Sunday, August 19, 2012

Dishes Men Like: a Mid-Century Cookbook

A friend gave me a small stack of retro and vintage cookbooks this summer because she knows that I collect them.  I set them on my cookbook shelf and forgot about them until this week when I took a look at the pamphlet-style Dishes Men Like, a cookbook published by Lea & Perrins Worcestershire Sauce in 1952: 


Each of the 168 recipes uses Worchestershire sauce, and Lea & Perrins swears that the sauce is the "favorite of men in all parts of the country."  The subtitle on this book reads "new recipes and old favorites...easy to prepare...sure to please."  And with instructions like this:


this cookbook should have been a hit with men, right?

So I laughed out loud when I saw page after page after page of this:


Most of the recipes must have been terrible because the former owner has crossed most of them out!  Were these recipes not man-pleasing enough?  The only recipe on the page above that didn't get the axe was the recipe for Deviled Crackers, which are saltine crackers spread with butter (and Worchestershire sauce!) and baked in an oven.  Wow.

Some of the recipes sound less-than-appetizing though, so I don't blame the former owner for crossing them out.  Speedy Green Noodles De LuxeJellied Chicken Loaf.  Tuna Fondue anyone?

As I do the majority of the cooking in our household I just may whip up a Succulent Meat Pie or something and test it out on my husband.  I actually already have a bottle of Lea & Perrins in the fridge so I'm already prepared!

Dear readers, is there a recipe that you love to make for your family that is always a big hit?  Share it with us!



4 comments:

  1. This IS hilarious! I can't imagine L&P being fabulous in 168 recipes to begin with. Let us know how your experiment goes!

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  2. What a fun vintage post for a change. Loved it.

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  3. This was great! I have never seen a book like that. Happy VTT

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  4. Maybe they were marked out purely because they sounded so disgusting. I mean, who wants to eat a "Mystery" Cheese Ball spread?? And is it that so many recipes from the 1950s are so bizarre?

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