The Old and the New
Everything Old is New Again
My mom recently passed along to me a few old cookbooks and it’s been interesting reading through them. The first thing that jumps out at me is the simplicity of the old books. Cookbooks have changed a lot since the 1960′s and 1980′s when these were published. Compared with these books, new books fall into two categories. Today’s books are either intended as eye candy or as mini cooking classes. These old books are strictly recipe collections like a home cook would pass along to another. There is little introduction or fanfare preceding the recipes, and very little direction on technique. Photography is limited.
Even more interesting are the recipes themselves, showing just how much our tastes have changed. Flipping through “The Czechoslovak Cookbook” you can find Liver Sauce, Larded Calves Liver and Tripe Soup. “The Russian Tea Room Cookbook”, shows what was special at this once-upon-a-time elegant institution in Manhattan, including Sweet and Sour Smelts. Finally, recipes from “The Great Hadassah Cookbook” range from the elegant Sweet and Sour Duck to the basic Crunchy Peanut Mallow Slice, the kind of recipe you’d find on the back of a jar.
The truth is, as much as I love my modern, step-by-detailed-step, beautiful cookbooks with photographs, these old books were perfectly adequate. If you were interested in exploring and cooking any of these specialty cuisines, the recipes will get the job done for you. In fact, these books may well point the way to future cooking trends. According to Ted Allen in the current “Food Network Magazine”, ingredients that have been out of favor for a while, that fall into the category called offal (like tripe, brains, tongue), are reappearing on the hottest menus in fine dining. So just like fashion, where every few decades styles make a comeback with small changes, food may be going through the same cycling where everything old is once again new.
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4 Responses to “The Old and the New”
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I think the future of cookbooks will be Kindle or iPad. Not only can you have lists of recipies you can have on demand video demonstrations.
I disagree with that on a technicality. It may be that the future of recipes will be Kindle or iPad, but not of cookbooks. In my experience, many cooks (myself included) pull recipes off the internet. But there’s still nothing like reading a cookbook to immerse oneself in a cuisine or foodie daydream. The techno tools may be functional, but they lack soul, and I don’t believe they will replace a tangible book. Just call me an old-fashioned girl.
I love cookbooks, and when I get a new one I read it from cover to cover. I had a cousin who was an excellent cook and baker. Her take on cookbooks was that if you get only one recipe that you love and will repeat that recipe, the book paid for itself. In an emergency I will go to the internet for a recipe, but before I do that, I check out my books. It’s so much more satisfying to hold something tangible in my hands. The only thing that beats this is watching someone else prepare a dish which I had a chance to do this past weekend. The chef prepared a dinner in front of us and then provided the printed recipe to each guest. She made it look so easy! We’ll see…..
Sounds like a fun time. I love going to cooking classes – it brings the recipes to life. The sounds, the smells, the tastes – you can’t get that from the iPad – at least not yet!