Welcome to the very first episode of The Lost Cookbooks! In this brand-new series, we are dusting off the shelves of culinary history to explore vintage recipes, retro appliance manuals, and the forgotten domestic arts of yesteryear.

I’ll be using this blog alongside my video reviews to share extra details I may have forgotten to mention on camera. Make sure to check out my YouTube Community page, too! With every new episode, I post a poll where you can vote on the recipe I’ll test. Polls are only open for six days, so cast your vote soon!

To kick things off, we are traveling back to 1940 to look at a fascinating piece of kitchen history: The New Art of Simplified Cooking. Published by the General Electric Company, this booklet was much more than just a collection of recipes; it was a guide to navigating the modern, electrified kitchen of the era.

A Look at the Cover

The front cover sets a distinctively cozy, mid-century tone. It features a charming black-and-white photograph, framed within an orange circle decorated with stars, showcasing a family of four happily enjoying a large meal together. In the kitchen, a sleek General Electric range is proudly displayed, tying the joy of a family dinner directly to the appliance.

The book proudly notes that it comes “From the Kitchens of the General Electric Institute,” specifically created by the Home Service Section of the Appliance and Merchandise Department based in Bridgeport, Connecticut.

Peeking Inside the Pages

Opening the book, we are greeted with an elegant ribbon graphic reading, “Recipes to Please the Whole Family,” accompanied by a line drawing of a similar family dinner scene. The title page offers several wonderful details about the publication’s purpose:

• The Dedication: It is explicitly dedicated “to the homemakers of America for whom the General Electric Company constantly strives to make better things for better living.”
• The Mission: It describes itself as a book of favorite recipes and menu suggestions, while also promising “helpful hints for modern food preservation and preparation.”
• The Guarantee: GE assures the reader that all recipes were “tested and approved” by their Home Service Section.
• The Cost: This wealth of culinary knowledge originally cost just 75 cents in 1940!

The introductory page also features a lovely anonymous quote: “Good Food, properly prepared, adds more to the joy of living than any other one thing.” It is a wonderful sentiment that still rings true today!

What kind of vintage recipes would you be most excited to see us try to recreate from this 1940s time capsule?