Younkers "Holiday Celebrations" cookbook

When I was writing "Dainty Dining" last year, I often found myself wishing more of those old department store tea rooms had preserved their recipes in print. Sure, you can eventually dig up recipes one at a time through newspaper archives, old regional cookbooks, etc., but how lovely it is to come across the occasional collection of recipes from a single department store.

My latest such find is this book, "Holiday Celebrations with recipes from Younkers."This 2001 book is a spiral-bound hardback, copyrighted by both Meredith Corporation and "Younkers, a division of the Saks Department Store Group." The first chapter in the book includes Younkers Classics, which are dishes from the Younkers Tea Room in Des Moines, Iowa. In addition to the recipe for their Chicken Salad, which is featured in my book, these recipes include Braised Lamb Shanks, Tea Room Sticky Rolls, Tea Room Rarebit Sauce, Grilled Lamb Sirloin, Wilted Spinach Salad, Asparagus and Orange Salad, and Yule Log.

There are many newer recipes as well for dishes ranging from Roast Beef with Mushroom Sauce to Dilly Bread and Gingerbread-Pear Trifle. If you're a Younkers fan, I definitely recommend you be on the lookout for this great cookbook!