The 50s and 60s Were a Lawless Wasteland of Crimes Against the Culinary Arts

Author image for John Summers
John Summers • Contributor
Dec 16, 2024 9:00 PM EST

My grandma was an incredible cook. She grew up during the 1940s and 50s, and many of her recipes reflected the comforting, hearty meals of that era. From her perfectly baked casseroles to her melt-in-your-mouth roast chicken, every dish she made was infused with love and care. I adored her, and I was always thrilled when we went to visit and she called us to the table, knowing there'd be something delicious waiting.

But every now and then, she'd surprise us with a recipe that was, well, a little less... traditional. Whether it was from a 1950s magazine or some experimental cookbook from the 60s, we'd occasionally get served dishes like "Jellied ham salad" or "Frankfurter and pea casserole." We'd eat quietly, trying not to let on how baffled we were, but she always seemed to know.

Looking back, I cherish every meal she made—yes, even the weird ones. They're a reminder of her adventurous spirit in the kitchen and her constant desire to make something special for us. And honestly, even her "misses" were better than most people's successes.

Add as a preferred
source on Google
Advertisement
  • 01
    Surprise holiday cake You make it with Campbells Tomato Soup TOMATO SOUP CAKE 1% cups sifted all-purpose flour 1 cup sugar 3 tsp. baking powder ½ tsp. each ground cloves, cinnamon, and nutmeg ½ cup shortening 1 can Campbell's Tomato Soup 2 eggs 1 cup chopped candied fruit or raisins or prepared mincemeat 1 cup chopped walnuts Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour 9-inch tube pan. In large bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Add shortening and ½ can soup. Beat until smooth. Add remaining soup
    via FAUST44
  • 02
    New! Pork Chops with Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce! Frying Pork Chops Tonight? Then serve them up with thick slices of Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce! Only Ocean Spray can add the tart-sweet fresh-fruit tang that cuts the richness of pork! No other sauce, no other condiment, no other flavouring, can come close to the natural taste and texture of wholesome cranberry sauce. That's why any meal tastes better, looks better when served with succulent slices of jellied Ocean Spray! Ocean Spray CRANBERRY SA
    via FAUST44
  • 03
    73/desserts molded tomato ice cream tomato ice cream This Tomato Ice Cream was packed into the two molds while it was still soft. The two halves were frozen separately, turned out and placed together. Garnish with fresh mint leaves and serve Tomato Ice Cream with a fresh fruit plate! TOMATO ICE CREAM 1 recipe Basic Confectioners' Custard (pg. 19) 1/8 tsp. salt 1/2 c. tomato purée 1/2 tbsp. fresh lemon juice 1/2 pt. whipping cream 1/4 c. sugar Prepare Basic Confectioners' Custard omitting vanilla
    via FAUST44
  • 04
    THIS is no place for second best... is the place for Hellmann's Enjoy this original Treasure Chest Salad home-party size. It's easy. Here's how: 1. Use one big pineapple for the chest. Cut it to a rectangular shape (about 7" x 3" x 3½"). 2. Scoop out center of "chest." 3. Reserve curved top slice, with peel intact, for lid. 4. Peel remaining shell, then re-cover sides and ends of chest, attaching with toothpicks to pineapple meat. 5. Prop lid on chest with toothpicks. 6. Fill chest with fresh fr
