Old cookbooks could be unreliable. Last night I was looking through some old cookbooks I have.

[raccoon]

One was from 1978. They were the kind that churches or other organizations put together and
sell.

But I wonder if they could be misleading. For one thing (this has happened to me), sometimes
contributors to such cookbooks don't think to put all necessary directions in the recipe--such
as to drain the green beans before adding them to the other stuff.

More important, however is the shrinking of boxes, cans, and packages over the years.
Suppose the recipe calls for a large can of something. Maybe in 1978 a large can was 20 oz...
but now it's 16 oz.

What do yall think?

[sammytko]

1. I keep those around just because they are vintage and not for real cooking

Too easy to look things up on-line

[bigwillq]

2. I know what Santa should bring you.

#newcookbooks

:rofl:

[Denninmi]

3. I can do you one better.

I've got some that were my great grandmother's -- published between 1900 and the early 1930's.

In many of these, a recipe will call for "5 cents worth of sugar" or "2 cents worth of mixed pickling spices".

Good luck with figuring that one out, all you can do is take a stab at how much this might be based upon the desired end result and what other ingredients are in there.

This seemed to be a relatively common practice back then, though -- although to me, it wouldn't seem logical that prices would be THAT consistent both from year to year and from place to place.

[surrealAmerican]

5. Interestingly enough ...

... it was right around 1900 that Fannie Farmer wrote "The Boston Cooking School Cook Book", which was the first in the U.S. to scrupulously use standard measurements. It's the oldest book I've seen that I can actually cook from. The one bit of confusion I've had in using this book is the lack of oven temperatures (apparently oven thermometers at that time were not accurate enough to be useful).

[raccoon]

6. My grandmother's cookbook had recipes and didn't even have a temperature.

Just told you the oven should be hot, or moderately hot, or whatever.

You just had to guess at the temperature.

Published shortly after the turn of the century...1900, that is.

Yahhhh!!!!!!


I figured you were a guy. I was right.

[Kali]

4. hell, I hate the newer ones that presume you have a food processor!

uh, I have knives or a hand mixer.

[Denninmi]

7. Honestly, I don't often mess with mechanization.

That's why I have a small appliance graveyard in my house.

If I'm doing large quantities of something, such as getting ready to make batches to can or to feed a lot of people, I'll get the food processor or whatever out.

Otherwise, I just do it by hand. I find it takes more time to dig out the appliance, prep it for use, and clean it up afterwards than just to do the job by hand for most things.

I do keep a couple of simple things on hand, too, such as hand plane grater and my immersion blender that has a small chopping attachment canister.