Beginnings

I recently came into possession of a few cookbooks that belonged to my great-aunt and her mother, my great-grandmother. Some of these date back to the early twentieth century, including a 1908 edition of the Lowney's Cook Book. The book is and of itself interesting, but between the pages I also found recipes penned or saved by my great-aunt, her mother, and perhaps even my great-great-grandmother. Those that appear to be the oldest are handwritten on scraps of paper. I also discovered recipes in the form of newspaper clippings from the 1930s and 1940s and flyers from the 1940s through 1960s encouraging cooks to use specific brands to make cakes and muffins.

My plan is to start this blog by posting and cooking some of these and other old recipes, while also putting them within some historical context. I want to see if I can recreate the dishes, but I'm just as interested in finding out what stories these recipes (or "receipts," as my great-grandmother called them) might yield.