Help me be a cookbook hipster
April 30, 2018 3:35 PM Subscribe
Recently saw someone singing the praises of Maida Heatter and found myself wondering, what other old cookbooks deserve to be rediscovered and brought back into use? I'm less interested in evergreen classics like The Joy Of Cooking and the Moosewood Cookbook that everyone still loves, and more curious about old forgotten ones that you're pretty sure you're the last one still cooking out of, especially if you think they're underrated and deserve a revival.
The Vilna Vegetarian cookbook has just been reissued. It's filled with recipes from a famous vegetarian restaurant from the 30s that served kosher vegetarian dishes.
I have my mother's old two-volume set of Gourmet Magazine cookbooks and I cook from them.
posted by brookeb at 3:42 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
I have my mother's old two-volume set of Gourmet Magazine cookbooks and I cook from them.
posted by brookeb at 3:42 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Vegetarian Epicure. I’m not even a vegetarian, but I love these recipes especially for their frequent use of nutmeg, paprika, and rosemary which I feel are under used spices.
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 4:06 PM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Waiting for Pierce Inverarity at 4:06 PM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
Peg Bracken's I Hate to Cook Book has been around for 60+ years and is terribly funny. It's definitely a lard and butter era of cookbook, but I have made maybe half a dozen of the (leaner) recipes from it and they were all delicious. There's also a book she wrote in the same vein about house cleaning that I haven't read but feel fine recommending to you anyway.
posted by jenlovesponies at 4:25 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by jenlovesponies at 4:25 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
The Settlement Cookbook is delightful (and weird). That should link to the 1903 version which is available in its entirety online. My Nana gave me hers. Its weirdness in terms of our current day tastes is what could make it the next hipster thing. Maybe.
posted by atomicstone at 4:26 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by atomicstone at 4:26 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
I’m vegan now so I don’t use it as much, but The New Antoinette Pope School Cookbook was my mom’s go to. It’s out of print, but you can buy it used. My mom’s amazing turkey and stuffing are in there.
I love Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. It’s actually vegan. I use it with my Instant Pot. A lot of the reviews on Amazon complain that the instructions are for the old school pressure cookers, but it’s not rocket science to adjust them.
The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery is a fun read. It’s more like a reference book, but it has recipes too. That was my grandmother’s go to. Very useful if you need to know the basics on roasted possum. But also has lots of things you could still use, like pages of old-fashioned potato recipes. I used the salmon cake recipe for years.
posted by FencingGal at 4:28 PM on April 30, 2018
I love Vegetarian Cooking Under Pressure. It’s actually vegan. I use it with my Instant Pot. A lot of the reviews on Amazon complain that the instructions are for the old school pressure cookers, but it’s not rocket science to adjust them.
The Wise Encyclopedia of Cookery is a fun read. It’s more like a reference book, but it has recipes too. That was my grandmother’s go to. Very useful if you need to know the basics on roasted possum. But also has lots of things you could still use, like pages of old-fashioned potato recipes. I used the salmon cake recipe for years.
posted by FencingGal at 4:28 PM on April 30, 2018
MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf
posted by gyusan at 4:37 PM on April 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by gyusan at 4:37 PM on April 30, 2018 [5 favorites]
I'm not sure if he's as far out of fashion as you're looking for, but James Beard, aka The Urban Peasant is always worth checking out.
posted by rpfields at 4:38 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by rpfields at 4:38 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
You can't get a whole lot older than Hannah Glasse's The Art of Cookery Made Plain and Easy.
posted by spamloaf at 4:45 PM on April 30, 2018
posted by spamloaf at 4:45 PM on April 30, 2018
I still refer to James Beard's Theory and Practice of Good Cooking - for recipes, the wonderful illustrations, and to re-learn basics that I forget. It's a lovely book.
posted by dbmcd at 4:52 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by dbmcd at 4:52 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
My mom still cooks out of More with Less!
posted by praemunire at 4:54 PM on April 30, 2018
posted by praemunire at 4:54 PM on April 30, 2018
Seconding James Barber’s The Urban Peasant above, and I also love Jeff Smith’s The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the Feast. Some wonderful creations inspired by ancient food and stories of life during Old Testament days. They had nothing like the variety of foods we have now, so these recipes are simple and spare—not much meat, but lots of grains, fruits, veggies, honey, bread, figs, yogurt, wine. It's an entertaining read even when you're not cooking!
posted by cartoonella at 4:56 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by cartoonella at 4:56 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: (Just to clarify: I'm not looking for maximally ancient, or maximally weird, or maximally awful — I'd like things that are, you know, no longer the new hotness, maybe a generation or so out of sync, but that are still excellent and worth using.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:58 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by nebulawindphone at 4:58 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Marcella Hazan’s Classic Italian Cooking.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 5:12 PM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 5:12 PM on April 30, 2018 [3 favorites]
My late mother collected cookbooks so this subject is dear to my heart. Cookbooks I grew up learning from still get used today, albeit sometimes only for one or two recipes and with adaptations/modifications for personal taste developed over the years.
