AMERICA SAYS GOODBYE TO BERNARD CLAYTON, JR.

The following was originally posted on my blog in 2011.

The New York Times reported the death March 28, 2011, of Bernard Clayton Jr., who passed away in Bloomington, Indiana. He was 94.

Before bread machines (and you know what I think of those) we had chefs like James Beard and Bernard Clayton Jr teaching us the art of baking breads the traditional way. I would add to that Elizabeth David’s “English Bread and Yeast Cookery” and “The Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book” but unquestionably, Beard and Clayton were at the top of the list. Clayton’s detailed dependable recipes guided novices and experts alike through the nuances of baking good bread and making many other dishes.

Everyone knows who James Beard was but you may not be quite as familiar with the name of Bernard Clayton, Jr. He was a native of Indiana, a journalist and a foreign correspondent, and you may not be aware that he was also the author of at least eight cookbooks.

Bernard Clayton was a senior editor and writer for Indiana’s University News Bureau. He was formerly the Time-Life Bureau chief in San Francisco and war correspondent for the magazines during World War II. Later, he was vice president and director of public relations for two major San Francisco firms.
Clayton began his career as a journalist and foreign correspondent but began writing cookbooks nearly 45 years ago. (You may think it quite a jump from journalist/foreign correspondent to cookbook author but I can think of at least one other person who did the very same thing; Betty Wason. And, coincidentally, Betty Wason was also born in Indiana and grew up there).

Clayton is, perhaps, best known for his cookbooks on breads and I have to confess, I don’t have any of them in my collection –yet. I do have two of Clayton’s books, “The Complete Book of Soups and Stews”, – and, one of my favorite’s “Cooking Across America”. I am partial to all cookbooks with “America” in the title and have amassed quite a collection of them. These are the closest you can get to understanding and appreciating true regional America, which is disappearing fast as we become more and more homogenized.
Clayton’s first cookbook was “The Complete Book of Breads”. This cookbook won the coveted Tastemaker cookbook award and was praised by Craig Claiborne as perhaps the best book on the subject in the English language. Clayton’s Complete Book of Pastry also won the Tastemaker cookbook award.

Clayton experienced a bread-baking epiphany while bicycling across Europe with his wife in 1965. The quality of the breads, gratifying to appetites sharpened by a hard day’s ride, impressed him. Although he had never baked so much as a muffin in his life, he embarked on a quest to explore bread and pastry making. His hobby developed into an obsession, then a career. Over the next decade, he traveled around the world and logged countless hours in his home kitchen, newly outfitted with a professional oven, mastering the techniques and the recipes that he presented in “The Complete Book of Breads.”

Clayton is also the author of “The Breads of France” and “Bernard Clayton’s New Complete Book of Bread”. A 7,000-mile research trip that took him to bakeries all over France led to “The Breads of France” (1978), a comprehensive cookbook that guided the reader through French bread in all forms, from the leaf-shaped fougasse of Provence to the bagels served at Goldenberg’s deli in the Marais neighborhood of Paris.

“The Complete Book of Pastry,” published in 1981, dealt with its subject on a truly global scale, with recipes for strudel, South American empanadas, Italian pizzas and calzones, Greek baklava and Russian Piroshki.

It was during his travels all around the world that Clayton collected recipes and put together a collection of 250 soup and 50 stew recipes for his cookbook “The Completed Book of Soups and Stews” published in 1984 by Simon & Shuster. I was charmed by his comment “Cookbook authors, like cooks, collect cookbooks…” Clayton wrote that he surrounded himself with several hundred volumes and their places on the shelves around the room are so familiar to him that he could reach for them in the dark. He lists, in The Complete Book of Soups and Stews, nearly twenty five of his favorite cookbook authors and their cookbook titles that were especially meaningful to him. A few names are not so familiar to me while others are—James Beard and Diana Kennedy, Mollie Katzen and Irma Romauer. One author I was surprised to find on his list was Ann Seranne for her editing of the Southern Junior League Cookbook. I knew who Ann Seranne was but I can’t say I’ve seen her name anywhere else recently. Then, too, this cookbook was published in 1984. He also listed some of his favorite reference volumes which included Larousse Gastronomique and The Escoffier Cook Book.
This was something I could truly relate to, as my two desks and the floor near my computer—along with several bookcases of reference material –are all within reach…periodically, I go on a rampage to put the books back on their respective shelves but before long I am surrounded by stacks of cookbooks again.

In “Cooking Across America” Bernard Clayton and his wife, Marje, decided to take to the road in search of North America’s best cookbooks. He posted this note on the wall above his typewriter: “This will be more than a book of recipes. I am as interested in the cook as a person as I am in the thorough step-by-step presentation of the recipe. I believe these together have been the principal reasons readers have found pleasure in reading and cooking with my books”.
So, for three years, this sentiment defined Bernard & Marje’s days. They drove a GMC van and set out on the odyssey of a life time, what the author often called a dream assignment.

In the beginning, Clayton thought the project would be difficult but he found that every community is as proud of its good cooks as they are of the town band or the high school basketball team. They met over 100 of North America’s best cooks and collected 250 of their favorite recipes.

I like “Cooking Across America” for the same reason I am so fond of the Browns’ “America Cooks” – these are authentic regional collections of recipes that help define what American regional cookery is all about. And, “Cooking Across America” is as much a cook’s travelogue as it is a cookbook.

The following is a list of Bernard Clayton Junior’s cookbooks along with some sources for locating his books for your collection:

The Breads of France and how to Bake them in your own kitchen 1978, Bernard Clayton & Patricia Wells, Amazon pre-owned starting at $25.00
The Complete Book of Pastry, 1984, Amazon pre-owned starting at $3.00
The Complete Book of Soups and Stews, 1984, Amazon new and used from 1 cent.

The New Complete Book of Breads, Soups, and Stews 2008, Amazon new $14.98, used $9.99 and up.

The Complete Book of Pastry Sweet & Savory, 1984, Alibris, pre-owned $8.95, Amazon starting at 4 cents, pre owned.

Cooking Across America, 1993 Amazon new from $5.99, pre-owned starting at 59 cents.

The Complete Book of Small Breads, 2006, Amazon new from $12.34, pre owned starting 9.20.

I hesitated to list the higher prices; you can discover these for yourself on any of the cookbook websites. I generally consult Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Alibris, and Jessica’s Biscuit. (JESSICA’S BISCUIT is no longer in business.

Do you suppose that Bernard Clayton Jr is now teaching the angels in heaven how to make angel’s biscuits? (Recipe is on pages 32-33 of Cooking Across America).

–Review by Sandra Lee Smith

Happy Cooking and Happy Cookbook Collecting!

BEHIND EVERY GREAT CHEF THERE’S A MOM!

The following was originally posted on my blog in 2011:

“BEHIND EVERY GREAT CHEF, THERE’S A MOM!” is a cookbook of more than 125 treasured recipes from the mothers of our top chefs—collected and edited by Chris Styler. It was, I thought, another good cook book to post for Mother’s Day, 2011. In it you will find recipes from the mothers of notable chefs and cookbook authors Rose Levy Beranbaum, Mollie Katzen, Nigelia Lawson, Sara Moulton, Jamie Oliver—and many others.

Jasper White writes in the introduction to his chapter, “I’m always surprised when I hear about a chef who DIDN’T grow up with great food.” That simple statement is given weight by the marvelous, diverse, and extremely personal collection of recipes contributed to this book by America’s top chefs, cookbook authors and television personalities.

“The source of these recipes,” we learn in the Introduction to ‘Behind Every Great Chef, There’s a Mom!’ “as was made clear to the contributors, was theirs to decide as long as that source was a woman (or women) whose cooking and personality has inspired them…”

“Along with the recipes, you’ll find stories of extraordinary women, such as Jacques Pepin’s mother, who pedaled a bicycle through France’s war-ravaged countryside to barter with farmers to put food on the table, and women who did the most ordinary things to keep a family nourished, happy, and together…”
A portion of the proceeds from the book will go to the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, which works to improve the lives and defend the rights of refugee and internally displaced women and children worldwide. For more information or to learn how to help refugee women and children worldwide, you can visit http://www.womenscommission.org.

Writes Mary Diaz, executive director of the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children, “We are particularly honored to be a beneficiary of this project, for it brings to mind the cooking expertise of women throughout the world who, even when fleeing war or disaster in their home country, bring with them their cooking traditions—the recipes they learned from their mothers and grandmothers—to share with their families and maintain a community in their uprooted lives. Our own country, in turn, has been made richer by the recipes and cooking traditions that refugees and other immigrants have brought here.”
“Give a bunch of chefs a worthy cause,” Chris Styler tell us, “and there they are—tying on an apron, firing up a burner ready to go…” He says he has worked in the food and restaurant business for over 30 years. Trained as a restaurant chef, he has worked in kitchens from Italy to Martha’s Vineyard, from Manhattan to Bogotá. Chris is the author or coauthor of several books including Primi Piatti, Smokin’, The Desperate Housewives Cookbook, Working the Plate, Sylvia’s Soul Food (with Sylvia Woods) Blue Collar Food (with Bill Hodge), Vegetable Love (with Barbara Kafka; winner of a 2005 IACP award), Daisy Cooks! (with Daisy Martinez; IACP finalist), and Rosa’s New Mexican Kitchen (with Roberto Santibañez). In January 1999, he was named editor at large for Food Arts magazine. Two of his articles for Food Arts have won awards from the Association of Food Journalists. During the last 10 years, Chris has served as culinary producer for eight PBS and Food Network television series, including: Daisy Cooks! with Daisy Martinez (premiered 2005 through 2006),Lidia’s Italian Table and Lidia’s Italian American Kitchen (airing from Fall 1998 through Winter 2004); Julia and Jacques: Cooking at Home (Fall 1999); Savor the Southwest (Spring 1999) and America’s Test Kitchen (Spring 2001); and Joanne Weir’s Cooking Class (Winter 2009). Chris started Freelance Food, LLC, in 1999, which specializes in corporate product and recipe development. He lives in the New York metropolitan area and his website is http://www.chrisstyler.com.

All this being said, I just want to add that “Behind Every Great Chef, There’s a Mom!” was previously published under the title “Mom’s Secret Recipe File”.
As for the cookbook itself – it’s the kind you will want to curl up with to read (as cookbook collectors tend to do) “like a novel” – for the book is packed with cookbook author STORIES. Then maybe go back and start checking out the recipes. Or do it the other way around – read the recipes and THEN the stories. Whatever rocks your boat or stirs your wooden spoon. I have to admit, I tend to go through a book checking out the recipes first, going through half a package of yellow post-it note stickers. One of the first recipes to catch my eye was that of Palacinke, my beloved Hungarian crepes—provided by,
surprisingly, the First Lady of Italian Cuisine, Lidia Maatticchio Bastianich. Lidia also provides a recipe for Gnocchi, little potato dumplings.
What to look for: Barbara Kafka’s Romanian Eggplant Dip, Jacques Pepin’s Gratin of Eggs or Potato Lace, Jasper White’s Grandmother’s Pecan Pie, The Smith Family’s Twelve Layer Cake (no relation), Chris Styler’s Cream Puffs (oh, yum!), OR his Spinach and Sun-dried Tomato Strata, Mary Ann Esposito’s Mama’s Whiskey Cake, Rozanne Gold’s Hungarian Cabbage and Noodles, Ming Tsai’s Chinese Fire Pot or his Pork and Ginger Pot Stickers…Oh, I could go on and on. Along with more than 125 treasured recipes there are just as many treasured stories.
For mother’s day, maybe give yourself a copy of “Behind Every Great Chef, There’s a Mom”. Published by Hyperion books, this cookbook, with a soft cover, has an easy to read format that adds to its appeal.

Originally published at $12.95 in the U.S. (or $17.95 in Canada), I did a little searching.
“Behind Every Chef, There’s a Mom!” can be purchased new or used from Amazon.com, starting at one cent. Add $3.99 for shipping and handling when you purchase a book from a third party.

Happy cooking and Happy cookbook collecting!
–Sandra Lee Smith

ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK

THE FOLLOWING WAS ORIGINALLY POSTED IN 2012

Some years ago, I wrote a lengthy article for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange, titled “KITCHENS WEST”. The idea for the article was born out my curiosity about pioneers making the great migration west in the 1800s.

What did they eat? I wondered. How was the food cooked when they were on the trail? My curiosity about American pioneers began to branch out – I began wondering about American Indians. What did they eat? I wondered. How was their food cooked? And then I began wondering about the American cowboy, those hardy souls who herded cattle or worked on ranches. My curiosity about the American cowboy was probably born when I was a child, watching Roy Rogers and Dale Evans, Hopalong Cassidy, the Lone Ranger, and Gene Autry at Saturday matinees. Then my brothers and I, my girlfriend Patty, and her two younger brothers would romp up and down Sutter Street, playing cowboy and Indian. The most coveted role was being the horse.

It probably took about a year for me to write KITCHENS WEST. I began collecting books about American pioneers, the Oregon Trail, American Indian cookbooks, and all the cowboy cookbooks I could find. I found a lot of great books at the gift shop of the Western Heritage Museum, founded by Gene Autry. I was a member of the museum for over a decade and we took all of our out of town visitors there. My greatest “find” at the gift shop was a set of 12 soft cover books titled COVERED WAGON WOMEN/diaries and letters from the Western Trails, starting with 1840-1849, a series edited and compiled by Kenneth L. Holmes and published by the University of Nebraska Press.

There are quite a lot of other great books about American pioneer women but none is quite as comprehensive as the collection gathered by Mr. Holmes. Diaries and letters provide the framework of the series which I have found captivating.

More recently there have been a flurry of cowboy-theme cookbooks, demonstrating perhaps that I am not alone in my interest in cowboys and what they eat.
One such cookbook is THE ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK by Ken Beck and Jim Clark. This cookbook was originally published by Rutledge Press in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1996.

