The Pleasure of Your Company...

   The bookstore that I work at is basically a cookbook store, and a mostly used one at that. We get quite a few vintage and antique cookbooks in, and I must say they are hilarious. Disgusting and hilarious. So many mayonnaise doused fruit salads, so little time. 

 

Look at how beautiful that house is. Please let me live there.

One of my favorites that’s come through has got to be Betty Crocker’s party themed Hostess Cookbook date of 1967. Offering a “wealth of ideas for today’s entertaining” and more than 400 “guest-tested recipes”, it addresses the ”Hesitant Hostess” , easing her worries about throwing the perfect get together for her husband and his important colleagues, her girlfriend, and even that bitch next door who everyone secretly hates.  We’re certainly glad you could come, indeed.

I have to say, I love this book. It is like a time capsule in the best and worst possible way, and despite the traditionally terrible cookbook photographs, I’m sure some of the food is quite good.  But god, some of it is so bad. For example,

Hurry Hurry Ham:

ham+cherry sauce= :(

Don’t have time to make anything? Slather a piece of ham in some cherry pie filling and call it a day.

saucy saucy stroganoff

And some of it probably isn’t that terrible taste-wise. Just in name:

Dipsy Devil: when you only have a jar of cheese and a can of ham, reach for Dipsy Devil- every time. 

monosodium glutamate: the winner's seasoning

Unfortunately, it’s not in this book, but another favorite ‘recipe” I’ve found (I believe it was in the Betty Crocker Cooking for One or Two book circa 1964) was for Hot Potato Chips, where you literally take potato chips and heat them in an oven.  Amazing.

I take my grapes with mayonnaise, thank you

The best part of this book is how it’s broken up by party theme. Each party has a little description, party enhancements and serving suggestion, which is literally suggesting how to serve the food. The Mexican Medley party suggests:

"And if someone plays the guitar, urge him to bring it along to accompany a folk-song fest" 

 Ole!

My favorite, and most telltale of its time, is the Buckingham Dinner:

Hell's Bells Trudy! Make me a roast that won't embarrass me!

Make a roast for your husband to impress his friends with his carving skills. But, if he can’t carve a roast, do all these extra steps and spend more money to make a rolled roast so he doesn’t embarrass himself! 

I can JUST SEE Trudy Campbell doing all this shit for Pete, because he’s a putz and she knows it, but doesn’t want him to make an ass of himself in front of Harry Crane, ugh.

It's got a ton of charming illustrations and loads of glistening hams.  The cookbook photography industry has made leaps and bounds, and thank god. 

I love vintage cookbooks, especially Mid-century editions. They are new enough to use color photography, yet old enough to be embarrassingly quaint and unrealistic. But then again, I see the same frankly stupid  expectations in cookbooks released today!

EDIT:
Oh dayuumm I knew I was on to something with my reaching Mad Men references: Look what's lurking in Betty Draper's kitchen.