Oh! The Joy!

February 2nd, 2006, 05:59 PM

Did I ever score! I won a bid for a mint condition 1972 edition of Joy of Cooking. The book is flawless, it just arrived today.

Now, it is commonly accepted that the old blue-covered Joy of Cooking is far better than later editions, and I agree with this. Many of the old recipes were altered in later editions, to a disadvantage.

My original old blue edition is so ratty from years of use that it is kept together with an elastic band. Like an old Mac, I don't have the heart to throw it out. A few years back, I bought the new white-covered edition of what should be the same book. Not only have the recipes been changed, but it turns out that the quality of the book itself changed. It has fallen apart in just five years or so.

So, I checked around with second-hand book stores, and apparently the old blue edition is a rare find, much sought after. No one had a copy. BUT NOW I DO!

So eat your hearts out!

February 2nd, 2006, 06:16 PM




So what are you going to cook for all of us?

February 2nd, 2006, 06:20 PM

Haggis McBagpipe

Do you actually need a cookbook to make some haggis?!


That ain´t his first alright...

Just kidding, congratulations! I bought two books last year (I bought tons of old books, somewhat a weakness )that gave me about the same feeling you seem to have now, those were lyrics and notes of the famous swedish troubadour Evert Taube (leather folded, mint condition, from 1960:s).


Evert Taube, my idol - RIP

February 2nd, 2006, 06:27 PM

Yeah, there's something about scoring an old book that isn't easy to find, isn't there.

And Jay, nope. No Joy for you. I like having the book for those rare occasions when I get around to cooking, but those occasions are definitely few and far between.

I thought about having haggis just one time. One look at it changed my mind, and in self-defense I became vegetarian (one who considers seafood a vegetable, though).

February 2nd, 2006, 06:33 PM

Sounds like our old Pillsbury Family Cookbook. We got it as a wedding present almost forty years ago. It's now held together by elastic bands and reputation. There are so many food stains in it and on it, that you could probably make pretty good soup by just boiling the book. It's been a pretty good book in that if a neighbor brings you a mess of Chilean spotted squid, there is probably a recipe for it. I have done most of the cooking in our house for a number of years and don't use many set recipes anymore. I tend to improvise with what is in the fridge. Still, every once in a while, something different comes up and the old book can be handy.

February 2nd, 2006, 06:41 PM

Good find, Haggis!! These days all recipes are low fat, low sugar, low flavour. I like cream, butter and sugar in my food. Whipping cream is one of the four basic food groups around here.

February 2nd, 2006, 06:43 PM

It does sound like my old Joy. It is always nice to have that one all-purpose book kicking around, isn't it, and I've always considered cookbook stains to be the best bookmarks of all. You can easily find the good pages, they're the ones that are extra well 'marked'.

I was looking through the old and new versions to see some of the differences, and the usual reason for changing them seems to be a) health, ie less eggs, etc., and b) convenience, ie the recipes are considerably easier in the later version. I love having this 'new' old version once again.

February 2nd, 2006, 07:05 PM

And your wife is happy with that? My fiancé and I cook every other week and clean the place the opposite one...

Today I made:


With carrot and mushroom...

February 2nd, 2006, 07:22 PM

Yum, that looks really good, thulin.

My husband is happy with our arrangement, in fact it is his idea. He hates sharing the kitchen, and I gave up fighting him for it.

I like your arrangement, it sounds like a very fine way to keep the peace and enjoy the variety.

February 2nd, 2006, 07:25 PM

!!!!! Oh my, a woman after my own heart indeed!

February 2nd, 2006, 07:30 PM

Hrmpf... Sorry... It´s just that "harris" seems so... Masculine somehow... I just figured... Well, I should just stop that huh?

February 2nd, 2006, 07:38 PM

My Wife does most of the cooking during the week and on the weekends I usually cook. I cook the more extravagant meals....well I see it that way anyway, but I also do the clean up in the kitchen (every few days...)

February 2nd, 2006, 07:41 PM

Totally understandable, believe me. I think almost everybody makes that assumption at first.

Basically, haggis is neither masculine nor feminine, it's a food, and a pretty nasty food at that, come to think of it. Truly vile, in fact. Which might say a lot about my choice of a forum handle, eh?

And Jay, those extravagant feasts are fun, I truly love making a disaster in the kitchen. Hey, maybe that's why my husband doesn't like me in there!

<edited to add a note to Jay>

February 2nd, 2006, 07:44 PM


I took it to be a reference to Scottish people....

February 2nd, 2006, 07:52 PM

Actually, it was an expression my dad used a lot when I was a kid.

February 2nd, 2006, 10:42 PM

As far as I'm concerned, they should never shoot another Haggis. I sure as hell wouldn't miss their rotund, obese, little carcases. Let the little buggers run free, I say, where the deer and the antelope play around,...or whatever they do....

February 2nd, 2006, 11:28 PM

You are killing me here!