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I’ve recently set up my new autoresponder from GetResponse and think that it’s working properly. I’m asking my readers to subscribe to this blog and test it out for me. By subscribing you’ll receive a short email alerting you to a new posting. Also, as a token of my appreciation for subscribing you’ll be able to download a free 52-page cookbook that I created especially for you. It’s called “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”. It actually contains 103 recipes and a lot of vintage graphics. This is a fun cookbook and you can take a peak at it by clicking on the link above.

PROMISES: I promise to never share your valuable contact information with anyone nor bombard you with frivolous offers to sell you junk.

That’s it for now folks! Subscribe today.
Tim

VINTAGE COOKBOOK HUMOR

PUT A LITTLE COOKBOOK HUMOR IN YOUR LIFE

Last month while browsing a new (to me) antique mall in the small, rural town of Tenino, WA, I stumbled across a mother-load of collectible cookbooks. One of them was “MAMA WEISS: favorite Recipes. This is a 171 page, spiral-bound cookbook from 1953.

MAMA WEISS – 1953

If the cover doesn’t cause you to pick it up, certainly some of the entertaining ethnic recipes inside will cause you to take it to the cash register. By the way, I paid $2.00 for this one!

MAMA WEISS’ INTRODUCTION

“Much of the household warmth comes from the kitchen–as does the food that sustains the family.

“Cooking doesn’t have to be drudgery–and it doesn’t have to be a fine culinary art. I think of it as a combination of common sense, adventure and fun.

“My whole life has centered around the kitchen. When I was a child my mother taught me how to cook the hearty but economical dishes of rural Hungary–the nourishing soups, the shepherd’s goulash, good bread and other simple but tasty dishes designed to feed a family of fourteen for the least amount of money.

“As a young girl in Budapest and Vienna I learned the finer points of European cookery–the wonderful pastries of Mme. Sacher’s famous restaurant–the delicious meats and natural sauces served at the Gellert Hotel–the fine coffee cake at the sidewalk cafe.

“It is rare that I can use a recipe in its original form. Instinct and my own personal taste require that I add a little more of one ingredient–or perhaps leave another out completely. that is why it is so hard for me to give a recipe in exact measurements. The most important ingredient is your own taste.

“A good cook uses all the senses–and if the dish you are making doesn’t come out exactly right the first time…who cares? The next time you try it, experiment a little. Soon you will get the feel of it–and cooking willbe fun.

“There is one other basic ingredient that I always use when I cook or bake. I always add a pinch of melody. Make sure that this ingredient is in all your recipes.

“Good cooks are not born–they get that way by cooking and tasting, by smelling and touching and listening. It’s a wonderful adventure–so hum your favorite melody and come, follow me…”

******

Tell me, is this a happy cook, or not?

MAMA WEISS – 1953

Check out this unique recipe from MAMA WEISS:

SWEET LETTERS

Dough

1/2 pound butter
1/2 pound flour
4 yolks of hard boiled eggs (grated)

Filling

3 egg whites
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 pound almonds (ground)
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Beat the egg whites stiff. Add the sugar and lemon juice gradually as you continue to beat. Add the almonds. Roll the balls of dough out into the shape of a square. Bring each corner of the dough to the center so that it has the appearance of an envelope. Place in a greased baking pan and brush with egg white or sour cream. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes in a preheated oven.

Well folks, that’s about it for today. Be sure to sign up with your name and email address so I can keep you informed of future postings. I promise that I’ll never share your valued information. Also, when you do sign up you’ll get directions for downloading a cookbook that I compiled just for you called “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”.

Tim

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VINTAGE COLLECTIBLE COOKBOOKS

RYZON BAKING POWDER
BAKING BOOK – 1918

by Marion Harris Neil

RYZON Baking Book – 1918

RYZON BAKING POWDER – 1918

THE STORY OF RYZON

The Perfect Baking Powder, is the result of years of research work by the General Chemical Company. This Company’s staff includes some of the most eminent men in chemistry. For many years it has been producing the materials used by Baking Powder manufacturers and has been particularly well situated to understand the needs of the industry and to direct its research work along lines most likely to yield important results.

Baking Powder is a necessity. A good baking powder is essential to the comfort and convenience of every home. The solving of the baking powder problem, to produce for the American people and for the world a “perfect baking powder,” – one which should be not only efficient and practical, but should also fulfill all desirable requirements from the standpoint of purity and health, – is an achievement of which any company of scientific men might feel proud, especially when they are able to offer RYZON, with all of its
improvements over old-fashioned baking powders, at a lower price than usually asked for high grade baking powder.

After having perfected RYZON to their own satisfaction, officers of the General Chemical Company indirectly sent samples of RYZON to the most famous cooking experts. They were asked to try this new baking powder, – which then had no name, – and to say unreservedly what they thought. The replies were uniformly that this was the most wonderful baking powder ever tried, that less was required than of other baking powders, and that the results were perfect.

Finally, this new baking powder was sent to one of America’s greatest food authorities, who was asked for his frank opinion of it from a health standpoint. He wrote,in reply, that “RYZON has qualities of excellence and physiological relations which entitle it to the confidence and patronage of the public.” His opinion has been confirmed by other leading food experts of America.

This is the reason for RYZON, which is a guaranteed American pure food product of superior quality and efficiency, at a fair price.

RYZON Baking Book – 1918

RYZON WAFFLES

4 level teaspoonfuls RYZON
2 level cupfuls (1/2 pound) flour
1/2 level teaspoonful salt
2 eggs – separated
1 1/2 cupfuls (3/4 pint) milk
4 tablespoonfuls (2 oz.) melted butter

Mix flour with RYZON and salt and sift into bowl. Beat yolks of eggs, add butter and milk. Add this mixture gradually to dry ingredients, beating thoroughly. when well mixed fold in the stiffly beaten whites of eggs. Pour from a pitcher into the center of a hot, well-greased waffle iron. Serve with melted butter and maple syrup or with cinnamon and sugar. Other fat may be used in place of butter but the waffles not brown as well.

As a breakfast or luncheon dish waffles are well known. Equally welcome are the waffles served with hot chocolate or coffee in the afternoon, or for an after theatre supper, especially when the use of an electric waffle iron makes baking at the table possible.

This hardbound 1918 beauty measures 6 1/2” x 8” and contains 81 pages. There are some really neat, colorful graphics like the one above. Estimated value is $24-$30.

Well folks, that’s it for today. A REMINDER: Be sure you sign-up for my mailing list and receive your free vintage cookbook to download — “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”, by Tim Mack

HEALTHY COOKING

Healthy Cooking is not always good cooking!
Vintage recipes are often not healthy recipes…

For anyone who has perused a cookbook published prior to the 1960’s you have undoubtedly seen some rather unhealthy ingredients called for in the enclosed recipes. Especially if the book dates back to the early 1900’s. Lard was a huge ingredient in cooking in those days and folks certainly weren’t aware of the various food pyramids that we’re bombarded with today.

But, it’s for these reasons that I love old cookbooks and vintage cooking magazines. Granted, a lot of the recipes that I chuckle at would never be prepared in my kitchen. Somewhere recently I ran across a title, I’m not sure if it’s a cookbook or a cooking article, but it was “I’ve had stranger things in my mouth!”.

Healthy food for example does little to excite me. I’ve tried various brands of meatless burger patties and every one reminded me of eating alfalfa…not that I’ve ever eaten alfalfa…but God it’s terrible.

The following has been exerted from an article in Gourmet Magazine, dated August, 1991. Written by Fred Ferretti, it’s titled

“A Gourmet at Large”

“There is cooking of truth and there is cooking for the doctors,” Paul Bocuse was saying. “I am a cook, not a doctor. Let me talk of music. If you play the Fifth of Beethoven with too many violins or without the cellos, you are of course playing something, but you are not playing Beethoven.

“Too many cooks cook for this vitamin, for this protein, with this fat, without cholesterol. It is like bringing a medicine chest to the table. It is crazy, because there is no pleasure.

“He sipped from a tall flute of Champagne, put down the glass, and pointed at it. “This is Champagne, not medicine,” he said. “I am sixty-five. I will be seventy in five years. Perhaps I will live to double that, to one hundred forty. I will live that long because I do not cook like a doctor. I cook food that will make you warm, that will comfort you. I cook a casserole so that when it comes to the table and you take off the lid, the steam and the smell come up. You eat and you want to be served twice from the pot. I cook with skin, and I cook with bones because they give flavor. I do not enjoy cooking that produces nothing on the plate, everything on the bill.”

Fred Ferretti

Outside of the humorous anecdotes we find in vintage cookbooks most of us are not searching them for “healthy” recipes; we’re looking for what today is referred to as “comfort food”. In my books, comfort food is healthy food.

So, in conclusion, come on over to my house for a barbecue. I’m barbecuing ribs, but if you’d rather, I can fix you a tofu burger.

That’s all for today folks, be sure to sign-up below so I can keep you informed of future postings. Remember that by signing up you’ll be able to download a complimentary copy of “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”

You can check out the book at the above link, but don’t buy. You’ll receive instructions on how to download for free after you sign up.

Until Next Time,

Tim

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RARE RECIPES

RARE RECIPES and BUDGETSAVERS, volume 2

The other day at a neat antique mall in Tacoma, WA I ran across a super cookbook from the past. Rare Recipes and Budget Savers, Vol. 2, dated 1963. This is a 112-page, spiral bound collection of recipes submitted by the readers of the Wichita Eagle and Beacon News, of Wichita, Kansas. There are really some interesting recipes and anecdotes to be found. The book measures 6.25″ x 9.25″. I paid $1.60 for the book and estimate its value to be between $8 and $10.

Rare Recipes 1963

How about a recipe for Vinegar Pie? No, then how about….

Kentucky Fried Chicken

On the subject of Kentucky Fried Chicken, Mrs. Wilbur Nash, Jr., 1408 Del Mar, Wichita, writes: “I’m fully qualified (I think), as my home town is Louisville, Kentucky. We’ve lived in Wichita three years.”

“My mother’s method of Kentucky Chicken was pretty simple, not the batter fried chicken that we thought of as being more “deep south” than Kentucky. She simply salted and peppered the chicken before flouring, then used LARD (nothing more, and I don’t mean bacon grease) in a heavy black iron skillet, had the fire turned high and browned quickly on both sides, then covered with a lid, turned the fire down and let steam 20 minutes, or so. This is probably the method most used, but the difference is in using the lard. The flavor is delicious and not greasy tasting at all.”

