The Fannie Farmer Cookbook

Book excerpt: Essential for home chefs, here is the great basic American cookbook—with more than 1,990 recipes, plain and fancy—that belongs in every household. Originally published in 1896 as The Boston Cooking-School Cook Book by Fannie Merritt Farmer, it became the cookbook that taught generations of Americans how to cook. Completely updating it for the first time since 1979, with this edition, Marion Cunningham made Fannie Farmer once again a household word for a new generation of cooks. What makes this basic cookbook so distinctive is that Marion Cunningham is always at your side with forthright tips and comments, encouraging the beginning cook and inspiring the more adventurous. In giving the book new life, Mrs. Cunningham has been careful always to preserve the best of the old. She has retained all the particularly good, tried-and-true recipes from preceding editions, retesting and rewriting when necessary. She has rediscovered lost treasures, including delicious recipes that were eliminated when practically no one baked bread at home. This is now the place to find the finest possible recipes for Pumpkin Soup, Boston Baked Beans, Carpetbag Steak, Roast Stuffed Turkey, Anadama Bread, Indian Pudding, Apple Pie, and all of the other traditional favorites. The new recipes reflect the ethnic influences—Mediterranean, Moroccan, Asian—of contemporary American cooking. Tucked in among all your favorites like Old-Fashioned Beef Stew, New England Clam Chowder, you'll find cool Cucumber Sushi, Enchiladas with Chicken and Green Sauce, and Polenta and Fish. Throughout, cooking terms and procedures are explained, essential ingredients are spelled out, basic equipment is assessed. Mrs. Cunningham even tells you how to make a good cup of coffee and how to brew tea properly. The emphasis here is on good flavor, fresh ingredients, and lots of variety in one's daily fare, which Marion Cunningham believes is the secret to a healthy diet. Dedicated to the home cooks of America, young and old, this thirteenth edition of the book that won the hearts of Americans more than a century ago invites us all—as did the original Fannie Farmer—to cherish the delights of the family table.