“If all the world’s a stage,” the co-authors write in the introduction, “The American cowboy is perhaps its most legendary rider…”

Along with food favorites from all of our favorite cowboys of the silver screen, such as Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, and TV western stars such as James Garner and Chuck Connors, there are recipes from singing cowboys and world champion rodeo cowboys. Portions of royalties from THE ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK support Ben Johnson’s Helping Hand Program with its various projects working with children. (At the time of publication, the program’s efforts were assisting the Sunshine Home for children in Mesa, Arizona). You will love this cookbook, filled with lots of photographs of our Western favorites, bits of trivia, and fun quizzes. Some recipes are tongue in cheek, such as “Here’s a recipe for cowboy coffee: take a pound of coffee. Add water, boil for half an hour. Throw in a horseshoe. If it sinks, add more coffee.”

You’ll love the trivia too—for instance, throughout the movie THE SEARCHERS, John Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards, says “That’ll be the Day” which—surprise!—was the inspiration for Buddy Holly’s hit song “That’ll Be the Day”.

There are black and white photos of all your favorite cowboys and cowgirls. Pictures on every page, in fact, and an interesting novelty touch—photos of lunchboxes, spanning decades, from Davy Crockett to Roy Rogers and Dale Evans lunchboxes. (Who’d have ever guessed that lunchboxes from the 50s and 60s would become so prized by collectors? And don’t we all wish we had kept ours?)

Also included in this wonderful cookbook, is a list of western museums and heritage centers which includes, of course, my favorite Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum in Griffith Park in Los Angeles, on the edge of Burbank. It is right across from Los Angeles Zoo – and was so easy to get to when I was living in Arleta.

“Real cowboys and cowgirls ride, shoot, rope…and cook” the publishers of
COWBOY COOKBOOK proclaim. “whether you are riding the range under a blazing Texas sun, or a cool Montana moon, or working on a Hollywood sound stage, cowboys and cowgirls can work up a he arty appetite…The ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK is filled to the brim with favorite recipes from the country’s most famous western stars from the silver screen and television to rodeo heroes and cooks on real working ranches, as well as recipes from some of the best cowboy balladeers to lasso a Gunsmoking Chili and Clint Eastwood’s spaghetti Western. Here, took, are chicken and dumplings from Roy Rogers, chilies rellanos form James Garner,. And cherished family recipes from Annie Oakley star Gail Davis…”

THE ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK offers more than 200 classic photographs and they’ve rounded up well over three hundred recipes from more than two hundred folks who represent what it means to be a cowboy.

I can’t tell you (or anyone else) how to read a cookbook—those of us who read cookbooks proudly read them the way other people read novels, generally marking pages with recipes to try with paper clips or bits of paper—my favorite way is using small post-it notes and I wish I could discourage the use of paper clips as over time, it damages the pages if the clips are left inside. THE ALL AMERICAN COWBOY COOKBOOK could be read page by page, or you might want to go through the book and look at all the photographs of our all-time favorite cowboys. Then there are the quizzes such as the one titled “WHERE IN THE WEST?” which is two columns—one column is the locations in TV series; the second column is a list of cowboys to match up with the locations. Sound easy? I missed the very first one!

As for recipes….well, you will discover for yourself dozens of great recipes to try. One I can vouch for – Gene Autry’s Texas Chili! To observe the date Mr. Autry would have been 100 years old, the Western Heritage Museum had a dinner and music for members. Bob and I attended, wearing new western shirts and cowboy hats. To tell the truth, I thought it tasted pretty similar to my chili. Here’s the recipe in case you want to decide for yourself:

Gene Autry’s Texas Chili:

1 ½ pounds lean ground round
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, finely chopped
1 package chili sauce or 1 bottle Red Devil chili sauce
1 16-oz can of kidney beans
1 8-ounce can tomatoes, finely chopped
1 cup grated Jack cheese
Chopped onion (optional)

Brown the first four ingredients in a large pan until tender. Add all remaining ingredients except cheese. Cook on high simmer for 1 hour. Add cheese to thicken, just before serving. Mr. Autry liked it best topped with chopped fresh onions. We do too, but we also like it topped with a lot of grated cheddar cheese as well, and being former Cincinnatians, we all like it over spaghetti, with oyster crackers topping it all off.

AN ARMFUL OF OLD CLUB & CHURCH COOKBOOKS

This was originally posted on my blog in 2011; I have done some updating.

Sometimes, I think, it’s easy to become overwhelmed with all the cookbooks there ARE—not just hundreds or thousands but surely millions. I was out in the garage library trying to find a Mary Martensen cookbook that I would swear I have, but can’t find it– and last week it was some of my Helen Evans Brown cookbooks that were missing. Eventually, Helen’s books turned up but not Mary’s. But, while I was looking, I thought it prudent to dust the shelves while I was at it. And in the process, I found myself setting aside cookbooks that I thought deserved a second look. So, I brought inside an armful of old club and church cookbooks when I finished dusting.

Now, I know there are far more cookbooks than I could ever dream of collecting – just start reading some cookbook bibliographies and you will discover a lot of titles you haven’t heard of. Maybe it’s one of the things that makes cookbook bibliographies so enchanting – just reading the titles makes a person want to try and find more books. To paraphrase the Duchess of Windsor (no, not Fergie – I’m referring to Wallace Simpson who managed to get the king of England to abdicate the throne) (and I have her cookbook) – you can’t be too rich or too thin or have too many cookbooks.

Well, apparently my friend Betsy, who lives in Michigan, finally decided she DID have too many cookbooks and would rather collect bears, so she has been sending me boxes full of cookbooks from her collection. Betsy had a head-start on collecting cookbooks – she was already collecting when we first became acquainted in 1965 – but what is truly amazing and maybe hard to believe is how many books she sends that I don’t already have. How can that be possible?

Well, one explanation is that there are MANY DIFFERENT kinds of cookbooks. You could specialize in Junior League cookbooks, or try to collect church or club cookbooks from all fifty states (been there, done that)—you might develop an interest in Scottish or German or Hungarian cookbooks, if your ancestors came from one of those countries (or some other one).

If you have very limited space, you could collect SMALL cookbooks – I mean small as in the dimensions of the books. I have 4 shelves of “small” cookbooks and some of them are real treasures. Or you could specialize in southern cookbooks. Over the years, I have collected far and wide but have a tender place in my heart for any club & church cookbooks published in my home town of Cincinnati. But then I began expanding and wanted club and church cook books for all the neighboring cities and towns in and around Cincinnati. Ok, then I collected anything from OHIO, KENTUCKY, and INDIANA. But I lived for three years in Florida so I began collecting community cookbooks from THAT state.

But I LIVE in California so I REALLY focus on community cookbooks from all over the state of California. And I like old cookbooks from Alaska because they are so interesting—even if I am not likely to ever make anything featured in some of those cookbooks. (such as jellied moose nose).

Years ago, I began collecting celebrity cookbooks- now there are so many of them but in 1965 not quite so many and some of the older ones could still be found in used book stores in the San Fernando Valley. Well, you get the picture. It goes on and on. I discovered White House cookbooks and so began collecting those, because I collect anything I can find about the White House. And of course, if you collect White House cookbooks, how can you not collect the Congressional Club cookbooks?

I became interested in any cookbooks with “America” in the title after acquiring the Browns cookbook “America Cooks” and now could collect JUST cookbooks with America in the title. (I recently posted an article on my blog about all the cookbooks on my bookshelves that have “America” in the title.

Then I became interested in anything related to World War II on the home front – and rationing…so I started collecting books on this topic (admittedly, it’s not a very big collection). And more recently I began branching out on cookbook authors—I’ve never really collected the published works of cookbook authors although I now have all of the Browns books (Cora, Rose & Bob Brown) – I was just missing their Vegetable cookbook and mentioned this in a previous blog post—well, imagine my surprise – one of the Browns’ descendants located the Vegetable Cookbook and I was able to purchase it for a reasonable price.

The Browns remain my favorite cookbook reading to this day- and whenever I stop to think about Cora, Rose and Bob—I think they could have written a lot more cookbooks if they could have lived long enough to do it.

There’s another thing about collecting cookbooks – if you really want, say, the Number One Bake Off book and someone offers it to you for $50 and you are willing to pay that much, then go for it. But I would start thinking how many cookbooks I could buy from an Edward R. Hamilton cookbook catalog and you can see which way my mind would work. (FYI – I found the #1 bake off cookbook at a flea market when my sister Becky and I were visiting her daughter in Palm Springs)—I almost didn’t buy it because the woman selling a display of cookbooklets for fifty cents each—raised the price of this one bake off book and decided she wanted $1.00 for it—I thought twice (didn’t suspect for a moment that I was holding the elusive and extremely hard to find #1 in my hot little hands) but I gave the woman a dollar and didn’t discover my find until we were back in my niece’s car heading back to her house.

Those Bake Off cookbooklets were, I think, a lot more interesting to read back in the early days of the Bake Off contests.

Getting back to authors – I began searching for those by Ida Bailey Allen over a decade ago, purely for personal reasons—my mother had one cookbook in our kitchen when I was growing up, & it was an Ida Bailey Allen Service cookbook. I learned to cook using that cookbook. Then I became interested in Ms. Allen who, at one time, was quite famous and had her own radio program. So, I wrote about Ida Bailey Allen for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange years ago and began searching for more of her books. THEN I became curious about a cookbook author named Myra Waldo who wrote MANY cookbooks and is practically unknown today. So I wrote about Myra–And began collecting HER cookbooks. Since then, whenever I have become curious about a cookbook author who isn’t very well known today…I start looking for his or her books. Much of the joy is in the searching—and the delight of finding.

For many years, the searching was all done in used bookstores, wherever I went. Now – thanks to the Internet, I have many of the bookstores throughout the country at my fingertips.

But for now, let me tell you about a few—perhaps unknown except in their own towns—church and club cookbooks that came to my attention the other day:
175 YEARS OF COOKING by the Versailles Presbyterian Church, dated by Pastor DeYoung in 1988; the congregation was celebrating being 175 years old – by my math, the church should be 198 years old.

The Versailles Presbyterian Church was established…on September 14, 1813. I had to do a little Googling to find the Versailles Presbyterian Church in Versaille, Kentucky. I thought it sounded familiar so I did a little more searching – it is only 100 miles from my hometown of Cincinnati. Quite possibly I bought this cookbook on one of my cookbook searches in Ohio. This recipe for Cheese Crispies sounds like one I made for some of our big parties back in the day:

CHEESE CRISPIES

2 sticks oleo (aka margarine) you can use Imperial stick margarine – or butter)
2 cups sifted flour
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 tsp salt
½ tsp cayenne pepper
Melt butter, pour over cheese and mix in other ingredients. Roll in small balls. Flatten on ungreased baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes.
**

SELECT RECIPES 1958 is also spiral-bound (all of these cookbooks are) and was compiled by Hazel Black, food editor of the Sanilac Jeffersonian, Croswell Michigan. I googled again to determine that the Sanilac Jeffersonian was celebrating its 161st year in 2017 so here is another source that has been around a good while. The recipes were from the files of the Jeffersonian and members & friends of the First Presbyterian Church, in Croswell Michigan.

From Select Recipes 1958, I chose City Chicken to share with you – mainly because City Chicken was a recipe we grew up on and I have seldom seen a recipe for it that sounds like my mother’s – except for the cream of mushroom soup. That is one addition we didn’t have in our house in 1958. But you might want to try City Chicken (which doesn’t contain any chicken).

1 lb veal cutlet (you could use a chicken cutlet)
1 pound pork (not ground)
1 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 tsp onion juice
1 egg
¾ cup bread crumbs
2 TBSP fat
1 medium can cream of mushroom soup
Scald and wipe wooden skewers. Cut meat into 1 inch squares. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and onion juice Insert skewers in centers of pieces of meat, alternating veal and pork (or chicken and pork), using 5 or 6 pieces on each skewer. With fingers mold the meat into drumstick shape, then dip in beaten egg and then in crumbs. Brown carefully in hot fat & place in casserole or baking dish. Add soup, cover and bake in a moderate 350 degree oven for about 1 hour.

Sandy’s Cooknote: Well, in 2017, you may very well ask why bother to go to all that trouble when you can BUY a package of chicken drumsticks, often cheaply and for less than the cost of veal. But I think veal was really inexpensive back in the day and chicken not so. I remember loving City Chicken – and my mother probably did make it with veal and pork in the 1940s and 1950s.

VINTAGE RECIPES was compiled by the East Van Buren Senior in Lawton, Michigan, and was published by Morris Press in 2000. The seniors put together a lot of great recipes but the one I chose to share is Marinated Carrots, because my girlfriend Mary Jaynne gave this recipe to me a long time ago. What’s GREAT about the recipe is that the Marinated Carrots will keep for months in the frig (if you don’t eat them all up the first time you try them) but it also makes a big batch. It’s one of those things you can keep on hand in case you get unexpected company.

MARINATED CARROTS

2 LBS carrots, peeled and cut into rounds
1 green bell pepper, diced
2 medium size onions, thinly slices

Cook carrots 8 minutes, then mix with green pepper and onion. Pour marinade over vegetables and refrigerate overnight before serving.

Marinade:
1 can tomato soup (undiluted)
½ cup salad oil
2/3 cup granulated sugar
¾ cup vinegar
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp prepared mustard
Dash of salt

Mix tomato soup, salad oil, sugar, vinegar, Worcestershire sauce mustard & salt. Blend well. Mix with vegetables & keep refrigerated.
**
THE BEST FROM THE BLADE COOKBOOKS edited by Food Editor Mary Alice Powell is a compilation of selected recipes taken from editions of the Blade’s annual cookbook. The Blade Newspaper was first published December 19, 1835, so here again we have a noteworthy newspaper boasting of a lengthy history.
David Ross Locke gained national fame for the paper during the Civil War era by writing under the pen name Petroleum V. Nasby. Writing under the pen name, Locke wrote satires ranging on topics from slavery to the Civil War to temperance. President Abraham Lincoln was fond of the Nasby satires and sometimes quoted them. In 1867 Locke bought The Blade.

