Anyone who knows me, knows that I have a soft spot for vintage cookbooks. A really soft spot. Like most of my cookbook library consists of vintage cookbooks.
One of the things that I really love about them is the menu section. And as we are in the midst of planning our Christmas menu, I thought I would refer to a couple of my books to see what the authors recommend and/or were serving at the time of penning these bits of literature.
Here’s what I found:
The Art of Cooking and Serving by Sarah Field Splint. This is a cookbook commissioned by Proctor and Gamble and published in 1928. During this time, it was still common to see households with help, as represented by menus for a Company Luncheon Without a Maid and a Company Luncheon With a Maid. I wonder if there was an expectation of this Christmas menu to be accomplished with or without a maid. It looks like a pretty complex undertaking to me.
The way to a man’s heart, The Settlement Cook Book. Now, this is a very interesting cookbook. It was put together by Mrs. Simon Kander, a jewish immigrant, for her Jewish community. It may surprise you to find a menu for both a Christmas Dinner and a Christmas Supper across the page from a Passover Supper menu. But there they are. Oysters still seem to be in vogue as well. P.S. Tune in to the As We Eat podcast next season (2023) to find out much more about this cook book.
Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book is a tome of a book weighing in at 3 pounds 7 ounces. My copy was published as our country was at war and has a Wartime Postscript in the front of the book referencing rationing and shortages and recommends recipes if “you haven’t enough sugar.” I’m sure that this Cooky Christmas Tree was one of the recipes that “you may have to wait [to make] until the war [was] over.” But the image or the tree with its bobbles and candles likely brought some joy to those austere times. Also, is it a Cooky Christmas Tree or a Cookie Christmas Tree?
The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook by Ruth Berolzheimer is a new-to-me cookbook. I received it for my birthday. It actually outweighs the Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book by 3/4 of a pound. With more than 1000 pages, it truly is an encyclopedia of food. I love that celery is listed as a menu item, not stuffed, just unadulterated celery. I believe that this crunchy cousin of carrots, parsnips, and parsley deserves to be treated as a food and not just an ingredient. Also note the inclusion of oysters again.
Our Holiday Menu
Our menu this year was influenced by several grandmas as well as a local pop-up business supplying tamales to our very small and very wintery Montana town.
What will you be serving for your celebrated Winter holiday? Will it be traditional, a collaboration, or something entirely new?
Thank you so much for taking this journey with us this year. We have so enjoyed sharing food history and lore, our thoughts, musings, recipes, and travels with you. This is the final edition of the As We Eat Journal for 2022.
We’ll be enjoying the holiday season with family and friends and hope that you will be doing the same.
We have so many great things in store for you in the coming year. We are particularly excited about the theme for the podcast which is Cookbooks. We’ll be delving into these culinary treasures discussing how they have shaped how and what we eat. Stay tuned for interviews with authors, discussions about cookbooks as literature, insights into how cookbooks define (and exclude) communities, and more.
Happiest of holidays from both Kim and myself!
P.S. if you’re still looking for that last minute gift, might we suggest a gift subscription to the As We Eat Journal?
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