Paper Palate

Seventy-five years ago – 1931 — Irma Rombauer took $3000, the modest legacy that her husband left her, and self-published the first Joy of Cooking. She was 54 years old. The next year, Irma tried to sell her book to a commercial publisher and was rejected. Joy of Cooking was commercially published for the first time in 1936. The first printing was 10,000 copies and the book sold for $2.50. Other editions of Joy of Cooking followed in 1943, 1946, 1962, 1975, 1997.

Now it is 2006 and we are eagerly awaiting the newest edition of Joy of Cooking to be published in October 2006 to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Irma Rombauer’s self-published cookbook.

Irma Rombauer’s work has changed all our lives over the last seventy-five years. She not only gave us a lot of recipes, she changed our understanding of cooking and its place in our lives. So over the next few months, Food Bound will have several articles about Joy of Cooking and its impact on the lives of professional and amateur cooks.

You can contribute by sharing your own stories and trivia about Joy of Cooking. For example, what is your favorite recipe? What is your first memory of cooking a recipe from Joy of Cooking? Who gave you your first copy of Joy of Cooking? Which edition is your favorite?

Here is some of the information that I found about Joy of Cooking on the internet.

First, check out the Joy of Cooking materials at Simon & Schuster. You will find a “Joy Timeline” “Test Kitchen Factoids,” and “Food Tips.” There is also information about previous editions and the specialized “children” of “Joy of Cooking.”

Next, you can test your knowledge of “Joy of Cooking” trivia at funtrivia.com. I did not do very well on the test but it was fun. Try the test for yourself and let us know how you did. Here is more trivia about Joy of Cooking. Did you know that “In 1975, a brownie recipe in The Joy of Cooking made 30 brownies; that exact same recipe in the 1997 version of the cookbook only made 15 brownies!”

Send us your own Joy of Cooking trivia questions to share with other Food Bound readers.

Then, move on to cookbkjj.com where you can study the details of each edition of “Joy of Cooking,” complete with pictures. I learned that the first two editions of “Joy of Cooking” (1931 and 1936) were subtitled: “A compilation of reliable recipes with a casual culinary chat.” The subtitle was changed for the 1943 and 1946 editions from “casual culinary chat” to “occasional culinary chat.” Since that time, there has been no subtitle. Check out the other details to improve your knowledge of “Joy of Cooking” history. By the way, most of the editions of “Joy of Cooking” are available on ebay and other auction sites. When I searched ebay while preparing this article, there were 78 items that mentioned “Joy of Cooking,” although some were unrelated to the book. The most expensive item was a copy of the 1943 edition; the current bid was $41.00.

If you want to know more about the history of “Joy of Cooking,” check out “Stand Facing the Stove: The Story of the Women Who Gave America the Joy of Cooking,” by Anne Mendelson. According to the publisher, “’Stand Facing the Stove’ offers an intimate look at the women behind this culinary bible and provides a marvelous portrait of twentieth-century America as seen through the kitchen window.”

So what can we expect from the 2006 edition? According to a review at Suite 101, “[m]ore than just an update, the new edition will attempt to recapture the allure of earlier editions, most notably the 1975 version, which remains in print today alongside the 1997 one.”

The new 2006 version will re-introduce some favorites dropped in 1997 and re-incorporate, judiciously, some convenience food, a favorite of author Rombauer who wanted to appeal to the busy housewife more than the gourmet cook. She was particularly fond of canned soup, a propensity that occasionally produced some alarming concoctions. It will also pay less heed to calorie counts and will restore some rich and fatty favorites that were totally abandoned in an overzealous nod to the health-conscious in the 1997 version. Also returning will be Rombauer’s voice, corny jokes and all, replacing the wordy and somewhat pedantic style of the last edition.

The recipe structure of the 2006 edition will not list ingredients at the beginning, a format that I find distracting, but it sure saves needed space – the 2006 edition will have some 4500 recipes!

The new edition will be released in October. Do you think it is a coincidence that the release is so close to the time for holiday shopping? Look for lots of publicity about “Joy of Cooking” between now and then.

In the meantime, let us know your memories of “Joy of Cooking,” and try to stump your fellow Food Bound readers with “Joy of Cooking” trivia. We look forward to hearing from all of you!