Timeless Recipes for All Occasions: Family Favourites

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

On a checklist of what a cookbook should have, this one would score 100
percent. Check it out: imperial and metric measurements. Nutritional
analysis for every recipe. Readily available ingredients. Clear,
accurate, tested methods. Each recipe complete on one page. Open-flat
binding. Every recipe illustrated with a what-to-expect
professional-quality colour photo. A generous recipe selection (more
than 275!). And an interesting theme to pull it all together.

The theme here is a century of Canadian home cooking. (This book was
originally published in 1999 as Millennium Edition.) Special content
includes a point-form review of the highlights of the evolution of
cooking, commercially available foods, kitchen equipment, and
nutritional knowledge from 1900. Canned tuna first appeared in 1903,
Heinz ketchup in 1910, Kraft Dinner in 1937, TV dinners in 1954. From
ration coupons and food stamps, cake mixes, iodized salt, and pop-up
toasters (1926), to microwaves and salad bars—a few of the 100 years
of food milestones are briefly noted to set the stage for a modern
recipe collection rooted in our culinary traditions.

The recipes are grouped into sections covering appetizers, soups,
salads, beverages, meats, seafood, pasta, condiments, breads, brunches
and lunches, vegetables, and lots of sweets—desserts, cakes, cookies,
candy, squares, and pies. The bulk of the recipes are practical,
economical dishes suitable for family meals and casual entertainment.
The accompanying photos give a visual lesson in presentation.

Threaded throughout the work is a special collection of 32
“heirloom” recipes—recipes with a long history in Canadian
kitchens and a special place in our collective memory of homemade
goodness. Shipwreck, Hermits, Vinegar Pie, Oyster Soup, Bubble and
Squeak, Matrimonial Squares, Chow Chow, and Brown Sugar Fudge are all
included.

An extra touch of richness is added to the book by a scattering of
brief first-person reminiscences by Jean Paré, Canada’s most widely
published cookbook author and publisher. Most of these are from the
Depression and war years on the prairies, and help to reinforce the
book’s message that Canadians are bound together by a common heritage
of food. Definitely a keeper.