Online (Free!) Treasure Trove

[WritersBlock]

Every time I see a reference here to the "Joy of Cooking" cookbook, it makes me wish I still had mine, but it was lost heaven-only-knows-how-many moves ago.

But I just ran across almost the next best thing:

The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book

Fannie Farmer

This classic American cooking reference includes 1,849 recipes, including everything from “after-dinner coffee”—which Farmer notes is beneficial for a stomach “overtaxed by a hearty meal”—to “Zigaras à la Russe,” an elegant puff-pastry dish. Bartleby.com chose the 1918 edition because it was the last edition of the cookbook authored completely by Farmer.

http://www.bartleby.com/87/

Enjoy! :)

[NMDemDist2]

1. why not just buy another one? or am I missing something?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=stripbooks:relevance-above&field-keywords=Joy%252520of%252520Cooking&search-type=ss&bq=1&store-name=books/ref=xs_ap_l_xgl14/104-7193360-0998353

[WritersBlock]

3. Because I'm afraid it will be an "updated" & "improved" edition,

and I want the one I had when I was a newlywed learning how to cook waffles.

That's what happened when I replaced my old Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook. It, too, got lost through the years. I found it in paperback and bought it about 10 years ago. They'd "improved" the recipes; made them lower in fat and healthier. I mean, really... lower-fat chicken fried steak? Why even bother? If I want a low-fat cookbook, I'll go out and buy one. :D

I know, I know. They gotta keep updating, or the books won't sell. And I should be ashamed by my attitude. But hey, I'm getting old and crotchety. :7

[Stinky The Clown]

4. Hear! Hear!

We have several old cookbooks that were (some might say) ruined by an update. Thankfully Sparkly has all the old ones. When we blended households years ago, all her cookbooks that were the same as mine were all the older versions. You're right, there are a lot of changes - particularly to make things healthier.

"Healthier" in my experience, means less tasty. Not to say that healthy is a bad thing, it is certainly not. But the old recipes, for many items, just can't be beat.

My best few are an old Larousse Gastronomique from 1963 and The Escoffier Cookbook. The Escoffier has the text in both English and the original French. I'm not sure of the exact date as I type this, but it is from the late '40s. LOTS of good, classic, cream and butter laden sauces.

I still have my texts from my days at The Culinary Institute of America. One, The Professional Chef, has been updated and expanded over the years. The old recipes were much better, but the variety in the new version that I recently saw in Barnes and Noble is quite something.

And just to be clear ...... we're not old and crotchety as much as older and more discerning. :hi:

[SW FL Dem]

5. I hate my new Joy of Cooking.

I tossed my old one when my sister moved and gave me her newer version. My old version had common sense info about baking turkeys, like how long a 20 pound unstuffed turkey usually takes to cook, the new one tells you the temp at which to take the bird out but it totally silent on the time it will take to get there. There is nothing worse than having a turkey take less (or more)time to cook than expected. How do you plan a meal when you don't know when you are eating, or vice versa, when to put the damn turkey in so that you can eat at 4.

[fortyfeetunder]

6. You tossed your old JOC? I'm sorry

I kept my old JOC when I bought the new one. For some reason I expected a vast revision, and sure 'nuff I was right.

You might be able to find the original book in a 2nd hand bookstore or a garage sale. It is definitely a keeper.

[Atlas Mugged]

11. I have both

And I use both. The old one (from the early 70's) is full of handwritten notes, so there's no way I was tossing it. The new one is quite worthwhile, too. But, I have about 200 cook books, so I'd never toss one, mainly because it's part of a collection.

[merci_me]

7. I agree.......

When I got married in 1960, my husband's cousin gave a shower and I received two cookbooks that I still love.

One was the Farm Journal cookbook which seems to not have a lick of glue left on the binding and the other was Better Homes & Garden in a loose-leaf binder. For the next 20+ years, an aunt got me the annual subscription to the magazine and every month they had two pages of recipes that fit the binder. The problem was my binder was over taxed and falling apart, but I found one at a thrift store and split my pages into two ratty books that I still pull out occasionally.

Love those books, among the literally hundreds of cookbooks I have and the fileboxes of all the recipes I've clipped over the years.

But have you noticed? The recipes are wonderful, but the pictures are pretty gross, by today's food photography standards. LOL, not as unappetizing as H2S's photo yesterday of the insalata with greenish tomatoes and the ashtray next to it. For any who missed that gem, it was a pix off the net, not one his creations. His made me drool.

Mary

[The empressof all]

2. That was fun!

Thanks for the link-I've book marked for more in depth perusal.

Love those egg-balls and Macaroon Dust recipes.

[eleny]

8. This is where thrift shops come in

Check out the book section periodically. I've found some great old cookbooks including a cookbook for cooking with Stolz beer and an older coffee cookbook. Antique shops also carry them for very little. They aren't always antique but from the 60s and 70s. You never know where you'll find it. Also, ebay is excellent for older cookbooks. Book-rate shipping is cheap if they'll ship that way. Good luck!

[NMDemDist2]

9. I have a Household Searchlight Recipe book from 1939

WOW :wow: they want $85 bucks on the antique auction site!

It has some wonderful recipes in it, but I think I'll be more careful with it from now on LOL

[grasswire]

10. you can still get the older versions

Everyone should know about http://www.abebooks.com, the site where sellers of used books from all over list their wares.