The Metropolitan Cook Book

A life insurance company teaching its policyholders to eat: the Metropolitan's own cookbook, given away from the tower on Madison Square.

This site is the complete 1918 book The Metropolitan Cook Book, page by page as originally printed — period spelling, remedies and opinions included. About this edition →

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Beverages

14 recipes

Cereals, Batters and Doughs

24 recipes

Bread and Bread Mixtures

10 recipes

Soups

12 recipes

Fish

11 recipes

Meat

28 recipes

Poultry and Left-over Meats

19 recipes

Meat Substitutes

11 recipes

Vegetables

38 recipes

Salads and Salad Dressings

12 recipes

Puddings and Dessert Sauces

17 recipes

Cakes

11 recipes

See the full table of contents →

Highlights

Creamy Omelet

3 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon salt teaspoon pepper Make either French or Puffy omelet, using white sauce instead of water. Pour…

Egg Salad

1. Cut the whites of hard-boiled eggs into eighths lengthwise, arrange on lettuce to simulate the petals of a flower. Put yolks…

Cream of Potato Soup

4 medium-sized potatoes medium-sized onion 2 tablespoons fat 1 quart of milk 2 tablespoons flour 1 teaspoon salt teaspoon pepper…

Devil's Food Cake

1 teaspoon vanilla 4 teaspoons baking 4 squares bitter chocolate powder 2 cups flour (pastry) teaspoon salt Cream the shortening…

Hamburger Steak

Chop finely one pound lean raw beef; season highly with salt, pepper and a few drops of onion juice. Add cup milk gradually; mix…

Methods of Cooking Fish

Fish suitable for broiling are: Split mackerel, white fish, cod, shad, trout, etc.; sliced halibut and salmon, white smelts and…

Curious Facts

9 genuinely curious things this book actually says, each linked to its page.

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271Recipes
1918Year
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Rights & ReuseThe complete text of The Metropolitan Cook Book (1918) is in the public domain in the United States — like all works published before 1928 — and is free to read, download, quote, teach from, and reuse. This digital edition (its transcription, restored images, and site design) is © 2026 PhotoOpAI, and any editorial commentary we add is clearly marked as ours; the underlying public-domain text carries no such restriction.