what's the most unusual, obscure cookbook you own?

[grasswire]

This might be fun.

I have a pretty big collection and will have to think a bit before posting my choice.

[elleng]

1. I fergit!

DAMN, all my cookbooks are at house I left 2.5 years ago. If I'm lucky, I'll get them back 'soon.'

[Lucinda]

2. My grandmother's ~ Favorite Eastern Star Recipes ~ from 1965

With handwritten recipes on scraps of paper and newspaper recipe cutouts, tucked between the pages, which are older than the cookbook.


The oddest is probably "How to Smoke Seafood Florida Cracker Style!" from 1971. It's Bill's. :D

[sandnsea]

3. 2 Paperback Women's Day Cookbooks

They're 8 1/2 x 11, really thin and cheap. I got them at a dollar store somewhere along the line. They are in rough shape. They have a ton of depression recipes, old-timey casseroles, all kinds of things that aren't in regular cookbooks. My favorite recipe from it is a salmon log which is always a hit. There have been times when money was gone that I dug through it for eggless cakes and things of that sort. People can really be resourceful in tough times.

[Phentex]

47. I think I still have a cookie cookbook from them...

tattered and beat up but it has some different kinds of cookies and I hunt it down around the holidays.

[troubleinwinter]

4. My favorite little treasure:

Editorial Reviews
From Library Journal
Reinhart and his wife, Susan, are the founders of the acclaimed Brother Juniper's Bakery in Santa Rosa, California. His Brother Juniper's Bread Book (Addison-Wesley, 1991) told the story, with recipes, of the bakery; this new book is actually a prelude to that one, as it describes the evolution of the cafe that grew into the bakery, with recipes for the dishes the tiny restaurant served. Reinhart's writing is completely absorbing, reminiscent of John Thorne, with dashes of Calvin Trillin and even M.F.K. Fisher; he is passionate about good food, but far from strident, and has a wry sense of humor. And the recipes are good too. "Holy Smoke" is the story of his search for the perfect barbecue sauce, with three recipes (though not for the "secret" sauce); "Man Can Live by Caesar Salad Alone" is about the cafe's famous version of that salad; "The Chocolate Queen Reigneth" presents Susan's rich desserts. Unique and captivating, this is highly recommended.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews
Reinhart (Brother Juniper's Bread Book, not reviewed) is back with philosophical musings and recipes from the California restaurant he and his wife began as members of a Christian order. (He has since sold his interest in Brother Juniper's Caf‚, named after a hapless but generous monk.) His writing is cheerily helpful, and he exhibits a quirky sense of humor in relating episodes like the time he visited Israel with his Jewish father and was expelled from the Mosque of Omar for engaging in prayer. (``Only Muslims may pray here...It is the rules of the management,'' a guard insisted.) Recipes are straight out of the Chez Panisse school--the black-bean chili was inspired by a very similar dish served at San Francisco's top-flight vegetarian restaurant Greens--but Reinhart gives preparations an original spin. A simple mesclun salad is enhanced by fresh herbs and a lemony caper dressing, and hummus gets a lift from freshly toasted sesame seeds pureed with olive oil in place of the usual pre-fab tahini. On the other hand, a heavy dose of buttermilk intended to moisten oversize lemon muffins instead gives them an unbearably acidic taste. Reinhart apparently has the heart of an entrepreneur: He has marketed a bottled barbecue sauce called Holy Smoke and admits to fantasies about ``putting Coke and Pepsi out of business'' with natural brews like root beer made with sarsaparilla and wild cherry bark. Spiritual (not preachy) and sweet (not saccharine). -- Copyright ©1994, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

http://www.amazon.com/Sacramental-Magic-Small-town-Cafe-Junipers/dp/0201622599

I don't think it's in print anymore, but new copies are available.

This isn't JUST a book of recipes, it's wonderful stories. It's a sit-down-and-read book.

Of course, Peter and Susan are friends, and Peter gave my husband a gallon (!) of his Holy Smoke sauce each Christmas. It was so damned good, we had to carefully ration it over the year to make it last. He'd also give me a jar of his mustard barbeque sauce... I didn't have to ration it quite so carefully, as I NEVER shared it with anyone, ever!

