The Depression Kitchen

A Summer Salad from the Icy Depths of the Sea

2010-07-09T17:50:00.001-07:00

When the temperature’s high and the appetite’s low, try this refreshing taste-tempter from 1932:

Crabmeat salad
(6 servings)
1 level tablespoon Knox Sparkling Gelatine
1 cup Japanese Deep-Sea Crabmeat
¼ cup cold water
½ cup celery, chopped
½ a green pepper, finely chopped
2 tablespoonfuls chopped olives
¾ cup cooked salad dressing or mayonnaise
1 teaspoonful salt
¼ teaspoonful paprika
1 large tablespoonful mild vinegar or lemon juice
Few grains cayenne

Soak gelatine in cold water about five minutes and add to hot cooked salad dressing or mayonnaise. Cool and add crabmeat separated into flakes, celery, pepper (from which seeds have been removed), olives, salt, paprika, vinegar and cayenne. Turn into wet individual molds and chill. Remove from molds to nests of lettuce leaves and garnish with slices cut from pimolas, diamond shaped pieces cut from green peppers, celery tips, and watercress, and sprinkle top with paprika.

Sunlit Hours of Freedom. . . If You Dare!

2010-06-16T11:50:00.000-07:00

At first it was hard to detect what this advertisement, in Ladies Home Journal, April 1930s was selling. Crisco? Baking Powder? No and no. It’s sponsored by professional bakers, putting forward the idea that store-bought cakes could be just as good as homemade, and save the housewife hours of kitchen drudgery… when she could be out doing something much more worthwhile, like enjoying an afternoon in the country, golfing, or playing with her children. “Let the Baker cut you a slice of spare time – by doing your baking.” As we noted in the laundry post, the Laundry industry had launched a similar campaign around this time, after finding their business slumping as many more homes acquired washing machines. But, could store-bought cakes really be that good? Let’s hear from someone who braved it:

Almost my entire conversation with my husband was on the subject of how hard my work was. Up until two years ago – and then. Well, let me tell you what changed me.

It was one of those last minutes affairs that opened my eyes. I had planned weeks before to spend that afternoon out on the golf course. And at 1 o’clock my husband ‘phoned that he was bringing some friends home after dinner that evening. Oh yes, they’d have dinner downtown – so they wouldn’t make extra work for me. But I couldn’t let them go away until I had served refreshments – and I hadn’t a cookie or a cake left from my Saturday’s baking.

Then I remembered the display of cakes and cookies I had seen in a nearby store window. They looked good! Did I dare. . . ?

I went in hesitantly. And then the clerk, eager to make a new customer, showed me a wonderful cake and told me it was an old family recipe. And that the shortening was Crisco.

I was convinced then, because Crisco is what I used at home. And he told me about the other ingredients. They were just as good – the same kind of baking powder and sugar I use myself…. For Bakers who use a superior shortening like Crisco don’t take any chances on the quality of their other ingredients. And so they’ve been able to capture that “home-made taste.”

My husband’s friends complimented me in having such a wonderful cake. Not even my husband knew the difference! And now my afternoons are filled with something besides hours at the kitchen stove.

If you are one of the millions of women who “never have a moment” for yourself or your children, may I suggest that you, too, can find new sunlit hours of freedom in a baker’s oven?
--Catherine Arnold

Recipe for Gold Cocoanut Cake
½ cup Crisco, I cup sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla, 2 cups pastry flour, 21/2 teaspoons baking powder, ½ teaspoon salt, 2 eggs separated, ¾ cup milk. Bake in 2 layers; between layers and over cake spread icing and sprinkle with shredded cocoanut.

(Hmm, not much detail there. It’s bound to fail – forcing us to rush down to the Baker, where, the copy notes, these popular cakes are now available).

Recent Kitchen Finds

2010-04-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

A few new vintage kitchen treasures have found their way to the Depression Kitchen lately:

Handi Hot Jucit electric juicer c. 1934

Pink Depression glass ice bucket in Tea Room pattern (1926-1931

Super Deco "Mother's Joy" coffee tin, 1930s

1939 San Francisco World's Fair-themed tablecloth, China Clippers and all

Going Green with Colleen Moore

2010-03-15T18:52:00.000-07:00

From "Favorite Foods of the Famous Stars," Colleen Moore presents this menu for a meatless, green lunch, great for St. Patrick's Day.

TCM Alert: Housewife (1934)

2010-03-13T21:29:00.000-08:00

Monday, March 15th Turner Classic Movies will be screening the rarely shown, not-on-DVD Housewife, with Ann Dvorak and her Three on a Match co-star, Bette Davis, as well as George Brent. Ann is “just a housewife” and Bette Davis is “the other woman.” We’ve never seen it and are looking forward to it. As mentioned in the Jessie Marie DeBoth post, the 1930 census was the first to designate women as housewives rather than “unemployed;” it was considered a huge breakthrough at the time. Trust Warner’s to capitalize on the subject with this title!

WHEN
Monday, March 15th
10:30 a.m. PT/1:30pm ET
If recording, don’t forget (as we did last fall) to reset the machine’s clock ahead one hour!

The Charleston Gazette newspaper used the film’s theme of “wife” versus “bachelor girl” or “office wife” to advertise a variety of products in this fascinating ad from August 10, 1934. You can never have enough "chick and charm"!

Gold Medal Flour's "Kitchen-tested" Recipes

2010-03-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

We mentioned previously Betty Crocker’s influence on the Depression-era kitchen through magazine ads featuring her image; she also had a radio program, with various women lending their voices to Betty. Her “kitchen-tested recipes” for Gold Medal Flour were extremely popular in the 1920s. Devoted fans could send away for a charming little wooden box full of the recipes with room to add their own. They were well made, with dove-tailed edges, and consequently, many have survived today.

Here is a recipe for a simple icing out of our Gold Medal box of kitchen-tested recipes. It can also be used to ice cookies.

Gold Medal Butter Decorating Icing and Variations

4 tbsp. butter
3 cups confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp. cream
2 egg whites
2 tsp. vanilla

Method
1. Cream butter.
2. Add sugar, diluting mixture with cream.
3. Continue beating until mixture will hold its shape. Then spread on top and sides of cake or cupcakes. This icing is especially good for use with a pastry tube.

Amount – icing for 18 cup cakes or 1 large layer cake.

Mocha icing: Add 1 to 2 tbsp. cocoa according to color desired, and 1 tbsp hot coffee to this recipe.

Colored Icings: Pink, yellow, green, or other colored icings can be made by adding a drop of the desired color to this recipe.

The Emily Post Post

2010-02-12T16:46:00.000-08:00

Although she never cooked a meal herself (she once confessed that if forced to provide for herself she’d have to live on bread and water), Emily Post nevertheless had a huge influence on the dining rooms of American during and after the Deco era. She was THE authority on matters of manners: through her best-selling book, Etiquette: The Blue Book of Social Usage, her radio program, daily syndicated newspaper column, and her many articles for the era’s top magazines.

Emily Post was 50 years old, a divorcée, mother of two grown sons, and author of several novels (as well as a travel book about her cross-country automobile trip in 1915) when the first edition of Etiquette appeared in October 1922.

The tall (5’9”), Baltimore-born Emily grew up in the “Old New York” that her contemporary, Edith Wharton, wrote about. Bruce Price, her father, was an architect who designed the exclusive Tuxedo Park resort in the 1880s. Her mother, Josephine, was a coal heiress with roots going back to the Mayflower.

Emily around the time of her début

Unlike some of her competitors (such as Lillian Eichler) Emily did not believe in teaching etiquette through fear of humiliation. She often maintained that “Good manners and kindness mean the same thing.”About which fork to use, “It really doesn’t matter a trifle” was her standard reply. "Manners are a sensitive awareness of the feelings of others,” she wrote in Etiquette. “If you have that awareness, you have good manners, no matter what fork you use."

Etiquette went through numerous revisions and expansions, about every five years, and sold well during the Depression despite its fairly high ($4) price. It was still in print when Emily Post died in 1960 (and is still in print, although the 1955 edition is the last one to be personally overseen by Mrs. Post).

Though often misrepresented as such, Emily Post was not a “stickler” for proper behavior. Today, anyone with standards (of any kind) is likely to be called “elitist,” and manners tend to be dismissed as trivial or archaic: “This isn’t the ‘50s, it’s 2010!” It’s a convenient rationale for rude behavior, but not one that would be new to Emily Post. She addressed the “Are Manners Relevant?” issue many times during her long career, as the death of decorum and civility was pronounced imminent with each successive generation. She said she assumed people would want to know what the rules are in order to break them.

A caricature of Emily from Vanity Fair, 1933.

