It's been a fun two weeks for me posting these vintage cookbook covers, recipes and ads from my family's collection - and I hope regular readers have been enjoying this change-of-pace from the usual celebrity death reports, comic book nostalgia, movie reviews and other pop culture stuff I usually blog about. I thought I'd go out with a bang today with a smorgasbord of items from the 1950s through the 1980s - in no particular order.
First up, we have this awesome cover from Crisco's Easy-As-Pie Recipes. Gotta love that illustration.
As well as this great graphic accompanying these helpful Pastry Hints.
Let's flash-forward to the 1970s when everything burger-centric had to have MAC in it's name. Presenting the DoubleMAC hamburger cooking device. All I remember about this is that every burger that we cooked on it tasted like some chemical shit and we stopped using it about about a month and went back to cooking burghers in a pan.
Here's the Crisco lady's friend from the early 60s - she's got a head full of meal ideas, but seems frustrated on how to plan the whole she-bang. Too bad she can't time travel to the 1980s to learn the secrets of successful microwaving!
Yes - an entire series of cookbooks dedicated to microwave cooking? What's to know? Just press the damn ON button. I currently do not own a microwave oven, because not only do I not like rubbery food, I'm convinced that they are harmful to us and one day will be looked at the way we look at saccharin. Remember Sweet 'N Low?
The Farm Journal Family Test Group (whatever happened to them?) apparently thought you needed to sprinkle chemicals on your fresh fruit to make it sweeter. It looks, acts and tastes like sugar. Bull shit.
But wow - you can save 8040 Calories if you buy it in the bulk Kitchen Economy Package. Given the seal of approval by Good Housekeeping, this is a fitting end to my Foodsploitation series. Thanks for reading!
Substituting for ground beef, I used Yves' Meatless Ground - a staple in my kitchen (mostly as an ingredient in my Kick-Ass Vegan Chili). With no recipe on the can, I just followed my instincts and sauteed the ground soy in a little bit of canola oil for about 5 minutes.
As the "meat" browned in the skillet, I opened up the fresh can of Manwich sauce.
The sauce smelled exactly as I remembered from the 1970s. Salty, sweet, peppery tomato. Hopefully this can wasn't sitting on the shelf at Ralph's for 35 years.
After the "meat" was brown enough (It's not like it started out "raw"), I dumped the can of sauce over it and stirred up the "glop".
Well, it certainly looked and smelled how I remember Manwich looking and smelling. After about 10 minutes, the concoction seemed like it was ready to be served.
Manwich was a popular 1970s brand of what was essentially canned 'sloppy joe' sauce introduced by Hunt’s in 1969. The recipe was basically seasoned tomato sauce that was meant to be added to ground meat product in a skillet. It was marketed as an enticing, seductive meal for manly men, but was quite popular with kids. Just look at the packaging, sexy women looking to add sauce to your meat...
In the interest of education, the editors of the Manwich recipe guide also included a handy dandy guide to the Basic Four food groups - "Manwich falls into the first group, bit you'll find it happily compatible with all the other groups."
Just came home from a preview screening of JULIE & JULIA - the new Nora Ephron (who has miraculously redeemed herself for the dreadful BEWITCHED travesty) film starring the wonderful Amy Adams and the magnificent Meryl Streep. Even as vegan, I still found the film enchanting and hunger inducing. Luckily, Julia Child left behind an entire book of vegetable recipes - I only wonder how many are smothered in butter, cream sauces or cooked in lard. It's now my mission to find a copy of this book and cook every recipe in it and blog about it. Not really, but it would be fun to have.
