We were talking about our mother's cookbooks in another thread. I knew of only two my mother owned, but remembered this morning that I have possession of Bob's mother's and grandmother's copies of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (publication dates 1941 and 1944) and used them to death. I would have presumed the older copy to be Granny Ruth's were it not for the inscription, "Given me on my birthday by Charles, Feb 17 1944." Charles, her husband and Bob's grandfather, died of pancreatic cancer the following year, in his 40's. He was an electricity lineman with a major photography hobby in Montana, and it was to donate his huge collection of photographs to the Carbon County Museum in Red Bluff that we made a trip to that town earlier this year. He sent all his film by pony express to Kodak in Rochester New York for developing.
These books were their cooking Bibles. Each is bulging with recipes Jean and Granny Ruth, who I only met once and it was beyond her cooking years, found along the way in life, handwritten on any scrap available and stuffed in back. In Jean's case, the added recipes are almost 100% sweets. This squares with what I knew of her--she was a terrible cook, where her mother Granny Ruth's cooking, both sweet and savory, was revered by the whole family.
Granny Ruth's copy is more interesting because it was a war time edition, so there are additional chapters for "variety meats" and tips on making your rations stretch further. Sugar and meat were the prime concerns.
Lots of the ingredients are fun to read about. Spry, a vegetable shortening introduced by Lever Brothers in 1936 as a competitor to Crisco and abandoned in 1970, was often called for by name. Worcestershire sauce is frequently called for, and so is Tabasco. Canned soup, primarily tomato, was the cornerstone of many recipes. I didn't see any green herbs beyond parsley.
An example of how fun these were to read is two recipes in the one-dish meal chapter, one for Italian Spaghetti and another for Irish Italian Spaghetti. Both are ground beef based, but Worcestershire sauce is called for in the Italian version, which also uses tomato soup and is finished with Parmesan cheese. Whereas the Irish Italian version uses one can each tomato and--get this!-- cream of mushroom soup, and is finished with grated American cheese (presumably Velveeta). Those are the only two cheeses called for by name anywhere in the book. Otherwise, it's just 'cheese'.
Karen: a recipe for tamale pie is in these books. Calls for one cup each black olives and raisins!!!
In F&F I mentioned some of the fun spelling differences between 1940's America and today. Cookies, plural is as we know it today, but singular it's 'cooky'. Like 'cooky sheet'.
I looked through the meat and casserole/one-dish meal sections for inspirations. For tonight I selected a vegetable and noodle bake because 1) it calls for green beans (canned, I have frozen) and carrots, which I have both of, and because it's a dish I never in a million years would make or have ever made anything like but, you know what, as written and without embellishment, I will probably like it. And Sunday, I am going to try my hand at the most dreaded meal of my childhood: swiss steak. My mother made it frequently and I would eat it with a fork in one hand and a glass of water in the other.
So I challenge you, my friends, to go retro with me. Make a trip into the past and create a dish that speaks to the era, if not the year, you were born. And report back.
