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Sunday 23 September 2012

MY FIRST COOKERY BOOK

Good Morning to you,

Can I ask you a question? 

Do you remember the  first cookery book you bought?

You do. Tell me,  how did you feel when you held the book in your hands?   Were you excited to recreate the recipes the book offered?  Were you seduced by the photographs? Were you "champing at the bit" to read the book from cover to cover?

What I am really describing is how I felt. I remember  all of these feelings and I couldn't wait for my culinary adventure to begin.


  

Here it is.   I felt nothing less than a book entitled  International Cookery Course would do. As a newly wed, I wanted to impress George with what would be, my newly acquired, exotic culinary cooking!


Remember this was 1970 and cookery books were changing.    Can you imagine  jumping from Ivy's cookery book, which had 4 colour plates, to Phyllis' which had a few more colour plates than Ivy's, to a cookery book which was full of brightly coloured photographs and so much detail. Not only that, but  filled with exotic foods.

I was ensnared. No more plain cooking for me. I was going to be an exotic cook (remember I was very young).... and so my love of food from around the world began.






Greek food is still one of my favourites and  Moussaka is delicious. The sights and sounds of Cyprus come flooding back when the aroma of Moussaka fills my kitchen.  Cooking Moussaka and listening to a little Greek Music makes me a very happy person.

  


Tourtiere is a well known meat pie from Quebec and is traditionally served after midnight mass at Christmas.  This pie is spiced with cloves as well as mixed dried herbs, which I found unusual at the time.  You can't tell by the photo that it includes bacon, onion, potato as well as pie pork. George loves this pie as his father used to make him plate pies as a child and he says although not as thick as this Tourtiere, the pie his father made was very similar.  






 Can you imagine how I felt when I first set eyes on this cake. No..... well I will tell. I couldn't believe that a cake baked at home could look so spectacular.  As you know Ivy was a skilled baker, but I had never seen anything baked as large as this magnificent cake. I couldn't wait to bake it.   The first time I baked it I had to share it with friends as  the two of us would have been eating it forever more.  My friends were impressed with this cake and so was I. After my first attempt I kept this cake for special occasions.




Does anyone remember making Beef Stroganoff? (That question is for the Diamond Jubilee Children!) This was a very popular dish if you were having a dinner party.   In the '70's we didn't say we would invite friends for supper,which is a much more relaxed affair.  We invited them to a dinner party which was very formal. We dressed for dinner and minded our P's and Q's.   Nowadays things are a lot less formal and much more relax which I prefer.

   


.....and who didn't make Goulash in the '70's, especially during the winter.  It is such comforting food.   The important ingredient in this recipe is paprika, which can be bought in abundance now, but again it wasn't so readily available back then.  Can you tell this has been a well used recipe over the years. See the marks on the photo, some ingredient or other  was splashed on the page when I was making this dish and you can see where I tried to wipe the mark away.





This Potato Soup with Dumplings is a recipe  used time and time again.  This soup we enjoy for supper as it is filled with carrots, leeks, celery,onions, bacon and salami and is a very hearty, warming soup.





....and now to Spain.  The omelette I was used to, was a  little  French rolled omelette, using  two  eggs and filled with grated cheese, but this was a giant in the world of omelettes. When I came across these tortillas I didn't imagine I would make them as they were so large and far too much for two people.  But when George spotted them they became one of his favourites, as in his youth he did a lot of sport, especially judo and canoeing which took great amounts of energy, so these Tortillas  became a regular in my repertoire of cooking.







Look at that beautiful picture, at the time, there was nothing more exotic than an Indian Curry. The information about making Chicken Curry said,  "Spices and ingredients for curry, including poppadoms, are available in high-class grocery stores ".  mmm didn't know any high-class grocery stores back then, so this dish wasn't made for many years.  Nowadays,  the spices I use  come from India. You can't be more authentic than that.



It was during the middle of the '70's that I was able to buy the ingredients for dishes such as Prawns with Mixed Vegetables and Crispy Pancake Rolls. At the time I felt my culinary education needed to be increased before I attempted these  dishes.  It took a while, but with practise I mastered these dishes and was rewarded with delicious new tastes to savour.
I hope you have enjoyed looking at recipes from way back when..... ok the 1970's.  I hope so, as I am going to recreate a few of the recipes for you.  The first one will be next Sunday, and I'll be cooking  Moussaka.... now, this will be fun as Dimi from Aussi Dimi Decoupage will tell me if I am making it correctly, but I have to say, I adapt recipes for our taste, so it probably won't be strictly correct, but it will be very tasty.
This week I will be joining,
 Green Day at Raindrops and Daisies
Take care and I will see you later in the week. 
Best Wishes
Daphne xxx 

15 comments:

  1. Hallo Daphne!Wait until the next Sunday your own version of the recipe mousaka.Im sure it will be delicious!Love all the recipes you showed us!Now we have internet to find all the international resipes!Wish you a lovely week my friend!Thank you very much for mention me!

