The introductory texts reproduced here were written by the original Feeding America team to contextualize the books that were selected for inclusion as part of the 2001 digitization project.
The Good Housekeeping Woman's Home Cook Book
Arranged By Isabel Gordon Curtis.
Chicago: Reilly & Britton, c1909.
Toward the end of the 19th century and throughout the 20th various forms of media - newspapers, magazines, radio, the movies and TV -all became involved in the publishing of cookbooks. This volume represents the many and diverse types of books in this category. It well represents a cookbook published by a national magazine.
See also The Los Angeles Times Cook Book No. 2 (1905).
One of the most typical attributes of books sponsored by magazines about food and the household, as well as general women's interest publications, is that the recipes were usually fully tested in a test kitchen. In this book, we are informed that all recipes are fully tested, sometimes three times: by the originator, by a committee of subscribers to Good Housekeeping and/or by the New England School of Cookery.
Considering what a poor job many of today's publications do on testing, or even proofreading, their recipes, we can be grateful for the thrice-tested recipes included in this book.
The recipes are often attributed to their original source, be it a subscriber to the magazine or a famed national cookery authority such as Fannie Farmer or Emma Ewing. Since the magazine was national, there are recipes from every part of the country. There is also a discussion of measurements.
A few of the more intriguingly named titles include: Compote of Marshmallows, Wigwam Pudding, Red Bisque with Snowballs, Angel Stars, Muskmellon Frappe and Picked-up Cod Fish.
