Handwritten Recipes: A Bookseller's Collection of Curious and Wonderful Recipes Forgotten Between the Pages [Hardcover]

Michael Popek (Author)

Book Description

Release date: October 2, 2012

Leaf through your cookbooks, and you’re likely to find a bit of paper with a recipe written in a familiar (or not-so-familiar) hand. It could be a family secret finally divulged, a scribbled interpretation of something seen on TV, even a culinary experiment long since forgotten. What happens to these recipes when the books are passed on?

By day, Michael Popek works in his family’s used bookstore. By night, he’s the voyeuristic force behind the websites ForgottenBookmarks and HandwrittenRecipes, where he shares the weird, wonderful objects he has found among the stacks at his store.

Handwritten Recipes is a treasury of Michael’s most fascinating found recipes. You’ll find classic Americana like pies and casseroles alongside ethnic mainstays such as Italian cookies, springerle, and German dumplings. Some are perfectly clear and complete, while others leave crucial elements—like cooking times and ingredient measurements—to the reader’s imagination. You can venture to try any recipe, or just enjoy Popek’s findings as a time capsule from kitchens of generations gone by.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (October 2, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399160140
• ISBN-13: 978-0399160141
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Paper Ephemera & Cards > Paper Ephemera

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A fascinating, entertaining scrapbook of treasures discovered from within the pages of used books." 

(Shelf Awareness on FORGOTTEN BOOKMARKS )

"This fascinating book offers intimate glimpses into other people’s lives, from the kitschy and the kooky to the achingly poignant. "

(The Tucson Citizen on FORGOTTEN BOOKMARKS )

"...a treasure for the bibliophile..."

(The Albany Times Union on FORGOTTEN BOOKMARKS )

About the Author

Michael Popek studied literature at Bennington College before rejoining his family’s used-book business. He lives and works in Oneonta, New York, with his wife, daughter, two dogs, and cat.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 208 pages
• Publisher: Perigee Trade (October 2, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0399160140
• ISBN-13: 978-0399160141
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #304,641 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #21 in Books > Crafts, Hobbies & Home > Antiques & Collectibles > Paper Ephemera & Cards > Paper Ephemera

More About the Author

Michael Popek is the 33 year-old manager of a family-run used and rare bookstore in Oneonta, N.Y. He has been in the book business since junior high school, when his father bought a vanload of used books at an auction and decided to see if there was any money to be made off them. Since then, his family has built a successful used-book business that combines a brick-and-mortar location with an online presence that ships books all over the world. As manager of the bookstore, Popek buys books from libraries, estates and individuals on a regular basis. His first Forgotten Bookmark, which he posted in June 2007, was a handwritten note found in a paperback copy of "The Blind Assasin" by Margaret Atwood. Since that post, more than 700 items have been featured on the website.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Cute idea; worth a quick browse October 16, 2012

By I Do The Speed Limit TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Through the years, a used-book seller kept track of the recipes that he found tucked away in the books that came through his shop. He also kept track of the books in which he found them. He put it all together in a book: Interesting idea; cute idea; but to what end?

Yes, it was interesting to turn the pages and see a picture of the recipe, whether on a card, or envelope, or scrap of paper; and to see next to it a picture of the book in which it was found. But the "interest" ends there: The author did not reminisce on the people who brought the books in, nor did he search out, then tell us, the story behind the recipe and how it came to be in the book. (Sometimes he contacted a blogger to gain some info on the recipe's ingredients.) Plus, the recipes are nothing special. I can count on one hand the recipes I found that interested me enough to try. Yes, I suppose one could call a few of them "curious". Calling the recipes "wonderful" is quite a stretch.

I bought this book because I collect old recipes--I search for them at estate sales and have had a lot of fun in the process. This book has been a disappointment for me; I had hoped for more. I suggest you try to get a hold of a copy through your local library before making a purchase. I actually regret that I bought this one, and I give it 2.5 stars, rounded up to 3.