    via FAUST44
  • 05
    A SOUP! IT'S A SALAD! IT'S MIGHTY Campbell's Tomato Soup shapes up as a delicious dish! Mold a salad into a brand-new main dish. Cool-looking. Creamy-tasting. Easy-fixing. Big on flavor, too, because you make it with Campbell's Tomato Soup and Swanson Boned Chicken. Serve with crisp rolls, cake, iced tea or coffee. Mighty Mousse 1 can (10% ounces) Campbell's Tomato Soup ½ cup sour cream 1 tbsp. lemon juice 2 envelopes unflavored gelatine 1 can Swanson Boned Chicken, cut up ¾ cup chopped cucumber
    via FAUST44
  • 06
    1+1=new! Soup Mates! Mix two Campbell's Soups and make a new soup all your own Campbells CONDENSED Campbells CONDENSED Campbells CONDENSED Campbells CONDENSED MINESTRONE SOUP Campbells CONDENSED CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP Campbells CONDENSED OLD FASHIONED VEGETABLE SOUP MADE WITH BEEF STOCK Campbells CONDENSED CREAM OF CELERY SOUP Campbells CONDENSED + VEGETABLE BEAN SOUP + CHICKEN & STARS SOUP + NOODLES & GROUND BEEF SOUP + GREEN PEA SOUP Bean Pot Italiano. You make this one with Campbell's Minestrone
    via FAUST44
  • 07
    Don't even take the slices out of the can! Just pour off liquid from a No. 2 can of Dole Sliced Pineapple. Replace with gelatin (made with half the water in package directions). Chill until set. Run a little hot water on can sides and bottom to loosen. Then cut bottom from can and use to push mold out. Cut between pineapple Eslices and serve. It's grand as a salad or a dessert! Pick Dole: the pineapple with the fresh-fruit taste (Hawaii's best, America's favorite!) Dole 6 STYLES: SLICED CRUSHED
    via FAUST44
  • 08
    SPECIAL OFFERS ANN PAGE ELBOW MACARONI ITALIAN STYLE NO.20 Cod Housekeeping AMERICA'S DEPENDABLE FOOD MERCHANT AP 100 BIRTHDAY Celebration 1859-1959 th PRIZE CATCH FOR LENTEN MEALS! Fisherman's Casserole Salmon keeps sprightly company in this tempting dish. It's joined with firm, tender-cooked Ann Page Mac- aroni... baked in celery-soup sauce, sparked with the nip of Cheddar and a hint of onion and spice. De- lectable, down to the last flavorsome forkful! The delicate taste and hearty goodness o
    via FAUST44
  • 09
    Garden Timbales There a thrifty, rich-eatin Here's just the dinner main dish you'll be look ing for on that day when it suddenly seems as though your menus "have gotten into an awful rut lately!" The timbales are easy! Mix together: 1½ c. cooked peas, 1½ c. canned corn, 1 c. drained canned tomatoes, 1 tbsp. of chopped onion, 1½ c. soft bread crumbs, 3 beaten eggs, 4 c. melted butter or Parkay Margarine, season- treat with golden VELVEETA SAUCE ings to taste. Pour into 7 greased custard cups and
    via FAUST44
  • 10
    From Pillsbury's Bake-Off Main Dishes MEAT HEARTY WITH SPAM WAGON-WHEEL PIE Bake-Off inspired for your hungry crew! Meat-hearty with SPAM, bright with VEG-ALL Mixed Vegetables. The tender, delicate pastry is made as SPAM you'd expect, with Pillsbury's BEST Flour: Instant Blending or Regular. Wagon-Wheel Pie 1 cup Pillsbury's BEST (sifted Regular or Instant Blending) All Purpose Flour* ½ teaspoon salt cup shortening. 3 to 4 tablespoons cold water Oven 400° 5 Servings Combine flour and salt in bow
    via FAUST44
  • 11
    DANISH PONTOONS PARTY FARE 2 CARD 32 Photograph by courtesy of Plumrose Ltd.
