Image: Staff photographer · CC BY-SA 3.0
Crisco Cookbooks
- Year
- 1912-
- Era
- 20th century
- Origin
- USA · Americas
- Language
- English
- Category
- Trade/Advertising
The Crisco Cookbooks, issued by Procter & Gamble from 1912 onward, are a long-running series of promotional recipe pamphlets and bound volumes designed to popularise the company's newly introduced hydrogenated vegetable shortening. The inaugural volume, The Story of Crisco, instructed American cooks in substituting the novel fat for lard and butter, marking a pivotal moment in the industrial reshaping of domestic baking and frying practices.
Cooking from this book
Crisco Pie Crust
Signature dishThe flaky pie crust became the emblem of the Crisco Cookbooks, a pastry shell whose tender, shortening-rich layers were offered as proof that a new hydrogenated vegetable fat could rival, and perhaps surpass, lard. Procter and Gamble built much of its 1912 promotional campaign around this single achievement, presenting the crust as the modern American baker's badge of progress, cleanliness, and economy, and forever linking Crisco to the home pie tradition.
An editorial note on a dish associated with this book, written for The Coquinist. It is not a reproduction of the book's recipe.
