Archive for the ‘Vintage Cookbooks’ Category

We had a great day at the local Peddler’s Mall on Sunday… and it was all pretty much food related (ignoring the ugly, warm socks i bought! LOL).

We had gone on a mission. We were looking for a potato condo, preferable one that didn’t say *Taters*. We have a kitchen with extremely limited counter space and Jeffrey had half of it filled with potatoes of various kinds.  I had finally had it, hence the search for a rodent-proof, mastiff-proof storage option! We were fortunate to find one (and it doesn’t say *Taters*!). The booth had only one and we grabbed it gleefully! If fits into a small jog in the wall near the table perfectly

I also snagged a lovely small rectangular Pyrex baking dish… a bit larger than a half size sheet cake pan.

I found a great vintage cookbook: McCall’s Book of Cakes and Pies, circa 1972. It has good information and some terrific recipes. I will be posting the Praline Glaze for Apple Pie over at ILoveToBakePies.com It looks like an easy way to take any Apple Pie from basic to fabulous!

It is softcover and an odd size, smaller than a standard 8 1/2″ x 11″ page. I paid $2.99, which is more than I normally spend (and possible more than it originally cost) but it has some really intriguing recipes!

Tink

*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist!*

As you may have gathered by now, many of us the Needlework and Quilting world love to bake and cook! As an offshoot, we also LOVE cookbooks!

I got to know Celia, of The Purl District, in Silverton, OR thru the classes I teach at TNNA. She was kind enough to pass along three recipes from one of her best loved vintage cookbooks.

While I usually format recipe, these were so wonderfully quaint, I left them as is… and truth be told, I really wasn’t sure how to interpret some of the archaic terms!

TheArmchairChef.com VINTAGE COOKBOOKSInglenook Cook Book, 20th edition – 1915

Here are several recipes from the Inglenook Cook Book, 20th edition,7200 choice recipes. Contributed by the Sisters of the Brethren Church, subscribers and friends of the Inglenook Magazine. Elgin, Ill. Brethren Publishing House,1915.The book has 3 small but nice nouveau designs on the front. It was probably white originally but is now grayish and stained as any decent cookbook should be! This cookbook originated with the Inglenook magazine, published at Elgin,Ill, and is made up of unsolicited recipes, contributed entirely by the Sisters of the Brethren of Dunker Church.Some terms used in these recipes are either no longer used or are regional and obscure so good luck and maybe we can look them up in Wikipedia.

Recipe 1 – Beef Soup

Take 8 tablespoonfuls of flour, enough water to dampen the flour; rivel with the hands and put the rivels into fresh beef broth; add a little salt. let boil five minutes.- Sister H.G. Miller,Bridgewater,Va.

Recipe 2 – Bean Soup

Stew 1 pint of beans until tender. Mash through a colander to remove shells. Add to 1-1/2 quarts of ham broth, and let boil up. Add 1 Tablespoon of flour mixed smooth with 1 cup of cream or rich milk. Add a bit of parsley and season to taste. Serve with in squares of toasted bread.- Sister Ira Trostle, Taylor,Ill.

Recipe 3 – Sunday Soup

At night wash a pint of dried beans, Place them on the back of the stove in a porcelain vessel, with 2 quarts of cold water and a pinch of soda. In the morning, when they have simmered a half an hour or until breakfast, pour off the water through a colander; return the beans to cooking vessel; add 2 quarts hot water; let boil until nearly done, then place the vessel where it will keep warm but not boil. After church, visit or washing( according to the day) add to your beans a teacupful of sweet cream; salt to taste, and serve. They should simmer before serving,- Sister Nancy Underhill,Canon City,Colo.