If you are in search of some worthwhile heirloom recipes, (that have been updated for today's available ingredients) check out this cookbook: Heirloom Cooking With the Brass Sisters: Recipes You Remember and Love; and here is another one by the same authors: com/Heirloom-Baking-Brass-Sisters-Discovered/dp/1579128815">Heirloom Baking with the Brass Sisters: More than 100 Years of Recipes Discovered and Collected by the Queens of Comfort Food(TM). I recommend the "Cooking" one because I cook from it and I especially love the stollen recipe in that book. Read more ›

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Serendipitous Discoveries . . . Including Some Recipe Gems December 4, 2012

By Lynne E. TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

HANDWRITTEN RECIPES is a book of serendipitous discoveries, not a cookbook or recipe book--it is a fun collection of recipes found tucked into used books. I purchased it because handwritten recipes are always recipes that someone has asked a friend or relative for. They are recipes for dishes that have been taste-tested and enjoyed at someone's home, or family recipes written down for the newest cook in the latest generation.

In this collection, there are photos of the original handwritten recipes, along with the covers of the books they were found in. The handwriting reminds me of the handwriting on the recipes in my mother's kitchen "recipe drawer". And the book covers often raise questions. Why is a simple recipe for "scalloped tomatoes" tucked into MASTERING THE ART OF FRENCH COOKING? What is "fudge cake" doing in a copy of Jude Deveraux's LOST LADY? How did "Jewish apple cake" end up in William Howard Taft's JAPAN AND THE FAR EAST CONFERENCE?

For many of the recipes, you need to know something about cooking to prepare them, because the directions (and possibly the ingredients lists) are incomplete. The recipes are divided into breads, side dishes, main dishes, and desserts. Some recipes are so ordinary that you hardly need a recipe, but there are also some real gems.

I definitely want to try the "pineapple date bread" (a quick bread with canned crushed pineapple, chopped walnuts and dates, oven-baked for 55 minutes), and maybe the "macaroni loaf" (cooked elbow macaroni and chopped cabbage in lemon gelatin, seasoned with prepared mustard, vinegar, mayonnaise, and pimiento). Well, maybe NOT the macaroni loaf--I kind of remember that one (a "molded salad") from my own family Thanksgivings!...

I can't help wondering about the people who left the recipes in the books--did they ever hunt for the lost recipes? Thanks to the bookseller/blogger who has gathered them up and published them, the recipes are no longer lost. Read more ›

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Fun idea! May 4, 2013

By V RANDALL

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love reading cookbooks and rummaging through recipe boxes and book stores so this book was for me. It is interesting not only to see what recipes are included but what books they were found in. The journey many of them make is also intriguing. Though I haven't tried any, this book inspired my cooking. Quick read and very fun.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars A good read even for non-cooks April 10, 2013

By L. A. McKinnon

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I don't cook but I enjoy reading cook books. This was a good read, one that I could recommend to both cooks and non-cooks.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting April 3, 2013

By Helena Davison

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

I purchased two of these cookbooks, one for myself and the other as a gift for a rabid cookbook collector. We are both enchanted by it. It is a delightful little book to read through and some of the old recipes look good and will be tried.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Sheafs of delightful recipes extracted from interleafs February 22, 2013

By evaB

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Is there anything better than something "found" in between the pages of a book? This is a collection of serendipitous recipes from cooks you will never know. So in a way this anthology is the antithesis of a "reality show" that is more real than a Nigella. How can you resist a noodle pudding that is culled from the interleaf of Barbara Cartland's Wild Unwilling Wife (page 65). Or Blonde Brownies from Motherless Brooklyn? Read the book. Bake the bread. Be your own star knowing that anonymous, faceless, not Facebook others, have recorded their savouring and it is your fortune to be tempted by them through this delightful book.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Handwritten Recipes:A booksellers collection of curious and December 23, 2012

By Mommala

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I love old recipes and this book Handwritten Recipes gives you several good recipes that anyone can try. Sounds delicious.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Book December 30, 2012

By Donna Marie Sloma

Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase

Enjoyed the book and the old clippings, some are hard to see, because they are faded, but with my husbands help we were able to figure some of the faded ones!