200 Years of Charleston Cooking: Oyster Stew

200 Years Charleston Cooking: Oyster Stew.  200 Years of Charleston Cooking was published in 1930. By Blanche Rhett, Lettie Gay, and Helen Woodward. Here’s one great recipe from that historic antique cookbook, a recipe originally from 1790, but revised several times.

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Yes, we have a copy of this rare antique cookbook on sale, see it here:  https://vintagecookbook.com/product/200-years-of-charleston-cooking/

200 Years of Charleston Cooking: Two Hundred Years of Charleston Cooking by Blanche Rhett, Lettie Gay, and Helen Woodward. Originally published by Jonathan Cape & Harrison Smith in 1930. This copy is from the revise edition published in 1934 by Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, Inc. (Later editions were published by Random House, New York.) This copy is a hard cover book with the green linen covered boards. The dust jacket has a hole at the top of the spine cover, but otherwise in pretty good condition. It is now in Mylar. 289 pages. The book is in as-if-new condition. every page is clean and clear. The binding is completely sound. A rare perfect copy of an amazing cookbook.

The cookbook was created with an interesting collaboration among three women. Blanche Rhett gathered the recipes from her friends and family in Charleston and from two even older cookbooks, The Carolina Housewife and The Southern Cook Book. Lettie Gay, director of the New York Herald-Tribune Institute, edited and standardized the recipes. Helen Woodward wrote the Introduction and additional –and excellent–historical perspectives throughout the book. Unfortunately, there’s no attribution for the photographs.

Of all the old cookbooks I’ve dealt with in 20 years, this is the best. Every page has little stories about the recipes, concrete historical facts about the people for whom the recipes were created, delightful tales about the people who cooked the recipes and about those who set the tables. Not to mention history of the local plantations. And, it has charming black and white photographs of everyday people selling food. I love this cookbook.

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