"vintage recipe" news and stories

I was over at my cousin's house this afternoon, going through recipes that had belonged to my great-aunt, when I stumbled across this gem of a recipe pamphlet. There's no date on it, but I'm guessing that it's from sometime in the mid-1960's. The recipe for Velveeta Nutburgers sounds like a terrible thing to do to innocent pecans.

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans
1/4 cup pickle relish
1/2 cup Kraft Mayonnaise
1/8 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
Salt, pepper
6 round buns
1/2 pound Velveeta

Blend the pecans, pickle relish, mayonnaise, Worcestershire sauce and seasonings to taste. Split the buns in half and spread the bottom halves with the nut mixture. Top each with a lengthwise slice of Velveeta. Place in a moderate oven, 350 degrees, for 10 minutes or until the Velveeta melts. Cover with the top halves of the buns and serve hot.

Here is another one from the recipe card file I picked up at an antique store years ago. I was flipping through her salad section today, to see if she had any interesting thoughts on how to use the bunch of kale that's been in my fridge for the last week (I always make it the same way and was hoping for some inspiration) when I stumbled across this one. It isn't actually anything particularly special, but I found the idea of an arranged salad with a quick blender dressing sort of appealing. Very retro and yet appropriate for the time of year.

Several years ago, when my Great-Aunt Flora had to be moved from her Philadelphia apartment to a nursing home closer to family in Brooklyn, I spent a lot of time helping my cousin Betsy clean out her closets and cabinets, in order to get the apartment ready for sale. In the process, I ended up taking a whole lot of stuff home with me, including a Cuisinart (oh joy of joys), several large bookshelves and a stack of Gourmet magazines from the 1960's and 70's.

I use the Cuisinart frequently. The bookshelves stand prominently in my apartment. But for the longest time, that stack of Gourmets sat, dusty and unloved, on the bottom shelf of a cabinet. I pulled them out a few days ago and started flipping through them, realizing that they be fun to write about. So, today I bring you a recipe from the August 1972 (35 years to the month!) Gourmet magazine for a "glazed tart of fresh raspberries." My heart struggles uncomfortably to think of all that glaze on perfect, fresh raspberries, but since it was James Beard's recipe, I imagine it was probably very tasty.

Here's another entry in my recipes from vintage cookbooks series. My mom found this 1913 edition of A Calendar of Dinners at a Portland thrift store several years ago. Knowing my affection for old and eclectic cookbooks, she bought it (for all of $.50) and tucked it away to give to me at the next gift-giving holiday. I often trot it out when I have people sitting around my living room, it's an excellent conversation piece. Most folks are fascinated by the creativity of those early 20th century marketers, as they managed to include Crisco in the preparation of almost every food imaginable.

You can see most of the recipe in the picture above, but just in case you actually want to test this one out, the recipe is also after the jump.

photo by Marisa McClellan