Tuna Patties with Lemon Sauce - 1949

The rather unappealing looking blob in the photo above is my latest attempt, and subsequent failure, in re-creating a vintage recipe from my magazines. This one came from an article in the October 1949 issue of Woman's Day magazine. (By the way, according to a very interesting book I'm reading titled Women's Periodicals in the United States, Woman's Day magazine was sold in A&P markets only, until 1958. If you can get your hands on a used copy of the book, which is what I did, I highly recommend it!)

Anyway, I must get back to the topic, as reluctant as I am to discuss this disappointing dish. It came from an article titled "Prize-Winning Canned Fish Recipes." You may wonder what about that title made me think there was even a possibility the recipe would turn out to be something delicious and exciting, but I was actually going more for thrifty and "already-have-all-the-ingredients-so-no-big-deal-if-it-doesn't-turn-out." And turn out it most certainly did not.

For starters, the recipe said it feeds four, but the portions were very small and not very filling. Next, the patties pretty much fell apart no matter what I tried to do to salvage them. I ended up with the one patty you see and about 10 smaller blobs to go with it. And finally, and this is my fault entirely, but I have never mastered anything even resembling a roux. So for the lemon sauce, no matter how much I stirred, I was never able to get rid of the tiny bits of flour floating through it. (In fact, you can even see them in my photo!) The patties looked so terrible that even my husband, who graciously sampled each of my previous attempts at vintage recipes, did not even touch these and in fact pretended he didn't even know they were there. Not a word was said about them even though I pushed them right to the front of the refrigerator where he would be forced to see them.

So in conclusion, I would not recommend anyone try these. However, as always, I'm glad I did! And this won't discourage me from trying an old recipe again; in fact, I think it's kind of fun. Just in case you're still curious, I have scanned the recipe in below, so just click for a better view. You'll also be treated to the recipe (with accompanying photo) for Mrs. J.M. Severin's Tuna Salad Pie, worth the click in itself!

Mayo/Miracle Whip recipes!

Hellmann's Mayonnaise Ad - 1968, originally uploaded by Vintage Dish.

The ad above is from the June, 1968 issue of Family Circle. Who knew you could top a burger so many ways using Hellmann's mayonnaise? But that's not the only thing you can do with mayo. Even though mayo purists (including me!) will tell you that Miracle Whip is not even close to being the same thing, that doesn't mean Miracle Whip is left out where recipes are concerned. Just take a look at this other ad, from the April 1976 Family Circle, where you can learn to make Miracle Meat Rolls!

Wessonality!

Florence Henderson - 1978, originally uploaded by Vintage Dish.

This ad brings back memories! It's Florence Henderson, of course, in a Wesson ad from the May 1978 issue of Family Circle.
I remember seeing her commercials on TV all the time for this salad oil. And watching the Brady Bunch on a regular basis for years!
If you click on the picture to make it bigger, you'll see that there is a recipe for the salad and dressing shown in the ad, too.

Some ads from vintage Gourmet Magazines

This soup ad is from the May 1954 issue of Gourmet magazine. Compared with many of the other ads for food products I've come across from this time, this soup seems to be a much more sophisticated product. As the text says, it's "fit for royal tastes." Varieties such as Black Bean with Sherry and Crab a la Maryland sound pretty good to me, but again not something I ever recall seeing in a can!


The other ad, this one from the February 1947 issue of Gourmet, reminds us that all of these fabulous choices we have in food today weren't always the case. The ad below for Arnold bread assures the reader that the bread is back to its previous standard of quality from before the war, since plenty of butter, honey, milk, and eggs are now available and used in the baking of this product.

Gourmet Magazine - 1947

Gourmet Magazine - 1947, originally uploaded by Vintage Dish.

I purchased a set of 4 Gourmet magazines from the 1940's and 1950's. At that time, the covers were all illustrated rather than the photography used today, and the upscale slant of the magazine was very clear. It was actually quite hard to find many ads for food products in these magazines; most of the ads were for wine and liquor as well as New York City restaurants.

Summer Recipes from 1900

Summer Recipes from 1900, originally uploaded by Vintage Dish.

It feels good to be posting again. It was such a stressful, draining week that I didn't even have a chance to post or check out any other blogs; so I'm very grateful for the chance to do that now, on a peaceful Sunday night.

One of the things that always makes me feel calmer and at peace is flipping through an old magazine. For me, the older the better. With very fortuitous timing, I received an 1870 Peterson's magazine that I ordered on Friday afternoon after I walked in the door from work. I finally got a chance to sit down and read it from cover to cover, starting with the fiction and weaving my way through the recipes, household hints, and colorful fashion plates.

It is very easy for me to get lost in nostalgia when reading these vintage writings. For example, I found these recipes in an August 1900 issue of Woman's Home Companion,and immediately I envisioned myself sitting down to a table full of lacy napkins and all the proper silverware, and myself wearing a beautiful flouncy dress. Yet I also know very well that life was not an idyll; at the time these recipes were printed the Philippine-American War was occurring. And on a bit of a pettier note, this was in the middle of a northeast summer which I well know can be very humid and uncomfortable, and there was no air conditioning and surely not as many electric fans in use. So preparing the food and putting those quaint household hints to use were surely often a miserable experience.

Still, these recipes (click the above picture for a bigger, more readable version) are so fascinating to me. For one thing, some of them seem quite exotic - although I know pigeons (squab) are still served in Italy, here in suburban New Jersey they are just not found on a menu. And the scalloped potato dish isn't that different from the recipes I've made myself, but I've never heard of using cucumbers as garnish.

I do have to say that I think the spaghetti inside the tomatoes is a really cute idea! I think it would be something different for a summer dinner party, and I can totally see myself giving it a try. If I do, I'll be sure to post the results in my blog!

Ads from 1900

These were in the same August 1900 issue of Woman's Home Companion in which I found the recipes above.