Sunset's Kitchen Cabinet Recipes

47. Sunset's
Kitchen Cabinet Recipes
Volumes One - Three, 1944
seventh book for Foodie's Reading Challenge
finished, 6/30/11




Recently I received an unexpected, and much appreciated gift from Andi, who writes the blog, In The Mood. In her note she said she's had them for many years, and 'it was time to pass them on.' Oh, how I love them. These are cookbooks which have been much loved and much used over the years. Just for fun I did a little search to see if there were any poems about old cookbooks, and I came upon this gem.

My grandma’s old cookbook is aged and forlorn.
The pages are grease stained, each faded and worn.
The spine is collapsed and the cover’s askew,
revealing, in no way, what this book could do.
A barrel of cookies, sweet, fresh lemonade,
roasts, casseroles, salads this ancient book made. It brought love and caring to both young and old,
delivering happiness not bought or sold.
Its owner and user breathed life to this book,
by sharing herself with each recipe cooked.
True gifts from her heart were delivered with love,
presented on earth for her Father above.
Her gentle, sweet kindness was blended with care.
A silent reminder that she had been there
to welcome your newborn…
to ease every ill…
true unselfish gestures of love and goodwill. So don’t be deceived by the physical book,
but rather… rejoice in the wonderful cook.
Just cherish and honor each frayed, weathered page,
for pure, loving kindness has brought forth its age.
by Jane-Ann Heitmeuller

These books were all published by Sunset Magazine in 1944, and each volume contains an 'about the book' page which says:

For over fifteen years, leading homemakers of the Pacific West have submitted their favorite recipes to The Kitchen Cabinet, an illustrated recipe section in Sunset, the Magazine of Western Living. The demand from subscribers who had been collecting these recipes in scrap-books led to the publication of a portion of them several years ago in Sunset's Kitchen Cabinet Cook Book.
Now, ALL the The Kitchen Cabinet recipes printed over a period of fifteen years may be had in handy book form in a three-volume set. This book, Volume One, contains those recipes originally printed in Sunset Magazine from 1929-1933. Volume Two covers another five-year period, 1934-1938, and Volume Three contains the recipes from the magazine for the years 1939 through 1943.

The books are treasures to me. I love everything about these cookbooks. Each page offers recipes from real people, most of them called Mrs. so and so. There are little drawings, and there are meal plans.

There are occasional tips.

And sometimes the recipes

are accompanied by illustrated directions.

Here's one from Miss F.S. Ridgefield. Oven fries/potato chips from the 1930s!

I expect you'll be seeing many of the recipes in my letters as time goes on. For today, I made one from Volume Two called -

Graham Cracker-Apple Pudding

It comes from Mrs. R.E.W., San Rafael, California with her notes.

My husband declares he could eat one of these puddings every night of the week without growing tired of it! It is so easy to make that I am tempted to try out the idea.

1 cupful of graham cracker crumbs
4 medium-sized apples, pared and sliced
1/2 cupful of chopped nuts
1/2 cupful of brown sugar
Juice of one lemon in 3/4 cupful of water

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and turn into a well buttered casserole. Bake, uncovered, in a moderate oven (375-400 degrees) for 25 minutes, or until apples are tender. Serve hot with cream.

Here it is on the page, with a meal plan included.

Just five ingredients -

to make this delicious dessert which is more apple-y than for example, an apple crisp.

So, I asked Tom if he, like Mr. R.E.W. of San Rafael, could eat it every night, and he said, 'not every night, but it is very good!'

[note: please ignore hole in ceiling. This came from a leaking bathtub, and shall be repaired as we slowly work on our kitchen]

I read this for the Foodie's Reading Challenge. Please do go visit the page to find many, many excellent food-related books. You may click on the various categories under Margot's blog header photo.