The Many Versions of ‘Joy’

1931

Chicken is a luxury ingredient, more expensive than veal.

Gas and electric stoves are winning out over cast-iron stoves.

Iceboxes and some mechanical refrigerators are found in middle-class kitchens.

Cookbooks of the time are largely domestic science manuals in style of the “Boston Cooking School Cookbook,” which made “The Joy of Cooking: A Compilation of Reliable Recipes, With a Casual Culinary Chat,” with its friendly tone, stand out.

The book is sometimes sloppy with cooking directions: Rombauer suggests cooking a cup of rice in two quarts of water to retain “entire nutritive value.”

Baked desserts predominate in all cookbooks.

Canned soups are becoming popular.

Oven thermostats have recently been introduced.

Animal fats are the predominant cooking oil.

Typical “Joy” recipes: liver dumplings, souffle, stollen, mandel plaettchen (almond wafers).

1,300 recipes.

1936

Electric mixers are introduced.

Frozen foods begin to become popular.

“Joy” now includes advice on fresh herbs and a recipe for making French bread.

More basic information given on soups and roasts.

New “Joy” competition: “The Good Housekeeping Cookbook” and “Woman’s Home Companion Cook Book.”

New recipes include rijsttafel, polenta, “sakiyuki” (sukiyaki) and jambalaya.

2,500 recipes.

1943

Advice is provided on cooking under rationing, a reality during World War II.

Pressure cookers, blenders and freezers appear in home kitchens.

Because of interest in health foods on the part of daughter Marion Rombauer Becker, still just the book’s illustrator, information is given on vegetable proteins and honey and corn syrup as sweeteners.

“Joy” distinguishes between smoked Smithfield-typed country hams and “new processed” hams.

New recipes include beef stroganoff, Jefferson Davis pie, potato gnocchi and guacamole.

3,350 recipes.

1951

Foodies (then called gourmands) are reading Gourmet magazine, M.F.K. Fisher, James Beard and Adele Davis.

Rombauer Becker joins her mother as “Joy” writer; her increasing influence leads to more coverage of grains and cereals, lamenting the ills of processed foods and extolling the glories of brown rice.

Rice-cooking instructions are finally corrected to 2 cups water to 1 cup rice.

Book still writes of “top milk,” though homogenized milk is now common.

Margarine goes almost unmentioned.

Use of sour cream has spread beyond Jewish and eastern European populations.

Dips are hip.

“Roasting” meats in aluminum foil makes its “Joy” debut.

Monosodium glutamate is at the height of popularity.

“Joy’s” growing sophistication means less shortcut cookery, introduction of flourless sauces and an expanded chapter on fish.

New recipes include beef bourguignon, aioli and spinach with olive oil, garlic and anchovies.

1962

Unauthorized edition is printed with numerous errors as Rombauer Becker misses deadlines and fights with publisher.

1963

Julia Child’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking,” out two years, is turning everyone into Gallic gourmets.

Rombauer Becker’s first official solo revision us published without fanfare.

Much more background information is provided, including chapters on “The Foods We Heat” and “Know Your Ingredients” and short essays called “Abouts.”

Use of “seasoned” unwashed wooden salad bowls loses favor with Rombauer Becker.

Title loses the “The.” Now it’s just “Joy of Cooking.”

Tone loses some chattiness but is hardly dry.

New recipes include cassoulet, couscous, enchiladas, quenelles and turkey mole.

1975

Child’s “The French Chef” and Ralph Nader’s growing consumer movement are equally influential.

Rombauer Becker encounters the first of the microwave ovens. She does not approve.

New recipes include taramosalata, Spanish omelet and Ghanaian peanut soup.

1997

Food processors are found in most kitchens, fresh herbs in most supermarkets.

Farmers markets are popular across the United States.

Foodies are now familiar with basics of Thai, Japanese, Hunan, Cantonese, Sichuan and El Salvadoran cuisines as well as every regional Italian style.

Cake-mix cakes, around for years, are now considered “homemade.”

New recipes include zucchini pancakes with mint and feta cheese, poached shrimp with carrot juice and Thai spices and doro wat.

Historic information compiled from “Stand Facing the Stove,” by Anne Mendelson (Henry Holt, 1996).