cookbooks

when my grandma died last year, among her belongings that were passed down were a bunch of cookbooks.  i love to cook, as this blog can attest, and i have a lot of food memories of my grandma: being forced to eat this gross ground beef/potato/apple (is this memory even correct?) casserole as a child, making cookies with her in the kitchen on many occasions, being taught to make the fruit cake recipe for my dad.

both before and after she passed away i got some of her cookbooks.  today you get a tour of them.

cookbook 1: the new york times cookbook from 1961

for about the last 10 years of her life, my grandma kept trying to give away some of her belongings.  "look through the bookshelf and take some books!"  "would you have any use for…?"  her belongings had already been condensed to fit into a tiny apartment and were being reduced even more to fit into her room when she moved into the skilled nursing facility.  this is a book that i took during my last visit to see her before she died, when it was clear that, yes, there wasn't room for all her books anymore.

cookbook 2: staples' treasure of personal recipes from 1952

grandma grew up in staples, minnesota, and this is a cookbook that the women in her parents' church put together.  she gave me this book even earlier - maybe 7 or 8 years ago when i went to visit.  inside - and shown below - is mrs. kenneth kingsley's recipe for fruit cake, which must be made around the holidays.  grandma showed my sister and i how to make it - measuring crisco from a can into a measuring cup because that's what the recipe said - and then gave me the book.  (don't worry, when i remember to make this for dad, who loves it, we use margarine instead of crisco.)  i love that this recipe says to cook the fruit cake "in lower oven in 3 coffee cans."  below my grandma has translated this: 325 degrees.

cookbook 3: betty crocker's picture cookbook from 1950

this is a book i was incredibly touched to receive.  after my grandma died, we held a memorial service for her at my parents' farm.  we set up a little exhibition of her things in one of the rooms of our house, and family members took things as the weekend ended.  this cookbook was left behind, i thought accidentally, but my aunt monica wanted me to have it.  this was grandma's daily cookbook, and it is so well-loved...stained from years of cooking with it open on the counter...with handwritten notes...duct-taped back together...extra recipes shoved between pages.

ruby likes the illustrations.

the cookies page was definitely the most well-used.

cookbook 4: gold medal flour cookbook from 1910

this little paper cookbook was my great-grandmother's and is 103 years old.  i was baking this morning (peach muffins to bring to a meeting that i'm leading tomorrow), and thought this was a fitting picture.  i should be in an ad.  gold medal flour people: call me.

i think this cookbook must have been one you sent away for after buying so many bags of flour; it's personalized with my great-grandmother's name (lilah poore) on the cover.  this cookbook, too, is well-loved: stained and taped together and a little crumbly at the corners from its age.

it's one big advertisement for the flour, but has tons of recipes, too.  gold medal people: i will even stand in this pose for our TV ad if you want me to.

this thanksgiving we'll have my grandma's green bean casserole and blueberry cobbler on the table.  we'll keep eating the same things that have been eaten in our family for years and years…and years and years to come.