Thrifted vintage recipes for some chuckles

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Since there are so many of us who get a kick out of vintage recipes and their questionable edibility, I wanted to share the link to some excerpts from two such recipe books I'd found-- one is sponsored by Pet Milk from 1937 and the other is a Good Housekeeping book from the 50s...

I don't know what looks worse, the foods in black and white, or those in glorious technicolor.

http://thriftshopromantic.blogspot.com/2008/01/dubious-dinners-and-riotous-retro.html

[Jay2TheRescue]

You know all good recipies have MSG in them.  That's how I rate cookbooks, by the percentage of recipies with MSG and/or Knox gelatin. 

-Jay

[heatherinsc]

TSR, since I saw you mentioned this... I was looking at your blog this weekend and nearly died laughing at your review of the Lea and Perrins cookbook. My husband had to come check from the other room to see what was wrong with me.
Thanks for the laugh. I will refer to this from time to time, when I need a lift. 
Heather

[Femme1]

Egad, those photos make me want to run to my kitchen and whip up a salmon/cream cheese mousse in a fish-shaped mold. (I've actually made this for a party in my youth, I'm ashamed to say.)

TSR, your blog tweaked a memory of a dish my mother made at least once a week---Spanish rice. Looking at these horrible photos makes me wonder if, 50-some years from now, people will see photos from Martha Stewarts Living and laugh at them.

[SecondhandSophisticate]

Looking at these horrible photos makes me wonder if, 50-some years from now, people will see photos from Martha Stewarts Living and laugh at them.

One can only hope...

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Jay-- I absolutely thought of you and your previous MSG comments when I looked at the ingredients and saw that. I also love how in these older cookbooks, the concept of any "ethnic" foods never means unique spices from that country. It still involves things like yellow mustard and ketchup.

Heather-- that's brightened MY day! Nothing better than to give someone a laugh. Plus, I spend a lot of time reading these cookbooks and shouting "Oh NOOO!" to myself as I see something hilariously bad. So it's good to pass along the horror and humor.

Femme1 and SeSo-- I bet some of Martha's more outrageously involved recipes will absolutely entertain another generation. It seems the more marketing content they use to surround the benefits of these dishes, the funnier they seem in retrospect. May we all live long enough to see how funny Martha ends up being!!

[genuineimitation]

i'm sorry, there is just NO such thing as a SAVORY lima bean.

[Other People s Junk]

You should start a new diet... anytime someone is hungry, they can look at those recipe books and immediately lose their appetite!   

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

You might just have something there!

[foutchie]

LOVE your descriptions - I think you're imaging was right on the money! 

[ChrisMiss]

Come on now, lima beans can be savory...can't they???

I still say if dinner doesn't wiggle or put a jiggle on your hips why then it's just not pure dee elegant.  Let's open a can of vienna sausages, wrap in dough and have us some horrid devours.

[Thrift Shop Romantic]

Oh my god, Chris, too funny.

Actually I am not against our friend the Lima Bean, myself... I just prefer mine to look more like limas and less like wall spackle.

[foutchie]

..or road kill!  LOL

[ChrisMiss]

When is a lima bean not a lima?? When it's in Peru. 

[Jay2TheRescue]

..or road kill!  LOL

I'll have to look, I'm sure in one of my old cookbooks is a page of nothing but roadkill recipies.

-Jay