The American Century Cookbook

by Jean Anderson

For the past ten years, Jean Anderson has been on a quest: to search out the most popular recipes of the 20th century and to chronicle 100 years of culinary change in America. The result is a rich and fascinating look at where we've been, at the recipes our mothers and grandmothers loved, and at how our own tastes have evolved.

The more than 500 cherished recipes in these pages are mainstays of American home cooking, the recipes that have remained favorites year after year. For the smallest sampling:

California dip . . . Buffalo chicken wings . . . vichyssoise . . . tuna-noodle casserole . . . Swiss steak . . . frosted meat loaf . . . tamale pie . . . corn dogs . . . lobster rolls . . . classic green bean bake . . . perfection salad . . . green goddess salad . . . frozen fruit salad . . . chiffon cake . . . brownies . . . chocolate chip cookies . . . chocolate decadence

Beyond this collection is Jean's exploration of the diversity of our nation's cuisine and our adoption of such "foreign" dishes as pizza, gazpacho, lasagne, moussaka, and tarte tatin. Her painstakingly researched text includes extensive headnotes, thumbnail profiles of important people and products (from Fannie Farmer to James Beard and from electric refrigerators to the microwave), and a timeline of major 20th-century food firsts.

In recording popular recipes that might have been lost, in setting them in richly detailed historical context, Jean Anderson has written her masterwork. The American Century Cookbook may well be the most important new cookbook of the decade; it is certainly the book America will love.

Genres: Cookbooks, Cooking, History, Nonfiction

560 pages, Hardcover

First published November 11, 1997

Reviews

[Sumi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Even for those who don't cook, but who love the history of food and food lore, this is an interesting book.

The author's intent was to write about the recipes that were influential in the 20th century, but in addition to recipes she intersperses throughout the book a food timeline and articles that talk about famous chefs of the period, the history of a particular food/recipe and other miscellany. I really enjoyed the soup merger chart that had been published in older editions of the Joy of Cooking. It's supposed to be tasty combinations of store bought condensed soups such as Campbells. I remain unconvinced about just how 'tasty' some of those combos really are.

[Liquidlasagna · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was from Ms. Anderson’s “The American Century Cookbook: The Most Popular Recipes of the 20th Century” (1997), that Jacques Pépin learned the origins of American staples like brownies, lobster rolls and tuna casserole, he said in a phone interview.

Sara Moulton, the chef, cookbook author and television cooking show personality, turned to Ms. Anderson whenever she was stumped by a viewer’s question. When Ms. Moulton was the host of “Cooking Live,” a call-in show that ran for six years on the Food Network, Ms. Anderson was her “red phone,” she said — the expert she had on speed dial.

Ms. Anderson, famously camera shy, declined to be a guest on the show. Her one television appearance decades earlier, she told Ms. Moulton, involved canning cherries, and she was so nervous that she canned the pits instead.

Ms. Anderson took her own lush photographs for the hundreds of travel and food articles she contributed to magazines like Bon Appétit, Gourmet and Food & Wine.

[Colleen · Rating 5 out of 5]

I bought this book for the Zucchini and Potato pancake recipe alone. I also liked Lindy's New York Style cheesecake and the Szechuan Shredded Beef although I added sugar to the latter. I looked for recipes and I found several that were basic and that I could tweak. The reading material was okay, I just wanted the potato pancake recipe, it is that good.

[Melissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good reading with lots of stories between the recipes, but after awhile it became a bit too repetitive.

[Molly Stella · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tomato soup and carrots in aspic? I think the fuck not, 1952.

[Modbon · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has great recipes, but it's also got a lot more: by tackling food trends decade-by-decade since 1900, the author reveals more about American history and the changes in our food subculture than any ordinary cookbook would. Each decade's major (and some minor) food fads are discussed, and original clips from magazines are included as illustrations. Here we can see how changes in advertising, new inventions in kitchen toys, and regional influences affected how we ate over the course of the 20th century, as well as how world events, such as WWII, changed forever how we cook. I find myself turning to this book more for the history and culture than for the recipes, actually, although I have made a few of them (and they were exactly what they said they'd be, heh).

[Darby · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not just a cookbook. It is contains history of food as well as little back stories or tidbits on recipes and products since the 1900's. All that and then some really great recipes too. I got it at a thrift store and it is one that I am thankful for I have in my kitchen. (reread in 2008)

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

So I've only made one thing from this cookbook, but I've read quite a bit of it. The stories about the development of different recipes and foods is fascinating. I enjoyed the pictures as well. I made the tomato soup cake, it was yummy and not at all tomato-y.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is one of those cookbooks that is as interesting to read as it is to cook from. This book explains the origins of many well known American dishes.

[Jessica · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful, must have cookbook if you like American cooking. Lots of the older recipes--some of which I grew up on (family tradition foods passed down through generations). Truly enjoyable.

[Janis Ian · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this for the historical pictures, and wound up reading it as regular light reading material - not just for the recipes, but for the stories.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

The history of the recipes and eras was great. I especially enjoyed the old ads.

[Trena]

I love this cookbook; it gives the history of so many dishes that we have grown up eating and enjoying. It reminds you of what your mom cooked when you were a kid.

[Laurie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Informative and enjoyable light reading, great recipes.