I gave this to my partner to cook last night – substituting coconut cream for the creme fraiche to make it vegan. Absolutely delicious, which isn’t surprising given that it’s come from 101cookbooks! Thank you for yet another winner of a recipe!
Cat x

Thanks for sharing this with us 😀
I made a variation with oyster/trumpet mushrooms and white mushrooms and added some Lemonjuice, freshly chopped parsley and some parmesan. It was just awsome!!!

I found this cookbook at the thrift store a couple of years ago and bought it for the font and cover color alone. It’s such a beautifully designed book.

Thanks for naming the designer, Al Corchia. What a beautiful book.

This is one of the first cookbooks I bought as a new cook. I return to it as each season arrives. My paperback copy is yellow, spattered, and held together by rubber bands!

Love vintage cookbooks—the thrill of the hunt is so good, and makes it that much more exciting when you dig up a good one.
This mushroom dish is beautiful. Our friends with a Russian background make something similar—can’t wait to try this.

I have a terrific book of hers called “Spur of the Moment Cooking” — she is a terrific cook and author. Glad to see that you highlighted this book

I actually bought this book way back in the day…1970`s.
It was my first introduction to seasonal cooking.

I am not a big fan of mushrooms but this dish tastes truly amazing! This recipe is a keeper!

Lovely dish, what a lucky find you made with this stylish book.

Cookbooks like this make me want to dig through the books at thrift stores and find a gem like it! Those mushrooms look great too.

This looks like a wonderful cookbook chock full of delicious recipes! I can’t wait to pick up a copy and also to try the fennel mushrooms!

Mushrooms are wonderful. Period. Thank you for the recipe! I’ll have to go check out that cookbook – it looks great just by the pictures. Thanks again, Heidi!

Made this for my husband last night, and he was very happy! Thanks for the recipe…will definitely keep this one!

There’s nothing I like better than browsing through old cook books. This is a really special find though – lovely use of typography and layout.

LOVE this vintage vibe!
Also, just made your lentil soup and the millet muffins on a whim [from SNED]. and both were fan-freaking-tastic! Thank-you!! 🙂

I really have to find this book online now; my favorite “old school” cookbook is the Vegetarian Epicure. It still resonates as thoughtful, seasonal, homey cooking, though (as others have commented) the version of “healthy” it presents differs from the more stringent measures of today. I’d love to see more like this recipe in my kitchen 🙂

I have a first hardback edition of this, bought right after I graduated college. I’ve looked through it over the years and wanted to cook from it but just never found anything that I wanted to fix. (I probably bought it for the cover and “fresh” approach.) This cookbook seems more like fresh French bistro cooking. Lots of meat dishes. I’m glad to have a recommended recipe to try. It’s intetesting to compare this to Julia Child’s Mastering the Art of French Cooking, which came out just before this book. In that sense, this book really was “fresh”.

I haunt old bookstores for that very reason. Although because of the fact that I am vintage myself, I have quite a few cookbooks that I bought new that are now as vintage as I am, you can never have too many cookbooks!!!

I used to have this also – and recall it as a great book, though a bit of the Moosewood era in its very free use of cream and cheese. (Good idea to lighten up from the sour cream in the original!)

I love substituting creme fraiche or greek yogurt for sour cream. There’s always a little something more happening.

This is a perfect autumn recipe on a drizzly night – would also make a great little hors d’oeuvre on toasted ficelle bread. Can’t wait to try!

Lisa–let us know what you think of this recipe, any changes or substitutes etc. It’s always helpful to hear opinions of the recipes.

I have this one, too and remember really liking it. I also have 2 others by her: “The Peasant Kitchen” and “From Market to Kitchen Cookbook”. Strange that you deem it vintage. Makes me feel really old.

These mushrooms look wonderful! I think a big bowll of them topped with a poached egg would be fantastic!

I still have Perla Myers cookbook…thanks for reminding me

I worked for Holt, Rhinehart & Winston in New York in 1970. It was an interesting place to work…just coming out of the 60’s and into the 70’s enjoying food again. We all had to be Twiggy in the 60’s. I used to make creamed eggs on toast when I wanted to impress a date. Sour Cream was a staple back then. Nice book; I’ll look for it.

