The Great American Cookbook, by Clementine Paddleford

It’s not often that a cookbook grabs my attention and makes me check my budget to see if I can afford to buy it. That’s not to say I don’t get excited by cookbooks penned by friends and contemporaries like Lisa Fain and Matt Arminderez. I do. I’ve bought those books and will be reviewing them soon. This book however, was not on my list of books to buy.

Now it’s on my list of books to never be without.

In fact, if I were stranded on a desert island with just three books to read, this book would be on that list. It has replaced the Betty Crocker cookbook as my main source of good, achievable recipes that, for the most part, can be made in any home kitchen. Yes, it’s that good.

Have you ever heard of Clementine Paddleford? If not, you aren’t alone but you should be ashamed.

We should all be ashamed.

Clementine Paddleford was a woman well ahead of her time. She was a food writer from the 1940′s until her death in 1969. In that time, she wrote about the food of America. Not just the America she was familiar with, but the America she had to travel to see. In her own words:

…I have traveled by train, plane, automobile, by mule back, on foot—In all over 800,00 miles.

I have ranged from the lobster posts of Maine to the vineyards of California, from the sugar shanties of Vermont to the salmon canneries in Alaska. I have collected these recipes from a wide variety of kitchens: farm kitchens, apartment kitchenettes, governors’ mansions, hamburger diners, tea rooms and from the finest restaurants with great chefs in charge. I have eaten with crews on fishing boats and enjoyed slum gullion at a Hobo Convention…

Through her fearless and often relentless travels Clementine introduced America to the cuisines and cultures of the entire nation. In a time where nobody on the East coast had heard of an enchilada, Clementine was there. In a time when Californians had never experienced a blintz or a cruller, she was there, sometimes flying thousands of miles (in her own plane) to experience the food and culture of America.

I can’t stress on any level how important this book is to any American cook. These are the recipes of our great grandmothers and great-great grandmothers. This book is a slice of history that covers each and every state in the union. This is not just a collection of recipes, but a tribute to individual families, about which Ms. Paddleford writes warm and fond words.

She introduces you to the people, the places, the things that made these particular recipes important to her. Pot roasts made by a chef in the home of a Viennese princess in Vermont, Beans and Brown Bread in the Cradle from Boston, Chicken Pilaf and Bean Dip from Texas, Mrs. Benton’s Roasted Guinea Hens from Missouri, Olive Rabbit from California and the Brindle Brothers’ Crab dip from Alaska. Each of these recipes comes with a story of the people who made it and of the place they lived. Her book is a snapshot of lives in America, adapted and retested for the modern table by Kelly Alexander. In short, it is not only a piece of history, but a piece of culinary art and delight.

Without gushing any further, I say this. Run. Do not walk. Get to your local bookseller or online retailer. Order this book. Have it in your collection. You owe yourself and your family this book.

If you prefer to buy from Amazon, you can get the book here: The Great American Cookbook: 500 Time-Tested Recipes: Favorite Food from Every State. If you prefer to buy it from somewhere else, then feel free to do so. You won’t hurt my feelings. What would hurt my feelings would be for you to miss this experience.

Go. Now. You need this book in your collection.

We will be posting adaptations of many of the recipes in this book over the coming year, and I invite you to play along with us. I’ll post details on that particular challenge later. Until then, remember;

Food is love. Share and Enjoy!

Tagged as: All-American Recipes, American Cuisine, Classic American Recipes, cookbooks, News and Reviews