Skip to main content

Secrets of Meat Curing and Sausage Making (1926)


For my friends who like history and cooking, I have a neat little book with some Chicago history. This small volume was published by B. Heller & Co., which was founded in the late 1880s as a wholesale manufacturer of ingredients used in meat preparation. The University of Chicago acquired a substantial collection of B. Heller company records and promotional materials, which you can read about by clicking here.

The copy I have is a Seventh Edition, going back to its first publication in 1908. It first appears that the book was published to promote Heller products, but the overall tone of the book is much more educational. This was the era of the Pure Food and Drug Act, when the government cracked down on dangerous and dirty food manufacturing practices. The Jungle by Upton Sinclair came out in 1906, and the uproar caused by that book led to the safer and hygienic food that you eat today. Heller's Preface, taken in context of what had happened nationally in the two years before its original publication, is a fascinating look at one manufacturer attempting to do a little PR and set a higher tone in the face of a skeptical public.







Popular posts from this blog

In Memory of George O. Ainger 1942-2021

My father has passed away. I am using my space to honor him.  George Oliver Ainger January 16, 1942 – September 10, 2021 Family Man. Farmer. Community Supporter. Friend. George Ainger of Harvard, IL, was taken from this world too soon. Parkinson’s Disease and other health issues combined to rob him of enjoyable senior years and to rob us of a loving father, brother, uncle and grandpa. He was born on January 16, 1942, as America was mobilizing to fight World War II, to Gladys and Alan Ainger in Woodstock, IL. He was their first child, with three more to come: sisters Nancy and Mary and brother David. The four siblings remained close their entire lives. Alan was a farmer in the Greenwood area north of Woodstock. When George was 4, Ala n with his father Oliver bought a 100-year-old farm on the Illinois-Wisconsin state line near Alden, IL. When the family moved, George rode in the back seat of the car with his dog in his lap. Alan and Gladys settled their young family into the ...
Read more

Betty Crocker's Cooky Book (1963)

For my friends who like history and cooking, I have the greatest cookie cookbook ever written. Seriously. If you do not already own a copy of this cookbook, you owe it to yourself to pop over to Amazon and order one right now (I checked, and there is a 2002 reprint currently available.) When I was a kid, my mom's copy of the Betty Crocker Cooky Book was the one that I baked from the most. My dad has a sweet tooth, and every week we had something coming out of the oven which never lasted very long around him. I particularly enjoyed baking cakes and cookies, and this cook book has a tremendous variety of recipes. It has my all-time favorite recipes for chocolate brownies, butterscotch brownies, snickerdoodles, chocolate crinkles, and lemon squares (which I later modified into orange squares; substitute orange juice for the lemon juice - it's sublime!).  This book starts out with a "cooky primer" section divided into the six methods of cookies making: drop, bar refrigera...
Read more

The Mystery Chef's Own Cook Book (1943)

  For my friends who like history and cooking, I have a nondescript thick gray cookbook from 1943 with a fascinating story behind it. Can you imagine a time when it wasn't socially acceptable for a man to be known as a chef? Other than Escoffier, the only famous male cook during the first half of last century was the Mystery Chef. He was a Scottish immigrant named John MacPherson, who parlayed his enjoyment of cooking into hosting a national radio program for more than 20 year s. He also wrote several cookbooks and had a TV show for a season. It's probably fair to say he helped pave the way for today's celebrity chefs. His alias came about because he claimed his mother was embarrassed that her son liked the unmasculine activity of cooking. In his book, he actually advocates quite a bit for men to "find pleasure and relaxation in the art of excellent cooking." This book is unusual in that it doesn't have a single drawing or photograph. But, the Mystery Chef...
Read more