The Toledo Blade was named for the famed swordsmithing industry of the original city of Toledo, Spain. The cookbook was published in 1960.
In its introduction, Mary Alice Powell, the Blade Food Writer explains “The best from the Blade Cookbooks” is a printed example of women’s age-old hobby of sharing food preparation ideas with friends, neighbors and relatives. This cookbook represents an exchange of recipes among homemakers in northwestern Ohio and southern Michigan. It is a compilation of the recipes they submitted in 11 Blade Cookbook Contests, from 1950 to 1960.

The following hors d’oeuvre recipe won first prize in 1952—and one can of crab meat makes a lot of appetizers.

CRABETTES

1 TBSP butter
2 TBSP flour
½ cup milk
1 6½ can crab meat
1 tsp salt
1/16 tsp pepper
½ tsp mustard
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ cup finely chopped parsley
2 eggs, beaten
Finely crushed bread crumbs

Melt butter; add flour; blend. Add milk and cook until mixture thickens; stir constantly. Dice crab meat; remove hard fiber. Add spices, Worcestershire sauce, parsley to cream sauce. Sprinkle shallow pan lightly with bread crumbs. Spread mixture in pan; chill one hour. Mold into small balls. Roll I bread crumbs, then in egg and again in crumbs. Fry in hot deep fat at 350 degrees until lightly browned. Drain on absorbent paper. Serve on toothpicks. Makes 30.

TOWN CRIER RECIPE BOOK subtitled “300 LUCKY LOW COST PRIZE WINNING RECIPES” was priced in 1938 at fifty cents, which seems a little steep to me at a time when so many food companies were offering free recipe booklets—I know because that’s how I got started. If I had ten cents, I’d get ten penny postcards at the post office and send for the free recipe booklets and pamphlets I’d find advertised on the backs of boxes, such as baking soda or Hershey’s cocoa, or in magazine ads. (My parents must have thought they had a strange ten-year-old daughter. When I was in the third grade I sent my first story to My Weekly Reader and received my first rejection slip).

The Town Crier was a flour produced by the Midland Flour Milling Company in Kansas City, Mo. Inside we learn “The 300 recipes contained in this book won individual prizes in a baking contest conducted in 27 newspapers. (we don’t know how much the contest winners won..but in 1938, anything had to be a gift while the Great Depression was going on).

Everyone likes muffins, so here is a recipe from the Town Crier for Sugary Apple Muffins:
2 ¼ cups flour
3 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
4 TBSP shortening
½ cup plus 2 TBSP sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 cup milk
1 cup finely chopped apples

Reserve ¼ tsp cinnamon and nutmeg and 2 TBSP of the sugar for topping. Sift dry ingredients together. Cream shortening and ½ cup sugar. Add well beaten egg. Add flour mixture alternately with milk. Fold in apples. Fill muffin pan ¾ full. Sprinkle with reserve sugar and spice mixture. Bake in hot oven (425 degrees) about 20 minutes. **

It was my intention to tell you about the rest of the cookbooks I brought in from the garage library with me today, but this post is already rather long, so I will close for now and urge you to look for your own armload of cookbooks—and to quote dozens of newcomers to cookbook collecting, read them like other people read novels.

Sandy

DINING WITH ROYALTY

FIRST POSTED ON MY BLOG JULY, 2012

We have long been fascinated with the appetites and food interests of celebrities (my cookbook collection on celebrities fills two shelves) – as well as presidents and their wives (another two shelves of cookbooks) plus royalty. WHY we are so intrigued with the eating habits of the rich and famous is something of a mystery.

One of the first books I found which was devoted to recipes and foodlore of English royalty was a slender volume titled COURT FAVOURITES (sic) by Elizabeth Craig. At the time, I had no idea that Elizabeth Craig was a famous British cookbook author. Bear with me—discovering Elizabeth Craig and COURT FAVOURITES was probably around 1965 or 66, when I was just beginning to collect cookbooks.

COURT FAVOURITES was published in 1953, the same year that Queen Elizabeth II was crowned Queen, and in the foreword, Ms. Craig explains how she acquired the recipes which were the basis of her book:

“Ever since I was 12 years old,” writes the author” I have kept my eyes open for unusual recipes and interesting menus. When other girls were playing Snakes and Ladders (an English game) I was laboriously copying out recipes from magazines and newspapers.

Among them were various notes on royal fare, but it was not until about 20 years ago, when I met an Irishwoman who had the privilege of knowing an English princess, that I began to wonder if some time in the future I might be able to make use of these…”

Ms. Craig goes on to explain how her Irish friend, who often dined with the English princess, was given the opportunity to see the scrap book which had been given to Queen Victoria when she was a young girl. This manuscript cookbook originally belonged to Princess Charlotte, daughter of George IV, and Caroline of Brunswick. Princess Charlotte, Victoria’s aunt, gave the collection to her when she was a very young girl. This collection of recipes dates back to the 1500s and even contained Ann Boleyn’s instructions for making syllabub.

This manuscript cookbook was hand bound in vellum with a crown stamped on every page. Some of the recipes were in old Italian handwriting. Others were difficult to decipher, as the pages were spotted and faded with age. From the dates, one could determine that the recipes had been chosen and inserted with care over a period of fifty to eighty years. There was another book of faded script, bound in Russian leather, which contained many recipes cut from old books and papers, along with recipes evidently copied by Princess Victoria. In the second book, in Victoria’s sprawling unformed handwriting, was a recipe for plum pudding, dated 1565. On the first page of this little book, someone had written “GIVEN TO VICTORIA ON HER BIRTHDAY, 1831”.

We can be thankful that Victoria realized the worth of what she had been given and continued to contribute to the collection. Part of the reason for her interest may have been due to her devotion to her beloved Prince Albert, for whom she prepared meals on a little stove in their private rooms at Windsor.
But, returning to the 1950s, the Irishwoman, who Ms. Craig does not name, was given permission by the princess to copy recipes from the two books. She, in turn, presented them sometime later to Elizabeth Craig, and this was the nucleus of COURT FAVOURITES.

COURT FAVOURITES is an enchanting cookbook. There are lots of recipes to try, if you are interested in duplicating Henry IV’s Bearnaise sauce (most likely named after his birthplace, Bearn) or Mary Queen of Scots favorite “Scotch Petticoat Tails) which dates back to 1568. Mary brought the recipe with her from France where the little cakes were known as Petits Gateaux Tailes.
Elizabeth the first was very partial to meringues/kisses recipes that are still around hundreds of years later. (One of my favorites is a meringue cookie called Beacon Hills, which contains chocolate chips). There are, however, dozens of other recipes and a fascinating journey through the British royal kitchens covering centuries of kings and queens.

We learn that it was not until Queen Anne ascended the throne that the art of cookery in England made much headway. Queen Anne not only encouraged gastronomy but also the art of wines. During her reign, wonderful cellars were laid down in England. Unfortunately, however, her successors did not appreciate the good work she had inspired, and George I and George II introduced a heavy Germanic influence to the British table. Actually, the first three Georges weren’t very much interested in gourmet food—but George IV was considered bon vivant, due to having hired Careme as his chef. Another of King George IV’s chefs, before Careme took over, was a man named Brand. One day he created a special steak sauce that delighted the king. George IV sent for Brand and announced that his sauce was “A-1” Well, later on the chef retired to manufacture his sauce for public consumption and guess what? The Sauce was called A-1, sold today under the name of A1 Worcestershire Sauce.
Queen Charlotte, wife of George III, was very economical and disliked any kind of extravagance. She was very particular how food should be prepared. Queen Charlotte took a great interest not only in the preparation of food but also in herbs, fruit and vegetables. It is said that she was so fond of mulberries, that the old mulberry trees in Buckinghamshire were planted by her. It was this same Queen Charlotte who would present to the young Victoria her manuscript cookbook which Victoria would treasure, and add to, for over fifty years.

It seems that Elizabeth Craig’s book has commanded respect in other publishing quarters, for – imagine my surprise – as I was reading ROYAL COOKBOOK, favorite court recipes from the world royal families, published by Parents Magazine Press in 1971 –what did I find under the British chapter, but numerous references to Elizabeth Craig’s book. It appears that COURT FAVOURITES was a primary reference source when Parents Magazine compiled THEIR book.

Of course, there are “royals” throughout the world, not just in Great Britain (although it seems to me that the seat of history lies in England.) And if you are interested in learning more about the Royals in other parts of the world—and what they like to east—ROYAL COOKBOOK is a good choice. The book is oversized, coffee table size, with lavish photographs. More than 18 countries are represented—including Russia, Poland, China, Japan, Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Italy and, of course, England/Great Britain. There are numerous photographs (or photographs of paintings) of the royals themselves, including Napoleon and Marie Antoinette of France, King George I (a very dour looking man) and Queen Elizabeth II. Hawaii is represented from the days when it was a monarchy, and there is a photograph of the famous Kamehameha IV of Hawaii and his wife, Queen Emma, and the beautiful Princess Kailulani, daughter of Princess Likelike.

There are also numerous photographs of royal china and serving pieces—not to mention hundreds of royal favorite recipes.

Focusing again on Great Britain, there is an interesting little book titled TO SET BEFORE A QUEEN BY Mrs. Alma McKee.

Mrs. McKee explains in her book, published in 1963, how she happened to end up cooking for Queen Elizabeth II, when QEII was still Princess Elizabeth at Clarence House. When Mrs. McKee went to work there, she was told that she was the only female chef in charge of a royal kitchen. She had previously cooked for King Peter of Yugoslavia, she says, but that was different, since they were very young and very informal.

Mrs. McKee left King Peter’s household to take a long convalescence following pneumonia, and when she returned to work, her agency offered her a choice of two jobs. One was with Isaac Wolfson, the Industrialist, and the other at Clarence House.

After King George VI died and Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II, she eventually moved to Buckingham Palace, but Mrs. McKee stayed at Clarence House to continue cooking for the Queen Mother and Princess Margaret.
Mrs. McKee’s book is small but chockfull of interesting recipes and reminiscences of her years as cook for the British Royals.

“TO THE QUEEN’S TASTE,” (subtitled ELIZABETHAN FEASTS AND RECIPES” by Lorna Sass, is a fascinating slender volume published by the Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1976. The queen here is Elizabeth the First who, we learn, liked to eat alone. Possibly it was because of her bad teeth. As she got older, Elizabeth I chewed something called “comfits” which were sugar coated whole spices, to freshen her breath. The book itself borrows from other known sources of who-was-eating-what in the 1500s, but also provides a glossary of terms which is most useful in translating old recipes.

Elizabeth I was not exactly a gourmet, but she had a notoriously sweet tooth. Her pockets were always filled with candies and anyone who wanted to get into her good graces would dream up a new confection (This may be why she had such bad teeth!)

However, Elizabeth’s fondness for sweets, according to Betty Wason in “COOKS, GLUTTONS AND GOURMETS” led her apothecary to experiment with using the juice of the vanilla bean as flavoring for marzipan, the first time the Mexican pod had been used to flavor anything but the chocolate drink of the Aztecs. Elizabeth was delighted and vanilla has been a favorite flavoring used in candies ever since.
It was also during the reign of Elizabeth I that fruit was first used alone in a pie. Some preserved cherries were given to her as a New Year’s gift and the Queen was so pleased that she ordered a thirty acre tract to be turned into a cherry orchard. It was the first time cherries were planted in England, and when the trees bore fruit, she ordered them baked in a pie. Cherry pies from that time forward were a specialty at English royal banquets.

It was also during Elizabeth I’s reign that a merchant named Tom Coryate brought samples of a two-pronged fork home with him after a journey to Italy, and presented one to his queen. Elizabeth was amused and had others made, one of which was made of gold. The fork became something of a fad at court although the country as a whole regarded it as an effeminate innovation.

Other books which provide insight and some details to royal appetites include Esther B. Aresty’s THE DELECTABLE PAST, FOOD IN HISTORY and THE FINE ART OF FOOD, both by Reay Tannahill, and Betty Wason’s COOKS, GLUTTONS & GOURMETS.
Ms. Wason notes “Henri IV of France was a gourmet. Henry VIII of England was a Glutton. Both had gargantuan appetites. Henry VIII’s reign presented us with the grand feast of Christmas…with twelve days of revelry and feasting.

It’s really quite fortunate that people have always been so interested in what is being served and eaten on royal tables. Ever since A FORM OF CURY* was written by the cooks serving King Richard II, we have had a kind of continuous record of what people were cooking and eating. Without these records, much of the culinary history of the middle ages would have been lost to us. Now, you may argue, perhaps successfully—that kings and queens were eating exactly the same thing as peasants. This is true, up to a point. Royalty’s dinner fare may have been more exotic and plentiful than the poor serf’s—just as what the President of the United States may be eating something far more luxuriously than you or I, today. Nonetheless, I think most food fare was rather standard then, as it is now.

(*From Wekepedia:The Forme of Cury (Forms of Cooking, cury being from Frenchcuire) is an extensive recipe collection of the 14th century whose author is given as “the chief Master Cooks of King Richard II”. The modern name was given to it by Samuel Pegge, who published an edition of it in 1791. This name has since come into usage for almost all versions of the original manuscript. Along with Le Viandier, it is the best-known medieval guide to cooking.

The roll was written in late Middle English (circa 1390) on vellum and details some 205 recipes, although the exact number of recipes varies slightly between different versions).

Many royals have been entertained at the White House and thanks to the various White House Chefs and other backstairs employees, records have been kept o these famous meals.

The first heir-apparent to the British throne to visit the United States was that of England’s Prince of Wales, Albert Edward, who would become King Edward VII, when he visited the White House during the administration of President Buchanan. It was considered such a social coup that it was talked about for years! (Prior to becoming President, James Buchanan was Ambassador to the Court of King James. His niece, Harriet Lane, accompanied him and became a favorite of Queen Victoria. All of this may have contributed to the Prince’s visit to the United States and its success.

