Old Cookbooks!

[pattymac]

My Mom and I have some really old cookbooks that she's had since the 40's!! There's a Five Roses Flour cookbook and a Purity Flour Cookbook. Pretty neat, it's amazing how recipes have changed over the years. Very little spices were used, even garlic is kinda rare. The books are mostly cakes and stuff being that they were put out by flour companies. Lots of yummy cakes and stuff though.

[aslan]

hmmm you might actually have a copy of a recipe my sister is looking for, i'll have to ask her what it was..we lost it when my oldest sister gave away alot of my moms stuff..

I do have tho a reeeeeally old Betty Crocker cookbook and you're right about the difference in ingredients.

[pattymac]

Sure, if you know what it is or can find out, no problem giving it to you. We have most of the pages!

[pbpatti]

Interesting thread pattymac, I have a hardcover cookbook that I got from my Grandmother. The title of the book: Electric Refrigerator Recipes and Menus. Specially Prepared for the General Electric Refrigerator.
Copyright 1927 and Third Edition, the cost of the book was $2.00.

There are what appear to be watercolor pictures of food and dishes. There are menus for family meals and bridge nights, informal luncheons and afternoon bridge.

Sample of a family dinner menu: Hot Bouillon in Cups, Cold Roast Beef, Delmonico Potatoes, Mashed Squash,Chilled Lettuce with Russsian Dressing, Apple Pie and Frozen Whipped Cream, Coffee.

This book hyas 144 pages full of information on how to feed your family and treat guests. patti

[quincymycat]

I love looking at the really old cookbooks and then the revised versions. You can be amazed at how much the "fat" contents of alot dishes are adapted to todays standards.
I have the really old Purity Cookbook...it was a wedding gift from my former MIL and is around 40+ years old. Alot of pages are missing from the cover falling off and the binding letting go, but the difference between that one and the newer version one of my girls got me about 10 years ago is amazing. The recipe names are the same....only the ingredients have changed to protect the health conscious!

[chico2]

I actually have 6 cook-books from 1911,the ones I like the best,have a fat cook in the front and they are called 365 desserts,365 Breads Bisquits,365 soups.
The other 3 have a Lady on the front cover,are called,Soups and Sauces,Breads and Puddings.
My son found the books in the garbage,years ago.

I also have a Swedish Cook-Book from 1909,where everything is very basic,even tells you how to pluck a chicken before cooking itit's really neat.
I was given that from a Swedish chef-friend of ours.

[joeysmama]

The oldest cookbooks I have are ones my parents gave me when I got married nearly 30 years ago. The ones that you all have from the early part of the century sound fascinating. (probaby worth something too.) Even the old Better Homes and Gardens cookbook that my mother gave me seems more old fashioned than any of my other cvookbooks. More basic stuff. My daughter has an American Girls cookbook that corresponds to her Molly doll and the recipes in that are from the 40's. So different.

I love to read old menus too. There's a restaurant near here that has it's old menus from the 20's hanging up. Not just the prices that are really different. The menu is nothing like what you would see today.

[14+kitties]

Originally Posted by joeysmama

The ones that you all have from the early part of the century sound fascinating. (probaby worth something too.)

They are worth about 2 or 3 bucks. Unfortunately they are still a dime a dozen. Or maybe it's fortunate. We still get to enjoy them.

[pattymac]

Neat stuff. Ya they have info that you'd never think of using now. I like the canning and preserving cookbooks that are older too. We just got a cookbook with recipes from all the different pioneers that came to Canada. It's not all that old but the recipes are. My Mom was looking for a German recipe for a type of dumpling that she had as a kid. One of her neighbours gave it to her Mom but she said it never turned out quite as good. Seemed that a fave trick was to leave out an ingredient so it wasn't as good as the original. This book had the recipe so she was happy to finally have the complete recipe.

[aslan]

ohoh are you talking about oliebollins..mmmmm

if anyone has a recipe for this pie my mom used to make i'll love you forever,,it had a graham cracker crust and a custard filling,,omg it was sooo good,,but unfortunately it's one of those recipes that's gone missing and mom well even on one of her good days wouldn't be able to help.

[pattymac]

These are more like German gnocchi, but the olliebollins are in this book too. They sound like they'd be really good too. Heheh but then anything deep fried is good

[clm]

Originally Posted by aslan

ohoh are you talking about oliebollins..mmmmm

if anyone has a recipe for this pie my mom used to make i'll love you forever,,it had a graham cracker crust and a custard filling,,omg it was sooo good,,but unfortunately it's one of those recipes that's gone missing and mom well even on one of her good days wouldn't be able to help.