[Lucinda]

9. I just saw Brother Juniper's Bread Book at ebay yesterday and was tempted.

Bet this one is very interestng!

[Warpy]

13. Get "Crust and Crumb" instead

It's his masterpiece, IMO, and an absolutely vital part of any bread baker's library.

Most people I know sat down and read it cover to cover, like a novel, the day they got it. It becomes a reference book on techniques later.

[Lucinda]

15. It's definitely on my list. I've been digging through bread book reviews at Amazon

off and on since I started baking, and ran across "Crust and Crumb" before I even knew who he was. Even the cover art seems perfect.

I'm going to do as much interlibrary loan as I can before I purchase. I'm determined to pare down my cookbooks to essentials. My library is moving locations right now, so my exploration is on hold. :(

[troubleinwinter]

22. I agree with Warpy. Also...

The Bread Baker's Apprentice

Award winner of both awards: the James Beard Foundation and the International Association for Culinary Professionals (IACP) named "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" as Best Book of the Year. My recollection is that it was only the third book to ever have won BOTH awards.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1580082688/bookstorenow700-20




From The Fresh Loaf-

The Bread Baker's Apprentice

If there is one book that I would recommend to an amateur baker interested in experimenting with artisan breads, Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice is it.

All of Peter Reinhart's books are good, but I find The Bread Baker's Apprentice the most rewarding.

The book is divided into two main sections. The first half of the book introduces the reader to the basic concepts of bread baking, the science of bread, and information about equipment and ingredients. This includes an extremely useful section on the twelve stages in the life of bread.

Even when I am baking breads from other cookbooks or from recipes I find online, I find myself referring to back to this section. No other cookbook that I can think of does as good a job as this one in giving the reader the information they need not just to follow the recipe but to understand why the recipes do what they do. Using the information Peter provides here, I have frequently been able to adjust recipes to my liking or to the ingredients I have on hand with a much higher level of confidence and sophistication than a typical baker at my level has.

The second half of the book is the recipes, about 50 total. I've probably baked half of the recipes in the book. All of them have been excellent. The Pain a l'Ancienne is a beautiful and facinating bread. The Anadama Bread is amazing on a cold day, and the updated version of Straun Bread in here is wonderful.

There are a lot of wonderful photos of each bread. Most of the recipes take up three or four pages and are much more in depth than in a typical cookbook. The recipes are not complicated, mind you, just a lot of emphasis is placed on the techniques involved in the shaping and baking traditional breads and in making sure the baker understand what it is about each bread than makes it unique.

There are a lot of other good bread books out there, but if I could only have one bread book in my kitchen The Bread Baker's Apprentice is it.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/bookreviews/bba

The little book, Sacramental Magic, is probably particularly precious to me because I know Peter and Susan, and the little town where it all started. They may not be recipes of particular interest to you. Simple foods served at the cafe to support their religious community, like coleslaw, barbecue sauce and lentil soup. It IS the best barbeque sauce ever made in the entire history of man, but really complicated... involving a mash of something like 5 different chilis. Peter finally gave me several small jars of the 'mash', so I could make my own, as I'd never make such a base myself.

I think Crust and Crumb and The Bread Baker's Apprentice are absolute classics.

[housewolf]

38. Let me add to the list Rose Levy Berenbaum's "The Bread Bible"

As with her "Pie Bible" and "Cake Bible", RLB's recipes are masterpieces. (Beth Henspeger also has a "Bread Bible", so be sure to refer to Rose Levy Berenbaum's version).



She's a master at building on other's successes and pushing the flavor envelope even more. Her "every day" loaf and butter rolls are just teriffic, and the recipes and techniques are well-written and easy to understand and follow. Her brioche is magnificant. Plus she gives options as to "regular flavor" method and "full flavor" method if you have the time to strech out the fermentation. It, along with "Crust and Crumb", are my two favorite "go-to bread baking books. Also Dan Leader's "Bread Alone" - it's the book that inspired me into bread baking in the first place. It was 1997 and I was perusing bread baking books at a local book store. Picked up "Bread Alone and as hooked... THAT was the kind of bread I wanted to make! Big crusty, gorgeous crusty loaves with big, open crumb, and great flavor. Never would have believed I could make that kind of bread at home, in a non-commercial oven.

