Cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021: Quick and Easy Meals for Two (1952)

The cookbook of the week for April 2, 2021 was this little cutie, Quick and Easy Meals for Two, published in 1952! Here's our kickoff video for it:

The title page offers a preview of the adorable illustrations. Animals are always happy to be consumed in old cookbooks.

Each section opens with an illustration like this one, in which the woman apparently has an actual menu board in her home and yet tries to convince us menu planning is easy.

The whole book is structured around the idea of menus, which is actually kind of handy. And several sections are organized by season, featuring what's fresh during that time of year. Here we are, thinking about summer, for example:

The idea of crunchy devilled eggs confused me slightly. Here's the recipe, which was significantly less bad than it could have been.

So, what are we having for dinner?

Let's start with salad. This one seems like a LOT of work.

Maybe just an easy tossed salad instead. With a special home-enhanced dressing.

Or if you prefer, we can go straight to dessert. For once you can eat with your fingers. Sort of.

I'm always leery of recipes including baby food, but what do I know?

This actually sounds straight-up delicious.

The book offers helpful tips for those who are just starting out in the kitchen.

Like this tip for feeding men wieners.

Can't speak for good old boys, but I'd eat this!

Is this one man-friendly? Cabbagey chili with plops of mashed potatoes?

There's a section for what I call "desperation dinners."

Luckily, I rarely get THIS desperate:

Happy hubby seems to like what he sees in this opener to the appetizer section:

Here's one reason why:

Wondering if these dishes end up being a mood killer though:

If all else fails, put on a pretty apron, and let your pressure cooker sing you a happy tune.

Quick and Easy Meals for Two is a lovely, fun little book, and a great addition to any cookbook collection. 

 

Jack Frost Frozen Squeeze Cheese

I found a recipe called Frozen Nippy Cheese on another blog. It was just a typed recipe, and so I hunted down something similar in this 1929 cookbooklet:

Check out the introduction:

I'm puzzled about why these recipes were developed for apartment dwellers. There must have been a socioeconomic trend to justify creating something this targeted, but I'm not sure what it was. I'd love to research it, but I've already jumped down too many Kraft cheese rabbit holes because of this recipe, and it's time to call it quits for the day.

Here's the recipe. 

The original version I found was called "Frozen Nippy Cheese" which is what drew my attention. The idea of freezing cheese spread seemed odd, but apparently the idea stuck around for a while. Here's a version which appeared in the June 28, 1940 issue of the Toledo Blade:

(In case you are wondering, bar le duc jelly turns out to be a highfalutin currant jelly named for a town in France. It is a luxury item served with things like foie gras, or in this case, adulterated processed cheese spread. )

My first question was "What is nippy cheese, and where do I get some?"

One web forum discussion said that nippy cheese was a Kraft product that came in a tube, and perhaps later in a jar. And so off I went on a quest to find an image to share.

All I came up with was this one:

It's not from Kraft. But I like it. The dog and the fox and the hunter, all hanging out together around a box of good old Nippy Cheese, forks held high.

What I did find were some amazing old Kraft cheese food ads. Take a look.

First off, cheese in a can (but not the spray kind). 

Finally a more sanitary cheese! (To serve hard, chill before opening.)

Then we have this little gem, from 1932.

During this hectic season, who doesn't need a few quick cheese tricks up their sleeve?

Here are two color ads from the 1930s:

Let's all cheer along with them! I'm joining in for the neat transparent wrapper!

The Saturday Evening Post proclaims that it's more than delicious. And who can disagree when tempted by green olive topped macaroni and cheese timbales?:

While we are talking about cheesy mounds of goodness, here's an example from the 1940s:

Velveeta is born! Viva la Velveeta!

Sometime soon Kraft branched out into all sorts of varieties:

(Sadly, I still don't see "Nippy" in the lineup. But Smo-kay is okay.)

Next come Swankyswigs!

Ladies choice includes Limburger, and my personal favorite, TEEZ.

Of course Kraft also cranked out other products:

Why oh why can we no longer find dehydrated American cheese on our grocer's shelves? No Nippy, no powdered American...

