Elegant buffet service for four

Breakfasts and Brunches
Published 1966
Original price unknown
Found in a used book store

No whimsy here, Sunset's guide to morning food is so completely down-to-earth and no-nonsense that there aren't even color photos. Breakfast is serious business. So serious, in fact, that the introduction breaks down the basics of the basics: "The first section of this books gives us 78 selected recipes for breakfast and brunches. It includes unusual fruit and juice ideas, revolutionary material on egg cookery, and a variety of pancake, waffle, and bread recipes. "

How much more clear can they be, they mean business here, people. Banana Buttermilk business. Tarragon Egg business. Sour Cream Waffles with Shrimp and Mushrooms business.

Revolutionary business, too, this matter of cooking eggs. "If you actually boil an egg," the book tells us, "you are courting such disasters as rubbery whites, green yolks, cracked and leakign shells, waterlogged and lopsided eggs." Continuing on is an 8-paragraph set of instruction for soft-cooking, hard-cooking, and shelling eggs. Further in, how not to turn fried eggs into leather, the golden liquid-to-egg ratio for the perfect scramble, and a list of unusual omelet fillings:

• Artichokes
• Avocado and Ripe Tomato
• Gorgonzola and Black Walnuts
• Green Chili and Jack Cheese
• Sherried Shrimp
• Sausage
• Smoked Salmon and Cream Cheese

Oh weird.


The second half of the book contains menus and suggestions for brunches for 2-12 people. Elegant Garden Brunches full of chilled fruits and slided meats, Beach Brunches with pineapples and Deviled Eggs, Corned Beef Brunch, Pancake Brunch, After-The-Holidays Brunch... No occasion is left unbrunched. Not a single one.


And the Dirtiest Recipe Name Award goes to... Velvet Hot Cakes!

Tea for Two, and Brisket, too

Betty Crocker's New Dinner for Two Cookbook
Published 1964
Original price unknown
Found in a used book store



"Dear friend,
If you are a bride, a business girl, career wife, or a mother whose children are away from home - this book is for you."

Definitely for the child-free set, New Dinner for Two will delight the modern homemaker and her husband with treats like Double-deck Potatoes and Carrots, Boiled Dinner (a brisket and cabbage concoction), Walnut Cheese Bon-Bons, and Creamed Onions. All perfectly portioned for a petite party. Most menus come complete with a timetable, to make the most of prep-time, and there are handy marketing tips in the back. So sweet.

Sprinkled throughout are pennywise tidbits such as, "select canned goods economically. For example, you'll want top-quality peas to serve buttered for dinner but third-quality peas will make a delicious soup." Oh so true. Frankly Thrifty, the chapter devoted to cooking on a budget (or ostensibly for retirees and those whose children are away at U-Mass) shows ways to tighten the food budget with ease and just a pinch of imagination. Make pancakes with Bisquick as noted on page 91? Novel! Re-use uneaten vegetables in a casserole? Bravo!

Empty nesters are given special consideration in the chapter So You're Back to Two, with the special appendices Good Foods for Less Active Twosomes and Sunset Years Guide. The sage advice for seniors includes gems such as:

• Avoid foods containing too much roughage, such as cabbage, celery, and whole kernel corn.
• Include easy-to-eat foods like gelatin salads, souffles, and mashed potatoes.
• Contrast crisp-textured foods like toast points, crackers, and chow-mein noodles with softer foods in a menu

Economic and ageist matters aside, this cookbook is full of eerily-toned photographs and amazing illustrations - which themselves are well worth the cover price.



Here is a delightful recipe for Dinette Cake:
1 1/2 cups cake flour
1 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 cup shortening
2/3 cup milk
1 tsp flavoring
1 egg

Heat oven to 350. Stir flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Add shortening, milk, and flavoring. [note: recipe does not specify what flavor.] Beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. Add egg. Beat 2 more minutes. Pour into greased and floured 9x9 pan and bake 30-35 minutes.

Easy Penuce Icing
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cups brown sugar (packed)
3 tbsp milk
1 to 1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

Melt butter in saucepan. Stir in brown sugar. Boil and stir over low heat, 2 minutes. Stir in milk. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Cool to lukewarm. Gradually stir in confectioner's sugar. Place pan in ice water and stir until thick enough to spread.
Frosts a 9" Dinette Cake.
Enjoy!

And the Dirtiest Recipe Name Award goes to... Quickie French Tarts!