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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The food memories of thousands of happy Americans, 30 Sep 2000
By A Customer
The Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book is hardly new in my family. At least not the copy I recently found! My mother has a great nack for saving just about everything. When I partially removed the old red fabric tape holding the cover together, I found the words "Meredith Press O1." The red and white gingham cover also has three pictures: a pot, a pan and a gravy server.I know for a fact, my mother has had this cookbook since I was born. My grandmother also has about every edition ever published, all well worn! I am finally convinced that "The Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book" is perhaps almost completely responsible for my families love of cooking. Our beloved cookbook is so well worn, the edges of all the pages are a lovely crinkled beige. The yellow tabbed pages have clear tape over the well-worn tabs and the poultry chapter has barely survived. (We raised chickens in Africa! This book was there!) I was more than pleased to hear about the 1930-2000 Limited Edition! We still make the Herb Stuffing and Ambrosia. I also just realized that my father must have found the idea for cheese-filled bacon wrapped frankfurters from Better Homes and Gardens. Dad! And I thought he made that recipe up! It looks like men were reading cookbooks in the 60's or maybe that dish was a popular one. Do you remember Praline or Seven-Minute Frosting? The Swedish Pancakes and Banana-nut Bread recipes are all splattered with stains of unknown origin. (I am guessing eggs, milk, butter?) All my new cookbooks are now on a stand, far out of reach of buttery fingers! But then again, if my mother had not let me use this cookbook at a young age (without much supervision - therefore the stains of unknown origin), who knows if I would have developed such a fascination for kitchen lore, cooking and culinary culture. Many of my family memories are also connected to recipes in many editions of this book. If you are looking for a cookbook to inspire generations of cooks, you should consider this book seriously. Not only is it an American classic, the recipes carry with them the happy culinary memories of millions of Americans.
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by Cook's Illustrated Magazine
by Irma Starkhoff Rombauer
