Here's the Story

There are a few quirky things about the Ladies Guild Cook Book (I'll probably just stick to calling it the cook book from here on out) aside from the unusual amount of pimientos, and gelatin.  The first thing that really sticks out is the table of contents.  Unlike most cook books, the contents are listed in alphabetical order.  I suppose that sort of makes sense, but it's not very intuitive.

What was the reasoning behind ordering the sections this way?  I'm not sure.

There is also the section labeled "How to follow the recipes".  You would think that this section would be put before there are any recipes.  But more interestingly, it gives us a glimpse into post war kitchens.  Some of what is listed is pretty good, especially the measurement equivalents.  We've got a cook book stand that has some equivalents listed on it, and I've got a bookmark on my web browser where I can find equivalents as well, so having a good list is pretty handy.  Thumbs up, Ladies.  What I find more interesting though, is the list of can sizes.  I think this is the first reference I've ever seen to can sizes.  Now certainly we must have a larger variety of things in cans today than there was 60 years ago, but to me this shows how important the industrialization of food had become.  I really ought to find some food history to read.  Aside from canned tomatoes, beans, and boxes of broth, I can't think of any cook books that we own that use cans.  I wonder if the canned vegetables of the 1950s were as mushy and over-salted as I remember them being from when I was growing up.  As I work through this cook book though, we will probably have a few more cans than normal in our pantry.

Why is this on page 16?

Another interesting bit here is the list of oven temperatures.  I have no concept of what ovens were like 60 years ago.  Were these heat categories listed on the oven instead of degrees?  Or is this perhaps a throw back to earlier kitchens when they were heated by wood or coal?  I can't imagine skillful cooking on a range/oven like that.  Practice makes perfect, I suppose.  This is going to be a useful thing since there are not a small number of recipes that direct you to use a "moderate" or "hot" oven.

Next, I probably need to establish some kind of methods for this project.  Though I may not stick to this plan perfectly, I'll do my best.

• I will do my best to post one recipe per week - life and family circumstances permitting, of course.
• I will choose recipes section by section starting at the front of the book, moving to the back.  Since some of the sections are much shorter than others, I will skip the short sections on subsequent times through the book in order to not be stuck making batch after batch of cookies later on in the project... not that lots of cookies is a bad thing.
• I will (more or less) work from the front of a section to the back of a section as I go through the book.  I'll do my best not to cherry-pick recipes.
• I will follow the recipes as closely and faithfully as I can.  It is entirely possible that finding a specific ingredient will be difficult.  Or perhaps a small amount of something will be called for, but I don't want to be stuck with a whole can of something that wouldn't get finished up.  In that case, I will find a substitution, or omit the ingredient.  I may also scale down some recipes in order to keep from wasting food.  Mayonnaise-heavy recipes are not likely to go over very well in this family.
• I will provide copies of all of the recipes I make.
• I will do my best to finish what I make.  There are children starving in other parts of the world, you know.
• As best as I am able, I will have other people try the resulting food product.  We will give our honest opinions of the food and we will do our best to not be any more snarky than necessary.*

So that's that for now.  I finished the first recipe last night and the first food post will likely be posted later today.  Can't wait.

*This won't turn into Sandwich Monday, as much as I enjoy reading it.  I can't promise no snark, but it won't be our goal.