Spread one slice of bread with mayonnaise. Heap on grated Miss Wisconsin Medium Aged Cheddar and top with another slice of bread. Grill on both sides in butter until slightly browned. Serve hot, garnished with pickle fans.

Okay, you may have noticed I’m originally from Wisconsin… love cheese and fish fries! As this cookbook points out, “Cheese is one of America’s favorite foods– cheese and crackers, macaroni and cheese, cheese with pie, are all standard fare in most homes.”

This quaint little cookbook recipes from appetizers, main dishes, salads, sandwiches, to desserts. Mmmm… their Grilled Cheddar Cheese Sandwich recipe looks good with the addition of mayo! I might have to make that for lunch. (recipe to follow)

• 2 pounds fillets, steaks, or portion fish
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, or other fat, melted

Cut fillets into serving sized portions. Add salt to milk. Dip fillets in milk and roll in crumbs; place in well greased baking pan. Sprinkle each piece of fish with butter. Bake in an extremely hot oven, 500 degrees F, for 10 to 12 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.  Serves 6.

“With today’s high prices, no wonder you’re at your wit’s end!”  I guess things haven’t changed much in the past 53 years, have they?  Apparently fish was “easy on your budget” back then, and choosing fish helped lower food costs.

This brochure also points out the high nutritive value of fish with it’s protein, iodine, calcium, iron, copper, phosphorous, and essential vitamins.  Mercury must not have been an issue back then.  Fish is also easily digested, so it is particularly good for children and elderly people.

Stay tunaed, er, tuned for recipes and more from this fine little recipe brochure!

Soft Cheeses

Brie – Creamy ripened cheese with an edible thin brown rind and white crust.  Mild to strong flavor.

Camembert – Soft, ripened cheese with a creamy yellow interior and edible crust. Pleasantly pungent.

Cream – White, smooth, mild; unripened type. Available plain and as pimento, pineapple, and other varieties.  Also comes whipped–plain and flavored. An unripened cheese, serve slightly chilled.

Liederkranz – Soft, creamy yellow. Pungent in flavor, similar to a mild limburger.

Neufchatel – Soft, white, mild. Similar to cream cheese. An unripened cheese; server slightly chilled.

Semisoft Cheeses

Bel Paese – Light yellow Italian cheese; mild and smooth.

Blue – Blue veined, white and crumbly; robust flavor. A first cousin to Roquefort.

Brick – Mild Flavor; creamy yellow with tiny holes.

Gorgonzola – Italian blue-veined cheese, sharp flavor.

Gruyere – Nutlike flavor; light yellow color. Similar to Swiss cheese but with smaller “eyes” and sharper flavor.

Port du Salut – Mild flavor; creamy yellow. Cheese made by Trappist monks in France.

Roquefort - French blue-veined cheese; sharp flavor.

Stilton – English blue-veined cheese; sharp flavor.

Hard Cheeses

Cheddar - Mild to very sharp flavor

Edam or Gouda – Firm, mild, red-coated rounds; a colorful addition to the cheese tray.

Fontina - Round Italian cheese with mellow flavor

Swiss - Mild, nutliek flavor and distinctive holes or “eyes”.

In the photo, from left to right…

Top row: Cream, Neufchatel, Camembert, Brie, Liederkranz.
Second row: Roquefort, Port du Salut, Blue, Brick, Gorgonzola.
Third row: Stilton, Fontina, Bel Paese, Gruyere, Swiss.
Bottom row: Gouda, Cheddar, Edam

Anyhow, enough about my sordid addiction to vintage cookbooks…

The cover illustration on this one is just fantastic, kudos to the illustrator!  The house on the cover is surely a classic “modern” tri-level, with great sleek & modern furnishings.  I want to live there and have dinner parties every weekend!Once you dig into the contents of this beauty, you will learn a lot… about being a hostess.  And I must say, this cookbook is verrry open for the late sixties… it even has info for Gay Supper Parties!  Wait, I think that meant something else back then… but maybe not! Anyhow, you’ll find ideas for dinner parties, “bright little brunches and lunches”, teas and receptions, casual get-togethers (outdoors and in), and Holiday specials.

This is truly a classic filled with fine food photos, fun illustrations, and a really nice selection of recipes and ideas.

Cooking time: 15 minutes  •  Yield: 4 large portions

• 1/4 cup butter or shortening
• 2 cups (1 lb.) lean pork, cut in thin strips
• 1 cup onions, cut fine
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/16 teaspoon pepper
• 2 cups celery (cut in 1-inch pieces, then into thin strips, lengthwise)
• 1 1/2 cups hot water
• 1 can La Choy Mixed Chinese Vegetables (drained well)

For Flavoring and thickening:

• 2 tablespoons cold water
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 teaspoons La Choy Soy Sauce
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon La Choy Brown Gravy Sauce if Chop Suey is desired

Method: Melt butter or vegetable fat in hot skillet. Add meat, stir and sear quickly (without browning or burning), add onions and fry for five minutes. Add celery, salt, pepper and hot water. Cover and cook for five minutes,  Add drained La Choy Mixed Chinese Vegetables. Mix thoroughly and heat to boiling point.  Combine and add flavoring and thickening ingredients.  Stir lightly and cook for one minute.

Serve piping hot with La Choy Noodle for Chow Mein or cooked rice for Chop Suey.  Flavor individual dishes with La Choy Soy Sauce.

Garnish or decorate with lettuce, parsley, sliced green onions and sliced cold boiled egg, or slender strips of fried beaten egg.  Whole or chopped nuts may be added.

Half of the book is comprised of various baked goods and desserts (hence the baking powder), and the other half contains soups, main dishes, information on canning, and even… suggestions for invalids! I mean, really, how often does a cookbook even consider the needs for invalids?  No, poor invalids are usually just forgotten… who cares what invalids eat?!  Well, considering this cookbook appears to have hundreds, and hundreds of recipes squeezed into it’s 50 pages, only 7 of them are for invalids. Okay, they tried to be P.C. back in the 1920’s by adding a few pathetic recipes for invalids.  I’ll give them credit for that.

Okay, I know you are extremely curious as to what you would eat if you are an invalid… Barley Water, Aluminized Orange (egg white and orange juice!), Pineapple Juice, Beef Tea, Scraped Beef, Spanish Cream, Gluten Muffins. Apparently that is it, so stop whining and get well so you can have real food that might make you healthier than this crap!  Egg white and orange juice…. nasty!

Aside from the weird invalid recipes, the other recipes are very straight forward with minimal instructions.  They also, for the most part, appear to be some basic and okay recipes.  And while I always thought planked fish was some new yuppie chef creation… nope!  1923, baby!

“Chinese foods as we know them (actually they are Chines and domestic ingredients artfully blended to satisfy the American appetite) offer a welcome departure from dull, everyday dishes, though they cost no more to prepare.  Highly nutritious, Chop Suey for example, contains five to nine vegetables… meat, foul, or seafood… and rice, with an all-over flavoring of Soy Sauce. A balanced one-dish meal you yourself can prepare at home in fifteen minutes, rivaling the magic creations of the most famous Chinese chefs”

Hmm… “rivaling the magic creations of the most famous Chinese chefs”… I don’t buy it.  I’m sure I ate my fair share of La Choy products as a kid, and probably loved them, but what stands out for me was going to real Chinese restaurants where the food was more alive than a canned product… and had more MSG.  (Remind me to tell you about MSG…)

A light Swiss Neuchatel would be pleasant with this meal.

Swiss Tarte a L’Oignon

Green Salad (no recipe noted, just a standard salad, I assume)

Compote of Prunes