Amy Alessio has fond memories of dishes her grandmothers used to make.

One grandmother was Irish and the other was Italian and each had her signature dishes. However, memories are the only things Alessio has since her grandmothers did not write down the recipes.

When Alessio, 45, started cooking for her own family of four, she wanted to make some of those dishes and decided to go looking for recipes in vintage cookbooks. One cookbook led to another and soon Alessio had collected more than 1,000 vintage cookbooks and had amassed boxes of handwritten recipes.

“There are still some recipes I haven't found. Like I still haven't found a recipe for creamed onions like the ones my grandmother made,” Alessio said. What she has found is that vintage cookbooks are very entertaining, and several years ago, she began giving presentations. She will be presenting a program on Vintage Thanksgiving Recipes at the Aurora Public Library's Eola Road Branch at 10 a.m. Nov. 9.

Alessio, of Bloomingdale, has worked as a librarian and has written and published several books. Through her cookbook collections, she has found that older cookbooks often have “vague measurements” using terms like “a pinch” or “a teacup,” which makes them more challenging. The oldest cookbook she has is from the mid-1800s and belonged to her great-great-aunt. Some of her favorite cookbooks are the Southern Living Collections, with detailed information about giving soirees and other social events.

“Many cookbooks from the 1960s included information about entertaining. The Betty Crocker Hostess Cookbook from the mid '60s listed several tips like ‘never urge food upon people' and ‘accept a refusal without comment,' ” Alessio said. The cookbook also gave suggestions on how to deal with the “guest who says goodbye for three quarters of an hour.” Alessio was amused to read comments that the previous owner of the cookbook had written into the cookbook including a suggestion to “accept all thanks and say ‘it was fun having you.' ”

“It is fun to look back at trends from different time periods,” said Alessio. “During the Depression, there was a fascination with recipes using prunes. Several recipes used prunes as a sweetener due to the rationing of sugar. Beets and carrots were also used as sweeteners in recipes. There are still people who make red velvet cake with beets and swear by the recipe.”

Many recipes are so unusual that Alessio has dubbed them “foods so bad, they are good.” Among these are Jell-O recipes involving pretzels, meatballs made with grape jelly and soggy but heavenly refrigerator cakes. “I have tried lots of these recipes and some are really good. The refrigerator cake is a favorite in my family,” she said.

A refrigerator cake is basically a large box of instant pudding in any flavor that is mixed with 1/2 cup less milk than is listed in the package instructions. The pudding is layered with vanilla wafers or similar cookies into a loaf pan. Begin with a layer of cookies, spread with pudding and continue layering cookies and pudding to the top of the pan. Alessio likes to end with a layer of cookies. Refrigerate overnight and then scoop out the next day.

The cookies soften in the pudding. “I sometimes color the pudding for holidays, and I have used Oreos and other cookies. My family really likes it.”

Another odd recipe that worked out well for Alessio was a mix of pearl onions, honey and ketchup. “It looks awful but it tastes good. Sometimes, bad-looking food is still very good,” she said.

Some recipes were too strange to try. “For a while, Jell-O was trying to convince people it could be served as a meal and came out with recipes with cooked sliced meat in Jell-O. Cherry pie filling was also used in lots of ways in the '60s. There are some recipes for pouring it over a turkey like a basting sauce.”

During part of her presentation, Alessio admitted to her recipe failures. “I have never been able to make a pumpkin pie that is cooked in the middle. I think sometimes people are afraid to try things because of failure but there is no other way to find a good recipe than to try it.”

Alessio encourages creating recipe scrapbooks. She knows that most people plan to someday organize their recipe box but the day usually never arrives. So instead, she suggests scanning or copying recipes and pasting them into a scrapbook.

“Jot down things about what worked when you made it and maybe take a picture,” she said. Instead of tackling the whole recipe box, just do a few recipes at a time and soon it will be complete. The finished scrapbook will make a unique gift or an interesting keepsake to give to family.

Alessio invites everyone to join her at the Aurora Public Library, 555 S. Eola Road, 630-264-3400, on Nov. 9; and bring a recipe to share if they like.

She will be giving presentations at the Des Plaines Public Library, 1501 Ellinwood Ave., 847-827-5551, on Dec. 1; the Bloomingdale Public Library, 101 Fairfield Way, 630-529-3120, on Dec. 5; and the Itasca Public Library, 500 W. Irving Park Road, 630-773-1699, on Dec. 19. Topics vary for each presentation. Go to www.amyalessio.com for information on scheduling a presentation.

Alessio shares an old-fashioned recipe for chocolate pudding from scratch and the strange but tasty mix of onions, honey and ketchup for others to try.

Judy Buchenot is a freelancer.