I FOUND AN OLD RECIPE BOOK............

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clair4, Oct 6, 7:54am
I have an old Everyday Cookery Book but has no date.It is well used and brown with age.Has one full page on how to make a cup of tea.Serviette folding, party menus, household hints and how to wash and clean recipes.Great for searching old recipes.I also have Aunt Daisy and a few Edmonds books that are also very brown with age.Sadly these books just sit and never get used.

spongeypud, Oct 6, 8:46am
I've got one called Lee's Priceless Recipes 1924, another Modern Cooker (Compiled for Ellen Melville and Pioneer Women's Memorial Appeal) no mention of a date but it mentions Lady Freyberg giving a recipe and thanking Mrs. S.G. Holland, the wife of our Prime Minister and wives of Cabinet Ministers, and Mayoress Lady Allum. Another with no cover but is really old and the final one called Tried Recipes published by the Victoria League, Auckland price 2/-. This also has no date but states The Victoria League is named in memory of the late Queen Victoria. Its aim is to foster every movement which makes for union between the United Kingdom and her overseas Dominions, price 2/-.
Julie I am doing just that for my great niece who is going to be 5 in November, they aren't just kids recipes but favourite family recipes and she's helped me make Chinese pork dumplings, Scotch eggs, Bacon and Egg pie and scones to name a few, so that's some of the recipes I have typed out for her, I get them laminated and add them to a ring binder.

elliehen, Oct 6, 11:40am
spongeypud and clair4, if your old recipe books are sitting gathering dust, why not list them here on TM?There are many collectors of old New Zealand cookery books who would treasure them.

kob, Oct 6, 4:57pm
hi JulienI did exactly the same as you are doing but i used technolgy, I cooked a dish on a normal day for a year and each time i would cook a dish id photo it, after a year I had a whole recipe book, so once all the sections were done and and photos were added some i grabbed from google but most were my own from sauces to biscuits to soup all got prointed off and i took them to the bookshop and they lamionated the front and back covers and bound them, I gave this recipe book to my DIL on xmas day with some cooking trays and a casserole dish and both of them were astonished..........youngest son still rings to ask how to cook something cause he reckons its easier than trying to look through the book , but i think its orsum....sometimes the cheapest homemade things might take the longest but they are the most treasured.I would of done it in hand but unfortunately my writting is that neat and original that only i can decipher it LOL so much easier to use fonts lol

kob, Oct 6, 4:59pm
i have all my grans recipe books from early as and even a few hand written ones, early 1900 anyway will have to check

white_elephant, Oct 6, 5:34pm
I sometimes sell on here old recipe books I come across. I recently sold 3 scarce ones for $25.00, they don't really go for much considering how special they are.

valerie66, Oct 6, 6:12pm
I've got an old recipe book of my nanas who passed away last year.It's all recipes she has written in by hand that she had for many many years.It is a prized possession of mine.

spongeypud, Oct 6, 8:43pm
They are used occasionally (taking one to my Mum today as it has wild duck recipes in it), but I like to have a read now and then and have a laugh at some of the ingredients lol.

amazing_grace, Oct 7, 7:46am
I used to have a book from 1920 something, it was red leather, just little, and was written by Mrs M...at the beginning of each recipe she said things like "My French butler, C, had this recipe in his family..." or "Mr F, who visits on weekends likes this with his partridge shoot".... The recipes were incomprehnsible.

- Take 100 cray tails, put in a stewpan over a fast fire.Let it cool and pass through a tammy cloth, add enough butter which is freshly churned, and make into a smooth paste.Let sit in the cool of the pantry " etc etc...

I couldnt make any of the recipes!In the end it went to a garage sale.

kuaka, Oct 7, 7:53am
100 cray tails - I wish!

helen35, Oct 7, 7:35pm
One of my most treasured items was a cook book that my grandmother gave me about 30 years ago and I lent it to someone about 8 years ago and never got it back. And I cant remember who I lent it too...I was in the habbit of lending books.
Anyway, it was called *things a lady would like to know* and it had really old recipes and menus for every day of the year plus other tips, medical etc.
I remember one recipe started, take 30 eggs! ....
I wonder if they had a remedy forforgetfullness back then. :-?

mallee, Oct 7, 10:24pm
Doesn't that just peeve you off? You are nice enough to loan it, and the so called friend doesn't return it. It's happened to me too, and possibly alot of others.

donnabeth, Oct 7, 10:53pm
The saddest loss for my MIL when her home was burgled was her old recipe book which included recipes from her mother and Aunties who were all fabulous cooks and bakers in their day. There were little hand scribbled notes in margins at the bottom or top adjusting from coal ranges to electric or gas cookers and fan bake. Some of those recipes were a family history in themselves.

