Betty Crocker Days

It's been a while since I've reviewed a cookbook, and this one is truly amazing - equally a historical relic from a long-ago cooking era as it is a source for recipes. I found this aging copy of Better Homes and Gardens Salad Book in my grandmother's apartment; the print date is 1957. The pages contain recipes from the classic American late 50s-early 60s period, a time of Jackie Kennedy fashion, anti-Communism, and the "Leave It to Beaver" culture - the apron-clad mother in the kitchen, cooking meatloaf and potatoes for her husband and children. Suffice to say, the level of culinary exploration in the average American kitchen during this time was minimal. The typical diet was dominated by staples like tuna noodle casserole, (actually all casseroles in general), frozen vegetables, and of course the infamous spam.

So what were the recipes for "salads" in this cookbook like? Hysterical, frankly. The majority of salads from that time apparently included either mayonnaise, jello, mini marshmallows, or all three. The selection of jello molds is expansive, and apparently appropriate for both sweet fruit salads and savory dishes. Apparently calorie-counting was not the objective, as Ranch-dressing smothered (defrosted frozen) vegetable salads clearly deemphasize nutritional value, and heavy cream is a key ingredient throughout the book. The most appalling were the corned-beef salad mold (with tomato jello) and the tangy tuna mousse squares - jello, mayo, and heavy cream with seafood.  Yum.

Throwing a kitchy cocktail party, I knew I'd need to start with punch and martini glasses, riddling the apartment with over-the-top decorations. Platters of appetizers, fun finger foods, and of course a few recipes from Grandmother's cookbook would make it really festive. I chose the cherry log, basically a cream cheese-mayonaise log with maraschino cherries and mini marshmallows - pretty much obscene:

To my shock people began eating it. Could my Grandmas have known something that my generation has overlooked? You got it. Apparently people love mayonnaise.

Of course I had to make a jello mold, filled with canned fruit (I used pineapple, peaches and mandarin oranges) which I filled swirly large muffin tins with, envisioning I'd unmold them and create an epic jello tower, along the lines of:

Not so much. My fridge is super cold so the jello came out as ice, which promptly melted to mush in the instant I submerged the pan in warm water (okay, it was probably too hot,) so I got ... jello soup! Again, it got eaten. (What can I say? I kind of like jello.)

To top it all off, I had to get the look, with a flowery cocktail dress and trusty apron:

Betty Crocker with cocktail in hand :)