Some years later, after the Civil War, President Grant and his family entertained Prince Arthur, the third son of Queen Victoria, with a dinner that was so lavish, it was reported to have cost $2,000 (a lot of money in the 1800s!) The Grants also hosted a dinner for King Kalakaua of Hawaii, but this dinner tried the patience of the White House Chef, as the King’s personal attendants tasted everything first and decided which were fit for the king to eat. This was also done to be certain that the king would not be poisoned!
In more recent times, President and Mrs Reagan entertained Prince Charles and Princess Diana when they visited Washington, D.C. for three days. Mrs. Reagan spent weeks consulting with Buckingham Palace over the menu and the guest list. Since Prince Charles is partial to fish and fowl, a lobster mousse was served as a first course, and a lightly glazed chicken was served as an entrée.

This was surely an improvement over the visit paid by the King and Queen of England (Elizabeth II’s parents) when they visited the White House during the Roosevelt Administration and were served hot dogs! (It should be noted that First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt had very little interest in food—hot dogs might have seemed like a good idea to her at the time).

Actually, to be fair to the Roosevelts, we should note that the rest of the King and Queens visit was treated lavishly. At a State Dinner, they dined on diamondback terrapin from Maryland and hothouse grapes from Belgium. It was considered to be the most elegant dinner during the Roosevelt administration. And, it seems that the Royals enjoyed hot dogs very much—so much that they in turn served them to the American Bar Association at a garden party given at Buckingham Palace in 1957.

So, next time you are having hot dogs, consider this—even kings and queens have eaten them.

REFERENCES:

COURT FAVOURITES by Elizabeth Craig, 1953
ROYAL COOKBOOK, published by Parents Magazine, 1971
TO SET BEFORE A QUEEN, Alma McKee, published 1963
TO THE QUEEN’S TASTE, Lorna Sass, Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1976
COOKS, GLUTTONS & GOURMETS, Betty Wason,
THE DELECTABLE PAST, Esther B. Aresty, 1964
FOOD IN HISTORY, Reay Tannahill, 1973
THE FINE ART OF FOOD, Reay Tannahill, date of publication not indicated
A FORM OF CURY

*This is by no means all of the books you can use to learn more about what people were eating, or how they lived, throughout the centuries since man learned how to make a fire and then discovered meat thrown on the fire tasted pretty good. When I first wrote this article, I was using the books that I had for references.

Just as a sample of what you can look for today might include:

NEAR A THOUSAND TABLES/A HISTORY OF FOOD by Felipe Fernandez-Armesto published in 2002– or

CENTURY OF BRITISH COOKING by Marguerite Patten, published in 1999
AMERICAN CENTURY COOKBOOK by Jean Anderson, published in 1997

–REVIEW BY SANDRA LEE SMITH

ACKNOWLEDGING MICHIGAN FRIENDS & KINFOLK – A FEW OF THEIR COOKBOOKS

When I started collecting cookbooks in 1965, I really didn’t know where to begin, aside from making frequent visits to used book stores. I didn’t know a thing about collecting cookbooks—but I had a1961 Cincinnati Methodist church cookbook that my father bought from a coworker and I thought there must be more like this, “out there somewhere”.

I wrote a letter to Tower Press’ Women’s Circle magazine in 1965 (a magazine for penpals) and mentioned being interested in buying, or trading for church or club cookbooks. Over 200 women responded to my request and I was kept busy for several months, buying cookbooks sight unseen or trading things like S&H Green Stamps – or whatever else the writer wanted. Many of those first cookbooks were remarkably good finds.

The best thing about that letter in Women’s Circle in 1965 was a letter from a woman in Michigan. She was a cookbook collector and she helped me find cookbooks; we became – and remained – friends; our children grew up, married, had children of their own. I went through a divorce and my Michigan friend lost her husband. A few months ago, she began downsizing to move into a smaller place, and has sent me boxes of books – not just cookbooks but other books as well, books about lighthouses (another pet interest of mine) and books about survivors of WW2. My cup runneth over.

After giving this a great deal of consideration, I thought that the best way I can show my appreciation for all that she has given to me – is by writing about some of these books.

I’m not sure whether I have more California church and club cookbooks or more if those from Michigan. The problem with counting the Michigan cookbooks is that they aren’t all in the same place – two of my largest bookcases are divided up as “east of the Mississippi” and “west of the Mississippi”. I know, probably sounds dumb but it SEEMED like a fairly good idea when I first came up with it. I have kept all of my California cookbooks together – currently they fill two bookcases in my bedroom and are double-rowed. Sometimes I have to take everything off the shelves to find a particular book. Before we moved to this house in 2008, I was in a much larger house and had the California cookbooks divided into two parts – Northern California and Southern California. Now they are all mixed up. (One of these days I’ll get them sorted again).

In a bookcase in our spare bedroom, I have all the southern cookbooks filling up two bookcases on one wall and on the other wall, I have all of my Ohio cookbooks (separate from East of the Mississippi) because I am from Cincinnati, Ohio, and have a separate collection of cookbooks from Cincinnati. Then I began putting the Michigan cookbooks on a shelf underneath the Ohio ones (although technically speaking, Michigan is ABOVE Ohio, not below it) – sometimes the sizes of books has a lot to do with how you file them on your shelves.

Well, as you can imagine, sometimes it’s hard to keep them all straight. Since I first posted “Battered, Tattered, Stained church and club cookbooks”, I have been going through a lot of my books trying to determine which ones would generate the most interest. Then I thought it would be nice to have a discussion on California cookbooks since they are one of my favorites. (The other favorite are my Cincinnati club and church cookbooks.)

But before I do that, I think I owe it to my friend Betsy to tell you about some of the Michigan cookbooks. In addition to having had a Michigan penpal for over 45 years, I also have a brother who lived in Michigan for several decades, and two of his offspring have chosen to remain in the Wolverine State.

I visited Betsy twice in the 1970s – thanks to her kindhearted husband who drove several hundred miles to Cincinnati to take me and my children to Michigan to spend a week with them-one of the most delightful experiences, back then, was going to the flea markets where you would find all sorts of old cookbooks, often priced for as little as ten cents each. But, my brother and his wife hosted a family reunion there one year, and I have made perhaps half a dozen trips to Michigan over the years; twice to visit my mother who was in a nursing home in Grand Rapids, once for my goddaughter’s high school graduation, once for my sister Becky and I to drive around Lake Michigan, searching for Light Houses. Whenever I am in Michigan, I want to find the book stores. The year that my niece Julie was graduating from high school, her sister Leslie drove me to Ann Arbor – where she had gone to college – and we had a wonderful afternoon searching out used book stores as well as the ones selling new books – particularly cookbooks.

One of the cookbooks I bought that year, 1994, was “Ann Arbor’s Cookin’ II” published by the Ronald McDonald House with proceeds going to the Ronald McDonald House. This is a thick spiral-bound cookbook with over 700 prized recipes. You may find yourself reading recipes for days but one I found outstanding is named “Sue’s Cheerios Snack”. Considered a great snack for tailgate parties, this is easy to make and would be a great snack for the kiddies too:

Pam cooking spray
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup margarine (or 1 stick solid type margarine or butter
¼ cup light corn syrup
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
6 cups cheerios* cereal
1 cup Spanish peanuts
1 cup raisins

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Spray a 9×13” pan with Pam. Combine Cheerios, peanuts and raisins in pan. In a saucepan, heat sugar, margarine, corn syrup and salt until bubbly around the edges. Cook 2 minutes more (do not stir). Remove from heat; stir in baking soda . Pour over cereal mixture. Mix well. Bake 20 minutes. Turn immediately onto wax paper. Let Cool.

(*Sandy’s cooknote: When “Ann Arbor’s Cookin’ II” was published in 1994, we only had the one kind of Cheerios. I have been thinking this would be great to try with the chocolate Cheerios or the cinnamon flavored version. Bon Appétit!

I did some checking on Amazon.com—you can buy Ann Arbor’s Cookin’ II for as little as 59 cents (plus will be charged $3.99 shipping & handling from private vendors; they are also listing 2 new copies for $9.49. There are numerous other listings you can find on Google for this cookbook. I have been unable to verify whether or not you can still order copies from the Ronald McDonald House in Ann Arbor. Maybe someone will know and enlighten me. **
One of my favorite Michigan cookbooks was not published by a church, club or any other organization –but it’s such a keeper, it deserves a spot on this post. The title of the cookbook is “WALNUT PICKLES AND WATERMELON CAKE” by Larry B. Massie and Priscilla Massie.

From “Watermelon Pickles and Watermelon Cake we learn that “The Massies are a husband and wife team specializing in Michigan history. Larry co-authored with Peter Schmitt “KALAMAZOO: THE PLACE BEHIND THE PRODUCTS” and “BATTLE CREEK: THE PLACE BEHIND THE PRODUCTS.” His other publications include “FROM FRONTIER FOLK TO FACTORY SMOKE” “MICHIGANS FIRST CENTURY OF HISTORICAL FICTION”, “VOYAGES INTO MICHIGAN’S PAST” “COPPER TRAILS AND IRON RAILS”, “MORE VOYAGES INTO MICHIGAN’S PAST” and “WARM FRIENDS AND WODE SHOES: A PICTORAL HISTORY OF THE HOLLAND AREA.”

Priscilla was born in Kalamazoo in 1955 and traces her Michigan ancestry to Michel Campau, one of the one hundred Frenchmen who founded Detroit with Cadillac in 1701. Priscilla’s research, photographic, word processing and culinary skills allow the Massies to participate in a wide range of Michigan history projects…” What wouldn’t I give to visit that century old schoolhouse and see the Massies collections!

I don‘t know HOW many times I’ve reached for this book to check some piece of information It’s been a favorite reference book for many years. Subtitled “A CENTURY OF MICHIGAN COOKING”, this hard-cover with a spill-resistant cover was published in 1990 by Wayne State University Press in Detroit. And what the two Massies have done is provided recipes from church and club cookbooks dating back in some instances prior to 1900. The book is generously laced with drawings or illustrations of old-timey kitchen utensils – but one of my favorite features, I admit it freely, was the number of rhymed recipes including one my oldest finds for The Kitchen Poets, “Eve’s Pudding” dating from Detroit in 1878. One I will spare directions for is Perfect Mock Turtle Soup that starts out “Get a calf’s head with the skin on (the fresher the better) and before you say ew, ew, I want to add that an authentic MOCK turtle soup was commonly made with a calf’s head when real turtle was unavailable.
In the introduction, the Massies explain how their interest in old books was cultivated and grew from very early ages. They married and moved into an old one-room schoolhouse located in the midst of the Allegan State Forest. “Crowded within the main part of the structure is our collection of thirty thousand books, thirteen-foot high bookshelves surround all sides of a vast room. More shelves in the center of the room support a loft where Larry studies and writes about Michigan history…”

Priscilla has an attached room with a “Hoosier” cabinet (I had one when I was first married and didn’t have the sense to keep it before we moved to California); her kitchen cabinet was built in 1910 and is flanked on one side by a GE “monitor top” refrigerator made in 1932 and on the other, an electric range of similar vintage. They love history so much that they have surrounded themselves with period household furnishings. Priscilla has antique kitchen utensils, cast-iron Griswold pots and pans and other domestic artifacts hang everywhere. The Massies have fulfilled the dictate to write about what you know the most about. More than thirteen hundred recipes from Michigan’s past are in this volume, dating from 1820s through the end of WW2.

“Walnut Pickles & Watermelon Cake” contains SO many recipes – and I think I copied most of the rhymed recipes when I was compiling the Kitchen Poets.
I have gone through this cookbook over and over, trying to decide which recipe to feature. I chose “Pickled Grapes” because I have seen pickled grape recipes featured on websites and blogs recently – as though a brand-new recipe. I made up a batch and it WAS new to me – but “Walnut Pickles & Watermelon cake have it dated 1899 by a Mrs. McCall in Kalamazoo!
To make Pickled Grapes:

Take grapes fresh from the stems without breaking and put them in a jar. For 7 pounds of grapes, take one quart vinegar, 3 pounds of sugar*, 1 TBSP whole cloves and the same of cinnamon bark. Boil it all together a few minutes, then let it cool until you can bear your finger in it; pour over the grapes, turn a plate over them; set them in a cool cellar and they are done. Do not cook the grapes nor heat the pickle over. If properly prepared they will keep a year and be as plump and fresh as when picked from the vines.

Well, I don’t have a cellar, and here in the high desert it can be a problem finding a spot cool enough. When I made sauerkraut about a year ago, we kept the crock in the coolest section of our garage which is in Bob’s workshop (attached behind the garage) and that worked – but I was making the kraut in March when it’s still relatively cool in the Antelope Valley.
If you want to make the pickled grapes you can keep them very well if you have a cellar or basement. If not, make them while the weather is still fairly cool.

*Sandy’s cooknote: 2 cups of granulated sugar equal 1 pound, so you would need 6 cups of sugar to equal 3 pounds. 4 cups of vinegar equals one quart.)
If you are interested in purchasing a copy of “Walnut Pickles & Watermelon Cake”, the best prices I have found are on Amazon.com. They have pre-owned copies starting under $10.00. They have one new copy at $31.99 and 8 used and new from $17.68.