Well folks, a short one today, but please don’t forget to get signed-up with your name and email so I can send you a copy of “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”. This is a complimentary, no-charge, free-gratis 50-page downloadable cookbook that I compiled for my readers.

Tim

BETTY CROCKER: The Old and New

BETTY CROCKER Filled Need for Signature

Who was Betty Crocker? This queen of the kitchen was “born” in 1921 as a result of an advertising gimmick.

Betty Crocker, as she originally
appeared. From the February,
1950, Good Housekeeping
magazine. She was a home-
maker in her mid-40’s and
dressed simply and
inexpensively.

General Mills ran a picture-puzzle contest that year, to publicize Gold Medal flour. The contest was run in a national magazine; the prize for working the puzzle correctly was a tiny pincushion shaped like a bag of Gold Medal flour.

The response overwhelmed the office staff, as they were half-buried under 30,000 completed puzzles. In addition to the puzzles, however, they were also inundated with questions. Many hundreds of women wanted General Mills to answer their baking questions, such as “How long should I knead bread dough?”
(see “The Vintage Art of Bread-Making” for the answer).

Surprised but game the advertising staff decided a reply should be sent to each of these questions. With help from a variety of sources, ranging from their wives to nearby home economists, answers were found and replies drafted. Since help had come from many places, they were still left with the dilemma of how to sign the response.

‘Betty Crocker’ Grows Younger

The last name was chosen first. William G. Crocker, who had been a popular director of the company, had recently retired and his surname was selected. Then the advertising staff searched for a good all-American “homey” name – and decided on Betty. Thus, that well-known authority on American cooking, Betty Crocker, came into being.

Betty Crocker was given a new look in
1955. She shed a few years from her
age and modernized her hairdo.

Several “portraits” of Betty Crocker have been reproduced over the years. The first of these was painted 15 years after her “birth.” It, too, was a composite, a blend of the features of several of several General Mills employees. Each version “modernized” her, but she always has remained a blue-eyed brunette.

This article originally appeared in “Old Stuff” News, dated April/May, 2002. A special thanks for their permission to reproduce the article. “Old Stuff” is published 4 times annually. It is distributed throughout the Northwest. Free at your favorite antique or collectible shop. Single copies by mail $6 each. Annual subscription: $20 (Canada, $35 U.S.). Visit them at http://www.oldstuffnews.com

That’s all for today folks, be sure to sign-up so you don’t miss a single posting. Sign up now and you’ll also receive a complimentary copy of “100 Unique Recipes from the Past”. You can scope it out by hitting the link above, but don’t buy it from that site. You’re going to get it free when you subscribe today.

Tim

BETTER HOMES & GARDEN

WHEN FATHER COOKS the DINNER

I realize that more ladies probably read this blog than do men, but being one of the latter class, I felt that I had to do something about that. Today’s blog is dedicated to the man who likes to cook. The magazine Better Homes and Gardens published a small cookbook in 1930 consisting of favorite recipes from men.

In 1967 Sunset Magazine published a very successful cookbook for men – Cooking Bold and Fearless: A Cook Book for Men…

Sunset Magazine, 1967

Now, onward with “When Father Cooks the Dinner” from Better Homes and Gardens.

Foreward

“That the man of the house very often chooses the meal is a quite generally accepted fact. Men and women both admit that it is “he” who guides the cooking program by his likes and his dislikes, his suggestions, and his approbation.

“But, that the man of the family actually cooks – that has been a moot question. However, after reading the hundreds of recipes submitted in the men’s cooking contest conducted by Better Homes and Gardens, we have positive proof that he not only can cook but that he excels in it. It may look like a grand gesture when
he takes hold of the cooking spoon, but when he turns out a hash – the most lowly of dishes – to taste as superb as does the hash submitted by the first-prize winner, then we must agree that he is good.

Better Homes and Gardens, 1930

“The following must be admitted in order to give the man cook full credit: He is an excellent meat cook. The quality of his seasoning is high, whenever seasoning is required. Whether he cooks by rule or by inspiration, he uses only the best of ingredients. He is a generous cook and gauges his quantities according to healthy appetites. He is experimental – in other words, he uses his head and figures out new combinations and new methods; and whenever there is a mixing job to be done that requires thoroughness you may be sure that he will do the best possible job of mixing.

“We hope these recipes will serve as a guide to all men who feel the urge to cook; and that women – here, again, a word to the wise should be sufficient – will take our word for it that these are excellent recipes.”

BETTER HOMES and GARDENS
Elmer J. Peterson, Editor

When A Man Cooks by One Who Does

“Now, when it comes to the organization of a cake, or any other contraption that requires sweetening, I’ll give my wife the credit – she can bake it. Or, for that matter, when it is a question of taking a nicely fattened spring chicken and doing this and that with it to bring it out of the frying pan brown, and – well, almost fluffy – and altogether delicious – again, my wife’s there.

“But when the question is of turning the ordinary boiled potato of commerce into feathery, properly seasoned and altogether exuberant mashed potatoes, I’m the one who wields the masher.

Better Homes and Gardens, 1930

“Of course my wife has things all her own way, is the stellar performer, even, when it comes to preparing desserts, soups, salads, and such. I wouldn’t even think of arguing the point with her, but —

“When the consensus of the household is that slum shall be provided, hand me the apron and a flock of clean dishes, and she grants it. There is another point at which  I shine supreme, according to my wife, but from my own standpoint, it is a moot point. She claims that I’m the county champion dish-dirtier, and sometimes even is willing to suggest a district championship. And I’ll be frank; I do manage to use an extraordinary line-up of dishes in my culinary wanderings.

“But don’t get the idea that I come galumping home from work, night after night, to hurry out of my coat and into an apron. It’s every so often that at the office I think of

something that would taste very, very good, and I sell myself on the idea that I’m the only one who can do the job, so I call home and say, “Don’t worry about dinner; I’ll get it if you’ll order the groceries.” The voice at the other end of the wire usually says “Hurrah!”

“Or the gang has gone out some Saturday to make it tough on rabbits, and we come trooping in at night, pretty cold and ravenous, and I’m glad I can put a rabbit and corn pone thru the process so that the result is perfect fried rabbit and corn pone.

“No, there is no note of defense or apology in this. Being able to do a good job of cooking, to my notion, is just as creditable as being able to hit a target, plow a straight furrow, or write a good story. William Allen White makes an excellent salad and knows exactly how to pan-broil a steak. Will James is an expert on

Better Homes and Gardens, 1930

pancakes. Dr. Harvey Wiley is the originator of a delicious salad dressing. H. C. Witmer and Dr. Frank Crane gained fame for cookery exploits as well as for writing in diverse fields. C. C. Moore, former governor of Nevada, has an excellent recipe for corn bread. The list of famous men who are good cooks might be multiplied indefinitely.

“And so, summing up: When I get behind a very large, and at times, a very white apron and start fussing with food, I have a very stupendous time. I get pretty much of a wallop out of my cookery!”

He-Man’s Cake Frosting

“I like cheese with cake. Now, when one asks for cheese with cake he is apt to need the services of Sherlock Holmes and S. S. Van Dine to find the cheese. So at our house we have cake with cheese prepared as follows: In the first place my wife makes a cake. I don’t care what kind of cake it is so long as it is a cake, and then I prepare the frosting. I take 1 cupful of powdered sugar, 5 tablespoonfuls – yes, level! – of nippy cream cheese (it must have a bite to it), 1 tablespoonful of butter, 2 teaspoonfuls of water, and I stir them all up together. Then I add a half cupful of seedless raisins that have been stewed in water for a few minutes and chopped. Add a little salt. Then spread the frosting on the cake. Raisins are the affinity of cheese and take away a little of its harshness.

“I like this best on a pound cake. this is one recipe that I can claim all the credit for when served at a party without fear of having any whispered remarks when I am out in the kitchen getting a second helping.”

–Frank Romy, Nebraska

Better Homes and Gardens, 1930

“When Father Cooks the Dinner” is a 47-page, softbound cookbook from Better Homes and Gardens. Published in 1930 by Meredith Publishing Company of Des Moines, Iowa. The inside pages are a nice quality white gloss paper. Sketches are by an artist named Strothmann. Estimated value is $9-$12.

Well folks, that’s all for today. Thanks for stopping by. Be sure that you leave your name and email address so that I can keep you informed of future postings.

Tim

Vintage Recipe Pamphlets – Collectible

Cookbook Collecting

Yesterday was a perfectly beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest. Unable to sit still at home, my partner and I decided to make a short, 30-mile trek to the town of Centralia, WA. Centralia is a nice little town with a large antique mall and a ton of smaller antique stores.

Antique Stores

After a wonderful lunch at the Berry Fields Restaurant, located inside the antique mall, we agreed that it was time to re-visit a small antique store that we’d discovered by chance several years earlier. Happily we found that the owner was having a 25% off sale.

Point 1: You never know when a store-owner might be facing a financially difficult time and is willing to give you a super-good deal.

Vintage Recipe Brochures

Without any negotiation, the owner gave me the price of $12.00 for the following six recipe pamphlets:

The Complete Jello Recipe Book – 1929

I had never seen this Jello recipe brochure before…it wasn’t pictured in any of my 8 or 10 price cookbook price guides. In one of my more obscure (and older) guides I found a reference to the brochure. It was valued at $15.00…in 1990! Estimated price today is $35.00.

Jello – 1929

Point 2: Even if an item isn’t in perfect condition, the value is often predicated more on the availability (or rarity) of an item. I was thrilled to add this to my collection.

New Jello Recipes made with Lime flavor

I had never seen this Jello recipe brochure before either…it wasn’t pictured in any of my 8 or 10 cookbook price guides. In one of my more obscure (and older) guides I found a reference to the brochure. It was valued at $14.00…in 1990! Estimated price today is $25-$30.

Jello – 1930

Watkins Cook Book – 1926

Once again, the same story. I had never seen this recipe pamphlet before. Published in 1926, it’s a neat 4.5” x 6”, 64-page recipe brochure containing some very nice colored graphics inside. An obscure price from 1997 listed the item at $20; despite its less-than-perfect condition, its rarity places its value at $35.

Watkins – 1926

Main Entrees to make with Canned Salmon – 1937

This recipe brochure is in excellent condition. Published by the Canned Salmon Industry of Seattle in 1937, it is very nicely done and contains some really nice graphics. There is little likelihood that you’d ever find a reference to a recipe brochure from the Canned Salmon Industry. But because of its age, its excellent condition and nice graphics, I value it at $8-$10. It measures 6” x 8.75”.

