{"id":3314,"date":"2015-01-31T14:00:36","date_gmt":"2015-01-31T21:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/?p=3314"},"modified":"2025-05-27T09:37:49","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T15:37:49","slug":"250-cookbooks-joy-of-cooking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/?p=3314","title":{"rendered":"250 Cookbooks: Joy of Cooking"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cookbook #100:<\/strong> Joy of Cooking<\/em>, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1964.<\/p>\n

\"Joy<\/a>If my house were on fire, and I was able to save only one of my cookbooks, the Joy of Cooking<\/em> would be it. It has lived in my kitchen since the seventies. The cover has fallen off the spine and I have many pages marked \u2013 but only with note papers, I never wrote in this book, I tried to keep it clean. Quite simply, this is my favorite cookbook, and entirely suitable for the placement of “100” in this blog.<\/p>\n

I know I bought this book for myself, but I don’t recall the trip to the bookstore. It must have been in 1974, since that is the last listed printing date on the copyright page. That puts me living in a rented funky old house near downtown Boulder, a graduate student, fairly poor, just beginning to expand my cooking repertoire. I am sure that I stood in the store and paged studiously through this book before I purchased it \u2013 brand new and hardcover \u2013 with money that I had religiously saved up (or maybe the money was a gift from my Mother). It was a big purchase.<\/p>\n

Joy of Cooking<\/em> has a long history. In 1931 the author, Irma S. Rombauer (1877-1962), a Missouri homemaker from an immigrant German family, created the Joy of Cooking.<\/em> She began as an amateur \u2013 she was neither a writer nor a professional cook. Her daughter, Marion Becker (1903-1976), illustrated the first version of Joy<\/em>. The second edition came in 1936, and the third in 1943\/46. By 1951, Irma Rombauer’s health was failing, and she negotiated a book contract that named her daughter as her sole successor in any future revision. (Wikipedia<\/a>) Hence, the 4th edition, 1951, is the first authored by both Rambauer and Becker.<\/p>\n

My edition of Joy of Cooking<\/em> is the 5th, first copyright 1962. On the Los Angeles Times website<\/a>, I learn that there is some controversy about this edition. Apparently the publishers released a 1962 version without the final consent of the authors, a version that was “garbled” and fraught with errors. It wasn’t until 1963 that the 5th edition was published in a form acceptable to Marion Becker. Luckily, my edition was printed in 1974. The 6th edition came out in 1975. To many, the 6th edition is deemed the best, although I would vote that the 5th edition is my favorite.<\/p>\n

After Marion Becker’s death, her sons, Ethan and Mark, took over the Joy of Cooking<\/em>. The book remained unchanged until 1997. During this period, Bobbs-Merrill folded and Simon and Schuster purchased the copyright. Working with Ethan Becker,\u00a0Simon and Schuster hired a cookbook editor, changed the writing style of the book, and included input from various professional food writers\/chefs. Diehard Joy of Cooking<\/em> fans often don’t like the seventh edition. The eighth edition, the 75th anniversary edition, came out in 2006. The original voice of the Joy of Cooking<\/em> was restored, and it includes some of the information deleted in the 7th edition.<\/p>\n

The Joy of Cooking<\/em> has been in print continuously since 1936 and has sold more than 18 million copies. Pretty amazing.<\/p>\n

Why do I like this book? It is extremely comprehensive, and has a bent that satisfies my scientific side. If I want to learn how to cook just about anything, I consult this book first. I did in the seventies and I do so today. How to make German potato salad? It’s there. How to cook a lobster? Yes. How to pluck a chicken? That too.<\/p>\n

I like too that the recipe instructions are clear, and written in “action-style”. For instance, the ingredients for a recipe’s first step are listed, instructions given, then ingredients for the second step are listed, instructions given, etc. (See my recipe scan below for an example.) Often, alternative ways to finish a basic recipe are given, such as different fillings for raviolis, or three different variations for a chicken stew. When recipes include methods or ingredients that are covered in a different section of the book, a referral page number is given for the convenience of the reader. And, this book has a great index.<\/p>\n

