Wednesday 6 May 2009

Hooked on Cook Books Day 1

I have a thing for cookbooks.
Not fancy schmancy up-to-the-minute cook books. 1940's, 50's and 60's cook books.

I picked up some more on the weekend whilst garage sale-ing to add to the collection and thought I might have a week coming up where I can share some of my favourite recipes and pictures from my collection. Maybe somewhere out there is someone else who fancies cook books who encourage you to be a good housewife and make art out of rockmelons and cocktail onions....

Here's my new addition of The Australian Women's Weekly Picture Cookery Book. No date but estimating late 50's/early 60's. Now who wouldn't be whipping those little cakes on the right out whenever you have the gals over for afternoon tea?


And next is a cracker of a version, this time from the USA, of Betty Crocker's Cake and Frosting Mix Cook Book. Circa 1966, this is full of fantastic uses for all of Betty's packet concocotions. Look how perfect their icing coverage and texture is!! Now all I have to do is work out if today's versions of her products translate back to the 1966 versions..... I feel a email to the Betty Crocker kitchen coming on!



Any of my loyal readers collect these sort of cook books?

5 comments:

Chasing Snails said...

My mum has the AWW one!

I love Cookbooks (the older the better, they have more personality) and am quite content to just flick through them and 'oooohhhh and aaaahhhh' over all the the yumminess.

Older Cookbooks are much better for the cooler months too, comfort food beats wins hands down anyday!

Unknown said...

Awww.. I love cook books too! The Betty Crocker ones look fab! I have one from the Betty Crocker series too! Cool! Recipes never grow old...

http://be-a-glitzer.blogspot.com/

tea and cake said...

I love old cookbooks, but don't buy them as I wouldn't use them - those little cakes would be stale by the time I'd finished messing around with all those different icings!

Taccolina said...

Yup, I love old cookbooks, too. Mainly ones from the 1920s and 1930s -- I'm after the recipes and different ideas. Fashion changes so much!

But I do have my Grandmother's 1960s whopper of a Gourmet cookbook, and apart from the pages marked with notes and envelopes to her or my (also-much missed) Grandpa, there are the family favourites I recognise and some very scary photos involving gelatine, cocktail sticks and linedup celery curls. (shudder of delightfu horror)

Anonymous said...

Well, I'm not a loyal reader of yours having just found you via um, soozs? or nikki? i'm not sure.
I have a wonderful McCalls cookie cookbook with the most wonderful two-color illustrations. There's even one page where they've photographed a doll rolling out some dough. very cute. Picked it up at Clunes Book Town.
I have to say those cakes in your post are absurd. and fantastic. There's a cupcake shop in Degraves street that has lots of fancy iced cupcakes but i prefer the kitsch dagginess of some of these over the top concoctions.