Is this progress?

I had just graduated from college and my friends knew I loved to cook, so that Christmas one of them gifted me with a copy of the Joy of Cooking.  I loved it.  Having learned to cook at my mother's side and with the help of a 1938 edition of the Boston School of Cooking Cookbook by Fannie Farmer that my grandfather handed down to me, the Joy of Cooking was perfect.  It was comprehensive, easy to follow, and a wonderful resource for expanding my repertoire of the classics.

Almost ten years after receiving that first copy, the much heralded update appeared in 1997.  THIS edition is the one I use frequently and when folks compliment me on my scones and pancakes, or chicken soup--I have to give the credit to this edition of Joy which gave me the base from which to explore my own take on these everyday standbys.

Now there is a new edition.  Seventy-five years after Irma Rombauer's classic, her progeny--Marion Rombauer Becker and her son, Ethan Becker--have added some 500 new recipes and have taken a few steps back.  This is curious because this is also the team that brought us the 1997 edition I love. 

But these words from the editorial director of The Good Cook book club gives me pause:

"Connoisserus of Joy noticed the 1997 version was a little more 'chef-like'--less geared toward home cooks; but in this, the 75th anniversary edition, the focus is squarely back on home cooking.  The voice and spirit, definitely, are more in keeping with the original notes from Irma, and you'll find favorites they dropped or abridged in the last edition:  There's more casseroles, more family fare, more convenience foods--no more 'everything should be made from scratch'!"

Now, I haven't ever read or cooked from Irma's first editions so I don't know how much of a departure the 1997 revision actually was.  But from the copy I used--issued in 1975--I couldn't tell too much of a difference.  I'm willing to admit that the kinds of foods I like to cook and the way I prepared them had changed between 1988 when I first received that copy and when the 1997 edition was released.  So it may be that I grew with the revision.  I'm also willing to admit that in that interim I had spent several years in Berkeley, CA and discovered Alice Waters and seasonal cooking.  I'm sure that had something to do with it.  I had evolved, the Joy of Cooking had evolved and when we met up again in 1997 we were in the same place.

But what is this, "no more 'everything should be made from scratch'"???  This isn't the Joy of Sandra Lee!  For me, the joy of cooking is in the cooking from scratch. 

This just strikes me as very odd given the growing movement toward healthier eating, Slow Food, local, seasonal cooking, and the rest.  I so much want the world to believe that it is possible to eat well and eat foods cooked from scratch while living a crazy busy life.  A cookbook as influential and widely loved as the Joy of Cooking really has an opportunity to help make everyone from novice to "chef wannabe" home cooks feel comfortable enough in the kitchen to experiment with new ingredients, techniques, and methods.  This doesn't mean that it would have to betray its heritage by adding recipes like quesadillas and ceviche--fine--take those out.  But PLEASE if we are going to continue to cook the great classics of American cooking (casseroles and tuna bakes included) then teach us to cook them from scratch. 

I'm anxious to get my hands on this latest edition to see just what this is all about.  But if any of you use the Joy of Cooking or have seen the new version--I'd love to know what you think.

Comments

[David]

I haven't read any edition of this book, so my comments are sort of tangential. I do know that the original two versions are very well respected.

Think about these books in the context of the times. The "celebrity" chefs of 1997 and the "celebrity" chefs of 2006 are very different. Then, it was all about the quality of the food and learning technique. Sure, Julia Child was selling cookbooks, but it was almost and afterthought. Now it's all about MARKETING - selling books, DVDs, kitchen gadgets and cookware is the focus.

My idea of a cookbook is Cook's Illustrated magazine. They not only tell you what ingredients to use and how to put them together, they tell you the WHY - which is the most important thing. I have purchased any number of cookbooks and ended up disappointed with most of them. (Back when Cooks did coobook reviews they made me feel like less of a failure when THEY had trouble/disappointments cooking from some of the books they reviewed). I now am VERY critical and selective when choosing a cookbook.

To me, cooking is like playing an instrument - you start out following other's compositions and hopefully develop your own style well enough to "solo" when necessary.

Unfortunately, today, even most "scratch" cooks I know are "recipe followers". They never get beyond "Tab A in Slot B" to the "why". When I see things like PRE-MADE pancakes in the grocery store, I think even those who cook from recipes are a sad minority. Most people I know have such screwy priorities that they think cooking is a bother.

[lucette]

I'm with you on objecting to jettisoning things made from scratch--are they crazy? I actually own 5 copies of Joy--my mother's (inherited, and in pieces), my own first copy (wedding present), a replacement copy for that copy (when it started to fall apart), a vintage copy from the '30s (from an estate sale), and the 1997 revisionist copy. I did think the 1997 copy was noticeably different, but not in a bad way--I liked the new recipes. But I wouldn't want to give up my old copies either.

[Owen O'Neill]

Joy of Cooking is the second or third cookbook I acquired and remains the one that I use most often. I'm not sure which edition I have but it's been in my possession since the early 1980's - certianly not a new iteration.

I've always appreciated the extensive general information it offers about various meats, vegetables, starches, sauces etc. It's invaluable for the beginner and the more advanced cook who's working with a new ingedient or one they haven't played with in quite some time.

And if the new edition is resorting to suggstions that premade foods such as canned soups ect should be uses as a short-cut in preparing dishes like casseroles - shame on them! The most complicated thing about Bechamel sauce is the name. Due to an extremely hectic schedule and eating solo I no longer cook very often but there's no excuse for using canned soups in a casserole. Not to mention that recipes of that sort are readily available on the label of most packaged convenience foods.

Even more troubling to me is the increased levels of sodium in pre-made foods such as soup and the ubiquity of HFCS. Anything I can do to reduce those in my food intake is worth the effort.