Cookbooks

“A cookbook is only as good as its poorest recipe.”

Julia Child

“A cookbook must have recipes, but it shouldn’t be a blueprint. It should be more inspirational; it should be a guide.”

Thomas Keller

 

Have you ever looked into your grandmother’s recipe file and found a recipe card with just a list of ingredients? Did you wonder what the measurements were and why there were no cooking times?

Tilly: I love the anonymous meme that described cooking without measurements until ancestral spirits whisper enough.

Welcome to ancient Mesopotamia. Mesopotamia dates back to the second millennium BCE. As historians celebrated finding these first written “recipes”, they found it a bit baffling that ancient Egyptians felt no need to write down their recipes even though they used their cooking methods in the tombs as early as the fourth millennium.

Tilly: I’m with Thomas Keller. And with Thomas More: “Food is an implement of magic, and only the most coldhearted rationalist could squeeze the juices of life out of it and make it bland. In a true sense, a cookbook is the best source of psychological advice and the kitchen the first choice of room for a therapy of the world.”

So what is considered one of the first fully written cookbooks? Tilly, wait for it.  

Tilly: Holding my breath …

Written in the first century and attributed to that Roman, Olive hates Marcus Gavius Apicius. Yes, Tilly, that damn Apicius fellow.

Tilly: He certainly had some strange ingredients

So, why do historians consider Apicius cookbooks so historical? It lists not just the ingredients but also the measurements, with the preparation and cooking.  The problem with “De re culinarian or De re coqui aria (On the Subject of Cooking)” is that it was written in what scholars’ call  Vulgar Latin, which makes it harder to translate to English. Here is just one of the recipes.

“FINE SPICED WINECONDITUM PARADOXUM

THE COMPOSITION OF [this] EXCELLENT SPICED WINE [is as follows]. INTO A COPPER BOWL PUT 6 SEXTARII [1] OF HONEY AND 2 SEXTARII OF WINE; HEAT ON A SLOW FIRE, CONSTANTLY STIRRING THE MIXTURE WITH A WHIP. AT THE BOILING POINT ADD A DASH OF COLD WINE, RETIRE FROM STOVE AND SKIM. REPEAT THIS TWICE OR THREE TIMES, LET IT REST TILL THE NEXT DAY, AND SKIM AGAIN. THEN ADD 4 OZS. OF CRUSHED PEPPER [2], 3 SCRUPLES OF MASTICH, A DRACHM EACH OF [nard or laurel] LEAVES AND SAFFRON, 5 DRACHMS OF ROASTED DATE STONES CRUSHED AND PREVIOUSLY SOAKED IN WINE TO SOFTEN THEM. WHEN THIS IS PROPERLY DONE ADD 18 SEXTARII OF LIGHT WINE. TO CLARIFY IT PERFECTLY, ADD [crushed] CHARCOAL [3] TWICE OR AS OFTEN AS NECESSARY WHICH WILL DRAW [the residue] TOGETHER [and carefully strain or filter through the charcoal].

[1] Sextarii. Tor. partes XV; G.-V. pondo XV; List. partes XV … pondo lib…. qui continent sextarios sex. One sextarius (a “sixth”) equals about 1½ pint English.

[2] Pepper. Piperis uncias IV—ordinarily our black or white pepper grains, but in connection with honey, sweets, and so forth, the term “pepper” may just as well stand for our allspice, or even for any spicing in general.

[3] Charcoal. Still a favorite filter for liquors.

List. Apicius is correct in starting his book with this formula, as all meals were started with this sort of mixed drink.

Tor. Deviates from the other texts in that he elaborates on the cooking process.”

Tilly: Sounds a real drag to make … surely they had off-licenses even then. I know they had wine merchants.

Enter Tilly’s relatives in 1390: “Forme of Cury (The Rules of Cookery)” was published for- but not by – King Richard II, and contained recipes by the master cooks. In this cookbook, elements of Southern European cooking surface: saffron, sugar, almonds, and various pasta recipes. See the recipe below.

