The Fabulous Fannie FarmerThe Fabulous Fannie Farmer

When Fannie Farmer learned to cook in the late 1800s, recipes could be pretty silly, calling for "a goodly amount of salt" or "a suspicion of nutmeg." Despite this, Fannie loved cooking, so when polio prevented her from going to college, she became a teacher at the Boston Cooking School. Unlike earlier cookbook writers, Fannie saw cooking as a science. She noticed that precise measurements and specific instructions made cakes rise instead of flop, and doughnuts fry instead of burn. Students liked Fannie's approach so much that she wrote a cookbook--and despite skepticism from publishers, Fannie's book was a recipe for success.