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| Interesting readingI probably won't try too many of the recipies in this edition, but it sure is fun to read!
Excellent Look Back at How America Used to Eat!Metaldiva is a foodie! Cook it, plate it, share it and look for new ways to do all three! I love old/antique cookbooks and this is a hoot! The recipes are very much a product of their time and the use of a few basics, which heavily rely on canned soups, are almost forgotten. The meat section may surprise modern noshers, with calves brains, sweet breads, liver, tongue, tripe and boiled head dishes. (Latinos still eat tripe and tongue today, as well as European cooks) However this book is a great buy for any foodie like me.
Metaldiva Sez: This reprint is all the fun without having to be so careful because it's a bonafide antique. A must have for foodies like me!
Time Travel in CookingI love old cookbooks, and this was published in 1931, the year after my parents were married and the 2nd year of the Great Depression. There are a lot of recipes using celery,for instance, and the emphasis, quite naturally, is plain meals using readily available food and not wasting anything. Cooks in 2009 could take a leaf out of Mrs. Rombauer's book in that regard. This was before frozen food and many women did not work outside the home and they cooked from scratch, which is cheaper. There is a 6 page section at the back of the book, "Recipes & Suggestions for Leftover Food."
So far, I have not found many recipes I want to run to the kitchen and make, but it is nostalgic to see what recipes and methods women were using back then. I am inspired to look in the more recent "Joy"'s for updated versions. I am glad I bought this copy- I already have about 4 "Joy"'s from other years and I may get another vintage "Joy" from another year, maybe the 1943(War years) or 1951. I was born in 1945 and cook regularly out of the 1950 "Betty Crocker" cookbook since it was the first cookbook my mother owned after using the little cookbook she used in her high school cooking class-"Foods: Preparation & Serving", published in 1925. It's a wonderful series and I feel really connected with the women who have gone before me. I would recommend this for nostalgia's sake, mostly, not as a book to cook one's daily meals. I bought it for myself for Christmas, but I think it would make a nice gift for a woman who likes to cook- unusual, and most people wouldn't think of buying this vintage version for themselves.
But know what you're buying.I don't know how one rates a reprinted book.
Cookbooks have changed considerably over the past century. This is a REPRINT of the original 1931 cookbook, meaning that the recipes, methods, and layout/instructional style are from 1931. It's not just "retro recipes". It is *not* a modern cookbook. The vagueness of some of the directions and the odd recipes are par for the course for cookbooks of this vintage. You think these are weird? Look up some late 19th century cookbooks and see how much sense they make.
If what you really want is a "daily driver" cookbook, give up the nostalgia and get one of the newer editions. I don't actually cook out of this thing much but I find it interesting to read.
A disappointmentI have a falling-apart edition of Joy of Cooking (I think 1964), so I thought I'd try the original edition. What a disappointment. The recipes are extremely brief, without any help as to how to do things, and they look very uninteresting. I sent it back, and (luckily) found the 1964 edition -- absolutely untouched -- don't these people use the book to cook? -- in a local bookstore.
Product Description In 1931, Irma Rombauer announced that she intended to turn her personal collection of recipes and cooking techniques into a cookbook. Cooking could no longer remain a private passion for Irma. She had recently been widowed and needed to find a way to support her family. Irma was a celebrated St. Louis hostess who sensed that she was not alone in her need for a no-nonsense, practical resource in the kitchen. So, mustering what assets she had, she self-published The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat. Out of these unlikely circumstances was born the most authoritative cookbook in America, the book your grandmother and mother probably learned to cook from. To date it has sold more than 15 million copies. This is a perfect facsimile of that original 1931 edition. It is your chance to see where it all began. These pages amply reveal why The Joy of Cooking has become a legacy of learning and pleasure for generations of users. Irma's sensible, fearless approach to cooking and her reassuring voice offer both novice and experienced cooks everything they need to produce a crackling crust on roasts and bake the perfect cake. All the old classics are here -- Chicken a la King, Molded Cranberry Nut Salad, and Charlotte Russe to name a few -- but so are dozens of unexpected recipes such as Risotto and Roasted Spanish Onions, dishes that seem right at home on our tables today. Whether she's discussing the colorful personality of her cook Marguerite, whose Cheese Custard Pie was not to be missed, or asserting that the average woman's breakfast was "probably fruit, dry toast, and a beverage" while the average man's was "fruit, cereal, eggs with ham or bacon, hot bread, and a beverage," the distinctive era in which Irma lived comes through loud and clear in every line. Enter a time when such dishes as Shrimp Wiggle and Cottage Pudding routinely appeared on tables across America. The book is illustrated with the silhouette cutouts created by Irma's daughter Marion, who eventually wrote later editions of The Joy of Cooking. Marion also created the cover art depicting St. Martha of Bethany, the patron saint of cooking, slaying the dragon of kitchen drudgery. This special facsimile edition contains both Irma's original introduction and a completely new foreword by her son Edgar Rombauer, whose vivid memories bring Irma's kitchen alive for us all today.
Amazon.com ReviewSuddenly Aunt Eunice is on the phone explaining, "Aunt Mabel won't be with us for Christmas dinner, she's taking a holiday cruise with her bridge club. So would you be a dear and bring the Cheese Custard Pie this year? The family sure loves that pie." You ponder a moment and remember that the Cheese Custard Pie wasn't half bad, a stout and hearty dish with heavy Midwestern overtones, a bit like Aunt Mabel, in fact. You've eaten the same pie every year for as long as you can remember, your parents ate the same pie, and chances are your grandparents got a little crazy and had a slice or two à la mode. Small wonder Mabel has been wowing the family with Cheese Custard Pie since 1931. Warm fuzzy memories go suddenly bad when you realize that the success or failure of the family holiday has just been placed squarely upon your shoulders in the form of a dessert you haven't a clue how to cook. Damn that bridge club! A quick call back to Aunt Eunice reveals, "It's simple, honey, all you need is The Joy of Cooking." In 1931, Mrs. Irma von Starkloff Rombauer was newly widowed and in need of a way to support her family. The celebrated St. Louis hostess struck on the idea of turning her personal recipes and cooking techniques into a book. She self- published The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes with a Casual Culinary Chat, and the legend was born. Aunt Mabels everywhere related to Irma's sensible, fearless approach to the culinary arts, and Chicken à la King, Risotto, and Roasted Spanish Onions found their way onto our tables. The Joy of Cooking quickly became a modern masterpiece, the stuff of legends, the foundation of family dinners everywhere. This facsimile of the original 1931 edition offers ample proof why The Joy of Cooking, at 15 million copies and counting, remains one of the most popular cookbooks of all time. This is where it all began, and while her Shrimp Wiggle may not be in vogue anymore, a certain pie recipe just might save your family holiday. --Mark O. Howerton
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