    via FAUST44
  • 12
    V.8 Cocktail VEGETABLE JUICES This fresh vegetable goodness Guaranteed by Good Housekeeping in V-8's Delicious Juice Combination U.S. NEEDS US STRONG VEGETABLE JUICES THIS TYPE OF FOOD IS AMONG THOSE NUTRITION FOOD RULES EAT NUTRITIONAL FOOD makes wartime meals more tasty V8 as good as it tastes Juices of LETTUCE CELERY TOMATO BEETS CARROTS SPINACH PARSLEY WATERCRESS deliciously combined Vitamins ABC, Calcium, Iron Fresh vegetables - delicious glassfuls - that's V-8! You need more vegetable good
    via FAUST44
  • 13
    2 delicious ways to help keep yourself in trim! In this hot weather, do you feel tired, listless, all washed-out? Don't blame it all on the heat! Look to your diet, too. Scientific studies show it might well be due to a lack of high quality protein... the kind you get in meat. In all meat-any meat-in frankfurters or wieners and cold cuts as well as sirloin steak. So, for a summer full of fun, set out a platter full of protein-like the one below. Or sink your teeth in a juicy "hot dog," at home,
    via FAUST44
  • 14
    Another Robin Hood 'Sure-Fire Success' Recipe Savoury Bacon-Cheese Pie Here's a simple but sophisticated main-dish. . . a savoury bacon-cheese custard pie! Actually, this is a celebrated French dish called "Quiche Lorraine" (pronounced "Keesh Lorrayne"). Our adaptation of it looks wonderfully professional but, as the recipe will show you, is very easy. ALL PURPOS Step 1 The Pastry. 1 cup sifted Robin Hood All-Purpose Flour. 4 teaspoon salt. Few grains garlic salt. 3 cup lard or shorten- ing. 2 t
    via FAUST44
  • 15
    SQUEEZ CHART SQUEEZ-A-SNAK CHAPT PIMENTO SQUEEZ-A-SNAK KRAFT SHARP www SQUEEZ-A-SNAK CRAFT BACON SQUEEZ-A-SNAK KRAFT Hot! JALAPEÑO PEPPER SQUEEZ-A-SNAK HRAFY GARLIC SQUEEZ-A-SNAK KRAFT HICKORY SMOKE This is a starter chart. It gives some basic suggestions for using Squeez-A-Snak process cheese spread from Kraft. Down the left hand side you'll see the six delicious flavors of Squeez-A-Snak. Across the page there are 14 snack ideas from plain cracker snacks to stuffed tomato appetizers. Hang this
    via FAUST44
  • 16
    New! Swanson Creamed Chipped Beef, ready to heat and enjoy. For Breakfast For Brunch For Lunch For Dinner It covers any kind of meal. Try Swanson Creamed Chipped Beef for breakfast sometime. It starts your day with a good, hot meal and keeps you going until lunch. Having a brunch? Serve something new, something everyone will love: Creamed Chipped Beef in patty shells. Lunch? After a morning of shopping, serve Creamed Chipped Beef over English muffins. Not just because it's so quick, but because
    via FAUST44
  • 17
    CHILI SHORTCAKE CHILI SHORTCAKE. Make cornbread from mix and cut into squares. Heat Armour Star Chili and pour over each square. Chili made with lots of beef. Armour beef. Plenty of it. Slowly simmered to tenderness, then spiced with Ancho chili peppers, the real Mexican kind. The result- a hearty, high-protein meal for less than 20¢ a serving! Reach for the Star ARMOUR STAR CHILI WITH BEANS ARMOUR STAR CHILI
    via FAUST44
  • 18
    Help yourself to holiday meals with Hillshire Farm. Mrs. Claus's Casserole Makes 4 to 6 Servings 6 slices bacon 4 potatoes, thinly sliced 1 bunch broccoli, trimmed and sliced 3 carrots, sliced 1/2 cup celery, sliced 1 medium onion, chopped 1 lb Hillshire Farm Smoked. Sausage or Polska Kielbasa, cut into 6 equal portions salt pepper In heavy skillet, fry bacon until crisp. Remove bacon. Add sliced potatoes, broccoli, carrots, celery, and onion to bacon drippings. Fry over medium heat. Salt and pe
    via FAUST44
  • 19
