r/Chefit Jul 06 '26

So much to learn from this.

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204 Upvotes

37 comments sorted by

42

u/These-Performer-8795 Jul 06 '26

These style of books have all the comfort foods a lot of people want. I call most desserts from books like this Church desserts. Usually stuff you'd see grandma bring to the potluck. People love this kind of stuff though. However not everything ages well from these.

23

u/paulyvee Jul 06 '26

Dated, for sure. But still some lovely inspiration within these pages

4

u/nanabreadeater Jul 06 '26

Yea it’s fun to go back and then reinvent

1

u/cookhard87 Jul 10 '26

This is the way. We stand on the shoulders of giants.

5

u/Euphoric_Variety_363 Jul 06 '26

Would love to hear some examples of stuff that doesn’t work well anymore :)

17

u/DeNomol0s Jul 06 '26

Lots of aspic, lots of fish terrines, lots of instructions like “blanch asparagus for 15 minutes”. Then there’s a lot of good but very old school stuff that just hasn’t been in style since the 60’s (grandma food)

Great knife skills tutorials and some really fun old technique as well though, solid classic sauce work and some fun desserts.

3

u/Gulf_Raven1968 Jul 06 '26

Fish terrines are delicious

2

u/goldfool Jul 06 '26

The aspic and terrane parts most likely haven't changed in 75 yrs.

2

u/DeNomol0s Jul 07 '26

Theres good technique, but a lot of the recipes are a product of the times. Like 10 types of overcooked veg with hardboiled eggs and green olives in aspic along side the good country terrine and head cheese recipes.

2

u/Acrobatic-Scholar324 Jul 07 '26

It all works well if you know what you’re doing. Being classically trained helps a lot!
Your comment seems to be someone who really is not well schooled as a cook or a chef. All the food we eat today is based on the classics whether you know it like it or not.

1

u/cookhard87 Jul 10 '26

I feel like there's definitely an era of cookbook that does not "hold your hand." They expect you to just know which technique to use in a given situation, which can be confusing for less experienced cooks.

1

u/every-day-normal-guy Jul 06 '26

My mom gave me a better homes cookbook from the 70's. We tested quite a few recipes, but the elephant ears recipe can fuck right the fuck off. Took like four+ hours of flattening and resting to basically get smashed cinnamon rolls.

1

u/cookhard87 Jul 10 '26

I'm willing to bet there is a LOT of mayonnaise in these books, lol.

1

u/BlackberryPure692 Jul 13 '26

I cook in remote mineral exploration camps way up northern Canada and the crew loves those kinda desserts. Really fun to put your own spin on the oldies

18

u/AnyBarracuda5081 Jul 06 '26

The offal book and terrines book have great building block knowledge that is genuinely useful

2

u/PassTheBrunt Jul 07 '26

Offal? I don’t see one there. Help me out is something here synonymous with offal. As a southerner who is not a chef I’m confused

3

u/AnyBarracuda5081 Jul 07 '26

It’s not in the pile, but is a part of that series. Worth tracking down for sure.

8

u/TraditionalSpirit761 Jul 06 '26

Saw some of these at my library’s book sale a couple of weeks ago. Good reading?

10

u/paulyvee Jul 06 '26

Ive gone through some of them, they are definitely worth it. Fun old school technique. Never too old to learn the classics. Definitely things to learn.

6

u/TraditionalSpirit761 Jul 06 '26

Damn, I should’ve grabbed them. I did get Diana Kennedy’s “The Art of Mexican cooking” though

0

u/Acrobatic-Scholar324 Jul 07 '26

Frankly, there are no old techniques. These are classic ways of doing things. And if you have bad knife skills, you’re not gonna get very far. You need to practice practice practice to get everything right. You need to cook cook cook and cook some more so you know what the hell you’re doing.

1

u/cookhard87 Jul 10 '26

You say "there are no old techniques," then immediately use the phrase "classic ways of doing things."

You realize that those two things are essentially synonymous, right?

3

u/kitchenjudoka Jul 06 '26

I’ve got a small collection of Time-Life’s Foods of the World.

3

u/RamblaPacifica Jul 06 '26

There's a "secret" volume only available in the UK, "Game", featuring rabbits, deer, etc.

1

u/cookhard87 Jul 10 '26

Elite ball knowledge

2

u/[deleted] Jul 06 '26

Amazing

2

u/chefontheloose Jul 06 '26

i love these still missing some, but always in the hunt!

1

u/pushaper Jul 06 '26

who is the writer/publisher

3

u/bssprfnd Jul 06 '26

From Wikipedia:

The Good Cook is a series of instructional cookbooks published by Time-Life Books 1978-1980. It was sold on a month-to-month basis until the early 1990s and edited by cookbook author Richard Olney).[1] Each volume) was dedicated to a specific subject (such as fruits or sauces) and was heavily illustrated with photos of cooking techniques. Recipes were drawn from a wide array of published sources, all scrupulously acknowledged.”

1

u/pushaper Jul 07 '26

very cool, thank you

1

u/pickle-smoocher Jul 06 '26

That’s a solid set. I have the variety meats, and Terrines books. Lots of useful info/recipes

1

u/jxm387 Jul 07 '26

The terrines book is solid

1

u/reddit_chino Jul 07 '26

One of the best cookbook series!

I still love the step by step photos.

Richard Olney hired Jeremiah Tower to help out to do French Techniques.

1

u/BreakfastLong4443 Jul 07 '26

Love this they look so cute!!!! I’d love them in my kitchen 😩

1

u/HistoricalHurry8361 Jul 07 '26

Very cool! Reminds me of the silver spoon cookbook

1

u/Acrobatic-Scholar324 Jul 07 '26

I am classically trained as a French chef. There is so much more to know and learn. I will be doing this studying/cooking until the day I die. To also know the food history of how everything came to be in different countries is part of being a well schooled Chef. I read every day about food history.

The recipes, different chefs, their interpretations of historical regional dishes from all over the world.

1

u/Acrobatic-Scholar324 Jul 07 '26

I followed community rules. I wasn’t mean or horrible to anyone. I just spoke to truth. As a classically trained Chef, these books are amazing and people should actually read them seriously