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I am looking for a 1950 edition of The Good Housekeeping Cookbook. I am hoping to replace my mothers. Thank you for any assistance.

Jackson

Mom's go-to book was a circa 1950-something Joy of Cooking and she used that book so much the covers fell off, half the index come loose, and random pages disappeared. I still have that book.

But for some reason, I got a brand-new Better Homes and Gardens book when I was young(er than I am now) and that became my go-to for specific recipes, and for looking up things like cooking times and temps.

I also had a more recent Joy of Cooking, and when the 75th aniversary edition came out, I was ogling that, wondering if it would be a good addition to the cookbook collection. So I started looking online. Long story short, I ended up buying one of each of the Joy of Cooking revisions that I didn't have, including a replacement for mom's old book. I think there are 7 or 8...or 6? I don't know, I'd have to check the shelf. I bought most of them for a dollar or two, with the most expensive being about $12. Once in a while, I'll look up the same recipe in each edition of the book, and depending on what it is, I might make multiple versions. I did that a year or so ago, when I was making peanut brittle for someone as a gift. I made about 4 variations form the different books.

I've got a LOT of cookbooks, and I love browsing through them looking for inspiration and for new recipes, techniques, whatever. But if I'm looking for a specific recipe, unless I know exactly which cookbook I might most easily find it in, I'll just go online and search.

My usual go-to cookbook is 'The Best Recipe', with McGee's works filling in gaps when I'm improvising something for the first time. But I started cooking when I was little, so things have changed a lot over time.

My first two cookbooks were intended for kids, and and I got them when I was about eight. A year or so later turned to my mother's main-stay cookbook (cannot remember the name) for its angel food cake recipe, since I wanted something challenging for 4H.

Once I left home, I usually didn't have any cookbooks, then I briefly had the 'New York Times Cookbook' and learned to cook meat (I was raised as a vegetarian). This vanished in one of my many moves, and for several years I simply improvised. Today, I still prefer to improvise (particularly favourite Tuscan dishes from when I was growing up), but like to understand the chemistry and physics of what I'm trying to do, so 'America's Test Kitchen' and Harold McGee are terrific resources.

PerkyMac--sorry it took so long to respond! The Nancy Drew Cookbook was published in 1975. I received it for my 12th birthday that same year. I actually really like the way they used the book titles for recipe titles. Cheesy, yes, but I still get a kick out of.

You can still get her cookbook--I've seen it at used book stores and on ebay.'

I ditto what everyone has said about Cook's Illustrated. Those folks rock.

i started out with The Joy of Cooking, but i use it less and less.

since my Mom got it for me a few years ago, my constant go-to-cookbook has been Claudia Roden's "The Book of Jewish Food". Challah, pasta, stuffed grape leaves, any egg dish you can imagine, dangerously buttery cookies, olive recipes, chickpea recipes. it's awesome.