The Home of the Goldenpaws Cookbook: Cook from the times when there was no electricity nor packaged foods (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781468114287)

I come from a cooking family. My grandmother was the oldest of 8. She learned to cook early and had to quit school in the 8th grade to help out at home. Food was raised and preserved for the winter. There was no electricity. Meat was dried, smoked or canned. I remember the butchering days when the neighbors would all come to the farm and help. The kids would play under the tables if they were not old enough to help. It was done in cold weather with snow on the ground. Grandma would watch the big iron kettle set up to render the fat into lard. This was done outside in the barnyard. Grandpa would sugar cure the hams and they would be hung in the smoke house. The lard would be stored in large metal cans with a tight fitting lid and stored in a cool place. Lard was used as the shortening for cooking. There was no vegetable oil or solid shortening. Butter was churned from the cream saved from the milk. The cream rises to the top of the milk when it sets. Homogenization prevents this from happening in the milk that we buy now. The first margarine was white and a packet of color came to mix in to make it yellow. I can remember her making her own cottage cheese. The cows were milked twice a day. Nothing was wasted and everything was made from scratch. She did not measure anything. Extra milk was fed to the pigs.