Before moving to the Pacific Northwest I had never heard a hazelnut called a “filbert”. Nor was I all that familiar with hazelnuts. I’d probably had them on fancy Pepperidge farm cookies and maybe in a bowl of mixed nuts every now and again, but they weren’t quite a thing in the late 1990s. Nutella…
Tag: 1970s
Lamb Conquistador (adapted from the Smart Shopper’s Cookbook, 1972)
Lamb Conquistador is an easy weeknight chili-with-beans from Smart Shopper’s Cookbook (1972) by former Betty Crocker executive Loyta Wooding. Like many recipes in Smart Shopper’s Cookbook it treats lamb shoulder and lamb chops as a budget friendly item – a cost-friendly alternative to beef. This may have been true in the 1970s but it’s hardly……
Tomato Beef Chow Yuk with Pea Pods (Oregon, 1974, adapted)
I’m fortunate to live in an area with a large Asian population and have ready access to high-quality traditional Chinese food. And I occasionally like to tell myself that I’m somehow fancy or cultured because I can distinguish regional cuisines or appreciate cold, spiced jellyfish, but I also have a soft spot in my heart……
Vintage Cookbook Review: No Regrets (Junior League of Portland, 1974)
No Regrets (1974) is compilation of recipes from the Junior League of Portland (Oregon). Like the other Junior League cookbooks in my collection this is something more than a traditional community cookbook. As with a church or Elks Lodge cookbook it contains recipes collected from members, but they are presented without attribution and intended to…
Cookbook Review: The Smart Shopper’s Cookbook (1972)
I picked up my copy of The Smart Shopper’s Cookbook from a local antique mall. What drew me to this cookbook, besides the smart-shopper price tag ($2!), was the very specific audience that this book targets. The Smart Shopper’s Cookbook is written for the American homemaker in an era of energy crises and record inflation,…
Cookbook Review: Hawaii Kai Cookbook (1970)
Once upon a time Hawaii Kai was a popular theme restaurant in New York City. In the internet age its claim to fame is as a shooting location for Martin Scorsese’s infinitely memeable GoodFellas, but it was a staple of the Theater district for thirty plus years. And by all accounts it way beyond your…
Vintage Church Cookbook: Favorite Recipes of Thorn Grove Baptist Church (1978)
Favorite Recipes of Thorn Grove Baptist Church (1978), from a small congregation in rural Tennessee, is a standout favorite in my vintage church cookbook collection. Don’t be deceived by the simple cover art and handtyped presentations – these are great recipes filled with bright flavors and personality. These folks must have thrown amazing potlucks. A…
Adventures in Food (Oklahoma church, mid-1970s)
This book is a hand-me-down from my mother – a collection of recipes from our local congregation in Oklahoma sometime in mid-1970s. Adventures in Food was a fundraiser for the women’s organization, published by the Walter’s Publishing Company, then of Waseca, Minnesota. Walter’s is still operating today, publishing yearbooks and church directories as a subsidiary…
The Tortilla Book (1975)
The Tortilla Book by Diana Kennedy is a cookbook that I enjoy reading as much as I enjoy cooking from. Ms. Kennedy is widely regarded as one of the foremost English language authorities on Mexican food, but she’s not and never was your average celebrity chef. She approaches food writing more as a journalist or…