She was neither “flapper,” nor suffragette, nor flamboyant iconoclast – and yet, Emily Post does not fit the mold of a “typical” 1920s-1930s woman. She worked (hard) though she didn’t need to, becoming a nationally-known, powerful figure – proving that sometimes, well behaved women do make history.

For more about Emily Post, we enthusiastically recommend Laura Claridge’s Emily Post: Daughter of the Gilded Age, Mistress of American Manners (2008) - as much a social history as it is a biography.

'30s Stars and Their Refrigerators

2010-02-03T18:39:00.000-08:00

Let's be nosey, and take a peek inside some Hollywood iceboxes. Above, Nick & Nora Charles (William Powell and Myrna Loy) and Asta must be looking for clues... or maybe just the fixings for scrambled eggs. Publicity still from After the Thin Man (1936). Those below are from a Norge Co. promotional booklet, Favorite Foods of the Famous Stars (1934).

Ginger Rogers stands proudly by a well-stocked Norge full of Borden's Evaporated Milk, cabbage, wine (?), milk, canned goods, butter, and eggs.

In the Monogram studio, Marguerite DeLaMotte and Kitty Kelly, possibly filming A Woman's Man. What is that... a bowl of fruit, some pieces of fruit, and a chicken?

Kathryn Crawford and Ray Walker pause by a Norge at Monogram. A jar of mayo, some fruit, wine, ??? Looks a bit bare, but then, it was a poverty row studio...

Mae Busch between scenes in a Hal Roach production (with Laurel & Hardy). Borden's Evaporated Milk, butter, some milk, champagne (?), and...a giant cheese?

Sally Blane poses with a Norge while filming a production for Chesterfield studios. What is that.. champagne? A full turkey. Eggs. Some cold cuts on ice.

A Norge salesman tries to woo June Clyde and Wallace Ford between takes of I Hate Women. Kinda empty.

Leon Errol seems to like Sunlight butter & eggs, Pet milk, and lots of preserves. He looks surprised to find a quart of milk in his hand.

That's Hollywood... how about a glimpse inside Mrs. Average American Housewife's 'fridge? Hmmm, no chicken, no turkey, no wine. But, she's got ice in the summer.

The Sandwich Loaf

2010-01-27T16:49:00.000-08:00

Exotic, intriguing - yet accessible, the sandwich loaf was the star of any ladies’ luncheon buffet table in the 1930s. They stayed popular throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and beyond – after all, what's not to like? It’s a sandwich – and a salad – and a cake (sort of) all in one!

Here are the basic techniques, from Jessie Marie deBoth’s Modernistic Recipe-Menu Book (1929):

Remove crusts from a loaf of bread and cut in slices lengthwise of loaf. Spread each slice with different colored fillings, such as cream cheese softened with cream; mixed with chopped pimento, to give red color’ mixed with green coloring, or some green addition such as parsley butter or spinach juice; mixed with hard cooked egg yolks for yellow. Any number of such variations will be suggested for color. Or, savory fillings may be combined in the one loaf – ground ham mixed with mayonnaise, cheese creamed with a few drops of onion juice, sardine paste, chopped pickles, hard cooked eggs chopped fine.

Place the spread slices together in original form of loaf and press together. Cover with cream cheese softened with a little cream – coloring and garnishing as desired – and set in ice box to harden. Slice off as for bread, to serve.

From Betty Crocker’s 109 Smart New Ways to Serve BREAD (1933) comes this suggestion for a Special Club Sandwich Loaf, pictured above in all its glory:

Remove crusts from day-old loaf. Slice the bread into 4 lengthwise slices, 1/3 inch thick. Keep slices in original order. Lay bottom slice to one side; spread with softened butter and cover with slices of cold chicken, then lettuce; spread next slice lightly with mayonnaise and lay on top. Press together. Butter this second slice of bread. Cover with slice tomatoes. Spread next slice lightly with mayonnaise and lay on top. Press together. Spread this third slice with butter. Cover with slices of crisp broiled bacon and then with lettuce. Spread next slice lightly with mayonnaise and lay on top. Press together.

Cover top and sides of loaf thickly with a dressing made of a combination of boiled and mayonnaise dressings modified with a little stiffly whipped cream and hard cooked eggs cut up coarsely and mixed through the dressing. Dressings and cream must be very stiff to hold up well. Use about ½ cup of each dressing, ½ cup of whipped cream, and 3 eggs, for small sandwich loaf.

Place the completed sandwich loaf on a platter and garnish with sections of hard cooked eggs, radishes, celery and olives. Or, with preserved figs filled with white package cream cheese and places in lettuce cups. Serve loaf in slices.

Or, her Cheese Sandwich Loaf, pictured above:

Remove crusts from a smaller loaf of sandwich bread. Trim load and slice bread lengthwise into 5 long slices. Be sure slices are only 1/3 inch thick. Butter slices on both sides except top and bottom slices. Make filling as follows:

Red filling: 4 slices ham chopped fine; 3 slices crisp broiled bacon cut fine; 1 chopped red pimento.
Yellow filling: Yolks of 3 hard cooked eggs seasoned with salt, pepper, and ½ tsp. vinegar.
White filling: One-half package white cream cheese softened with ½ grated cucumber.
Green filling: four small sweet pickles and 6 sprigs of watercress or parsley, chopped fine.

All these fillings should be mixed with a little salad dressing to make them easy to spread. Spread slices of buttered bread with the fillings in the order given. Soften 3 packages of white cream cheese with sweet cream and spread on the outside of the loaf, as you would ice a cake. Garnish with almonds or pecans, sliced stuffed olives, maraschino cherries or slices of avocado or in any way desired. Wrap in a damp cloth and keep in cold place several hours before slicing.

Tips:
Day-old bread works best
Use a very sharp knife

Deco Toaster Heaven!

2010-01-09T12:23:00.001-08:00

We have been coveting one of these Westinghouse Turnover Toasters ever since seeing one in Robert Heide and John Gilman’s Popular Art Deco book in 1991. That's a long time to wait for some dried-out bread. But now at long last, we have one!

The technology was patented in July 1914, but the over-the-top Deco design of ours dates to c.1927.

It reminds us of the fountain of lights in the lobby of the 1931 Oakland Paramount Theater. Maybe Mr. Pflueger got his inspriation over breakfast? Flip-sided type toasters like this remained in production after the advent of pop-up design, but would eventually be phased out in favor of the latter.

Pull No Punches New Year's Eve

2009-12-29T19:28:00.000-08:00

If you’re entertaining on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day – or just having a quiet night watching an old movie, like we’ll be doing, a punch can make practically any occasion festive.

You or someone you know will be the life of the party, or something, if you serve this recipe below for Claret Bowl, from our namesake, the About Town Cocktail Book. No date, but Prohibition era.

1 pony Brandy
6 slices Orange
1 pony Maraschino
1 pony white Curacao
1 teaspoon Powdered Cinnamon, Cloves, and Allspice, mixed
1 wineglass Sherry
6 slices Lemon
1-1/2 quarts Claret
Blackberries
2 bottles Soda
3 Peaches, cut up
3 teaspoons Powdered Sugar
12 slices Cucumber Peel
Juice of one lemon
Grapes
1 Lemon Rind, whole
12 pieces Pineapple

Put in plenty large lumps of ice, ornament with mint

Punch Royal – I.A.F. Vancouver Club
From the same source

1 bottle Brandy
1.2 bottle Apricot Brandy
2 bottles of Sherry
1 bottle Sauterne
The juice of six Oranges
The juice of one Lemon
The juice of two Grapefruit
2 slices of Cucumber Rind to float
1 sprig fresh Mint to flavor

Sweeten to taste with Bardent, serve very cold with sliced orange and grapefruit floating on top. This will make about 7 quarts (Note: canned apricot juice will serve instead of Bardent)

Champagne Punch
From the Old Mr. Boston Official Bartenders Guide, 1935 edition

½ lb. Powdered Sugar
2 quarts Champagne
1 quart Sparkling Water
1 glass Old Mr. Boston Apricot Nectar
1 glass Maraschino
1 glass Curacao
Juice of one lemon
1 lemon rind, whole

Mix well in a punch bowl. Add large block of ice and garnish with fruit in season. (We read a tip from a modern bartender in the newspaper, who suggested for punches, rinse out a quart-sized square container of orange juice, fill with water, and freeze. Use this for the ice block in your punch bowl). Next thing you know, you'll be climbing the furniture!

Cheery '30s Wishes!

2009-12-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

The '30s Christmas table

2009-12-17T11:15:00.000-08:00

The Best Christmas Ever

And why shouldn’t it be? Thousands are permitting themselves to hope once more; all of us may celebrate a little; and, after all, Christmas does come but once a year, so let’s put our whole souls into it and let them blossom out in all sorts of exciting ways - candles in the window, a wreath on the door, a gay tree, turkey if it’s possible, or something else that everybody likes.

