Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book

2 Responses to “Miss Parloa’s New Cook Book”

1. Leah Cope says:

   May 13, 2010 at 4:48 pm

   This was far more appealing than I expected it to be. I like that it seems to be one of the very first cookbooks where they establish it necessary to really tell you how much of what to use and gave standardized measurements, of sorts.

   Brilliant information about beef and fish and additional ingredients and a wonderful bit of insight into history. Some of the recipes would be fun to try even now, which I didn’t expect. The section on how to equip a kitchen was fun to read as well.

   If you’re into ancient cookbooks or just like reading about food and they type of things they used in their kitchens back then, well worth the free download!
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5
2. F. Schwab says:

   May 13, 2010 at 7:13 pm

   I have a trend to collect cookbooks, so I figured a free cookbook for my Kindle was at least worth a look. I had no thought how much I would delight in this one. I have really read it take in-to-take in, and though I’ve had to use the glossary feature for several phrases in the book (for example, “Indian meal” seems to have been the term for “corn meal” during Miss Parloa’s era), I have highlighted more than a few recipes to try from this book.

   Something to note is that the measurements are not reasonably as precise as you’d find nowadays (i.e., she calls for “butter the size of an egg” in several recipes), and there is never a temperature agreed for baking in the oven – rather, she uses terminology such as “cook in a moderate oven” (which I take to mean as somewhere around 350-375 degrees Fahrenheit) – so building some of these recipes will probably prove to be a bit of a challenge for even an veteran cook. But if you’re looking for real, from-scratch recipes the way your fantastic-fantastic-grandmother would have done it, this is a really fantastic place to start.
   Reader’s Rating: 4 / 5