At Home on the Range

by Margaret Yardley Potter, Elizabeth Gilbert (Introduction)

Overview

A cookbook far ahead of its time, Margaret Yardley Potter’s At Home on the Range, originally published in 1947, was rediscovered by the author Elizabeth Gilbert—who just so happens to be the author’s great-granddaughter. Gilbert’s “Gima” was no ordinary housewife: at a time when the American dinner table was hurtling towards homogeny, Potter espoused the importance of farmers’ markets and ethnic food (when pizza was considered ethnic), derided preservatives and culinary shortcuts, and lustily celebrated her epicurean adventures. Part scholar, part crusader, and always throwing parties, Potter could not but be a source of Gilbert’s own love of food, and her warm, infectious prose.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781938073687
Publisher:	McSweeney's Publishing
Publication date:	05/14/2013
Edition description:	First Trade Paper Edition
Pages:	240
Product dimensions:	6.13(w) x 8.25(h) x (d)

About the Author

Margaret Yardley Potter's book is culled from a lifetime of cooking and entertaining in her home, from the 1920s through World War II. In addition to being a cooking columnist for the Wilmington Star, she also painted, sold dresses, assisted in the birth of four grandchildren, and took up swing piano.

Elizabeth Gilbert is the best-selling author of numerous books, including Eat, Pray, Love, now a major motion picture. In 2008, Time magazine named Elizabeth as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Table of Contents

Foreword Elizabeth Gilbert 9

Introduction Margaret Yardley Potter 25

Weekend Guests without a Weakened Hostess 29

A Soupçon on Soups 39

Pot Roast Á La Mode Sentimentale and Other Less Corny Meats 47

"You Don't Eat That? 59

Hard-Shelled Ancestors and Their Finny Friends 75

Greens from the Ground Up 83

It's a Cinch with Sauces 93

Salad Days and Ways for Dressing Them 99

MRS. Rorer's, Grandmother's and My Just Desserts 107

Preserve Yourself in a Jam 127

Support Your Ego with the Staff of Life 137

"Open Your Mouth and Say 'Ah-Ha'" 147

Egg Yourself on in Emergencies 153

Painless Party Giving and Effortless Entertaining 167

Give Your Friends a Break with Breakfasts 189

Less Moaning at the Bar, Please 197

Hot Stuff for the Range Owner 211

Selected Recipes Elizabeth Gilbert 223

Index 245

Editorial Reviews

She could have drunk and smoked Elizabeth David, M.F.K. Fisher and probably even Dorothy Parker under the table.” —The New York Times

?A cookbook for modern times and modern cooks, full of sassy jokes and smartly written recipes.” —Bon Appetit

?Delightfully humorous and remarkably insightful.” —Los Angeles Times

From the Publisher

Author Elizabeth Gilbert (A Skeptic Makes Peace with Marriage) does a wonderful service by bringing back the opinionated, modern-for-its-time cookbook of her eccentric great-grandmother “Gima” Yardley Potter, first published in 1947. A woman who came from a wealthy Main Line Philadelphia family, married a profligate lawyer in the plentiful 1920s, and gradually had to come down in the world, Gima discarded the cook within the first three years of her marriage and energetically took charge of her own kitchen, learning from trial and error the art of entertaining myriad surprise guests her husband brought home and generally making-do while keeping everybody happy and well fed. Her upbeat tone that so impressed Gilbert when she finally read the cookbook braces the reader delightfully, from Gima’s merry use of calf’s brains and cockscombs (“with wine”) to relaying how to make what was then a rather curious, palate-wowing ethnic find called pizza. Chapters are devoted lovingly to what foods best to bring hospitalized friends, mastering cocktails, and organizing emergency meals and effortless entertaining. In her bright, determined tone (“Is your cigarette finished? Let’s go”), Yardley Potter assures us a generation before Julia Child that we can tackle bouillabaisse, preserves, bread, and grandmother’s sacred sponge cake. (May)

Publishers Weekly