The oldest, newest, and most loved cookbooks at Food52
February 8, 2015 by DarcieYou won’t be surprised to find that the staff of indexed blog Food52 have extensive cookbook collections. Like many of us, they have more cookbooks than bookshelves to hold them, with books to be found hither and yon. Now they’re sharing with us which cookbooks they are “holding onto, cooking from, and buying up.”
Contributing writer and editor Lindsay-Jean Hard writes that her
oldest cookbook is a 1958 copy of the Better Homes & Gardens Salad Book.
Her most loved cookbook? Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy. She lists her newest
as Nigel Slater’s Tender, although I suspect that by
“newest” she means “most recently acquired,” because
Tender was published before Vegetable Literacy.
Erin McDowell, food stylist, writer, and co-test kitchen manager, found her copy of the 1911 The Grocer’s Encyclopedia in a library cart next to the dumpster. She notes that it contains “some great information, which is, surprisingly, not horribly outdated. Best of all, it has these crazy detailed drawings of all kinds of meat, fish, produce, nuts, etc.” Erin’s most loved books are a tattered early copy of Stocking Up and Great Pies and Tarts by Carole Walter. The latter was her “first bible when it came to fruits nestled in flaky crusts and is completely spattered with strawberry juice.”
Check out the comments at Food52 to find out what’s on the shelves of other people, including EYB’s Jane Kelly. My oldest cookbook is a 1955 copy of Cream, Butter, & Wine by Sybil Goffinet. Written after World War II rationing was finally over in Britain, it was a way to get people reacquainted with the ingredients that had been in short supply for nearly a generation. As such, it’s not a cookbook for anyone on a diet. My newest cookbook is Liquid Intelligence by Dave Arnold. My most-loved cookbook, as I’ve explained previously, is a well-worn copy of Joy of Cooking, a gift that started me on my culinary adventures.
What are the oldest, newest, and most-loved cookbooks on your
Bookshelf?
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