Bread making techniques have evolved since then to where now we have the no-knead breads and ABin5 methods that are thrilling home bakers all across the country, making artisan bread baking more available to home bakers who are on tight schedules, a wonderful thing. There's something SO satisfying about making a great loaf of bread... I'm in agreement with Peter Reinhart in believing that there's something sacred about is as well as nourishing and multiple levels.

[hippywife]

5. Probably this one:

The Flavor of Italy in Recipes and Pictures (1965)
http://www.antiqbook.com/boox/opt/27947.shtml

I've had it since 1991 and think I bought it used at a book sale really inexpensively. It looks like I could have sold it for quite a bit if I wanted to except, not knowing anything back then, I wrote some of my family recipes inside the covers (my gran's pizzelle recipe, my wedding soup recipe, etc.) It seemed like the thing to do with the old book at the time. :eyes:

[Lucinda]

10. I would have done the same. Books are meant to be used.

They get bored with us if we don't pay them attention. :D

[Stinky The Clown]

6. Naples at Table

[grasswire]

42. have you tried Sophia Loren's chicken recipe? (eom)

[auntAgonist]

7. Muffin Mania

I bought this book when it sold for $6.95 and it is my favourite. The sisters who wrote the book were local ladies where I lived. I'm thrilled to have been able to buy another one now that it's in print again. I gave it to my granddaughter's Mom for her birthday, she LOVES it too.

Twenty-five years ago, a little muffin cookbook by sisters Cathy Prange and Joan Pauli created a stir in kitchens across the country. Muffin Mania, typed on an old IBM typewriter and sold from the trunk of their car, sold about 500,000 copies. It topped the bestseller list at The Cookbook Store in Toronto and stayed there for almost two decades.

When the book went out of print eight years ago, desperate muffin maniacs wrote to Prange begging for a copy. Two hundred people waited on a list kept by the Toronto store.

Bloggers on the web asked readers to find them a copy. One Muffin Mania owner offered a copy on Amazon for $150.

It was a heady time for two middle-aged, self-described homemakers who had no idea what muffin mayhem they would unleash when they published their book in 1982.

"We just considered it fun," says Prange, 77, with a smile and a shrug. "We always made muffins and our mother always made muffins."

Today, in the same Kitchener home where she and her sister cooked up their plan, Prange reminisces about those manic days when their book was so popular that a fan would show up in a muffin costume for an autograph.

It's all coming back to her because Muffin Mania is back. Just last month, Cathy's granddaughter, Martha Prange, a fourth-year commerce student at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, republished her grandmother's book for a work-term project.
*snip*
With a loan from her parents, Martha formed her own publishing company, Binding Brilliance, and printed 2,100 copies.

She left the original introduction by Cathy and Joan, and added some words of her own. In deference to calorie counters, an aunt offers tips to lighten the muffin. The back cover features a photograph of Cathy and Joan, who died of cancer in 1992 at the age of 54.

http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/search/article/468677


STILL POPULAR: Cathy Prange, author of the cookbook Muffin Mania, sits beside a copy of her re-published book and a plate of muffins based on her recipes. Twenty-five years ago, a little muffin cookbook by Prange and her sister, Joan Pauli, created a stir in kitchens across the country. Muffin Mania topped the bestseller list at The Cookbook Store in Toronto and stayed there for almost two decades.

[Lucinda]

11. I love muffins!

And a whole cookbook of them would rock. :D

[AwakeAtLast]

8. Family published cookbooks

Both sides of my family have gathered recipes and put them into cookbooks. The one I treasure most is the one that has my Great-Grandmother's Pillsbury Bake-off submission. She was a finalist. It also has her mother's "receipts" from the 1880's. Great stuff!