Another good Michigan cookbook is “OUR BEST TO YOU” compiled by the Junior League of Battle Creek in 1984. This cookbook is in a specially designed 3-ring binder that enables the reader to open the rings in case you want to put the page on the refrigerator door so you can make a recipe. The pages measure just under 6½” wide and just under 9 ½” in length. I haven’t been able to find any pre-owned copies in the most frequently websites that I visit. My guess is that it’s out of print and you may have to do some digging to find a copy. However, you don’t have to search very far for this easy Beef Brisket recipe:
1 4-5 pound beef brisket
Seasoned salt
Pepper
Dried minced garlic
1 medium onion, sliced
2-3 cups of water
Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Wash brisket thoroughly and pat dry. Season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with garlic. Brown in an open pan (I use a large cast iron skillet for this) for 30 minutes in the oven. Decrease oven temperature to 350 degrees and roast 1 hour. Layer the sliced onion over the meat and continue roasting an additional hour. Add water and cover, roast 1 hour more. Check for tenderness. Cool slightly and slice.
Note: Brisket may be prepared in advance. Reheat in pan juices before serving ~~~
Also published in 1984 and using the same format – the 3-ring binder that measures just under 6½” wide and just under 9 ½” in length is from the Junior League of Lansing, Michigan and bears the title “Temptations.” In its Introduction we learn that the inspiration for the cookbook was based on the bounty of Michigan’s agriculture. The book contains over 500 recipes and here is a simple recipe from “Temptations” that is called Sesame Potato Spears. I love potato recipes that are not fried but are just as good if not better. This is the recipe for Sesame Potato Spears:
6 to 8 potatoes
¼ cup butter, melted (that would be half of one stick of butter)
1 tsp salt
3 tsp paprika
¼ cup sesame seeds
¼ cup Dijon mustard (optional)
Peel the potatoes and cut into long strips. Melt butter in a loaf baking dish and stir in seasonings. Stir the potatoes to coat. Bake in 400 degree oven for one hour or until tender.
(Sandy’s cooknote: I am inclined to put the melted butter and seasonings into a plastic zip-lock bag and then put the potatoes on a Pam-sprayed baking sheet that you have covered with foil. That is how I make my baked fries.
Note: Dijon mustard will give it an extra tang. ~~

“Temptations” is still available on Amazon.com – They have 4 new copies available from $5.43 and 5 used copies starting at $2.87. ~
A third cookbook compiled in a 3 ring binder just under 6½”wide and just under 9½” in length that is one of my favorite go-to cookbooks is titled “THE HOUSE ON THE HILL” which is a bed and breakfast inn, published in 2002 by Cindy and Tom Tomalka. The Tomalkas tell us they have had over 3000 couples and singles visit the Inn since April 1997—who have consumed over 14,000 breakfasts.
You won’t believe all the recipes just for making muffins – now muffins are a favorite recipe of mine – and it was a muffin recipe I was following the first time I made muffins using my mother’s big yellow bowl – which I dropped and broke when I was about ten years old. Muffins can be sweet or savory and a simple muffin is ideal for a young child to make when they are cooking for the first time. Here is a recipe for Michigan Maple Syrup Muffins:
2 cups all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 large egg, room temperature
½ cup buttermilk
½ cp maple syrup
½ cup butter, melted (*1/2 cup butter is one stick)
Sift flour, baking powder and salt together. In a separate bowl, whisk egg, milk, syrup and butter. Gradually pour this egg mixture into a well I the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir quickly. Batter will be lumpy. Do not overbeat or muffins will be tough. Spoon into greased mini-muffin cups and bake at 350 degrees until brown, about 12 minutes. Makes 30 mini-muffins.
The House on the Hill Inn has its own website with information on ordering a copy of their oh-so-inviting cookbook. You can write to the Tomalkas at innkeeper@thehouseonthehill.com.

Another spiral bound cookbook published in 1983 is “CULINARY COUNTERPOINT” published by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra Cookbook. This cookbook offers some recipes with unforgettable names, such as Hanky Pankys, Blinking Star, and Strip and go Naked! The recipe for a Ohio culinary treasure is BUCKEYE BALLS. (You will find Buckeye Balls at many sweet shops throughout Ohio – maybe Michigan too). To make Buckeye Balls you will need:
3 1-pound boxes powdered sugar
2 lbs smooth or crunchy peanut butter
1 pound butter, softened
1 12-oz package semi-sweet chocolate morsels
½ stick paraffin
Combine the sugar, peanut butter and butter and beat well. Roll into small balls and refrigerate, covered, overnight.
Melt the chocolate with the paraffin I the top section of a double boiler over hot water. Stick a toothpick in one of the peanut butter balls, then dip into the chocolate. Place on wax paper to harden. Repeat until all candies have been dipped in the chocolate. Makes about 60 candies.
Amazon.com has five copies for sale, starting at $5.98.
Another spiral-bound favorite is “Renaissance Cuisine” that went through three printings by the time I found it. This cookbook was the endeavor of The Fontbonne Auxiliary of St Joseph Hospital. The Fontbonne Auxiliary was founded by the Sisters of S Joseph of Nazareth in 1947,
I am often stymied when it comes to choosing just one recipe from a church or club cookbook-but the following might be good for company or something to getting cooking when you are home from the office and trying to get something cooking while you make up a salad to go with. Here is Chicken No Peek Casserole:

1 cup rice, uncooked
6 chicken breasts or pieces
1 can cream of mushroom soup
1 can water
1 pkg onion soup mix
1 cup sherry
Slivered almonds
Grease a 9×13” pan. Place rice on bottom, place chicken on top of the rice. In a separate container, mix the mushroom soup and water and pour that over the chicken. Pour Sherry over chicken Sprinkle onion soup and slivered almonds over all. bake at 350 degrees for 2 hours. Do not peek. A fresh fruit or cranberry mold completes this meal.

(*Sandy’s cooknote: nowhere does the recipe advise you to cover the dish with foil before baking in the oven – but then it tells you note to peek. I would interpret that to mean it needs to be covered with foil. Someone else might interpret to mean not to look into the oven while it’s baking.)

Renaissance Cuisine is available on Amazon.com new or pre-owned starting at $2.99—and 4 new copies starting at $.43; you can’t beat that!

Although I have many more Michigan church and club cookbooks, most are probably not available on the internet. I tried to stick to cookbooks interested readers might have a chance to find. aLSO, i first posted this in 2011–while these Michigan cookbooks are still favorites of mine, I can’t be sure they are all stil available. It’s been my experience that many old cookbooks continue to find an audience and some of the best Michigan club cookbooks are often reprinted .

Happy cooking and Happy Cookbook collecting!
Sandy

BLUE RIBBON WINNERS – AMERICA’S BEST STATE FAIR RECIPES and THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK

As you may know, if you happened to read my article CATCHING FAIR FEVER (September, 2012), one of my more recent discoveries among community-type cookbooks are those published by state and county fairs throughout the USA.
I suspect there are hundreds—perhaps thousands—of these cookbooks that I know nothing about (intriguing thought, isn’t it?). Well, if you stop to consider there are fifty states, therefore there are (presumably) fifty state fairs every year (does anyone know if Alaska and Hawaii have state fairs?) – and then there are all the COUNTY fairs throughout the USA every year—and who knows how many counties make up our fifty states?

Back in the 1980s I “discovered” the fun and charm of entering the San Fernando Valley and the Los Angeles County Fairs. (I had really gotten into canning around this time and loved finding and trying unusual recipes for jellies, jams, preserves). At this time, I also “discovered” that the Los Angeles County Fair Home Arts committee published the winning recipes if your entry won a first, second, or third place ribbon. The winning recipes for one year (say 1986) would then appear in a nice spiral bound cookbook the following year, in 1987. These cookbooks were sold for only $10.00 each and when I started to win some ribbons and received an invitation to submit the winning recipes—I was off and running. And the cookbooks made wonderful Christmas presents.

I wrote “discovered” in quotes because I felt like a Johnny-come-lately to this kind of cookbook – which I feel is more accurately described as regional cookbooks than community. I began searching for all of the Los Angeles Fair annual cookbooks and then began searching for other state and/or county fair cookbooks and acquired some from Iowa, some from Texas and others from Del Mar, California. What a bargain these books are! Not only do you have all of the prize winning recipes, the books are usually thick compilations of recipes, for an average price of ten dollars.

However, I have a couple of equally great bargains to share with you. First is BLUE RIBBON WINNERS/AMERICA’S BEST STATE FAIR RECIPES by Catherine Hanley. When I first saw Ms. Hanley’s book, I thought “aha! I’m not the only one who has realized what a treasure trove the winning recipes from state fairs are!”
Ms. Hanley, former manager of consumer public relations for the Pillsbury Company, made an interesting discovery in her line of work involving the Pillsbury Bake-Off contest. Upon checking the biographies of some contestants who were superb cooks and bakers, she realized that a pattern emerged—many of these contestants were also state fair winners. As an enthusiastic fan of the Minnesota State Fair, Ms. Hanley had been interested in state fair competitions for many years. The idea for her book was, to quote the publishers, “a natural result.”

BLUE RIBBON WINNERS/AMERICA’S BEST STATE FAIR RECIPES contains over 170 of the best blue ribbon recipes, carefully selected for this book. Says the author, “During years of working with food, I have been intrigued by what happens when two people make the same recipes with contrasting results. Why does one person turn out a spectacular product and another an indifferent one from the same ingredients? Experience and cooking techniques obviously play a big part. (Italics mine—this is the very same thing I have been exploring for several years, what the Chinese refer to as Wok Presence, recently written about on my blog).

As British author Eden Phillpotts suggests (in her quote, ‘No mean woman can cook well; it calls for a generous spirit, a light hand and a large heart’) – but how do you convey this information in a recipe?”

Hanley continues, “As I have had opportunities to learn about the women and men who win blue ribbons in the major state fairs, I realized that here you have a large group of people who are consistently achieving extraordinary results with recipes similar to those we all use. What is special about their recipes and what do these cooks do to make the prize-winning difference? That’s what every other cook really wants to know and BLUE RIBBON WINNERS reveals.

In possibly the only noncommercial cooking contests left, tens of thousands of women and men compete annually in state fair competitions to see who has the best baked goods, pickles and preserves.

The money prizes are modest, not much more than covering the cost of the ingredients (true!) – but this is not important. What these good cooks want are the blue ribbons that signify first place.”

Ms. Hanley goes on to explain that winning blue ribbons at the biggest state and regional fairs in the country are not easily won—judges are often agriculture extension service home economists or college-level food teachers, professionals who know how to measure quality and who have been trained to be objective. Also, she explains, that where commercial recipe contests may reflect the preferences and biases of judges and contest sponsors, state fair judging is done “by the book”—using scorecards, with a perfect product scoring 100%.

The author goes on to explain how her work with the Pillsbury Bake-Off contestants led to her discovery that contestants were often state fair entrants as well. She also explains how, before she learned otherwise, she assumed that the people who entered the fairs would be mostly rural homemakers. Now, she says, she knows that competition cuts across socio-economical boundaries, and in states where the fair is held in a metropolitan area, suburban and urban men and women contestants predominate, and vary in ages—from the youngest age allowed (14 years old in Minnesota)—to octogenarians.

Having told you this much, let me add that the recipes to be found in BLUE RIBBON WINNERS are some of the finest in various categories—there are pies and pastries, cakes, yeast breads, quick breads, cookies, candy and snack, sweet spreads, pickles and condiments.

Another feature of BLUE RIBBON WINNERS that I find especially valuable and interesting is that in the prefaces of each chapter, the author provides us with a closer look at judging criteria—for instance, the explains that the crust, in pies at a state fair, may count for up to 45% of the total score for a two-crust pie. She provides lots of tips for fair-competition wannabees” and cookie baking advice from a many-time winner.

I like the style of the recipes, which include the name and hometown of the winners—I even found a recipe for my absolute favorite candy recipes, (Cranlets—like aplets only made with cranberries) – that I can’t wait to try.
BLUE RIBBON WINNERS/AMERICA’S BEST STATE FAIR RECIPES certainly is a winner, one you will want to add to your cookbook collection. But wait! I’m not finished yet!

Do all of you remember the fabulous BROOKLYN COOKBOOK? Well, coauthors Lyn Stallworth and Rod Kennedy, Jr., returned to cookbook publishing with another winner, this time the title of their book was THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK. Says Bernard Clayton, Jr., author of COOKING ACROSS AMERICA, “I had hardly begun the delightful COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK when a powerful urge came over me to (1) visit every fair in my part of the country, and (2) immediately go to the kitchen to prepare Minnie Briese’s Potato soup (North Dakota) and Liverity Davis’ chicken pie (Louisiana).

I know how Mr. Clayton feels. Since I started reading these two cookbooks I have made numerous forages to the kitchen to mix cookie dough, bake a ham, and search for my candy thermometer.

State the publishers of THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK, the American county fair! Its tractor pulls and rodeos, racing pigs and three-hundred pound pumpkins, boisterous midways and—food. Nothing brings out the best in the nation’s regional chefs like a county fair, and this jam-packed collection of authentic American foods is a cooking connoisseur’s culinary dream come true. Ranging across all fifty states (with an excursion into Canada), THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK visits the fairs in each region and serves up the personally tried-and-true recipes of devoted fair-participants.

Also, each region features its own distinctive specialties, so that—when in Maine, you may encounter Yankee Johnnycake, while when you read about southern fair favorites, you may find goodies like Georgia’s sweet potato pudding.
This is far more than just a cookbook, though. Each fair that is featured in the book is accompanied by a brief synopsis of that fair, and even directions for getting there! There are lots of photographs taken at fair grounds throughout the country, from the tallest Ferris wheel in the western hemisphere (State Fair of Texas, in Dallas), to Doctor James Kemp judging country hams (Marion county in Kentucky); there is the happy face of a junior winner leading a Hereford bull (Rockingham County fair in Virginia) and square dancers at the Yavapal county Fair in Prescott, Arizona. For those of us on the West Coast, the Orange County Fair and Riverside County’s National Date Festival are featured. I was nonplussed to find a recipe from the Orange County Fair Centennial cookbook of 1992—this is one of the cookbooks I lost in the 1994 earthquake.

