Review: useful only for its historical value
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 07 15, 2012
I'm sure that "Twenty-Five Cent Dinners for Families of Six" by Juliet Corson was a great hit in its day; however, there are few recipes in this 1878 cookbook that any cook would make today. Oatmeal and peas? Sheeps' Head Stew? A pie of pork trimmings? Tripe, Curry and Rice? Suet-laden desserts? Barley water? Suet dumplings? Baked Pig's Head? No, thanks!The book does serve to provide a peek into the culinary practice -- and necessities -- of 150 years ago. This book, unlike Corson's previous cookbook, "Fifteen Cent Dinners," was aimed squarely at the middle classes; even so, cooks in those days were reduced to, for example, preparing a main dish of rice, suet, flour, and molasses (made from a half-pound of uncooked rice and a quarter pound of suet) to feed themselves, a husband, and four children. A large fish had to be stretched into two meals for a hungry family of six. Many of the recipes are stews, broths, and soups made from neckbones. One main dish, a meat brewis -- nothing more than a stale loaf of bread soaked in hot broth and then served -- is lauded as "satisfactory, nutritious and economical; enough for a hearty meal costing not more than five cents." If the middle class lived like this, what was life like for the 80 percent that were working class or poorer?Corson's notions of nutrition -- heavy on fats and carbohydrates -- are a world away from ours in most aspects. Yes, Corson gives a nod to fresh vegetables, but few of the recipes feature any and there's no separate category for them as there is for meats, legumes, soups, and desserts. Corson decries roasting and baking -- what we consider the best way to prepare meat -- as an affront to frugality. You can imagine Corson shuddering at such wanton prodigality when she writes: "The first [roasting] is the most extravagant way of cooking meat, as it wastes nearly one third of its substance in drippings and steam; the second [baking] also is very wasteful, unless the meat is surrounded with vegetables, or covered with a flour paste." Corson preferred "[b]oiling food slowly, or stewing it gently, [which] saves all its goodness." I can't imagine Americans today relishing meats boiled for four to six hours. She also ensures that, in her recipes, "very little fat is wasted." Corson loves fatty gravy and "seasoned suet" -- whatever that is. Corson also can't resist make a pitch for temperance and against beer. And a glance through the cookbook shows that 19th century women spent HOURS cooking most days. "Hasty" pudding takes an hour, to give you an idea of how long.Don't get me wrong: A few of the recipes do still hold up. Corson, ever frugal, lists recipes ("receipts" in her parlance) for making your own lemon and orange flavoring, vanilla extract, and tarragon vinegar. The rice pudding, bread pudding, fruit dumplings (which one would make with pie crust rather than a suety crust), stewed pears, Strawberry Drops, and most of the desserts look delicious. The Pork Pie, if pork chunks were substituted for pork trimmings, looks appetizing. The Roast Pork and Potatoes (reserved for Sunday) would pass muster today if it weren't cooked for two hours and doused with water.Still, this isn'tJOY OF COOKING, which has held up so well: It's more history text than cookbook.