Dinner for Two

Posted by Jaelithe

I collect vintage cookbooks. Betty Crocker's Dinner for Two Cook Book, published in 1958, is one of my favorites. I don't believe in buying cookbooks just to keep them  on the shelf, and you can tell I've actually used this one a lot, because it's falling apart.

I acquired it while I was in college, cooking small meals on a budget, and although many of its recipes are quite old-fashioned, it contains a lot of random good advice that is still applicable today.

Of course, it also displays some rather antiquated attitudes about a woman's role as cook and housekeeper:

Whatever its notions about my life as a "business girl," this book taught me how to make pie crusts from scratch, for which I will be eternally grateful.

Comments

[Mary]

OH!!! Me too!!!
I got a Jell-O cookbook for my birthday, a cookbook from the 1950's. It is divine!

[katie ~ motherbumper]

My Joy of Cooking is a 50s edition and also very well used by me. I now know how to cook squirrel if the situation ever presents itself (hasn't happened... yet). Over at Playdate, Eat Me featured the same cookbook - I must get myself a copy, it sounds mid-last century divine.
http://www.betterthanaplaydate.com/2008/09/i-was-a-50s-hou.html

[onehappywife]

OMG I COLLECT VINTAGE COOKBOOKS TOO! CHECK OUT THIS LITTLE BEAUTY I GOT LAST MONTH.
http://www.onehappywife.com/home/2008/9/9/a-classic-cookbook.html