Boy, if that subtitle doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what would! This is another classic in this series by Good Housekeeping. It is filled with great illustrations by Suzanne Snider, and has a range of taste tempting food photos.

Hamburgers and hot dogs are just the right comfort food for the summer months. While grilling usually comes to mind, you’ll find many other ways to serve up your hamburgers and hot dogs in this cookbook.

Ever thought about grating a hot dog? Why not! Their Hickory Corn Fritter recipe calls for grated franks. How about stuffed franks? Yup, you’ll find recipes for stuffed hot dogs in here as well.  Ooow, how about Frank Suey?  Or Creole Franks? Deviled Hamburgers, Weiner style has an odd ring to it.

The Johnny Marzetti recipe has me wondering just who this Johnny Marzetti guy was, and why his name was immortalized  as a casserole. Aren’t you curious? A Johnny Marzetti is a fairly typical looking casserole. It was apparently created in the 1920′s byt he owner of the Marzetti Restaurant in Columbus, Ohio. According to the “American Century Cookbook” by Jean Anderson, Johnny Marzetti was the brother of the owner of the Marzetti Restaurant.  Huh, go figure.

Well, I’m off to make me a Dinner-in-a-skillet!

There is no retro kitsch here, just serious recipes from one of television’s first celebrity chefs. Apart from a few black & white photos, the book contains around 400 pages of recipes. The recipes are laid out by the show number, from show no. 14 to 134.

Why does the book start at show number 14, and not number one? Apparently the first thirteen shows no longer existed by the time they put this book together. The show began on a local New England station, and when they switched to WGBH, they needed to send copies of the show to other stations nation-wide. They apparently did not have enough copies of the tapes of the first thirteen shows, and the tape wore out. It sounds like Julia was happy about this because they were then able to redo those episodes and improve upon the quality.

A classic cookbook for anyone’s collection!

The name of this cookbook might lead you to think that it might focus solely on seafood recipes, but it covers all types of recipes. You’ll find everything from vegetable recipes, meat & poultry recipes, and there are a lot of tasty looking fish & seafood recipes in here.

The book is broken up into seven sections (seven seas, you know):

• The North and Baltic Seas
• The Mediterranean Sea
• The Red and Arabian Seas
• The Seas of China and Japan
• The South Seas
• The Caribbean Sea
• The Sea Around Us

Looking for a Fried Eel recipe? How about Pickled Duck? Poached Shad and Melted Bones? You can find those and many other recipes in this cookbook. A few favorites that I intend on trying are: Shrimp Sate, Carbonada, Clam Chowder, Shrimp Gumbo, African Fish and Greens.. and Sicilian Peach Sherbet, once peach season hits here in Colorado!

I definitely recommend picking up this cookbook if you find a copy.  There are a lot of good looking recipes from around the world, and the pages are sprinkled with fun illustrations.  The illustration style isn’t as good as some vintage cookbooks have, but they are still fun illustrations.

But enough about Ruth, and back to this vintage cookbook.  As the title states, this cookbook covers recipes that are from various regions across the United States. This 752 page co0kbook contains 11 regional cookbooks, which include:

• New England Cook Book
• Southern Cook Book
• Pennsylvania Dutch Cook Book
• Creole Cook Book
• Michigan Dutch Cook Book
• Mississippi Valley Cook Book
• Wisconsin Dutch Cook Book
• Minnesota Scandinavian Cook Book
• Southwestern Cook Book
• Western Cook Book
• Cosmopolitan Cook Book

While it seems a bit heavy on Dutch recipes, apparently “Dutch” did always refers to immigrants from Holland or the Netherlands. Some “Dutch” were Germans.  Hmm, isn’t that curious?  So some of the “Dutch” recipes are actually German. Each section is filled with tons of interesting, and tasty looking recipes. The Cosmopolitan cook book also includes Recipes from Many Lands That Have Found an American Home. This section includes: Italian, Russian, Romanian, Armenian, Jewish, Turkish, and of course Dutch recipes.

While many of the recipes look pretty good, there are some you might not expect. Bake Muskellunge (aka Musky to us fishermen), Gestoofde Aal (stewed eels), Chitterlings (Chit’lin’s), ‘Possum and Sweet Taters, as well as other interesting delights. This is definitely a cookbook that I want to try some recipes from.

The cookbook is also filled with decent color and B&W photos, as well as great little B&W illustrations. Definitely a classic, and not just for the collector.

The cheesy design pretty much ends on the cover, and inside you’ll find 32 pages of recipes, and some rather nice food photography. The recipes cover, breakfast, soups & stews, salads, main dishes, seafood, poultry, egg & cheese, desserts, gourmet, creole party, specialties, and old fashioned recipes. There are also tips and instructions on cooking with rice.

The recipes are pretty straight forward, sounds tasty, and there is nothing too wacky. The cover illustration was probably about was wacky as they got with this.  Well, maybe this food photo of Shrimp and Rice Mousse. That recipe would probably get some interesting looks if you served it at a party these days. Sure, maybe in the fifties something like this would have be a cool dinner party dish, but I’m not so sure how it wold go over in the modern age.

