I didn't really need another, not at all. The fact that I have three already should have been enough to keep me from purchasing a fourth, but I had to. The Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook was the first cookbook I ever used; the one I still turn to, and the one for which I am relentlessly seeking a specific edition.
My mom had this cookbook, of course, just like every other 60's/70's mom in the United States. When I wanted to make sugar cookies (which was quite often) it was the book I opened. When I baked my first loaf of bread, it was the recipe contained in those food-stained pages that I was drawn to.
When I taught in-home cooking lessons, it was the book I recommended to anyone just starting out. I still think it's the best book for beginning cooks. Every edition is different, updated, modernized, revamped. Each edition has a section or recipe or tip that I find I can't live without, so I keep them all.
My mom's copy is gone and I don't have any idea what edition it was, but I will keep searching until I find it, and until then, amassing as many editions as possible is just fine with me.
10 comments:
For me it was the orange Betty Crocker cookbook. I think I still have it around here somewhere.
Hah! I recognize that! And the Betty Crocker one that Annie mentioned. ;)
This was my go to book for so long. Now I seem to end up going to Joy more these days
Do you have any idea as to what year it might have been? I have several BC cookbooks and might be able to help you out. Let me know which one you are looking for, and if I have it, you are welcome to it. My vintage cookbook collection has taken over a whole corner of the bedroom. :-)
How will you know when you find the right edition?
CJ- It will be the pictures and a couple recipes. I know it's prior to the 1968 edition (which is the one I just bought - Fifth printing - 1972). I remember one of the bread photos having a robin's egg blue background and the photos were so close to the colorized versions, but I'm not sure if they were real color photos or colorized. It's one of those things - I'll know it when I see it!
That was my first cookbook and I've had 3 different editions. I recently gave one of to a man in our neighborhood who was recently widowed. We had been talking, and he didn't have a cookbook. He has 6 grown children, and I'm not sure how many grandchildren, and he's always got a crowd to cook for.
Cas
and it was really hard for me to decide which version of the cookbook I should give to him.
Wow - you guys are hard core about cookbooks. I'm impressed. I see one, yeah, looks good, buy it that's it. This is like three steps beyond my experience.
Ha! With a whole cabinet full of cookbooks, and the bazillion recipes on the internet, this is still the one I pick up when I want to find a recipe. Absolutely every time.
My edition goes back to 1962. The poor old thing is falling apart but I still use it all the time. Lots of recipes for old fashioned comfort food.
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