{"id":1815,"date":"2022-07-12T09:12:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-12T13:12:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/?p=1815"},"modified":"2022-06-21T12:54:14","modified_gmt":"2022-06-21T16:54:14","slug":"when-sue-began-to-cook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vintagelivingmodernlife.com\/index.php\/2022\/07\/12\/when-sue-began-to-cook\/","title":{"rendered":"When Sue Began to Cook"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Illustration from When Sue Began to Cook<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

On a rainy, dreary November afternoon, Sue complains to her mother that there\u2019s nothing to do. Her brother is at a friend\u2019s house, As for her best friend Ruth Ann \u2014 well, she cries all the time now that her mother has been sent away for her health. This is the beginning of When Sue Began to Cook<\/em>, the last book in the Bettina storybook trilogy by Louise Bennett Weaver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The complete title of the book is When Sue Began to Cook with Bettina\u2019s Best Recipes<\/em>. Bettina\u2019s Best Recipes became the brand name of a whole line of cookbooks in the 1920s. Bettina was an authority on cakes and cookies, desserts, sandwiches, and salads. And each topic found its way into one of the Bettina\u2019s Best Recipes cookbooks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like all the Bettina books, Sue\u2019s story begins with some really bad poetry:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To every other little maid
Who longs to learn like Sue,
But feels a tiny bit afraid
It’s all too hard to do,
To all the little girls who sigh,
“I need a simple book
To help me!” “Here it is!” we cry,
When Sue Began to Cook<\/p>Dedication, When Sue Began to Cook, Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles LeCron<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Bettina suggests that Sue invite Ruth Ann over for weekly cooking lessons. Then Bettina will teach them both to cook. The plan will occupy Sue at the same time that it gives Ruth Ann something to think about besides her sick mother. (In 1924 when the book was written, Ruth Ann\u2019s mother probably has tuberculosis and was sent to Arizona for the dry air in hopes that it would cure her. The book, however, never says.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sue loves the idea, and runs to tell Ruth Ann about the new Saturday plans. The girls’ story unfolds from the notes that Sue keeps after each cooking session. Here are her notes from the first day:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I found Ruth Ann crying, as usual, but it didn\u2019t take her long, after she heard about the Cooking Class, to hustle into a clean dress and hurry over. And oh, the cookies were delicious! <\/p>

I intended to save mine for dinner tonight, but of course Robin and Ted came in perfectly ravenous and teased so hard that I had to give them ten or twelve apiece and that doesn\u2019t leave many for Father when he comes. But how proud he\u2019ll be to try his daughter\u2019s first cookies. That is, the first ones I\u2019ve made entirely alone, even to lighting the oven and washing the dishes afterwards.<\/p>When Sue Began to Cook, page 14.<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

As a first recipe, Sue and Ruth Ann make Cocoa Drop Cookies. Then the next week they start at the beginning and learn to make Frizzled Beef over Toast. This recipe is known regionally under many different names in the United States. Chipped beef, SOS, and S\u2014- on a Shingle are but three of the ways people refer to this dish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Each week Sue and Ruth Ann tackle a new recipe or cooking method, and they build a nice repertoire of recipes through the year. A winter Wheat Cereal with Dates progresses to gingerbread. Then spring brings Baked Ham with Browned Potatoes. The heat of summer brings recipes for Vanilla Ice Cream with Chocolate Sauce, Fruit Sherbet, and a Fruit Gelatin. Then the autumn rolls around again, with its traditional Twenties recipes for doughnuts, peanut brittle, and popcorn balls. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Chapter 52, the last week of the year’s lessons. the girls present a party for their friends. They cook an entire meal from recipes in the book, and proudly present the fruits of their yearlong course. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Sue Began to Cook <\/em>makes a good beginning cookbook for teens interested in cooking history, for cookbook collectors, and for people who want to learn to cook simple recipes. Currently this book is unavailable in any free downloadable format, so you’ll have to search out a 1924 copy yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you’re new to the world of Bettina cookbooks, I wrote about the first one in the post A Cookbook Worth Reading<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n

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<\/div>\n\t<\/g><\/svg><\/span> Print Recipe<\/a>\n\t\n\t\n<\/div>\n

Cocoa Drop Cookies<\/h2>\n
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Taken from When Sue Began to Cook<\/em>, 1924.<\/span><\/div>\n
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Course: <\/span>Dessert<\/span><\/div>
Cuisine: <\/span>American<\/span><\/div>
Keyword: <\/span>Bettina, cookies, Twenties<\/span><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Ingredients<\/h3>