Some years ago I joined this group when I had a project that was put
on the back burner but now have a bit more vigor and am planning on
finishing it this time. Yall answered quite a few questions. I
inherited my great, great grandmothers receipt book and am intent on
getting it published as a cookbook, along with my grandmother's
receipt box (and a few from my mother's). GG grandmother lived on a
large rice plantation in Low Country SC and as far as I can determine,
they date from the 1840's to 1870's. My grandmother catered to
Savannah society for over 50 years and have inherited her receipts
also. What I am looking for is any advice on how best to approach this
project. It is my idea to scan all the hand written receipts and
annotate the scans with translations, then to organize them along
traditions ways with receipts of the three generations side by side
for comparison.

Many of the older receipts of course are a bit obscure, and I was
wondering if it would be necessary to create modern versions of them
or do most people really just like to read cookbooks with very little
actual cooking done from them? Converting them into modern terms would
be a pretty large undertaking and would require skills much greater
than that which I possess. If any have suggestions to point me in the
right direction, I would be most grateful.

And if any of yall are volunteers that I enlisted in the past--I
apologize for not following through but would like to hear from you
again. I lost my computer years ago and all my correspondence. From
now on, I am going to rely on the best backup system the world has yet
produced--paper.
Tommy Armstrong

tfajr wrote:

> Some years ago I joined this group when I had a project that was put
> on the back burner but now have a bit more vigor and am planning on
> finishing it this time. Yall answered quite a few questions. I
> inherited my great, great grandmothers receipt book and am intent on
> getting it published as a cookbook, along with my grandmother's
> receipt box (and a few from my mother's). GG grandmother lived on a
> large rice plantation in Low Country SC and as far as I can determine,
> they date from the 1840's to 1870's. My grandmother catered to
> Savannah society for over 50 years and have inherited her receipts
> also. What I am looking for is any advice on how best to approach this
> project. It is my idea to scan all the hand written receipts and
> annotate the scans with translations, then to organize them along
> traditions ways with receipts of the three generations side by side
> for comparison.
>
> Many of the older receipts of course are a bit obscure, and I was
> wondering if it would be necessary to create modern versions of them
> or do most people really just like to read cookbooks with very little
> actual cooking done from them? Converting them into modern terms would
> be a pretty large undertaking and would require skills much greater
> than that which I possess. If any have suggestions to point me in the
> right direction, I would be most grateful.
>
> And if any of yall are volunteers that I enlisted in the past--I
> apologize for not following through but would like to hear from you
> again. I lost my computer years ago and all my correspondence. From
> now on, I am going to rely on the best backup system the world has yet
> produced--paper.
> Tommy Armstrong

This sounds like a fun project. One idea you might want to pursue is a
parallel 'translation' - original recipe followed by the modern version
for those who cannot get the old ingredient list, or where one of these
ladies noted quantities for more people than the modern family cook
usually caters for. Both my Roman cookbook (translations from Apicius)
and my mediaeval cookbook (various sources) do this. You COULD do a
special section on feeding crowds for the recipes that start, 'Take 20
eggs... '.

One thing you might like to explore is collaboration with a cook who has
done this sort of thing before. Ring a few cookbook publishers
(publisher's details can be found in the books) and ask them if they
might be interested. They would also know where to find an interested
cook. It might be fun to make a 'coffee table' cook book that can
really be used. I have several like this, as well as more utilitarian
ones. Interspersing the recipes with historical notes on the life and
times of the various grannies and photographs where they are available
might provide you with more general interest and a wider audience.

--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

> > And if any of yall are volunteers that I enlisted in the past--I
> > apologize for not following through but would like to hear from you
> > again. I lost my computer years ago and all my correspondence. From
> > now on, I am going to rely on the best backup system the world has yet
> > produced--paper.
> > Tommy Armstrong
>
> This sounds like a fun project. One idea you might want to pursue is a
> parallel 'translation' - original recipe followed by the modern version
> for those who cannot get the old ingredient list, or where one of these
> ladies noted quantities for more people than the modern family cook
> usually caters for. Both my Roman cookbook (translations from Apicius)
> and my mediaeval cookbook (various sources) do this. You COULD do a
> special section on feeding crowds for the recipes that start, 'Take 20
> eggs... '.
>
> One thing you might like to explore is collaboration with a cook who has
> done this sort of thing before. Ring a few cookbook publishers
> (publisher's details can be found in the books) and ask them if they
> might be interested. They would also know where to find an interested
> cook. It might be fun to make a 'coffee table' cook book that can
> really be used. I have several like this, as well as more utilitarian
> ones. Interspersing the recipes with historical notes on the life and
> times of the various grannies and photographs where they are available
> might provide you with more general interest and a wider audience.


Thanks for the ideas. Kind of what I had in mind but was thinking
along creating a printed version with resource cd or dvd with the
actual scans of the originals so that one could get a flavor of how
they recorded them--along with a few audio files that I have from my
grandmother as well as some other interviews. I have not really done a
lot of research into cookbooks but was wondering if that kind of thing
is now commonplace. In other words, kind of have the "footnotes" and
original source on the dvd.

Tommy Armstrong

tfajr wrote:



> Thanks for the ideas. Kind of what I had in mind but was thinking
> along creating a printed version with resource cd or dvd with the
> actual scans of the originals so that one could get a flavor of how
> they recorded them--along with a few audio files that I have from my
> grandmother as well as some other interviews. I have not really done a
> lot of research into cookbooks but was wondering if that kind of thing
> is now commonplace. In other words, kind of have the "footnotes" and
> original source on the dvd.
>
> Tommy Armstrong

I haven't seen it done like that, but the novelty value might be an
excellent selling point.
--
Kate XXXXXX
Lady Catherine, Wardrobe Mistress of the Chocolate Buttons
http://www.diceyhome.free-online.co.uk
Click on Kate's Pages and explore!

I would start by scanning all the documents into computer files and
indexing and cross-referencing the files. You can do that by yourself
without anyone's help and then you have a dtabase you can use to make
something publishable out of. If the material needs to be typed up to be
published the publisher can have the typing done by someone anywhere on
the planet from yoru scanned originals. Same with modernization of the
vocabulary and measurements if needed.

If there is sufficient material you might want to do a number of smaller
publications in a series. Once you get the material scanned and indexed it
will be easier to decide how to proceed.

If you decide not to go ahead there is always the Smithsonian or some
other archives which would at least preserve the documents.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
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I would start by scanning all the documents into computer files and
indexing and cross-referencing the files. You can do that by yourself
without anyone's help and then you have a dtabase you can use to make
something publishable out of. If the material needs to be typed up to be
published the publisher can have the typing done by someone anywhere on
the planet from yoru scanned originals. Same with modernization of the
vocabulary and measurements if needed.

If there is sufficient material you might want to do a number of smaller
publications in a series. Once you get the material scanned and indexed it
will be easier to decide how to proceed.

If you decide not to go ahead there is always the Smithsonian or some
other archives which would at least preserve the documents.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
William R Watt National Capital FreeNet Ottawa's free community network
homepage: www.ncf.ca/~ag384/top.htm
warning: non-FreeNet email must have "notspam" in subject or it's returned