Canned Salmon Industry – 1937

Mazola Corn Oil Mexican Cookbook – 1984

It recently occurred that I often turned my nose up at ‘newer’ recipe brochures and focused primarily on ‘vintage’ recipe brochures. Then just yesterday, as I looked at this brochure, I realized that a brochure dated 1984 is 25-years old! Many folks would consider recipe brochures of this date to be vintage. So as of today, I’ll start referring to the early 1980’s as vintage. (God help an old man like me).

Point 3: In my opinion, it’s okay to refer to something 25-years old as vintage. Jeez, I’m way, way past ‘vintage’.

This “vintage” brochure measures 5.25” x 8.5” and contains 31 pages. It also contains some very colorful graphics. Estimated value $4-$6.

Mazola Oil – 1984

Pillsbury Butter Cookie Cookbook – 1956

I bought this recipe pamphlet primarily because I love cookies. Secondarily I bought it because its older, in excellent shape, and very collectible.

Point 4: Remember that values of anything are subjective and predicated upon whether you can find a buyer for your item at its estimated value. Just because I say that estimated value is $25, for example, it doesn’t mean that someone will be willing to pay that amount. Sometimes we get lucky however, and find a buyer that especially needs, or wants a particular item and is willing to pay more. This is when life becomes good!

This is neat brochure measuring 5” x 8” and containing 49 pages and 50 recipes. It has nice graphics, both white and black and colored. A 1990 price guide estimated the value of this recipe brochure at $8. I estimate it at $18.

Pillsbury – 1956

Point 5: Keep on your toes and your eyes open…you never know when, or where, you’re going to find some real treasures.

So, there you go folks. For $12 – I was able to add as much as $135 worth of recipe brochures to my collection. Until next time, hope you enjoyed the journey, Tim

THE MALLEABLE RANGE Advertising Brochure – 1907

THE MALLEABLE RANGE – 1907

View Full Album

Mixed on in with collectible food company brochures and manufacturers of kitchen aids and appliances, insurance companies, cookware, and refrigerators. They too have some fantastic recipes and directions for concocting some fine, vintage dishes.

The Malleable Steel Range Manufacturing Company of South Bend, Indiana is one such company. This brochure measures 3.75” x 8.75” and contains 79 pages. Included along with directions for using the various ranges are

dozens of really good recipes. Estimated value is $25-$30.

(Malleable Range Co. – 1907)

Company Statement:             

 Kitchen Economy

Or, the Story of the Development of

THE MALLEABLE RANGE made in South Bend

“When we speak of kitchen economy we do not mean the false economy of buying poor material and cheap utensils to work with. The economy we believe in is the buying of the best.

“The most important part of a kitchen equipment is the range, for good material and a good cook availeth little if the range on which the cooking is done be poor.

“The story of the evolution of cooking devices is a very interesting one. If we go back far enough we could paint a picture of the fair sex of primitive days kneeling by a fire in the center of a cave, tent or wigwam, enveloped in a cloud of smoke, the fire having been kindled by the rubbing of sticks together.

“This takes us back to the days when man knew very little about iron and its highest development, that of steel. About the only use they made of iron in those days was to fashion implements to torture and to kill.

“From the fire of cross-sticks, the next step was the brazier, used by the Romans.

“About the time of the Roman conquest of Britain, 55 years before Christ, the Greek matron broiled her meats over an open fireplace. Then came the addition of the oven to the fireplace. This was a wonderful step in advance.

“Jumping many centuries from the date of the Christian Era, in the seventeenth century we find the old “Hathaway” with which the kitchens of many of the old Colonial homes were equipped.

“Passing rapidly over many years with their wonderful changes, we find the old Hathaway giving place to the cast iron stove.

“The twentieth century was just dawning when the highest development in cooking devices were reached, that of “The Malleable” Range made at South Bend, Indiana, which is made of a combination of malleable iron and steel.

“Few realize that this range is the crystalization of the growth and development of cooking devices of the ages, not only in relation to its mechanical construction, but also of the materials with which it is made.

“In the first place, malleable is the very highest grade of gray iron, which after casting is submitted to an annealing process. In this process the carbon, which makes cast iron so brittle, is burned out, all other impurities being eliminated. This process gives it great tensile strength. It can be doubled, stretched, hammered and twisted without breaking.

“Steel is also one of the highest products of iron. It was a happy combination when these two metals were brought together. The most important part of it, however, was the way in which they were brought together in the scientific construction of “The Malleable” Range, made at South Bend, Indiana.

“This is the very highest type of range made and sold in the world today.

“It costs a little more money than some other ranges on the market, but there is a reason for it. It should be of interest to every housewife to know of these reasons.”

Well, that’s about it for today folks. Get signed up with your name and email so I can keep you informed of future postings. Drop me a comment or question and I will get back to you.

Tim

COX’S MANUAL of GELATINE COOKERY – 1910

(Cox’s Gelatine – back cover 1914)

Cox’s Gelatine – 1910

Vintage recipe/brochure values can vary greatly. Here are two similar brochures, the top one from 1910 and the lower one from 1914. They were both purchased in 2002 from the same shop. Notice that the one published in 1910 is in immaculate condition. It was the Third American Edition. Seven years ago I paid $6.50 for this item. It measures 4.75” x 7” and contains 72 pages with 204 recipes. Quite a find! Today’s estimated value is $20-$25. Also a good investment. The only disappointment I have with this brochure is a total lack of graphics. The brochure could have better utilized the character on the cover. I guess I’ll have to voice my concern with management about this problem.

I especially like the last recipe for “Restiffening Straw Hats. Dissolve three heaping tablespoonfuls of COX’S INSTANT POWDERED GELATINE with one pint of boiling water. Clean the hats carefully then brush them over with the dissolved Gelatine.”

(COX’S GELATINE – 1910)

Cox’s Gelatine – 1914

Below is nearly the exact item but issued in 1914. The condition is much different. Note the stained and dirty cover, the cover’s torn, and

has bent corners. In fact, the overall feel of the book is soft and flexible, indicating a lot of daily use. Also note the rusty staples on the cover. It’s exactly the same dimensions, as the 1910 edition, but contains only 64 pages, and 178 recipes. Give this edition credit however, it does contain an index which the above issue doesn’t. In 2002 I paid $3.50 for this book mainly because of its date. It still has collectible value however and I’ll keep it until I find one in better shape, but its estimated value is only $5-$6.

(COX’S GELATINE – 1914)

In summary, recipe pamphlet collecting is a really fun hobby and I’m happy as I can be when I’m out ‘scouting’ for my next great trophy. It doesn’t have to be an expensive hobby since many antique mall folks just have them there for a variety of inventory and could really care less about $2-$3 sales.

When I first started collecting vintage cookbooks and recipe pamphlets, I would buy most anything that I could find and I’m sorry to admit, I bought some not too neat pieces. But that’s okay. They’re an important part of my collection. Today I’ve become a bit more sophisticated in selecting brochures and that comes with knowing more what I want.

Well folks, that’s about it for today. Please get signed up with your name and email so I can keep you informed of future postings.

Tim

JACK FROST SUGARS – 1932

 
(Jack Frost Sugars – 1932)

This Jack Frost Sugars brochure from The National Sugar Refining Company of New Jersey, is unique in that it is die-cut (see 3rd picture below). The uniqueness comes from the die-cut occurring only on the inside pages. The little girl was printed on the inside covers and showed through each page. The brochure measures 5” x 7” and contains 9 pages. Estimated value is $18-$20.

(Jack Frost Sugars – 1932)

According to this brochure, Jack Frost Sugars produced seven types of sugar. They included granulated, dark brown, powdered, fruit powdered sugar, light brown, confectioners and individually wrapped sugar cubes.

 (Jack Frost Sugars – 1932)

Company Statement: “There is no more perfect sugar than Jack Frost. It is 100% pure cane sugar. It is clean, sparkling, nutritious and a superb energy builder, as well as being a toothsome delicacy. The manufacturers of Jack Frost Sugars years ago looked far ahead, and as all scientists and merchants are doing today put their imaginations into their business and today offer to you sugars, in variety such as your mother never dreamed of – each scientifically made.”

That’s all for today folks. Keep signing up with your name and email so I can keep you informed of all future postings.

Tim

VINTAGE LIQUOR ADVERTISING BROCHURES

MOGEN DAVID (1950’s)

During the 1970’s I was employed as a beer and wine sales representative for a wholesale distributor. Even in those days I was attracted to colorful recipe advertising brochures and started collecting them.

An often over-looked collectors item, these liquor advertising brochures are readily available in antique stores and can be had for next to nothing. Here is a sampling from my collection. This brochure measures 5”x7” and contains 42 pages. Contains 102 food and beverage recipes. There is no date on it, but I assume it is from the 1960’s or ‘70’s. Estimated value is $7.00.

Probably no wine that I’ve heard of has the reputation of Mogen David (especially a later day version called “MD 20-20”; (also, unaffectionately referred to as “MAD-DOG 20-20”). Most folks who ever picked-up a glass of alcohol have at least one story that they could share with you about their early experiences with Mogen David wine.

I’m not sure, but I think the copywriter of this brochure was given a bottle or two of the wine as a stimulus for his creativity gene.

A TASTE of the GOOD OLD DAYS

“Flavor that takes you back through the years to Grandmother…a good, mellow, old-fashioned flavor, the kind you’d never expect to find in these days of “hurry-up” and bored palates. Mogen David’s flavor is richly tantalizing, full-bodied and gentle…and sweet. Yes, sweet – but never too sweet. Just like that homemade wine Grandmother used to make.

“Mogen David is made from luscious, sun-drenched Concord grapes…taken from the vines at the height of ripeness, at the peak of flavor. Deep purple in color, firm to touch, and deliciously sweet to taste. In the winery, master wine-makers, skilled in this most traditional of professions…work carefully and slowly to transform the grapes through an exclusive process, into the shimmering ruby red wine of Mogen David.

“There’s a special goodness to meals served and cooked with Mogen David

     MOGEN DAVID (1950’s) Wine. Foods become more exciting…for Mogen David not only accents all the good natural flavors, but adds a subtle and delightful flavor of its own, raising the simplest dish to memorable occasions. Its uses in foods of all sorts – and drinks – are limited only by your imagination.”

Now this is really cute! When’s the last time you took a bottle of Mogen David to a dinner party?

GO CALLING with MOGEN DAVID…

“It’s a  might nice thing to do…and a gesture that will be appreciated, for everyone enjoys fine Mogen David Wine. Take it along when you go visiting, when you go calling, when you go to a party. That handsome decanter is an especially gracious way to say “Thank You” to your host and hostess…a way that will be remembered, because it shows you’ve thought about them enough to bring something out of the ordinary. It’s a compliment to your good taste.

