"community cookbook" news and stories

I really, really like community cookbooks. I like knowing what people are cooking in their homes and finding out what they see as their best or most crowd-friendly recipes. Sandra J. Taylor shares my love of community cookbooks and had taken the time to search, scan and study more than 100 of them published by small towns, churches, museums, historical societies, and civic organizations from across New England. She narrowed the field down to the 400 best recipes and those are what went into Hometown Cooking in New England.

I don't a copy of this book in my collection, although given my love of the community cookbook, it is now on my list of wants. However, here is a choice list of recipe names that the book contains: Quilter's Potato Salad, Poppy Seed and Maple Syrup Bread, The Reverend Hall's Clam Chowder, Apple and Walnut Scones, Yankee Pot Roast, Maple Baked Beans, Scalloped Oysters, Wellesley Fudge Cake, Beacon Hill Cookies, and Mother Shaw's Baking Powder Biscuits.

Anyone out there have a favorite community cookbook?

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My great-grandfather was a musician who immigrated to the United States from the Ukraine sometime in the early days of the 20th century. He made his way to Philadelphia, established himself as a music teacher and eventually won a seat in the violin section of the Philadelphia Orchestra. He played with them until his death in 1919, at the tail-end of the flu pandemic. This might be far more information than is necessary for a Cookbook of the Day post, but it gives you some valuable information as to why I have a copy of the Philadelphia Orchestra Cookbook.

This book doesn't date back to my great-grandfather's days, but because of the connection, my grandmother supported the Orchestra during her later years, attending concerts, galas and always participating in fundraisers. I'm assuming that her inability to say no to anything having to do with the Orchestra is why this particular cookbook has been on the living room shelves since I was a year old.

You're probably thinking, "Enough already, Marisa. Tell us if this cookbook is actually useful when it comes to cooking and time in the kitchen." Shockingly enough, this is actually one of the more helpful community cookbooks I've come across in my travels (and I've seen more than my fair share of community cookbooks). It always offers guidance on whether the recipe is one that can be prepped ahead of time, whether it can be frozen and if the level of skill required is basic, medium or advanced. It does have its share of scary Jell-O "salads" but also contains recipes for Spinach Tarts, a delicious-sounded Dilled Pea Salad and a helpful guide that advises on how much meat and fish to buy per person for your dinner parties.

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I love old community cookbooks. I pick them up at thrift stores, bookshops and yard sales whenever I can. I especially like the ones from the fifties and sixties, as they allow a peek into the kitchens and dining rooms of a time before food television and the gourmetification of the world. I rarely cook out of these books, perusing them mostly for entertainment and occasionally for inspiration.

Several weeks ago my cousin and I were going through her cookbook collection to find some recipes for my thesis, when we stumbled across a copy of the Norristown State Hospital Women's Medical Auxiliary cookbook, which she had because her mother had contributed several recipes. The pages are rough half sheets that have yellowed with age. It is bound with a plastic spiral, like the ones we used in elementary school to make books. I've enjoyed flipping through it, checking out the recipes with my aunt's name attached, to see what she was cooking in the late fifties or early sixties.

Although we aren't officially in fall yet, Labor Day marked the end of summer in my mind, so I offer you a recipe that seems to be expressly designated for this time of year. I'm not entirely sure why this dish should be made in the Autumn, but Mrs. Barbanti believed that was when it was best, so I won't argue with her.