Plan the Christmas Eve supper – it should be a gay meal – and the Christmas morning breakfast. For this we suggest chilled orange juice and cranberry juice to start with, or chilled white grapes in orange juice with maraschino cherry garnish. This may be followed by tiny grilled sausages with parsley garnish and shirred eggs in individual ramekins, or grilled kidneys with crisp bacon and apple-ring garnish. Pop-overs with orange marmalade or crisp waffles with maple sirup will add just the right touch to make this a very special occasion. In keeping with the surprises of the day, you might even serve breakfast buffet style, as pictured above. Then the dinner – naturally the dinner is of first importance and, of course, the menu is built around the turkey or the goose or the duck or the chicken, or whatever you may select for your piece de resistance….

The principal thing is to make everything look and taste as Christmasy as you can. And most important of all, don’t forget to be merry!

-by Caroline Lamb King, Ladies Home Journal, December 1933

Ladies reading the above advice from Miss King may well have needed that reminder to be merry. The winter of 1933-1934 was, according to many historians, the height of the Depression. President Roosevelt had just recently created a temporary, emergency relief program, the Civil Works Authority, to put people to work and put paychecks in their pockets to see them through the harsh winter – and possibly make Christmas a bit merrier.

Our Christmas breakfast table from last year: set with reproduction Fiestaware, bakelite flatware, and fakelite Scotty dog napkin rings – on wheels. Our dad says “it’s like eating breakfast in an antique store.”

This vintage table cloth was a gift from Christmas 2008 – it’s going on the table this year.

And the Christmas Eve supper table, two years ago. The china is vintage HomeLeigh Ware with a Deco pattern – the remnants of two sets of service for 12, a wedding gift to a lucky bride in 1937. That's Pinky Belle, celebrating her first real Christmas, back there in her red & white “Party Fabulous” dog sweater. She seems transfixed by the bubble lights on the tree!

The Toastmaster Hospitality Tray

2009-12-15T21:41:00.001-08:00

Christmas entertining made easy with one of these beauties from Toastmaster- December 1935.

Hors D'Oeuvres suggestions from McCall's, December 1932:
Crisp stalks of celery filled with Roquefort and cream cheese paste; slices of firm ripe tomatoes with boneless sardines laid across them; assorted olives; lengthwise halves of hard-cooked eggs stuffed with deviled ham and sprinkled with chopped parsley; small lettuce cups filled with highly seasoned potato salad, garnished with pimento; pickled beet balls; pickled onions; triangles of Swiss or American cheese sprinkled with paprika.

Another view of the tray, 1937.

The Social Implications of Gingerbread

2009-11-27T10:58:00.001-08:00

January 1933:

“Jane Taylor was an awfully nice girl – but as no one made an effort to discover the fact, for years she was considered a ‘social flop.’

And well she might be still, if it hadn’t been for a blizzard. The crowd was skating on the pond back of Jane’s house about 5 o’clock the day the blizzard whooped into town. They all made for Jane’s.

While they were warming themselves before a great fire, Jane slipped out into the kitchen for something to eat. Instinctively, something in Jane must have known that this was her big chance with the crowd. She wasn’t much of a fancy cook, but she did know how to stir up the right kind of gingerbread!...

The spicy tang of that gingerbread put everyone in good humor. And how the crowd gobbled it up!

Jane has since confessed that her luscious [...uh-oh, where is this going? This is a family website…Oh, whew, it’s okay!] flaky Brer Rabbit gingerbread made her more enthusiastic friends in two hours than she had been able to accumulate in all her previous years.”

Now, if it had been us, we’d have told 'the crowd’ to go break a hole in the frozen lake and jump in it, and by the way, what were they doing trespassing on our pond? But then, we are confirmed “social flops” with our local vintage crowd and there is probably no hope for us at this point, unless - perhaps - if we were to lace that gingerbread pretty heavily with gin.

Jane’s hit-making gingerbread recipe:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter and lard mixed
1 egg
1 cup Brer Rabbit Molasses
2-1/2 cups sifted flour
1-1/2 teaspoons soda
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup hot water

Cream shortening and sugar. Add beaten egg, molasses, then dry ingredients which have been sifted together. Add hot water last and beat until smooth. The batter is soft, but it makes a fine cake. Bake in greased shallow pan 35 minutes in moderate oven (325 to 350 degrees F.) Makes 15 generous portions.

Ida Bailey Allen and her National Radio Home-Makers

2009-11-13T09:57:00.000-08:00

Ida Bailey Allen was another major culinary influence on women of the 20s-30s. As with Betty Crocker, she was a household name through her contributions to recipe booklets for companies such as Pillsbury Flour, Sunshine Biscuits and Coca Cola; through her magazine (and later syndicated newspaper) columns, and her radio cooking programs like The National Radio Homemaker’s Club, which ran on CBS from 1928 to 1935. She was also a prolific cookbook writer (see partial bibliography, below); her publisher asserted, not unreasonably, that one-third of American households owned at least one. Unlike Betty Crocker, though, Ida Cogswell Bailey Allen really existed. Born in 1885, she was widowed twice and died in 1973 at age 88.

In her introduction to 104 Prize Radio Recipes (1926), containing recipes and talks from The National Radio Homemaker’s Club, Mrs. Allen wrote:

There are twenty million of us--Home-Makers. That is our job. Sometimes we become so enmeshed in it that we cannot look beyond the narrow confines of our own home. Then it is that the flapper daughter–the "too modern" son–the gayety-loving husband– present real problems– we have not their viewpoint. To be a successful Home-Maker one must keep up. Any woman who has the wish can do it. Magic is not confined to myths or the Dark Ages. There is Magic today. The Magic of great manufacturers who have taken drudgery away–the Magic of gas and electricity–the Magic of books and libraries–and we have the Radio–that makes the Whole World Kin.

For years I have dreamed of some way that women could be united–some way that wonderful music–excellent talks–helpful suggestions could go to them while they kept house. Nursed the babies. Cared for the sick. The Radio has done it all. That subtle, wonderful Magic of the twentieth century has made our National Radio Home-Maker's Club possible. For some months I have asked you to be ready with pencils and paper to tune in on my Radio Hour. Many of you have done it–and have written me letters of appreciation that make me want to help you more and more. Little groups of you are meeting in central homes to "listen in" while you sew and are having Radio Luncheons afterward. . .

The recipes in this Little Book belong especially to the National Radio Home-Maker's Club because each one was written by a member of this organization. The talks are mine. I wrote them and gave them to the World, first by Radio, then in the form of this Little Book and I have a so carefully edited the recipes for you. . .

104 Radio Recipes, Radio Recipe contest #23 offered this recipe for Thanksgiving Pie:

2 large tart apples

1-1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 to 1 cup chopped nuts

1 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1/2 pint heavy cream (whipped)

Pare apples and slice fine. Arrange a layer on a pie plate and sprinkle with one-half cup of the sugar. Put in another layer of apples and cover with a mixture of the remaining sugar, flour, butter, and nuts, creamed together. Bake in a moderate oven - about an hour. Serve warm with the whipped cream.

Partial Bailey Bibliography
Note: Mrs. Allen’s cookbooks often ran to second, third editions and so on. We’ve listed them under the first year publication date. For company recipe books, the name of the company is noted.

104 Prize Radio Recipes with 24 Radio Home-maker's Talks (1926).
Budget Cook Book, The (1935).
Delightful Dinners. The Buzza Co. (c.1927).
Everyday Cookbook (1938).
Ida Bailey Allen’s Modern Cookbook: 2500 Delicious Recipes (formerly Mrs. Allen on
Cooking, Menus, and Service) (1932)
Ida Bailey Allen’s Time-Saving Cook Book With 465 Timed Recipes (1940).
Luscious Lunches and Tasty Teas. The Buzza Co. (c.1927).
Mrs. Allen on Cooking, Menus, and Service (1924).
Modern Method of Preparing Delightful Foods, The. Corn Products Refining Co. (1926).

Service Cook Book Number One, The (1935).
When You Entertain – What To Do And How. Coca Cola Company. (1932).

Sources:
Arndt, Alice. Culinary Biographies (2006).
Cullen, Jim. Popular Culture in American History (2001).
Drowne, Kathleen and Patrick Huber. The 1920s (2004).
Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old Time Radio (1998).
Harper, Donna L. Invisible Stars: A Social History of Women in American Broadcasting (2001).
Himes, Michele. Radio Voices: American Broadcasting 1922-1952 (1997).
Neuhaus, Jessamyn. Manly Meals and Mom’s Home Cooking: Cookbooks and Gender in Modern America (2003).
Sies, Leora M. and Luther F. Sies. The Encyclopedia of Women in Radio 1920-1960 (2003).