“And when you’re pondering birthday and anniversary gifts…keep Mogen David in mind, it’s a good idea as a gift for those important days too.

       MOGEN DAVID (1950’s) 

“If it’s a boy – or girl – here’s a new twist to an old tradition! Pass out bottles of Mogen David to your friends. It lasts a lot longer, and certainly is more appreciated. It’s the very nicest way to celebrate that new heir or heiress.

“In your own home…always keep a few extra bottles of Mogen David in your refrigerator for those unexpected guests. Serve it often, serve it in many ways.

“Order Mogen David when you’re out at your favorite restaurant or cocktail lounge…see how much it adds to the pleasure of the occasion. Treat yourself to a memory.”

MORE FOLKS BUY MOGEN DAVID THAN ANY
OTHER WINE OF ITS KIND IN THE WORLD

That’s all for now folks. Hope you enjoyed something a little different.
Please remember to sign-up with your name and email so I can keep you informed of future postings.

Tim

VINTAGE FLEISCHMANN’S YEAST RECIPES

 It seems that early companies like Fleischmann’s and various baking powder companies were heads-and-shoulders above other manufacturers in publishing really neat recipe pamphlets (more appropriately here-advertising brochures). They were wonderfully colored and included a large selection of recipes and graphics.

 Fleischmann’s Recipes – 1916

 
Fleischmann’s Yeast – 1916

This is a wonderful, vintage recipe pamphlet from Fleischmann’s. Printed in 1916 this pamphlet measures 4.75” x 6.75” and contains 48 pages. Estimated value is $20-$25.

Valuable Suggestions on the use of Fleischmann’s Yeast

 This book contains reliable recipes for making, with FLEISCHMANN’S YEAST, all sorts of delicious and wholesome breads, rolls, raised cakes and sparkling drinks. Fleischmann’s Yeast is both pure and complete; not requiring the addition of either potatoes or scalded flour, and produces the most wholesome and nutritious, as well as the most economical bread.

Many housekeepers, especially young house keepers, seem to think that it requires a certain knack to bake, but, if a few 
simple rules are carefully followed, success will be certain. Every recipe herein given has been tried and found perfect.

Bread is the most wholesome and economical food. As stated by Dr. Wiley, “There’s more energy in a pound of bread than in a pound of meat.”

     THE YEAST

“Fleischmann’s Yeast is a plant which needs warmth, air and moisture for its growth, but it is killed by an excess of heat or cold. Anything too warm for the hand is too warm for the yeast, and anything which chills the yeast will stop its growth. For these reasons all liquids should be lukewarm and the flour also should
be warmed in cold weather.

 Fleischmann’s Yeast – 1916

“Additional yeast may be used in these recipes with advantage to the baked goods and a saving of time. Proportionately more yeast may be used in sweet doughs, as a large amount of sugar makes the dough dense and hard to raise.

“When possible, keep yeast in ice box, placing it where it will be dry as well as cold. Where ice is not obtainable and yeast cannot be secured fresh for each baking, it can be kept in good condition for a week or ten days by keeping in a cellar or other cool place. In order to keep an unused portion it should be rewrapped in the tinfoil.

“The yeast may discolor at times, but this does not in any way affect its quality. If it is firm it is in good condition, if too soft to handle it must not be used.

“Fleishmann’s Yeast as it is manufactured today, is not nearly so perishable as many people think and can be successfully used anywhere in the country as well as in the city.

“Your grocer always has on hand a fresh supply of Fleischmann’s Yeast.
   

THE VINTAGE ART OF BREAD-MAKING

I’ve compiled an in-depth vintage cookbook that includes numerous vintage recipes. It also includes all of the methods of bread making that assured early day cooks success in bread making. I’m sure you’ll enjoy it. In fact I’m so sure that I’m giving you a guarantee along with it. Click below for more information.

The Vintage Art of Bread: Recipes and Techniques

 
Well folks, that’s about all for today. Hope you enjoyed the posting. Be sure to sign up on my mailing list so I can keep you informed of future postings.

Tim Mack

BLUE RIBBON MALT EXTRACT – 1928 – Recipe Pamphlet

BLUE RIBBON MALT EXTRACT – 1928
Vintage Recipe Brochure

This is another wonderful vintage recipe brochure from my collection. It has some really nice graphics and great recipes. Brochure measures 5.25” x 7.75” and contains 33 pages. Estimated Value: $20-$25.

 
Blue Ribbon Malt Extract – 1928

TO THE HOUSEWIVES OF AMERICA

“The recipes selected for this edition of the Blue Ribbon Recipe Book were chosen from many hundreds which were submitted to me. Each recipe printed here has been thoroughly tried in our own Model Kitchen, and submitted to various Home Economics experts who pronounced the results perfect.

“Blue Ribbon Malt Extract is a valuable addition to the diet, and a delightful means of bringing new taste to everyday cooking. Its use in bread, for instance, will decrease the leavening time, and produce a larger, lighter loaf of better texture, deeper crust, and more appetizing appearance.

Blue Ribbon Malt Extract – 1928

“Bread and other goods baked with Blue Ribbon Malt Extract will also keep their freshness and tastiness much longer.

“Malt extract has long held an important place in the industrial preparation of food. Bakers and confectioners use it widely. Manufacturers of famous breakfast foods bring palatability to their products by flavoring with malt extract. For some food uses plain malt extract imparts the desired taste, for others the addition of the tang derived from fragrant hops is an advantage.

“Old time bakers and chefs knew the advantages of using malt and hops, but their methods entailed considerable work. Now, by the convenient use of Hop Flavored Blue Ribbon Malt Extract, the same fine results can be had, and the work is done away with, producing distinctive foods of agreeable superior flavor. Both Plain and Hop Flavored Blue Ribbon Malt Extract should be on hand for use as directed in the recipes.

“This Book contains a wide and delicious selection of foods and confections suitable for every meal of the day. Why not choose now some new, palatable treat for your next meal.”

Premier Malt Products Co.

MALT CREAM PIE

1 cup sugar                                                   2 tablespoons Blue
6 tablespoons flour                                          Ribbon Malt Extract
2 cups milk                                                       (plain)
2 egg yolks                                                    1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter

Scald the milk. Mix flour and sugar together, and add to milk. Cook until thickened. Add the butter and slightly beaten egg yolks. Cook one minute, or until thick. Add the lemon juice and Blue Ribbon Malt Extract. Pour into baked pastry shell. Cover with meringue. Bake until meringue is done at 325 degrees F.

Well folks, that’s it for today. Hope you enjoyed this article. Please be sure to use the form in the upper-right hand corner to submit you name and email address so I can keep in touch with you. Your email address will never be shared.

Tim Mack

WALTER BAKER and COMPANY – Part 2

 “More and more, better and better chocolate recipes,” is a cry which must be answered. So great a favorite among flavors is chocolate, that gifted cooks, famous chefs, and creators of confectionery are continually searching, continually thinking up new ways of presenting it to thousands of eager devotees.

Study the restaurant and tea room menus. Have you ever run across one on which the proverbial chocolate layer cake, or some other delectable chocolate dish was missing?

Question the boy behind the soda fountain in any town in the United States…he will tell you that six out of every ten sodas or sundaes or fountain drinks are chocolate-flavored. and who ever heard of a midnight spread in a girls’ school without a platter  of creamy fudge as the most important dish on the menu?

To satisfy this insatiable craving for chocolate, the choicest chocolate recipes have been sought out. In this book you will find jealousy guarded family recipes which have been handed down from mother to daughter in old American households.

 Walter Baker’s Chocolate Kitchens

In the Walter Baker Kitchen countless experiments have been made with chocolate and cocoa. The chocolate masterpieces of Continental chefs have been studied. New and fascinating flavor blends have been tried. With the richness of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate have been combined the refresing coolness of mint…the glistening sweetness of coconut…the tart delicacy of orange…and the mellowness of maple.

 Baker’s Chocolate – 1931

For these searchings and kitchen-testing have come priceless chocolate recipes…marvelous dishes which have been praised by the most critical food experts. And best of all, these dishes are not only wonderful to eat, but easy to make…dependable. Just follow the directions carefully and see how delightfully simple it is to turn out a triumph in chocolate!

For best results use the Walter Baker ingredient called for in each recipe. If cocoa is substututed for chocolate, 1/3 cup Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa should be used for every square of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate. In cake or cookie mixtures, add 1/2 tablespoon additional butter for every 1/3 cup cocoa.

The half-pound cake of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate is divided into eight squares of one ounce each. The one-quarter pound cake and the 1/5 pound cake are divided into eight sections. When the recipes call for “one square of chocolate” use two sections of these small cakes.

Certainly…with Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate and Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa doing active service on your pantry shelf…you may royally satisfy your family’s flourishing appetitie for chocolate.

A sample recipe from this cool brochure:

Brazilian Chocolate 

  2/3 cup Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate, cut in pieces                     
1 cup cold strong coffee  
Dash of salt
3 tablespoons sugar
3 cups milk

Place chocolate and coffee in upper part of double boiler over direct heat. Stir until chocolate is melted and blended. Add salt and sugar. Boil 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Place over hot water. Add milk gradually, stirring constantly. When hot, beat with rotary egg beater until light and frothy. Cool. Pour over cracked ice in tall glasses. Top with 1 tablespoon sweetened, whipped cream. Serves 6. The delicious blend of coffee and chocolate in this drink makes it an unusual and very popular refreshment beverage.

That’s all for now folks! Please be sure to leave me your name and email so that I can keep you informed of future postings.

Tim Mack

Cookbooks – The Perfect Internet Product?

Writing Cookbooks

I read an interesting article by Hazel Leong where she suggested that writing a cookbook, publishing it to the internet and selling it just might be the perfect internet product! She also goes into different money-making scenarios that you can use with your cookbook, including affilitate marketing programs. 

She went on to say that “putting together a cookbook is really little more than planning, getting organized, and then just doing it! But can you really make big money selling your own cookbook? The answer to that very important question is that you can if you can generate enough interest or attract enough attention. That is where the majority of your work will come in.”

All-in-all, an interesting read. I would have liked to see more information on how best to actually write and format the cookbook, but it is worth your time checking it out if you’ve ever had the urge to write a cookbook. Click on my Blogroll link to right to read the article in its entirety or use the link below:

 Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/the-perfect-internet-product-cookbook-121525.html

About the Author: Hazel Leong 
Profit Lance  has taken the internet marketing world by storm! See  profit lance reviews  here.

