Archive.org has a host of old cookery books (from mid-19th to mid-20th Century) available in many formats and on a host of topics. I happened across a few in my Pinterest feed and gone completely down the rabbit hole in this treasure trove of information. Sure some ideas might be out of date, but you never know what you might find when you explore these books. I’ll be sharing more books as I find them in the coming weeks. –Douglas
Historical Cooking Books: The American woman’s cook book by Ruth Berolzheimer – 26 in a series
What might you find in these old cookbooks? What special recipes have been handed down to you? Share in the Comments!
Available in PDF, Text, JPG formats, and more
USE OF RECIPES
To become a good cook requires more than the blind following of a recipe. This is frequently illustrated when several women living in the same community, all using the same recipe, obtain widely differing results. It is the reason so many cooks say, “I had good luck with my cake to-day,” or “I had bad luck with my bread yesterday.” Happily, luck causes neither the success nor the failure of a product. To become a good cook means to gain a knowledge of foods and how they behave, and skill in manipulating them. The recipe by itself, helpful as it is, will not produce a good product; the human being using the recipe must interpret it and must have skill in handling the materials it prescribes.
Some of the lessons which the person desiring to become a good cook should learn are given in the following pages. They will not be learned all at once; but if they are gradually mastered, luck will play a less important part in culinary conversation.
Reviewer: Judith Martin – favoritefavoritefavoritefavoritefavorite – December 15, 2009
Subject: American Woman’s Cook Book (1939)
This is the book my mother lived by when it came to cooking for the family “army” when all 30 of them showed up for the Christmas Eve Party at our house. Her two sisters had this book as well, so they did some of the cooking and baking to keep Mom from having to do all the cooking in her tiny kitchen. And, as for entertaining, this book still has it all when it comes to table settings and where the water and wine glasses have to go
PublisherChicago : Published for Culinary Arts Institute by Consolidated Book Publishers, Inc.
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