Cookbook Nostalgia

"Recipes are dead.  They're dead in the same way paper maps are dead."  (This is a quote from Tyler Florence, celebrity chef, torn from the headlines of the San Jose Mercury News, 4/22/18.)  I read this and clutched my chest.  Noooooo.  Please say it isn't so!

Tyler Florence, who has written 16 top-selling cookbooks and brought us literally thousands of recipes via The Food Network, has launched a new app (in partnership with Innit, based in Redwood City).  It has customizable meals, video instructions, and all the high tech flare we love here in Silicon Valley...and have you noticed all the video recipes instructing us in perfect food preparation and then showing the glamorous results?  They land daily on my Facebook app, tempting my palate in the newfangled way.

Well, suffice it to say that I am affectionately (I hope so) called Betty Rubble, of Flintstone fame, by my co-workers.  I still love the sound and feel of my swirly handwriting as it scrapes over my college-lined notepaper.  I write this blog, as well as technical reports, by hand, on paper first, and then transfer them to the computer.  Laborious, yes, but that's how my creative process works.

So, do I use an app or video to supply a recipe?  Sure!  However, I adore cookbooks.  What do I love about them?  It's the second part of this compound word...book!  Yes, it's a book. It's a story that evokes memories (or will help create them).  It "juices" up your imagination and sensory images of fragrant food and drink.  I am lucky enough to have several cookbooks that belonged to my mom.

My mom loved her cookbooks.  She read them and "poured" over them in her chenille bathrobe while drinking her morning Sanka (ugh!).  She read with emotion on her face, like she was reading fine literature.  She wrote in the margins, gave reviews, and offered her own tiny tweaks (I love running my hands over her handwriting).

I also remember the recipes handed down through the generations.  My grandma was known for her honey cake, but she never measured anything using a spoon or cup.  She knew the recipe by feel; I mean by the handful, the pinch, or the dollop.  My mom and my aunts carefully followed her one day, trying to standardize that famed recipe.  This is a memory I will never forget.

When I got married, my maid of honor gave me a recipe shower.  The guests came with their own hand-written food classic that they had enjoyed at birthday parties, family celebrations, or just simply around their dinner tables.  I was even given a small wooden recipe box to house these treasures.  It looked like a rolltop desk.  Sadly, it was lost in our house fire from 25 years ago.

How do you find a recipe?  Do you have a favorite cookbook?  Would/do you use an app? Do you follow a food blogger (say yes to this question please!)?  Now, in 2018, we are privileged to have the opportunity to find our recipes googled on digital devices, shared on social media by friends, placed in the plethora of cookbooks available to us digitally, and (drum roll, please) featured in bound books.  They are still a treasure to own and pass down.

Since I don't have my grandma's recipe any more, I'm sharing Ina Garten's enhanced Honey Cake Recipe, courtesy of Food Network's Barefoot Contessa show - Tipsy Desserts.  You can find an updated version of my grandma's classic in a new favorite cookbook, Cooking for Jeffrey.

1 cup (250 mL) vegetable oil, plus more for greasing pan

3-3/4 cups (935 mL) all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting pan

1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder

1 tsp (5 mL) baking soda

4 tsp (20 mL) ground cinnamon

1 tsp (5 mL) salt

1/2 tsp (2 mL) each ground cloves, ground allspice, ground ginger

1 cup (250 mL) hot coffee

1/2 cup (125 mL) freshly squeezed orange juice

1/4 cup (60 mL) bourbon

1-1/2 cups (375 mL) granulated sugar

1/2 cup (125 mL) lightly packed brown sugar

1 cup (250 mL) honey

3 large eggs, room temperature

2 tsp (10 mL) grated orange zest

1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

1/2 cup (125 mL) blanched sliced almonds

Preheat oven to 350F (175C).

Brush a 9-inch fluted tube pan with oil. Dust with flour and dump out any excess. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, cloves, allspice and ginger. Gently mix until well-combined. Set aside.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, stir together coffee, orange juice and bourbon. Set aside.

In a large bowl, use an electric mixer set to medium speed to mix 1 cup (250 mL) oil, both sugars, honey, eggs, orange zest and vanilla until well-combined and there are no lumps.

Turn mixer to low speed. Alternate between adding flour and coffee mixtures in thirds, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Scrape down sides with a rubber spatula and continue to mix until just combined to a smooth consistency.

Pour batter into greased and floured pan. Tap pan a few times on table to get rid of air bubbles. Place pan in centre rack of oven and bake for 65 to 70 minutes (40 to 45 minutes if using a metal cake pan) or until a toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Remove from heat and let cool completely before removing cake from pan, using a flat spatula to help separate cake from pan. Flip upside-down and level bottom with a serrated knife. Transfer to serving plate. Brush top with honey and a sprinkle of almonds.

Makes 12 to 16 servings.