Mimsy Were the Borogoves

Food: Recipes, cookbook reviews, food notes, and restaurant reviews. Unless otherwise noted, I have personally tried each recipe that gets its own page, but not necessarily recipes listed as part of a cookbook review.

All Mimsy cookbook reviews

Jerry Stratton, June 20, 2009

Also, check out All Mimsy recipes.

The Art of Korean CookingHarriett Morris1959; 104 pages5Buy it!•
The Art of Syrian CookeryHelen Corey1962; 186 pages6Buy it!•
Life, Loves, and Meat LoafCarl Randall1964; 176 pages9Buy it!•
Bull Cook Historical RecipesGeorge Leonard Herter1969; 380 pages8Buy it!•
The Casserole CookbookMyra Waldo1963; 158 pages4Buy it!•
Cavalier CookingWilliam Butler1987; 348 pages3Buy it!•
Classic Chinese CuisineRosemary Moon1995; 252 pages5Buy it!•
The Complete Bread CookbookJean Siris Kaufman1969; 254 pages5Buy it!•
A Concise Encyclopedia of GastronomyAndre L. Simon1952; 816 pages7Buy it!•
Southern Living Cookbook for TwoAudrey P. Stehle1981; 266 pages6Buy it!•
Cooking the Bahamian WaySylvia Laramore-Crawford1992; 40 pages3Buy it!•
A Fifteenth Century Cookry BokeJohn L. Anderson1962; 92 pages5Buy it!•
Country Commune CookingLucy Horton1972; 240 pages6Buy it!•
Larousse Treasury of Country CookingMarie Maronne1975; 512 pages7Buy it!•
Crockery CookeryMabel Hoffman1975; 288 pages6Buy it!•
La Cuisine Française1982; 511 pages7Buy it!•
The Fannie Farmer CookbookFannie Merritt Farmer1990; 874 pages7Buy it!•
James Beard’s Fireside Cook BookJames Beard1949; 322 pages5Buy it!•
French Bistro CookingJohn Varnom1988; 128 pages7Buy it!•
French Cooking Simplified With a Food ProcessorRuth Howse1977; 144 pages5Buy it!•
The Frugal Gourmet Celebrates ChristmasJeff Smith1991; 297 pages7Buy it!•
Good Food From MexicoRuth Watt Mulvey1950; 253 pages7
The Healthy Cuisine of IndiaBharti Kirchner1994; 286 pages7Buy it!•
Heritage of America Cookbook1993; 288 pages6Buy it!•
In a Persian KitchenMaideh Mazda1960; 175 pages8Buy it!•
In Good Taste1992; 166 pages6Buy it!•
The Indian Spice KitchenMonisha Bharadwaj1997; 240 pages6Buy it!•
The Italian Ingredients CookbookKate Whiteman1999; 256 pages6Buy it!•
Japanese Country CookbookRuss Rudzinski1969; 200 pages5Buy it!•
The Frugal Gourmet Keeps the FeastJeff Smith1995; 302 pages6Buy it!•
The New Larousse GastronomiqueProsper Montagné1961; 1,064 pages9Buy it!•
Laurel’s KitchenLaurel Robertson1976; 641 pages5Buy it!•
Lebanese CuisineMadelain Farah1974; 156 pages7Buy it!•
The Natural Foods CookbookBeatrice Trum Hunter1961; 296 pages6Buy it!•
The Northwest Cartoon Cookery1995; 26 pages7Buy it!•
The Complete Book of Oriental CookingMyra Waldo1965; 246 pages7Buy it!•
Pains Spéciaux & Viennoiseries1993; 173 pages7Buy it!•
The Art of Pennsylvania Dutch Cooking1968; 262 pages7Buy it!•
Popular Greek RecipesLadies Philoptochos Society1957; 218 pages7Buy it!•
A Russian Jew Cooks in PeruVioleta Autumn1973; 191 pages8Buy it!•
Our Favorite Hometown Recipes Vol. II1994; 102 pages6
Saucepans and the Single GirlJinx Kragen1968; 176 pages4Buy it!•
Soul Food Cook BookBob Jeffries1969; 116 pages8Buy it!•
Southern CookingHenrietta Stanley Dull1968; 384 pages6Buy it!•
The Tassajara TrilogyEdward Espe Brown1970; 693 pages7Buy it!•
The Cooking of Vienna’s EmpireJoseph Wechsberg1968; 206 pages7Buy it!•
Whole Earth CookbookSharon Cadwallader1973; 120 pages5Buy it!•
The Wok: a chinese cook bookGary Lee1970; 176 pages6Buy it!•
May 18, 2022: A Decade of Jell-O Joys: 1963-1973
Cranberry Squares: Cranberry squares from the 1962 Joys of Jell-O.; cranberries; cheesecake; gelatin

These gelatin—whipped cream squares are a better-than-cheesecake cheesecake.

One of the joys of old cookbooks is watching food change over the years. At the October New Braunfels Library Book Sale, I found a copy of the 1973 New Joys of Jell-O; on a quick browse it did not appear to be merely a copy of the old, circa 1963, Joys of Jell-O so I bought it.

As it turns out, I was wrong. There are many duplicate recipes; what changed were how they were presented and even their names. The Peach and Banana Mold has become the Peach-Banana Dessert. Everything is the same except it uses twice as much peach and it’s not a mold: it’s put in dessert cups.

Molds are still used in some recipes, but they’re not as universal in 1973 as they were in 1963.

The Under-the-Sea Pear Salad is displayed as a simple loaf instead of an ornate 1-quart mold. The recipe itself hasn’t changed, only the shape, and even that not much: while the first shape suggested is an 8x4 loaf pan, the second is a 4-cup mold. I chose to split the difference and make it in a less towering ring mold.

There’s more of an emphasis on convenience in the new book. If I had made it as a loaf, it would have tasted the same but would have been styled differently. It would also have been easier to unmold. The new Peach-Banana Dessert doesn’t even need to be unmolded—it’s eaten from the dessert cup it’s made in. You can take servings from the refrigerator as needed.

Read the full post and comments

  1. <- Eggplant Chili Snacks
  2. All Mimsy recipes ->