Monday, August 30, 2010

Vintage Cookbooks


I am not ashamed to admit that I adore reading cookbooks. My favorite reads are vintage cookbooks (pre-1970). The older, the better!

A wonderful woman from Bible study gifted me with our church's 1933 cookbook (the binding is hand stitched!). It has been wonderful reading material. As with many older cookbooks, I am amazed and shocked by some of the recipes, particularly in the "Salads" section. There is generally an abundance of recipes for congealed "salads" and this cookbook was no exception. Here is a recipe that we will not be trying chez nous:

Philadelphia Cream Cheese Salad (verbatim)
One can tomato soup, and very little water. Heat, add three Philadelphia cream cheese, stirring until dissolved. Dissolve four teaspoons gelatin in one-half soup can water, and add to soup. Cool and add: one cup mayonnaise, salt, sugar, paprika to taste, one-half cup chopped celery, one small onion chopped fine, one small can crushed pineapple, lemon juice to taste. After all are mixed together pour into molds or ring mold. Serve on lettuce with whipped cream and mayonnaise.

Hmmm.

On another note, tomorrow is T's first day of school! We will be waking up at 7am for pancakes and sausage. (Coffee and oatmeal for me-thank you, Cafe Britt). So long, 9am wake ups...I'll see you next June.

3 comments:

  1. Disgusting! Reading a few of the ingredients like tomato sauce....celery...sort of sounds like a diet "salad" but then 1 cup of mayo and other junk throws off that theory. :)

    Can't believe T starts school...4th grade. James and Ben don't start until 14 Sept so we still have many days of sleeping in (like right now at 9am all three are still asleep).

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  2. I love reading old cook books too, sometimes they are so much more than just recipes. I have a few precious recipe cards and clippings from my grandmother she kept in a binder that I love to look at and a few cookbooks I have borrowed from my mother in law. They are so sweet and nostalgic.

    That recipe is for the birds! Ha, maybe not even them though! Yuck....that had to have bee concocted based on a bare pantry or something. But then again back in the day evvvvverything had gelatin in it! Let's be thankful times have changed, huh?

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  3. I read cookbooks like novels and I only buy vintage ones :)

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