Farther north, the Big Fresno Fair is featured along with the Calaveras County Fair and Jumping Frog Jubilee. Throughout, there are lots and lots of yummy sounding recipes that you will want to try, knowing they are all winners.
If you’ve been to some of your local fairs, I know you will enjoy these books and delight in having at your fingertips hundreds of the blue ribbon recipes. If you haven’t been to a fair, you will surely want to read THE COUNTY FAIR COOKBOOK to get an idea what’s in store for you…and who knows? Maybe next year, those will be some of your blue ribbon winners!
***
Reviews by Sandra Lee Smith

FROM AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE TO THE AMERICAN TABLE PART TWO

As promised, I am embarking on the remaining cookbooks with America or American in their title. I haven’t counted up the books that are in stacks at my feet. Over the weekend I found one that wasn’t with the other Americana cookbooks and I suspect there may be more. Additionally, I have a number of books that were in the Time Life series –one in front of me was a cookbook I found in a thrift store—no, my memory isn’t that fantastic – but this cookbook has a price that was written onto the cover with a red crayon—I know that any others with a red crayon price came from this thrift store—and I will need to search through all of the cookbooks to see what I can find. The problem I faced when we began unpacking all the cookbooks that were in storage, back in 2009, and I was trying to find shelf space for everything. (too many books, not enough shelf space). -sls

First, today, I want to tell you about a hardcover book bearing the title COOKING AMERICAN, written by Sidney w. Dean. Subtitled on the dust jacket, is the following: “This book establishes once and for all the gourmet tradition of American cuisine. It gives American food and cooking the prestige and glamour (sic) far too long attributed solely to foreign cooking.
Over 800 recipes gathered from all parts of the United States and Canada” Since Canada is included, that explains the variation in Glamor vs glamour. Where ever a Canadian spelling is used, I will type it as written in the book.
Included in COOKING AMERICAN offers chapter such as “For the Festive Occasion”, “Sauces for fish, meat, vegetables and poultry” “Outdoor Cookery” and quite a few others. “Cooking American” was published in 1957 with Illustrations from Dorothy Maas. **
From TASTE OF HOME” is a large and colorful hardbound cookbook with 735 reader recipes (I like the inclusion of a nod to the readers who contributed their recipes—this is the first time I have come across this). On the other hand, I have diligently searched for the copyright date, or the date RECIPES ACROSS AMERICA was released for distribution—but I can’t find the copyright date. This is a large cookbook and one of the reasons it’s so large, perhaps, is that each recipe is accompanied by a colorful photo of the recipes. In Part 1 you may recall, there was a cookbook titled “A TASTE OF AMERICA” also from Taste of Home magazine. **
THE BEST AMERICAN RECIPES 2004-2005 has a small subtit
le, “The year’s top picks from books, magazines, newspapers, and the Internet” and was edited by Fran McCullough and Molly Stevens, with a foreword by Bobby Flay. (I had no idea who the two women were but easily recognized the name of Bobby Flay—I am on the internet and watch a lot of cooking shows—that’s how come I recognized Bobby Flay’s name. I turned to the Introduction, written by the two women and it opens with “We never quite know what we’re going to find when we begin combing through hundreds of cookbooks, magazines, and newspapers looking for the best recipes of the year—which is a good part of why this is such an exciting enterprise…it is not unlike a massive culinary treasure hunt..” (as I continued to read, I couldn’t help but think “hey! I’d like a job like that!”
The Best American Recipes for 2004-2005 was published in 2004 by Houghton Miffln Company in New York. **

My curiosity was piqued so I did what I always do next when I become curious – I googled the two names and discovered a wealth of information. Now, I don’t know if all of the information I unearthed represents a lot of cookbooks such as the one I own by the two women There are numerous listings but no indication that all of these are books or, perhaps, articles written by the two women. If there was one hardbound boo k of the Best American recipes for 200 4-2005, are there other books like this one? **

COOKING HEALTHY ACROSS AMERICA is a healthy exchange cookbook by JoAnna M. Lund with Barbara Alpert. I know I have seen the name JoAnna Lund before, elsewhere. This cookbook is spiral bound and was published in 2000. **

Along similar lines is a hardbound cookbook published by Prevention Magazine, titled LOW-FAT COOKING, and subtitled” FEATURING ALL-AMERICAN FOOD. This cookbook was edited by Jean Rogers, the food editor for Prevention Magazine. The book is packed with information—and we know now that you don’t have to be “on a diet” to want to eat healthy foods and have a healthy lifestyle. For reasons I can’t explain, I am unable to find a publishing date or a copyright date in this cookbook. Still, it’s well done and interesting. **

And while I am expanding on a similar theme, the next cookbook is THE NEW AMERICAN FARM COOKBOOK, subtitled “More than 200 recipes featuring today’s naturally and organically grown foods”. Written by Linda and Fred Griffith, THE NEW AMERICAN FARM COOKBOOK was first published in 1993.

In the Introduction, we read, “Perhaps it was Odessa Piper who started us off on this journey. When we first met Odessa at her wonderful restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin, she said that the key to the quality o what she sent to the tables of her customers was the quality of what her suppliers to her. And her suppliers, it turned out, were farmers in her neighborhood, people she knew…”

So, THE AMERICAN FARM COOKBOOK is a combination of recipes and farmers in a particular region selling their produce to restaurants. (if I knew of a restaurant like this anywhere in my region, believe me I would share it with you! **

Next, I want to share with you a cookbook titled AMERICAN BUFFET, favorite regional recipes from members of the General Federation of Women’s Club, World’s largest and oldest women’s volunteer volunteer service organization (or WFWC Volunteer) which was published by Favorite Recipes Press (which I have written about in the past) and this collection of recipes was published in 1993. This is a nicely compiled cookbook with hidden spiral binding ( which just means, you can see the spiral binding inside the book but it is not visible from the outside—fyi, this type of binding is a lot more durable than ordinary spiral binding.

In the inside of American Buffet is a brief history of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs along with a couple black and white photographs explaining how they came about; I know we take for granted, today, of all the rights and liberties women have in 2017—but those rights didn’t always s exist. Someone – women – had to go to bat to receive those rights. (women were often thrown in jail for marching for women’s equal rights).

The General Federation of Women’s Clubs traces its roots back to Jane Cunningham Croly, an accomplished New York newspaperwoman who wrote under the pen name of Jenny June. Indignant that she and other women were denied admittance to a banquet honoring Charles Dickens in 1868 at the all-male New York Press Club simply because they were women. She determined to organize a club for women only. The name chosen for this club was Sorosis, a Greek word meaning “aggregation, aa sweet flavor of many fruits”
As Sorosis approached its 21st year, Mrs. Croly proposed a conference in New York that brought together delegates from 61 women’s clubs” There is more to the story and I am guessing that more can be found on Google.

The collection of recipes in AMERICAN BUFFET are accompanied by the name of the contributor, along with city and state and the origin of the contributor’s membership. This is a great cookbook for your collection replete with recipes I haven’t seen elsewhere. **
AN AMERICAN PLACE, by Larry Forgione, and subtitled ‘Celebrating the Flavors of America” is the proprietor of An American Place in NY City and the1766 Tavern in Beekman Arms in Rhinebeck NY. Published by William Morrow and Company in 1996. I have to confess, An American Place was a “gotcha” to my mind as I wasn’t expecting An American Place to be the name of a restaurant—but how could I, a southern Californian heart and soul know what is popular in New York City?

The Culinary visionary (Larry Forgione) largely responsible for the rebirth of Farmers’ markets across America and the availability of such quality ingredients as free-range chicken and the field green salad, finally produced his master cookbook.
Well, we know, don’t we, that farmers markets have spread throughout the country but its gratifying to learn who have been instrumental in creating such markets.

Recently (2006 and 2027) , I was visiting a niece in Bothell, Washington, north of Seattle—and whenever I have been to visit Leslie, I have enjoyed visiting some of the farmers markets in her area. In a paragraph in the dust jacket of An American Place, I read “Forgione’s passionate return to freshness has given birth to such cottage industries as local goat cheese producers, growers of specialty berries and field lettuces, the proliferation of smoked and cured fish and shellfish of all kinds, the return of old-fashioned apple varieties, even then raising of buffalo, which he brought back to the American menu nearly a full century since it last appeared.
On both of the above my recent visits to Washington, nieces (and my sister) have gone out to get jelly jars for me and we made blackberry jam the first time and a combination of blackberry and other berries such as raspberries and strawberries the second time. I could go crazy over the abundance of large beautiful fresh blackberries! **

BEST OF THE BEST FROM AMERICA cookbook is, quite obviously, by Gwen McKee and Barbara Moseley, editors of the Best of the Best state series.

BEST OF THE BEST FROM AMERICA COOKBOOK published in 2005 by Quail Ridge Press, includes a full-color “we did it!” section that tells the story of how they accomplished the task of finding the best recipes in each state.

“More than two decades ago,” they write in the Preface, “we set out on a journey to find out what people across America liked to cook. Since the two of us have favorite recipes that are quite different—and we’re from neighboring states—Louisiana and Mississippi—we wondered, what are the favorite recipes and how are they different in Michigan and Arizona and Pennsylvania? We wanted to know what dishes are served for family meals, made for parties and tailgates, brought to church socials, etc. the pursuit of this goal proved to be the adventure of a lifetime. Not only did we discover extraordinary recipes, we met wonderful people and got a chance to visit a great portion of our beautiful country…”

BEST OF THE BEST FROM AMERICA COOKBOOK tells the story of how they accomplished the task of finding the best recipes in each state. Everywhere they traveled they asked about local fare and did their best to find it and taste it. They discovered that local cookbooks best revealed what people in that area cooked and often their stories attached to the recipes told them why. They received permission to use the recipes and in exchange listed the region’s cookbooks in a special “catalog of contributing cookbooks” section in each of the Best of the Best cookbooks so that others could purchase a copy of their book (I mentioned previously that a girlfriend and I would send for the local cookbooks referenced in those Best of the Best cookbooks—I no longer remember how many we sent away for – quite a few).

There is more to the book – and then there is the entire Best of the Best from America cookbook for you to delve into. **

I have AMERICA’S BEST RECIPES Hometown Collection, large spiral bound cookbooks, published by Oxmoor House for 1983 to Benefit he U.S. Ski Team, then 1988,1990, 1991, 1992, and 1994 as well as 1995, with just the titled America’s Best Recipes.
There are probably more books in the collection, with other dates—the above is what I have on my book shelves. **

Years ago—particularly in the 1970s and 1980s, I would send for any and all cookbooks published by various American food companies. For instance, A CELEBRATION OF COOKING IN AMERICA, subtitled Timeless Recipes from the Kitchens of Pet. Generally, these were recipes using Pet Evaporated Milk or other products created by Pet. The cookbook has hidden spiral binding and a colorful cover showing pumpkin pie, a couple of tacos and a few other baked dishes on the back cover. A Celebration of Cooking in America was published in 1984. **

Another cookbook from a food company is Land O’ Lakes AMERICAN HERITAGE COOKBOOK, subtitled Time-honored recipes from the Family Farm, published in 1999 by Land O Lakes and Creative Publishing. the American Heritage Cookbook is oddly shaped as cookbooks go, and was published in 1999. On the dust jacket is written “American Heritage Cookbook features over 50 original recipes submitted by Land O’Lakes cooperative members and employees. These recipes not only reflect the wholesome goodness of rural American life, but feature some of Land O’Lakes most delicious, high quality dairy products.

These recipes, hand-picked by Land O’Lakes test kitchen home economists, were chosen for their over-all flavor and great family appeal…”

Recipes are accompanied by beautiful color photographs of most recipes. I may have to Xerox some of the cookie recipes featured in American Heritage Cookbook.

(note—I confess, I don’t take my cookbooks into the kitchen—I copy recipes I want to try on my printer and make a note where it came from. I’m a stickler for keeping my cookbooks pristine.—sls) **

BERNARD CLAYTON was a cookbook author whose work I admired. Sadly, Mr. Clayton passed away a few years ago, in 2011.

He was the author of the Breads of France, Complete Book of Pastry, as well as Bernard Clayton’s Complete Book of Breads, Soups and Stews, and the Complete Book of Breads (a copy of this last one is sitting on my coffee table; I go through it frequently.

Well, the next cookbook I want to mention to you is Bernard Clayton’s COOKING ACROSS AMERICA, subtitled “Cooking with more than 100 of North America’s best cooks and 250 of their favorite recipes”.

There are a number of cookbook authors who have written about the recipes found in one end of the USA to the other. I want to share with you Bernard Clayton’s “Cooking Across America”

On the dust jacket of “Cooking Across America” is the following: Bernard Clayton and his wife, Marie, decided to go on the road in search of North America’s best cooks. He posted this brief note on the wall above his typewriter: “This will be more than a book of recipes. I am as interested in the cook as a person as I am in the thorough step-by-step presentation of the recipe. I believe these together have been the principal reason readers have found pleasure in reading and cooking with my books”
So, “for three years this sentiment defined their days. Driving a GMC van, they set out on the odyssey of a lifetime—what Clayton, a veteran news reporter and foreign correspondent before becoming a best-selling cookbook author, often called a ‘Dream Assignment’.”

There is a great deal more written on the dust jacket and for anyone wanting to know more, this will give you a good idea. “Cooking Across America” is a big thick cookbook explaining in Bernard Clayton’s own words what their adventure was like. **

“THE AMERICAN HERITAGE COOKBOOK” subtitled “more than 500 easy-to-make recipes complete and up-to-date together with 40 Historic Menus, was published in 1964, where new the book cost $6.95. It was compiled by the editors of American Heritage, the magazine of history. Recipes are accompanied by their historic background; in the dust jacket editors have written “More than 500 great traditional recipes, old and new, are gathered together in this new larger-size version of a perennial best seller. It is a book that views our past in terms of the foods our forefathers ate and the drinks they drank..”

This is one of those books I have to read through, first, taking in the historic background before going back to choose recipes to try. It’s also the kind of book I would have gone through in search of historic documentations when I was writing for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange in the 1990s. **

“AMERICAN GASTRONOMY”, an illustrated portfolio of recipes and culinary history, was written by none-other than Louis Szathmary; on the dust jacket cover they have listed him as “Author of The Che’s Secret Cook Book” published in 1974. I admit, I did a double-take when I came across this book—I honestly was unaware that I have it.

Followers of Sandy’s Chatter may recall that I have written about Chef Szathmary on more than one occasion. He has been my idol for years. I couldn’t appreciate him more if I discovered he was a long lost relative of mine.

An introduction to American Cookery, AMERICAN GASTRONOMY is illustrated with over 90 etchings, woodcuts, prints and photographs that together offer a fascinating look into the kitchens and dining rooms of yesteryear. Also included are reproductions of old advertisements of American food products and bills of fare from famous restaurants…”
Judging from the dust jacket, this cookbook was published at the time that Chef Szathmary was owner-chef of The Bakery, a restaurant of international fame located in Chicago; he was also the author of the best selling “Chef’s Secret Cook Book” and editor of a 15 Volume series of classic American cookbooks published by the Arno Press (I have yet to come across any of the cookbooks in the 15 volume series) **

A large cookbook about the size of a 3-ring binder is a book titled AMERICA’S HOMETOWN RECIPE BOOK, 712 Favorite RECIPES FROM MAIN STREET U.S.A., edited by Barbara Greenman.
This book has hidden spiral binding and a beautiful layout of recipes titled in red or blue backgrounds and I discovered, at the back of the book, recipe cards you can remove for anyone you want to share one of the recipes with. (That’s a first!)