Another cookbook that I treasure but is not a family cookbook is from the local Ruritanette (now defunct) group. It has my Grandmother's handwritten notes in it.

I have many, many cookbooks from various churches and civic groups. I probably use more recipes out of those than from corporate publishsers.

[Lucinda]

12. That's very cool!

I did a bit of research a month or so ago on "heritage" recipes and was fascinated.

We live in an area that was first settled by people with land grants from their Revolutionary War service, and I've really enjoy looking at how they lived and what they were cooking.

[AwakeAtLast]

17. I'm fortunate that a lot of people

in my family have done A LOT of genealogy research. One side of my family has been here since around 1648 or so. One ancestor was a Rev. War veteran, and then his family continued west, stopping in Southeastern IL. One of the recipes for that part of IL is for a concoction simply called "chowder". Most of the communities still make it. Basically you take a lot of local meat, dump it in big iron kettles cooking over open fires and add a many vegetables as you can find from local gardens. Cook for many hours while constantly stirring, add some butter and simmer some more. As far as I know it is not found in any other part of the country. Talk about eating like your ancestors! :D

[Phentex]

48. I like the Italian ladies church cookbook and then

my southern baptist MIL gave me some from her church. Those are always great!

[Warpy]

14. "Fireless Cookery"

Copyright 1910. It was the slow cooking cookbook of that era, requiring a mass produced box insulated with straw and the cast iron pots of the day. One heated the stuff on the woodburning stove in the morning, put the covered pot into the insulated box, and had either lunch or dinner waiting several hours later after the stove went out and the house cooled down.

Most of the recipes were silly, like the ones that involved boiling green vegetables for an hour to break down all that nasty fiber, but the few ultra rich dessert recipes I tried (using a stove, of course) were great.

I eventually recycled it to a friend with a food based business and a much more stable address, but not without copying down a few favorite desserts.

[troubleinwinter]

18. Similar idea, I think...

I was on the Zuni reservation, where each and every home has an outdoor clay oven.

In the morning, a wood fire is made to heat the oven, and bread is baked in it. The fire doesn't last long, wood is precious, so after the fire is out, when bread removed, but the oven is still warm, a pot of mutton stew is placed inside and the opening is sealed with clay. Many hours later, the clay is broken to remove the stew. The rather tough mutton is slow-cooked only by residual heat, and comes out wonderfully moist and tender.

Zuni make remarkable tamales, very different from Mexican. The outside corn mixture is very delicately thin and smooth as silk. The texture of the filling and an amazing amount of flavor is from very coarsely ground corn.

[randr]

16. Took a while but chose from ones I use occasionally

A Cook's Tour of San Francisco-The best restaurants and their recipes.
The Horizon Cookbook and Illustrated History of Eating and Drinking through the Ages.
Rather eclectic, but excellent resources of new and unusual flavors.

[cmf]

19. I collect cookbooks, so I have a lot of odd ones

The oddest one that I actually use is one I got from my mother's house after she died. It's called "Queleque Chose Piquante" and it's Acadian meat and fish recipes. It was originally published in 1966, and it looks like my mom bought the 5th printing in 1973 for $2. There are rusty paperclips on the pages of the recipes my mom made the most often. It's comb bound and filled with recipes from Cajun ladies. Most of the recipes are the comfort food I grew up with and like to make for my family, like shrimp creole and fish courtbouillion. But there are also some funny game recipes also like Armadillo Sauce Piquante, and Braised Bear Steak.

[Phentex]

45. That's very cool. I have too many...

Yours sounds very interesting!

[Blue Gardener]

20. The Spin Cookery Osterizer Blender Cookbook

From 1969. You can make just about anything when you have an Osterizer Blender!
I actually bought it at a garage sale for a quarter.

[troubleinwinter]

23. I make "Blender Hollandaise" all the time!

Eggs Benedict and asparagus with Hollandaise are regulars, and salmon steaks with Hollandaise, now that it's so simple!!

The VERY HOT butter basically cooks the eggs, and the whole darned thing only takes about a minute.

