Favorite Cookbooks

I have a certain fondness for cookbooks. My grandmother, who did not cook, gave me a copy of the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook. I remember reading through it and finding recipes that I tried to adapt and make my own, like the green peanut butter muffins.

I learned a lot through that experience, like peanut butter muffins are not as good as they sound.

Today, I’m not as inexperienced, and I understand science and cooking on a much different level than when I was a child. I understand how leavening, fats, and proteins work together. Adapting recipes is easier than it was back then.

While that first cookbook set me off on a cooking direction I never expected, it was the second gifted cookbook that triggered a love for old cookbooks.

My sister-in-law back then couldn’t really cook. She knew how to make ONE thing. My brother knew how to make 2 things. She was given a cookbook, but she passed it on to me because I loved to cook.

The book was a recipe collection from employees of Southern Bell Telephone company. The more current name of the company is AT&T because that is who purchased them back in the day.

After using this book and enjoying the recipes, what I realized is that the recipes inside were not just about good food, but rather a glimpse into the culinary and culture of certain areas in the south. It’s the same with cookbooks that are created by churches, rotary clubs, and other local organizations. You can experience and sample the cuisine of an area. That’s one reason why I go looking for these cookbooks. You can usually find them in thrift stores, and they are all the same: Faded and spiral bound. Not just any spiral bound, but the thin black spiral that looks like wide paper strips.

I love to use the cookbooks to try different recipes from different areas, and then combine them for an updated version. A modern twist on something that may have ingredients that no longer are used. (Example: Oleo (margarine) changed to butter just in case the Oleo of the 1970s have a different consistency than the margarines of today. (And if you don’t believe me, try making No Bake Oatmeal cookies with margarine instead of butter. It’s a horrible nightmare.)

So the next time you are at a flea market, thrift store, or used books store, look into the cookbook selection. You never know the treasure you will find.