Barbara Greenman, I discovered, developed and edited many cookbooks including The American Century Cookbook by Jean Anderson, Family Circle All-time Favorite Recipes, Family Circle best-ever Cakes & Cookies, and the America Loves—series by Linda West Eckhardt. She is also the editor of Back of the Box Cooking and back of the Box Cooking: 30 minute meals. **

The Four-Star American Community Cook Book with more than 350 Best-Ever Regional recipes chosen from America’s Community Cookbooks with An Patterson Dee, Editor. There is a lengthy introduction but the most outstanding feature of FOUR STAR AMERICAN COMMUNITY COOK BOOK are the recipes, with signatures of the recipe’s contributor and what community cookbook is the source of the recipe. **

AMERICA THE EDIBLE, subtitled “A hungry history from sea to dining sea, by Adam Richman, published in 2010, is yet another collection of recipes from far and wide. Writes the author in the Introduction, “American Edible is a collection of love letters to some of my favorite food places, their histories and the time I spent there. It is an admittedly idiosynernatic (sic) survey. These cities are a pastiche of the places I’ve lived, places work has taken me, places wanderlust and fate have plopped me in the middle of. There was no particular rhyme or reason to their selection, merely the fact that I have had wonderful and varied food experiences in each…” Per the dust jacket, we learn that Richman the exuberant host of Travel Channel’s Man vs Food, has criss-crossed the continent in search of the best eating experiences. **

Pierre franey’s COOKING IN AMERICA is the companion book to the public television series was written by Pierre Franey and Richard Flaste, and was published in 1992 by Alfred A. Knopf. Franey has written twelve cookbooks, counting this one, and his “60 minute Gourmet” column is syndicated nationally. Flaste is a longtime associate of Franey and has collaborated with him on two earlier books on food.

In the dust jacket to COOKING IN AMERICA, we learn that Pierre Franey celebrates American food—the rich lode of fresh produce and the cooking skill, ingenuity and lore that are among our national treasures—and provides us with 200 delectable recipes that are in themselves a celebration.

“Born in Burgundy and trained as a chef in the great French tradition, Franey has become a true champion of American cooking…he visits restaurants and their kitchens, from the elegant River Café in New York and the vibrant Tra Vigne in the Napa Valley of California…we follow him across the country as eh searches out local specialties and secrets, talking to all sorts of Americans, from crabbers in Maryland to citrus growers in Florida, from cattle ranchers in Nevada to strawberry an artichoke growers in California”.

Pierre Franey’s Cooking in America is richly illustrated by Lauren Jarrett and was published in 1992 by Alfred A Knopf, Inc. It is a beautiful hardbound cook with a glossy cover and a dust jacket with a photograph of Pierre Franey—and a comment at the end of the dust jacket, stating “This is a fitting tribute to America’s extraordinary culinary heritage” – I would say Amen to that. **

“EATING IN AMERICA” by Waverly Root and Richard De Rochemont is not a cookbook! From Google, we learn that rather, it is a history. It chronicles the history of American food and eating customs from the time of its earliest explorers to the present. Waverly Root (1903-1982) was an American journalist and writer who became widely known for his writings on food. EATING IN AMERICA was published in 1976. As I wrote above, no recipes. This is a comprehensive history. Well done! – sls **

ALL AMERICAN COOKBOOK II, edibles from notables is a spiral bound cookbook collection of recipes collected by Walsworth Publishing Company to assist yearbook staffs across the country to improve the quality and educational value of their publication. This is a spiral bound cookbook published in 1985 (and I have never seen a volume I) – more of a fun cookbook filled with recipes from who’s who in America back in 1985. Many of the contributors were in politics—governors and U.S. Representatives (such as Bill Clinton when he was Governor of Arkansas!) You will have a good time checking out who contributed to ALLAMERICAN COOKBOOK II. **

THE I HEART AMERICA COOKBOOK from the American Legion Auxiliary from Tucson, Arizona is more of a booklet than a book and I am unable to find a publishing date in it—even so, it meets my criteria for something with “America” in the title—like so many of my cookbooks or cookbooklets, I no longer remember where I found it.

I have a Time Life American Regional Cookbook by the editors of Time-Life Books. This cookbook was published in 1978 by Little Brown and Company.

“Take 350 years of refining savory dishes brought by immigrants from all over the world, add the best of hundreds of new recipes inspired by the New World’s cornucopia of tempting foodstuffs and the result is a truly fine native product: the Time Life American Regional cookbook.

This compendium is a bountiful collection of more than 500 national and regional favorites as well as specialties from some of the nation’s best restaurants…this handsome book includes 45 pages of color pictures and step by step sequence photographs showing exactly how to prepare various dishes…” **
The following are a few of my absolute favorite cookbooks, kept in a bookcase near my computer for easy referencing:

THE AMERICAN CENTURY COOKBOOK, The most popular Recipes of the 20th Century is from notable cookbook author Jean Anderson, published in 1997 **

AMERICAN HOME COOKING by Cheryl Alters Jaison and Bill Jamison, contains over 300 recipes celebrating our rich traditions of home cooking, published in 1999 **

AMERICAN APPETITE, subtitled “The coming of age of a cuisine” is by Leslie Brenner, published in 1999. **

THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN FOOD & DRINK, subtitled with more than 500 recipes for American classics is by John F. Mariani, was also published in 1999. **

I should mention something about my cookbooks—when used book stores began to sell their books at reduced prices before closing their doors—I haunted the used book stores in the San Fernando Valley and bought all I could afford. I don’t think there are any more used book stores in southern California. Amazon.com picked up where the used book stores left off.

It was a sad day for me when a girlfriend and I, back in 2008, drove up the California Coast and stopped in San Luis Obispo – I wanted to share my favorite used book store with girlfriend Sharon—and it was gone. Just an empty store front where one of my favorite used book stores used to be.

For that matter, I think—at one time, back when, there were four or five bookstores in SLO, within walking distance to one another—and Bob and I would make a point to visit all of them when we were spending a holiday in the area.

Quite possibly I bought many of the cookbooks I have listed in FROM AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE TO THE AMERICAN TABLE, PARTS ONE AND TWO in various used bookstores in the San Fernando Valley, in Burbank, California, Reseda, and San Luis Obispo. Nowadays, I buy most of my pre-owned books through Amazon.com—and its gratifying to me when I buy a pre-owned cookbook and it comes to me from a book dealer in a different part of the U.S.A. They are out there—you just have to know how to find them.

Sandra Lee Smith

FROM AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE TO THE AMERICAN TABLE

PART ONE

The following titles are all from my own personal collection of regional cookbooks—for what can be more regional, more American than the many cookbooks written by various authors?

I will provide as much information as possible, in the event someone wants to find some of these books. Some of the titles are not listed on Amazon.com while others are. For openers:

One of my earliest books by the Browns (Cora, Rose and Bob Brown) is Culinary Americana and the reason why I know it was one of the earliest books in my collection is because it contains an address label from when I lived on Terra Bella Street in Arleta, and I was numbering my books as I went along. Culinary Americana was #40A. Culinary Americana was compiled by Eleanor and Bob Brown (I believe this was after Cora and Rose had passed away and Bob re-married). In the Introduction, we learn that “Bob Brown first got together a cookbook collection for reference when he began to write about cooking. He had 1500 volumes which were purchased promptly by a grocery chain store as nucleus for their research library. It was then necessary for Bob to start a new collection. This was the origin of an interest in cookery books which lasted, and grew to the end of his life. Bob saw cookbooks as social and cultural history in America, particularly those regional books which were so close to the heart of the country”. After Bob’s sudden death, Eleanor continued work on this bibliography, CULINARY AMERICANA. **

Another huge favorite of mine since my earliest days of cookbook collecting is AMERICA COOKS, by the Browns, copyrighted 1940—and I never tire from reading it. If I remember correctly, my penpal Betsy Dearth found a copy of AMERICA COOKS for me.
America cooks is a fun cookbook, saluting all the states and including some rhymed recipes along the way.

FYI there are about a dozen cookbooks by The Browns, all a welcome addition to any cookbook collection ***

A SALUTE TO AMERICAN COOKING, by Stephen and Ethel Longstreet, (and illustrations by Stephen Longstreet), published in 1968, is a hardcover cookbook. A SALUTE TO AMERICAN COOKING is a hardbound cookbook published by Hawthorn Books in 1968 with a wide assortment of recipes. While leafing through the cookbook last night I came across recipes for Old Style Pickled Mushrooms, and Red Pepper Jelly, Farmer’s Pickled Red Cabbage, something different in making stuffed bell peppers and many other tantalizing recipes. Somehow I managed to acquire two copies of A SALUTE TO AMERICAN COOKING. **

One of the most famous cookbook writers decades ago was a woman named Clementine Paddleford (possibly a pen name) who wrote THE BEST IN AMERICAN COOKING, published in 1970. On the dust jacket, the publishers wrote, “Here is a veritable gold mine of regional and traditional food which includes hundreds of treasured recipes gathered from American housewives in 12 states and a few specialties from famous restaurants, governors’ mansions, and even the dining room of the U.S. Senate…Every type of food is included from hearty soups to tempting desserts have been particularly proud of their baking skills, there are recipes galore for breads, biscuits and rolls, pies, cakes and cookies.

Originally published as HOW AMERICA EATS this new edition contains all of the more than 800 superb recipes collected by Clementine Paddleford on her energetic travels from Maine to California, Florida to Alaska. As food editor of This Week Magazine and the New York Herald Tribune, she had a large and devoted following and readers who may have been clipped and saved from her columns will rejoice to find the best of them preserved in book form…” THE BEST IN AMERICAN COOKING was published by Charles Scribner’s Sons copywrite 1970. I am fortunate that even though the dust jacket to my copy of THE BEST IN AMERICAN COOKING shows wear, the book itself is in pristine condition. If you google her name, you will find a wealth of information. I may have to put together a separate blog post about her **

Another favorite of mine that I have referred to from time to time is Betty Fussell’s I HEAR AMERICA COOKING, (subtitled “a Journey of Discovery from Alaska to Florida, the Cooks, the Recipes and the Unique Flavors of our National Cuisine)” published in 1986 by Penguin Viking. More than just a cookbook, I HEAR AMERICA COOKING is more of a history book. **

AS AMERICAN AS APPLE PIE, was published by Simon & Shuster in 1990 and written by Phillip Stephen Schulz. This is a beautifully compiled cookbook with a striking dust jacket and starts—where else? With a chapter on Apple Pies. Schulz starts with a bit of biography on John Chapman, alias “Johnny Appleseed” who, on his own, planted thousands of apple trees in this country in his lifetime.

Schulz writes “….he was eccentric without a doubt, but not the bumbling character depicted by legend…while it is true he had an obsession with apples, he was educated enough to know that apples grown from seed revert back to their wild state. Instead of seeds, Chapman planted seedlings in carefully planned orchard sites, beginning on the Atlantic coast and attempting to work his way across the U.A….” Schulz reports “sad to say, Chapman only got as far was Fort Wayne, Indiana by the time he died in 1845…”
There is more to the story and a tantalizing array of apple pie recipes from which to choose. Many more recipes to whet your appetite as well. **

COLLECTOR’S EDITION AMERICA’S BEST RECIPES/HEALTHY EATING is another hard-cover cookbook which is accompanied by numerous color photographs of various recipes. I don’t have an author of this compilation but it appears to have been published by Landoll’s Inc., in Ashland Ohio. **

AMERICA’S BEST RECIPES, State Fair Blue Ribbon Winners was compiled by Rosemary & Peter Hanley, published in 1983 and could have been included in my collection of State/County fair cookbooks but it had “America” in the title. It contains over 250 mouth-watering recipes that have been blue ribbon prize winners at leading state fairs across the country. Published by Little, Brown and Company, this is another well compiled cookbook, although without photographs except for one on the cover. **
My copy of THE AMERICAN TABLE by Ronald Johnson is a soft-cover cookbook published in 1984 but my copy appears to be the First Fireside edition published in 1991. Subtitled “A celebration of the glories of American Regional Cooking” It reinforces my belief in Americana being another word for “Regional” cooking. I have referred to this cookbook many times.

One of my prize cookbooks is A TASTE OF AMERICA, subtitled “more than 400 delicious regional recipes shown step by step in over 1750 stunning photographs” published by Southwater 1998, 2009, an imprint of Anness Publishing in London. It’s not a hardbound book but not exactly a soft cover book either. It was previously published as The Ultimate American Cookbook. Authors are Carole Clements, Laura Washburn and Patricia Lousada. **

THE AMERICAN SAMPLER COOKBOOK, subtitled “America’s leading statesmen and their families share their favorite recipes, Regional Specialties, Downhome Classics and Gourmet Treats”. This cookbook was published in 1986 is contains more than 200 recipes and is a hardbound cookbook. **

AN AMERICAN FOLKLIFE COOKBOOK by Joan Nathan, was first published by Schocken Books in 1984. In an American Folklife Cookbook, food folklorist Joan Nathan tells the story of American food through its people, giving slices of life as she sees it in kitchens throughout the country. Nathans interviews are valuable social history and good reading…she presents 200 of the best of the many recipes she sampled. **
EARLY AMERICAN COOKING, Recipes from America’s Historic Sites, was compiled and edited by Evelyn L. Beilenson, published by Peter Pauper Press n White Plains, NY, published in 1985 and is a hardbound book, beautifully put together. **

CLASSIC AMERICAN, subtitled “Food Without Fuss” was compiled by Frances Mccullough and Barbara Witt, published in 1996 and is a hardbound book with a beautiful dust jacket. Frances is described as “a well-known book editor who specialized in cookbooks and Barbara Witt is a cookbook author and restaurant consultant. **
THE CHAMBERLAIN SAMPLER OF AMERICAN COOKING subtitled “In Recipes and Pictures, was published in 1961 by Hastings House, publishers in NY, and was written by Narcisse Chamberlain an Narcissa G. Chamberlain, and comes with each recipe accompanied by a photograph. Very readable cookbook. **

An AMERICAN GUMBO, subtitled “Affordable Cuisine for the Everyday Gourmet” published in 1983 by Linda West Eckhardt and is the first spiral bound cookbook I have come across (so far) but makes reading and following recipes a great deal easier than hardbound books. (just saying!) Be sure to read the chapter “Stocking the Everyday Gourmet Kitchen” – a lot of the recipes in this cookbook aren’t ones you will find everywhere else. **

KENNY COOKS AMERICA is a colorful soft cover cookbook written by Kenny Miller and on the back cover we read “The irrepressible Kenny Miller returns with a coast to coast culinary journey across the United States. He introduces us to the best in regional (italics mine—sls) cooking from Mexican border food to New York Jewish and from the soulfood of the deep south to the fusions of the Pacific rim…” copyright by Kenny Miller in 1998, another very readable cookbook. (*Kenny Miller might be called a latter day Clementine Paddleford).