The Purl District

I am the owner of The Purl District, a yarn shop in Silverton,Or.Silverton is a small rural town in the Willamette Valley. We are about 20 miles east of the Capitol, Salem. Our shop is one of 2 shops that my partner, Renee, and I own.The other is Stone Buddha, an Asian shop specializing in anything old or new from any Asian country.We are active in our community and love our town and her people. Our shop has many classes and events to promote a knitting community within Silverton’s larger community.We have much stinkin’ fun in the shop and with our guests. Right now people are concentrating on washcloths. Our window for March was March Winds with many different washcloths hanging on a blowing clothesline. There are a gazillion free washcloth patterns on the internet and we have been making alot of them. We use Mission Falls cotton, Cascade cotton and tencel, Cascade cotton and angora, Manos stria,100%cotton. Oh and bamboo makes a lovely washcloth from Be Sweet, or Plymouth………..see you in town or http://thepurldistrict.com/ Celia

While I was in Long Beach, CA for the TNNA trade Show last weekend, Jeffrey got motivated and started organizing my cookbook collection. We now have empty shelves and cookbooks piled shoulder high all over the house. I am planning to pitch in tomorrow and I am hoping that we can get all of this finished over the weekend.

Meantime, I notice another intriguing vintage cookbook I had forgotten about, every time I walk past a stack! LOL

We already had more cookbooks than shelves, so I am also hoping to come up with an inspired idea about where the extras can live!

Tink

*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist!*

I have officially filled my cookbook bookcase and STILL have about a waist high stack of newly acquired Vintage Cookbooks, with no place to put them! YIKES!

My cousin Kate just married her best friend from elementary school and is in the process of moving from MA to CA. One of the many in our family who LOVES cookbooks and is an avid collector and reader, she sent me a LARGE box of those she wasn’t going to move. Oh Happy Day!

In addition, I have scored many winners at the local flea market recently. Once I get home from TNNA in June, one of my projects is going to figure out place for these beauties to live. ;-)

Meanwhile, I am going to share some of them with you, my fellow Armchair Chefs.

Today’s find is Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes. She and her husband founded their famous restaurant in 1930 and she published her first cookbook that year. Move over, Martha Stewart!

My copy is the sixth edition, printed in 1948. It has a worn, faded red cover with water marks. The name on the flyleaf is Anita Pollard. I haven’t found any remarks or inserts in it, but it was clearly well used.

Interestingly enough, the recipe layout is a modification of placing the ingredients in a list at the beginning. As a technical writer myself, I have been trying to figure out when that layout was adopted.

She has interesting and useful cooking information and tips scattered throughout the recipes that are going tobe fun to read and collect. I am thinking about doing a Tip of the Week Email list, using my Vintage Cookbooks as the sources. Anyone interested?
Here is an unusual pudding recipe that I am dying to try!

TheArmchairChef.com Grapenut Pudding

An intriguing spin on puddings! Serve Hot or Cold. Top with light cream, whipped cream or ice cream. Serves 6

Ingredients

1 quart milk 1 cup grapenuts 2 egg yolks 4 tablespoons of sugar 2 egg whites, beaten stiff Pinch of salt

Step by Step

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. 1) Add the grapenuts to the milk and bring to a boil. 2) Let milk mixture cool and add the remaining ingredients. 3) Pour into a buttered baking dish. 4) Bake for 45 minutes. 5) Can be eaten warm or cold. 6) Serve and Enjoy!

Vintage Cookbook TOLL HOUSE TRIED AND TRUE RECIPES

This is from one of my favorite vintage cookbooks, Ruth Wakefield’s Toll House Tried and True Recipes.Ruth and her husband opened the Toll House Restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts in 1930. A savvy business woman and superb cook, she published the first edition of her cookbook that year.She entered the annals of American cooking by creating the justly famous Toll House Cookie recipe, using hand broken chocolate chips.My copy is the (sixth) 1948 edition. I just checked on Amazon and discovered that Dover Books has a reprint of this edition! It looks accurate, except that they have added a beautifully photographed cover. ;-)

If you are a cookbook lover, grabbing a copy of the Dover Reprint might be a good idea!

Tink

*When I dream, I cook and bake like an artist…*