You Ate What? Archives - Page 19 of 20

Meals for 1 or 2

May 6, 2012 Holly You Ate What? 11 comments

Meals for One or Two
Better Homes and Gardens
1978

Submitter: I work at the highest circulating branch in a large southwest county library system and found this gem sitting on our high-traffic cooking display. I don’t know what staff member thought this should go on a display rather than the weed bin. How embarrassing, it even has water damaged pages.

Holly: Cookbooks age like anything else. BH&G cranks out plenty of cookbooks every year. If funds and space are tight, weed and replace with a few new titles every 5-10 years and you’ll be better off than keeping this around.

As an aside, what is the fascination with the word “tangy” in these old cookbooks? What, exactly, is tangy? Is it spicy? Sour? Salty?

Be Bold with Bananas

December 22, 2011 Holly You Ate What? 26 comments

Be Bold with Bananas
Banana Control Board
1970

Credit goes to Book Riot for bringing this little gem to our attention. Also, my friend Brian, who sent me that link. I verified library holdings just to be sure it is an awful “library” book and not just a weird book…and it is. The holdings are mostly in New Zealand and South Africa, but an ALB is an ALB. Universally.

It’s not just that it is 41 years old. It’s not just that it has that horrible “plastic food” photography. It’s not just that it has very strange ideas of what to do with bananas. It’s all of those things combined.

Favorite REcipes from Famous Eating Places

Vintage Recipes from Ford Motor Company

December 5, 2011 Mary Kelly You Ate What? 17 comments

The Second Ford Treasury of Favorite Recipes From Famous Eating Places Kennedy 1954 This wonderful book showed up in a library book sale and of course I grabbed it! I looked up some of the house specialties from Michigan. (I

Kids Cook Too

August 17, 2011 Holly You Ate What? 55 comments

Betty Crocker’s Cook Book for Boys and Girls Crocker 2003 Submitter: We pride ourselves on having an up to date collection. Unfortunately while trying to find a cookbook for a reluctant reader who loves cooking, I found this atrocity. Granted

Who Doesn’t Like Jell-o?

June 25, 2011 Holly You Ate What? 27 comments

New Joys of Jell-o Brand Gelatin Recipe Book Kraft General Foods 1975 One of our readers found this book on the Woot blog and submitted it. You have to admit, some of these recipes are ridiculous. The people and decor

More Awful Cookery

June 23, 2011 Holly You Ate What? 30 comments

Soyer’s Paper-Bag Cookery Soyer 1911 Submitter: According to Nicholas Soyer, the method of paper-bag cookery “has made a great furor in England,” and, despite initial setbacks (“the paper got burnt, and soon afterwards it exploded”), is perfect for cooking nearly

Even Men Can Cook!

March 6, 2011 Holly Guy Stuff, You Ate What? 47 comments

A Man, A Can, A Plan: 50 Great Guy Meals Even You Can Make Joachim and the editors of Men’s Health 2002 Submitter: I found this gem of a cookbook (if we can even call it that) at a library

Magical Decorated Cakes

January 29, 2011 Holly You Ate What? 24 comments

Pasteles Magicos Decorados
Welsh, French
1987

Submitter: Here is book I just discarded from our library collection. The title of our book is Magical Decorated Cakes. I also took a picture of one of the cakes inside the book, a typewriter cake.

Holly: These cakes are awesome! This book would be REALLY cool if it showed you how to make a cake in the shape of an iPhone or an eReader. Unfortunately…it doesn’t.