While unpacking cookbooks yesterday, Monsieur and I came across this beat up book, The Bride's Cookbook. It boasts "Menus for a happy marriage: 300 recipes dedicated to the proposition that a well fed groom is a husband forever."
What pressure. What presumption. It's comical now, to look back, but when I think about the time in which in was first on sale, this kind of thinking in America was what popular culture was pushing.
This, and prim little plaid shirt dresses and A-line skirts. It's a Mad Men kind of thing (though I confess to watching only part of an episode of that show).
The book and its ideas are a relic. And a history lesson, i.e.
"Poultry dishes of all kinds are delicious and, as a rule, economical. Today's dressed birds (that is, cleaned and drawn) require practically no additional attention before cooking. You can have a wonderful time trying unusual dishes without having to revert to that old standby, the Sunday roast chicken. Try some of the newly developed birds such as the Rock Cornish Game Hen or the Cape Hen."
I remember mom cooking up those game hens....but what about "Today's dressed birds..." How the heck did they come before that? Feathered? Unclean? Guess I'm too young to understand. I'll have to ask Mother about this. She'll get a kick out of this and perhaps I'll get some good young-wife-with-three-children-under-5yrs-isolated-in-1950s-nuclear-family stories.
Do you have any old cookbooks about? I'd love to know what they are and what kind of dishes they write about. Oh, and by the way, I LOVE roast chicken, Sunday or any other day. Shove some garlic and rosemary under the skin and bake at 400 until done. Lip smackin' D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S.
That's funny. One of the more humorous articles I came across and not sure if it was a book but it was from a pastor in the mid 1800's describing how a couple should be toward each other. Where it came to sex, it should not be done with lust. So I had to wonder without some lust on his side, how would it happen at all? oh wait, it was only lust on her side that was bad. Probably missionary position, get over with as fast as possible, and remove as few clothing as absolutely required... lol.
ReplyDeleteoh and great name for your house. We call our Tucson house Casa Espiritu :). Funny though we never named this one. It's been as hard to name as our yards around it.
ReplyDeleteMy parents were corporate people, so regular food had to be a weekend treat. She taught her children how to make Mac/ Cheese and Tuna, potato/chip casserole, so in case she never came home again we could survive. It was so the 'Hours.'
ReplyDeletegrilled cheese sandwiches were my 'go to' with two working parents. Or PB&J. When both parents were back in college, I remember Carnation Instant Breakfast drinks were it for the a.m., along with toast. But I always had "The Joy of Cooking" around, always.
DeleteI grew up in a non-traditional household. My father was home with us during the day and cooked all of our meals. He had his own wholesale produce business, so we always had fresh vegetables and fruits. We had lots of fish and chicken, but not much red meat. Always mashed potatoes with everything and a nightly salad. I don't even remember a cookbook in the house. How funny is that?
ReplyDeleteNo cookbooks...wow...and now you do! You've turned me on to some great cookbooks over the years.
DeleteI'm a cookbook freak. Have one that belonged to my great grandmother, it's a treasure.
ReplyDeletela maison de bonheur....tears of joy.
ReplyDelete