ARMISTICE DAY DINNER, November 11, 1928

2009-11-11T10:54:00.000-08:00

The Palmer School Cafeteria
(operated by Martin Cigar Co.) of Davenport, Iowa offered this special
Armistice Day menu to its customers on November 11, 1928:

Chicken Noodle Soup
Roast Sirloin of Beef
Baked Sugar Cured Ham
with Raisin Sauce
Chicken a la King with
Baking Powder Biscuits
Roast Leg of Veal
Home Baked Beans
Creamed New Cauliflower
Buttered Asparagus
Spaghetti, Italian Style
Garden Spinach
Fresh Vegetabte Salads
Home Baked Pies and
Cakes
Coffee, Tea, Milk

You won't want to
miss a thing so plan to
eat dinner at the P. S. C.
Cafeteria where you will
be served in a jiffy.

Dinner
from 11 to 2.

Historical Kitchen Products Still Around

2009-11-04T14:36:00.000-08:00

Standing in line at the market the other day and noting that we were purchasing Jell-o, Cream of Wheat, and Gold Medal Flour - things any Depression-era housewife might have purchased - got us thinking about products that were nationally known by the end of the 1930s and still available today almost anywhere. It isn’t a comprehensive list at all, just a start! Any others in your part of the country?

Flipping through the collection of women’s magazines, it’s apparent that food habits were changing. Canned goods were commonplace by the 20s, and frozen foods – though we tend to think of them as a fairly recent invention – were becoming popular. Things that had been a novelty in the late 19th century, like breakfast cereals, were by now old hat. Cake mixes and premade frostings would not be seen until after World War II, but many other time saving products like Bisquick, Kraft Macaroni & Cheese dinners, and Aunt Jemima Pancake Mix sold well. The 20s and 30s also saw the rise of convenient “snack” foods – Twinkies, Ritz Crackers, Eskimo Pies, etc.

Sliced Wonder Bread was featured at the Chicago World’s Fair of 1934, setting the bar high for new innovations: “It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread!”

Baking Staples
Arm & Hammer Baking Soda
Baker’s Chocolate
Brier Rabbit Molasses
C&H sugar
Calumet Baking Powder
Clabber Girl Baking Powder
Crisco shortening
Eagle Brand Condensed Milk
Fleishman's Yeast
Gold Medal Flour
Hershey cocoa
Karo syrup
Kingsford cornstarch
Land O'Lakes butter
Mazola Oil
Morton's Salt
ReaLemon Lemon Juice
Royal Baking Powder
Rumford Baking Powder
Wesson Oil

Cereals
Cream of Wheat
Kellogg's All-Bran, Corn Flakes, Rice Krispies
Kix

Post Grape Nuts
Quaker Oats
Shredded Wheat
Wheaties

Condiments

Colman's Mustard
French’s Mustard
Gulden's Mustard
Heinz 57 Ketchup
Kraft Mayonnaise, Miracle Whip
Lawry's Seasoned Salt

Lea & Perrins Sauce

Pantry Shelf, Bread Box & Freezer Items
Aunt Jemima Pancake Flour
Bisquick
Campbell's soups (21 varieties)

Certo (for canning)
Del Monte canned fruits, vegetables
Dole Pineapple
Hormel Ham
Jell-O gelatins (six flavors)
Knox Gelatin
Kraft Macaroni & Cheese, Velveeta, Philadelphia Cream Cheese
Log Cabin Syrup

Minute Tapioca
Peter Pan peanut butter
Royal puddings, gelatin
Skippy Peanut Butter

Spam
Underwood Deviled Ham
Welch's grape jelly
Wonder Bread

Beverages (non-alcoholic)

7-Up

Coca-Cola
Dr. Pepper

Folger’s Coffee

Hawaiian Punch
Hires Root Beer
Kool-Aid
Maxwell House Coffee
Mott's Apple Juice
Nescafe (instant coffee)

Pepsi Cola
Royal Crown (RC) Cola

Sanka (caffeine-free coffee)
Sunkist Orange Juice
Tree-Sweet Orange Juice

Welch's Grape Juice

Yoo-Hoo

Snacks (not including candy – we’re all candied out)

Diamond Walnuts

Eskimo Pies
Frito Corn Chips

Good Humor ice cream treats
Hostess Twinkies

It's It
Lay's Potato Chips

Melba Toasts

Moon Pies
Nestle Toll House Cookies

Oreos
Ritz Crackers
Sunmaid raisins
Sunshine crackers
Triscuit crackers

Another area of growth: cleaning products. A flood of new ones were now being sold in stores, starting in the late teens in correlation with new standards of cleanliness and hygiene. Prior generations had typically made their own from raw ingredients, such as lye.

20 Mule Team Borax
Bon Ami
Brillo Pads
Clorox Bleach
Fels-Naptha
Johnson’s Wax
O-Cedar mops and wax
Old English
Purex Bleach
Scott paper towels
S.O.S. Pads
Wright’s Silver Cream

1920s-30s Hallowe'en Party Food

2009-10-06T10:46:00.000-07:00

Boo! We’re celebrating October with a 3-blog celebration of Hallowe’en in its golden age – the 1920s and 30s. Costumes have been covered in The Painted Woman, and Parlor Past Times will be discussing games and decorations.

Hallowe'en menus of the period were fairly simple and casual. Most were buffet style, but we also have examples for sit-down dinners. Either way, cookies were always a hit! Odd Hallowe'en-themed cookie or sandwich cutters can be picked up at flea markets or estate sales - at typically less than $3, they're one of the few affordable vintage Hallowe'en items! Alternately, these sets of reproduction "Trick or Treat" cookie cutters are widely available for under $10.

Jack o’Lantern Smiles (soft molasses cookies) from Betty Crocker’s 15 Ways to a Man’s Heart (1932).

1-1/4 cups shortening 1 C sugar
6 cups Gold Medal Flour 2 tsp. soda
1 tsp salt 1 tsp allspice
1 tsp ginger 1 tsp cinnamon
1 cup dark molasses 1 cup cold coffee

Cream the shortening well and add the sugar gradually. Sift flour once before measuring. Sift flour, soda, salt, allspice, ginger, and cinnamon together. Mix the coffee and molasses. Add to the creamed mixture alternately with the flour mixture. Roll dough a good ¼ inch thick and cut in rounds – 3 inches in diameter. Bake on a greased baking sheet or pan 15 minutes at 400 degrees. Makes 3 dozen.

Yellow Icing for Jack o’Lantern Smiles:
1 egg yolk 1-1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar
1 tsp melted butter 1 tbsp orange juice
1 tbsp grated orange rind

Break up egg yolk with fork. Add sugar alternately with the butter and orange juice. Add the orange rind. To make faces, force icing through a cornucopia of paper, making eyes, nose and mouth, also hair on the top of the cookies. Some of the cookies can be frosted with this yellow icing and the faces put on with a little chocolate icing.

Jelke Good Luck Margarine's Color Scheme Parties booklet (1931) had these ideas for Hallowe'en or fall-themed sandwiches and cakes in shades or brown & orange (above).

Ida Bailey Allen’s 104 Prize Radio Recipes (1926) suggested these Refreshments for a Hallowe’en Dance:

Old fashioned cheese and ham salad sandwiches
Surprise doughnuts

Little Pumpkin Pies
Nuts and Apples
Cider

Coffee

Since fortune-telling was a big part of vintage Hallowe’en celebrations, Fortune Telling Cakes were popular. They were cakes of whatever type you wished, baked with little metal charms within - traditionally they migh include a horseshoe (representing success or good luck), a button (for a bachelor), a thimble (for a spinster), a ring (marriage), a heart (love/romance – not to be confused with marriage), a wishbone (hope or good luck), and an anchor (good news or travel), etc. We’re not sure what it boded if you bit into a “good luck” charm and chipped a tooth!

The Modern Pricilla Cookbook (1929) suggests the following for three very different Hallowe’en Suppers and Evening Refreshments:

Cream of carrot soup
Deviled eggs Jellied Vegetable Salad
Hot bisquits
Gingerbread with apple sauce and whipped cream
Coffee

***
Tomato Soup Brown bread croutons
Pickles Stuffed Olives
Creamed shrimp in pastry cases Potato chips
Whole wheat rolls
Stuffed prune salad
Orange ice
Gold cakes, chocolate frosting
Coffee Ginger ale

***
Fruit salad in apple jack o’lanterns
Toasted cheese sandwiches
Mince meat tarts
Coffee

Bettina of A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina’s Best Recipes (1932 edition) had a sit-down Hallowe’en supper party with the following menu:

Oyster patties
Bettina’s surprise salad
Hallowe’en sandwiches, Pickels
Pumpkin Pie (individual)
Cider, Doughnuts, Jumbles, Popcorn Balls

Salads served in a hollowed out “jack o’lantern” apple seem to have been quite popular at such parties. This is the recipe for Bettina’s version:

6 apples
1 green pepper, chopped fine
½ C diced celery
½ C seeded white grapes
½ C diced pineapple
2 tbsp chopped nut meats
1 C salad dressing
½ tsp salt
½ C diced marshmallows

Remove inside of the apple. Add the green peppers, celery, grapes, marshmallows, pineapple, nutmeats and salt, mixed thoroughly with the salad dressing. Serve very cold. Bettina topped these with a wafer and a marshmallow, representing a hat.

