Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I'm so happy this book has been re-issued! I have my mother's copy of the original 1955 edition and it was her Bible in the Fall when the garden started yielding more produce than we could consume (and there were 10 of us!) What makes this cookbook particularly enjoyable is the variety of strange and fascinating recipes. Some are quick and easy to be made in small batches. A few are labeled "Career Girl" recipes and are made from frozen fruits and vegetables so busy "career girls" (a popular term in the 50s) could hurry home from their "girl Friday" jobs and whip up a batch of salad pickles that tasted like she had slaved in the kitchen for hours.
I love some of the very old-fashioned sounding chapters. Crystallized Fruits & Flowers has detailed instructions for crystallizing everything from strawberries to violets and tons of recipes including Honey & Rose-Petal Preserves and Glacéd Wine Figs. There is a chapter on Conserves, which I happen to be partial to, including Rhubarb (Pie Plant) Conserve and Red Beet Conserve. The rather lengthy Meats and Sea Food chapter includes all Venison Mincemeat, Pickled Oysters, instructions for brining, corning, and pickling meat, a variety of meat pastes, sausages and scrapples and "Easy Brined Shrimp".
Marion Brown's section on Preserves is testimony to the fact that early cooks could figure out a way to preserve darn near anything and includes quaint recipes like Sun-Cooked Strawberry Preserves, Pumpkin Chips, and Cantalope Preserves.
Perhaps the most unique recipe in the book is one she copied from a fifteenth century cookbook for "Peris in Syrippe and Wyne", She adds 2 interpretations of that, her own and a variation by a friend which adds orange slices. I love the idea of adding saffron.
I recently published a cookbook of my own (Fry Bacon. Add Onions: The Valentine Family & Friends Cookbook nd glancing through the section on Preserves I'm sure many of those recipes evolved from Marion Brown's cookbook. This is a highly readable treasure!
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Pickles and PreservesThe conservation of food by pickling and preserving is an old and honorable art, writes Marion Brown in her introduction to Pickles and Preserves, first published in 1955. While the art of food preservation does indeed have a long history, it is also very much in step with contemporary interest in natural foods and home gardening. As the popularity of farmers' markets, natural food stores, and garden-to-table cookbooks attests, Americans are once again hungry for the taste of authentic home cooking. With its "heirloom" recipes and clear instructions, Pickles and Preserves introduces the modern cook to a wonderful piece of America's culinary heritage. The book's 408 recipes cover everything from preserves and relishes to chutneys, fruit butters, pickled meats, sauces, and even candied flowers for decorating desserts. Many of the recipes are surprisingly quick and simple. Many are for special delicacies to be savored with a holiday meal or given as gifts. Damon Fowler's new foreword expands and updates Brown's notes on preserving methods, equipment, and safety. The book will be useful to canners of all levels of experience.
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