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.

While You are Waiting: Whiz Burgers!

I'm working on a fantabulous holiday appetizer post for you, and in the process, came across the following that I just had to get out pronto:

I'll be back with more Kraft fun shortly!

20th Century Wieners! The Dogs Kids Love to Sprinkle with Parmesan

Everyone loves hotdogs. Fat kids, skinny kids, kids who climb on rocks. (Click it. You know you want to.)

Armor says it. Oscar Mayer says it. It must be true.

Cutco obviously believed it as well; it includes a whole chapter titled "Wieners."

Here are some kids enjoying a string, as if to prove the songs.

And here's a recipe in case your kids are bored with the same old dog in a bun. (Or cut up into unchokable chunks if they are little.)

If they are anything like my kids when they were young, they'll want nothing to do with this dish. But then, I was a bad parent and didn't teach them to eat what was placed before them. Hopefully you can learn from my mistake and tell them to clean their plate or lose out on the Jello.

I wonder what the 21st Century Weiner will be like?

Suggestions appreciated.

Cheesy Tuna to Tame that Man-Child Brute

Here's the last entry I'll be posting from Who Says We Can't Cook!, this one filled with savvy advice for today's modern miss and would-be fascinator.

"It is wisdom as old as the hills that the way to get along with a man-child is to feed the brute," Mary Haworth advises readers of our WNPC cook book. "Lots of famous fascinators can't cook but I am convinced that nothing gives a woman greater self-confidence as a woman than the ability to cook well."

Analyzing females and foods, she believes "The womanly woman has a congenital urge to cook well. She cooks to please her man almost as instinctively as the vamp powders her nose."

And, as a final warning, Mary points out, "The lovable woman is a nurturing woman and men don't leave them because 'you can't hardly get them kind no more'."

Her preferred Lenten dish, good any Friday, and heavy enough to please the most masculine appetite is:

Tuna and Mushrooms with Cheese Sauce

Wash and slice 1 3/4 pounds fresh mushrooms and saute in butter or margarine 5 minutes. (Or use canned button mushrooms instead--4 or 5 small cans well drained.) Get approximately 3 pounds white canned tuna, drain off oil and break or cut into fairly large bite-size pieces.

To make the sauce, melt 1/4 pound butter or margarine, blend in 10 tablespoons flour and cook two minutes, stirring constantly. Add to 5 cups heated milk, tablespoon Ac'cent, 1/4 teaspoon saffron, and 2/3 pound very sharp cheese cut into small pieces. If you like, substitute 2/3 cup of sherry for 2/3 cup mil. Cook, stirring constantly, until cheese has melted and the sauce begins to bubble.

Add tuna and mushrooms to sauce. Now season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper. Serve in chafing dish or casserole. This serves 13, so reduce ingredients proportionately for smaller number. Incidentally, the saffron makes the dish.

No Gateau for You!

This recipe comes from Josephine Ripley who worked for the Christian Science Monitor's Washington Bureau.

Giving dinner to Virginia-born Lady Astor presented an unexpected problem for my editor, Erwin Canham, and his wife. The Canham maid, also from Virginia, held her own opinion of highborn ladies from her State. When informed that Lady Astor was to be a dinner guest, she muttered ominously, "She'll be late." She was.

When Lady Astor complimented the Gateau Fromage, Mrs. Canham rang for the maid to bring another serving to her distinguished guest. To her amazement, the servant announced flatly: "There ain't no more, ma'am."

There was, as Mrs. Canham knew--but not apparently for Lady Astor.

Gateau Fromage

Line pie plate with pastry. Grate into it 1/2 pound cheese--aged, sharp cheddar.

Mix: 1 beaten egg, 1 tablespoon flour, 1 scant cup milk.

Pour over the cheese without stirring. Jiggle plate a bit to mix. Bake in a quick, very hot oven, 450 degrees, 25 to 30 minutes.

Let set a few minutes until it will cut neatly, but is still hot. Use as a first course, or a luncheon dish, with tossed salad.

Cannes Seafood Casserole

This artist says "I try to turn out a painting that will speak for itself."

If the statement also holds true for recipes, I'd say that this one deserves a spot in the Cannes Food Festival.

(Get it? Cannes? Oh never mind.)

It's another fine example of the heavy reliance on canned food products during the sixties. With all that white sauce, butter, and cheese it might be rather good using fresh ingredients. I'd probably hold off on the hardboiled eggs, which also seems to be sixties thing.

Have a look.

Seafood Casserole

3 hard-cooked eggs, sliced

2 cups medium white sauce

1 can shrimp cut in halves

1 can tuna, well drained

1 cup bread crumbs mixed with 1/2 stick melted butter

1 2-oz can sliced mushrooms

1 can crabmeat

1/4 lb. grated cheddar cheese

Place in buttered baking dish, layers of sliced egg, shrimp, tuna, mushrooms and crabmeat, pouring white sauce over each layer. Sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover top with buttered crumbs. Bake in 325 degree oven for 45 minutes. Serves 6 to 8.

Cheese "Fondue"

I'm a huge fan of cheese fondue. Who isn't? It's gooey, unctuous, rich, deliciousness.

But the kind I'm familiar with is kept warmly viscous in a heated pot, awaiting chunks of bread and veggies to be dipped. The recipe below sounds as if it could very well be slice-able.

What gives?

Cheese Fondue

(an often used old South Hampton Recipe)

1 cup milk

3 eggs

1/2 lb. grated cheese

1/2 tsp. salt

1 cup soft bread crumbs

1 tbsp. butter

Pour milk over the bread crumbs, add salt, cheese and well-beaten yolks of eggs. Mix thoroughly. Cut and fold in the stiffly beaten whites and pour mixture into a greased baking dish. Bake in a moderate oven (325 degrees) until firm (20 min.). Serve at once.

Macaroni and Cheese: the other orange vegetable

Here's another great find from Meals for Small Families.

The vegetable voted number 1 by children all over the country: Macaroni and Cheese!


Mis-categorization isn't the only baggage this recipe carries; it offers the option of using CANNED macaroni.

Canned. Macaroni.

I never knew such a thing existed.

Have a look.

Macaroni and Cheese

Boil macaroni in salted water until tender, or purchase a small can ready for heating.

Place a layer of macaroni in a baking dish, add grated cheese and alternate with macaroni, until dish is filled. Cover with white sauce (Recipe, page 134) and bake about 40 minutes in a moderate over. A small can will make 3 servings. This may be used as a meat substitute.

Only American cheese of good flavor should be used for this.