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Eating the Past: From Wartime Rationing to Julia Child

This guide supports the occasional series Eating the Past, a collaboration between USU Libraries Special Collections & Archives and Arts & Humanities faculty members using the historic cookbook collections to examine foodways of the past.

March 16, 2021 Event

Honey Graham Cake (modernized by Susan Grayzel) from the Victory Binding of The American Woman's Cook Book: Wartime Edition (1943)

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups sifted flour

1/4 cup sugar

2 t baking powder

1/4 t baking soda

1/2 t salt

1/2 t ginger

1/2 t cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

1 egg, well beaten

1/2 c water (or milk)

1/2 c honey

1/4 cup melted shortening

Directions:

  1. Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.
  2. Sift dry ingredients (first 8) together.
  3. Combine egg, milk/water, honey, and shortening.
  4. Blend dry and liquid ingredients together; mix thoroughly.
  5. Pour into well-greased 9x12 inch pan and bake 40 minutes.

Crepês Suzette (tweaked by Laura Gelfand) from Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking (1961)

Cook's note:

This recipe is still under copyright so please seek out a copy of Mastering in order to prepare the delicious dish.  The cook makes one significant recommendation: use the regular crêpe recipe as opposed to the one for the sucres. Otherwise, follow the recipe according to the wisdom of Julia!

The American Woman's Cookbook: Wartime Edition, 1943

Susan Grayzel, Professor of History, prepared Honey Gingerbread using a USU Special Collections & Archives copy of The American Woman's Cookbook: The Wartime Edition (not yet cataloged). 

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 1961

Laura Gelfand, Professor in the USU Art and Design Department, prepared Crêpes Suzette using the USU Special Collections & Archives copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 (COLL V Gr. 6 no. 50). 

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License