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

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.

 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.

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

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