through each cookbook and once a week make a recipe from one of them.

Which of your cookbooks do you actually cook from? Oh, brother, I'll go move that to a new line.