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Cookbook Project, Books #102 and 103
Oct. 6th, 2009 08:24 pm"The Little House Cookbook," Barbara M. Walker
This was the first cookbook I ever owned, and one of the most special. When I was growing up, my mom read the Little House books out loud to me, and I loved them. She also taught me to cook - she was a home ec teacher originally, and I loved being in the kitchen with her. I don't remember how old I was when I started making things on my own, with her supervising me, instead of just helping her stir or measure ingredients, but I do know that at one point - probably when I was about eight years old - I baked... something, I can't remember what, for my great grandfather. And he apparently found this charming enough that he bought me this book, thinking that it'd combine two of my favorite things.
He was right. Decades later, now, the book is battered and worn from being reread and used and generally loved. It's not something I break out on a regular basis, but I've played with recipes from it more than once, and I've been looking forward to working it into this project from the start. I even knew which recipe I wanted to try.
Bird's Nest Pudding had always sounded interesting and fun and delicious, and apple picking is one of the most important landmarks of the fall, so it was the perfect way to work a whole bunch of my favorites together. It's a kind of baked apple/custard combination - apples are peeled and partially baked, and then a sweetened custard is poured around them to finish baking. The apples we used were probably a bit on the large side, so they were a little less cooked through than might have been ideal, but otherwise it was as marvelous as I hoped it'd be.
But even if it had been horrid, I'd still love this book. It's most likely the trigger for the entire vast collection that now occupies my dining room, and my continuing love of playing in the kitchen. Thank you, Grandpa Bim.
"The Cook's Color Treasury," Norma MacMillan
This giant coffee table monstrosity is another hand-me-down from![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
umbran's mom. It is.... well, it's big. And it dates back to the 70's, and the pictures are at best scary. But it's also kind of interesting to look through, because it's got recipes for just about everything, and at least they're organized pretty well, and nowhere near as scary as most of the other old cookbooks I've got - no scary instant stuff or canned food substitutes, and the writers seem to know their way around spicing. So I was only a little afraid to give it a try.
Since my garden turned out a bumper crop of eggplant this year, I was looking for ways to use it up. Unfortunately, none of my unused cookbooks had a recipe for moussaka (yes, I could reuse a book, but I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, using up both produce and books), but this book at least had a recipe for Eggplant Cheese Bake. It looked like a simplified eggplant parmesan, with a quick homemade tomato sauce. Sounds harmless enough, right?
Oh my god, it was excellent. Quicker and easier than any other version of eggplant parm that I've tried in the past, and because of that the flavors were more pure and light - not as hidden by overbreading or greasiness. I'd make this again. I'd make it again this week. And it's enough to make me seriously reassess this book, and use it again, instead of just shoving it aside because it's big and full of humorously scary illustrations....
This was the first cookbook I ever owned, and one of the most special. When I was growing up, my mom read the Little House books out loud to me, and I loved them. She also taught me to cook - she was a home ec teacher originally, and I loved being in the kitchen with her. I don't remember how old I was when I started making things on my own, with her supervising me, instead of just helping her stir or measure ingredients, but I do know that at one point - probably when I was about eight years old - I baked... something, I can't remember what, for my great grandfather. And he apparently found this charming enough that he bought me this book, thinking that it'd combine two of my favorite things.
He was right. Decades later, now, the book is battered and worn from being reread and used and generally loved. It's not something I break out on a regular basis, but I've played with recipes from it more than once, and I've been looking forward to working it into this project from the start. I even knew which recipe I wanted to try.
Bird's Nest Pudding had always sounded interesting and fun and delicious, and apple picking is one of the most important landmarks of the fall, so it was the perfect way to work a whole bunch of my favorites together. It's a kind of baked apple/custard combination - apples are peeled and partially baked, and then a sweetened custard is poured around them to finish baking. The apples we used were probably a bit on the large side, so they were a little less cooked through than might have been ideal, but otherwise it was as marvelous as I hoped it'd be.
But even if it had been horrid, I'd still love this book. It's most likely the trigger for the entire vast collection that now occupies my dining room, and my continuing love of playing in the kitchen. Thank you, Grandpa Bim.
"The Cook's Color Treasury," Norma MacMillan
This giant coffee table monstrosity is another hand-me-down from
umbran's mom. It is.... well, it's big. And it dates back to the 70's, and the pictures are at best scary. But it's also kind of interesting to look through, because it's got recipes for just about everything, and at least they're organized pretty well, and nowhere near as scary as most of the other old cookbooks I've got - no scary instant stuff or canned food substitutes, and the writers seem to know their way around spicing. So I was only a little afraid to give it a try.Since my garden turned out a bumper crop of eggplant this year, I was looking for ways to use it up. Unfortunately, none of my unused cookbooks had a recipe for moussaka (yes, I could reuse a book, but I wanted to kill two birds with one stone, using up both produce and books), but this book at least had a recipe for Eggplant Cheese Bake. It looked like a simplified eggplant parmesan, with a quick homemade tomato sauce. Sounds harmless enough, right?
Oh my god, it was excellent. Quicker and easier than any other version of eggplant parm that I've tried in the past, and because of that the flavors were more pure and light - not as hidden by overbreading or greasiness. I'd make this again. I'd make it again this week. And it's enough to make me seriously reassess this book, and use it again, instead of just shoving it aside because it's big and full of humorously scary illustrations....
