Kitchen

[brandiwine]

I have one from my late MIL that dates back to the 1920's.  I still use it for the old fashioned custard pie recipe.  There are some great ones in there.  I also have an old Presto pressure cooker book that explains how to pressure can meats, and recipes for all sorts of wild game.  I think it dates back to the late 40's or early 50's. 

[Sooner]

Actually, I also have my mom's Woman's Home Comopanion cookbook fro the 1940's.  It is a great book, one we still pull out especially for pie.  And I have a LOT of cookbooks.

[Blk&GoldFan]

@ECBG  Thanks for starting this fun discussion.  My oldest is my very first cookbook given to me as a young child in 1955.  It's titled "Mary Alden's Cook Book For Children".  It has stayed with me for all of these years and I believe it sparked my interest in cooking and collecting and reading cook books.

[IamMrsG]

I'll have to verify it's the oldest I have, but there is this one:

copyright 1924  (BTW, this is not a photo of my copy.  Mine is in more 'fragile' condition.)

Edited to add:  This cookbook was originally published in the late 1800s.  I just found a website where it has been made available to read and use. Here is a link toward the end of the book, where small points on table etiquette have been included.   Household recipes and health remedies are also in the book.  I find it very interesting reading, a look into the past that makes me glad I am living in the 21st century. 

[Catiele]

Good housekeeping cook book 1940. It was my mothers. It is falling apart but I can not throw away. We still use it. My Mom loved to cook and was a really great cook. Me not so much.

[beckyb1012]

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@Eire22 wrote:

Betty Crocker Cookbook I recieved as a present at my Bridal shower in 1981. Still use it today, many stained and marked pages.

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Me too.  Married on Dec. 31st 1981, I was a tax deduction for that year and had only just turned twenty on Christmas Eve.  He refused to marry a teenager.  I still have and use the cookbook with so many stains and tears.  Thank goodness I no longer have the groom after 18 years of being a tax deduction.  Will pull out again soon with the Thanksgiving holidays for my usual contributions. 

[momtochloe]

I guess my oldest cookbook is my mom's scrap book of recipes she would clip from the newspapers . . . I never understood why she would do that as we always had our standard and very delicious meals (my dad wasn't big on change) but now I find myself following in her footsteps copying recipes that I find interesting but unfortunately I only try a handfull of them as it is just me and sometimes downsizing a recipe doesn't always go very well . . .

[DeeJoyce]

When I thinned out my cookbook shelf, the older ones made the cut.  BHG from 1973.  Betty Crocker Cooky Book from the '60s. It is held together with tape.  When I browse through BHG I'm reminded how much times have changed...there few recipes for Mexican or Southwest.  No boneless skinless chicken breast.

[grannyjan]

I too recieved a Betty Crocker cookbook when I got married in 1961.. some of those pages could be a bio hazzard by now..........lol

But I also have the one I started in school and still love the Tuna Toastwiches that is in there......

[DiamondGirly]

I'm posting my Mom's favorite cookie/bar recipe that she made throughout the years when I was growing up.  She got her cookbook as a wedding gift in 1948, and I have it now.

The cookbook is called The American Home Cookbook,

Date Bars

2 eggs                                                    ¼ teaspoon  salt

1 cup confectioners’ sugar                  ½ teaspoon baking powder

1 Tbsp. shortening, melted                   1 cup chopped dates

¼ cup sifted cake flour                        1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs until light.  Add sugar and shortening.  Blend well.  Sift dry ingredients together.  Add dates, nuts and vanilla.  Blend well and pour into greased shallow cake pan.  Bake in slow oven (325º F.) about 25 minutes.  Cut into bars and roll in confectioners’ sugar.

Makes about 24 bars.