Bettina's Halloween Sandwiches:
When the bread is a day old, cut in slices 1/3 inch thick. Match in pairs. Cream butter and spread on one side. Place the other side on top. Press firmly. With a thimble cut out circles on one piece of the bread; cut nose and mouth with a knife. The butter showing through gives the resemblance of features.

Good Housekeeping’s Book of Good Meals (1927) has a few more menu ideas for Hallowe’en festivities:

Chicken almond sandwiches
Cream cheese and pineapple sandwiches
Individual pumpkin pies
Whipped cream
Cider

Piquant sandwiches
Orange-pecan salad Gingerbread
Coffee

Creamed shrimps with eggs
Bread and butter strips
Spook salad, Cakes
Coffee

Spook salad:
Lettuce
Celery
Apples
Red grapes
Peaches
Mayonnaise
Cloves
Pimiento

Make a nest of lettuce leaves or shredded lettuce. On this place a salad made of celery, apples, and red grapes, allowing for each serving about two tablespoons each of chopped celery and apples, and six grapes cut in half and blended together with mayonnaise. On this salad place a half peach with the rounded side up. Insert two whole cloves with the heads for the eyes, place another with the large end down for the nose, and a narrow strip of pimiento for the mouth. This strip may be places at various angles.

Ritz Crackers were invented in 1934. This Hallowe’en-themed ad, featuring the ever-present Pierrot, dates to 1937.

More great ideas and Historic American Halloween party menus on the wonderful and well-researched Food Timeline website, here.

Author Diane C. Arkins includes many other Hallowe’en menu ideas from period sources in her book Halloween Merrymaking: An Illustrated Celebration Of Fun, Food, And Frolics From Halloweens Past (highly recommended!).

And what would Hallowe’en be without candy? Just as it was the golden age of Hallowe’en, the 1920s and 30s were also the golden age of candy. Many favorites that are still with us today and readily available on any grocery store candy isle were invented or were already in existence in the 20s-30s. Candy corn, originally known as “chicken feed” or “chicken scratch” actually dates back to the 1890s. Here’s a list (by no means complete!) of popular candies that could have been served at any Hallowe’en party by the end of the 1930s:

Baby Ruth

Beech-Nut gum & candy
Bit-O-Honey
Butterfingers

Candy Corn (aka "Chicken Feed)
Charleston Chew
Chases's Cherry Mash
Cracker Jacks
Dubble Bubble bubble gum
Good & Plenty
Goo Goo Clusters
Gummi Bears
Heath Bars

Hershey Bars
Hershey's Kisses
Jujyfruits

Life Savers
Mike & Ike
Milk Duds
Milky Way Bar
Mr. Goodbar
Mounds Bars
NECCO wafers

Nestle's Crunch Bar

Nik-L-Nips (liquid filled wax bottles)

O-Henry Bars
Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
Snickers Bar
Smarties
Tootsie pops
Tootsie Rolls
Twizzlers
Wrigley's gum (Spearmint, Juicy Fruit)

If you don’t have a nostalgic candy store in your town, there are now a number of stores online that carry old time favorites like A&W Root Beer Barrels, Atomic Fireballs, Mary Janes, Nick-L-Nips, Necco Wafers, Cherry Mash, and Squirrel Nut Zippers. Try NostalgicCandy.com or Candywarehouse.com (there are lots of others).

The Woman with 7 Million Friends

2009-09-11T17:30:00.000-07:00

If you baked, broiled, or basted anything in the late 1920s to the mid-1950s like as not, at some point you followed the advice or recipes of "Home Economist No. 1," Jessie Marie DeBoth. Perhaps one of her many cookbooks rested on your kitchen shelf. You may have clipped some of her syndicated weekly food columns from the newspaper, heard her recipe shows on the radio, or been lucky enough to attend one of her immensely popular live “cooking school” performances. Unlike her contemporaries Aunt Sammy and Betty Crocker, she actually existed. Yet she is almost unheard of today. We think she deserves a revival!

A native of Green Bay, Wisconsin, the titian-haired Miss DeBoth, who stood five-foot ten-inches tall, graduated from Ripon College in 1915. She received her home economics training at the Stout Institute in Menomonie, Wis, and had additional coursework at Northwestern University. But she attributed her culinary/homemaking skills and business sense to her mother, Mary Villiesse DeBoth and would later dedicate the Modern Guide to Better Meals (1939) cookbook to her.

Miss deBoth provided the recipes for the darling Frigidaire booklet (1927) above. It can be viewed in its entirety, thanks to the Duke University Digital Collections, here: http://http//library.duke.edu/digitalcollections/eaa.CK0083/pg.1/

Possessed of a “rare sense of humor and scintillating personality,” Jessie began touring the country in the late 1920s with her “cooking schools,” which have been described “part Vaudeville act, part cooking lesson, part trade show.” A complete modern kitchen – and often a dining room and laundry as well –would be set up on the stage, with national and local businesses supplying the equipment and groceries in exchange for Miss DeBoth’s coveted endorsement. A good number of original recipes would be demonstrated over the course of 3 or 4 days. Between demonstrations local talent would provide musical entertainment.

Sponsored by newspapers, the shows were free, and they attracted women (and a few brave men) in droves. In Chicago 25,000 filled a stadium to capacity while thousands more had to be turned away. In New York, 28,000 attended sessions held at Carnegie Hall. Even in small rural areas, attendees would number in the high hundreds or more. With this kind of draw, in addition to her readers and radio listeners, it was with no exaggeration that she was later called “the woman with seven million friends.” So successful were her cooking school operations that Miss DeBoth was able to hire several representatives - although they could never quite duplicate her verve and natural showmanship.

Audience participation was a must at these events, with Miss DeBoth cracking jokes, leading sing-a-longs and encouraging volunteers to get silly with kitchen utensils. Refreshments were distributed in a novel manner – by pitching treats wrapped in wax paper from the stage into the audience. Prizes were awarded to “the first woman in the back to reach the stage” or “the one who sings the prettiest” or “the mother of quintuplets,” etc. All of the food prepared for the demonstrations would be given away, along with food baskets, appliances, and other valuable items. In the 1930s, her menus emphasized thrift and economy; in the wartime 1940s, she emphasized the war effort and food rationing.

Miss DeBoth typically wore a different ensemble and coordinating apron for every performance, to exemplify her belief that women “could look like ladies of leisure and still cook up a storm.” For her Southern California cooking school debut at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles in 1937, for example, she wore a “dainty apron” combining magenta and violet over a “frock of the pastel shade and frivolous slippers of the deep tone.” Another time she appeared in “a light blue lace-topped frock with miniature apron of magenta and satin sandals repeating the two colors.”

She was also a firm believer in scientific cooking and modern methods. “Scientific homemaking has revolutionized woman’s traditional job,” she often remarked. “The old fashioned method of guessing amounts has now gone by the board. The up to date cook measures and weighs carefully. No more handful of this, a cupful (any cup) of that.” she said in a 1928 interview, “The kitchen today is a far cry from the old fashioned one. The modern kitchen, or kitchenette if you prefer – is really a laboratory. It’s scrupulously clean in all its appointments.” In the introduction to Modernistic Recipe-Menu Book (1929) she notes, “The business of homemaking is one which engages the attention of many million women in the United States. Yet it is only at the time of the present census-taking that the lawmakers have come to acknowledge it, and have consented to list every housewife as ‘homemaker’ instead of ‘unemployed.’ This is real progress.”

The 1930 federal census Miss deBoth refers to became public in 2002. The National Archives discusses the inclusion of the “homemaker” profession in its summer 2002 Prologue magazine, available here. The "housewife" designation was a big deal, and regarded as a huge advancement for women.

Miss DeBoth married late in life, to Carl Dreutzer of her home state of Wisconsin, in July 1954. Sadly, for a woman who worked so hard so that others might enjoy greater domestic harmony, her own wedded bliss was brief. Widowed in 1958, Jessie herself passed away on August 30, 1959. She left a legacy of thousands of recipes that we can enjoy creating in our vintage kitchens today.