I feel the same way about some of these cookbooks. Often times I just pick them up because they reflect a publishing style of another decade, regardless of whether or not I have any interest in the recipes. Looking forward to seeing more from you.

This was one of my first cookbooks along with The Grub Bag. I rally loved the way it looked and the fact that it called for fresh produce. I see it periodically in our used book stores here in Austin. Thanks for sharing!

I remember her! Loved her cookbook and had a great seasonal eating calendar one year from her. Love this recipe!

I happen to have Meyers’ Seasonal Kitchen as well as Peasant Kitchen and The Art of Seasonal Cooking. While her books are for omnivores, herbivores can adapt a good many of her wonderful recipes. She is a gem!

Thanks for spreading the good word about Perla Meyers! I still regularly use the battered paperback edition of this book which I got over 35 years ago. I love her seasonal approach to ingredients and meal-planning. She made me realize how easy it was to make my own mayonnaise after I followed her directions for aoli sauce – cutting down on the garlic by about 75 per cent the second time I made it 🙂
Your photography is a wonderful accompaniment here, as usual.

Hi Heidi, My mother cooked all the time when I was growing up and I remember sitting at her kitchen table and flipping through her Gourmet magazines and cookbooks. And we had Perla Meyers cookbook! I have it now in my bookcase and flip through it each season.
Thank you for your post… great memories!

My favourite vintage cookbook is The Wharfedale Cafe CookBook which was produced by the co-op wholefood cafe of same name in Leeds, UK during the 1980s. The recipes are all delicious, simple, and personable, and the illustrations are charming…. I’ve just ordered Perla Meyers book by the way, thank you!

Headed to Whole Foods to pick up the ingredients to make this baby tonight. I can’t wait!

What a great find! I’m curious….do you really have 101 cookbooks in your collection now 😉 ?

I had that cookbook way back when and it was a favorite. I seemed to have lost it in one of my moves. Thanks for the recipe.

I love the sound of this book, Heidi, it fits so well with my own philosophy. What a great find!

Your post made me pull out my copy of this (yellowed) vintage cookbook. I used to use it all the time and it introduced me to the concept of seasonal cooking that I still utilize. Try the bass in basil sauce (for summer). The recipe calls for freshwater (small) bass, but I usually get the larger ocean fillets. Yum!

Wow. The concept and the design both feel really of-the-moment. What a gorgeous book! I’d love a copy,

The Seasonal Kitchen was one if my very first cookbooks! It’s wonderful that you are reviving it.

Great flavor combination. Fresh fennel is so great!

“Remember, this book was published nearly forty years ago. In many ways it reads like it was written yesterday.” That is exactly what I was thinking when I read the quote. It is amazing how people were looking at food like this so long ago (not just quick convenience foods for their new microwaves). It almost seems like a “fad” today.

Love this idea, Heidi, and always wanted to do something similar on my blog with all of my grandmother’s vintage cookbooks … ah, if there were only more hours in the day! Hope you’re enjoying that Indian summer I’m hearing tales of. xx, mg

I’m so happy to see you feature this book. I bought it when it was newly out in paperback, when I returned from my first year at French university. It helped me feel not so far away from Europe. I use it so often that it is one of the few books sitting in my tiny kitchen.

More than 30,000 rare and out of print cookbooks are available at this store.
(626) 296-1638. E-mail: [email protected]

I love vintage cook books. I collect them and can never resist them when I see them at yard sales, thift shops, and whatnot. My favorite are Farm Journal cookbooks. They are consistently reliable…everytime. I have about 12 different ones but there are several more out there…just waiting to be scooped up.

I love vintage cookbooks! Super excited to see where this project goes. 🙂 Fennel and mushrooms sound like a great match.

I love how this book is obviously of a different era (see: those shoes, that hair) while also reminiscent of the books popular today. What a lovely find!

Perla’s book “Spur of the Moment Cook” is one of my very favorite cookbooks. I’ve actually picked it as my first Julie & Julia-type-endeavor, and I am cooking my way through every recipe. While a bit meat-heavy for my tastes these days, every recipe is simple, fresh, unusual, and unpretentious. And I found the book for $5 at a used book store! I’ll have to keep my eye out for other ones, too.

