Green Mountain Cookbook
When we were in Portland last month, we spent some time in Powell's cooking and gardening store. We browsed for a while and picked up a few books, but the real treasure (for me) was a box of sale books by the checkout line, which included some old church cookbooks.
I love community cookbooks, mostly as cultural artifacts, since I confess I don't think I've ever cooked anything from one.
I was very good. I limited myself to two books. One was a collection of recipes from Frigidaire, published in 1936, which I may post excerpts from later. The other, excerpted below, was published by the "Ladies of the Congregational Church Of Fair Haven, Vermont" in 1900.
It's a facinating collection, both the ads ("Taylor's Sugar Coated Mandrake Pills", which apparently cure "Sick Headache, Languid Feeling, Torpid Liver, Constipation") and the recipes (the only seasoning in one recipe is "a speck of cayenne").
This is obviously only a small sampling of the recipes and ads in the cookbook. If I have the time, I'll post more later. (Coming attraction, from the ads at the end of the cookbook: "YOU Can Eat Onions... BURNETT'S BREATHLETS will do the rest.")