‘Radically refreshed’
In its 13th edition, the ‘Betty Crocker Cookbook’ has hundreds of recipes geared to busy families and more global flavors
For someone who exists only in our collective imagination, Betty Crocker has made quite a mark on American home cooking.
Her eponymous “Big Red” cookbook, first published in 1950 and revised 12 times in the years since to reflect changes in taste, demographics and cooking methods, has taught and inspired generations of home cooks. The 13th edition that hit bookshelves on Oct. 25, for instance, features more than 375 exclusive and on-trend recipes geared to busy families looking for shortcuts and healthier options, along with more global flavors.
Combined, the “Betty Crocker Cookbook” has sold more than 75 million copies in the last 72 years. At one time, the tome was second only to the Bible in sales, said Cathy Swanson Wheaton, executive editor of cookbooks for General Mills, which owns the brand. That’s some serious devotion to a cook who was never even a real person.
Since that bestselling start, the Betty Crocker cookbook series has published more than 300 titles on subjects ranging from boys and girls, Christmas cookies, entertaining and diabetes to Indian and Mexican home cooking and cooking with Bisquick. That Betty continues to resonate with modern cooks, Wheaton says, is hardly surprising.
“She has always been a helper in the kitchen and out of the kitchen since she was born,” she notes, first as a knowledgeable and trusted voice answering cooking questions on the radio in 1924 and later as the namesake of General Mills’ test kitchen in Minneapolis. “And because she trends with time, she helps new generations of cooks no matter what gender to get food on the table, create memories and provide nutrition. We’re not just stuck in the recipes of yesteryear.”
This latest edition, which took four years to produce, is “radically refreshed” with busy families in mind. Dozens of easy, five-ingredient recipes are sprinkled among its 704 pages, each accompanied with a picture of the ingredients along with the final dish.
A new “veggie-forward” chapter gives the biggest plate real estate to veggies and whole grains with protein, along with recipes for spirit-free cocktails. In addition, cooks will find ways to use new-to-them ingredients, such as harissa, tempeh, miso and coconut milk, in a variety of globally inspired foods and learn how to give heritage recipes a new twist.
Another plus: The book’s lay-flat, larger book format means the cookbook will actually stay open to the selected page on your kitchen counter. In a nod to today’s more consciously healthful eating, every recipe also includes full nutritional information, along with food yields and equivalents.
This edition also includes tips on entertaining, food storage guidelines, pictorials on various cooking techniques and a glossary of cooking terms.