Recipes from Miss DeBoth’s November 15, 1930 Cooking School session

Chicken Vegetable Loaf:
3 cups cooked chicken
1-1/2 cups small peas
1 cup diced carrots
1 small onion
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1-1/2 cups bread crumbs
2 eggs
1 cup milk
2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons chili sauce

Method: Beat eggs; add milk, chicken and other ingredients, mixing well. Turn into greased loaf pan or ring mold and bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes. Serve with mushroom sauce.

Mushroom Sauce:
4 tablespoons shortening
1 teaspoon chopped onion
4 tablespoons flour
1 can mushrooms
1/2 cup liquor from mushrooms
1-1/2 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 teaspoon chopped parsley

Method: Melt shortening, add onion and let simmer gently until onion is tender. Add flour, stirring until smooth, then milk, mushrooms and seasonings. Cook for 5 minutes.

The Detroit News Press has an on-line article on Miss deBoth, along with more wonderful photos.

Stainless Steel Flatware

2009-09-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

We were asked recently about stainless steel cutlery in the 20s & 30s. Stainless steel (sometimes referred to as “rustless metal”), though invented in the early 1900s – it is still a matter of debate whether it was in 1911 or 1912 - was somewhat hampered in its development for home use by World War I. Nevertheless, it was used by the hotel and restaurant industry. An article in The Bridgeport Telegram from August 8, 1922 announced that the Hoyt Silver Company was opening a new factory in Milford, Conn for the production of stainless steel for the home, describing it as “the first of the kind in the United States to produce a stainless steel for spoons and forks.” The ad in Pictorial Review from April 1925 (below) touts Universal Stainless’ labor saving potential (no polishing). We also note that the metal parts of our Bakelite-handled flatware sets, definitely from the ‘30s, are marked “stainless” as well. Not every householdone back in the day could afford sterling silver – or even community plate (plated silver) for the table!

TCM Alert: If You Could Only Cook (1935)

2009-08-29T09:13:00.000-07:00

On Turner Classic Movies Sunday, August 30th, the 1935 If You Could Only Cook (not on DVD) is a very Depression-era story, which has darling Jean Arthur applying for a job as Leo Carillo's cook. Also starring Herbert Mashall. If for no other reason, watch it for the Deco cookware at the opening sequence, and Carillo's fabulous 30s kitchen! Showing at 11:45pm Eastern/8:45 Pacific.

Vintage Waffles with the Royal Touch

2009-08-22T10:21:00.000-07:00

This morning we made waffles the Comtesse de Frise way, from Bisquick (1933), using the G.E. waffle iron, c. 1935. It works great, and never sticks (a little cooking oil in the batter helps with this, if it’s a problem). We skipped the evening gowns this time, but did wear our most formal hooverettes and aprons.

Urban archaeologists of the future may determine it was some sort of alien spacecraft, piloted by the high ranking General Elect, Ric

Matching coffee percolator, creamer & sugar set

Assemble all the ingredients.

Get that iron really hot. The indicator light comes on when the tempature’s right

Look Ma - no sticking!

The BIG breakfast…

The Bride Wore Red, White & Blue

2009-08-13T12:41:00.000-07:00

An unconventional choice, perhaps, but then, the groom was our dear old Uncle Sam, who, after more than a century of confirmed bachelorhood, finally tied the knot in America’s sesquicentennial year, 1926. The missus, now our Aunt Sammy, was a modern wife who worked five days a week hosting a radio cooking show, "Housekeeper’s Chat."

Aunt Sammy was really the creation of the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Bureau of Home Economics and Farm Radio Service. The program went on the air October 4, 1926. Its aim, according to Aunt Sammy, was to “help the housewife in the intricate and vitally important task of managing a home, and to show her how, by careful planning of meals and saving steps and labor, she may have more leisure for what are broadly termed ‘cultural activities.’”

Initially broadcast to roughly 40-45 stations, by December 1927 she could be heard on 77 stations in 36 states and Washington, D.C. Presented in 3 segments of 5 minutes each: “Backyard Gossip,” “Questions Women Are Asking,: and “What Shall We Have For Dinner?,” her talk was “spicy and full of pep,” with “frequent light or humorous touches.” One early show opened with the following:

“Queen Marie of Romania is visiting my town this week. She didn’t come to America especially to see me, but I thought she might drop in to discuss household problems. I have a new recipe, called Peach Dainty, that I have been saving for her. ”

Queen Marie of Romania on Her Majesty's U.S. tour, 1926.

After this, she launched into a description of the queen’s hat (closefitting, black velvet with silver lace), noting that both she and Her Majesty had bobbed hair; a few moments later she addressed a listener’s question about prunes, moved on to living room curtains, and finally presented a dinner menu and told how to prepare it. Other topics might include meal-planning; marketing; convenient kitchens; menus “For Those Who Would Be Slender;” how-to’s on selecting meats or ironing with the professional touch; canning; establishing “food habits in children;” sewing; “painless picnics;” home furnishings; decoration; gardening and so on.

Listeners may well have wondered what Aunt Sammy looked like, but she was a lady of many faces. Ruth Van Deman, a specialist in home economics, prepared the menus and recipes. “This is no caviar and truffle service for jazz-jaded appetites.” Miss Van Deman asserted, adding “we aim to make the menus simple, well-balanced, delicious, and adaptable to the food supplies in all parts of the country.” Miss Josephine Hemphill, a graduate of Kansas State Agricultural College (now Kansas State University), was responsible for Aunt Sammy’s folksy banter. Mrs. Fanny Walker Yeatman ran the Bureau’s kitchen where all of the show’s recipes were tested. Approving the programs was Dr. Louise Stanley, head of the Bureau of Home Economics, established in 1923 (Incidentally, Dr. Stanley, who had an M.A. from Columbia (1907) and a PhD from Yale (1911), was the first woman chief of a Department of Agriculture bureau). Women at the various radio stations who carried the show portrayed Aunt Sammy on the air, reading scripts provided by the USDA but endowing her with their own personalities and local accents.

Three faces of Aunt Sammy: Josephine Hemphill (left), Fanny Walker Yeatman (center), and Ruth Van Deman (right). Below, Dr. Louise Stanley.

Many women who wrote in to the show expressed their gratitude in having someone else answer the tiresome question, “what’s for dinner?” for them. Working women from New York City wrote to request that the program be broadcast in the evenings so that they could tune in. By popular demand, the USDA compiled 70 favorite menus from the show and approximately 300 of its recipes into a book, Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes. More than 100,000 copies were distributed between October 1926 and December 1927. The USDA reproduced a version of the booklet in 1976, called Selections from Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes and USDA Favorites. It can be downloaded here, courtesy of the National Agricultural Library.

Sadly, like many celebrity marriages, Uncle Sam and Aunt Sammy’s apparently couldn’t withstand the glare of the spotlight, and the couple quietly went their separate ways – he to soon once again rally the nation in wartime, she to relative obscurity (but we hope she got the good silver, at least).

Here’s that recipe for “Peach Dainty,” from the 1927 edition of Radio Recipes. We are pretty sure it was not featured on the “For Those Who Would Be Slender” episode.

1 quart sliced peaches
1 cup sugar
2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons butter
1 pint whipping cream
A few grains of salt

Cream the sugar, butter, and yolks together. Add the whipped cream and sliced peaches. Serve over angel or sponge cake.

*Note: although many sources, including the introduction to Selections from Aunt Sammy’s Radio Recipes and USDA Favorites, state that the name “Aunt Sammy” was no longer used after c.1934, our perusal of historical newspapers showed her to be alive and well through 1940.

Selected Sources:
“Aunt Sammy to Give Best Cooking Recipes,” Southtown Economist (Nov. 2, 1926).
“Composite Aunt Sammy Plans Dinners Served by Many American Housewives,” The Billings Gazette (Oct. 23, 1927).
Haskin, Frederic J. “Millions Aided by Aunt Sammy,” The Los Angeles Times (Oct. 30, 1926).
----“Aunt Sammy’s Success,” The Salt Lake Tribune (Dec. 20, 1927).
Stringfellow, Sam. “Browsing Around the Mainland,” Galveston Daily News (Oct. 13, 1940).

Celebrating the Paper Drinking Straw

2009-08-11T06:37:00.000-07:00

This unknown family’s picnic took place 80 years ago exactly - August 11, 1929. The daughter could be in an ad for Hires or Coca Cola.