My grandmother used to make that pie too, and thank goodness I have no idea how she made it. This body does not need to be eating that pie.

clm

[joeysmama]

This is a little off topic. It's still about cookbooks, just not the old ones.

I was at a wedding shower last summer and the brides mother gave her a cookbook of family favorites that she made on a srapbooking website. She asked the women in her family to contribute their favorite recipe and then she would make a page with the recipe from an aunt and a picture of the bride to be with that aunt. Their family favorite breakfast recipe and a picture of the bride with her mom dad and sisters. That sort of thing.

She even had a picture of a great grandmother with a photograph of the recipe that she had written out by hand year years ago.

It was a great idea. Too bad they aren't a family of good cooks. A lot of the recipes were more a how-to on assembling store bought crust with canned chicken stew to make "home made" pot pie. Canned chili with instant potatoes for shepherds pie.

[aslan]

Originally Posted by pattymac

These are more like German gnocchi, but the olliebollins are in this book too. They sound like they'd be really good too. Heheh but then anything deep fried is good

oh see now i have a fond spot for you...you have to roll the olliebollins in icing sugar too...omg mmmm.

Originally Posted by clm

My grandmother used to make that pie too, and thank goodness I have no idea how she made it. This body does not need to be eating that pie.

clm

oh man clm my tiny little body does need it...

[binkybuff]

I have a cookbook, given to my mother as a wedding shower gift, it is from Watkins, and was printed in 1936. She has added several little notes in it, such as our ration numbers during the war.

Some of the recipes have only hot, warm, or cool, for heat, or a pinch of this or that, something the size of an egg. Since I learned to cook a lot like my grandmother, I can use this one without much difficulty. "size of an egg??? large, med., or small, or goose egg, etc. some are funny. is your pinch bigger or smaller than mine?

There are some notes that are made by my late father as well, his writing is very neat for a lefty. He was a cook for road crews, and in a restaurant, and those are marked as well.

I also have a scrap book cookbook and hints, that someone gave me, that they have cut out of newspapers, and glued in. I hope to, someday, type them out, and pass them on.

One book I have is the Puritan Cook book. We almost ran over it, and my late hubby stopped, picked it up, and have used some of the recipes in it as well.

I also have a recipe for cookies that was brought from Europe about 1880 or so, by my great grandmother. I have made those cookies a few times. Again no direct measurements other than the flour.

take care
binky

[pattymac]

We've got Pierre Burton's cookbook. It's got some really neat old recipes, Canadian off course. I guess they tested all of them, some they don't recommend that you try but the Tourtiere recipe is really good and it's the one my Mom uses.

[krdahmer]

I have the Five Roses Flour one! It was my grandmothers....with her hand written extras in it! I have it on display on my hutch in the living room.... certainly are recipes from another time!

[Tundra_Queen]

My mom had a blue hard copy one. I always wanted that one but my sister took it. And I think Mom had the Red rose one too..long before the days of fast food. *S*

[Melinda]

I have all the 5 rose flour cook books since the beginning of the 1900's, you use to get them free with so many purchases of flour, they all belonged to my grams and now my sis and I. I use them constantly

[Winston]

Oh my I have a Five Roses cookbook too! it was given to me by my neighbour many years ago..

It just says A guide to good cooking on the front cover and it has a pic of a bag of flour, roses, rolling pin etc? I really like that book! not sure if its the same as everyone elses!

Aslan what recipe did you need?

[aslan]

Originally Posted by Winston

Aslan what recipe did you need?

No idea winston i phoned my sister and now she can't remember,,,we could establish what she didn't need 'cause i have them,,but danged if we could come up with the one she wanted.

[grols]

The Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer 1936 good book

[Patchie]

Originally Posted by pattymac

My Mom and I have some really old cookbooks that she's had since the 40's!! There's a Five Roses Flour cookbook and a Purity Flour Cookbook. Pretty neat, it's amazing how recipes have changed over the years. Very little spices were used, even garlic is kinda rare. The books are mostly cakes and stuff being that they were put out by flour companies. Lots of yummy cakes and stuff though.

It would be lovely if you'd share some of the recipe here.

[Ernestine Sims]

Old cookbooks are both delightful and weird. I remember watching one Ellen video, there was a gelatin using tuna as an ingredient which made me feel very uneasy.

That being said, I'm sure your cookbook won't have any of those 'recipes'.

[Barkingdog]

Yeah and the recipes aren't healthy at all . I have one of my mom old cook book and they call for a lot butter and sugar . They taste good !