My wife just brought these down from “the closet”. I had no idea of them. Who knows when I acquired these. There are 46 of them. I spent the evening going through them and there are some real gems too. Actually there is a vintage Culinary Arts Institute cookbook in the lot, “Cooking French the New Way”. Which by now is the fairly old way.

The worst of the bunch, photographically, is one titled, “Good Housekeeping’s hamburger & hot dog book; novel uses for America’s favorite meats”

The front cover has a picture of what I think is meatloaf. It really looks like someone anal dumped half their blood covered guts out on a faux wood platter. In fact it looks something like the image on the header of this page. That image is a whole other story. I will have a photo up of the guts in a day or two, or so…

Back to the stack. I really want to thin the collection so I’ll be posting reviews and having a “buy now” button at the end of each review. I really don’t want to get into the whole ebay thing, half.com is too constricting, amazon is too expensive though I may try to move a few on Etsy.com.

My oldest son did take one of the “The Blender Way to Better Cooking”. For some reason I had 2 of them. I kept the hard cover. He made a veggie and cheese sandwich spread from the book last night as a snack, weird I know, but it was tasty and made in his blender. He has a blender fetish. We ate it with Ritz® crackers.

More to come in the nearing Days.

I would like to start a series on budget priced gourmet tasting meals. This is number 1.

My family loves pasta. This is one of our favorites, next to pesto. It is super affordable and will impress guests too. The blend of anchovies, garlic and fresh herbs make this seem like a high budget dish. That is, if you hang around with the unsophisticated ilk that I do. They aren’t dangerous, they just appear that way. I think 20 years ago some of them were… but they’re old now and looking scary is easier than being scary.
Off to the grub-

Here’s what you need. Feel free to substitute anything you think would work better for your family, party or whatever. Some people aren’t real big on basil. If you’re one just use all parsley.

• 1 pound semolina spaghetti
• 1/4 cup olive oil. (It doesn’t have to be extra virgin. No one will notice. Trust me.)
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed. More or less depending what you can stand.
• 1 (2-ounce) can anchovy fillets, chopped pretty small.
• 1 cup fine crushed crackers of your choice. Don’t use Triscuits® or any other hay bale type of cracker. Saltines or Ritz® work great.
• 3/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• Fresh ground black pepper to taste
• Couple dashes/squeezes of lemon juice
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese or the same amount of the green can kind. It won’t be as good but still tasty.

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. you can add salt to the water if you like.
2. Add pasta and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente.
3. Drain, rinse with hot tap water and drain again.
4. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat and add garlic and anchovies to cook for about 2-3 minutes, stirring continuously.
5. Turn off heat
6. Stir in cracker crumbs.
7. Add parsley and black ground pepper. Mix thoroughly.
8. Toss the the hot pasta into the olive oil crumb sauce.
9. Stir in the lemon juice.
10. Sprinkle with cheese.
11. Serve and eat.

This is a very nice and elegant Italian pasta dish. This dish will be drier than you may be used to. In Italy, many pasta dishes aren’t served with thick sauces. Serve with a nice white wine or like at our home, a big glass of ice-cold 1% milk. I especially like to do the garlic over-dose and serve with garlic bread and a ceasar-ish salad. Then breathe on my co-workers in the morning with my garlic-coffee breath.

©1960 by Doyne Nickerson
Hard Cover with Dust Jacket

I guess the marketing plan on this unit was to get someone to eat hamburger a different day every day of a given year. My God, even in 1960 people weren’t that unimaginative.

About the author Doyne Nickerson; He was an actor, a hydroponic gardener, an advertising writer, a printer and during the depression he ate hamburger 3 times a day. Amazing from his picture on the inside of the dust jacket he really wasn’t a lard ass. The weird thing is, even in his conservative up-tight 1958 photo he comes across as somewhat effeminate maybe even gay. But we all know there weren’t homosexuals back then.

Bonus
Quote: “Mr.Nickerson cooks hamburger for his wife and young son.”
I hope that poor kid didn’t grow up on hamburger like his depression raised Dad.

Hydoponics, I thought the only people into that were hippy left-overs in the 1980’s that grew their own dope. I know my Dad was a burnout in the 50’s, maybe Doyne was too. But my Dad wasn’t into hydroponics. And who thought Doyne was an OK name. I know it was probably a family name, but Doyne. I guess it’s no worse than what people name their kids today. Ashleah, Mataya, Dijanté, Hannah Montana…

Recipe Highlights
The first thing that caught my eye were the 65 meatloaf recipes. How can that many be worthy of publication?
AND…. The winner is…. A tie between Banana Meat Loaf and Banana Meat Loaf 2. I guess if I had to pick one I would go with Banana Meat Loaf 2, It finishes the recipe with everyone’s fav - 1/2 tsp of MSG. Mmmm bananas, meat and MSG, OH, and onions too. The more I page through this masterpiece, the more I notice MSG. I’m guessing it is needed for 25% of the recipes.

Because I’m too lazy to write real details and not mock the book, I copied this from an ebay auction for the same book.

OUT OF PRINT HARDCOVER COOKBOOK

This book has been written with each of you in mind-bachelors, bachelor girls, newlyweds, small families, large families, those who like hamburger, those who are tired of hamburger cooked in the same old way, clubs, and church groups. You will find just the right recipe for just the right occasion, whether you are cooking on the hearth, in the woods, or on your favorite outdoor grill.

This book offers a wealth of new recipes and fresh inspiration for preparing America’s favorite meat dish. Using a wide variety of ingredients, Doyne Nickerson has organized his book under nine separate divisions that provide imaginative recipes for 1 to 100 people. For those who cling to the traditional hamburger, there are 35 variations on the basic hamburger and 13 succulent sauces for the broiled or grilled hamburger patty.

For those who want something new and different there are such mouth-watering possibilities as My Favorite Mexican Chili, Hamburger Upside-down Pie, Pineapple Meat Loaf, German Tartare, Hamburger Soup, Swedish Kaldolmar, and Dietetic Hamburger Patties

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Tips On Hamburger
• Sandwiches And Barbecues
• Meat Loaves
• Main Dishes
• Meat Balls
• Casseroles
• Italian Specialties
• Mexican Specialties
• Soups
• Sauces

Back to the fun
Read above in RED. I dare you! Raw hamburger and raw egg. You can’t even order a cooked hamburger done medium-well any more. Again I dare you to suck down one of these salmonella and God only knows what else ridden patties. I’ll send you a get well soon card. Maybe I’m just a little sensitive to today’s food scares. You know the old “I have poop under my fingernails when I processed this beef at my under paid meat packing job” sensitive. What is this ebay seller thinking? Do they really like that? Or are they just writing sell copy? Am I to be impressed that they eat lethal bacteria? Too many questions.

And 35 variations on the regular old hamburger. That’s stretching it.

I’m not going to sell this one yet. I really want to try bananas, meat and MSG. I’ll have to buy some MSG first. Maybe I’ll call my Mom, she has more seasonings than the whole food network.

If you really want it, leave a comment with your offer and I’ll consider it. Actually I’d sell it. don’t offer any more than $2 though. Cuz shipping will run you about $2.50.

HARDCOVER W/JACKET IN VERY GOOD USED CONDITION,  BOOK COVER SHOWS A LITTLE WEAR TO THE BOTTOM EDGES, JACKET SHOWS SOME WEAR, FEW SMALL TEARS ALONG ITS BOTTOM EDGES, PAGES ARE CLEAN, SPINE IS TIGHT, ONE FOLDED OVER PAGE, 189 PP,.  BOOK CLUB EDITION, 1960.