My mother, Lana, wasn’t an instinctive or creative cook, she proudly stated she hated to cook many times. Her red plaid five ring binder edition of the Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook from 1962 helped her put dinner on the table to the best of her abilities. I now have that cookbook and I have my own from 2018. I like this cookbook because it not only has recipes but also information on different types of cooking utensils and how to use them. ‘How to’ information such as making gravy or how to trim Brussels sprouts. The troubleshooting guide for baking has helped me often.
When the book debuted in 1930, the magazine claimed that “never before has there been a cookbook like this,” a promise it quickly lived up to. The book became a bestseller in three months, and by 1938, it had sold a million copies. Today, there are over 40 million copies stored on shelves, stashed in boxes and maybe sitting on your kitchen countertop as you read this.
Cooks all over America really took to the book. What made this unassuming book such a hit? For one thing, cooks loved the revolutionary ring binding, allowing the book to open flat on the countertop. No cookbook had ever offered this feature before. Cooks also appreciated the blank pages at the back, inviting them to add their own favorite recipes to the book.
Readers liked the tab dividers because it made the book resemble a recipe filing box. In short, it combined the advantages of both a book and a recipe card file for a true all-in-one kitchen resource.
That describes the vision of the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book through all its editions: It changes as America changes. In fact, looking through past issues of the book is like surveying a history of America from 1930 to the present.
During the days of wartime rationing in the 1940s, a revision of the cookbook featured a supplement entitled “An Easy Guide for Your Ration Points.” Oven meals, where the main dish, a vegetable, and dessert were baked at the same time, provided a handy way to save fuel.
More money and leisure time brought by the prosperous post-war 1950s ushered in a new appreciation for backyard grilling and entertaining at home. That’s when Chicken Divan and Chef’s Grilled Steak debuted. A new salad craze also hit the scene. In fact, Better Homes & Gardens magazine editors are credited for coining the term “tossed salad.”
The 1960s saw an increased interest in foreign food and gourmet meals. For example, in the 1968 edition, the humble chicken went international with Chicken Kiev, Chicken Cacciatore, Chicken Parisienne, and Island Broiled Chicken. And, as home entertaining became less formal, the cook-at-the-table craze began. Readers grew especially fond of fondue.
In the 1970s, inflation shrunk the home cook’s purchasing power, and budget meals became common fare in the cookbook’s pages. While many women returned to work to help ease the budget crunch, the Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book called on convenient new appliances, including slow cookers and microwave ovens, to help ease the time crunch.
In the 1980s, families became smaller, and yields of recipes decreased to reflect this. Casual was the word for entertaining. In fact, 1980s editions dropped table-setting information. An increased interest in healthy eating brought more low-fat recipes to the pages, and nutrition analyses were added to each recipe in the book.
To keep pace with the decade’s hectic lifestyles, the 1996 edition began the practice of adding preparation times with each recipe. Focaccia, tiramisu, and Brie en Croute were some of the discoveries of the decade that debuted in the cookbook.
Throughout the years, the cookbook adapted to the times while remaining true to its original mission of providing cooks with a trustworthy cooking resource. The formula has worked. The Better Homes & Gardens New Cook Book, with its distinctive red-and-white plaid cover, is one of the world’s most recognized books and older editions are collected by many cooks.
Every edition is “The New Cook Book” but there are a handful of recipes that have been there since the early years and continue to earn their place, including those classic chocolate chip cookies, orange-glazed “bowknots” and a “busy day cake” that is now called a one bowl butter cake.
One-Bowl Butter Cake
Although renamed several times through the years, the one-bowl butter cake recipe formula in the 17th edition is similar to the favorite butter cake recipe in the very first edition of the cookbook published in 1930. The quick mix and pour method and common pantry ingredients create a moist, tender every day cake. Customize it with ice cream, curd, fudge, honey, caramel, jam, toasted nuts, grilled fruit, such as pineapples, or berries.
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups assorted fresh berries
Sweetened whipped cream, for serving (optional)
Honey (optional)
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour an 8 inch round cake pan. In a medium bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add milk, butter, egg and vanilla. Beat with a mixer on low until combined. Beat on medium 1 minute more. Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool cake in pan 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake; invert onto a plate. Cool 30 minutes. Serve warm with berries and, if desired, sweetened whipped cream and honey. Serves 8.