I enjoy the “voice” of this book. It is written in the first person: “we like this version” or “if you, like us, expect a 100% return on your efforts” or “In the foregoing pages we have supplied . . . “. Countless comments are throughout, for example, for hollandaise sauce they write “Our cook calls this “holiday sauce”, isn’t that a grand name for it?” or for banana cake “Do try this, if you like a banana flavor . . . ” or for maple cream candy “Who would ever suspect that this delicious confection was just plain maple syrup in a more solid form?” Throughout are asides: stories about their travels or historical figures. It’s written with a little attitude or bossiness, as illustrated in the instructions for cooking Puffed Potatoes in hot oil: “Drop the slices in separately. Do not crowd the pan. The slices will sink. This next admonition is not without danger for the unskilled. When, after a few seconds, they rise, use a continuous shaking motion with the pan, which will set up a wave-like action to keep the floating strips bathed in the fat.”<\/p>\n

The Joy<\/em> shows a definite German influence. As such, it appeals to my own German heritage: three out of four of my grandparents were mostly German. Thriftiness, industriousness, stubbornness, holding to traditions \u2013 these are the traits that I associate with my German ancestry. Irma Bromauer and her whole family worked hard to get this book out and keep it updated over many decades. And it’s a long book \u2013 my edition of Joy is 849 pages. That is a ton of work! Oh \u2013 this is touching. In the dedication, Marion Becker writes: “Working with Mother on its development . . . ” Note that she, like me, called our mothers “Mother”. Not mom or mommy or ma. Maybe it’s the German heritage.<\/p>\n

Finally, a quote from the foreward that speaks to me: “Most important to us are all of you, both at home and abroad, who are preoccupied every day with that old yet ever-new question, ‘What shall we have for dinner?'”<\/p>\n

I always use a Joy of Cooking<\/em> recipe for my cheese souffles, blender hollandaise sauce, cooked red cabbage, and potato pancakes. And Caesar’s Salad, which I decide to make for this blog. I’ve made this tons of times. If I have a Caesar’s salad in a restaurant, I always compare it to the Joy’s<\/em> version, and they rarely measure up. This is a “classic” Caesar’s, no mushrooms or other vegetables, and the perfect dressing, made on the salad rather than in a bottle.<\/p>\n

\"Caesar<\/a><\/a>If you follow this recipe, you will be successful!<\/p>\n

I am not going to type in this recipe, since I always refer to this cookbook to make it. I always halve the recipe for the two of us, but I still use a whole egg. Remember to put a clove of garlic in olive oil early in the day. Use fresh lemon juice, no other. I prefer grated fresh Parmesan cheese rather than the stuff that is sold in a can. I use the amount of romaine lettuce that I think the two of us are hungry for. Anchovies? My husband loves them, I only like them, so I put more in his salad. When adding the vinegar, lemon juice, and oil, I usually measure out the recommended amounts, then add a portion of each, toss the salad, taste, and add more if I feel it needs it.<\/p>\n

Here are my ingredients, sans<\/em> lettuce and croutons:<\/p>\n

\"ingredients<\/a>The croutons are stars in this salad. Make them fresh and just before you put the salad together. And use that garlic-soaked olive oil to fry them.<\/p>\n

\"croutons\"<\/a>Here are our salads, moments before we ate them:<\/p>\n

\"Caesar<\/a>Mmmm. I still have lots of romaine. I think I’ll make Caesar’s salads again soon! Thank you Joy of Cooking<\/em> for helping me make a great dinner, once again.<\/p>\n

250 Cookbooks next post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cookbook #100: Joy of Cooking, Irma S. Rombauer and Marion Rombauer Becker, The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Indianapolis, Indiana, 1964. If my house were on fire, and I was able to save only one of my cookbooks, the Joy of Cooking would … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,28],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3314","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-250cookbooks","category-salads"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3314"}],"version-history":[{"count":46,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9621,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3314\/revisions\/9621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3314"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3314"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cooking.pfeist.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3314"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}