Resources for the Home Cook, Part 2
Yet another kitchen I’d like as my daily!
Okay, so for real there was more to say about the 19th-century in Part 1. But that post was getting really long, and I really needed to get the caterpillars thing off my chest. Lemme finish up the 19c really quickly, since it won’t take long.
The Nineteenth Century, Part 2!
In the later 19th, a bunch of really cool resources came out, such as the Fanny Farmer Cookbook. She will teach you everything you could need to know about cooking, including how to start a fire. True story, folks. There are many later, updated editions, but the original 1896 is still the gold standard in my eyes. There are even recipes for how to use ie in there, if you’re interested in that sort of thing. Miss Farmer went on to write a number of other books, as well, but this one tends to be the more useful of the lot.
Hathi Trust, which is a site you should totally get cozy with if you haven’t already, has 233 19th-century cookbooks for you to peruse!
A number of websites also have articles or otherwise focus on pioneer cooking, which might help give you some ideas for what to make! These tend to be hearty, filling foods that make you feel content and a bit sleepy within the quarantine context. And lest I punish y’all for my bad memory, let’s try to pick up a copy of the beloved Buckeye Cookery and Practical Housekeeping! It’s exactly what it sounds like, and is a delightful read.
This is a legitimately interesting tour.
The 20th Century!
Along those same lines, let us not forget the ever-important Joy of Cooking (here’s the 1923 version, if you’re interested in that sort of thing, too), Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, and Betty Crocker cookbooks, as well as a stunning array of late 19th and early 20th-century cookbooks in NYPL’s digital collection. If you grew up watching a particular chef cooking on PBS as a kid (or hey, maybe you were already an adult!), there’s likely a free version online of stuff that person did. I’d check it out! Moreover, Internet Archive also has a little roundup of vintage cookbooks you can explore! Oh! And let us not forget the Woman’s Day Encyclopedia of Cookery. This 12 volume set is one I grew up with, and loved enough to hunt down a full set of for myself to use as an adult!
Within the 20th-century, of course, you see a massive influx of cookbooks being printed, and they span a massive array of trends and topics.
Within the realm of historical foods, you see books like The Roman Cookery Book, which does an impressive job rendering Apicius’ recipes and ideas into ones usable for those in modern times. Wagon Wheel Kitchens is amazing, explaining the history, cooking methodologies, and giving practical recipes for us to try out! I strongly recommend picking up a copy of Salt Rising Bread, which teaches you about Appalachian bread cultures and includes wonderful family histories and personal narratives so as to weave this bread clearly into our understanding of Appalachian culture, family norms, and traditions.
In terms of regional and ethnic foods, I have a lot of favorites. Icelandic Food and Cookery is a weird and wonderful delight, containing recipes that feel pretty polarizing to me - you’re excited to try them, or you feel really firmly nope nope nope!
The Border Cookbook is my absolute favorite cookbook for the American Southwest and Northern Mexico. It even includes a number of New Mexican recipes, which is truly special because New Mexico has a really unique style, created almost entirely by its relative isolation over its colonial history. Danish Home Baking is one of my favorites, and I use it a lot. A Year of Russian Feasts is also wonderful, giving a lot more cultural context surrounding some of the most loved Russian dishes. Famous Greek Recipes gives practical and traditional Greek yums to you with ease. Definitely check this one out!
Y’all might not be aware of this, but it’s totally a thing: single item, or single category, cookbooks and reference books. The Complete Book of Herbs & Spices, for example, is exactly that - a guide to teach you about your spices. Spices are way more interesting than y’all might think they are! The Daily Bean offers recipes for every course of your meal, including dessert! In Praise of the Potato, similarly, tells you all you need to know about America’s favorite spud! If you’re not sure what to do with all the nuts you bought, why not check to see what The Walnut Cookbook has to say about it? You of course can sub in whatever nuts you’ve actually got! I own and have read every single one of the books I’m listing here, but you should know I have loads more of these single resource volumes, and there are way more of them published than I will ever have space to own. Dig in and wet you research feet!
Lastly, I want to remind y’all that Google really is your friend. There are sites where you can tell them what you have and they’ll give you recipes, and of course you can download oodles of apps like that. If you are just not sure what to cook, though, Google about the ingredient you’re craving, and see what pops up! There are so many sites and blogs that we’d need a separate team just to locate them all for you, so get to hunting! Don’t forget the food sections of various newspapers, asking your grandma for her receipt books, friends, and other loved ones. Social media also has loads of food groups to fit whatever niche you do or don’t fall into, and lots of companies also maintain recipe blogs and similar to further the sales of their products. One of the cool things about coronavirus is that everyone gets the chance to be uncomfortable and learn some new things. About stuff other than food, too, but mostly right now I just mean about what we eat, how we could eat, how people ate, and most importantly, recipes. Make those devices work for you instead of you working for them!
