THE PRICELESS INGREDIENT OF ANY RECIPE IS A GOOD COOK! HELEN CORBITT, 1957

{HISTORY}

Helen Corbitt was a bit of an anomaly in the Southern kitchen landscape. For starters, she grew up in the Northeast and worked her way south according to various life experiences when it came to college and career. Jobs in the culinary world built a wide net for Helen, who worked as a dietician in hospital kitchens, as a college professor teaching restaurant management, as a private caterer, as a newspaper columnist, and finally in her longest-running placement as the Director of Restaurants for Neiman Marcus department stores.

Based in Dallas, Texas, it was during the Neiman Marcus years (1955-1975) that Helen wrote this book, Helen Corbitt's Cookbook, which she published in 1957. As an advocate for fresh ingredients and a fun cooking experience, Helen was a pioneer in bringing the fresh food movement to the Lone Star State. In an area of the country previously known mostly for its meat and potatoes, Helen added a more delicate, natural, colorful, and multicultural sensibility to food and food presentation for all Texans. A notion that this Southern state never knew it was lacking until Helen came along!

At the time of this cookbook's publication, Helen was fully aware of the convenience foods that were working their way into the marketplace and the sense of drudgery that many home cooks felt when it came to preparing meals every day, every week, every year for family and friends. Helen was ready to offer a new excitement with her cookbook. 

Spouting the attributes of cooking with whole ingredients and European flair, her cookbook was peppered with enthusiasm and interesting ingredient combinations to keep things joyful and engaging in the kitchen. For she fully understood that there was much more to cooking and entertaining than simply preparing a meal and placing it on the table. While taking serious notice of people's food preferences and habits for most of her adult life, she understood how to charm the appetite out of eaters and how to turn a simple meal into a memorable dining experience from start to finish. Referred to as the Julia Child of Texas, Helen was wholeheartedly welcomed into her adopted southern state and became not only a legend in its restaurant scene but also a beloved presence in home kitchens, too. 

This cookbook features over 350 pages of recipes that have been collected from the time Helen left Skidmore College in the late 1920s through her menagerie of food-based jobs into the 1950s.  Chock-full of international dishes, classic American staples, and regional Southern cuisine all prepared in unique ways, many of the recipes also come with stories about ingredients, techniques, or real-life experiences shared by Helen to augment the dish. All in all, it's an engaging cookbook written by a woman in love with food, life, and people. 

{SPECIAL FEATURES}

• 1957 Book Club Edition 
• Contains 388 pages, including a detailed index
• Illustrated throughout with whimsical line drawings by Joe Allen Hong
• Includes original dust jacket 
• Interesting recipes include Beets in Orange Sauce, Sea Food Pilaf, Creme Brulee, Peanut Butter Bacon Bread, Cuban Chicken, Burnt Almond Sponge Cake, Lemon Velvet Ice Cream, Avocado Cream Dressing, Brandy Snap Cookies, Chicken Salad Supreme, Sea Foam Icing, Rum Buns, Asparagus Fromage, Lobster and Chive Bisque, Honey Ketchup, Canadian Cheese Soup, Loisiana Seafood Gumbo, Chicken Saute with Bourbon and Pickled Black-Eyed Peas

 {CONDITION}

In lovely vintage condition, this cookbook is clean and bright throughout with no cooking spots, stains, or notations. The dust jacket contains some chippy and wrinkled areas along the top and bottom edges. It has been reinforced with archival paper to maintain its shape and structural integrity. The spine is tight, and all pages are intact.

{SIZE}

Measures 8.5" inches (length) x 5.75" inches (width) x 1.25" inches (thickness) and weighs 1.5lbs

{DONATION SUPPORTED}

This heirloom gives back! 20% of the proceeds from the sale of this cookbook will be donated to rare.org - an international non-profit committed to protecting, promoting, and preserving global foodways, communities, and the environment through self-sustainability and conservation.