Cookbooks, Inglenooks, and Basic White Sauce

When you think about it, cooking is full of tradition.

Everyone has a favorite dish their mother or grandmother made, and those flavors speak of HOME.

And how many of us keep a collection of recipe cards - preferably in a loved one's own handwriting - of those favorite dishes?

And then there are the cookbooks. I love old cookbooks.


The church I grew up in also has a long tradition of cooking and cookbooks. Years ago, (from 1900 to 1913) the denomination publishing house put out a weekly magazine called The Inglenook, full of educational articles, recipes, information and jokes. “Its pages are clean, its articles instructive, and it is a fitting companion for the spare moments of the schoolboy and the gray beard.” 

Along with your yearly subscription to the magazine ($1.00 per year!), you also received a copy of the Inglenook Cookbook, a compilation of recipes from the magazine.

I have copies of the 1901 and 1911 editions of the cookbook, reprinted in the 1970's and '80's. The third one in the picture is my grandmother's copy of the Granddaughter's Inglenook Cookbook, the updated and thoroughly revised Inglenook for the generation of the 1940's.

Would you believe the publisher decided it's time for a new edition of the cookbook? This month, the Brethren Press is publishing The New Inglenook Cookbook. What thrills me is that I was invited to contribute to this new edition!

I wrote an essay on casseroles and one-dish meals to be included in the cookbook. It's a two-page spread, and includes a recipe from the original 1911 cookbook, and a new contributor's recipe. I can hardly wait to get my copy of the new edition and see my name in this historic book! You can read all about it here.

All I can think about is how thrilled my grandmothers would be - faithful users of their own Inglenooks in their own homes!

To celebrate, I'm sharing one of my favorite recipes from the Granddaughter's Inglenook. It's from the chapter titled "Basic Cookery", and it's the first recipe I ever made from this cookbook...long, long ago.

Even long before I was a young wife learning how to cook for my husband.

It's basic, very basic.

White Sauce

White sauces are used as the foundation of many foods. They are made from milk. Often the sauce is varied by substituting vegetable juice, meat stock, or a mixture.

For a thin white sauce, use:
1 Tablespoon fat (I use butter)
1 Tablespoon flour
1 cup liquid
1/4 teaspoon salt

For a medium white sauce, use:
2 Tablespoons fat
2 Tablespoons flour
1 cup liquid
1/4 teaspoon salt

For a thick white sauce, use:
2-4 Tablespoons fat
4 Tablespoons flour
1 cup liquid
1/4 teaspoon salt

Use the thin sauce for cream soups, the medium for scalloped dishes and gravies, the thick for souffles and croquettes.

Method: Melt fat: stir in flour until smooth. Add liquid gradually, stirring constantly. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until thick. Add salt and pepper. Cover tightly and place over hot water until ready to use.

I use this basic sauce for everything!

To make cheese sauce, add 1 cup shredded or cubed cheese to the medium white sauce.

To make gravy, substitute broth for 1/2 of the liquid in the thin white sauce.

To make a rich sauce (like a hollandaise), add 1 well beaten egg yolk to 1/4 cup of the sauce, stir well, then add to the rest of the sauce, stirring constantly.


Oh, and have you been wondering what an inglenook is?

An inglenook is a corner formed next to an open fireplace. Sometimes they're called "chimney corners". They're like a room within a room: small, sheltered, and very cozy.

They can be simple, or very elaborate, like this one I found for my dream house...

Isn't that beautiful?

Now it's your turn. What is your favorite, go-to cookbook?

And/or  - what classy feature is on the top of your list for your dream home?

And before we go, here's the latest picture of Thatcher. Isn't he a handsome fellow?