First published in 1974, Evan Jones is the author of AMERICAN FOOD, THE GASTRONOMIC STORY, with a subtitle “Completely Revised and with more than 700 distinctive regional, traditional and contemporary recipes. This is one of my “go to” books whenever I am writing anything about the history of the USA and I want to know something. AMERICAN FOOD was published by Random House in New York. Of Evan Jones, James Beard wrote “I am delighted that Evan Jones has delved into the endless store of lore that is American Cookery. The quantity of previously untouched facts is tremendous. Filled with fascinating stories of how and where American cuisine developed …” **

CLASSIC AMERICAN COOKING by Pearl Byrd Foster subtitled “With over 250 recipes and special menus” is a fireside book published by Simon & Schuster and an Introduction written by James Villas, and drawings by Susan Gaber. My copy of Classic American Cooking has a soft cover and there is quite a story behind Pearl Byrd Foster as told by Villas and a fascinating story in the Foreword written by Pearl herself. CLASSIC AMERICAN COOKING was published in 1983. **

The Saturday Evening Post got into the act with their ALL*AMERICAN COOKBOOK which features a grandma making a pie on the cover while a little boy watches intently (a Norman Rockwell reproduction). This cookbook was compiled by Charlotte Turgeon and Frederic A. Birmingham and contains 500 great recipes. Published in 1979,

ALL*AMERICAN COOKBOOK is chock full of Rockwell paintings as well as early American ads. As interesting to read as well as check out the recipes. **

Over the years, I often supplemented my cookbook collection by ordering cookbooks published by various American food companies and sold to American housewives for a small charge and sometimes, perhaps, a label from one of their products.

Such was the case for AMERICA’S COUNTRY INN COOKBOOK, a spiral bound cookbook offered by R.T. French Company in 1984. The cookbook is made up of country inns and recipes for most of the states being represented. This cookbook is unique in presenting the various inns throughout the country. “some inns are large with many rooms,” write the editors, “Others are small, with only a few choice accommodations” Considering that this cookbook was published over thirty years ago, it’s possible that not all of the inns are still in business—even so, it’s a delight to read and check out the recipes.
HERITAGE OF AMERICA COOKBOOK is a spiral bound Better Homes and Gardens book,

published in 1993 and is called the Kitchen Companion—and is proof positive, I think, that BH&G is keeping up with the times. Recipes are divided into categories of the various sections of America –imagine my surprise finding a recipe for Cincinnati Chili in this cookbook! I will have to try the recipe to see how it holds up against my family’s Cincinnati Chili (we all have our own favorite) –and the BH&G recipe contains a few ingredients not found in my family’s chili recipe. **

GREAT AMERICAN FOOD, subtitled “from the pioneers to present day” is a large hardbound cookbook by Lesley Allin, published in 1994. This cookbook contains a lot of color pages of prepared recipes sure to whet your appetite. Really great format. **

Next is an oversized yet soft cover cookbook titled WHAT’S COOKING AMERICA by Linda Stradley and Andra Cook published by Three Forks Books an imprint of Falcon Publishing. WHAT’S COOKING AMERICA contains more than 800 family-tested recipes from American cooks of today and yesterday. In addition to all the recipes, the book is packed with tips and suggestions for various dishes you may make. (and my tip for oversized cookbooks? When I find a recipe I want to try, I make a copy of it on my printer; just about everyone has a printer nowadays—make a copy and use THAT one to make up the dish you want to try).

365 ALL-AMERICAN FAVORITES by Sarah Reynolds has inside spiral binding and was published in 1997 by John Boswell Management. I love the format to this cookbook; I love that it opens flat to follow a particular recipe. All I did was open the cookbook and I immediately found a recipe I want to try for Chicken Liver Spread with Pistachios and Dried Cranberries. What’s not to like? **

GREAT HOME COOKING IN AMERICA is by the Food Editors of Farm Journal, subtitled “Heirloom Recipes Treasured for Generations”. This is a hardcover cookbook published in 1976. Inside the cookbook is a list of all the cookbooks published by Farm Journal – 15 in all.

I have most if not all of the Farm Journal cookbooks. Years ago, my long-time Oklahoma penpal, Penny, introduced me to the Farm Journal cookbooks. That probably was in the mid-70s. we followed all of Farm Journal recipes religiously, especially the Farm Journal Homemade Cookies cookbook. I collect a lot of cookbooks. Back in the 70s, I cooked with Farm Journal recipes. That says a lot, doesn’t it? At that time in our lives, the Farm Journal recipes were the most reliable. **

AMERICAN REGIONAL COOKERY BY Sheila Hibben is a hardbound cookbook that, while she attributes various recipes to different places in the USA, the author has made a dedicated effort to provide recipes that are easy to follow with standard ingredients found in most kitchen cupboards around the country. In the Introduction, Sheila explains the logic and beliefs in how she produces recipes.

In the dust jacket of American Regional Cookery, the publishers explain “This is a cook book of indigenous dishes, that is, dishes which belong to the very soil of America, which have grown out of its fields and plains, its rivers and forests and sea lanes. It is also a book of the recipes preferred in each section of America: the way in which native dishes are cooked in Maine or Michigan or California, Boston, New York or New Orleans. In addition, there are recipes from Europe and the Orient which have become, in time a part of American culture, just as foreigners themselves became a part of our great nation”. This edition of American Regional Cookery was published by Gramercy Publishing Company. **

Cracker Barrel, Old Country Store, is a chain of restaurants which, regretfully, are not in Southern California—but there is one in Sioux Falls, where my son Steve & his wife Lori live—and there is a Cracker Barrel Restaurant in Nashville that I visited many times with my sister, Becky—so I am familiar with Cracker Barrel cuisine which is, to my way of thinking, down home food. Some where along the way I acquired a Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Celebrates AMERICAN HOLIDAYS COOKBOOK VOLUME II, BY Phila Hach. Information about the author fills an entire page—so let me just say that she is the author of six previous cookbooks—one of which (be still my heart!) is titled FROM PHILA WITH LOVE, an intimate handwritten collection of her favorite recipes, but she also wrote Phila Hach’s United Nations Cookbook, a great collection of recipes received from the Ambassadors of the United Nations as well as OFFICIAL 1982 WORLD’S FAIR COOKBOOK, containing 600 of Phila’s favorite international, southern and Appalachian recipes.

The reason I am mentioning all of the above—is because I don’t have any of those cookbooks. I also learned that Phila is one of the South’s most sought after caterers.

The Cracker Barrel’s AMERICAN HOLIDAYS COOKBOOK was published in 1985; it is a spiral bound cookbook which makes it easy to lay open flat when you are following one of the recipes. I’ll have to try and find Volume I. **

AMERICAN SANDWICH, subtitled “Great Eats from all 50 States” is one of my favorite cookbooks—for one thing, I have been acquainted by mail and by computer with Becky Mercuri, the author. Becky was a columnist for the Cookbook Collectors Exchange during the same years I was writing for the CCE as well.

“America is a nation of sandwich eaters, “ Becky wrote in the Introduction to AMERICAN SANDWICH in 2004 when her cookbook was published. “We commonly live life in the fast lane and we necessarily dote on food that is portable. The sandwich has thus become a mainstay of our existence. Sandwiches are to Americans what pasta is to Italians or what tortillas are to Mexicans. Sandwich shops are everywhere. Take out and delivery are not just window dressing for many such businesses; they are integral to attracting and keeping a loyal clientele who commonly lunch at their desks or even behind the wheels of their cars. Even when eating in restaurants, Americans love sandwiches and not just for lunch. Sandwiches are now common offerings for breakfast and up-scale sandwich creations are even appearing on dinner menus.

Becky Mercuri has divided up the chapters by state (Alabama, Alaska) and provides sandwich recipes indigenous to that region. An enormous amount of work obviously has gone into AMERICAN SANDWICH and in the Introduction you will find background information and history for the sandwich.

AMERICAN SANDWICH is a softcover recipe collection but the covers- which I have seen on a few other cookbooks – is sturdier than ordinary soft-bound cookbooks. **

Sandra’s cooknote: I didn’t anticipate that I would find so many books in my own personal collection with “America” or “American” in the titles – and this doesn’t even include cookbooks with “USA” or similar titles – so I have divided the blog post into two parts. This concludes Part One.

TO BE CONTINUED

Sandra Lee Smith

CHRISTMAS LOVE FROM YOUR KITCHEN

Originally posted in 2011

Back in the days when I was raising four sons literally on a shoestring, there was generally not enough money for ANY thing, much less the toys and games the boys would ask Santa to bring. My husband (now ex) was self employed most of those years and his income was unstable and sporadic.

I had to make do with what we had in the pantry for meals when sales became non-existent. We had spaghetti so often that my youngest son no longer will eat it at all. I kept large tins filled with dried spaghetti, rice or pinto beans. No one ever went hungry but they all undoubtedly got tired of meatballs and spaghetti and corn bread and beans, made with pinto beans in my mother in law’s West Virginia style.

That was during the years I was a stay at home mom – from 1965, when I quit my job at Weber Aircraft to stay at home, until 1977, when I was offered a dream job by a dear friend. I love that job so much! I was employed by them until I retired the end of 2002. And the best part was, there was always money for groceries after that. The downside, of course, was not being at home all of the time—such as the time my youngest son ran his bicycle into a telephone pole and ended up in the emergency room. But could I have prevented that accident? Probably not. But it wouldn’t have taken as long to get to the hospital.

Well, aside from that – way back when I had only two young sons—and we had a lot of friends and families back in Ohio, I began baking cookies and making candies to give as gifts for Christmas. Gradually, I worked my way up into jellies and jams (at first putting them in baby food jars), then chutneys and preserves and all sorts of other good things to eat—baking pumpkin bread or making fruitcakes.

This led to discovering all the great cookbooks devoted to the topic of gifts from your kitchen. One of my favorites—it still is—was a book titled WITH LOVE FROM YOUR KITCHEN BY Diana and Paul von Welanetz, published in 1976.

Back when I didn’t have ten thousand cookbooks taking over the house, WITH LOVE FROM YOUR KITCHEN was a frequently thumbed through cookbook and I think this is where I learned that you can make your own sauces, mustards and marinades, pickles, herb blends and some unusual jellies, such as one made
from champagne.

Others that I sometimes rely on are “WHAT SHOULD I BRING?” by Alison Boteler, published in 1992—this is a nice spiral bound cookbook with ideas for just about any occasion, not just Christmas—there are ideas for bridal and baby showers, greetings, goodbye and get well gifts, annual events and holiday housewarmers…and a lot more—plus plenty of tips for wrapping things – the latter is my downfall…but my daughter in law, Keara, has me spoiled; she does most of my gift wrapping. Another favorite of mine is GIFTS OF FOOD by Susan Costner, published in 1984. You will go crazy over the recipes—160 delectable recipes and how to wrap them.

I’ll let you in on a little secret – I never noticed, before, how many of the titles in this category start out with “Gifts from –“ so let me give you a quick rundown on a few of them.

BH&Gs GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN, 1976

GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN, BY Carli Laklan and Frederick-Thomas, published 1955 by M Barrows & Co (a collection of 300 recipes)

GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN by Norma Myers and Joan Scobey, published in 1973 by Doubleday & Co. (over 200 coveted family recipes)

GIFTS FROM THE PANTRY BY Annette Grimsdale, copyright 1986, published by HP Books (this is one of those oversize as in long but narrow soft covered books. I have been making my pickled watermelon from this cookbook for many years—because it uses the GREEN part as well as white and pink) Lots of other good recipes as well.

GLORIOUS GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN by Lisa Yockelson, copyright 1984 – offers over 200 recipes.

GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN by Famous Brand Names, copyright 2003—lots of great illustrations—so you will know what it’s supposed to look like when you’re finished,

WOMAN’S DAY GIFTS FROM YOUR KITCHEN, copyright 1976—no photographs but a lot of favorite recipes.

GOURMET GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN, BY Darcy Williamson, published in 1982

SEASONAL GIFTS FROM THE KITCHEN, BY Emily Crumpacker, William Morrow & Company, 1983 (and oh, my! I bought this at the Book Loft in Columbus Ohio at the German Village…and the reason I know this? The sticker is still inside).

Also – THE GIFT-GIVERS COOKBOOK by Jane Green and Judith Choate, copyright 1971 and published by Simon & Schuster

And one more –

THE JOY OF GIVING HOMEMADE FOOD by Ann Seranne, copyright 1978 and published by David McKay Company. (If the name Ann Seranne sounds familiar – it should; she’s written many cookbooks. I’ll write something about Ann Seranne another time).

Well, this is just a sample of the gift-giving genre of cookbooks I have collected. Now that I have all of these out, I will have to thumb through them again and see what treasures I have forgotten.

Happy Cooking & Happy Cookbook Collecting!

Sandra Lee Smith