That’s all for now folks. Leave me your name and email address so I can keep you informed of new posts.

Tim Mack 

WALTER BAKER and COMPANY (Part 1)

One of the many pleasures that I find in collecting vintage recipe pamphlets is the archaic language used by the writers of the various companies. In describing their product they often give us a wonderful peak into a simpler time in our history. Today I’m sharing with you a pamphlet from the Walter Baker Company. The pamphlet was created in 1931. It measures 4.75” x 6.75” and contains 60 pages. Approximate value is $15-$20.

WALTER BAKER INTRODUCES CHOCOLATE AND COCOA TO AMERICA

“Since America was very young the name of Walter Baker has stood for the best in chocolate and cocoa. The first chocolate mill in America was built on the banks of the Neponset River in Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1780 it became the establishment of Walter Baker and company. Since that time, this chocolate business has grown steadily until today Walter Baker chocolate products are famous the world around.

“Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate is a choice blend of the world’s finest cocoa beans. In its manufacture, nothing is added or taken away. For generations this chocolate has been prized for its rich natural flavor and velvety smoothness. Truly an unexcelled ingredient for myriad chocolate dishes. And what product ever offered a more amazing range of wonderful food delights than chocolate!

“Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa is likewise made from the most carefully selected cocoa beans. This rare blend produces the ruddy brown color and the marvelous chocolate flavor you know and like so well. Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa is chocolate in its less concentrated and pulverized form and as such is most convenient for making beverages. Cocoa is also preferable to chocolate in recipes such as angel food and spongecakes which should not have any extra fat added.

“The nutritive value of Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa exceeds the standard set by the Government.”

THE ROMANCE OF “LA BELLE CHOCOLATIERE

“Her story is just another delightful version of Cinderella and Prince charming…He is Prince Ditrichstein, brilliant young Austrian nobleman…she is a waitress in a new Viennese chocolate shop – Babette Baldauf, daughter of an impoverished knight!

“One frosty afternoon in 1760, the dashing young hero commands his chaise to stop before this quaint chocolate shop, first of its kind in Vienna. He must discover for himself the merits of a rich new beverage…that romantic drink from the tropics which is the topic of conversation among all the young fashionables.

“He enters, seats himself at a table, orders “hot chocolate” and promptly discovers not only the glories of this mellow, fragrant drink but also the prettiest girl in all Vienna.

“Day after day, he returns for more chocolate and more demure glances. The bewildering enchantment grows and grows…until his daily cup of chocolate becomes the most important event in Prince Ditrichstein’s life. He completely forgets that a Prince may not look at a waitress…and the rest you’ve already guessed!

“As a betrothal gift, Ditrichstein engaged a talented Swiss artist, Jean Etienne Liotard, to paint his winsome beloved in the simple costume in which she first bewitched him. This portrait now hangs in the Dresden Museum…and its well-known replica graces every can of Walter Baker’s Breakfast Cocoa.”

There’s more to the Walter Baker Company story and I’ll continue on with it in the next posting. 

That’s all for now folks…be sure to add your name and email address to the above subscription form so I can keep you informed of new postings.

Tim Mack

NOSTALGIC COOKBOOKS

THE BLACK FAMILY REUNION COOKBOOK-1993

The other evening, after a fine home-cooked dinner, I poured myself a cup of coffee and pulled one of my favorite cookbooks from the shelf. Feeling full and mellow…and rather nostalgic…I started again to thumb through the pages of this great cookbook.

I wasn’t looking for recipes…I suppose that’s blasphemous for a cookbook writer to say, but rather I was in need of some good memories from a time past. A simpler time. A time to relax and not worry about the day’s bills and world problems. 

Well my friend, this book in my hands was just what I needed. Even the book’s subtitle tells me that it’s “Recipes and Food Memories”.

A couple paragraphs from the back cover tells of the origin of this book:

“The Black Family Reunion Celebrations, organized by the National Council of Negro Women and held in seven cities across America every summer, celebrate and preserve the values, traditions, and strengths of the African-American family. Inspired by these festivals, ‘The Black Family Reunion Cookbook’ contains more than 250 recipes from home kitchens across America, seasoned with warm memories and “homemade love.”

“Including personal reminiscences from celebrities such as Natalie Cole, Wilma Rudolph, Pattie LaBelle, and Spelman College President Johnetta Cole, this unique collection reflects the local, national, and international heritage of the Black community. It offers dishes for every occasion and every taste, from African-inspired  Mustard Greens with Peanut Sauce to down-home Family Famous Chicken and Dumplings, from a traditional gumbo to sophisticated Sweet Potato Smoked Turkey Bisque, and, in honor of the council’s founder, Mary McLeod Bethune, her own recipe forher celebrated Sweet Potato Pie.”

What I especially love about this cookbook are the personal sidebars written by its members. This wonderful quote is only one of many that I find so great:

“The Goodie“

“Every spoonful of those baked beans tasted so indescribably good that I closed my eyes to savor the flavor. Oh, but no clever phrase could capture the rapture that was mine as I let my tongue press against each bean; one-by-one, and extract the tastes of pungent garlic, scorched, diced onions, rich brown sugar and smoked, thick and meaty bacon. They blended on my palate like the smooth inseparable sound of the MJQ.

“Reluctantly, I drifted out of Modern Jazz Quartet trance to scheme with my sister about how we could repeat our pleasure before mother shooed us away like annoying house flies from her “company only” baked beans deluxe. It was that Saturday night that we learned what to look for in life.

“Edging her spoon along the baking dish, Janet whispered, “Here, Sonia, do you want some more of the goodie?”

“I answered with my traditional first child belligerence, “No, I want another serving. What’s the goodie anyhow?”

“Taste it”, she offered with patient coaxing.

“UHM! UHM!” Why would anyone ever want to eat the baked beans again if you could just have that rim of the blended flavors bordering the cooking vessel? 

“Needless to say, we trimmed that rim with spoons and fingers until we were caught. But that was only the beginning, because once we discovered “the goodie” we kept an eye or two open for it in kitchens everywhere. We found it in the syrup-soaked, flaky crust tucked in the corner of cobbler pans. We found it in the crusty, cheesy, buttered corners of pans hold macaroni and cheese. We found it where the grill takes over when the Bar-B-Que sauce stops. We found it around the edges of legs of lamb bathed with garlic, rosemary, lemon slices and lamb flavor.

“Here are some helpful hints for goodie seekers. Look at “marginal stuff”…just on the edge of being no good…that’s where you’ll really find “the goodie”.

Sonia Walker

I hope that the authors and publishers of this fantastic book will look favorable upon me for this review of their copyrighted material. It’s a great book and one that belongs in everyone’s collection. 

This is a 212- page, “Fireside” book, published by Simon & Schuster in 1993. 

That’s all for now folks…be sure to sign-up with your name and email so I can keep in touch with you.

Tim

2100 NEEDED INVENTIONS: Ideas for You

2100 NEEDED INVENTIONS

Ideas for You

This is a fun book that I recently purchased for $1.25 at an antique mall in Tacoma, Washington. Written by Raymond F. Yates in 1942 with a Fifth Printing in 1946 by Wilfred Funk, Inc (Publisher) of New York.

  Dust jacket leaf reads:

  “You don’t have to be a genius to be an
  inventor. Look at the common paper clip,
  the safety razor, the rubber pencil tip, and
  the clamped fruit-jar top, each of which paid
  a fortune to its inventor, and you will
  immediately feel – quite correctly! – that you
  could have invented them if you had had the
  idea.

  “Today the inventor has greater
  opportunities than at any time in history. The
world is calling for new inventions and rapidly making many of our present methods of doing things obsolete. Literally thousands of machines and devices we have been using will have to be invented all over again. 

“Many inventors need “a place to start.” They need practical suggestions on what to invent – things the public is eager to pay for – to keep them from wasting time on freakish or impractical inventions that nobody wants.”

Remember that these ideas are from 66 years ago but here are some of Raymond F. Yates’ kitchen and food suggestions:

1.  Removing hot toast from a still hotter is a very awkward process the way toasters are constructed at the present time. If there was some little mechanical attachment that would release the toast with no danger of burning the fingers, it would be sure to attract housewives who have learned to handle this device gingerly at the breakfast table.

2.  A waffle iron that will lift out waffles when they are done, delivering them, perhaps, like the “pop-up” bread toasters.

3.  A waffle iron that would not overflow would find its way into several million American home.

4.  A process for canning green vegetables whereby the natural green color of the food is retained through the canning process and subsequent storage by a method which prevents the destruction of the chlorophyll, upon which the natural green color is dependent.

5.  A good liquid or powdered coffee extract which, upon dilution, would yield a beverage with taste and aroma fully equal to that of freshly and correctly brewed coffee. (Has Starbuck’s found the secret?)

6.  In the field of flour milling, a perfection of processes and methods whereby certain vitamins may be added or retained in white flour, without decreasing its storage qualities.

7.  A drying processing method to produce whole dry milk, including the butterfat, in such form that the butterfat will not become rancid during reasonable length of storage.

8.  A means of raising the melting point of chocolate so as to lengthen the shelf life of chocolate-coated candies. The production of chocolate goods is almost completely halted by the hot, humid climatic conditions of the summer months.
(Yeah! for M&M’s)

9.  Because most manufactured cookies are alkaline and are subjected to rapid baking at high temperatures, delicate flavors are not retained well in the finished goods. If a fixative, or process for retaining delicate flavors in manufactured cookies could be developed, it would be very valuable to the biscuit and cracker industry.

10. There are several hundred million bushels of soft winter wheat produced in this country each year, but with the advent of high-speed dough mixing machinery, this wheat is not adaptable to bread making. We need a process or material which could be added to soft wheat flour that would activate the protein so that soft wheat flour could be put through modern bakery equipment. With this, a large agricultural area, particularly that lying east of the Mississippi River, would be helped materially. Furthermore, it would improve the quality of the loaf of bread. 

Hope you enjoyed these historic ideas. Watch for Part 2 where I’ll give another ten, 66-year old ideas that just might help make you a million.

Land O’ Lakes 1935           Old Coffee Postcard      Buttericks Cook 
                                                                                             Book 1924

That’s all for now folks! Be sure to leave me your name and email so I can keep you informed when I post a new blog.