Early 1980s Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Helen Evans Brown "West Coast Cookbook"
James Beard "Beard on Bread"
Diana Kennedy "Essential Cuisines of Mexico"
posted by 4rtemis at 5:24 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Early 1980s Fannie Farmer Cookbook
Helen Evans Brown "West Coast Cookbook"
James Beard "Beard on Bread"
Diana Kennedy "Essential Cuisines of Mexico"
posted by 4rtemis at 5:24 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]
Correcting my post above: The Urban Peasant is of course James Barber, not Beard (another great chef). Yikes!
posted by rpfields at 5:41 PM on April 30, 2018
posted by rpfields at 5:41 PM on April 30, 2018
The James Beard Cookbook still gets used in our household.
Mother-in-law swore by the Elegant But Easy Cookbook, though I tend to use the revised version from the '90's; some example recipes.
And yeah, Maida Heatter is great, and also Marcel Desaulniers.
Best Ever Brownies is also still regularly baked from.
I also want to second this comment from 4rtemis: Cookbooks I grew up learning from still get used today, albeit sometimes only for one or two recipes and with adaptations/modifications for personal taste developed over the years.
posted by gudrun at 5:43 PM on April 30, 2018
Mother-in-law swore by the Elegant But Easy Cookbook, though I tend to use the revised version from the '90's; some example recipes.
And yeah, Maida Heatter is great, and also Marcel Desaulniers.
Best Ever Brownies is also still regularly baked from.
I also want to second this comment from 4rtemis: Cookbooks I grew up learning from still get used today, albeit sometimes only for one or two recipes and with adaptations/modifications for personal taste developed over the years.
posted by gudrun at 5:43 PM on April 30, 2018
You might be interested in this article, The 100 Greatest Home Cooks of All Time (discussion on metafilter). Lots of familiar names, but probably at least some will be new to you.
posted by perplexion at 6:08 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by perplexion at 6:08 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Oh and a general tip: find cookbooks that are the new hotness and look for a bibliography or 'further reading' section at the back.
posted by perplexion at 6:13 PM on April 30, 2018
posted by perplexion at 6:13 PM on April 30, 2018
Chez Panisse Vegetables and Chez Panisse Fruits. Actually, any of the Chez Panisse books rank high on my list.
posted by gertrude at 7:03 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by gertrude at 7:03 PM on April 30, 2018 [1 favorite]
Here are a few 1970s/80s classics (mostly veg, roughly the same era as Moosewood, but these are at a whole other level). Each one of these is consistently great and chock full of treasures...
The Greens Cookbook (1987) and the follow-up Fields of Greens, both from Greens Restaurant in San Francisco.
Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking (1981)
The Tassajara Bread Book (1974)
posted by marlys at 7:23 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
The Greens Cookbook (1987) and the follow-up Fields of Greens, both from Greens Restaurant in San Francisco.
Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking (1981)
The Tassajara Bread Book (1974)
posted by marlys at 7:23 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
Laurie Colwin was an excellent writer and did cooking/ food columns for Gourmet. They have been collected as Home Cooking and More Home Cooking.
posted by theora55 at 8:02 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 8:02 PM on April 30, 2018 [7 favorites]
I love the Meat and Potatoes Cookbook! My husband bought it for me from a thrift store about 15 years ago.
posted by fyrebelley at 9:54 PM on April 30, 2018
posted by fyrebelley at 9:54 PM on April 30, 2018
Madhur Jaffrey’s “An invitation to Indian cooking”, “The Complete Tassajara Cookbook”, and Deborah Madison’s “Vegetarian cooking for everyone”.
posted by newsomz at 1:02 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by newsomz at 1:02 AM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Cajun food was popular for a while in the '80s. This was, and still is my go-to source Chef Paul Prudhomme's Louisiana Kitchen. BTW there is nothing quick or cardiologist friendly in Cajun cooking as Chef Paul did it.
In the West, Sunset Magazine and Sunset Books began shaping the food culture in the '50s, and are still producing their thin, cuisine specific books. They keep updating them for current ingredient availability and health concerns. You want the old ones, only available on eBay or libraries. Pick a decade and start hunting. A list of Sunset Cooking books
posted by Homer42 at 7:00 AM on May 1, 2018
In the West, Sunset Magazine and Sunset Books began shaping the food culture in the '50s, and are still producing their thin, cuisine specific books. They keep updating them for current ingredient availability and health concerns. You want the old ones, only available on eBay or libraries. Pick a decade and start hunting. A list of Sunset Cooking books
posted by Homer42 at 7:00 AM on May 1, 2018
I've just been reading Edouard de Pomaine's French Cooking in 10 Minutes from 1930, which I saw mentioned on MeFi somewhere but can't remember where. It's excellent.
posted by JanetLand at 7:28 AM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by JanetLand at 7:28 AM on May 1, 2018 [3 favorites]
Two I still use a lot are the Bean Bible and Barbara Kafka's Vegetable Love.