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  2. Kalispera Dimi, Yes it will be fun to see how our versions differ. Your right it is wonderful that we can all access recipes on the internet, but I still love a good cookery book. It was a pleasure to mention you Dimi. Have a lovely week. Best Wishes Daphne

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  3. I'll look forward to your recipe, Daphne.

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  4. Hello Karen, I hope you are keeping well. I'm looking forward to cooking Moussaka next week and George can't wait. Phyllis said she wished she hadn't gone home as she loves Moussaka aswell. I will have to make it for her next time she visits. Enjoy your Sunday. Best Wishes Daphne

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  5. Daphne,

    I am not a good cooker but I like to eat. lol
    Enjoy in your recipes!
    Hava a wonderful day!

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  6. Good Morning Lucinha, I'm glad you enjoy my recipes. I put a lot of photos with the recipes so if a person does not cook very much, hopefully the photos make it easy to follow the recipe. Let me know if you try one. Enjoy your day. Best Wishes Daphne

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  7. I cannot remember my first cookbook but I have always loved cooking and baking. I never tire of looking at great photos of food or reading recipes.

    Thank you for your kind comments on my blog,

    Eliizabeth

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    1. Good Afternoon Elizabeth, I know what you mean, magazines are full of wonderful recipes. I have to say, I do get excited and think.....yes I will make this, but nine times out of ten, I don't. I love the photographs though. Best Wishes Daphne

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  8. All of this recipes look so wonderful. Love seeing the photos too!
    I want to make some of these fabulous dishes. Thanks for sharing. I am trying to remember my very first cookbook.

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    1. Hello Linda, Glad you enjoyed the photos of the different dishes. I found whilst taking the photos lots of memories came flooding back.....of people and places, it was a lovely experience. Best Wishes Daphne

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  9. Wow that takes me back, Family Circle cookery book. My first cook book was a Family Circle Basic meals or something like that.I'm looking forward to seeing your Moussaka next week. I remember the so called 'dinner parties' we used to have & I cooked Moussaka, what a disaster it was & everyone said it was wonderful, I think it was only because I had given them something we all thought was exciting to eat in those days. thank goodness my other half always compliments me on the meals I cook now.

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  10. Hello Barbara, Fancy that, you had a Family Circle Cookery Book aswell. I remember buying the magazine and loved it. Yes Moussaka was a real dinner party dish and so different from anything we were eating in the 70's. I'm not saying my cooking was perfect by any means, but like you, I learnt over time and I have to say, I had successes and failures, but having said that, that is how we learn. A bit like blogging really. Take Care, Daphne

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  11. Daphne, I had to think a few minutes, because I learned to cook when I was 11 years old and learned to cook. The first thing I learned to cook was corned bread. I really never had a cookbook till I got married and bought a basic Betty Crocker one (not many photos). Until then, I cooked everything from memory...except for baking cakes, etc. The only reason I bought one then was because we lived in Europe and I couldn't call my mother or grandmother to ask if I forgot something. :) I also bought a set/encyclopedia of books..maybe Family Circle, then Southern Living, which are my favorite cook books, along with those from local women's groups or churches. I had to laugh about your devil's food cake. Do you ever make red velvet cake?
    Hope you're having a good week,
    Babs

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  12. Hello Babs, Gosh you learnt a lot from your mother and grandmother the same as I did. I know the name Betty Crocker, although I have never seen her cookery book, does she make pre-packaged cake mixes? I'm wondering if that's how I know her name, because it certainly does ring a bell. Women's groups and Church groups are definitely a good source of recipes. I have heard of Red Velvet cake, do you know where? The film with Dolly Parton .... Steele Magnalios, where Dolly owns a beauty salon. If I am remembering correctly a family friend makes red velvet cake but in the shape of an armordillo, which looked dreadful. How is the cake made red, is it food colouring? I'll have to look this recipe up on the internet. Thank you for sharing your memories, it was lovely hearing about them. Take care and enjoy your day. Best Wishes Daphne

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  13. I too began cooking in 1970 as a very young bride. Not having funds enough to buy books at that time, I borrowed them from the library. I do remember reading them from cover to cover and presenting my new husband with a new dish each evening. Thank you for reminding me of that time. I have so many cookery books and rarely use them. After your lovely story I think I will start using them again and maybe I can recapture the real joy of cooking.

    Linda at The French Hens Nest

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Dear Friends,

It is so wonderful to know you enjoy reading Ivy, Phyllis and Me! Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me a comment. I really do appreciate it.

Best wishes to you.

Daphne

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