A Look Back and Wisdom of the Ladies

As I finished the Ranger Cookies post, I realized that I'd reached the end of the cook book for the second time.  Now granted, I skipped over the shorter sections the second time around in order to not finish those recipes there much faster than those from the longer sections, but still I feel like this is something of an accomplishment.  26 recipes later, the sense I get is that though food has changed pretty drastically 60+ years, there are some commonalities between the kitchen experiences of the Ladies and what I know today.

Despite a general change in tastes and ideas about food, it is clear to me that there was a strong sense of pride in the food prepared by the Ladies back in 1951.  Of course, recipes self-selected for submission in the cook book were deemed to be good enough in some sense, and probably did not include some of the mundane day to day recipes that were just knocked out when time was short or the cook was tired.  Though life seems to be faster and the day shorter now than what it was 60 years ago, how could a family's (and likely a mother's) schedule not get over-booked and rushed at times?  I'm sure the Ladies didn't submit their equivalent to my "boil pasta, add a jar of sauce, eat cold frozen peas" meals that occasionally make an appearance on our table.  Sometimes dinner is little more than providing sustenance for the family at the end of a long day.  Other recipes though, demonstrate a real sense of pride.

In my mind dishes like sour milk orange cake and carrot ring were probably dishes that were made with  pride or were appropriate for company.  Yes, the carrot ring was pretty terrible to my eyes and tongue, but it had an aesthetic that I think was probably appreciated (based on my limited knowledge of food from the era).  The recipes I made were generally pretty bland compared to what is found more commonly today, but I don't think that really should diminish what the food represented for the Ladies.  Any recipe I would submit to a cook book would surely be something I enjoy, and would enjoy sharing with others and likewise this sense of generosity, caring, and accomplishment shines through (even if some flavors don't) in the recipes of the cook book.  So though the recipes I enjoy to make and share are pretty different from the recipes the Ladies seemed to have liked and shared, I really think I would have enjoyed sharing a kitchen and cooking time with any of them.

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Moving on.  I was looking through the first section or two of the cook book trying to decide what to make next when I came across some little bits of wisdom from the Ladies tacked onto the end of the Appetizers section.  So without further ado, Lady wisdom:

Next time:  Appetizers