{"id":35297,"date":"2023-03-24T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/?post_type=reads&p=35297"},"modified":"2023-09-12T21:53:12","modified_gmt":"2023-09-13T04:53:12","slug":"vintage-cookbook-club","status":"publish","type":"reads","link":"https:\/\/closedloopcooking.com\/reads\/vintage-cookbook-club\/","title":{"rendered":"Vintage cookbook club"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Inspired by the best finds from the Internet Archive<\/a>, we’re deep diving into the digitized cookbook collection\u2013time traveling to bygone kitchens and learning more about the cooks + chefs behind the reads. Let’s dig in!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n

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If you were a woman in the U.S. in the mid 20th century, you probably had a copy of The American Woman\u2019s Cook Book<\/em> in your kitchen. Published in 1939, the encyclopedic collection was edited by Ruth Berolzheimer, director of the Culinary Arts Institute in Chicago. It was one of the first cookbooks to use four-color photography, and sold 8 million copies by the early 1970s. The tome clocks in at over 800 pages, offering guidance for meal planning, grocery shopping, menu making, table setting, and entertaining; and contains hundreds of recipes to suit any occasion. Highlights of its table of contents include \u2018Soup Accessories,\u2019 \u2018The School Lunch,\u2019 \u2018Sauces for Desserts,\u2019 \u2018High Altitude Cooking,\u2019 and \u2018Toast.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to a 2008 interview in the Chicago Reader<\/a> with Ruth Berolzheimer\u2019s nephew, the success of The American Woman\u2019s Cook Book<\/em> was but single a line on her impressive and polymathic resume. At 17, Ruth founded the first Hebrew school in her home town of Chicago Heights. She attended the University of Illinois in Champaign, and became the second woman in the school\u2019s history to graduate with a degree in chemical engineering. After college, Ruth defected from the woman in STEM life to pursue social work, and landed the position of assistant director at Milwaukee\u2019s Abraham Lincoln House, a community center for Jewish immigrant women. Ruth later relocated to New York City, where she pivoted yet again to food writing, serving as managing editor for a magazine called Good Eating. She eventually made her way back to Chicago and commenced the final leg of her career as director of one of the largest cookbook publishers in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Considering such Girl Boss behavior I\u2019m honestly shocked Ms. Berolzheimer doesn\u2019t have her own Wikipedia page, let alone the biographical mini series I\u2019d personally be hungry to watch. But what can a single Jewish woman gourmand expect in this patriarchal media hellscape I suppose. <\/p>\n\n\n

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As an American Woman seeking to honor Ruth\u2019s legacy, I whipped up a recipe from The American Woman\u2019s Cook Book<\/em> with a 2023 twist. I chose a dish named, iconically, \u2018Carrots, Toasted.\u2019 It appears in the \u2018Vegetables\u2019 section betwixt \u2018Scalloped Cabbage\u2019 and \u2018Boiled Cauliflower.\u2019 The recipe reads as follows:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carrots, Toasted<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

To serve carrots as a separate vegetable, scrape and wash; leave young carrots whole and cut old carrots in slices length-wise or crosswise. Boil them until tender (15-30 minutes) in water containing one teaspoon sugar. Just before cooking is completed, salt the water. Drain, add butter and seasoning, or roll in butter, then in corn flakes and brown in oven at 350\u00b0 F.<\/em>

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