The Kafka book is especially useful if you cook out of a CSA because it has an extensive primer in the back about basic techniques for cooking every vegetable, with references to recipes in the other sections. I always reach for it over something like Bittman when I just want to cook a quick weeknight dish. She is also a great author to have in your collection because she authored the big book on microwave cooking in the 80s, and she incorporates the best of those techniques into many recipes here -- very few other authors explain how to do this well.
posted by veery at 7:46 AM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
The Kafka book is especially useful if you cook out of a CSA because it has an extensive primer in the back about basic techniques for cooking every vegetable, with references to recipes in the other sections. I always reach for it over something like Bittman when I just want to cook a quick weeknight dish. She is also a great author to have in your collection because she authored the big book on microwave cooking in the 80s, and she incorporates the best of those techniques into many recipes here -- very few other authors explain how to do this well.
posted by veery at 7:46 AM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Coming back to add The Victory Garden Fish and Vegetable Cookbook by Marian Morash.
posted by gudrun at 9:48 AM on May 1, 2018
posted by gudrun at 9:48 AM on May 1, 2018
On Food and Cooking by Harold McGee was Alton Brown (albeit less funny) before Alton Brown. It's a seminal reference in my house.
Also the Flavor Bible by Page and Dornenberg gets lots of play and is a timeless reference, especially when you look at what you have in the fridge and decide you're going to try and play "Chopped."
For me the best cookbooks are the ones that help me not have to depend entirely on cookbooks.
posted by cross_impact at 10:28 AM on May 1, 2018
Also the Flavor Bible by Page and Dornenberg gets lots of play and is a timeless reference, especially when you look at what you have in the fridge and decide you're going to try and play "Chopped."
For me the best cookbooks are the ones that help me not have to depend entirely on cookbooks.
posted by cross_impact at 10:28 AM on May 1, 2018
MFK Fisher's How to Cook a Wolf
COSIGNED. When a former chef at Chez Panisse writes a cookbook and everyone still compares it to How To cook A Wolf, it's a winner. Although, since it's MFK Fisher, it may not have ever gone out.
Marion Cunningham also wrote two charming little books in the late 80s and early 90s - The Breakfast Book and The Supper Book - that I refer to frequently.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:11 AM on May 1, 2018
COSIGNED. When a former chef at Chez Panisse writes a cookbook and everyone still compares it to How To cook A Wolf, it's a winner. Although, since it's MFK Fisher, it may not have ever gone out.
Marion Cunningham also wrote two charming little books in the late 80s and early 90s - The Breakfast Book and The Supper Book - that I refer to frequently.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:11 AM on May 1, 2018
Cooking for Today (1973) -- try the lamb julienne, omg it's incredible.
The Alice B Toklas Cookbook -- French chocolate mousse using the new technology of a blender is not to be missed. Great 1920s Parisian cooking.
posted by ananci at 12:59 PM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
The Alice B Toklas Cookbook -- French chocolate mousse using the new technology of a blender is not to be missed. Great 1920s Parisian cooking.
posted by ananci at 12:59 PM on May 1, 2018 [2 favorites]
Someone gave us The New Basics cookbook in the early 90’s and there’s a bunch of stuff I still make from it, particularly the roasted garlic soup.
posted by chococat at 3:20 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by chococat at 3:20 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I learned to cook using The Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and gave one to each of our children when they moved into their own homes and lives. The one pictured is an older version and I've noticed that though some of the recipes have changed over the years, the basics are still in all of them, along with lots of useful tips and recipes for both new and more experienced cooks.
posted by Lynsey at 8:42 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Lynsey at 8:42 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
I love this thread!
If you need more incentive to love Edna Lewis, there is this new anthology!
I think the Silver Palate cookbooks fit the bill-- no longer the new hotness, distinctly 80s in approach, still filled with delicious food (the grand marnier apricot stuffing is my thanksgiving ride or die).
Nigel Slater's 1992 Real Fast Food taught me how to embrace various toasts before toast was cool again and just generally improved my solo dining and snack life.
Not so much for cooking out of, but Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor's Vibration Cooking most definitely deserves a loving revival.
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:19 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
If you need more incentive to love Edna Lewis, there is this new anthology!
I think the Silver Palate cookbooks fit the bill-- no longer the new hotness, distinctly 80s in approach, still filled with delicious food (the grand marnier apricot stuffing is my thanksgiving ride or die).
Nigel Slater's 1992 Real Fast Food taught me how to embrace various toasts before toast was cool again and just generally improved my solo dining and snack life.
Not so much for cooking out of, but Vertamae Smart-Grosvenor's Vibration Cooking most definitely deserves a loving revival.
posted by athirstforsalt at 9:19 PM on May 1, 2018 [1 favorite]
Love and Knishes, by Sarah Kasdan! Cooking like my grandma!
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 7:24 AM on May 9, 2018
posted by skookumsaurus rex at 7:24 AM on May 9, 2018
« Older Best (cheapest/easiest) option to digitize VHS and... | My neck! My hands! Help this skincare dummy... Newer »
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by kdar at 3:40 PM on April 30, 2018 [2 favorites]