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The New Addition

12/26/2017

17 Comments

 
Picture
A 1920s edition of The Settlement Cook Book
Right off, I’ll tell you that this post has nothing to do with an adorable puppy or kitten or guinea pig joining
our household.  Also, it’s not about a human baby, because really, for that to happen now, there would have to
be a star in the East.
 
What it is about is a cookbook.
 
Those who know me, and those who read this blog, know I collect vintage American cookbooks. 
 
They’re not just for display.  I use them—a lot. 
 
Because of its nostalgic value, my favorite is my mom’s 1950, first edition Betty Crocker’s Picture Cook Book—written for the I-can’t-even-boil-water, post-World War II brides.  It’s obvious how much I get mine out, since the spine is held together with duct tape.  I also depend on an exact facsimile of the 1953 “Red Plaid” Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book, formatted in a user friendly three-ring binder.  It was the perfect birthday present from The Hubster a few years back. 
 
Too, there’s the 1960s four-book set of good eats titled Favorite Recipes of America, which I bought from a long gone cookbook store in beautiful downtown Burbank.  Added to these are more than a dozen smaller books and pamphlets, each one stashed in my kitchen corner.  These publications always provide at least one dish that’s worth a return visit.
 
Now, I expect to be making many happy returns to my new addition--The Settlement Cook Book.

Purchased at a library sale for two dollars, I'd never heard of the title, but it called to me.  With its mustard yellow cover, it's the opposite of fancy schmancy, with only a red heart, its name and a tiny sketch of a female cook on the front.  It's utilitarian inside, too: there are no photos, not even grainy black and white ones, but it's still nearly 600 pages, and weighs in at a couple of pounds.

Yet as it turns out, there's a remarkable story behind the story with The Settlement Cook Book--one that's far more layered and therefore, goes far beyond great recipes.

First, it's the most famous, and most successful, fundraising recipe book of all time.

Indeed, this past summer saw the cookbook's 40th edition come out (mine is the 33rd edition, from 1976); it was also its 116th anniversary.  Breaking down the numbers a bit more, this book has also sold more than 1.5 million copies worldwide, and remained a best-selling cookbook well into the 1970s.  
 
Given this success, as well as how long The Settlement Cook Book has been around, I have no idea how I missed this particular circus ring.  
 
But I’m happy to learn about it now.
 
The cookbook’s origins began at the turn of the last century, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at a place called The Settlement House.  A sort of combination social service agency and community center for the urban poor, it serviced a large population of newly arrived Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe.  To help these strangers adjust to America—so many were eager to learn about the life and ways of the United States—the volunteer run center offered free sewing, English and cooking classes. 
 
The latter was taught by Lizzie Black Kander, who founded the center and, no surprise, was a terrific cook.  But
soon, Kander came to regret the fact that her excited students had to spend so much time carefully copying recipes
from a blackboard. 
 
So, she came up with an inspired idea: why not print out the recipes and lessons that went with them? 
 
The female volunteer committee at The Settlement enthusiastically approved the plan, but the conservative males who held the purse strings refused to authorize the $18 that Kander needed.  Instead, they suggested that the women come up with the funding themselves, and then laughingly offered to “share in any profits from your little venture.”
 
Undaunted, the ladies raised the money themselves—more than enough, in fact, to make the project a more ambitious one than previously envisioned. 
 
Recipes were collected from not only original committee members, but other friends, as well as European dishes from the students and their families.  Finally, in April of 1901, 1,000 copies of a slim (174 pages) book appeared--The way to a man’s heart…The Settlement Cook Book.   One more thing: since it was designed for Settlement clients, one didn’t have to know much English to figure out the recipes.  
 
(Another aside: although many of the cookbook’s devoted readers consider the book to be a Jewish one, early editions actually contained very few Jewish recipes.  The new arrivals, after all, already knew how to make those dishes.) 
 
There’s no question that Kander, whose own parents were German Jews, and the other women who worked at Settlement House, wanted to help the new immigrants adjust to, and even flourish in, their new country. 
 
But there was an elephant in the room, too—one having to do with self-survival over selflessness.   
 
To be blunt, Kander and so many others noticed that these new arrivals looked, dressed, worshipped and ate very differently than the already established Jewish community, mostly German Americans, of Milwaukee.  This latter group was also a generally prosperous one, and it was feared that this latest influx of immigrants would pull them down. 
 
Worse, it was thought by many that they would inspire a new wave of anti-Semitism. 
 
In short, Kander felt it was crucial for her students and their families to “Americanize”—the swifter, the better—in order not to reflect negatively on the Jews who already had firm roots in Milwaukee.  To that end, Kander’s cookbook helped pave the road toward near-total assimilation.
 
