My mother-in-law's cookbooks

As part of moving my mother-in-law from a two bedroom apartment in Lombard to a one bedroom in Oak Park, we boxed up all her books and donated them to the Brown Elephant in Oak Park. I mention this here because they included six, count em' six, U-Haul medium sized boxes (which are much too big for books, but never mind) of cookbooks. Most of them date from the mid-70's, when she was a member of the Cookbook of the Month Club, and way too many of them are along the lines of "Low Calorie Foods for Him and Her," but others date back to when she set up housekeeping in the early 40s. So it's a mixed bag, but it certainly includes some that I'm sure some LTH-er or another would appreciate (how about "The Big Boy Book of Barbeque" for someone you love?).

The staff says they try to get books out on the shelves pretty quickly, but if they get in a lot of donations sometimes things sit in the back for several weeks before they get sorted and on the shelves.

Brown Elephant Resale Shop
217 Harrison Street
Oak Park, IL 60304
(708)445-0612
Hours:
12:00 PM - 7:00 PM Monday through Friday
11:00 AM - 6:00 PM Saturday and Sunday

Ann Fisher wrote:"The Big Boy Book of Barbeque"

Ann,

Thank you for the heads up, "The Big Boy Book of Barbecue" sounds a must-have for me. (For obvious reasons )

Enjoy,
Gary

Oops. Just found "The Big Boy of Barbecue" in the box I saved for myself.

It's from 1956, and the graphics are quite great.

Gary, I'll make sure to get it to you at some point. To be clear, though, it's about grills (and rotisseries), despite the name.

Another cookbook in that box is "250 ways to cook meat", from 1940. My favorite recipe so far, from my brief perusal, is for a "crown roast of frankfurters". Yes, it's hot dogs formed into a crown roast shape. They helpfully include a picture, which I hope to share soon. Once I get my jollies from it I'm going to see if Doug, of Hot Doug's, wants it.

-ed

gleam wrote:Oops. Just found "The Big Boy of Barbecue" in the box I saved for myself.

It's from 1956, and the graphics are quite great.

Gary, I'll make sure to get it to you at some point. To be clear, though, it's about grills (and rotisseries), despite the name.

Another cookbook in that box is "250 ways to cook meat", from 1940. My favorite recipe so far, from my brief perusal, is for a "crown roast of frankfurters". Yes, it's hot dogs formed into a crown roast shape. They helpfully include a picture, which I hope to share soon. Once I get my jollies from it I'm going to see if Doug, of Hot Doug's, wants it.

-ed

I can't wait to see that picture. Something like that might even rate some time on the rotating LTH logo panel.

Here's one from another cookbook:



via: Crown Roast of Frankfurters

Of course, they're hawking an "hilarious collection of classic 50s recipes".

The pictures aren't quite the same, but they're pretty similar. The one in "250 ways to cook meat" is black and white, but is also (perhaps for that reason) more appetizing.

-ed

Gee, if Doug were so inclined (and thank goodness that he probably isn't) that's the type of thing he could offer up as one of those gluttony specials - eat it all in one hour and it's free.

Dare I ask what's in the center of that 'Crown Roast'? It looks like guacamole on my monitor. I fear the truth. Whatever's in there, it's terrifying.

It's basically sauerkraut. Well, a fake 1950s version of sauerkraut, but sauerkraut nonetheless.

This seems to be the most common "stuffing". I've seen other recipes that also call for sauerkraut in the middle...

I have some old cookbooks from the 40s/50s/60s/70s. Quite amusing reads, especially when you see what someone thought about what to do with inexpensive stuff, like the Frankfurter Crown Roast. A truly elegant dish to present when entertaining on a budget. Any hostess worth her salt would be pleased to present such a lovely creation!

I have most of the early Pillsbury Bake Off cookbooks....talk about your graphics! Yeeeee-haw! I also had a series of index cards (I think I have them somewhere) that painstakingly detailed what to do with every single part of a cow/pig/chicken. Recipes for EVERYTHING! Woo-hoo!

I *love* old cookbooks!

gleam wrote:Gary, I'll make sure to get it to you at some point.

Ed,

Thanks much, I'll bring a jar of my Chili Oil for trade.

Enjoy,
Gary

G Wiv wrote:Thanks much, I'll bring a jar of my Chili Oil for trade.

Now that's incentive!

gleam wrote:Oops. Just found "The Big Boy of Barbecue" in the box I saved for myself.

-ed

Wait a minute, Sheila and I were planning on checking out the collection, and now you're tell us that you've kept all the good stuff for yourself?

There were about 8 boxes of books, probably 4 of those were cookbooks. I kept one small box of cookbooks: the one that hadn't been opened in about 15 years.

I didn't even look through the other 3 boxes, so there may be some undiscovered gems in those, too. The ones I've listed were all in that first box.

That being said, these are probably the worst, and perhaps oldest, of the bunch.

Once I'm done sorting through these I'll post a list and let people PM me with their choices

I still can't promise I won't save some for myself, though. I already rescued a copy of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking 2".

-ed

This thread (especially the crown roast of frankfurters) reminded me of an online collection of humorous old food photos and recipes that I ran across somewhere:

The Gallery Of Regrettable Food

gleam wrote:Here's one from another cookbook:



via: Crown Roast of Frankfurters

Ed, I have a side dish to suggest for your crown roast: Pretzel Salad. No, I haven't made it myself , but there's a recipe in a cookbook my parents brought me several years ago from Newfoundland. Jello and Cool Whip are involved.

buen provecho,
Amata

P.S. Hey, Google Images can find anything! Here's a picture of a pretzel salad:

I should mention my current favorite recipe, even better than the crown roast of frankfurters:

"Tangy Shrimp"

The recipe calls for very little other than lemon Jell-O and cooked shrimp. You put the shrimp in the jello and let it set. And then you serve it to people.

The mind boggles.

That same cookbook (1950s era Dieting for Husband and Wife) seems to rely very, very heavily on gelatin. Very heavily.