Tim Mack

OSWEGO STARCH – T. Kingsford & Son

OSWEGO STARCH – T. Kingsford & Son – 1876
Vintage Recipe Pamphlet

 Oswego Starch-1876

Without a doubt, my oldest and most ‘prized’ vintage recipe pamphlet is this Oswego Starch brochure from the Oswego Starch Factory. I purchased this brochure in early 2003 for $12.00 and today estimated value is $45.00. The brochure measures 3.5″ x 5.5″ and contains 16 pages.

Originally established as a factory for manufacturing “pure and silver gloss starch for the laundry”, T. Kingsford & Son soon found a method for developing their starch into a product for culinary use as well.

Quoting from the brochure: “This is one of the few productions so perfect as to admit of no improvement. The manufacture of this delicate article from Indian Corn was the sole invention of Mr. Kingsford more than thirty years ago, during which period it has received from time to time all the improvements which skill and science could furnish, and has now been brought to the highest attainable quality”. 

AS AN ARTICLE OF FOOD: Quoting further, “The experiment which first gave to the world this Laundry Starch made from Indian Corn, and the skill which perfected it, have been productive of still more notable success in furnishing this new article of food, which is adapted alike to the taste of the epicure and the wants of the invalid.”

 (back cover)

SAMPLE RECIPES FROM THE BROCHURE:

Oswego Pudding 

One quart of milk, three tablespoonfuls of corn starch, four eggs. Beat the yolks, and mix them with a little of the milk and flour; sweeten and flavor with vanilla. Scald the milk, and add the other ingredients, boil three minutes; pour into a dish, and set away to cool. Beat the whites with four teaspoonfuls of sugar. Cover the pudding with a layer of currant jelly, and spread the beaten whites over the whole.

Saratoga Pudding

Mix four tablespoonfuls of corn starch i one quart of cold milk. Stir until it boils. When cool, stir in two tablespoons white sugar, six eggs, whites and yolks beaten separately. Put in a large pudding-dish, place in a pan of water, bake one and a half hours.

Sauce: One cup sugar, half cup butter, the yolks of two eggs, one glass wine. Rub sugar and butter to a cream, add eggs and half the wine. Put the dish in boiling water, stir ten minutes, add the rest of the wine, and serve.

That’s all for now folks. Hope you’re enjoying these posts. Be sure to sign in above so I can keep you informed of future postings to this blog.

Tim Mack

LILACS and BARBECUE

LILACS and BARBECUE…Life Just Doesn’t Get Any Better!

With the first few 70 degree days of the year the itch begins. Slowly at first; then the pace increases. Religiously I pull out some old barbecue cookbooks and start dreaming of the smoke pouring from my Weber Grill.

Here are a few of my favorite old, collectible barbecue magazines and soft-bound cookbooks.

Big Boy is a grill manufacturer. This spiral-bound book has a semi-rigid cover and contains 64 pages. I paid $1.30 for it quite a few years ago; today I figure it to be worth $7-$8.
Big Boy Barbecue-1960

I’m a great lover of barbecue. In fact, the first cookbook that I ever wrote was a huge collection of barbecue recipes, graphics and odd stories. Here’s an example of what I mean by ‘odd stories’. I have a large collection of barbecue cookbooks and national magazines…both new and vintage editions. I’ll be sharing some of these with you in the near future since barbecue season is fast closing-in on us.

The scent of lilacs bring back a time of long ago – a time of childhood adventure and a time of family. Along with family come the feelings of security, safety, innocence and discovery.

Nick Manero’s Cook-Out
Barbecue Book-1961

 Barbecues represent all that is good in this world. It represents togetherness and the coming together of community; for is impossible to have a true barbecue when you’re all alone.

Barbecues symbolize summertime, even if it’s the middle of winter and snow is still falling. It symbolizes God’s gift of abundance, even if it is simply the grilling of a hamburger. Good food and good drink remind us that life is good. 

 It isn’t a coincidence that lilacs bloom only in the summertime and you never find lilacs displayed at a funeral. Lilacs and barbecue represent a rebirth of sorts.

 The sun is shining and the weather is warm – we’ve survived another cold winter. Lilacs and barbecue remind us of summertime – the smell of charcoal; drinking a cold beer or iced teas with the background sound of a baseball game on the radio. A summertime barbecue is games, happy children, good conversation with friends, music, sunshine and smells, all in the great outdoors.

I don’t remember ever going to a ‘bad’ barbecue. Even if the food was over-cooked or the sunshine was replaced with rain – there are just too many elements of ‘good’ remaining to be anything other than wonderful.

  Barbecue-1963

That’s all for now folks – it’s time to go and get my Weber Grill hosed-off and ready to fire it up!

Until the next time,
Tim Mack

THE VINTAGE ART OF BREAD-MAKING

THE VINTAGE ART OF BREAD-MAKING: Recipes and Techniques

Learn from the masters how to make great homemade bread
just like grandma’s!

GRANDMA’S BREAD: For those of you who can remember the taste and aroma of grandma’s bread, I need say no more. However, for those of you that grew up knowing only ’store-bought’ bread, you have my sympathy. The good old days of ‘everyday homemade bread’ are long gone, but you have in your hands a solution to recreate those memories for you family. Start a new tradition at home for your family today.

Get it today! 

 STEP-BY-STEP DIRECTIONS: Granted, not all things old are good. Take today’s computers, kitchen appliances and ingredients, for example. These things are much better than those of the olden days. But some things, like homemade bread, just cannot be improved upon. It was good back then and it can be just as good today…if you follow the enclosed step-by-step recipes and instructions in “THE VINTAGE ART OF BREAD-MAKING”.

BREAD-MAKING IS AN ART! Bread-making is an art that few of us moder-day cooks can learn without a lot of practice. But practice is of little value if you’re practicing the wrong methods. I’ve seen modern recipes that give a good list of ingredients for making bread; but they often fail to describe precisely the following: 

THE HOW-TO’s of BREAD-MAKING:

• How to knead the bread.
• What temperature is best for raising bread?
• How long should I raise the bread? Both times(?)
• What’s the best yeast to use? The best flour?
• How long should I bake the bread? At what temperature?
• How to know when the bread is done?
• How to store your bread.
• How to serve your bread for maximum flavor.

IN-DEPTH MANUAL: You’ll learn all of this and much more in this 40-page, in-depth manual. The manual has been compiled from an assortment of wonderful, old, long out-of-print cookbooks dating as far back as the early 1900’s.

LEARN FROM THE MASTER CHEF’S: Learn from the master chefs and cookbook writers of long ago when making a good loaf of bread was a requisite for a ‘good home-maker’. Every word is exactly as the authors penned it nearly 100 years ago. Their language is as unique as their techniques. In all cases I give full credit to these wonderful writers and take only credit for the somewhat unusual compilation of their secrets.

READ AND LEARN: Read and learn recipes and techniques from master bakers like the following:

•  Janet Hill McKenzie
• August Gay
• Mrs. Francis Carruthers
• Isabel Ely Lord
• Hugo Ziemann
• Mrs. F.L. Gillette
• Maude C. Cooke
• Mrs. Frederick Sidney Giger
• Oscar Tschirky
• Mrs. Agnes Marshall
• Annie R. Gregory

GRAPHICS: No cookbook from the early 1900’s would be complete without some wonderful photos and graphics. I’ve included some of these to compliment the manual.

This is an PDF ebook and ready for instant download…get it now!

 
THE VINTAGE ART OF BREAD-MAKING

That’s all for now folks! Be sure you send me your name and email so I can keep you posted whenever I write some more stuff.

Tim Mack

HOOD’S HIGH STREET COOKBOOK – 1885

THE HIGH STREET COOK BOOK – 1885

The pamphlet measures 4½” by 7″. It contains 32 pages. Estimated value is $30.00 – $35.00.

 Hood’s High-Street Cook Book – 1885  

The pamphlet has kind of a cute introduction…

“The High-Street Cook Book” was originally prepared and published by the ladies of High-Street Congregational Church, Lowell, Mass., for the purpose of being sold at their Annual Fair. The receipts were contributed by the ladies themselves, some of whom have quite a local reputation as excellent cooks and housekeepers, and were such as they had tried and found valuable in their own experience.

“Thus the book possessed the great advantage of being thoroughly practical, and it is not surprising that it was a great success. The edition published for the fair was soon disposed of, and the demand continued so great that it was thought advisable to have the book republished. This edition, published by the proprietors of Hood’s Sarsaparilla, is the result.

 Hood’s High-Street Cook Book – 1885  

“And believing that the circulation of so excellent a book should not be limited, we have decided that our edition shall be so large that every housekeeper in the country who desires it may have a copy. It may be obtained free of your druggist, or by sending a two-cent stamp to the publishers, C. I. HOOD & CO., Lowell, Mass.

“But the value of this edition of the High-Street Cook Book is not confined to the receipts and hints for cooking herein contained. The information that is given concerning the curative value of, and cures effected by, Hood’s Sarsaparilla, is of sufficient importance to deserve careful reading and considerate attention.

“Only advertising! you say. Very true. But as only advertising, we believe it will prove a blessing to many a poor sufferer, who will learn from it how others have been benefited and how he may be cured. Honest statements have a right to everybody’s attention.

“And before you prepare to skip lightly over the advertising, we wish to impress upon your mind the fact that every statement we make, every testimonial we use, will stand the closest investigation, and even the most remarkable cures are confirmed by conclusive evidence. We believe Hood’s Sarsaparilla is doing a vast amount of good, and we republish this book in the confident belief that it will help on the good work of advancing the interests of a thoroughly honest and reliable medicine.”

“How About a Sample Recipe?…..”

 Cecils

Mince fine one cup of rare roast beef, add one-fourth cup of dry bread-crumbs, one-fourth of a small onion (grated), one teaspoonful of chopped parsley, one-fourth teaspoonful of pepper, one teaspoonful of salt, stir in a little good stock and one egg (beaten). The mixture should be as soft as you can handle it. Heat all together, and when it cools mould in the bowl of a spoon into egg-shaped balls, roll in fine crumbs, and fry a light brown, in hot lard. Make a gravy of one cup of stock thickened with browned flour, and flavor with one teaspoonful of Halford Sauce, and pour over the Cecils. Take Hood’s Sarsaparilla.

 That’s about all for this time folks. Be sure to sign-up below so I can keep you informed of future posts.

Until Next time,
Tim Mack

COOKBOOK COLLECTORS

SHOPPING FOR VINTAGE COOKBOOKS

I’m often asked by my readers “what’s the best place to find vintage cookbooks or recipe pamphlets”. Wow, that’s hard to answer since I don’t find them at any one place. I do admit to loving antique stores, thrift stores, yard sales and old bookstores. However, I’m finding it more and more difficult to find real ‘vintage’ cookbooks at thrift stores. They seem to have discovered that there’s more profit in selling their old books on the internet, so while you can find very good prices on newer cookbooks, they’re not the best place to find vintage books.

