Pop Pop's Cookbooks

 

Pop Pop, AKA Harry Smythe, top center. Smythe Family reunion, Thanksgiving 2008.

My husband's father recently passed away. During his early years, he was a cook in the army, and later owned a diner, where he was the short order cook. Pop Pop loved to cook at home, and took a container full of one of his homemade soups in to work with him almost every day.

At 80 years old, he still worked 5 days a week at the marina (Hance & Smythe Marina) he and his partner owned in Manahawkin, New Jersey. When we were in Surf City for Pop Pop's memorial service, my mother-in-law gave me a bunch of Pop Pop's cookbooks to take back to Florida with me.

Mom Mom knew I would appreciate the cookbooks. I am the Herbs & Spices Feature Writer for Suite101, which is a sub category of the Food & Drink topic. I do a lot of cooking and recipe testing and have an extensive cookbook collection.

I will be be reading through Pop Pop's cookbooks over the next few months, looking for lots of ideas for new recipe inspirations.

Here's a list of Pop Pop's cookbooks that I inherited:

1. Cracker Cookin' and Other Favorites by Erwin Lampert (Winner Enterprises, 1984). Part of the Famous Florida series. A cookbook and restaurant guide to Florida's best eateries.

2. Dad's Own Cookbook; Everything Your Mother Never Taught You by Bob Sloan (Workman Publishing, 1993). Looks like a good general guide I'd like to give to my 18 year old son, should he ever decide to move out on his own. One can always dream.

3. Everyday Italian by Giada De Laurentis (Clarkson Potter, 2005). Pop Pop loved Italian cooking shows.

4. Holiday Food by Mario Batali (Clarkson Potter, 2000). Mario was another one of Pop Pop's favorite chefs to watch on the Food Network.

5. Lidia's Italian Table; More Than 200 Recipes From the First Lady of Italian Cooking by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich (William Morrow & Company, 1998). Companion to the National Public Television Series. Lidia's Italian Table was one of Pop Pop's favorite TV shows.

6. New Chinese Cooking School; An Illustrated Course in Contemporary Chinese Cuisine by Kenneth Lo (HP Books, 1985). I can't wait to try out some of the recipes in this book. I have an old, food stained, Chinese cookbook which is just about on it's last legs, this will be a great replacement.

7. The America's Test Kitchen Family Cookbook edited by Elizabeth Carduff (America's Test Kitchen, 2005). HUGE 3-ring binder featuring more than 1,200 kitchen-tested recipes, 1,500 photographs and no-nonsense equipment and ingredient ratings. WOW!!!!, is all I can say about this cooking/recipe guide.

8. The Culinary Arts Institute Encyclopedic Cookbook edited by Ruth Berolzheimer (Simon & Shuster, 1971). An old book, filled with TONS of b/w photos. A bit dated but a lot of good, basic information.

9. The Culinary Institute of America Book of Soups edited by Mary Donovan and Jennifer Armentrout (Lebhar-Friedman Books, 2001). Pop Pop was a huge fan of homemade soups, I'm sure he referred to this cookbook quite often. 

10. The French Chef Cookbook by Julia Child (Alfred A. Knopf, 1968). This book grew out of the educational television series "The French Chef" which first aired on February 11, 1963. I wasn't even born yet!

11. White Trash Cooking by Ernest Matthew Mickler (Ten Speed Press, 1986). There is a whole white trash cooking cookbook series available - who knew? I'll take a closer look at this cookbook, when I've got the time. But the recipe for broiled squirrel WON'T be high on my list of things to try - HA-HA!

Take care,
Lynn Smythe AKA the Cuisine Diva

 

Comments

[L.J.]

Mrs. Smythe: A very nice blog. I also wanted to add that having direct links to the books you cited is a big plus for interested readers. Nice work.