    OSCAR MAYER HOLIDAY Hostess Tree....... ....fun to make and the ornaments taste so good! Trimmed with good-to-eat Oscar Mayer tidbits stuck on with cocktail picks, this gay tree is sure to be the center of attraction at any holiday buffet. (The tree is simple... just parsley sprigs or huckleberry leaves. stapled by hand with #10 wire screen staples to a cone of Styrofoam. The base is a funnel from your kitchen.) If you'd like detailed directions for making the tree and the easy party snacks, the
    via FAUST44
  • 20
    NET WT 1516 0 Chef BOYAR DEE aghetti auce h MUSHROOMS with EGGS BOY-AR-DEE Try a different main dish without meat, heartened with the rich taste and texture of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti Sauce with Mushrooms. Sauce made with choice fresh ingredients, seasoned and simmered according to an authentic Italian recipe. All you do is make an omelet or scramble eggs for 4, heat a 15-oz. can of Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Mushroom Sauce and pour over. See how Chef Boy-Ar-Dee Spaghetti Sauce with Meat or Marinara Sauc
    via FAUST44
  • 21
    Look what you can do with Cling Peaches hot and Miracle Whip! You know how holiday turkey goes. After the big feast, not so fast! Now, here's a new idea that'll do the trick: Hot Holiday Turkey Sandwich. Golden Cling Peaches and Miracle Whip swirls make it something terrific. So here's how to make it right away. Sandwich: 2 cups turkey salad 4 slices rye bread toasted Fluffy Topping: 1 egg white 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar 1/4 cup Miracle Whip Salad Dressing Hot Peach Garnish: 1 can (1 lb. 13 o
    via FAUST44
  • 22
    Cheezburger Image 10441560064
    via FAUST44
  • 23
    Day before: Prepare Chicken-Salad, Egg-Salad, and Ham-Salad Fillings, page 59. Refrigerate overnight. Next day: Blend about 2 tablesp. hot water with half a 5-oz. jar sharp-cheese spread. Prepare Susan's Cream- Cheese Frosting, page 59. Slice 1 large tomato into 6 thin slices. Remove prepared fillings from refrigerator. usan's bee PARTY With sharp knife, trim all crusts from top, bottom, and sides of day-old loaf unsliced white bread. Now lay loaf on side; slice lengthwise into 5 equal slices (a
    via FAUST44
  • 24
    Clockwise, starting above: Hamburger-By-The-Yard, page 39, adds fun to a Sunday night supper. Spicy Stuffed Squash, page 37, makes festive company fare. Noodle-Crusted Meat Loaf, page 33, is one of those great do-aheads. Spicy Stuffed Squash
    via FAUST44
  • 25
    Turn plain hamburger from OK to Olé with new Hamburger Helper. Tamale Pie. New Hamburger Helper Tamale Pie has zesty season- ings to liven up your plain hamburger. Saucy tomato sauce to tingle your taste. And all the fixin's for an authentic cornmeal topping that'll make your family say "Magnifico." New Hamburger Helper Tamale Pie. Why just eat a regular meal when you can dig into a Mexican fiesta? Hamburger Helper. Helped Her Hamburger make a great meal. NEW! Hamburger Helper ADD TO 1LB HAMBURG
    via FAUST44
  • 26
    IT'S COOL! IT'S REFRESHING! IT'S DELICIOUS! CAMPBELL'S CONSOMME... SERVED JELLIED Keep cans of Campbell's Consommé to jell along- side the freezing compart- ment of your refrigerator. 2 Then, when thoroughly jelled, it's ready to eat- all cool and gleaming -at any time. NOSN Campbell CONSOMME SOUP Now on Summer Tables Everywhere Are You Serving It? Perhaps you've enjoyed jellied consommé as the prized specialty of some famous restaurant. If you have, then you already know what a cooling summer d
    via FAUST44
  • 27
