This is kinda neat: https://www.reddit.com/r/Old_Recipes/comments/1shj9mp/from_the_1939_worlds_fair_cookbook/

I have a few old cookbooks, and one of the amazing things is how much they assume you just know how to do. Like I have a nice recipe for chocolate meringue pie and one of the steps is just "make a meringue."

Clearly home cooks used to have a bit more knowhow about the basics, but the other thing for those of us who cook for our families is details don't matter if you're gonna do the recipe 400 times. You'll adapt it, so specifics aren't useful.