Lots of MIL's recipes were named after the person who gave them to her. I continued the trend, presenting my daughter at 21 with a beautiful carefully handwritten book of familiar recipes collected from all the family. I called them names like 'Aunty Joy's Pav.' so that when she thinks of the dish she knows which one to look for. I also included the little quirky hints and tips that came along with them.

When my son left home I did something similar but it was more practical meals that I printed on the computer and put in a clearfile. I also labled them like 'Nana'a shepherds pie'.

mallee, Oct 8, 2:31am
Was you daughter delighted with the book?

zeta7, Oct 9, 12:09am
I have a folderthat I brought when I was about 15 (I am 46) I brought and gave it to my grandmother to write all the recipes that she made when we were kids(she was an very good cook and didn't use recipes ) All my family and friendswhat recipes from it is known as granny's book but it doesn't leave my house as it is not replaceable as she has been dead for 20 years

elliehen, Oct 9, 12:26am
Old recipes books are history books.I have one where it's recommended to the wife to put on lipstick before her husband comes home from work and if tea is not ready, at least put the tablecloth on the table so that he'll think tea is not far off and won't be angry!

mallee, Oct 9, 3:04am
Table cloth, what's that? :-)

donnabeth, Oct 9, 10:47am
My family talk about the little red recipe book,

but we all know it has a blue cover. It started life in the 4os with a red cover but when that fell to bits I put blue cardboard on it.

Mallee yes both kids liked their books and use them.

hezwez, Oct 9, 7:32pm
It's too late to get this loved book back, but a hint in future...before you lend a book, pencil your name inside, and make a reminder on your phone organizer for one month hence, to contact the person you lent it to and see if they've finished with it. It helps keep track of your things. Most of the time I think non-returners have simply forgotten, it's not a deliberate ploy.

smileeah, Oct 11, 1:16am
lol And make sure the children all have clean shirts and faces and are lined up ready to say hello. And always ask him how his day was first because his problems are more important than yours, and be cheery and pleasant even if you've had a dreadful day. lol

cookessentials, Oct 11, 2:19am
I agree elliehen, that is why i began my own hand-written one back in the early 1980's. I put a date next to all the recipes i write in there. I have also been through Mum's very old recipe book and added family favourites from there, including my old old aunties farmhouse cake which was made with lard...believe me, it is a gorgeous crumbly fruit cake...the type you eat with cheese ( as many English people, such as my Dad do!)

lindylambchops1, May 8, 10:06am
What a lovely idea!Thank you for sharing.

kinna54, May 8, 11:27am
I have a diocese of Waiapu cookbook, which was printed in 1953 ( before I was born) to raise funds for the Napier Cathedral. The copywright to the cookbook was handed over by Mrs Nan G Kent-Johnston MBE who had previously published the book in Christchurch. Inside the cover is a lovely dedication from her, handing over the copywright. The cost of the book is printed on the outside: 5 shillings.
juliewn: I gave my daughters in law a 1st instalment of a recipe booklast christmas, which included favourite family recipes, many of those treasured from those who have passed on, some of the originals still written in beautiful handscript which I copied. It has pages which recipes can be added to for future favourites. Special things to be preserved for the future, and wonderful to know these things will get handed on thru the generations.
So lovely to think there are other like minded people out there, hope others will continue the trend.

kinna54, May 8, 11:39am
smiley I have 2 sons and I'm proud to say that they both can cook well. #1 son in Hamilton cooked his lovely wife a restaurant quality meal today for Mother's Day and #2 son cooked a beautiful Mothers dayroast pork dinner for his lovely wife and myself.I'm sure your boys will inherit your love of food, and hope you will be blessed with lovely daughters in law who will appreciate them.

camper18, May 8, 11:43pm
My husband is 77 and I have his grandmothers cookbook. She died 1956 at 96yrs old so guessing the book would be around 1870 when she married. One recipe I always make from it is the steamed xmas cake done in a big (A10) fruit tin, its still our favourite.