BLENDER HOLLANDAISE

1/2 cup butter
3 egg yolks
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
Dash of cayenne pepper

Place egg yolks in blender with the lemon juice, turn blender on high speed for 5 seconds to blend. Melt butter in microwave until bubbly hot. Turn blender back on high speed and slowly stream in butter, 30-40 seconds.

[Tesha]

28. I agree - blender hollandaise..

never fail, fast, and easy
Thanks for posting this, asparagus is coming soon!

[wryter2000]

21. Good Cooking by Nicholas Roosevelt

Yes, that family. It's a paperback published in 1966. There really aren't any recipes in here, just an entertaining discussion of how to cook. There's a great discussion of the New York/New England chowder controversy. My sister lent me her copy in the early 70s. After I returned it, I searched used bookstores for years before I found another copy.

[Phentex]

50. The chowder discussion can get heated!

Sounds like a fun book.

[Vinca]

24. One of my favorite cookbooks is Marcel Desaulnier's burger cookbook

"Burger Meisters." There's a recipe for jalapeno cheddar hamburger buns in there I make every couple of weeks instead of buying buns at the store.

[Phentex]

51. Well then you must share!

I have a jalapeno bread recipe from someone in this group and it's been a big hit with my family. What's yours? (If you don't mind that is.)

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

25. We're talking obscure, right?

I have a lot, but these three stand out:

The Perfect Hostess by Rose Henniker Heaton Published in 1931.

Where to Dine in '39 with 200 Recipes by Famous Chefs by Diana Ashley

Father was a Gourmet. An Epic Of Good Eating at the Turn of the Century by Carol Truax.

All three are more than cookbooks; they're also an insight to living at the time.

[wakemeupwhenitsover]

33. Here's a pretty obscure one:

The Art of Cuisine by Toulouse-Lautrec & Maurice Joyant. The illustrations are all by Lautrec. I wish I had the original, but this is a 1966 edition that was reproduced from the original, limited copies that they made for friends.

[troubleinwinter]

26. So many of the unique cookbooks posted seem so intriguing, I wonder

if we could get a few representative recipes posted? :bounce:

[Lucinda]

29. I'll post some. Pick a couple of categories or main ingredients.

:)

[troubleinwinter]

31. Just whatever ya find to be interesting or surprising or cool or good!

[yy4me]

27. The Calendar of Luncheons (circa 1915)

With 52 practical Sunday Evening Suppers
365 answers to the daily question: What shall we have for luncheon.
All with a picture of a demure damsel sitting on a stool in the kitchen, chopping bowl and chopper in hand

by Elizabeth Hiller, New York

Some of the recipe's are a little bizarre and I doubt that we eat so large a meal at noon any longer. The pages, held together with cord are dry and brittle so when I look at it, I have to be very careful.

For lunch today, March 7th, suggests:

Crab Meat in red or green peppers,
Ripe Olives
Celery Hearts
Roquefort Cheese sandwiches
Frozen Egg Nog
Lady Fingers
Mexican Chocolate Coffee

Some days are better than others. March 10 is a lulu.

[Lucinda]

30. Aloha!

:)

[troubleinwinter]

32. "Roquefort Cheese sandwiches"

Reminds me, in the 60s, my grandmother made a recipe from the Honolulu Star Bulletin newspaper for a "Bleu Cheese Cherry Pie". 1-1/4 cups bleu cheese. My grandfather was such a sweetheart, that he pronounced it "WONDERFUL!" (we all knew it completely stunk). Next week, the correction came out: 1/4 cup.

I do make a Bacon/tomato/fresh basil/gorganzola sandwich, though. Twist on a BLT.

No way am I gonna make my own lady fingers, evah.

[grasswire]

49. what's the menu for March 10? (eom)

[susanna]

34. I've got a few interesting ones!

I couldn't assign a definitive obscurity factor to the local cookbooks I pick up all over the U.S. in my travels - but some of them are very obscure and very unusual. So, due to my indecision, those are off the table.

