Recipes and More

By Jean Teller and Sr. Assoc. Editor
Published on April 24, 2009
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A recent Recipe Box (“Gathering Recipes,” March/April) focused on social cookbooks and the “receipts” included that put the past on the dining table. Our Comfort Foods article for July/August takes a closer look at the handwritten recipe cards found in so many recipe boxes and cherished by family cooks everywhere.

So it was quite interesting when a new book arrived on my desk this week. Pot Roast, Politics, and Ants in the Pantry by Carol and John Fisher is an insider’s look at Missouri’s cookbook heritage, and it’s an interesting read to boot.

The Fishers quickly draw a reader into the world of Missouri cookbooks, and, even with 10 pages of editions listed in the bibliography, I suspect they barely scratch the surface of cookbooks compiled and published in the Show-Me State. Organized by the producers of such tomes, the book begins with a quick look at the history of cookbooks in the state. Earlier books were published, mainly for the European market, with the first known American cookbooks printed in the mid- to late 1700s. In 1796, according to the Fishers, the first cookbook written by an American author for American cooks was published – American Cookery by Amelia Simmons. More American-specific books arrived in the next century, including The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, written by Fannie Farmer who was with the famous Boston Cooking School at the time.

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