It’s all a fascinating back story.  But the book still wouldn’t mean a whole lot to this foodie if the recipes aren’t
​worth making.
 
So far, I’ve only tried two, but both have proven so tasty that I’ll absolutely be making them again.
 
One is a Thousand Island dressing, which, until I read the Settlement recipe, meant putting together ketchup and mayonnaise, and if I felt ambitious, some pickle relish and a bit of cream to thin out the mixture.  The Settlement recipe has only one tablespoon of ketchup, but that’s all that’s needed, because there’s also chili sauce, green peppers, pimiento, onion juice and a finely chopped hard-boiled egg.  
 
The other is a vegetable beef soup that requires a hunk of beef shank (two pounds worth) to simmer in two quarts of cold water for four hours before anything else is added.  When I later put in the vegetables—cabbage, carrots, celery root, parsley and tomatoes—it occurred to me that I was also making bone broth.  (However, I will not be making the book’s chicken broth, which calls for 10 chicken feet, scalded and skinned, nails removed.)
 
Perhaps it all comes down to this:  so often, the best ideas—and that includes the best eats—are the most tried and true ones.  Thinking about The Settlement Cook Book, I couldn’t agree more. 
 
How about you?  What are your favorite cookbooks and/or recipes, and why? 
 
P.S. Learn more about Lizzie Black Kander at http://www.wi101.org/?story=elizabeth-lizzie-black-kander

Picture
Lizzie Black Kander
17 Comments
Larry Grant
12/26/2017 02:53:36 pm

Love the author’s sense of culinary adventure. The butcher at our local market enjoys the questions we bring him too.

Reply
Hilary Grant
12/26/2017 03:00:50 pm

Yup; we're lucky to live in an area where there are real meat cutters who are also foodies! xo

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Beverly Praver link
12/26/2017 03:34:39 pm

I loved this article. I don't have The Settlement Cookbook but will watch for a copy at the friends of the library sales and used bookstores. One of my favorites is my Betty Crocker's Cookbook published in 1973. It too is so loved that the spine is held together with tape. My other favorite, for Jewish foods, is "The Complete American-Jewish Cookbook" published in 1952 and given to me by my nother at my bridal shower in 1960.

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Hilary
12/26/2017 04:51:43 pm

I bet you have the updated version of my mom's 1950 Betty Crocker Cook Book. Hers (now mine) has "key" recipes. For instance, there's a basic "key" sugar cookie recipe, and on the page below, different ways to jolly up the recipe, turning it into, for instance, snicker doodle or date or walnut cookies Perfect for the non-cooking, new bride. That Jewish American cookbook sounds fabulous! :)

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ANDY KLYDE
12/26/2017 03:36:48 pm

Fascinating account of a special cookbook. Excellent research. (Have you considered offering your research skills for a fee? 😉)

My favorite cookbook? That's easy. The Great Wok Cookbook, by Victor Sen Yung. In fact I bought It at the same cook bookstore in beautiful downtown Burbank. (No longer in Burbank, it's relocated to Pasadena. https://www.tastingtable.com/cook/los-angeles/Used-Cookbook-Store-+-Cooks-Library-in-Pasadena-+-Owner-Janet-Jarvits ) Best known as "Hop Sing," the Cartwrights' factotum on BONANZA (and Charlie Chan's Number Two Son), Vic spun an interesting backstory along with his family recipes. Although he didn't have to actually prepare food on the Ponderosa, he really was an accomplished chef.

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/51-sk4wv2hL._SX325_BO1,204,203,200_.jpg


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Hilary
12/26/2017 04:54:36 pm

Fascinating! I am also THRILLED to hear that the cookbook store didn't go out of business. I have family near Pasadena, so I think I'll **have** to pay a visit to this location. Here in San Luis Obispo, we had a small family run Chinese restaurant that went out of business a while back... but recently, family members published a cookbook with the recipes. http://www.ksby.com/story/30826317/favorites-featured-in-new-mee-heng-low-cookbook

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Hilary Grant
12/26/2017 05:00:45 pm

New website address for that cookbook store is: http://www.cookbookjj.com/

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Susan Jordan
12/26/2017 05:56:17 pm

One of my prized possessions is the Betty Crocker Cookbook my mom got for her wedding back in 1956! She later gave it to me, and I cherish it. Several years ago (March 16, 1990, to be exact), I became a vegetarian (a vegan at that time, actually, although I went Ovo-Lacto in 1994, and have stayed there since), and have a few great vegetarian and vegan cookbooks. I have to pull it off the shelf to look at the title, but my favorite vegetarian one has a Leek & Potato Soup recipe that I've made several times. In the beginning, I substituted the cream for a vegan ingredient, and no one noticed, it was that delish. It takes about three hours from start to finish to make, IF you count making the stock from scratch, which I do. You can make it smooth or chunky, and it is definitely a comfort food. Lindsay Wagner, The Bionic Woman, made a great vegan cookbook I own too. There are some wonderful cookbooks out there.

