Vintage Recipes from the Mid-Twentieth Century

This book contains 430 recipes from the mid-1900’s, compiled from recipes from the kitchen of the author’s mother, after her death. It serves as a source not only for recipes that are as good today as they were back then, but also as a historical reference to methods of preparation and cooking, as well as brands used at the time. The mixer was the newest thing on the market, but many cooks still used a hand-mixing technique to mix batters for cakes, and a fork to beat meringues for pies. Some cooks were just changing from a wood-burning stove to an electric or gas range. The microwave was still a thing of the future, as was the food processor. And there were no cooking shows on the small black-and-white TV’s that dotted only a few American households at that time.

Some of the recipes were found handwritten on cards or lined paper. Other loose clippings from newspapers or magazines had been put together in categories in an expandable file folder, while others had been carefully pasted on sheets of paper and put together in a single folder. The majority of the recipes are for cakes, pies, and desserts, although other recipes of meats, salads, and vegetables will tempt the cook of today.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Doris Gracy grew up in North Carolina and received her M.S. degree from Ohio State University. She has lived in various cities in the U.S., as well as other countries. She currently resides in a Maryland suburb of Washington, DC. Travel continues to be her passion.

Other Books by this author include A Year in Vietnam: 1964, and Two Years in Tehran: 1969 – 1971.