    Oh, what a dish is cream style! When it's so sweet Ever tasted corn that's specially raised for higher natural sugar content? Try it! It's DEL MONTE Brand Corn-and sweet as a mem ory of summer on the farm. [-so creamy-rich! Once you enjoy those butter-tender DEL MONTE kernels in thick, smooth corn cream-you're a cream style fan forever. What a rich, hearty, country flavor! -so full of kernels! No skimping on the ker- nels for DEL MONTE, not ever. And what plump, very thin-skinned kernels they ar
    via FAUST44
  • 28
    NEW! Dinner-in-a-Shell! WITH BEEF, PORK, VEGETABLES Betty Crocker tells How to serve a family of six for 69c A Sure Way To Thrifty Bakings by Betty Crocker Want to feed your family royally, yet keep your food bills down? Then use Gold Medal Kitchen- tested Enriched Flour and the recipes which we develop to take advantage of its uniformly superb baking qualities, From year to year...from sack to sack... the fine baking quality of Gold Medal Flour never varies. Every cupful performs exactly the sa
    via FAUST44
  • 29
    THE SATURDAY EVENING POST Watch 'em sail into this livelier flavor It's the only catsup made with Pineapple Vinegar -the superlative vinegar that brings out the extra goodness in catsup flavor! * Del Monte ALITY Del Monte BRAND QUALITY TOMATO CATSUP CONTENTS 14 OZ. AVOIR FOR PACKED BY RATION A PACKING CORPUSA SA SAN FRANCISCO C BACKED IN USA Get to know the whole family of DEL MONTE Tomato Products. TOMATO JUICE CATSUP It's enough to make anybody hungry-the friendly, spicy fragrance of DEL MONTE
    via FAUST44
  • 30
    Souped up meat loaf. Lipton shows you how to beef up ground beef. Here are three tasty ways to make the most of meat loaf. All it takes is a little imagination, and the special flavors you get only from Lipton, Recipe & Soup Mixes. Pick some up today. Souperior Meat Loaf 1 envelope Lipton Onion or Beef Flavor Mushroom Soup Mix 2 pounds ground beef 1½ cups soft bread crumbs 2 eggs ¼ cup water ½ cup catsup Preheat oven to 350°. In large bowl, combine all ingredients. Pack into 5-cup ring mold and
    via FAUST44
  • 31
    Spring Pageant One Dish Meals FLOUT NEW! Cheese-Tuna Puff Hearty one-dish meal, rich with flavor of Natural Cheddar So easy and sure to turn out per- fectly! And the blend of flavors- enriched by natural Cheddar Cheese-makes this a family-or- company favorite. Serve it soon! CHEESE Your great high-protein food AMERICAN DAIRY ASSOCIATION Chicago Representing the dairy farmers in your area CHEESE-TUNA PUFF Pie plate, 9-inch... 6 servings... Preheated 425° oven PIE SHELL: 1 cup sifted Pillsbury's B
    via FAUST44
  • 32
    (From top to bottom) SEA DREAM (page 66) VEGETABLE TRIO (opposite page)
    via FAUST44
  • 33
    CHERRY WALDORF SALAD
    via FAUST44
  • 34
    The Star behind this B Super Sunday Supper is the Oster ELECTRIC MEAT GRINDER MEAT GRINDER $49.95 For a delightfully delicious Sunday supper, treat your family to this meal-in-a- meat-shell... prepared with the powerful help of the OSTER Electric Meat Grinder, the new star in the modern kitchen. The meat shell is bursting with juices because a selected meat cut was freshly power ground just before using... with the OSTER Grinder that cuts and chops cleanly without tearing or squeezing out natura
    via FAUST44

Want More? Follow Us and Add Us as a Preferred Source on Google.

Tags

design fail 1990s 90s memes retro architecture clever nostalgia design smart interesting 80s music Nostalgia Overload buildings designer 80s 90s kids 90s bad design building beauty memory lane good design nostalgia memes graphic design beautiful millennial-nostalgia 1980s
Scroll Down For The Next Article