There are certain recipes which our mothers (or, in some cases, our fathers) hand down to us because they might have been favorites when we were growing up. Maybe we ask for them, or when we're out on our own, our parents share them with us. But aside from going through old recipe files (which many people retain long after their parents pass away), but trying to find some of those old recipes if we don't have those things is not always a small or easy undertaking.
Once upon a time, for example, Hollywood press agents would routinely release recipes which were supposedly from celebrities back in the day which home cooks could make for themselves, although its less clear that the celebrities ever actually made those dishes. Several cookbooks consisting of recipes which were supposedly from celebrities (now dead ones) was compiled by Frank DeCaro. I blogged about that back in 2014 at https://hgm.sstrumello.com/2014/04/cooking-with-dead-celebrities.html.
A similar newer cookbook dedicated to the king of bling, the rhinestone-studded pianist who was known for his candelabra, charisma and dazzle — who was also something of an amateur chef whose recipes were as over-the-top as his clothes. Liberace reportedly loved to cook for his friends (and for his mother), and at one point, he even owned a restaurant. I am referring to the late pianist known as Liberace. Authors Michael and Karan Feder more recently compiled more than 80 of Liberace's favorite recipes in their cookbook entitled "Joy of Liberace: Retro Recipes from America's Kitschiest Kitchen" which was documented by NPR at https://www.npr.org/2007/05/05/9969113/retro-cooking-with-the-king-of-bling and from that cookbook, I do recommend that you consider what that cookbook titled "Liberace's Sticky Buns" as an easy and tasty dessert. I shared that recipe in my own 2014 blog post.
The Vintage Recipe Project
https://vintagerecipeproject.com/
Nevertheless, without your mother's old recipe files, it becomes a bit tougher to find some of those old vintage recipes. But I discovered an interesting website called "Vintage Recipe Project" https://vintagerecipeproject.com/ which the site's owner Billie refers to as a "a labor of love dedicated to preserving and sharing the culinary history of our past" is the kind of website that has some of these vintage recipes. I have found a number of what I might describe as vintage recipes from the nineteen fifties, nineteen sixties and nineteen seventies there, and maybe some your own mother never made for you, but you might wish to try.
There are, of course, various cookbooks such as various Junior League Cookbooks from different parts of the country, and many people discover those publications in used bookstores, at estate sales, yard sales which may also contain some of these vintage recipes. However, note that more than a few older recipes may require some adaptations to work the twenty-first century. Some ingredients called for may no longer exist, or they might be called something different.
Discovering Some Unique Vintage Ingredients in Twenty-first Century Cooking
For example, some older vintage recipes call for "Oleo" which is an old-fashioned term for a what was more commonly referred to as margarine, which was kind of synthetic butter-like product made from hydrogenated vegetable oils [and most people find that switching to regular butter in those older recipes works just fine]. Margarine was later found to contribute towards heart disease and so it might make baking easier, it might also help to kill you. Other vintage recipes have slightly more exotic vintage ingredients such as what is called "citron" which I learned was a form of candied citrus fruit peels (oranges, lemons, limes, grapefruits) which are sometimes found in certain vintage recipes. Discovering those underlying ingredients can sometimes be an interesting journey by itself.
While many older recipes likely needed to be remade in order to reduce unhealthy components like hydrogenated fat, fats in general, as well as added sugars, and salt while increasing beneficial ingredients including more fiber, lower-carb fruits, and more whole vegetables, that's not to say that vintage recipes do not have a place in a rounded dietary menu, just that they need to be more balanced.
Think of successful celebrity chef and cookbook authors like Rocco DiSpirito who wrote several "Now Eat This!" cookbooks as a way to try and make more traditional comfort foods a bit more healthy. Indeed, an entire cookbook series known as "Cook This, Not That" also exists to accomplish the same. And making older recipes healthier often involves substituting fattening and salty creamed soups such as cream of chicken soup or cream of mushroom soup for healthier alternatives including home-made varieties (which the cook can control the ingredients which go into those fattening creamy soups which often double as gravies used in things like home-made chicken pot pie, for example).
I will leave the journey of discovery up to you, my reader. Just know that some bloggers have made a personal mission to share vintage recipes with the world, and that may be an excellent place to begin.
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