My grandmother, Hattie, gave this to me for Christmas a year before she passed away. It now permanently graces the cookbook stand on my kitchen counter. (It's also the prettiest cookbook I own!) Anyone who knew Granny knows that she LOVED to cook and took great pride in making people happy through her food...and she was REALLY good at it! I think of her every time I try to get my husband to go back for a third or fourth serving of something; after all, one serving means it's edible, two servings means it's really good, but three servings means if I were going to be executed, I would want this to be my last meal. Anyone who takes her cooking seriously will tell you (whether she wants to admit it or not) that this is the exact effect she desires to achieve every time she concocts something. There's a good chance, actually, that Granny and myself would even take it personally if no one went for seconds. Now, this isn't because we think we are hot stuff (ha ha!), but because we love it so much. Cooking isn't just something we do, it's a part of who we are. Not liking our cooking is the same as not liking us. I guess there is something about food that ties us to our most basic instincts. It's that primitive idea of food = love. If we cook for you, we love you; if we don't like you, we probably won't cook for you. Regardless of how we feel about people, our love for cooking is constant. And it is this shared passion, along with shared recipes, that keep me close to Granny and help to remind me that part of her is always here.
Liana,
ReplyDeleteRemember our earlier conversation about my first edition 1950 BC volume? Well, our discussion of it the other day inspired me to pick up a couple of the facsimiles of other vintage Betty Crocker titles: Betty Crocker's Party book, from 1960 and Betty Crocker's Cooking Calendar, from 1962. I haven't received them yet, but they were both about $6.50 each on Amazon, so I'll let you know how they are when they arrive! I doubt they'll be of the same greatness of the original Betty Crocker book as so many of the subsequent books relied heavily on Betty Crocker mixes of the day, but they can be swapped out easily with modern products.
Jess--how ironic! Our convo also inspired me to look for more cookbooks of similar quality. I am actually bidding on a couple things on ebay. I'll have to let you know how they turn out as well. Definitely let me know if you like your new books: I'm a cookbook-collecting fanatic, and I LOVE vintage cookbooks. Have you seen the Better Homes and Garden reprint cookbook? It's like our BC, only by BH & G. I'll probably do a blog about it soon...
ReplyDeleteLiana, I know of it but I haven't actually picked it up yet. Definitely check out the BC Party Book. It's got a lot of great recipes in it. I don't know if you've seen my Facebook update from yesterday, but I prepared the Toffee Squares cookies from that particular book. They were not only super-easy, but they made the house smell great all day. The thing that most surprised me was how accurate most of the so-called international recipes in the book were. I know the original BC Picture Cookbook did a lot of Eastern European Christmas breads and the like, but this had a whole section of Asian-American dishes which sounded an awful lot like what we'd make today at home--same for the Italian pasta recipes, one of which sounded spot-on for your grandmother's spaghetti and meatballs.
ReplyDeleteThe BC Cooking Calendar has a few recipes as well, but it's by and large a very spiffy vintage-style date book with some food-buying hints in it. I'll use it for that purpose.
The BH & G Cookbook is much like the BC one. The BC is still my favorite, but the other one would have to be my second. I'm glad you found the BC Party Book and that you feel it's worthwhile. I am actually bidding on one on eBay as well as a "BC Guide to Entertaining: How to Have Guests and Enjoy Them." It looks like it will be a good accompaniment to the Party Book. Not that I ever do any entertaining, but I just love vintage anything, and since I love to cook so much, vintage cookbooks are especially my favorite. I plan on winning them, so I'll let you know how the other one is after it comes in. And I will definitely have to try the Toffee Squares you talked about! Who knew we shared a mutual love for old cookbooks? So glad I can talk to someone about this as I'm sure you know hardly anyone (especially our age) cares about such things.
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