Seafair Cook Book
Cooking from vintage cookbooks brings the past right into the kitchen, and I do so often. Seattle has produced many cookbooks over the past century or so, beginning with the wonderful 1896 Clever Cooking. Until the 1920s, most recipe books could be a bit vague on details — contemporary cooks understood how much dry wood it took to produce a medium-hot oven, or how much sugar ½ a teacup would be. Once the influence of work flow engineer Lillian Gilbreth and cookbook author Fannie Farmer (who advocated standardized recipe measurements) spread, home cooks had an easier time following cookbook recipes.
In 1951, Seattle’s St. Andrew’s By-the-Lake Episcopal Church published a mid-century classic, the Seafair Cook Book. Seattle’s Seafair Festival started in 1950, just as the St. Andrew’s women’s committee began compiling recipes. The church was located at 5th Avenue NE and NE 70th Street, two blocks from Green Lake.
The cookbook includes historical recipes (many contributed by the Daughters of the Pioneers), a special section of recipes contributed by men (worth remarking upon at the time), a few Outdoor Favorites, and 500 general recipes (including one for that 1950s classic, Tuna Hot Dish).
Pioneer Feather Cake
I like to try recipes contributed by women I’m familiar with, and Seafair Cookbook offers a recipe by author Mary Bard Jensen, one of Betty MacDonald‘s sisters. All of the Bard sisters were fabulous cooks, and Mary’s daughter Heidi Rabel published a Pacific Northwest cookbook.
Mary Bard’s Clam Dip
Cleta Hughes (the second Mrs. Glenn, to put it 50s style) contributed a recipe for the Chili Casserole she served her husband, University of Washington drama professor Glenn Hughes, and their son Chip. No doubt Cleta saved this simple fare for family dinners — not the glamorous opening night parties she hosted at the Penthouse Theatre on the UW campus.
Late rehearsal Chili Casserole?
A few years after publishing their cookbook, St. Andrew’s members raised funds to build a new sanctuary on 1st Avenue NE and NE 80th Street. The new location was far enough from Green Lake that when they moved, they dropped their charming “By-the-Lake” moniker.
Where shall we dine tonight, dear?
I’ve seen the Seafair Cook Book a time or two at Seattle’s spectacular cookbook store, Book Larder. In addition to seemingly every cookbook currently in print, Book Larder has several shelves of antiquarian treasures: endless opportunity for kitchen time travel.
March 20, 2015