We got to wondering: how come Cokes and other bottled soft drinks tasted so much better when we were kids? Had they changed the formulas? Not really. Because they were a rare treat? No…. Then we hit upon it – it was the wonderful old paper straws that Grandma used. We loved those straws! Thanks to eBay, we soon found an almost full industrial-sized box of Sunshine Straws ("suitable for soda fountains, cafes, schools, amusement places, hospitals, etc.") with terrific Deco graphics, dated 1932. “Like Nature’s Own” as their motto says – only so much better! No ordinary straws, these are “a product of forest and factory, made from choice, pure materials, manufactured scientifically under ideal, modern SUNSHINE conditions. Sterilized at a high degree of heat, thus insuring a wholesome, healthful 100% clean, high-grade drinking straw.” And what do you know – not two weeks later, a 1930s Girl About Town found the same box in a convenient size “for picnics and outings” at an estate sale in her 1920s neighborhood. Things now taste just like we remember!

Wash On Monday - The Depression Laundry Room

2009-08-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

In our 1920s neighborhood, almost every backyard had a clothesline, and we can imagine what busy places they must have been on Mondays, the traditional wash day, as in this image from a 1931 P&G naptha soap ad. They are disappearing one-by-one, though as elderly neighbors pass on and new owners remove these “relics” of laundry days past.

For Depression era housewives who were able to take advantage of new, modern conveniences, doing the laundry was safer and less physically demanding than it had been for their mothers and grandmothers. In homes that could afford electric washing machines, at least, there was no having to boil gallons of hot water and wring the wash by hand. They also had the benefit of commercially-produced laundry soaps, which were not only safer than the old lye soaps, but claimed to clean clothes better with less scrubbing and rinsing. Most soaps were marketed as suitable for washing dishes as well as laundry. Some of the leading brands of the era were Lux, Super Suds, Ivory, Rinso, Chipso, Gold Dust, and Oxydol. Other wash day-related products included Fels-Naptha, P&G white naptha soap; Clorox bleach; and Mrs. Stewarts bluing.

Lux was the king of the soap flakes, probably due in part to their fabulous advertising campaign. The following pages are from a smart little promotional booklet, "How to Launder" (produced by Lever Bros., then makers of Lux) c.1920. Much of their advice still holds good today, such as removing buttons before washing, as the wood underneath can cause staining.

Although no longer available under the Lux name, soap flakes are still produced by Dri-Pak, a British firm, using the same recipe, and can be obtained through their website and select retail stores.

For additional advice on cleaning vintage items, we the fashion-era website’s vintage cleaning tips may be relied upon, as well as Vintage Vixen's vintage clothing care information.

In some lucky households, the laundry was dealt with by servants or sent out. For them, getting a washing machine meant more work, not less. The commercial laundry industry, facing heavy competition due to the increasing availability of domestic washing machines, launched an advertising campaign in the late 1920s into the early 30s, with slogans such as "Laundry Clothes are Cleaner" and "The Laundry Does it Best." While many women may have found the idea appealing, for economic reasons fewer and fewer opted to "Let the Laundry Do it."

We confess that if faced with the daunting task of washing, say, a wool blanket equipped with nothing more than a tub, a wringer, and some soap flakes, we would probably bury it in the backyard and buy a new one… but to make "blue Mondays" more fun, we acquired some recordings of vintage radio "soap operas" from OTRCat.com and enjoy listening to them while doing the washing and ironing. We have Super Suds' Clara, Lu, ‘n Em (1931-42); Oxydol's Ma Perkins (1933-56); Young Widder Brown (1938-56); and Kay Fairchild (1938-42).

For further reading:
Cowan, Ruth Schwartz. More Work for Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology from the Open Hearth to the Microwave (1983).

Lee Maxwell’s Washing Machine Museum

Our Miss Dine - About - Town of 1938

2009-07-30T19:43:00.000-07:00

Tonight’s recipe is courtesy of our cousin, Miss Dine-about-town. As she says herself: “I’m no cook. And it’s no use pretending I am. I’m just a girl who’s lucky enough to be invited to a lot of interesting places, to eat a lot of interesting food. (I’m not bragging – I’m just amazed and thankful, every day of my life, at my luck).” Well, cousin Dinah is a grand girl. A little over the top with the Minute Tapioca (sometimes we think they're paying her to advertise the stuff), but we love her. She just brought us some fresh rhubarb, and this swell recipe for:

Delicious Rhubarb Pie

1 ½ tbsp Minute Tapioca
1 1/3 cups sugar
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp grated orange rind
1 tbsp melted butter
4 cups cut rhubarb
1 recipe Pie Crust

Combine ingredients and let stand about 15 minutes. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry rolled 1/8 inch thick, allowing pastry to extend 1 inch beyond edge. Fold edge back to form standing rim. Fill with rhubarb mixture. Moisten edge of pastry with cold water; arrange lattice of pastry strips across top. Flute rim with fingers. Bake in hot oven (450 F.) 15 minutes; then decrease heat to moderate (350 F.) and bake 15 minutes longer.

A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband

2009-07-25T20:58:00.000-07:00

This cookbook, A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband with Bettina’s Best Recipes, by Louise Bennett Weaver and Helen Cowles Le Cron ("The Romance of Cookery and Housekeeping") easily gets our vote for Cutest Cookbook Ever. First published in 1917, we have here the revised 1932 edition. It’s a cookbook that reads like a novel; the chapters are arranged by months, following newlyweds Bettina and Bob as they eat their way through the first year of married life, from their first meal in their cozy bungalow, to motoring picnics, porch parties, Sunday dinners, engagement and bridal shower luncheons for Bettina’s girlfriends, dinner parties, teas, a Halloween party, a “firelight social,” Thanksgiving dinner, and so forth.

The dedication reads:

To every little bride

Who has a “Bob” to please

And says she’s tried and tried
To cook with skill and ease,
And can’t! – we offer here as guide

Bettina’s Recipes!

To her whose “Bob” is prone to wear

A sad and hungry look,

Because the maid he thought so fair

Is – well – she just can’t cook.

To her we say: do not despair;

Just try Bettina’s Book!

Though subject to much derision by modern audiences, to contemporary readers, Bettina must have seemed enviably liberated. It’s also interesting to note that even the 1932 edition has Bettina entertaining some of the “leading suffragists of the city” (Bob’s aunt among them) at a “porch breakfast” party. Bob is an enlightened husband for the day, who sometimes helps with the cooking and washing up. Nor is Bettina chained to kitchen and home – she has modern conveniences that enable her to enjoy leisure activities of an afternoon, yet have dinner ready by six when Bob gets home. Most of her meals can be prepared as quickly and easily as today's packaged box meals and disprove the theory that all 30s food is bizarre, unappetizing, or both. Tonight, we fixed Bettina’s beefloaf (aka meatloaf), with tomato sauce on the side, escalloped potatoes, head lettuce salad with Russian dressing, and rice pudding for dessert. As the ever-economical Bettina notes, all three of the baked dishes can be in the oven at once.

Rice Pudding (Three portions)

1 ¼ cup milk

1 egg

4 tbsp sugar

¼ tspn salt

1 tspn vanilla

1 cup cooked rice

1 tspn butter

1/8 tspn grated nutmeg

Beat the egg; add the sugar, salt, nutmeg, vanilla, and milk. Add the rice. Pour the mixture into a well-buttered baking dish and dot with butter. Bake in a moderate oven (325-375 F.) twenty-five minutes. It may be served hot or cold. Cream may be served with it if desired.

The original 1917 edition of A Thousand Ways to Please a Husband is available on Google Reader, as is its much harder to find sequel, A Thousand Ways to Please a Family (1922), which again features Bettina and Bob, now joined by their daughter Sue and son Robin. The series also includes Bettina’s Best Salads and What to Serve with Them and Bettina’s Best Desserts (both 1923, not in novel form), and When Sue Began to Cook with Bettina’s Best Recipes: A Beginning Cookbook for Girls from Eight to Fifteen (1924).

Aprons

2009-07-18T19:22:00.000-07:00

Aprons of the 1920s & 30s are fun to wear and collect. We would probably be content just to look at ours, but they actually get a lot of use. The Model A Ford Club of America has a terrific, well-researched article on aprons, housedresses, and morning wear of the Model A Era (1928-1931) on their website's Fashion Era section. This floral beauty from the 30s arrived looking as good as new. We happened to pair it with this well-worn Hooverette one day, and had not realized until that moment that they are the same fabric - the Hooverette is so badly faded.

The latest apron find - swoon!

This is a repro
"flapper" apron made (but not by us) from a 1920s Decades of Style pattern. It reminds us of the one Angelina Jolie wears in Change-
ling, set in 1928.

Vintage and reproduction apron patterns seem to be fairly plentiful, and most require only 1-yard of fabric. They can also be purchased ready made, in vintage or retro style, such as these from Foxglove Cottage. Above: Simplicity apron pattern, c. early 1930s; Apron gift ideas from Ladies Home Journal, 1926; Simplicity "Christmas Aprons," 1936.