One of my first cookbooks! I bought this just before moving to the Middle East where I knew my cooking would be more “seasonal.” Thank you for sharing this gem.

One of my first cookbooks! I bought this just before moving to the Middle East where I knew my cooking would be more “seasonal.” Thank you for sharing this gem.

We have a great used bookstore in Phoenix where I go to escape mid-work day. I am instantly drawn to the cookbook section where I could literally spend hours flipping through vintage food photography, recipes and tips. Need to find this book asap.

The design of that book is so great! Finding old cookbooks like this is something I love doing too, but this is a great find!

Heidi, have you heard of Edna Staebler? She was a journalist and prodigious Mennonite cook in Waterloo County here in Ontario, Canada who wrote a series of cookbooks called ‘Food That Really Schmecks.’ She was really a powerhouse, and her books have delicious, local recipes and the most amazing, engaging voice that sounds like Elizabeth Gilbert if she had grown up a mennonite in the 1930’s. Thought you might enjoy them.

I can’t wait to try this with some of the wild mushrooms I have been gathering. If I can find some great russulas or lactarius this late in the season, I think they would be perfect, but if not, I think the ubiquitous honey mushrooms (armillaria species) will also work well! Great find. I love all your shroom recipes!

I love this book! It was the first cookbook I bought for myself, way back in 1973 or ’74 I think — in my first year at university. My parents entertained a lot, partly because of my father’s line of work, and I often helped my mother in the kitchen. Many of Perla Meyer’s elegant recipes were very much enjoyed by their dinner guests. It is still on my bookshelf — alas, minus the lovely dust jacket.

I’ve had this book for decades – since 1975, no doubt, when the paperback was issued. It was highly praised at the time, and my own flyleaf note says “this is a wonderful book”. Thanks for prompting me to dig it out!

What a great find! I should keep my eyes peeled for vintage cookbooks. The recipe looks good and simple.

The recipes don’t age but sometimes the writing does. I just bought a Betty Crocker book from the early 60s (one my mom used when we were young) and the tips and tone of it are jaw-droppingly dated. I love mushrooms and often crave them. Your recipe looks perfect.

I absolutely LOVE finding old vintage cookbooks. I have this faded green one on a cookbook shelf in my kitchen.
However, I have it bookmarked to the OPOSSUM STEW. That’s embarrassing.

That recipe looks phenomenal. And the design of that book and the cover? Oh man oh man!

Since it’s fall, I’ve been choosing a cookbook from my collection every night to read in front of the fireplace. Even if I’ve had a book for years, I always find something new that speaks to me!
Love this 🙂

How neat! It just goes to show you that all new ideas are old, in a way. You’ve inspired me to go digging through the stacks at some of the vintage bookstores here in Paris to see if I can find some gems.

I adore vintage cookbooks. That one is quite a find – the book design is beautiful! xox.

Is there a good vegan substitute for the creme fraiche here?

I admit, that cover rocks. She is STYLIN’!

yes, it seems incredibly forward thinking for 1973. Just her clothes and the colour-tone of the front cover that give her away.. : )

Really love the idea of this series and I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

This is such a flavorful salad. Would love all the textures too. Can’t take my eyes away from the picture 🙂

Never heard of Perla Meyers before and I just realized that I’ve missed a lot. Thanks for signaling this; I’ll make sure to catch up asap!

What a great cookbook. Nice find!
I love fennel, so much! It’s so under-rated I find. I wish more people knew how fabulous it was! This looks great!

Some things you just don’t need to mess around with. That message seems to resonate through with this type of cooking. This would make a great bruschetta topping!

Vintage cookbooks are a great find and make you realise that all the ideas about cooking we think are new have been around for ages. I love the design inside the book with fall written in the corner. Fennel and mushrooms is a combination I’ve never tried, great idea!

Your photography is beautiful, as usual.

I’ve always got my eyes peeled for a special vintage cookbook, so this post is right up my alley. My latest find was The Edible Mushroom by Margaret Leibenstein, published in 1986. The freshness of fennel and earthiness of mushrooms is a combination that never goes out of style. Great post!