What To Know Before Trying Out Vintage Recipes In Your Kitchen

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Whether you've inherited a vintage cookbook from a family member or you found one at the thrift store that caught your eye, there's a certain thrill to the air of uncertainty that comes with making something old new again. For all you know, nobody's picked up that cookbook or made that particular wacky-looking casserole in over 40 years. Before you dive headfirst into the unknown, we spoke with Bobby Hicks, founder of Retro Recipes Kitchen and author of "Retro Recipes," for some advice about what you need to know before trying those vintage recipes in your kitchen.

After years of research, some of Hicks' best advice is that "most retro recipes lack enough salt to properly balance the recipes for our modern palate," so if you're accustomed to more salt-heavy foods, you'll want to take those salt measurement instructions a bit liberally. Just be sure that you know the differences between unrefined and refined salt before you start. "I find it's pretty common for home cooks to simply follow a recipe and get discouraged when it doesn't turn out correctly," Hicks says, speaking on the dangers of following instructions too carefully.

The same can be said for sugar too, but in the opposite sense. Older recipes tend to recommend more sugar than we're used to, so it's best to leave some out. Hicks suggests that "tasting each stage as you are cooking will often result in fully flavored meals that exceed the recipe."

Now you know to be mindful of salt and sugar levels, but the difficulty of creating vintage recipes doesn't stop there. Let's say you come across a vintage recipe for Brown Betty, a kind of apple pie that requires an ingredient known as zwieback. You might not even know what zwieback is, let alone know how to find it. Hicks has been at the same crossroads. "For some reason, it was a common ingredient in some desserts like a Brown Betty," he explains, "and I used Melba Toast instead, as it's a simple, dry and crunchy alternative." This ingredient swap can be used in several scenarios, wherein you switch the vintage ingredient with a similar modern one, just like swapping celery Jell-O in vintage savory salads with a lemon Jell-O instead — one of several unusual Jell-O flavors.

Additionally, Hicks emphasizes that "understanding the period of time that a recipe came from (and even the region) can greatly prepare you for improving the dish." Just like you wouldn't start interpreting a document without understanding the language, you can't successfully interpret a recipe without a little background. "If you're making a cake from the period of The Great Depression," he notes, "you shouldn't be surprised to find it lacking quite a few ingredients." Likewise, it shouldn't be surprising to find that, once upon a time, an ingredient we modernly know as baking soda was once known as saleratus in vintage recipes.