Think about the last time you cooked with mom. What did she make? Did she follow a recipe, use measuring cups and spoons, or did she measure with her eyes and follow a recipe she knows by heart?
Our fondest memories often form in the kitchen – or in any shared space where good food is prepared and enjoyed. Where our cultures, family traditions and taste buds are nurtured. Passed down from grandmother to mother, from mother to daughter, and on and on for generations.
Author and philanthropist Sondra Langel witnessed the mother-to-daughter tradition of passing down cooking techniques and kitchen wisdom when writing Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club, a cookbook and history book. It tells the story of the nation’s oldest cooking club, founded in Wichita in 1891. This second – and final – printing is available just in time for Mother’s Day gift-giving.
Vibrant photography by Wichita State University professor and photographer Larry Schwarm showcases more than 127 years of tradition in recipes across 15 menus. Each prepared, styled and tasted in Langel’s home test kitchen with the women of the Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club.
Celebrate your fond food memories this Mother’s Day with the limited-edition, Wichita history hand-me-down Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club cookbook and whip up something special for mom for brunch, lunch or dinner.
Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club is available for purchase at www.thursdayafternooncookingclub.com and at Wichita bookstores and select retailers. These include The Workroom, Trios, Watermark Books and Wichita Art Museum.
Langel will also display her vintage cooking equipment and other culinary collectibles during Junior League of Wichita’s annual Kitchen Tours event 1-5 p.m., June 1 at the Allen House in College Hill. Stop by the after-party to interview the author, purchase and get your book signed.
Learn more about Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club on Facebook and at @cookingclubks on Instagram and Twitter.
Angel Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 eggs, separated
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 11⁄2 cup sugar, divided
- 1 lemon, juice and grated rind
- 1⁄2 cup heavy cream, whipped
- fruit for garnishment
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Beat eggs whites until very stiff. Add cream of tartar when just fluffy. Slowly add 1 cup of the sugar and beat (says for 15 minutes but this is assuming hand mixing.)
- Place mixture in buttered pie tin. Bake 1 hour. Cool. In double boiler beat egg yolk with 1⁄2 cup sugar. Add lemon juice and grated rind. Stir and cook until thickened.
- Cool filling and pour over baked meringue. Top with whipped cream. Garnish with strawberries or other fruit if desired.
Thursday Afternoon Cooking Club is the second collaboration between editor Sondra Langel and photographer Larry Schwarm. The first was Wichita Artists in Their Studios, published in 2016. Its 50 portraits of both well established and emerging artists showcase those magical spaces the public rarely sees – where the creative process takes place. Langel – a philanthropist, community activist and tireless volunteer – draws upon her years as a freelance writer to unearth stories worth telling and preserving. Once she embraces a project, she brings others into her vision and marshals the resources needed to see it through to triumphant completion.
