White House Memories - Cookbook, That Is!

I love searching in cookbooks for new recipes and experimenting with old classics. Cooking is fun for me. I know it's a challenge for some people. Not for me. Needless to say, I also love eating.

I love foods from many places with their range of tastes and flavors from all around the world. Although I will try many exotic foods I have never tasted, I must admit that when it comes to the really bizarre, I am not that brave.

I collect and read cookbooks and I own a slew of them. Some of them may have only one or two recipes I like or have tried, however, I consider it a valuable find if I can find at least one thing useful.

One of my most precious possessions is an old cookbook from the early days of my mother's marriage. It is The "White House Cookbook, Revised for Both Small and Large Families." It is undated and it could have belonged to either my maternal or paternal grandmother. In my dad's handwriting, a note written on a sheet of paper says: "White House Cookbook, 1923." The pages are yellowed and brittle and the front and back covers are attached with tape. I remember my mother using it often. . The book itself is so old, I have to keep it wrapped to protect it. It's amazing that such great food was made and cooked with such perfection even though the directions were less than perfect.Unfortunately, I never thought of taking steps to preserve it.

In one of the recipes for a cake, the directions tell the home cook to, "Bake three or four hours, according to the thickness of the loaves, in a tolerably hot oven, and with steady heat." No oven temperature is mentioned, so you just have to guess at it or research other recipes to calculate the time.

In these old cookbooks, the instructions in many cases are sketchy as in the example I cited above. My mother. I think, played around with measuring some of the ingredients. Whatever she did was right. Her recipes always came out will.  I don't know whether she had gotten tips from my grandmother or not. It is likely that she did, however, I never found any written proof of that.

This cookbook is fun, nevertheless. Not only does it have recipes and instructions for state dinners, there are recipes and remedies the the sick. It also sports illustrations of the White House and its inhabitants. 

It didn't occur to me until very recently that this was the only cookbook I ever remember seeing at home. In my mind's eye, I don't see my mother or my grandmothers poring over lots of cookbooks like I do. They just cooked or baked. Although my mom must have had some written recipe or learned from somewhere to bake the fantastic 1-2-3-4 butter cake with chocolate icing every year for my birthday. Oh my goodness; it was perfect! Enjoy!