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Hilary Grant
12/26/2017 07:27:49 pm

I make an aunt's carrot and potato soup that's pretty good, but I used to make it when I was really poor, so, that memory has sort of spoiled it for me. I'd LOVE the recipe for the leek and potato soup, especially now that we're into (finally!) cold weather. :)

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leslie spoon
12/27/2017 04:13:11 pm

Hilary What a great history lesson and I like that it was a woman who organized this center for the immigrants.

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Hilary
12/27/2017 08:22:50 pm

I loved researching this blog because I learned a piece of American history that I'd never known about. I think that most, if not all, of the "settlement" houses at the turn of the century were run by women. Think of Jane Addams and Hull House, in Chicago!

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Lynne silbert
12/28/2017 11:11:20 am

As always Hillary I learn so
Much from you. My father was born
In miluakee 1912. Maybe my grandmother
A Russian Jewish woman was a part of this

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Hilary
12/29/2017 11:15:17 am

The timing is right, isn't it? My maternal grandparents lived in Cleveland (OH), and I was told there was a settlement house there as well. And of course, Jane Addams' Hull House was in Chicago.
Also, my grandmother WANTED to assimilate. I still remember her telling me the three most important things to do when coming to America: 1. Learn English 2. Learn to drive a car 3. Become an American citizen. She never learned #2 but she *did* accomplish #1 and #3. :)

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kerri fisher
12/29/2017 06:48:58 pm

Love it! The dressing sounds so good. Your article inspires me to cook something this weekend. I got a "one pot" cookbook for Christmas, so I'll crack that. I love the Enchanted Brocolli Forest Cookbook and the Moosewood Cookbook(all the soup recipes), and I love my Joy of Cooking Cookbook. Got it as a wedding gift. I can open it right to four recipes: shortbread, pancakes, potato leek soup and pumpkin soup. So glad to read about and talk about cookbooks... admittedly, lately when I need a recipe I ... you guessed it... google it! Bon appetit, and thank you for the great blog.

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Hilary
12/30/2017 08:53:34 am

I received Joy of Cooking from Casey, many a moon ago, but really only used one recipe (a chicken casserole--delish!)... so, it went to the thrift store. BUT... I have one fabulous cookbook to give you when I see you next. It's another where I just never use it. Remind me! :) And yes, I get lots of recipes online, but there's something divine about a real cookbook, isn't there? :)

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Pam Thomas
1/7/2018 03:19:54 pm

I have a copy of this cookbook, too, but didn't pay attention to the backstory, so thank you! The bigger issue is the survival of cooking itself. I am a devotee of cooking, and serve dinner to my family every night, cooking nearly everything fresh. I didn't know I was in the minority until my children shared what they ate at friends' houses. Frozen vegetables. Frozen chicken fingers. Mac n Cheese from a box. The danger in all is is an extreme one. If we do not take charge of preparing our meals, and do not teach the skills to our children, within a generation or two those skills will be lost, and our grandchildren will be fed by corporations.

Recipes used to be handed down from generation to generation. That is rare now. Food is alchemy. The author of the Settlement Cookbook was using food to aid assimilation, for better or worse. Kind of sad. Soon, without our resistance, our food choices, our nutrition, and our health will be in the hands of large corporations. To a great extent, it has already happened.

Making your own food is a great way to resist. Growing some of it is even a stronger way. Passing recipes from mother to child, or through cookbooks is crucial.

Cook on!

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Hilary
1/7/2018 04:09:36 pm

I, too, cook from scratch nearly every night. This whole idea of processed foods being so much more "modern," and so much more "progressive," began happening right after World War II. If you look at any "ladies" magazines from that era, and decades after, so many of the ads were about frozen veggies and ready-made sauces and hot dogs and cold cuts. And, millions bought this idea of the future hook, line and sinker. And THEN, microwaves made their debut! The good news is that The Food Network has brought some people back to cooking and at least in our area, farmers' markets are super popular. I think The Pioneer Woman has done a lot, too. Of course, it also depends on how people like to spend their time. And some folks just hate cooking. :)

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    Hilary Roberts Grant

    Journalist, editor, filmmaker, foodie--and a clown! 
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