“Loseyns

Take gode broth & do in an erþenpot, take flor of payndmayn & make þer of past wit water & make þer of  thynne foyles as paper wiþ a roller, drye hyt hard & seeþ hyt in broth, take chese ruaynd grated & lay it in disther wiþ poudor douce & lay þer on loseyns ysode as hole as þou myȝt, & aboue poudor & chese and so twycs or þrycs & serue hit forth.

Translation:

Lozenges

Take good broth and do in an earthenpot, take four of bread and make thereof paste with water and make thereof thin foils as paper with a roller, dry it hard and seethe it in broth, take cheese rowen grated and lay it in dishes with fine powder and lay thereon lozenges boiled as whole a you might and above powder and cheese and so twice or thrice and serve it forth.”

Tilly: No idea why you bothered with the translation, Olive. It was perfectly straightforward in the original … essentially said chuck all the ingredients in a sauceman.

The first true American cookbook written and published in the United States was “American Cookery,” written by Amelia Simmons and published in 1796. Until then all cookbooks in America were British. 

What makes this cookbook so historical?  The ingredients, apart from being very American, it was also the first cookbook to include specialties from the New England area.  

Tilly: First catch your moose.

Recipes such as Indian pudding, Johnnycake (which is now called pumpkin pie).

Tilly: Hm … was Johnnycake used as a contraceptive? Johnnies were, maybe still are,

slang for condoms!

It was also the first cookbook to suggest serving cranberries with turkey.  It also introduced “Pearlash,” a precursor of what we call today “baking soda”.

Tilly: How did ‘pearlash’ become baking soda? Pearlash sounds so much more intriguing.

 Historians today and the Library of Congress consider it to be one of those “Books that Shaped America.”

Below is just one of her recipes:

  “To stuff and roast a Turkey, or Fowl.”

One pound soft wheat bread, 3 ounces beef suet, 3 eggs, a little sweet thyme, sweet marjoram, pepper and salt, and some add a gill of wine; fill the bird therewith and sew up, hang down to a steady solid fire, basting frequently with salt and water, and roast until a steam emits from the breast, put one third of a pound of butter into the gravy, dust flour over the bird and baste with the gravy; serve up with boiled onions and cranberry-sauce, mangoes, pickles or celery.

2. Others omit the sweet herbs, and add parsley done with potatoes.
3. Boil and mash 3 pints potatoes, wet them with butter, add sweet herbs, pepper, salt, fill and roast as above.

Tilly: I wonder why thyme and marjoram are called ‘sweet’ – are there other versions which are sour or bitter? Or is it poetic licence?

 For more of her recipes you can read and download it here: https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/12815/pg12815-images.html

 Mrs. Lincoln’s Boston Cookbook, published in 1884. This book is considered one of the most important and significant cookbooks.  It set the bar with precise, standardized measurements and science-based information on nutrition.

Recipe below:

The proportions of seasoning given in these recipes are not sufficient for those who like highly seasoned food* It is easier to add more, than to remove any if too highly seasoned.

 Spice Salt for Soups and Stuffings.

4 ounces of salt.

2 ounces of celery salt.

1 ounce each of white pepper and ground thyme.

1 ounce each of marjoram and summer savory.

1 ounce of sage.

1 saltspoonful of cayenne pepper.

1 teaspoonful each of cloves, allspice, and mace.

Mix, sift, and keep closely covered.

Tilly: Somehow, parsley and garlic have been omitted. And I wonder if the cayenne wouldn’t overpower the marjoram and savory. What do you think, Olive?

As we have stated Mrs. Lincoln set a standard that is used worldwide. From Stars and celebrity chefs.

 

Why, even Olive and Tilly have written a cookbook and are working on the second one.

 

If you want to write a family cookbook check out these 2 links. Enjoy

https://www.template.net/blog/how-to-make-a-cookbook-in-word/

https://templatelab.com/cookbook-templates/          Template 5, 4 or whichever you choose.

“No one who cooks, cooks alone. Even at her most solitary, a cook in the kitchen is surrounded by generations of cooks past, the advice and menus of cooks present, the wisdom of cookbook writers.”

Laurie Colwin

 

 

Olive and Tilly