The American Century Cookbook [Hardcover]

Jean Anderson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 11, 1997

For the past ten years, Jean Anderson has been on a quest: to search out the most popular recipes of the 20th century and to chronicle 100 years of culinary change in America. The result is a rich and fascinating look at where we've been, at the recipes our mothers and grandmothers loved, and at how our own tastes have evolved.

The more than 500 cherished recipes in these pages are mainstays of American home cooking, the recipes that have remained favorites year after year. For the smallest sampling:

California dip . . . Buffalo chicken wings . . . vichyssoise . . . tuna-noodle casserole . . . Swiss steak . . . frosted meat loaf . . . tamale pie . . . corn dogs . . . lobster rolls . . . classic green bean bake . . . perfection salad . . . green goddess salad . . . frozen fruit salad . . . chiffon cake . . . brownies . . . chocolate chip cookies . . . chocolate decadence

Beyond this collection is Jean's exploration of the diversity of our nation's cuisine and our adoption of such "foreign" dishes as pizza, gazpacho, lasagne, moussaka, and tarte tatin. Her painstakingly researched text includes extensive headnotes, thumbnail profiles of important people and products (from Fannie Farmer to James Beard and from electric refrigerators to the microwave), and a timeline of major 20th-century food firsts.

In recording popular recipes that might have been lost, in setting them in richly detailed historical context, Jean Anderson has written her masterwork. The American Century Cookbook may well be the most important new cookbook of the decade; it is certainly the book America will love.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Thank goodness Jean Anderson's The American Century Cookbook is as much a culinary page-turner as a call to the kitchen, because most of the 20th century's favorites are killers according to modern nutritional standards. Try to be satisfied learning that chocolate brownies and meatloaf, as we know it, were born back when most cooks relied on a wood-burning stove, and resist the urge to whip up a Grasshopper Pie or batch of Cherry Winks. Be assured, though, all 500-plus recipes work to perfection, including the one for Perfection Salad, the gelatin mold that started it all back in 1905. Charting trends along with the origins of specific dishes, Jean Anderson shares the significance of landmark cookbooks, from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, to Craig Claiborne's The New York Times Cook Book, and Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Sea changes cited are the acceptance of foreign cuisines and the idea that cooking can be a pastime as well as a necessity. A few landmark recipes include Clam Dip, Gazpacho, Guacamole, Sloppy Joes, New York-Style Cheesecake, and Banana-Nut Bread. Find your favorites set in context by Anderson's painstaking research.

From Library Journal

Anderson, a well-known food writer and cookbook author, has put together a fascinating collection of recipes, anecdotes, and historical tidbits about America's favorite foods since the turn of the century. Many recipes come from old cookbooks and magazines; others are from chefs and cooking teachers; and lots come from the test kitchens of food companies (remember Mock Apple Pie from Ritz crackers?). Most readers will discover forgotten old favorites here, although at times the preponderance of back-of-the-box-type recipes is a rueful comment on American tastes?but, then, how could Lipton's onion soup dip not be included? Recipes are organized by category, but the headnotes and a time line running through the book set them in historical context. There are also boxes on topics from Wheaties to the Joy of Cooking and 300 illustrations (not seen) scattered throughout. Fun to read or just to dip into, this is a unique cultural history; highly recommended.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Clarkson Potter; 1 edition (November 11, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0517705761
• ISBN-13: 978-0517705766
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (30 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #272,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Winner of six best-cookbook awards and a member of the James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame, JEAN ANDERSON is one of America's most trusted cookbook authors, a careful researcher and painstaking recipe-tester. She credits her Cornell food chemistry courses plus years in the New York test kitchens of THE LADIES' HOME JOURNAL for teaching her the absolute necessity of recipes that work.

In addition to writing cookbooks, Anderson writes food and travel pieces for major American magazines and newspapers, among them BON APPÉTIT, FAMILY CIRCLE, FOOD & WINE, the late, lamented GOURMET, MORE, THE NEW YORK TIMES, and TRAVEL & LEISURE.

Known as the 'RECIPE DOC' because she loves nothing better than diagnosing and solving cooking problems, Anderson was for several years the "red phone" both at GOURMET and THE FOOD NETWORK. Got a recipe prob? Click on www.jeanandersoncooks.com and Anderson will do her best to solve it.


Photo by Rudy Muller.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Food for the mind as well as the palette, January 11, 2000

By 

Robert L. Pollard (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Century Cookbook (Hardcover)

I recently received a copy of The American Century Cookbook. My wife and I have several dust covered recipe books that are largely ignored when it is time to cook up something new. After one quick shuffle through this book however, we found ourself sitting together and going through the book as if it were, well what it is, an intriguing history book that accents its "flavor" with numerous recipes, pictures and facts. Several of my friends, including my parents and my in-laws will be receiving their own copy of this wonderful historical treasure. I may even have to buy myself another copy because my wife likes to dogear pages that she wants to come back to. In this case it would have been easier to dogear those that she did not want to return to.

16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great cookbook, December 8, 1999

By 

Dave - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Century Cookbook (Hardcover)

When I started cooking about three years ago, I had absolutely NO experience to draw from (except for grilling and pancakes--the two CAMPING dishes I learned from my Dad). Because I did not want to give half my salary to fast food restaurants and eat from stryofoam for the rest of my life, I decided I ought learned how to cook. That is when I started collecting cookbooks. I started with Cooking For Dummies and went on from there. I quickly found that I had a knack for cooking and soon came to enjoy it. As my cookbook collection grew, I quickly discovered that there were two types of cookbooks: Those you cook from and those you read. This is the first cookbook that I have found is good for both. The recipes included are fabulous and it is a great book to browse. The recipes come on all levels so the cooking klutzes and the Julia Childs alike will be able to use it. When you buy this book, and you certainly SHOULD buy this book, go directly to the recipe for blondies. I had never heard of them before but they are cheap and easily made. After I made the first batch, I made a double batch to take to work where I had just started. Let's just say it made breaking the ice in a large office a lot easier. Thanks, Ms. Anderson!

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A great food trip through time., March 16, 2000

By 

HH "holiday" (United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The American Century Cookbook (Hardcover)

If your looking for it it's in this book and a whole lot more. My favorite recipes from childhood like grasshopper pie and wafer cakes even that strange perfection salad is there. There are recipes for mystery cakes, heavenly hash, oh just tons of recipes each with a preface which talks about the recipe's history. If you like history and you like food this is a treasure. There is a timeline of food happenings and section on the international influences on the American palette.