
The publication date on this cookbook is 1960, but the advice is timeless. And Peg Bracken’s delivery is hilarious.
Just the introduction had me giggling:
Some women, it is said, like to cook.
This book is not for them.
This book is for those of us who hate to, who have learned, through hard experience, that some activities become no less painful through repetition: childbearing, paying taxes, cooking. This book is for those of us who want to fold out big dishwater hands around a dry Martini instead of a wet flounder, come the end of a long day.
With the one exception being that I want to fold my hands around a flute or coupe of bubbly instead of anything that I’d have to cook, she’s spot on.
The book is filled with recipes that are both easy and tasty, all told in her witty and insightful style.
I don’t think it’s still in print, but you can find copies in thrift stores or on Amazon. That’s where I found mine, and I don’t care that it’s used. The seller who decided to part with it must have come into some money, at least enough to hire someone to come in and do the cooking.