Unless of course you open a box of Kraft Dinner:

Apparently people just snapped jars off the shelves and ignored the cheese-muffled sound of shattering glass:

This guy probably also brought lots of sliced cheese for Dagwoodesque sandwiches like this one:

You can buy cheaper slices. But none that go better with hard boiled eggs and raw green peppers.

Kids love it too:

Especially when paired with olive-pimento loaf. My kids just couldn't get enough of that stuff. Make your favorite child a spicy cheese sammy with red onion. The kids in the cafetorium will line up to trade their Ho Hos for one of those babies.

Any way you slice it, Kraft does cheese, and they do it right.

But I can't find Nippy anywhere.

Sigh...

Luckily for you, they do still make cheese in jars. If you want to try Frozen Nippy Cheese, just grab one of those and let me know how it turns out.

What's for Lunch: Salad Marrakesh

Lunch today was what I'm calling a Moroccan salad. It started with Moroccan chicken and chick pea cakes, leftover from dinner last night. The cakes were based on an appetizer recipe which unfortunately I could not find online to share with you. I substituted cilantro for mint (because I had it), and added crushed sesame crackers to the meat mixture rather than using breadcrumbs as a coating. They were flavored with hot sauce and cumin. I sauteed them rather than deep frying followed by baking as the recipe specified.

I made a dressing from humus, lime and pineapple juice, and herb-flavored oil, with several dashes of cinnamon and cumin. The salad itself was simple; greens, bell pepper, and raisins. The cakes went on top and viola!

The flavors are interesting for a mutt of an American girl like me. Sweet and savory, spicy and tart, soft and crisp.

What's for dinner? Pizza!

Rollmops I say

Today's recipe may also leave you feeling ripped off. I'm sorry about that, but if your Mama hasn't broken it to you yet, let me do her dirty work:

Life isn't fair.

The "recipe" comes from the Appetizer section. Not sure why the editors thought a recipe was called for, but who am I to judge?

Rollmops

What is a rollmop you may well ask?

Here's a pic:

Roly Poly fish mops, eat them up, yum!

Never in the kitchen when Balls Tartare arrive

Here's another recipe which is unlikely to appear in a more current tome. It's from a book called Never in the Kitchen when Company Arrives by Theresa A. Morse, published by Doubleday and Company Inc. in 1964.

Mrs. Morse' writing style is a pleasure to read. Here are some of her introductory comments in the Appetizers chapter:

"For some guests, this is the best part of the dinner. Others consider anything heartier than nibbles of vegetables, olives, or tiny crackers a menace designed to spoil appetites for the dinner that follows. Still others behave as though the calories involved in these particular viands are damaging to avoirdupois above all others.

If you know the tastes and preferences of your guests in this area, be guided accordingly. If entertaining calorie counters, don't mow them down with temptation. If starving young men, go overboard. If you are uncertain (usually the case) try to have enough variety to appeal to everyone. In any case, have the appetizers conveniently at hand, urge your guests to help themselves, then leave them alone.

When the cocktail hour first gets under way, I am always among those present. Long ago I discovered that if I'm out in the kitchen, broiling delicious tidbits, while my guests are cozily bending their elbows, I get a Cinderella-type feeling. So, unless a helper is in the kitchen to mind the appetizers, I limit myself to those that are tasty without benefit of oven."

Obviously so, Mrs. Morse, for here is one of your suggestions which requires no baking, saving you from coveting that which your ugly stepsisters get to enjoy.

Balls Tartare

1/2 pound top round or sirloin, ground twice

1/4 pound fresh sauerkraut

Salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

Chopped chives or parsley

Season the meat and form into 24 flat rounds. Drain the sauerkraut, chop very fine, and add the caraway seeds. Place 1/2 teaspoon of this mixture on each meat round and fold the meat over so that it entirely encloses the sauerkraut. Shape into small balls and roll in finely chopped chives or parsley. Chill in refrigerator until ready to serve. Have small glass filled with toothpicks on the platter.