I should not be up writing this, I have so much to do very early but I just can't help myself. My poor Grandmother can not for the life of her understand why I hoard books the way that I do. Honestly, I don't really understand it either... I just love them. Say it again...
I LOVE BOOKS!
I'm talking fluttery feeling in my tummy, choking on good feelings, heart racing, hands shaking, breathless, page sniffing book loving. Any man wishing to win my affections could only hope to make me feel half the way that books make me feel. After grabbing a few to bring home from my Grama's (the majority are currently housed there, I grab a little each time I go)I decided that I wanted to share my book collection with you. Now I do have around four hundred, trying to get them all into one post might be a bit long soooooo I've complied the cookbooks I currently have at home. Seven out of maybe one fifty - two hundred. Cook books are my favorite kind of books. Especially old cookbooks.
Isn't that such a heart warming sight? It's taking all of the effort I have in my little body not to flip through them instead of writing this post. They're just sitting over here on the sofa seducing me with their scruffy covers and musty pages. Oh I just want to sniff them! Hey now, I'm not crazy! Its science; books smell good! Really, really good. Goodness, does anything smell as good as a book? Sigh There are some things that maybe come close; yeast in rising dough, apples and cinnamon cooking mixed with the the sweet must and smoke of fall air, new born babies and puppies, vampires after midnight, thunderstorms, coffee in the morning... but quite as good? I'm not so sure.
Lets get into it then shall we?
The New Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, Breast Cancer Awareness Edition.
I'm sure you'll notice as we go along that this cookbook is quite a bit newer than others on this list. I have a reason for that... This right here is the first cookbook I ever owned. Yep the very first. It was a gift to me when I was seventeen years old, I'd been cooking with a passion for a while already but it wall all out of my head or off of Food Network TV shows. I'd never really even thought to get a cookbook until I held this book, shiny and new in my hands. It was beautiful.
I wasted no time in reading through every recipe, through every tip, through every story. I've gone through countless post its on this ol' gal and I'm sure there are countless more to come. This book taught me how to make the most amazing Roasted Tomato Soup, S'mores Muffins, Salad Dressings, and so much more. The tips and tricks held within were invaluable to me as a self taught, teenage, would-be-chef... one that I remember explicitly; Dull pans create a thicker darker crust on baked goods. We don't want that. This cookbook was the start of my journey as a collector, so it seems only right that its the start of my cookbook library share.
The Compleat Chicken Cookbook
One of my favorite things to cook is from scratch chicken soup. I do it well, and I do it often... So often in fact that my five year old can make chicken soup that tastes great with just a pot of water, a bird, and a bit of imagination with whats on hand. (You do have to hide the cinnamon though, she tries to put cinnamon in EVERYTHING.) Do you know where I learned the difference between different types of chicken, how to break them down, size yields, and methods of cooking? Wow, good guess! This book! Call my cookbooks outdated all you will, but Stuffed Chicken and Vegetable Stew, Double-Crust Chicken Pie, and Smothered Chicken never go out of style.
Beard on Bread
Another of my favorite things to cook, possibly my most favorite, is from scratch bread. I had already learned how to bake bread from Culinary school before I got this book, but let me tell you its a valuable tool for any bread lover. It has great information on flours, additives, storing, which breads to use for which occasion, right down to which knifes to use for breads and what to do with stale bread. Yeah, that's a hell of a lot of good information packed into a wee little book. The recipes in this book are varied, on point, and descriptive. Exactly what you would expect from a culinary legend. I'm sorry... what? You've never heard of James Beard?! Well here, please read all about him.
Foods From Harvest Festivals and Folk Fairs
I got this book because it just looked fun. I was right, it is! Not only does list recipes, it gives descriptions of the fairs and festivals they recipes were collected from. Allllll sorts, from Christmas at Williamsburg to the Persimmon Festival to the Chili Festival this book is unexpected, fun, and unique with recipies like Hot Pants Beans, Laulau, Bohemian Kolacky, and Pulsa the one thing this cookbook isn't is the boring same ol' same ol'. It** will** take you outside of your food comfort zone, whatever that may be. If you're a food adventurist like me, I think you'd really love it too.
Hazel Meyer's Freezer Cookbook
This book has a beautiful smell. There are SO MANY recipes in this book, all made to store in the freezer. I even got a bonus recipe. That's my absolute favorite part about buying old cook books by the way, finding random inserts, inscriptions, hand written notes. It gives me chills. Anyway, back to the book. It tells you, section by section, the best ways to handle each type of product; soups and stews, gravies, fish and shellfish, ground meat, fried chicken... so many. Just a wonderful source book to have on hand especially because...
The Freezer Cookbook Second Edition
... My favorite freezer cook book is falling apart. While the information given in the two cook books clearly follows a similar path and both have a wealth of wonderful recipes, I personally find this one to be a more enjoyable read. The writing style simply suits me better. I love that the author describes running a kitchen like running a business, and learned so many things from this book before getting my back up freezer cookbook above. One of the many things that I incorporate into my life from this book is getting fresh berries in season, making pie filling, and freezing the filling in a tin pie tray over wax paper. All you have to do it pop the filling out, throw in your crust (I like to make fresh for berry pies but there's a few great frozen crust recipes in there for other types of pies too), put the filling back in and have fresh berry pie all year round. Sometimes up here in the Northern US we have to pretend its summer hen we're stuck under eight feet of snow in the dead of winder to stay sane. ;)
Good Housekeeping Cookbook
Eeeek! I saved the best for last guys! Okay so this book, this sexy little thang right here is a family heirloom. It belong to my second cousin, and his Grandmother before him who just so happened to be the coolest woman ever. Lady Sintana. If I remember correctly she began as a Carnie, like straight up old school Carnie, moved onto burlesque dancing, to hawk training, to founding Ravenwood one of the first churches of witchcraft in the USA. Tell me a more interesting sounding person off of the top of your head, go on... I'll wait...
I didn't think so. Straight up cool that's what it is. I was blessed with the opportunity to look through her personal notes once and ugh... I can't even explain it. This woman made history, and my wonderful super sweet cousin entrusted me with her favorite cookbook. I'm tearing up just thinking about it. Every time I look at this cookbook I feel her legacy not just as an extraordinary, powerful, game changing woman, but as a simple loving Grandmother. I could not possibly feel more honored to possess this book. Being from the start of 1960 it has a lot of recipes that housewives today might find... surprising, as tongues and brains have gone out of fashion BUT there is still a boat load of timeless recipes and recipes that yeah might be dated, but work as a great jumping off base for experimentation!
That's it for today's selections, see you next time love bugs!
(all images credit moi, 