Cookbook of the Week: Mastering the Art of Outdoor Cooking on Your Gas Grill, circa 197?

 

The cookbook of the week is Mastering the Art of Outdoor Cooking on Your Gas Grill, just in time for a few more summer barbecues before the leaves start to change color.

While there's no copyright date in the book, we think it hales from sometime in the 1970s. Maxi skirts appeared in Paris in the 1960s, but didn't go mainstream until the next decade, and the cover model is sporting a particularly spectacular one:

Tune in to the Cookbook Love page on Facebook for pictures, commentary, and recipes from this book all week long!

Summer Time is Barbecue Time!

I would so love to meet Frank Marcello, the illustrator who created this fabulous image from a 1960's Cutco cookbook. No Ozzie and Harriet idyll for him; nope, kids are about to kill themselves and each other, pets create havoc, and one dad sleeps through it all.

He's a funny one old Frank. Click here for more examples of his work.

Now I'm off to find a pair of those sexy lace up shoes...

Sack O' Sauce in a Can O' Meat

All due thanks to the Cathy Peters and the Gallery of Regrettable Foods for this image:

Just wow.

Of course I had to find more examples for your culinary(?) enjoyment.

This one may be my favorite. Apparently wieners in a can were just the thing to have on hand in case the doorbell rings when you least expect it. It even comes with recipe suggestions, such as "Barbecue wieners stuffed with dressing".

WHAT?

This picture has slightly better image quality so that you can really see the juicy meaty chunks:

Plus check out the little egg shaped guy holding a huge wiener in the lower right corner.

What do you suppose his story is?

The ghost of sack o' sauce past?

Happy Father's Day: Dad Cooks Out!

The main reason I'm including this recipe is the nifty illustration at the top of the page.

Doesn't this look just like your dad when he's grilling? It sure looks like mine.

The Hearty Green Bean-Sausage Casserole doesn't seem exactly like a cookout dish, but whatever. It was right below the picture of your dad, so be quiet.

It's probably a good idea that they didn't include a picture of the dish itself. Consider the combination of sausage, tomatoes, and green beans in a gravy base. Gordon Ramsay might say it looks like a dogs dinner, which is more polite than the comparison I would have used.

Despite the potential appearance, let's not be hasty. It may well be delicious.

Ask your dad to make it at the next family cookout. But maybe he should lose the pipe.

Hearty Green Bean-Sausage Casserole

Tomatoes and green beans add garden-fresh flavor and appealing color to this tempting supper dish.

1 lb. bulk pork sausage

1 cup sliced onion

3 to 4 tbs. unsifted Gold Medal Flour

2 1/2 cups cooked tomatoes (1 lb. 4-oz. can)

2 cups cooked fresh green beans

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. pepper

Biscuit Topping (below)

Heat oven to 425 degrees (hot). Brown sausage and onion over low heat. (Break up sausage with fork.) Drain off excess fat. Stir in flour; stir in vegetables and seasonings. Bring to a boil. Pour into 2-qt. baking dish. Immediately top with Biscuit Topping. Bake 20 min. 6 to 8 servings.

Biscuit Topping: Add 1/3 cup milk all at once to 1 cup Bisquick. Beat hard 20 strokes; knead 8 to 10 times. Roll into 9" circle; cut in 8 wedges.