Learning from old cook books?

[Morvack]

Hello. I have an idea, but typically my ideas are awesome, or not so good XD. I am hoping this community can tell me which one it is .

Any who, my idea is as follows : I am learning to cook, but I want to find a way to set myself apart from other home cooks. I was thinking, what if I could get my hands on old cook books to learn from? I am thinking the 50 to 100 years old range. Of course some of the recipes would be unsafe, but could be adjusted to make them acceptable. My biggest concern is that these dishes from 50 plus years ago, are not that good looking or tasting, thus why they are no longer around.

So, what do you think? Do I have a good idea, or do you think such a cook book would be a waste of money? Do you have an old cook book that you use? If so, how old is it, and what are your results?

I really appreciate any advice given .

 

[Ella]

I'm not sure what your aim is to be honest as all cooks do adapt their methods and in those days (100 years ago) there were less food choices and equipment available and so cooks used what they had.

Mrs Beeton was a famous cook and her recipes are still used; http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/chefs/mrs_beeton
Books 50 years ago is not that long and cooks are still around like Mary Berry who is now nearly 80 years old.
She still writes books and hosts cooking shows and has adapted her recipes for the 21st Century.

I think learning to cook is more important than 'setting yourself apart' it's not the book, but the cook...

 

[DancingLady]

There is nothing wrong with the dishes in old cook books, they are perfectly safe. They were a little less concerned about egg white being a food poisoning risk back then, but if you get good eggs that are fresh, even now the risk is so small it's not worth worrying about.

Go for it, I think if anything the difference would be less sugar, which is far healthier than the recipes of today that are loaded with it.