Classic Cooking School
This site presents contents of a set of textbooks used by a cooking school in America in the 1920's.
It's useful both as a cultural artifact and as a surprisingly useful cooking course. Much of the cooking school material here is still valid and valuable. Of course science marches on, and the owners of this web site assume no risk for the material presented; please use it at your own risk. (Here's a current look at culinary schools and careers, as well as selected schools (such as The Art Institutes). Selected text from the original preface is provided below, followed by a list of topic links:
[This] consists of five volumes that cover the various phases of the subject of cookery as it is carried on in the home. These books contain the same text as the Instruction Papers of the Institute's Course in Cookery arranged so that related subjects are grouped together. Examination questions pertaining to the subject matter appear at the end of each section. These questions will prove helpful in a mastery of the subjects to which they relate, as they are the same as those on which students of the Institute are required to report. At the back of each volume is a complete index, which will assist materially in making quick reference to the subjects contained in it.
Whenever advisable, utensils for the preparation of food, as well as labor-saving devices, are described, so as to enable beginners in the art of cookery to become acquainted with them quickly. In addition, this volume contains breakfast, luncheon, and dinner menus that will enable the housewife to put into practical, every-day use many of the recipes given.
It is our hope that these volumes will help the housewife to acquire the knowledge needed to prepare daily meals that will contain the proper sustenance for each member of her family, teach her how to buy her food judiciously and prepare and serve it economically and appetizingly, and also instil in her such a liking for cookery that she will become enthusiastic about mastering and dignifying this womanly art.