Item: 1 1986 Betty Crocker cookbook

I got this cookbook for a birthday present sometime in the late 1980s, and I have used it extensively.  It has a bright red cover, and the pages feature chubby '80s block printing and color photography.  This is the 6th version of the Betty Crocker cookbook - on one of the front pages they show all the editions that have come out since the first one in 1950, with corresponding changes in Betty Crocker's portrait.  The one out now is the 10th edition.

The Betty Crocker cookbook does not give you the most exotic, impressive recipes.  But you know that all of their recipes have been tested by professional BC staffers, and the instructions are uniformly clear.  If you follow the directions, you may not get the ideal result but at least you're not likely to end up with a spectacular failure.

This being the first cookbook of my own, it was here that I developed the habit of making notes on all the recipes I tried, so I could remember whether I liked whatever it was (and thus whether it was worth making again or not) or note anything from the experience that I should do differently the next time (example comments: "Way too much butter!  Use less" or "Chop nuts ahead of time").

These comments do make the cookbook into a history of sorts, because I remember a lot of the occasions.  I remember making Irish Soda Bread for a St. Patrick's Day party at my house in DC, and I remember making a coffee cake recipe on a subzero day in Iowa, which turned out great even though I didn't have raisins, nuts, or brown sugar.  I remember making a bland breadstick recipe which I labelled "forgettable" and a cheese-sausage-salsa appetizer you were supposed to serve with tortilla chips, for which I wrote: "You might just as well swallow a cup of salt and be done with it."

The last recipe I tried from here was for Wild Rice Soup, a cream soup with wild rice and vegetables, topped with toasted almonds, and a happy success.  My notes:

This was a lot of work - took about 1 1/2 hours.  I was skeptical - I did not like the way the wild rice smelled while cooking.  But wow does it look good - it has everything in it - green, orange, white, brown.  This soup is crammed full of stuff.  It was great with a baguette and garlic butter.  Might be more apropos sometime & place where it was actually cold.  And I really must revisit this toasting almonds idea.

A woman I knew once collected cookbooks - she had scads of them, and people were always giving her more for gifts.  I understand this inclination, because cookbooks are fascinating things, but I like them better when they can be thoroughly used.  Thus, even though I've had my Betty Crocker cookbook for 20 years, there's still lots in it that I'd like to make but haven't yet.