JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

Back in 2003, I looked at some of the divine dishes to be found in 1960s Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks due to be purged during Christmas housecleaning. I hung onto 1967's Jiffy Cooking for pure novelty value, as well as how much it reveals about its era. Besides the dishes mentioned in the original entry, consider these for your next shindig. Shockingly, none of today's recipes involve frankfurters. Canadian Bacon Stack Ups - layers of ginger-infused mashed sweet potatoes between slices of Canadian Bacon, topped with canned cranberry sauce. "...served with crisp relishes and asparagus spears make a picture-pretty dinner for the hungry family." Dip A La Spaghetti - dry pasta sauce mix, sour cream and green pepper, recommended as a dip for "crisp vegetables" and Fritos. Tamale Hero Sandwiches - canned tamales tossed on top of sub buns. The picture above is described as "An informal teen-age record party - teen-agers will devour the...

Being from a family with strong culinary genes, there are a ton of cookbooks lying around the family homestead. Most have eye-catching, mouth-watering looking recipes. The further back you go in the collection, the more the eyes pop out at some of the dishes that passed the publisher's test kitchen. One of the larger series we have is various versions of the Better Homes & Gardens cookbooks. Volumes from the 60s are telling in how much opinions about tasty, economical foods have changed through the years. Key findings: 1) Every other dish was a "bake", "strata" or "hodgepodge". 2) Spam (and its knockoffs) was the monarch of the kitchen. This wonder of science could be used in every way imaginable. 3) Other kitchen basics: creamed corn, lima beans, sherry, the number of the nearest heart surgeon. 4) Anything was fair game to be an exotic dish. 5) Velveeta is the king of cheeses. 6) Frankfurters are as diverse in their uses as Spam. L...