I do have a cookbook entitled Columbus Menu: Italian Cuisine after the First Voyage of Christopher Columbus by Stefano Milioni. It's from 1992, some sort of "500 years later" promotion I guess. By far it's the most unusual and pretty obscure. Most of my friends who love food say something about it when going through my rather (cough) extensive collection of cookbooks. I don't even remember where I found it.

Great topic. :-)

[grasswire]

41. aw, come on

Please list your obscure local books. I, too, have a "thing" for them.

[susanna]

63. Hi, grasswire...

Okay, it took a bit, but here are a few of my favorite finds - I can't list them all, though; there are a few too many! (Also: sorry so late; I had school today and just saw your reply):

- Mountain Makin's, Gatlinburg, TN. Inherited, from 1957.
- Island Born and Bred; from Beaufort, NC; it's a cookbook compiled by residents of Harker's Island, NC. Found 1994.
- Calling All Cooks Two from Telephone Pioneers of America, Alabama Chapter No. 34. Found 1996.
- Food, Fun and Fable: from Meme's on Bon Secour River, Bon Secour, AL. Found 1996.
- Soul on Rice: African Influences on American Cooking, Fort Gaines, AL. Found 1996.
- Main Street: A Tasteful Passage through Historic Franklin, Franklin, TN (gma's hometown). Found 1998.
- Circa late 60s Jewish cooking; local SE Michigan synagogue (missing its cover, so no title, but the recipes are still intact). Found 2001.
- History and Hearth: a Colonial Michilimackinac Cookbook, Mackinac Island, MI; 18th century recipes at a Great Lakes fort. Found 2003.
- Best of the Best from Michigan, Lake Michigan area. Found 2003.
- Tastefully Preserving Our Heritage, Sons of Norway, LaCrosse, WI (want "hot dish" recipes? I can help!). Found 2006.
- Down By The Sea and Farm: Atlantic Coast Seafood and Farm Recipes, ME. Found 2008.
- Delices Traditionnels du Quebec, a Quebec cookbook of traditional recipes. Found 2008.
- Forgotten Recipes of Traditional Quebec, again from 2008.
- Out of Old Nova Scotia Kitchens, added to collection in 2008.

I also have quite a collection of old "reprints" of early American cookbooks. Maybe I'll list those tomorrow. :-)

ETA: oopsie, italics run amok

[pengillian101]

35. My Grandmother's wedding gift book.

I don't know the year it was published - must have been mid-1880's or so.

It is so weird - divided into three sections. Keep in mind this is a gift to newlywed farmers. One section is animal husbandry, one is human ailments and fixes and the third is rudimentary cooking.

The 'funnest' to read is the human body fixes. Very holistic and they probably worked, lol.

For instance to break a fever, you cook up some ears of corn until done, wrap individually, then place next to the patient's body between his arms and legs. Wrap patient in a blanket - and sweat that fever out.

Some of it must have worked, as my Grandmother nursed my Father through 1-1/2 years of Rheumatic fever.

The end section with recipes has my Grandmother's handwritten notes. Very precious. She taught me how to bake and I still have my little kid's rolling pin, lol.

[troubleinwinter]

36. What a wonderful priceless treasure!!

Your comment about "animal husbandry" made me remember when my daughter was about 8 or 9 and I told her that I had registered at the local college for a course in 'Horse Husbandry'.

She said, "No, you didn't." I said, yes, I did. She said "NO, you DIDN'T!!!". I said, yes, I DID. She said, "I'M TELLING DAD!!!!!". I think she thought I was gonna go try to marry a cowboy or a horse or something.

