Wayne Boatwright wrote:
> On Sun 29 Jun 2008 03:38:27p, Jean B. told us...
>
>> Wayne Boatwright wrote:
>>> *Most* cookbooks, not just JOC, do not necessarily give you all
>>> component parts of a completed item; e.g., Lemon Meringue Pie, where
>>> the pie filling is one recipe, the crust is a second recipe, and the
>>> meringue is a third recipe. I have seen few cookbooks where all three
>>> components are listed together as a unit. I'm quite used to that
>>> approach, and it's definitely no big effin' deal to me. If I like the
>>> recipes a cookbook contains, I rarely care about the format.
>>>
>>> Interestingly, a cookbook that seems to be almost uiversally popular is
>>> The Betty Crocker Cookbook. For some reason I can't quite define, i
>>> detest it. I never bought it, but have immediately given away copies
>>> I've been gifted with.
>>>
>> I'll have to wander downstairs and see what you might be turned
>> off by. Are you speaking of "Big Red" (1950) or some other edition?
>
> It was definitely one published in the 1950s, and there was definitely
> "red" on the cover, but IIRC, I think it was in a plaid.
>
> My mother had only a half dozen or so cookbooks, but her two cookbook
> "bibles" were The Good Housekeeping Cookbook and Joy of Cooking. OTOH, my
> favorite aunt had even fewer cookbooks and her "bible" was The Betty
> Crocker Cookbook. I had an interest in cooking even as a young child, and
> often read the GHC and JOC at home, either attempting or helping with
> recipes from those. When we would visit my aunt, I remember my reaction to
> reading her BCC, was that it wasn't a "serious" cookbook. Funny how things
> like that stick in your mind, even though I can't recall exactly what the
> reason was. Thinking about it more now, I believe I thought it was overly
> simplified.
>
>> I think there is something very personal in our reactions to
>> cookbook formats. I have at least gotten to the point where I am
>> aware of a cookbook being in a format that will put me off.
>
> My aversions are more about content than format.
>
Isn't it interesting that even as a child that Betty Crocker
cookbook turned you off!

--
Jean B.