Antique stores are still good hunting grounds, but they too have become more sophisticated in their pricing since they’ve discovered an increased demand for these products.

Old bookstores are super-fun places to spend a few hours every several months. While you may pay more for true ‘vintage’ books, I rarely enter a store that I don’t end up with several cool ‘finds’.

Yard sales are more for newer cookbooks, but again, you just never know what you’re going to find. Estate sales are great for old books, especially if you can get there before the antique dealers arrive.

Recently I was visiting with a very interesting lady (her deceased husband was the person who filmed the famous pictures of Bigfoot). Anyway, she was telling me of a yard sale she was at and spotted an old cookbook. She recognized it as a book similar to one her mother had when she was a child. Picking it up and thumbing through it, she was shocked to find that the hand writing in the book was her mothers. It was her mother’s original book! Just how it ever ended-up at this particular yard sale was unknown, but you just never know where a real treasure will show up.

VINTAGE COOKING MAGAZINES

In a recent trip to the eastern Washington town of Yakima I made my regular rounds of bookstores and thrift stores. I found some great deals on newer cookbooks at several thrift stores and yard sales, but by far, the greatest finds were at true ‘vintage’ bookstores.

One such find was a stack of ten “Journal of Home Economics” dating to the mid-twenties for 75 cents each.

While these journals don’t have many recipes, they are a great resource for cooking history and contain a ton of really neat advertising. 

  Several years ago I ran across a handful of “American Cookery” magazines in an old bookstore in Tacoma, Washington. I don’t recall how little I paid for them, but I do remember the owner being quite happy to be rid of them. These magazines are my favorites. They include some great articles, a ton of recipes, book reviews, and super advertising.

Well folks, that’s about it for today. We’ll talk soon…
Tim Mack

PS: Be sure to enter your name and email address below so I can keep you informed of my new posts.

NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY

UNEEDA BISCUIT

In one of my earlier postings, I showed you one of my favorite recipe pamphlets from the National Biscuit Company. I’ve received many comments from my readers about this pamphlet, so here’s a bit more information.

I recently ran across a wonderful book, The Public Accepts: Stories Behind Famous Trade-Marks, Names and Slogans, by I. E. Lambert, Published by The University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque, NM, 1941. This is a fascinating read and I advise you to keep your eyes open for a copy of your own.

 UNEEDA BISCUIT

The National Biscuit Company was organized in February, 1898. At that time crackers were sold in cracker barrels. As a rostrum for the village statesmen the cracker barrel was not a bad idea, but it was a definite evil for the cracker industry. The shopping housewife, upon her return home, often opened her brown paper bag to find that she had purchased broken, stale, and dirty crackers.

Mr. Adolphus W. Green, chairman of the Board of the National Biscuit Company, conveived the idea of selling a fresh and clean soda cracker in a small, attractive package and giving the cracker a distinctive name as a remedy for the menace of the cracker barrel.

In August, 1898, a suggested list of possible names for the new product was submitted, such as “Hava Cracker,” “Usa Cracker,” “Taka Cracker,” etc. The name “Uneeda” was also on this list, and finally, after some hesitation, it was adopted. The word “Uneeda” was probably the first coined combination of words which are so frequently used today for trade names.

In January, 1899, preparations were complete. One morning the people of Chicago and other Illinois cities woke to discover in the newspapers two mysterious words printed in bold type: “UNEEDA BISCUIT.” This suggestive combination of letters aroused the curiosity of the purchasing public and the venture was a succcess almost overnight.

A few months later, Mr. Joseph J. Geisinger, seeking to illustrate the moisture-proof properties of the new package, dressed his young nephew, Gordon Stille, in boots, sou’wester, and slicker, put a package of “Uneeda Biscuit” under his arm, and took him to the photographer. When Mr. Green saw the result he was delighted. Thus the “Uneeda Boy” was added to the gallery of world famous trade-mark figures.

 Uneeda Biscuit, 1921

That’s All for Now Folks,
Be sure that you leave me your email on the form to the right so we can keep in touch.

Tim Mack

PILLSBURY FLOUR MILLS

The story of the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company is one of the most interesting of modern business romances. It had its modest beginnings in 1869, only two years of the granting of the Minneapolis city charter. The years that followed have been years of continued steady growth. The mills have grown in capacity from 150 barrels of flour daily to 42,000 at the present time. An enormous output of Pancake Flour, Health Bran, Farina and Corn Products has also been developed.

However, the story of a concern can not be adequately told without glancing at the personalities responsible for its organization and later development. In 1869, Mr. Chas. A. Pillsbury wended his way from New England to the western frontier, to what was then the village of St. Anthony, located at the falls of the same name. He took this step, which later was to mark the beginning of a singularly successful career, at the suggestion of his uncle, the Honorable John S. Pillsbury, his object being to engage in flour manufacturing. A start was made with the purchase of a small 150 barrel mill. At this time also, the Pillsbury’s Best brand was first used, the same brand that is still the world’s standard for goodness and purity in flour after a period of sixty years.   

Today the Pillsbury Flour Mills Company operates eight mammoth mills producing approximately 42,000 barrels of flour daily, which is shipped to all quarters of the globe. They are clean, modern, up-to-date mills, equipped with every device of the most advanced type for flour production.

The company has branch offices located throughout the entire United States and many agents abroad. Such remarkable growth from such a small beginning is indicative of the uniform high quality of Pillsbury’s Best Flour, and a sales policy based on fair dealing and integrity. The conservatism typical of its New England beginnings is the pervading spirit of the institution today.

 

Tim Mack

LAND O’LAKES CREAMERIES

Recipes from the Land O’Lakes

I sure do enjoy sharing my cookbook and recipe pamphlet collection with my readers. It’s always nice to find a pamphlet that is something more than just ‘a piece of paper’ to the manufacturer. Look at the colors in this this wonderful pamphet from Land O’Lakes Creameries, dated 1935.

This pamphlet is in excellent condition which tells me that the original customer appreciated and kept it in a clean and safe place. Now to me,
that is good advertising. Put out an attractive piece of advertising that the owner/customer will cherish. Display your company’s name proudly and prominately so that 75 years later, folks are still talking about it. Make your advertising a collector’s item. I have dozens of unique and attractive pieces of advertising in my collection dated 2000 and beyond. They all show the company owner’s pride in his company and products.

Even the cover material and paper pages are of a quality stock. Look at the picture below. Remember when several companies produced cheese spread in the collectible glasses like these?

Look at another example from this super pamphlet:

Look at the colorful packaging! Tell me the owner didn’t take pride in his products. Here’s just one recipe from this pamphlet. The author isn’t just talking about butter and eggs…he’s talking about Land O’Lakes butter and eggs.

Rich Butter Cookies

2 cups Land O’Lakes butter
2 1/4 cups sugar
4 Land O’Lake eggs
4 cups sifted all purpose flour

Cream butter, add sugar and cream well. Then add 1 egg at a time, beating well after each addition. Lastly add flour and mix well. Drop from a teaspoon onto baking sheets. Bake in very hot oven 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Makes about 128 cookies. The dough may be divided into several parts, with nuts added to one part, spices to another, thus making different cookies.

This highly collectible pamphlet measures 6 1/4″ x 9 3/8″ and contains
48 pages. Estimated value is $25-$35. 

That’s all for now folks…until next time,

Tim

MAGIC YEAST

MAGIC YEAST

A friend of mine found this magnificient brochure in 2003 while traveling through Temecula, California. She was good enough to purchase it for me for $9.00. The brochure is in excellent condition; and as I’ve mentioned before, gains value by using old-fashioned pictures of children or women. Today I place the value of $30-$35 on the brochure. It measures 3″ x 6″; contains 14 pages, and is hinged at the top. It dates from somewhere around 1915. Published by the Northwestern Yeast Company of Chicago.

 
Sample Recipe:

BREAD STICKS

Materials:

2 cups scalded milk         4 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup butter                 1 teaspoon salt
whites of 3 eggs              7 1/2 cups sifted flour
1 cake Magic Yeast dissolved in 1 cupful lukewarm water

Way of preparing:

Mix the milk, sugar, butter and salt. When lukewarm add
the flour, Magic Yeast and whites of eggs well beaten.
Knead well. Let rise and then shape in long, thin strips,
about 8″ long and 1/2″ thick, keeping them of an equal
thickness. Let rise again, then bake. Have your oven very
brisk and reduce heat at the end of five minutes. The sticks
should be very crisp and dry.

Thank you to those many folks who have subscribed to my blog in the past month. Please accept my apologies for not getting back to you nor posting more frequently. The day after Thanksgiving I discovered that I had colon cancer and have been struggling with surgery and many, many doctor’s appointments. Thankfully, I appear to be cancer-free today and am regaining my strength and energy. Please, please, please do yourself – and your family – a favor and if you’re of the susceptiple age or family tendency get yourself checked regularly. I missed one year of getting a colonoscopy because I didn’t have insurance and felt that I couldn’t affort the procedure.

That’s all for now,
Tim

MERRY VINTAGE CHRISTMAS

A VERY MERRY VINTAGE CHRISTMAS TO YOU!

A Christmas Greeting to you from Tim and a vintage page from my favorite vintage cook book. IDEAL COOK BOOK by Annie R. Gregory, 1902.

Tim

Stokely-Van Camp, Inc.

STOKELY-VAN CAMP BEANS – 1978

Here’s another wonderful example of “art” in recipe pamphlet advertising. One of the oldest, and most popular, canned pork and bean packagers is Stokely-Van Camp, Inc. The company is located in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Here is a colorful cover from one piece of their advertising; dated 1978. I purchased this pamphlet in 2003 for $2.00. Today I place it’s value at $12-15. It measures 5 1/2″ x 8 1/2″ and contains 17 pages and 19 recipes featuring their products.

  MOM’S BAKED BEANS

1 Tablespoon chopped onion
1 Tablespoon butter or margarine
1 can (1 lb. 5 oz.) Van Camp’s Pork and Beans
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 Tablespoons Stokely’s Finest Tomato Catsup

Saute onion in butter until tender. Combine onion with remaining ingredients in a greased 1 1/2 quart casserole. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 1 hour 15 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

That’s all for now folks; don’t forget to drop me an email if you want to get on my mailing list.