[susanna]

66. LOL! And very timely.

I mentioned a local college's animal husbandry curriculum to my DH a few weeks ago. He looked at me and said, "Will they get you a better ring than I did?" To be fair, he was kidding, but I thought it was funny. :-)

[susanna]

67. Oh, my -

how lucky you are to have such an heirloom. I love those old-timey books with the remedies and such. :-)

[kentauros]

37. Two different ones, and I don't think I've used either

(I intended to, of course ;))

A Taste of Astrology by Lucy Ash

The Surreal Gourmet - Real Food for Pretend Chefs
by Bob Blumer


Although I do have an odd one that is not meant as a cookbook, yet it has recipes in it:

The Well-Tooled Kitchen by Fred Bridge and Jean F. Tibbetts

[housewolf]

39. I collect Bread books (especially sourdough) and Chocolate books, along with some others

Here's one obscure sourdough book:




From 1973. It's a history of sourdough and sourdough recipes told in story format, with recipes for sourdough breads, breadsticks, muffins, swee trools, waffles and pancakes, cakes and cookies and miscellaneous items such as zicchini squash fritters, popcorn balls, Pie of Napoleon and some others. The book starts with a tale of Marie Theresa, daughter of the Hapsburg king Charles VI, who became the ruler of Austria when Charles VI dies, and her husband, Francis Stephens of Lorraine. Supposedly, one of her cooks began experimenting with different things to do with a the sour dough he perpetrated in a cover pot in the queen's kitchen, and caught her fancy with his remarkable breads and pancakes. Francis Stephens then too sourdough bread, pancakes and pastry-making to France where the French went wild over it, and the Maruis De Rochmabeau too sourdough breadmaking to North American in the 1780's. (I don't know whether any of this is true or not, but the stories are wonderful!)

The stories go on, a story for each recipe in the book. The pictures are antique photographs related to each story told, some about places associated with sourdough, others about people associated with sourdough. All it all, it's a delightful tribute to sourdough lore.

[Lucinda]

43. I just saw this at Amazon or Ebay the other day. Have you tried any?

I have a hunch my cookbook collection will be growing soon. I've seen several books I want to add. :)

[housewolf]

53. No, I never made any of the recipes in the book...

I like to weigh ingredients. This book like so many others, just lists ingredients in volumes (cups and spoons), and I never really trust them since flour varies so much so that I'm never sure I'm using the right amount. LOL! It's just a unique addition to my sourdough collection that I enjoy for it's aesthetic value - like so many others on my shelves. I paid a pretty penny for this book back in the days when I thought I needed to own ever single sourdough book in the market! I even have a professional sourdough manual written in German that haven't been able to get translated (YET)! I was VERY serious about my sourdough for some number of years... since I've lived alone for the past several years I don't bake bread as much, and often miss working with sourdough.

[Lucinda]

54. I am well on my way to membership in the "weigh it" club.

I started the Il Fornaio Biga recipe last night and used the measurements that were listed, and it was toooo dry. I knew it when I put it in the fridge, but I decided to let it go and see what happened overnight.

I decided to add some water today, which was exactly what it needed. It's lovely now instead of a doughy lump. I have fairly good instincts, but really don't know enough about it all yet to compensate for what is vague or completely unsaid in some of these recipes.

It is still really cool though, researching older recipes. :)

[housewolf]

55. Too dry - that's surprising to me

I'm be curious as to how the bread turns out. I left you some comments on your latest Pagnotta Bread post.

[peacefreak]

40. "Eat It"

by Dana Crumb with illustrations by R Crumb. With recipes like 5 Joint Soup, how can you go wrong?

[Phentex]

52. LOL! How many recipes have you tried?

:)

[Warpy]

58. I can't even remember the title of the thing, but years ago

I had a copy of "The Commune Cookbook," at least I hope the title was that straightforward. It was the result of traveling around in the late 60s and early 70s and collecting recipes from hippie dippie communes. It was notable for its recipes for squirrel, possum, and placenta.

It was an interesting cultural artifact and worth the read, but there was no way I was going to cook any of that crap. I'd graduated to Julia Child.

[Tab]

44. I don't own it exactly, but I bought it for a friend

He was a chef in the south

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51S98NTKSML._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

Actually he said a lot of the recipes are pretty good.

But it's certainly the most unusual cb purchase I've made.

[Warpy]

59. I gave this to a foodie friend one year

[japple]

68. I used to have a copy of that. IIRC, every recipe started

with "one stick of oleo." My sister and I got a real kick out of reading it.

