I have this set, inherited from my mother, who inherited it from her mother. And there is a good reason why this spattered encyclopedia gets passed down in the family. Despite the truly horrific illustrations in lurid colour (imagine incredibly pink pork chops festooned with vibrantly yellow pineapple slices, dotted with embassingly pink-ish red maraschino cherries---- eeeeyaaah!), this set has EVERYTHING in it. Do you have an exuberance of pears? Well, pull out the index, look up "pears" and you will find cobblers, pies, cakes, some weird pork chop or casserole and many other ideas. Do you remember making a wonderful apple crisp but are missing the oatmeal? Go to the crisps and cobblers and it will give you several variations and suggestions for alternative ways of preparing the dish. Not sure what to do with quinces or persimmons? Need to know the inner temperature of a well-done vs. rare roast? It's there. Measurements, seasonalities of fruits and vegetables, cooking techniques. Nothing uber-fancy, no Julia Child cuisine here - just the basics - but ALL the basics in one. ( )

I love this set, It is a little strange though.
Yet is has features that a lot of other books do not.
It's not just a cook book. It should be called a home maker book really.
In it's section for special diets, for diabetes. It lists all recipes using saccharin. But in brackets list how much sugar it's replacing so you can use any sweetener.
My fav recipe though is the Crown roast.
It starts with "take one can of spam per person".
Then shows you how to sculpt it to make it sorta look like a standing rib roast. ( )

This book is priceless to me. It is the only book my dad bought especially for me. 67 books in one. First pub in sections c1958. ( )