Tim

ROYAL GELATIN

ROYAL GELATIN – 1929 

There’s nothing I like better in a recipe pamphlet than the graphics (outside of the price of course – in 2004 this pamphlet cost me $1.50 on eBay, and that included postage). Look at the various graphic presentations that this neat little pamphlet used.

 Inside there are several black and white renderings: 

 You’ll also find several full color images that take on almost a water-color effect:

Then, of course, it’s important that you find some unique recipes in each of these recipe pamphlets:

 Royal Strawberry Pie 

2 packages Royal Raspberry Gelatin
2 cups boiling water
2 cups cold water
Pastry
Whipped Cream

Make a pastry shell and bake. Put gelatin
in bowl. Add boiling water and stir until
dissolved. Add cold water. When thick and
syrupy, pour into baked pastry shell and
chill. Cover thickly with sweetened whipped
cream at serving time. Makes one 9” pie.
 

This neat little recipe pamphlet measures 3 3/4” x 4 7/8” and contains 14 pages. Copyright is 1929 Royal Baking Powder Co. Estimated value is $15.00.

That’s all for now folks, hope you enjoyed. Don’t forget to drop me an email if you’d like to be notified when I post another blog. Also, I do love your comments.

Tim Mack

COLLECTING RECIPE PAMPHLETS

WHAT IS IT THAT MAKES COLLECTING RECIPE PAMPHLETS SO ATTRACTIVE?

I started collecting recipe pamphlets back in the 1970’s while employed as a wholesale beer distributor. It seems that liquor companies had long depended on the free distribution of colorful liquor pamphlets giving their customers new and exciting ways to use their product. 

I found them really neat and attractive so every time I came across a new one I spirited it away into a box. During the 1980’s I owned a bar and restaurant and often times beer and liquor salesman would set up table tents and recipe pamphlets touting their product. Of course, a handful of them would end up in my box.

But it wasn’t until the mid 1990’s when I inherited a box of my mother’s recipes and recipe pamphlets and became aware of the dates that really got me going. Some were old, old, old and I was hooked.

About this time I attended a large antique and collectible show in Portland, Oregon. As the show was shutting down I made my last minute swoop through the hall. Sitting in a corner of one booth was a box the size of a liquor box with a hand-written price sign of $1.00. Inside were hundreds of recipe pamphlets. From that time I was an avid collector.

 THE BEAUTY OF COLLECTING RECIPE PAMPHLETS

What makes collecting recipe pamphlets so appealing? 

1. They’re relatively inexpensive
2. They lay flat and are easy to store
3. They’re easy to catalogue
4. They provide great information
   1. About the company’s history
   2. Contain wonderful recipes
5. They’re colorful and contain great graphics
6. They’re historical and just plain fun

There’s a lot of reasons to collect recipe pamphlets. Sure, cookbooks are good too and I have hundreds of them as well. But let me tell you, the day that I have to move from my home to a smaller place, I’ll be darned glad that I don’t have to move any more heavy books.

Here’s a great example of why I love recipe pamphlets. I picked this up awhile back from an antique store and it cost me $1.08 with tax. I love it!

It’s one sheet of paper (10″ x 6.75″) folded half. It’s not dated but I’d guess that it’s from the early 1950’s. There is no historical information but it does contain 12 recipes. Estimated value is $12-$15.

Send me your questions regarding old cookbooks or recipe pamphlets and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Until Next time,
Tim

VINTAGE H.J. HEINZ COMPANY (cont.)

HEINZ BOOK OF SALADS

 H.J. HEINZ CO., 1925

COLORS AND GRAPHICS: Continuing on with the earlier topic concerning the beauty of some vintage recipe pamphlets, I want to share the back cover of the below posting.

CONTENT:

WHAT TO SERVE WITH SALAD

• Crackers: Crackers appropriate to serve with salads can be bought in considerable variety at any good grocery store. Heat before serving so that they will be fresh and crisp.

Toasted Crackers: One of the simplest accompaniments to the salad course. Use saltines or any thin, unsweetened wafer; spread with butter and sprinkle with paprika. Lay on a shallow pan and place in a hot oven until crisp and slightly browned.

Bread Sticks and Ring: Cut several slices of bread about one-half inch thick, remove the crust, and cut into strips one-half inch wide. With a round jumble or doughnut cutter cut rings from six other slices of bread. Fry sticks and rings in deep fat or brown them in a pan with a little butter in a hot oven. Put one or two sticks through each ring before serving.

• Cheese Straws: Roll a little grated cheese into some pastry dough (if you have some left over from a pie so much the better). Cut into strips with a sharp knife or pastry wheel. Bake in a very hot oven (500 F).

Cheese Biscuits: To the flour and other dry ingredients of a plain baking powder biscuit mixture add some grated cheese. Add enough liquid to make a soft dough, roll lightly and cut with a tiny biscuit cutter. Bake in a quick oven (450 F) and serve hot.

Finger Rolls: Bread dough, after the first rising, may be shaped into tiny rolls about as thick around as a lead pencil, and as long as a finger. Let rise again and bake in a quick oven (400-425 F). In some towns and cities very delicious finger rolls can be bought at the bakery.

• Sandwiches: To serve with salads for afternoon parties or evening receptions dainty bread and butter sandwiches are always appropriate.

Cheeses: Cheese is one of the best accompaniments to salad because of its dietary value. It is right in the elements salads lack and therefore when the two foods are served together they make an almost complete meal.

Rather sharp, tasty cheeses are the most suitable, Roquefort heading the list in popularity. Snappy and Pimiento cream cheese come next. The ordinary store or American Club is well like, especially when grated, highly seasoned, and made into cheese balls to serve on the side of the salad plate. Or it may be sprinkled over crackers to be browned in a hot oven.

The less common varieties such as Pineapple, Edam, Gruyere, Gorgonzola and Port de Salut are, for the most part, imported. Served with crisp crackers they are “just right” with the dinner salad.

Cheese should be passed to each person after the salad is served except when it is made into balls and placed on the individual salad plates. As crackers usually accompany cheese a special serving plate, which has a place for both crackers and cheese, is frequently used.

(from “HEINZ Book of Salads”, HJ Heinz Co., Pittsburgh, USA, 1925)

PAMPHLET DESCRIPTION: Pamphlet measures 4.5″ x 7″ and contains 90 pages. Approximate Value is $25-$30.

That’s all for now folks,
Tim

PS: Drop me an email from the contact form and get on my mailing list. I’ve got some neat freebies coming up especially for my subscribers.

VINTAGE H.J. HEINZ COMPANY

Graphics and Coloring: Vintage Recipe Pamphlets

 Heinz Book of Salads, 1925

In browsing antique stores for recipe pamphlets, I don’t always search for the most valuable item that I can find at the best price. I like to buy what appeals to my eye, whether it be rare or common. This pamphlet from Heinz (1925) is one of my favorites. Notice the great graphics and coloring. It’s attractive and very collectible. It also contains a ton of recipes; but even if there were no recipes and only the cover existed, I would likely purchase it.

Keep this in mind while searching for your treasures. If you like it…buy it! Even if there isn’t a great value today, who knows where it will be in the future. I guarantee that if you build your collection with this attitude, you’re going to have a collection that you’ll be proud to show off to your friends.

This particular pamphlet “Heinz Book of Salads” measures 4.5″ by 7″ and contains 90 pages of mouth-watering salad recipes. Estimated value is $25-$30.

That’s it for now folks,
Tim

PS: Remember, if you like my blog, drop me an email and I’ll keep you informed of current posts and freebies.

NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY

NATIONAL BISCUIT COMPANY

Both vintage cookbooks and recipe brochures found that the usage of children’s pictures and images contributed greatly to their popularity. One of my favorite such brochures is this one from the National Biscuit Company, dated 1921.

From the Introduction on the Brochure... 

“The National Biscuit Company in introducing the package idea blazed a trail which thousands have followed. This contribution, in addition to the bringing to bear of scientific ideas to baking, the invention of marvelous machinery and the perfection of a wonderful system of distribution, revolutionized the baking industry and rendered obsolete centuries-old baking customs and methods.

“The products of the National Biscuit Company come to you fresh and crisp from splendid bakeries where they are made from raw material of the finest quality by methods in which care and cleanliness are watch-words. No matter where you buy them you are assured of the best in biscuit.

“National Biscuit Company product lend themselves to many uses, either alone or in combination. The pages that follow contain practical recipes by Lilian Dynevor Rice suggesting many such combinations—delicious, novel, economical. These recipes include but a few of the hundreds of National Biscuit Company products. Ask your grocer about the many varieties he can supply you.”

National Biscuit Company

Copyright, National Biscuit Company, 1921

 This is just one of the delightful recipes in the recipe pamphlet featuring one of many National Biscuit products. 

105. Barnum’s Animal Birthday Cake

One box of Barnum’s Animals will decorate a large cake for a child’s birthday. Dip half the animals in melted chocolate, laying them on waxed paper to dry. Alternate white an chocolate animals around base of cake while he icing is soft enough to permit them to be pressed into it. Around top make a ring of small sized stick candy, using many colors, and use these as supports to standing animals. The birthday candles can go inside the candy fence, but many mothers use instead of the rather dangerous tapers larger sticks of candy. When the cake is cut an animal and a stick of the smaller candy goes to each child with its piece of cake.

This brochure from National Biscuit Company – 1921 – measures 3.5″ x 6″ and contains approximately 46 pages. Estimated value is $30-$35.

That’s all for now folks.

Until next time,

Tim

VINTAGE COOKBOOK COLLECTING

Vintage Cookbook Collecting
October 10, 2008

Welcome to my new blog. Cookbooks, both old and new, have been my passion for many years. I hope you find something here that interests you.

In upcoming issues we’ll be looking at cookbooks in general, along with a special focus on vintage cookbooks. Here’s just a few of the topics we’ll be touching upon:

* Vintage cookbooks
* Vintage Recipes
* Elements of a good cookbook
* Vintage cookbook authors
* Neat vintage graphics
* Vintage cooking techniques
* How to write a cookbook
* Vintage recipe/advertising pamphlets
* Cookbook collecting
* Cookbook values
* Companies behind advertising pamphlets
* Vintage recipes for today
* Cookbook reviews
* And much, much, more!

I have some good ideas of what I’d like to cover in this – what I hope you’ll find – informative and entertaining blog, but I’m certainly open to new ideas and directions. I look forward to your input and feedback. Heck, who knows, maybe together we can create our own best-selling cookbook!

I’ll also be looking at other food-related blogs, websites, forums, newsletters, and cookbooks and share with you what I learn from them.

Until next time,

Tim