All in all it is not a bad little cook booklet from the Rice Council, I may even cook out of it. But probably not the Shrimp and Rice Mousse. If I can get a pheasant, perhaps I’d try the Pheasant Muscatel.

You won’t have an excuse for not cooking if you have this cookbook! It is jam-packed with recipes and ideas for Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and even the Fourth Meal.

“A good breakfast is the foundation for a happy day”, begins the Breakfast section. Then it goes on with recipes like: Frosty Raspberry Cup, Brown-eyed Susan, and Cereal Sundaes.  From there it becomes a bit more normal with cornmeal mush, eggs, fried fish, pancakes and other fairly normal breakfast items.

Next up… “Lunch… or Supper.”  Here is something I wasn’t aware of: “In some American homes the noon meal is lunch, and dinner comes at nigh. In many other homes, dinner is at noon and supper is the light meal of the day.” Well, in my home, lunch was lunch, and dinner was supper… and supper wasn’t a light meal.

Anyhow, the lunch section seems to weave back and forth between lunch recipes and dinner/supper recipes.  I mean, depending whether your parents used this cookbook or not, and called lunch supper, or dinner lunch, or whatever.

Dinner, or is it supper?  I’m confused now. Okay, this section is looking like hearty evening meals! Braised short ribs, meat loaf, pepper steak, New England boiled dinner, baked ham, sausage peach balls, salmon loaf… wait, did I just say “sausage peach balls?” Yes, there is a recipe for that, and they call it “Unusual—and good.” I’ll take their word for it.

And now, what everyone has been waiting for… The Fourth Meal! What is the “Fourth Meal”? It is the meal that people eat for fun. (Oh, now it is perfectly clear.) Here are some fun things to go along with your coffee: Blueberry Buckle, Hermits, and Forgotten Meringues.  What about Forgotten Hermits? So there are dishes to go with coffee, holiday delights, birthday goodies, refreshments in bed, and the ever wonderful saucy sandwich rolls.

This is another classic vintage Betty Crocker cookbook with some wacky recipes along with classic ones, great food photography, and fun vintage spot illustrations. It is a hardcover & spiral bound cookbook in the smaller paperback sizing. A fine addition to anyone’s vintage cookbook collection!

You may recognize this cheery couple, which seem to have become the mascots for Retro Cookbook. They kind of exemplify that happy, feel good kind of couple you expect to find in vintage cookbooks, especially from around the fifties.

Whats not to love about this fun little cookbook, chock full of barbecue recipes and tips? The illustration style is simple, yet fun, and the 20 page cook booklet has illustrations on most pages. Inside you’ll find tips on selecting meats for the barbecue (and using leftovers), an outdoor cooking equipment check list (for us guys), and a tip sheet for outdoor chefs.  Oh, and recipes, too!

The recipes are pretty straight forward, and wholesome—just like I’d expect from Kansas. There are a few recipe where they let their hair down. Orange-glazed Bologna Roll, Dixie Dogs—which are hot dogs slathered with peanut butter, then wrapped in bacon, Buckaroo Filets—minute steaks spread with mustard, and then wrapped around a strip of dill pickle, and Barbecue Frozen Vegetables.  The recipes cover beef, lamb, pork, and poultry, and there are a couple pages of barbecue sauces and marinades. I was a bit disappointed to see the Kansas Barbecue Sauce which consists of tomato sauce with “a packet of exotic herbs salad dressing mix” with a few other basic ingredients.  Ah, packets of salad dressing mix!

There are definitely a couple recipes I’ll try from this vintage cookbook.  Campfire Pot Roast is catching my eye, and I’d probably try their pork ribs recipe to see how it compares to mine.  (Of course it can’t compare to mine!) Yet another fun vintage cookbook from my collection!

This may be the only toast cookbook in my collection, and I must say it is very cool! Fantastic illustrations, page layout, and even photos. And the best part is that it is all about toast!  Mmmm… toast!

“Everyone knows how good hot buttered toast tastes at breakfast, servers just plain or with preserves! However, there are many delicious ways to serve toast for family or party breakfasts. Get the day off to a golden start with these tempting breakfasts featuring toast!”

And yes indeed you will find some fantastic toasty goodness in this fine little cookbook. Breakfast, lunch or dinner, you’ll find recipes that tempt your tastebuds. Perhaps the most surprising thing is that all the recipes actually seem decent—nothing too kitschy weird in here. Well, maybe the Apple Sausage Surprise is about as weird as it gets—sausages, applesauce, and American cheese on toast. Then again, that sounds alright too.

I love this quote, “Men take to ‘Toast Cookery’… it’s the easy way to rate high as an amateur chef.” Then there is, “Entertain often! ‘Toast Cookery’ lets you make a big impression for just a little money!” I’ve never thought about making a toast meal for guests, I just may try it some day.

This is a classic, find a copy, if you can. (Sorry, mine is not for sale, but if I find another copy, I’ll add it to the shop.)