At Home on the Range [Hardcover]

Margaret Yardley Potter (Author), Elizabeth Gilbert (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 17, 2012

While unpacking boxes of old family books recently, Elizabeth Gilbert rediscovered a dusty, yellowed hardcover called At Home on the Range, originally written by her great-grandmother, Margaret Yardley Potter. Having only been peripherally aware of the volume, Gilbert dug in with some curiosity, and soon found that she had stumbled upon a book far ahead of its time. Part scholar and part crusader for a more open food conversation, Potter espoused the importance of farmer’s markets and ethnic food (Italian, Jewish, and German), derided preservatives and culinary shortcuts, and generally celebrated a devotion to epicurean adventures. Reading this practical and humorous cookbook, it’s not hard to see that Gilbert inherited her great-grandmother’s love of food and her warm, infectious prose.

Proceeds from this book benefit ScholarMatch (scholarmatch.org).

Editorial Reviews

Review

"When first published in 1947, At Home on the Range, by Margaret Yardley Potter, must have seemed a shockingly non-girly truth-talking cookbook and life guide. Read today--as introduced in a McSweeney's edition by Potter's great-granddaughter, Eat, Pray, Love author Elizabeth Gilbert--it is both artifact and artfully useful. Choice bit: Potter who died in 1955 at age 62, liked to invite guests not for dinner but rather for breakfast--'en neglige.' We're not surprised that Gilbert, who celebrates her 'Gima' throughout, comes from such feisty stock."
—Sara Nelson, Oprah Magazine

"This book is a beautiful time capsule that looks back to the roots of American gastronomy, when the values of gardening and fresh ingredients were the primary inspiration. Margaret Yardley Potter’s warm, witty stories and recipes show us that our great-grandmothers instinctually understood that food is central to a life well-lived."
—Alice Waters

"Author Elizabeth Gilbert (A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage) does a wonderful service by bringing back the opinionated, modern-for-its-time cookbook of her eccentric great-grandmother “Gima” Yardley Potter, first published in 1947... Chapters are devoted lovingly to what foods best to bring hospitalized friends, mastering cocktails, and organizing emergency meals and effortless entertaining. In her bright, determined tone (“Is your cigarette finished? Let’s go”), Yardley Potter assures us a generation before Julia Child that we can tackle bouillabaisse, preserves, bread, and grandmother’s sacred sponge cake."
—Publisher's Weekly

"This is a cookbook for modern times and modern cooks, full of sassy jokes and smartly written recipes."
—Bon Appetit

"Delightfully humorous and remarkably insightful."
—LA Times

"A precious find."
—Boston Globe

“'At Home on the Range' is, in fact, a cookbook. But it is so much, much more than a cookbook. It is a memoir of one woman’s life, her marriage, and her full and happy years taking care of a family. It is also the encapsulation of the spirit of this particular woman—Margaret Yardley Potter of Philadelphia, who died in 1955—on the page, in such full-flowered glory that she seems by the close of the volume to be someone that we know intimately."
—Buffalo News

"This is not just a book of recipes (though it has plenty of those, a perfect recipe for pressed chicken among them), but also a cookbook for life."
—GQ

"[Potter] is a wonderful, entertaining writer and a keen observer."
—The Kitchn

"For pure reading pleasure, try Margaret Yardley Potter, otherwise knowns as the memoirist Elizabeth Gilbert's great-grandmother... Adventurous and funny, she could have drunk and smoked Elizabeth David, M.F.K. Fisher and probably even Dorothy Parker under the table."
—New York Times Book Review

"Yardley Potter's prose is laced with literary references and is as much fun to read as her dinner parties must have been to attend."
—The New Yorker


“A beautiful, moving, often funny collection of essays and instructions from a very eloquent writer.”
—Village Voice

“Bracketed by Gilbert's affectionate commentary, At Home is a warm and witty memoir that captures Potter's spirited approach to cooking and just about everything else… A book for all ages. What a gem.”
—The Philadelphia Inquirer

About the Author

Margaret Yardley Potter's book is culled from a lifetime of cooking and entertaining in her home, from the 1920s through World War II. In addition to being a cooking columnist for the Wilmington Star, she also painted, sold dresses, assisted in the birth of four grandchildren, and took up swing piano.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the bestselling author of numerous books, including Eat, Pray, Love, now a major motion picture. In 2008, Time magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 240 pages
• Publisher: McSweeney's; Updated edition (April 17, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936365898
• ISBN-13: 978-1936365890
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 0.8 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #48,549 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #59 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Gastronomy > History

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars For food history buffs May 4, 2012

By George Erdosh

Format:Hardcover

More a food history book than a cookbook At Home on the Range was first published in 1947. Discovered by her great granddaughter, Elizabeth Gilbert, it is a time capsule of food and cooking of that era, more to food history buffs than home cooks. The book is preceded by a 13-page foreword by the great granddaughter giving us a glimpse of the author's life, including a few old photos, followed by a short introduction by the original author, Margaret Yardley Potter. This book is written in the narrative style and interspersed with many recipes from her wealthy household. For today's home cooks, the recipes are not easy to follow and are much dated. You will not find the customary list of ingredients or serving sizes. The recipe for fruitcake, for example, plows through a single long paragraph running two full pages. Occasional drawings with a single color embellish the pages. The writing is very good, entertaining and a pleasure to read. Two interesting tables conclude the book: emergency pantry supplies and menu suggestions. The index only includes recipes, and is very disappointing. There is no effort to cross reference. Country Stewed Chicken, e.g., only appears under Country. (As reviewed for Sacramento/San Francisco Book Review.)

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A glimpse of the past... May 6, 2012

By Just News

Format:Hardcover

This is not a cookbook as we know today, with recipes and a list of ingredients in order to produce a meal (but the recipes can be reproduced with simple cooking common sense) , it is a book to be read and enjoyed. It has to be put into context of pre Julia Childs America; "Tripe a la mode de Caen" or eels, boiled, fried or sautéed" anybody? in 1947 Philadelphia ?
it is a gem of a book , and I am glad that it was brought back to life, especially because the proceeds goes to a good cause. - [...]

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars No substitute for good food or a comfortable bed July 3, 2012

By wogan TOP 50 REVIEWER

Format:Hardcover

There is no substitute for good food or a comfortable bed - so writes Margaret Potter in `At Home on the Range', first published in 1947. This is both a cookbook, although, not in the usual form and a history of a woman who was born into the Philadelphia Main line and wound up in a small house on Maryland's eastern shore. Despite diminished circumstances, she still insisted on good food.

There is an excellent introduction by her great-granddaughter.
There are menus and instructions. Recipes included are: soups, pot roasts and other meats, foods for the brave, hard shells, fish, greens, sauces, salads and dressings, desserts, preserves, breads, drinks, eggs, parties, breakfasts, from the bar.

Recipes are in paragraph form, but there is a complete index. There are no pictures of the dishes. Some of the dishes require an adventuresome stomach, such as; calf brains with black butter, eels or fried tripe. Our family has enjoyed her recipe for meat loaf that also has a bit of ham in it, her baked squash and her pizza, which at the time she described as the "odd appearing dish".

This is a book cookbook collectors would enjoy and even those who like to read social history.