[Phentex]

46. Taste of Africa...

not really obscure but different. I have so many cookbooks. They're like old friends when I pull one out I haven't looked at in a while.

[no_hypocrisy]

56. Was koch ich? (What am I cooking?)

1936, Innsbruck. Entirely in German.

[eleny]

57. 1956 Storz Brewing Company Cookbook

With the dead pheasants and duck hanging in the background on the cover.

Recipes include:
Alsatian Onion Pie
Sour Goose in Jelly
Scone Hamburgers
Ham in Cream

[buzzycrumbhunger]

60. Not super-obscure, but a favorite family story

Years ago, I worked in a whole foods store here in SW FL (where all the old people come to die). One day a lady came in and was asking me about bread baking supplies and proudly declared she was the co-author of the Cornell bread recipe, which was a big deal in the early whole foods movement. She told me she still ate it every day and offered me a copy of her book, which I still have, though I have to admit I've never made the bread. . . As she wandered around the store, I realized she was pooting with every step. Now, I eat whole grains and beans all the time and love a multigrain loaf, but this recipe is serious stuff in kind of an institutional loaf kinda way. I suppose it wouldn't necessarily cause a similar lack of sphincter control, but honestly, it makes me giggle every time I dig it out and start reading. I'm not sure I could digest that much protein laughing that hard. :D

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51KX9ABMQ4L._BO2,204,203,200_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-click,TopRight,35,-76_AA240_SH20_OU01_.jpg

[troubleinwinter]

64. What a GREAT story!!!! Hahahaha!!!

[kestrel91316]

61. I have a real French cookbook from a garage sale. Written in French.

I have no idea what the recipes are, my French skills are minimal. But I have it on the shelf just in case.

[grasswire]

62. Recettes du Petit Paris de L'Amerique -- St. Martinville La.

I wanted to post from a very old Alaskan cookbook but couldn't find it. It has such oddities as stewed polar bear foot pads, various seal recipes, etc. Can't find it.

So I'll go with this one for now: Recettes du Petit Paris de L'Amerique.

The only other copy of this small book that I know of is in the Louisiana state archive.

It's only 32 pages, compiled in the mid-fifties. It contains old local recipes gathered from "mammies" -- descendants of slaves -- and from the displaced French aristocrats who populated the area two hundred years earlier.

Here's Mammy Charlotte's recipe for Pain de Mais de Charlotte -- corn bread:

3 eggs
3 cups cornmeal
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup flour
2 cups milk
2 T melted lard
1 tsp salt

Stir dry ingredients together. Beat yolks and add to milk. Add to dry mixture. Add melted lard, then beaten egg whites. Pour into a pan of very hot grease. Bake in hot oven until brown and sides are crusty -- about 20 minutes.

Most of the dessert recipes are French, but here are Pralines a la Noix de Coco from Cora Saint Julien, the child of an old slave:

1 lb. granulated sugar
2 freshly grated coconuts
4 T water

Place sugar and water in saucepan and let boil until it forms syrup. Take from fire and add freshly grated coconut. Thoroughly mix and return to fire stirring constantly. Let boil until it spins a thread. Drop by spoonfuls on well buttered dish, rounding them with a fork. Pink coloring may be added.

[grasswire]

65. remember, you can easily find the value of your cookbooks...

...by going to www.abebooks.com and typing the pertinent info in the search box. You will get a display of other copies that are for sale by independent booksellers. And of course, you can buy from these sellers. It's a great resource!

[hvn_nbr_2]

69. "The Impoverished Student's Guide to Cookery, Drinkery, and Housekeepery"

It's a very old and very small book with simple, cheap, but sensible recipes, presented in an irreverent and entertaining way.

[Phentex]

70. That sounds like fun...

beans, anyone? :)

[Sentath]

71. I have a beloved copy of "Serve It Forth"

I forget exactly what charity it benefited, but it has a mix of delightful recipes and clever tales, including a suggestive retelling of "Little Red Riding Hood"


http://www.amazon.com/Serve-Forth-Cooking-Anne-McCaffrey/dp/0446671614