Bisquick 101 - 1933

2009-07-16T18:33:00.001-07:00

We love being able to use products that were around in the Depression era. Like Jell-O and Calumet, Bisquick is a survivor. Today’s recipes come from a little booklet distributed by General Mills in 1933 called Betty Crocker’s 101 Delicious Bisquick Creations As Made and Served by Well-Known Gracious Hostesses; Famous Chefs; Distinguished Epicures; and Smart Luminaries of Movieland.

Although her first official cookbook did not appear until 1950, Betty Crocker would have been a household name to women of the 1920s-30s, through her popular radio show, Betty Crocker’s School of the Air, through magazine ads for General Mills products, and through advertising booklets like this.

Mrs. Julian Street, Jr. (of Sutton Place, New York) suggests, for informal luncheons and buffet suppers, this recipe for Pigs in Blankets.

“Oh, let’s pop ‘round to Narcissa and Pete’s after the Forgotten Man Ball – I hear they’re serving those divine pigs in blankets again!”

"You don't say! How original!"

"Darling, I could be original too, if I had the Vanderslip millions behind me."

"Oh no - Pigs in Blankets are economical! They're Bisquick!"

Don't you wish you could be a fly on the wall at one of Gloria Swanson’s intimate parties? What’s that on the buffet table? It looks like – why, it is! - cheese Bisquicks!

Clarita, Countess de Forceville commends the Hunt Club Sandwich as one of her most interesting “specialties” . . . that never fails to please men! Listen to the Countess – she knew her stuff! Looking into the future, we see she would write a book called Marriages are Made at Home (1938).

Make Bisquick dough and roll out very thin, as for pie crust. Dot surface with 4 tbsp. butter. Fold so as to make 3 layers. Turn halfway round. Roll out half the pastry thin (1/8 inch) to cover bottom of oblong pan, about 12x9 inches, and pace in pan. Spread thickly with Chicken and Ham filling. Cover with remaining dough rolled thin. Cut through in desired shapes such as squares, diamonds, etc., but leave in place. Bake 15 minutes in a hot oven, 450 F.

Filling: to 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, cut up and flaked; 1/4 cup cooked ham, cut in 1/2 inch pieces, add 4 tbsp. milk, 3 beaten egg yolks, and 2 hard cooked eggs, chopped fine. Season with salt and pepper. Spread on above pastry as directed.

The Comtesse de Frise spared a few moments between gadding about between New York and Palm Springs to impart her waffle recipe. We can't prove it, but we think she stole this one from Clark Gable. They are marvelously delicate and crisp when made this way with Bisquick:

2 cups Bisquick
2 eggs
1 ½ cups milk
2 tbsp. melted butter (if desired)

Beat eggs well with a rotary beater. Add milk and Bisquick. Beat with the egg beater to mix batter very thoroughly. Mix in the butter if a richer waffle is desired. Pour into hot waffle iron (3 tablespoons of batter make 1 waffle). Bake until golden brown. To get a crisp waffle, iron must be very hot. Amount: 6 to 8 light, tender waffles.

Claudette Colbert shared her favorite dessert – Peach Shortcake.
2 cups Bisquick
2 tablespoons sugar
¾ cup cream

Add sugar to Bisquick. Stir in cream and mix well. Turn dough onto lightly floured board and knead gently to smooth up. Roll out ¾ inch thick. For individual shortcakes, cut with 3-inch cutter and bake. For one large shortcake pat out ½ of dough in round 8 inch pan. Dot with butter. Place other half of dough on top. Bake in a hot oven (450 F.) for 12 minutes. Split and place sweetened sliced peaches between layers and on top. Serve with whipped Cream or as desired. Amount: 6 to 8 individual shortcakes or servings.

Note: if rich milk is used in place of cream, it is better to roll the dough thinner (half as thick), spread with melted butter, fold half of dough over and cut shortcakes from this double thickness of dough.

Happy Times Are Here Again

2009-07-15T15:31:00.001-07:00

This little recipe booklet is from Calumet Baking Power, 1934. Who wouldn't sing about Calumet's Double-Action, which meant you could use less to bake more.

Recipe for Economical Gold Cake

2 cups sifted Swan's Down Cake Flour

2 teaspoons Calumet Baking Powder

1/2 cup butter or other shortening

1 cup sugar

3 egg yolks, beaten until thick and lemon colored

3/4 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

Sift flour once, measure, add baking powder, and sift together three times. Cream butter thoroughly, add sugar gradually, and cream together until light and fluffy. Add egg yolks and beat well. Add flour, alternately with milk, a small amount at a time. Beat after each addition until smooth. Add flavoring. Beat well. Bake in two greased 9-inch layer pans in moderate oven (375 F.) 25 to 30 minutes. Spread Seven Minute Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake. Double recipe to make three 10-inch layers.

Seven Minute Frosting

2 egg whites

1 1/2 cups sugar

5 tablespoons water

1 1/2 teaspoons light corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine egg whites, sugar, water, and corn syrup in top of double boiler, beating with rotary egg beater until thoroughly mixed. Place over rapidly boiling water, beat constantly with rotary egg beater, and cook 7 minutes, or until frosting will stand in peaks. Remove from boiling water; add vanilla and beat until thick enough to spread.

Jell-O

2009-07-15T08:56:00.000-07:00

Nothing makes us feel more vintage-y than knowing that safe within the electric refrigerator, Jell-O is jelling - whether in a huge deco mold (though we know it will collapse as soon as it is unmolded), in tiny individual containers, a ring mold, or a loaf pan (depending on the occasion and how ambitious we're feeling).

How about Pineapple Mounds on a summer evening? If Mrs. Dewey can do it, so can anyone. Sheesh, she spends half her time at the picture shows. No wonder... well, never mind.
Pineapple Mounds (pictured above):

1 package Lemon Jell-O

1 cup boiling water

1 cup pineapple juice

8 slices canned pineapple

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add pineapple juice. Pour into individual molds. Chill until firm. Unmold each mold on slice of pineapple. Serves 8.

(note: don't use fresh or frozen pineapple in Jell-O. It won't jell)

Or were you thinking of something more in the entree line? How about:

Ham and celery loaf:

1 package lime Jell-O

1 cup cooked ham, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups celery, finely chopped

1 tablespoon onion, scraped or finely minced

1 3/4 cups boiling water

1/4 cup vinegar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 sweet pickles, finely chopped.

Dissolve Jell-O in boiling water. Add vinegar and salt. Chill. When slightly thickened, fold in ham, celery, onion and pickles. Turn into loaf pan. Chill until firm. Unmold. Garnish with crisp water cress. Serves 10.

All images above are from 1929-1933. Jell-O then came in 6 fruit flavors: lime, strawberry, cherry, lemon, orange and raspberry. And don't forget that "plain Jell-O" is luscious!

Recent vintage kitchen finds

2008-09-24T11:34:00.001-07:00

1930s deco Hamilton Beach mixer, model E, with milk glass bowls and juicer attachment.

1930s cake decorator in original box with recipe for Alice's Cake Decorating frosting written inside the lid:

4 cups powdered sugar
3/4 cup spry (solid shortening)
1/4 cup water
Flavoring (vanilla or dash of peppermint)
Cake coloring

1930s flour sifter.

Cookbook Mania!

2008-09-20T15:28:00.000-07:00

We love vintage cookbooks, especially those from 1927-1939. We do use them... when we cook. Here are a few favorites...

Dee-Licious Recipes. Published by the Oakland, CA Women's Club, 1932

Fashions in Foods. Published by the Beverly Hills Women's Club, 1929. This copy is in great condition, and was obviously used. It has the original owner's notes here and there, such as "try!"

Balanced Recipes. Published by Pillsbury, 1933. Recipes by Mary Ellis Ames. This one comes in an aluminum tin case with a great Deco cover.

Two outstanding cookbooks by Mabel Claire: The Modern Cookbook for the Busy Woman (1932) and The Salad and Dessert Book (1933). We haven't been able to find out much about Miss Claire, but her books are favorites.

The Modern Priscilla Standard Cookbook, 1929. This edition has the wonderful Deco cover. This copy still had its protective brown wrapper on it, which had become one with the washable cover. However, it was easy to remove with plain water and patience, and now looks like new. The recipes in this cookbook are the same as those of the much more readily available Pictorial Review Standard Cookbook (A Sure Guide for Every Bride), 1931-1933 editions.

It doesn't have a cute cover, but another old standby is Jessie Marie deBoth's Modernistic Recipe-Menu Book, 1929. We will do a future post just on Miss deBoth.

Good Housekeeping's Good Meals and How to Prepare Them (1929 edition) is another one we turn to again and again.

Finally - for now - there's Dorothy Fitzgerald's Quality Cookbook: Modern Cooking and Table Service, 1932. This one has a little pocket in the back for recipe clippings, and still has some in it.